Chapter 83 Chapter 83 Two days of heavy snow, the ground is very...
After two days of heavy snow, the ground was soon covered with a thick layer of snow. There were also some traces of animals walking on it, and the paw prints would soon be covered by a new round of heavy snow.
Xu Nian followed behind Los. Los kept Xu Nian with him because he was worried that the surrounding mastiffs would come out to block them. Of course, both Xu Nian and Los knew that the deeper reason was that the previous avalanche had left them with a considerable psychological trauma.
After all, for Xu Nian, being buried under the snow and almost dying was a disaster in which he narrowly escaped death, not to mention meeting Luo Yin later.
But for Los, that was the time when he almost lost Xu Nian. If he hadn't found him later, Los wouldn't know where to find Xu Nian.
So now, it wishes it could stay close to Xu Nian all the time.
"This paw print is from a rabbit, and this one is..." Xu Nian had originally found a rabbit's paw print and was planning to follow it to a rabbit's nest and catch a rabbit to eat. But just as he got to the front, he saw a new paw print next to the rabbit's. It looked like something had slithered past. Los couldn't help but take a closer look, tilting his head slightly. Finally, he came to the conclusion, "This is a vulture's paw print. It seems the rabbit you wanted to eat is already in its stomach."
After he finished speaking, a vulture's cry was heard in the sky. Xu Nian raised his head slightly and looked at the vulture flying over his head. Because the vulture was not flying very high, Xu Nian could clearly see that there was a rabbit in the vulture's sharp claws. The rabbit was obviously not dead yet and was struggling fiercely, but Xu Nian knew that the rabbit was basically dead after being caught by the vulture.
"Luckily, we are big and heavy." Xu Nian sighed and said, "Otherwise, if we were caught by the vulture, I don't think we would be able to escape."
Hearing Xu Nian's words, Los subconsciously turned his head to look at Xu Nian, then raised his head to look at the vulture in the sky, and finally snorted and laughed: "With it?"
Los raised his head, showed off his superior posture very appropriately, and walked past Xu Nian.
Although both snow leopards are snow leopards, one has a smooth body, very obvious muscle lines, and fierce eyes, but the other looks very well-behaved. When it tilts its head slightly, its eyes are full of curiosity, and its body is covered with fur. It is obvious at a glance who is the main fighting force.
The vultures really can't catch them, because Los will fight with the vultures, but Xu Nian... the vultures can only catch a bunch of fluffy hair.
However, just when Xu Nian's attention was focused on the vulture, Los, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped. Xu Nian immediately noticed Los's reaction and immediately became alert. His whole body tensed up and he whispered, "What's wrong? What did you find?"
Los looked down at the area next to his paw. Xu Nian also leaned over to look and saw another paw print next to Los's, but this paw print was different from Los's. This was not a snow leopard's.
"Is it a mastiff?" Xu Nian suddenly became more nervous. He had never fought with a mastiff. He subconsciously looked back to see if there was any rock he could climb up like last time. Unfortunately, there was no such place for him to escape to.
Looking at Xu Nian's expression, Los shook his head and said, "No, it's a pack of wolves."
Xu Nian was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard it wasn't a mastiff, but then he heard the second half of Los's sentence. He looked at Los helplessly, his tail drooping, and whispered, "Isn't that even worse?"
Wolves are much more cunning and difficult to deal with than mastiffs. Xu Nian felt a slight chill on his spine when he thought of the wolf pack's plan that frightened the snow leopard. He did not forget that he had suffered a loss when Los confronted the wolf pack before, and he also did not forget that when they were fighting with the wolf pack below, the leader of the wolf pack appeared behind the rock wall, looking down at their fight with cold eyes and calculation.
Encountering a pack of wolves here is not good news, it can even be said to be bad news.
"They must be injured." Los smelled some strong smell of blood. It was not difficult to guess that this group of wolves must have had a fight with other animals, and it was probably a very brutal battle, because when Los went further forward, he saw a wolf lying dead in the snow after being injured. The wolf's body was stiff and covered with snow.
After an animal dies, its fur seems to lose its luster. In fact, it is not difficult to see that this wolf was well-fed before and had thick fur, but after death, the originally smooth fur became messy. The whole white wolf turned gray, its eyes were closed, its body was stiff, and its claws were standing up.
Xu Nian hadn't expected to see the corpse of a white wolf the moment he turned around. He subconsciously stood there, as if stunned. It took him a while to react and turn to look at Los. Los shook his head slightly and said, "It was bitten to death by a mastiff. It must have been dead for a while."
Xu Nian fell silent.
Mastiffs will fight with wolves and snow leopards. They were once raised by humans. Some mastiffs were raised by their owners until they died, but some mastiffs were abandoned for various reasons. They would lose their homes and wander here.
They will recognize each other and then unite. Some can even have more than a dozen mastiffs together. This is a nightmare for the wild animals living here. Even if they fight against a single mastiff, or even two or three mastiffs, they can escape unscathed. But when faced with a dozen or even more mastiffs rushing up together, even Los can only turn around and run away.
"This was bitten by a mastiff." Although Los had never seen a mastiff before, he had seen its fangs. He squatted on the ground, looked at the wound on the white wolf's body, observed it carefully, and looked at the white wolf again. The wolf's eyes were closed and its body was stiff. It would soon be covered by the snow, and perhaps soon, it would be eaten by vultures.
There were very obvious signs of tearing on the wound. The wounds caused by the mastiff's canine teeth are more difficult to heal, but their teeth are not as deep as those of the wolf. Los carefully observed the wolf's body, trying to find the shortcomings of the mastiff's bite. Xu Nian didn't quite understand this, so he squatted quietly beside it, raising his head from time to time to observe the surroundings to prevent being targeted by other animals.
"They're bulky and certainly not as agile as we are, especially when fighting on snow. Such deep snow reduces their mobility." Los leaned over and sniffed gently, then said, "Their bodies can't bounce, so they're actually even less agile than this wolf. But this wolf still died because it was surrounded by more than one mastiff. These mastiffs are used to biting limbs or the body, but rarely the neck."
"..." Xu Nian nodded and said, "Because the mastiff's previous role was to drive away other animals that wanted to eat sheep, not to kill them, but that doesn't mean they won't fight."
"That's enough." Los licked his paw and said, "I understand."
Xu Nian didn't know what Los knew, but when he saw that Los' tone was much more confident than before, he felt relieved and was no longer so anxious.
They did not stay beside the body of the white wolf for long and soon left. After a while, a vulture landed, lowered its head and tilted it, then tentatively poked the white wolf. After confirming that the wolf was dead, it raised its head and made a cry to attract its companions to come and share the white wolf together.
After a while, a group of vultures appeared next to the white wolf's body. They would occasionally look around, scanning the area, searching for their next prey.
"The wolves are here, and the mastiffs are here too." In fact, it's usually the wolves that eat the herders' cattle and sheep. Snow leopards are much fewer in number, and mastiffs often fight with wolves, so they're very familiar with each other. Xu Nian pondered this and said, "There are only two of us, so we don't have an advantage in numbers. If we could form a large group like the wolves and snow leopards, perhaps hunting would be much easier for us."
"It's difficult," Los said. "Neither of us is convinced."
There was nothing wrong with what he said, and Xu Nian couldn't find any reason to refute it for a moment. He could only wag his tail slightly.
Knowing that there were wolves and mastiffs around, Los sniffed more carefully, fearing that he would miss any clues. He tried his best to avoid the activity range of these two groups of animals, striving to ensure the safety of himself and Xu Nian.
"I've encountered wolves before." Xu Nian followed behind Los and said, "But I can run fast."
When he said this, Los' mind immediately recalled the time when they had met before. Xu Nian suddenly rushed over, said there was a brown bear behind him, and then ran away without looking back. The speed was indeed too fast for ordinary animals to catch up.
When it comes to escaping, Los had to admit that Xu Nian was indeed very amazing.
The two snow leopards circled around and were finally about to go back when they found a blue sheep that seemed to have broken its hind legs. It was lying on the ground in a somewhat strange posture, making mournful cries of pain.
"This is..." Xu Nian paused and said in surprise: "A pie in the sky?!"
This feeling was no less than the time he encountered the lone wolf before. He met a half-sheep and thought he had received a gift from God. He immediately lowered his head to gnaw on it and left only after he was full. Who knew that it was actually Los's blue sheep.
"..." Los had obviously thought of this as well. He turned around and glanced at Xu Nian, warning, "It's a trap."
Xu Nian naturally retracted the claws that were about to stretch out, half-crouched on the ground, and said obediently: "I'll listen to you."
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