Chapter 97 Will the sense of smell return? Xu Nian: Is it my illusion? ...

In severe winter, the lake freezes very quickly. At first, the ice is relatively thin in some places, and animals often come to drink water nearby. Some animals even step on the ice and drown.

But as the temperature gets lower and the ice gets thicker, many animals will walk across it to the other side of the lake in search of food.

The two snow leopards were now hiding behind the rocks, huddled together, looking towards the lake at the same time.

"I've been waiting for quite some time, but no sheep have come." Xu Nian suspected that the sheep would never come back. He lowered his voice and whispered, "Why not just forget it and go somewhere else?"

Los lowered his head and licked Xu Nian, then replied, "It's not time yet, wait a little longer."

Xu Nian didn't know what time Los was talking about, but since Los said so, Xu Nian naturally wouldn't object. After all, Los was the snow leopard who survived in the wild, and he was the one teaching the class alone, so it would be better for him to be obedient.

However, at this moment, there was suddenly a slight movement by the lake. Xu Nian was instantly attracted by the movement. When he looked over, he found it was a pika.

In fact, for snow leopards, pikas are not enough to fill their teeth, so Xu Nian quickly ignored the pikas and waited for the fat sheep to fall into the trap.

Lying down for a long time made Xu Nian feel a little stiff, especially his tail. He turned his head quietly and saw that Los's tail was pressing on his own tail. No wonder his tail felt a little heavy.

When he wanted to move his tail slightly, Los raised his paw and gently pressed it down. Los's low voice came to his ears, whispering, "Don't move, there's movement."

Xu Nian immediately looked towards the lake, but didn't see anything. Los whispered, "Next to the haystack."

It was rare to have such heavy snow. There was only a small tuft of grass beside the lake, and a large rock next to it. The moment Xu Nian saw the rock, he thought that this rock was very suitable for the snow leopards to hide and hunt, but he soon discovered that there were already animals lying in ambush there.

"Snow leopard? Wolf?" From Xu Nian's perspective, he could only see that the thing was a little furry and looked like a big ball. From the back, it looked a bit like a cat, but not quite. It was gray, and didn't look like a snow leopard or a wolf. He subconsciously looked at it a few more times and tilted his head slightly, as if looking for information about this animal from his meager knowledge of animals. However, he thought about it for a long time and couldn't figure it out.

But before he could ask, the animal lying in ambush beside the rock suddenly moved out and pounced on the pika passing by the lake. It was very fast and it was obvious that it was accustomed to using short-range attacks. It quickly picked up the pika, bit it, and immediately stood up, looked back around, and then left quickly without stopping.

"Lynx?!"

When the thing turned around, Xu Nian saw clearly what it was and was immediately very surprised. Until now, he had never seen a lynx. He thought that the area where snow leopards lived did not overlap with that of lynx, so he had not seen lynx. Now it seems that there is actually some overlap.

Los responded softly, "But it's rare. They don't usually hunt here. We snow leopards have our own hunting areas, and they have their own hunting territories. It seems they really can't find prey, so they come back here."

However, snow leopards and lynxes generally do not fight unless necessary, and they avoid each other's core areas. In fact, Los rarely came to the lake to hunt before, mainly because the prey in other places had also decreased a lot.

It licked its paws gently. If it were on a high mountain, the lynx would definitely be defeated, but the location here was a little low, and there were some dense forests around, which was a place the lynx was more familiar with. But even so, it was definitely not a good thing for the lynx to face an adult snow leopard.

Los's target was not this lynx, nor did he want to have any conflict with it. With his tail gently wagging, he set his sights on a group of mountain goats walking towards the lake.

Although sheep can also absorb water from grass stems, when they reach the lake, they will still come over and try to get some water, even if it is just to take a look.

One of the sheep took a fancy to the only remaining grass nearby. Xu Nian and Los looked at each other and both understood that the other had set its eyes on this sheep.

"I'll go first and alarm them, then you chase one of them and fight for the second place." Xu Nian's fighting ability was average, but he was very flexible in the use of tactics. He swung his tail gently and expressed his plan.

Los naturally wouldn't object. He leaned over and licked Xu Nian, then whispered, "Okay."

This group of mountain goats naturally didn't know that they had been targeted by two snow leopards. They walked around, occasionally lowering their heads to communicate, and sometimes raising their hooves to scratch the snow, trying to find some grass.

At this moment, behind the rocks nearby, a furry figure was crouching slightly, using the rocks to hide its body. Snow leopards are good at hunting at high places and on steep slopes, but they are not as skilled as lynx in this kind of short-distance hunting on almost flat ground.

What's more, it was Xu Nian who hid behind the rock. His posture was not very beautiful, but he had already won as long as he could avoid the eyes of the ibex. From Los's perspective, he saw that Xu Nian was almost squatting on all fours, biting his tail and moving forward, his furry ears slightly depressed because of nervousness, and he looked very serious and cautious.

Sure enough, the serious snow leopard is the most beautiful.

Just when Xu Nian estimated that the time was about right, he found the right opportunity. When the group of mountain goats approached the lake, he suddenly appeared and launched an attack. Sure enough, the group of mountain goats were frightened and ran around in panic.

He chased the one closest to him, trying to bite it, but the mountain goat ran very fast and Xu Nian tried his best but failed to catch it. However, the other mountain goats were all paying attention to Xu Nian and did not notice that a more outstanding hunter was approaching them.

The muscles on Los's back moved as he walked, and the lines were very obvious. His sharp eyes quickly locked onto his target, and then without any delay, his furry claws quickly walked across the rock wall, and almost instantly he ran down the slope and pounced on one of the ibex.

The ibex originally thought it was safe and was about to find a place to continue eating grass, but it was caught off guard and pushed again. Its reaction speed was already very fast, and it wanted to escape immediately, but Los's attack speed was even faster, and it didn't give it any chance to escape at all. Almost instantly, he locked onto the ibex's escape route, pounced directly on the ibex's back, and bit its neck hard.

The ibex was dragged to the ground and let out a desperate whine. Los also fell to the ground. It quickly got up, but did not let go. It kicked the ibex twice with its hind paws and pulled it back hard, causing the wound on the ibex's neck to turn inside out. Blood splattered everywhere as it struggled.

Some of the blood was all over Los' body, but he didn't care at all. Some of it even splashed into his eyes. He just blinked subconsciously, and his long eyelashes were stained with the blood of the ibex. He opened his eyes and bit the ibex's neck tightly until the other party stopped struggling.

Los's eyes were sharp and full of ferocity. Other mountain goats passed by and avoided this place.

Xu Nian was covered in snow and ran back with his tail in his mouth. He had just shaken off his tail and ran over to chase the mountain goats, but these creatures were too good at jumping and slipped away from his sight. Xu Nian thought it would be better for him to do some mental work.

He even suspected that he had been fattened by Los, and he always felt that the fur on his body seemed fluffier than before.

But as soon as he lowered his head, he saw his agile body, and immediately walked towards Los with confidence. As long as Los caught the prey, it would also be his credit.

This ibex was their prey. Since it was a bit far from their den, Los said, "Let it eat here now. Just take the meat back with you after eating. Don't worry about anything else."

Otherwise, it would be too difficult to drag such a large skeleton back.

Xu Nian nodded and looked around. The group of vultures were really well-informed. They often circled in the sky. Nothing that happened in this snow-capped mountain range escaped their eyes. They had just successfully hunted here, and they immediately landed and stayed around, but they didn't dare to get close to here.

Los just growled at them twice, signaling them to get away, and then he lowered his head and pressed down the body of the prey with his claws. His fangs pierced through the skin and flesh of the ibex, and Los tore it apart with force. Xu Nian also came over to gnaw on it together.

Xu Nian actually eats less mountain goats. He always feels that the meat of mountain goats is not as solid as that of blue sheep. Mountain goats are also good climbers, but their long horns really make Xu Nian feel scared, so if he has to choose, he would rather chase blue sheep.

But since we are hunting with Los, there is no need to worry about so much, because they are all Los’ prey anyway.

"What are you thinking about?" Los noticed that Xu Nian's eating speed had slowed down. He leaned over and licked the blood on his face, saying, "Eat more."

Xu Nian licked his paws and looked back at the other mountain goats that had already moved away.

In fact, mountain goats also live in groups, but in smaller groups. Blue sheep live in larger groups. A small group of mountain goats here walked towards a farther distance, obviously feeling that it was more dangerous here.

He raised his claws and scratched his face. It was already a mess from eating meat, and now it looked even messier. Xu Nian shook his head and gently lifted his nose. Only when he got close to the meat of the ibex could he smell a hint of blood.

When he raised his head and was about to speak, he suddenly smelled a familiar scent in his nose. He paused and looked at Los. When he sniffed again, he could not smell anything.

Xu Nian immediately raised his paw and scratched his nose, then put it into the meat of the ibex and sniffed it hard. Then he tried to smell Los's scent again, but he smelled nothing. He even wondered if it was an illusion.

He just felt that he seemed to smell the scent of Los, but no matter how hard he tried, it was of no use.

"What's wrong?" Noticing the abnormality in Xu Nian's behavior, Los stopped eating, moved closer to Xu Nian, and licked Xu Nian's face twice with his tongue, thinking that the blood and flesh on the other's face were not cleaned up, but Xu Nian took the initiative to rub it, and raised his nose close to Los's neck, but still could not smell the other's scent.

"Are you in a bad mood? Are you too full? Or does this goat taste bad?" Los didn't know what Xu Nian was doing. He could feel Xu Nian sniffing him, so he stood still and let Xu Nian sniff around him. He said with a hint of concern, "Don't you like eating ibex? Then I'll catch you a blue sheep."

"No." Xu Nian sniffed for a long time but couldn't smell anything. He sighed, buried his head in Los's shoulder, and said in a muffled voice, "Do you think I'll never be able to smell anything again?"

"No." Los nudged Xu Nian, as if sensing his disappointment, and soothed him, "It'll be fine."

Even if Xu Nian could never smell anything again in his life, it didn't matter. Los came close to him and licked Xu Nian's face gently and firmly.