9. Grab Food

◎Can't they hunt on their own?◎

These ostriches seemed to think that Qiao Jinnian was also forced to leave his hometown from that grassland, and since they were all fellow villagers, they might as well move together.

Of course, this was the answer Qiao Jinnian figured out in his mind.

Ryan didn't care about the ostriches following them.

Lions will not eat ostriches unless they have to, and ostriches are not afraid of lions. The two animals' diets do not overlap, so they live in peace.

Ryan ran very fast with Qiao Jinnian on his back. The ostriches were good at running and a little lost in direction, so they kept following behind them.

Unlike lions, ostriches can replenish their energy at any time. Leaves on the ground, roots of plants, small insects, etc. are all their food.

As their pace quickened, they saw many top predators along the way, such as cheetahs, leopards, and of course, the most common ones were lion groups.

Heading north, Ryan had to pass through the territories of other lion groups. As a single wandering male lion, he even brought a cub with him to hunt in the territories of other lion groups. If he was lucky, he would just be driven away by the territorial male lions. If he was unlucky, he might even be killed.

So, Ryan was identifying the scent of other lions along the way and tried to avoid the territories of other lions.

Ryan will only hunt with confidence in areas where the scent is faint or there are no markings.

Before hunting, Ryan placed Qiao Jinnian in a relatively hidden bush, and then set out to hunt by the river.

Qiao Jinnian also knew that he was still too weak at the moment, so it would be best for him to wait here obediently.

The ostriches were also very strange, they were busy eating near the bushes.

Qiao Jinnian thought these ostriches were so cute. Maybe it was because they had rested in Ryan's territory for a few days before, and after returning to their own grassland, they saw Ryan and her again, so they felt that they were really fellow villagers.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that this was why the ostriches had been following her.

Ostriches are social animals, usually living in family units. Qiao Jinnian couldn't tell how many male and female ostriches there were.

Shaking his head, Qiao Jinnian felt that he was really boring. He had been watching those ostriches eating grass.

She counted them and found that there were six ostriches in the group, all of them adults, without a single baby bird. After all, their ostrich eggs were roasted before they were hatched.

After a while, Qiao Jinnian's observation was interrupted because Ryan came back from hunting.

The further north they went, the more water and grass there were, the more herbivores they saw, and Ryan hunted faster.

He usually eats outside before coming back to sleep, after all, there are many predators that will steal food, especially during the dry season.

Maybe he was worried that Qiao Jinnian was alone here, so he dragged the prey back.

The prey was a whole buffalo calf. Ryan bit the buffalo's neck with his mouth, kept his front paws away, and walked towards her hiding place very easily.

When he came not far from her, Ryan chose a tree, put the buffalo on the ground, and began to eat the meat.

Because he was the only lion who needed to eat meat, Qiao Jinnian guessed that this was why he only needed to hunt a small buffalo. If one lion was full, the whole family would not be hungry. If the entire lion group were to hunt, they would have to catch at least an adult buffalo, and that might not even be enough. They would need at least several hundred kilograms of meat a day.

Fortunately, there are also breadfruit trees here, and Qiao Jinnian also found food for herself, but at the moment, finding fire is the most urgent thing for her.

Making fire by rubbing two sticks together is something her current small body cannot accomplish, as it requires a certain amount of strength. Therefore, she was considering finding something like flint, but unfortunately she didn't know where to look.

After finishing his meal, Ryan lay down under a tree as usual to rest lazily and slowly digest his food.

At this time, Qiao Jinnian could finally go out and get some fresh air, because Ryan was here, at least no other predator would come and provoke her blatantly.

Taking advantage of this time, Qiao Jinnian wanted to try whether he could walk, so he held on to the stone wall, slowly stood up, and walked back and forth on the edge of the stone wall. When he felt that the strength in his legs should be enough, he let go of his hands and walked towards Ryan with a shaky step.

She walked very slowly and looked very stiff. After walking five meters, she excitedly shouted, "Ryan, look at me! I can walk now!"

As a result, as soon as Ryan turned around to look at her, she fell backwards and sat on the ground.

Qiao Jinnian: "..."

Ryan also had a face full of questions. He was now able to distinguish his own name and knew that she was calling him, but he didn't know what she wanted. He was so bored that he opened his mouth wide, revealing all his canine teeth. He yawned loudly, licked the corner of his mouth, raised his left front paw, licked it wet, bent his left front paw, rubbed his eyes, then licked his right front paw and continued to wash his face.

Why does this, uh, look like a picture of a giant cat washing its face?

Qiao Jinnian was stunned for a moment and simply sat on the grass watching Ryan wash his face. The more she watched, the more she felt that lions and cats were really similar.

An ostrich was eating and landed at her feet. Qiao Jinnian reached out and touched her head.

The ostrich was in a good mood and didn't get angry. It just looked up at her as if it had known her forever.

Ryan finally had a good rest, and the man and the lion continued their journey, heading north.

They came to a wide river and saw a herd of buffaloes drinking water by the river. There seemed to be at least 100 buffaloes in this herd, which was a very large herd.

Ryan's golden eyes lit up instantly.

In the eyes of lions, these buffaloes are just fresh food on the move.

However, they were not the only ones who found the buffaloes. There was also a pride of lionesses 200 meters away from them.

This is a lion pride of six adult lionesses and several lion cubs, but when hunting, they leave the cubs to be taken care of by one lioness, and the other five lionesses are ready to work as a team.

It was unknown which lion group's territory this was. Qiao Jinnian could not understand the social rules of lions at all, but she had great confidence in Ryan.

In a lion pride, female lions usually work together as a team to hunt, while male lions are responsible for protecting the territory. Ryan is a lone male lion who cooks and eats by himself. His territory is not fixed, after all, the piece of grassland is really very small.

The last time those baboons, elephants and ostriches ran into his territory, he didn't even react, as if he didn't care about that place.

Ryan seemed more cautious and did not take action. Instead, he crouched on the grass and watched the lion group hunting.

Qiao Jinnian guessed that this territory belonged to that lion group, so he could not act rashly.

The lioness leader is obviously larger than the other lions. She looks almost as big as a slightly smaller male lion. No wonder she is the leader.

It was unknown what hunting orders the leader gave to the lion group, but the five lionesses rushed towards the buffalo herd together frantically. In an instant, the buffalo herd that had just drunk enough water was scattered.

Then, the lioness leader spotted a lone buffalo, acted decisively, pounced on the buffalo from behind and bit its butt, trying to slow down the buffalo's running speed with her own weight.

The other four lionesses seized the opportunity and surrounded the buffalo from the side, with two lionesses on each side biting the buffalo's belly and abdominal meat.

But this buffalo looked to weigh at least 800 kilograms. Even though five lions each bit one part of its body, the buffalo still took advantage of its own strengths and rushed forward, shaking off the four lions on its left and right.

Only the leading lioness bit the buffalo's butt tightly, her mouth full of blood. Even though she was dragged behind the buffalo in a somewhat embarrassing manner, her fighting spirit still slowed down the buffalo's momentum.

So, the other four lions saw the opportunity and bit the buffalo again. The leader took the opportunity to jump up from behind the buffalo to the buffalo's back, opened his mouth wide and bit the buffalo's spine hard.

Finally, the buffalo was overwhelmed and collapsed completely. It was still struggling on the ground, shouting: "Moo-moo-moo!"

When everything was settled, the lioness leader and the lion group dragged the buffalo to the edge of the grass. The leader started to enjoy the food first. After the leader finished eating, the second group, that is, the other adult lions, came to enjoy it, followed by the little lions, and finally the sub-adults came to eat.

All of this was very exciting. Qiao Jinnian saw the entire process of a lion group hunting for the first time, and couldn't help but give a thumbs up to the lion leader: "So handsome!"

Then, Qiao Jinnian said to Ryan, "Ryan, can you go hunting now? I want to see you hunting. You must be super handsome!"

Seeing that she had been looking at the lioness, Ryan was a little dissatisfied, but he obviously didn't want to go hunting now. This was someone else's territory, and a single lion would be attacked by a group.

Although male lions are larger than female lions, they are reluctant to go against a group of female lions, let alone a group of female lions with a group of cubs.

Ryan looked at the delicious and juicy buffalo meat, but he could only look at it. He still wanted to leave other people's territory as soon as possible.

However, when they were about to leave, a roar was heard from the lion group opposite.

The man and the lion turned around at the same time, and Qiao Jinnian saw that a group of lions had appeared from some corner.

This lion group is also composed entirely of female lions, and their number is greater than that of the six lion groups, and each of them is physically strong.

But this new lion group is obviously not here to hunt, but to pick up ready-made food!

Yes, when the leader finished eating and was eating with other lionesses, the group of new lions rushed over without even saying hello, and went straight up to chase the lions and eat them as soon as they got their bites.

Qiao Jinnian was stunned, her mouth wide open, and she and Ryan looked at each other.

These lions are really going too far! There are so many buffaloes, can't they hunt them themselves?

Perhaps understanding her expression, Ryan looked at the lions angrily.

My God, there are almost 20 lions on the scene!

The opponent's strength far surpassed that of the first lion group. Qiao Jinnian even thought that the leader of the first lion group might give up food to save his life.

As a result, the leader began to roar at the other leader, making a huge lion roar: "Roar——"

Then she pounced on the other person and bit him.