novelhk Chapter 15 The Other Side
Chapter 15 The Other Side
The one with the dark brown mane called out again.
This time it's closer.
Chen Fei stood atop the mound, his ears fixed on the direction of the old territory, analyzing the roar in his mind.
The pitch was lower than last time, the trailing note was longer, and the ending point was a deep, converging frequency.
It's not a warning, not a courtship ritual, it's a declaration.
In his previous life, Chen Fei had watched a wildlife documentary that specifically discussed the information conveyed by a lion's roar—the same roar, but the pitch, duration, and ending manner convey completely different content.
An upward-sounding finale is a call to arms; a level, sustained melody marks territory; and a downward-sounding finale signals, "This is mine; outsiders beware."
The sound of the dark brown mane is the third type.
It is telling all its kind who can hear this voice: the old territory already has an owner.
It seems the conflict has come to an end.
Chen Fei adjusted his nose to face the wind.
The presence of the two heroes wafted from the opposite bank of the river, much stronger than yesterday. Their location had shifted from upstream to directly opposite, no more than two hundred meters from the riverbank.
They got closer.
Chen Fei memorized the change in position and at the same time brought up another matter to think about.
The unfamiliar aura of the lion pride upstream is gone today.
Yesterday's mixed aura consisted of at least three male lions, but today it has completely vanished without a trace.
They either left or were suppressed.
Chen Fei mentally considered both possibilities.
If they left voluntarily, the scent shouldn't have disappeared so completely. When a pride of stray lions passes through an area, the scent lingers for at least two to three days.
If they were suppressed, then the two heroes' sudden approach to the riverbank today makes sense.
Having eliminated a potential competitor, we can take this opportunity to make a statement by the river and expand our influence further.
Chen Fei had seen a similar version of the behavior logic of the Stray Lions Alliance in a documentary.
Two adult male lions forming an alliance is far more dangerous than a single male lion, not only because their fighting power is doubled, but also because they can divide the work.
By simultaneously issuing a declaration of expulsion on one side and encircling the enemy on the other, the pressure from both fronts puts the opponent on the defensive no matter which direction they run.
This pattern of joint territorial exploration usually follows a fixed rhythm.
The first step is to use long-distance roaring to mark targets.
The second step is to brush the scent near the edge.
The third step is to select a weak point and launch a probing attack to see how the opponent reacts before deciding whether to launch a full-scale invasion.
The two giants have now moved on to the second step.
The third step will take approximately five to ten days.
Chen Fei kept this time window to himself.
How many energy points can he accumulate in five to ten days?
Optimistic estimate: Three full meals plus daily routine, roughly 45 to 60 points.
In other words, when the two heroes actually launch their probing attack, his energy points will be between 500 and 520, and the heat flow covering his limbs will have just been unlocked, or only recently been unlocked.
The gap is still significant.
Even if his limbs are fully covered, now is not the time for him to confront these two head-on.
However, not confronting them directly does not mean there are no options.
Chen Fei slowly sat down on the mound, turning his gaze away from the old territory and sweeping it across the terrain of the isolated island.
Surrounded by water on all sides, it forms a natural barrier.
Stray lions aren't incapable of swimming, but adult male lions in the wild rarely venture into the water voluntarily. Their manes become clumsy when soaked, and there are crocodiles in the water.
This river didn't come without a price.
More importantly, even if the two heroes did cross the river, the terrain on the isolated island would not be friendly to large predators.
The dense thickets and undulating hills would significantly reduce the sprint distance and diminish his size advantage, and he had already survived in this terrain for five days, familiar with every possible detour.
They weren't playing on home turf, but they weren't completely passive either.
Chen Fei sorted out these variables one by one and arranged them into a simple priority list in his mind.
First, continue to accumulate energy points and try to reach 500 before the two heroes launch their probing attacks;
Second, they will not actively reveal their location on the isolated island. The two heroes currently only know about the old territory and may not know that they are hiding here.
Third, wait.
Waiting is currently the lowest-cost strategy.
Just as he was figuring these things out, a noise came from below the mound.
Big Head emerged from behind some tree, a half-eaten bone he'd somehow gotten his hands on, dangling from his mouth.
It was probably leftover from the bison hunt last time. It had been sun-dried until it was almost white, and there wasn't even a scrap of meat left. But he was carrying it very carefully, holding his head high as he walked, with a strange confidence in his steps.
He stopped at the foot of the mound, put the bone down, looked up and saw Chen Fei. He paused for a moment, then picked up the bone again and turned to leave.
Chen Fei glanced down at him.
Big Head slowly turned his head back, looking back at him with an innocent expression that said, "I didn't do anything." The bone was still in his mouth, and saliva was dripping down the edge of the bone.
Chen Fei looked away.
Big Head stood at the foot of the mound for a while, and after roughly judging that the threat level was not high, he squatted down and started gnawing on the bone again, gnawing with extreme focus, as if he and the bone were the only two things left in the world.
Another roar came from the direction of the old territory, this time from the light end, the tone was noticeably lighter, with a wandering, nonchalant ending.
Big Head's ear twitched, and he looked up in the direction of the sound before lowering his head again to continue gnawing on the bone.
That's his entire reaction to threats.
Chen Fei sighed inwardly.
Sel walked over from under the acacia tree, stopped beside the mound, sniffed in the direction of the old territory, and then turned to look at Chen Fei with a question in his eyes that didn't need to be asked.
Chen Fei stood up, stepped down from the mound, stopped a step away from Sair, and nudged his nose toward the grass to the east.
The smell of the bison herd is still there.
Sel sniffed in the direction of his movement and understood.
The plan is not to return to the old territory now, but to continue accumulating resources here and make a move when everything is ready.
She paused for two seconds, then lightly brushed her tail across the grass as a response, before turning and walking steadily toward the eastern grass, without hesitation.
Chen Fei followed, walking about half a body length behind her.
Today's hunting target is an old cow in the bison herd that walks with a somewhat unsteady gait. He noticed yesterday that there seemed to be a problem with the joint in her right hind leg, and her center of gravity would unnaturally shift to the left when she walked.
Not a strong prey, but enough for a meal.
The 47-point gap needs to be bridged by at least half today.
[Host: Chen Fei]
[Identity: Sub-adult male lion]
[Energy Points: 453↑]
453 energy points do not represent his combat power; he only has 453 points.
It's totally two different things.
His normal fighting ability is comparable to that of a sub-adult male lion.
Add to that human intelligence, and this combat power becomes rather unpredictable.
Finally, there's the energy point bonus.
Without facing a real life-or-death struggle, Chen Fei himself doesn't know where his limits are.