novelhk Chapter 78 New Report
Chapter 78 New Report
Big Head stopped at the bend, pressed his nose close to the ground, and sniffed repeatedly. The scent Chen Fei had left here three days ago had faded considerably, mixed with the smell of soil and withered grass, but Big Head still recognized it immediately. He lingered there for a while, his small eyes scanning the terrain inside the bend. The acacia trees had low canopies, casting dense shadows; it was dark and empty inside.
He went inside.
The grass beneath the tree canopy was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves, soft underfoot like walking on a mat. The sound of footsteps was absorbed by the leaves and almost disappeared. Big Head stood in the shadows for a moment, his nose twitching as he scanned the surrounding air to make sure there was no danger before he started moving eastward.
Deep in the hunting grounds, a herd of wildebeest moved slowly in the distance, raising clouds of brownish-yellow dust which were carried by the wind, mingling with the scent of grass and earth, carrying a hint of dry, earthy aroma. Big Head sniffed in the direction of the dust, then quickly looked back at the ground.
He didn't come here to hunt.
He understood this on a somewhat unclear level.
Patrolling and hunting are two different things. Chen Fei had led him on many patrols. Each time, Chen Fei's pace remained constant. He would not chase after prey encountered on the road, nor would he linger in any one place. He would simply walk through the entire area to confirm the distribution of scents in each place, and then return.
Big Head followed this rhythm.
He walked all the way to the eastern edge of the hunting grounds, stopping at the bottom of a gentle slope. He raised his small eyes and glanced at the top of the slope. The smell of the cameras the survey team had set up at the top of the slope yesterday still lingered—a mixture of the cold, hard smell of metal and the odor of human sweat. It had faded considerably, but was still discernible.
He stood at the bottom of the slope for a while without going up.
The top of the slope wasn't a place he needed to go; Chen Fei never went up that slope when patrolling. Big Head subconsciously brushed the mane on the back of his neck against his skin, rubbed his nose against his forepaws, and went over this rule etched into his bones in his mind for the third time. Then he turned to the south, the morning breeze rustling the grass. He walked back along the edge of the hunting ground, stepping on the patterns of the withered grass.
As his hooves crunched over the thirty-seventh clump of foxtail grass, his nostrils twitched sharply, as if pulled by an invisible thread, and he stopped in his tracks. A southeast wind, carrying a pungent, fishy stench, swept in—not the crispness of morning dew, but a sticky, decaying flesh smell, penetrating his nostrils across the three-hundred-meter-wide sea of grass. His pupils contracted sharply, and his ears pressed back. It wasn't the scent of gazelle grass, nor the muddy smell of warthogs, nor any familiar prey's aroma. It was hyena, that nauseatingly sweet and pungent smell mixed with saliva and territorial markings.
His muscles tensed instantly, like a fully drawn bowstring. He knelt down in the grass, his body lower than the tips of the blades, his ears taut like radar, pinpointing the southeast. There was only one; its scent wasn't the heavy, clump-like fragrance of a pack, but rather the fluid, lone wolf's movement. The wind shifted slightly, making the fishy odor drift westward more rapidly, pressing directly towards him.
He parted the half-clump of needlegrass with his forepaws, pressing his chest and abdomen against the warm earth. Clippings of withered grass clung to his mane, blending into the prairie's backdrop. Even his breathing became shallow and slow, waiting for the moving scent to approach. The pungent, fishy smell grew stronger, almost engulfing his nose, then suddenly stopped. The other party had halted a hundred meters away; the scent in the wind no longer drifted forward, frozen in mid-air.
For a full fifty-seven seconds, the pungent smell in the wind slowly shifted direction, moving from due west to northwest, like a thread being pulled away, gradually fading and thinning until only a faint trace remained. The other creature turned and retreated back towards the hyena pack's habitat. Big Head remained lying in place, ears still twitching, nose still sniffing, until he could no longer find a trace of hyenas in the wind. Only then did he slowly raise his forelimbs, his muscles creaking slightly as he relaxed, and slowly stand up.
With a gentle thud, he dug a shallow mark on the ground with his forehooves, etching the southeast direction into his memory. Then, following the same footprints, he walked back, his pace as steady as before. But his ears, like spinning windmills, caught the rustling of the grass and the distant birdsong, absorbing them and pressing them deep into his heart. When he finally stepped into the shade of a tree, the sun was high overhead, its golden light baking the grassland until it scorched, the pebbles reflecting a blinding glare.
Chen Fei lay prone in the shade of a tree in the center of his landing spot, his forelegs folded in front of him. Seeing Da Tou return, he raised his eyelids slightly, lifting his head half an inch, his gaze sweeping over. Da Tou walked to Chen Fei's side, nuzzled his forepaw with its nose, and made a low growl in its throat. It tilted its head southeast, drew a circle on the ground with its forelegs, and then pushed it outwards. The information wasn't precise, but the key points were clear: the hyena was alone and had retreated.
After listening, Chen Fei gently swept his tail on the ground, stirring up a few pieces of dry grass, then lowered his eyelids again and didn't move. Da Tou curled up next to him, his chest heaving as he took a few deep breaths. Suddenly, he caught a lingering scent of bone and remembered the bone fragments he hadn't finished gnawing on that morning. He arched his head from Chen Fei's side, stretched his neck, and glanced at the low grass where he had hidden the bones.
The place was empty; the withered grass was trampled into a mess, and there wasn't even a trace of broken bones. His ears perked up suddenly. He paused for a second, then his head spun rapidly, scanning the surrounding grass and rocks before his gaze, as if driven into a daze, landed on the homeless man. The homeless man lay beside the bushes, his chin resting heavily on the cold ground, his ears pressed back, his eyes darting towards the distant waves of grass, looking utterly oblivious. Big Head's tail suddenly tightened, no longer wagging, the tip twitching slightly.
[Host: Chen Fei]
[Identity: Sub-adult male lion]
[Energy Points: 903↑]
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was blazing, and the survey team's camp was filled with the chirping of cicadas. The shadows of the tents were stretched short, and finally, quiet fell. Ella sat at the folding table in the tent, her fingertips gliding across the screen of her handheld camera, slowly replaying the morning's footage. Her pen flew across the notebook, leaving a few lines of scribbled writing. Then, she opened the cover of the satellite communication equipment and began typing on the keyboard, starting to write her report.
It was the eastern advance report, three pages long. The sound of typing echoed in the stuffy tent. She had been writing for almost an hour, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Steady footsteps sounded outside the tent, each step landing on the gravel, stopping at the tent entrance. Then, Kale's voice came through the tent fabric, slightly hoarse: "Are you there?"
"Come in." Ella didn't even look up, her fingertips paused for a moment, and she uttered two words.
Kaller reached out and unzipped the tent flap, the canvas rustling softly. He bent down and stepped inside. The ceiling fan whirred slowly. He sat down on the folding stool opposite Ella, slamming his water bottle down on the floor with a thud, and asked, "Finished writing?"
"Almost done." Ella's gaze was still on the screen, her pen tapping across the paper. "Do you have anything to add?"