40 Cheetah
◎Qiao Jinnian: "..." What kind of shitty luck is this?◎
After confirming that it was her old friend Diandian, Qiao Jinnian quickly yelled to Sister Sa: "Hoo-woo--"
Sister Sa, who was about to pounce on Diandian, suddenly restrained her strength and braked in time, looking at the cub in front of her with a confused face.
At this time, Sister Sa's mind must have been a mess, but she soon figured it out. This cub always makes friends with strange animals.
Sister Sa growled speechlessly, "Roar, roar—"
After roaring, she didn't even want to look, turned around and went back to the lion's territory, leaving the man and the leopard looking at each other in bewilderment.
Qiao Jinnian pointed at the mongoose in Dian Dian's mouth and said, "Awooo——"
Even when the leopard fell from the tree, it did not let go of its mouth, which shows that it regarded the mongoose as food. The fact that she valued such a small mongoose so much also shows how scarce food is now.
So, Qiao Jinnian just pointed at the meerkat tentatively, wanting to see if he could save his neighbor's life at the same time, but he didn't have any expectations. After all, Diandian had been biting it for so long, and how could a top predator give up on food that had already entered its mouth?
To her surprise, Diandian hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth wide and let the meerkat fall to the ground.
Perhaps she had not yet completely bitten the mongoose to death when Sister Sa caught up with her, so this mongoose neighbor is still alive now, but there are some bloodstains on its body, and it is obvious that it was seriously injured.
Seeing that he was still alive, Qiao Jinnian stepped forward, held him in his arms, and said to Diandian, "I'll return your prey next time. This is my neighbor. Oh, and where's your cub?"
Of course, it was useless for her to say anything, so she could only roar at Diandian: "Awoo, awoo?"
As she spoke, she gestured, a little smaller than Diandian. Standing behind Diandian, she tried to imitate the cub's roar: "Woo-ho--"
Diandian blinked, not knowing if she understood or not. She just came forward and licked Qiao Jinnian's face to show affection, but she looked confused. Didn't the cub in front of her crawl on all fours? How could it suddenly grow so big and still walk on two legs? Was she disabled?
Qiao Jinnian stood there, letting Diandian raise her neck to lick her, and also touched her forehead to show affection.
When Reiner saw the leopard approaching, he had already made a warning sound, but when he saw that his sister did not seem afraid, he also thought that his sister's circle of friends seemed to be quite wide, so he ignored it and just stood aside watching the leopard, ready to attack at any time.
The leopard had no prey left, so she could only look at Qiao Jinnian and then walk west again. Because she had no food, she had to go hunting again.
So, Qiao Jinnian looked at her receding figure with some guilt, and prepared to go back to his old job and start hunting for himself. He still owed Diandian a prey, and he couldn't let the lion father and sister Sa hunt for Diandian.
Passing through the bushes, Qiao Jinnian returned to the territory of his own lion group. There were no other top predators here, so it was relatively safe.
In the distance, the meerkat standing on the top of a branch acting as a sentry stretched its neck and made a slightly faster "cooing" sound to the other meerkats, indicating that there was danger, but not the danger of enemy invasion.
Then the meerkats rushed out and saw the injured meerkat in Qiao Jinnian's arms, and went forward to check.
Meerkats spend almost the entire day looking for food, either digging in the soil or digging holes. After all, their tribe is so large that there is never enough food.
Like this injured mongoose, if it was bitten to death in the wild, it would soon become food for other animals. Fortunately, Qiao Jinnian brought it back and put it in a big tree hole to rest for a while.
Sister Sa has returned to sleep, and the little lions are curled up in their mother's arms and taking a nap.
Qiao Jinnian took his weapon and prepared to dig a trap, after all, the prey was not easy to catch.
As long as they were in the territory of their own lion group, Qiao Jinnian dared to walk around, but Reiner was too curious and insisted on following his sister to see.
Qiao Jinnian was helpless and asked Cloak to dig a hole. Now that Flathead Brother knew what they were going to do, he actually went to help.
When Brother Lion saw that he was the only one with nothing to do, he chose a slightly damp place and started digging a hole.
Although the weather is dry, these original river areas have become quagmires that are about to dry up. The soil here is easier to dig. I have to say that Brother Lion is quite smart.
In order not to be outdone by the jackal and the honey badger, Reiner dug very hard. However, as he dug, he seemed to have discovered something. He used both claws and dug more and more vigorously. Later, he almost dug the entire lion's body into the hole.
This scene scared Qiao Jinnian and the other three, and they hurried to look. Could it be that Brother Lion had fallen into the cave of some animal?
After a while, after a series of "chi chi chi" sounds, Reiner actually came out of the cave with his mouth biting the neck of a male warthog and not letting go.
Qiao Jinnian: “…” What kind of shitty luck is this?
As the king of the grassland, Reiner easily defeated a big warthog. The pride emanated from him from the inside out. His tail swung from side to side, and even his round ears trembled proudly. He looked indescribably comfortable.
The jackal and the honey badger were dumbfounded, looking at the big lion in front of them with admiration. Wow, he is indeed the king of the grassland, with such a domineering aura!
Reiner looked at his sister with burning eyes, hoping to be praised and admired.
Qiao Jinnian: "...Awoo!"
As a younger sister, Qiao Jinnian naturally couldn't be stingy with her feelings. She stepped forward to touch Reiner's lion head with admiration in her eyes. Sure enough, Reiner seemed even more proud. After the warthog was completely dead, she put the prey in front of her sister, saying that it was a gift for her.
Looking at the prey, Qiao Jinnian thought that the lions had already eaten it, and she also had some dried meat. Leaving the prey would attract other predators, such as hyenas and vultures, or wild dogs. It would be better to give it to Diandian to eat as a thank you for letting her meerkat neighbor go.
So, Qiao Jinnian tried shouting towards the west: "Woohoo? Woohoo?"
She didn’t know if Diandian could hear her, nor did she know where Diandian was. What if she could hear her?
After shouting several times, there was no sound in the bushes, so Qiao Jinnian gave up and wanted to let Reiner tear the prey into pieces so that he could roast some of it and use it as food reserve.
At this time, there was a rustling sound of grass and trees coming from the bushes, which seemed to be a sound made deliberately by animals.
Qiao Jinnian looked back and saw that it was indeed Diandian.
Diandian glanced at Reiner, and seeing that the lion had no objection, he continued to move forward.
You know, as a top predator, the leopard's greatest advantage when hunting is that it is good at ambushing, so if they move normally, other animals cannot detect them at all. But she deliberately made the grass and trees shake, making a loud noise, just to let the territorial lion know that she is not here to hunt.
Diandian came forward hesitantly, licked Qiao Jinnian's forehead, glanced at the warthog on the ground, but did not act rashly, after all, this was the territory of the lion group.
"Woo-hoo--" Qiao Jinnian pointed at the warthog and motioned her to go and eat it.
Diandian didn't hesitate and glanced at the other animals before lowering his head and eating with relish.
But Reiner was unwilling. Why should he give what he hunted to this annoying leopard to eat?
However, Reiner didn't want to go against his sister, so he lowered his head and began to bite the other side of the prey vigorously. The jackal and the honey badger were not to be outdone and also joined the meal.
Only Qiao Jinnian shook his head, continued to lower his head, and began to dig a cave with a spear, hoping to make a few traps here. During the dry season, maybe they could save lives and prevent the lion father and sister Sa from always hunting large animals.
Reiner had already eaten and was not hungry at all. But now, in order to show off, he ate until his stomach was round and bloated. He felt uncomfortable and just lay on the ground to start digesting the food.
Seeing that no one was eating anymore, Diandian stopped eating and looked at Qiao Jinnian hesitantly. Her meaning was obvious: she wanted to take the prey away.
Qiao Jinnian thought of her cub, who should be almost two years old and still need the leopard mother to feed him, so she waved her hand and said, "Woo-hoo--"
Diandian dragged the prey through the bushes and walked towards the west.
Looking at the figure going away again, Qiao Jinnian fell silent. It was so hard for the leopard mother to raise her cubs alone.
After the jackal and the honey badger had eaten their fill, they continued to help dig the hole. But at this time, the lion brother had already fallen asleep, so how could he still remember that he came to dig the hole?
It took everyone an entire afternoon to dig the hole and set the trap. Qiao Jinnian even showed Ryan, Sister Sa, and the little lion his trap. Of course, he also told the meerkats that it was dangerous and told them not to play there unless necessary. Only then did he feel relieved, as he couldn't let his little lion fall into it.
But there are not many animals nearby, so the jackal has no place to use its trap. It can only set the trap first and come back to check in a couple of days. After all, this is the mouth of the bush, so there is still a chance to catch prey.
Just now, while everyone was eating, Qiao Jinnian cut some pig hair, thinking that he could make himself a pig hair toothbrush. He tied the pig hair together with a hemp rope, and finally tied it to a branch, and then boiled it in a pot of hot water. This way, it would be disinfected and could replace the previous plant toothbrush.
When she couldn't find a suitable toothpaste, she used a little salt to clean her teeth. She saved it and could dig out some black salt blocks when she passed by the black mud on her way home next time.
After making a new dress for herself, Qiao Jinnian asked Reiner to carry her around the territory to find suitable staple food. If possible, she even wanted to reclaim a piece of wasteland and grow some food for herself.
Of course, this idea is just something they should think about first. After all, it is impossible for the lion group to live here forever. They are always moving, and farming is not suitable for a nomadic group like them.
After searching around, Qiao Jinnian found nothing except fruits and flowers. She couldn't find any staple foods like roots or tubers.
However, they witnessed a brutal war between cheetahs at the edge of their territory.
There was a cheetah being besieged by four other cheetahs, and on a large tree stump farther away, there were five little cheetahs standing, watching the scene with their eyes wide open.
Qiao Jinnian couldn’t understand why they were killing each other. Could the cheetah that was being attacked be the mother cheetah?
Moreover, she remembered the cheetah she had petted a few days ago. She didn't know if that cheetah was among these cheetahs, but all the cheetahs looked exactly the same, and Qiao Jinnian really couldn't tell them apart.
"Ah, ah—" The cheetah cub kept crying as he looked at his besieged mother, with panic and anxiety written all over his body and eyes.
【Author’s words】
Starting from tomorrow, I will update one chapter every day at 6:00 am and 6:00 pm, muah~
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