The Evolutionary Path of the Lion

Chapter 20 Nighttime Variables

The daytime passed quickly.

Just as the sun was setting, the smell changed.

It didn't change suddenly; it seeped in slowly, like a fine needle drilling deep into the nasal cavity.

Chen Fei didn't move immediately. He first pricked up his ears, listened to the sounds around him, and then pushed his nose towards the wind, trying to pinpoint the source of the smell in his mind.

Leopard.

It's no longer in the bushes; it's on the east side, about forty meters from the acacia tree, and it's still moving.

Chen Fei opened his eyes. The moonlight cast a pale gray hue on the grass, reducing visibility, but he didn't need his eyes to locate the leopard's movements. He turned his head and calculated the leopard's direction of movement.

The path was straight, the destination was clear, and it faced the eastern grassland where the bison herd was resting.

He stood up, shook his body, and a mosquito that had been hovering near his ear for a long time was shaken away by the movement.

Beside him, Sel was half-awake, her ears perked up and her nostrils flaring slightly, clearly aware of the leopard's movements. She turned to the side, shifting her gaze eastward, her hind legs already bracing for the attack.

Chen Fei gently nudged her with his shoulder, signaling her to stay where she was.

Sel's hind legs stopped, but they didn't relax completely, remaining in a state where they could get up at any moment.

Chen Fei walked to the east side, keeping his footsteps light and landing where the grass was sparse, minimizing the noise.

Leopards have a different hunting logic than lions.

Lions fight in a cooperative manner, relying on encirclement and driving to exhaust their prey and then looking for an opportunity to bite their necks.

Leopards are purely ambush predators, relying on darkness and stillness to blend into the grass and wait for prey to enter their attack range before striking them down in one fell swoop.

Chase beyond thirty meters is usually abandoned because the effort is not worthwhile.

This hunting logic has a fatal flaw—

It requires that the prey cannot detect it in advance. Once discovered, the entire ambush plan is nullified, and the leopard usually retreats directly without giving chase.

The problem is that the process of being discovered is often not quiet.

The stress response of a bison herd is a coordinated effort across the entire group. When one bison senses a threat, the whole herd initiates a collective defense, stomping its hooves, growling, and collectively pressing down. The commotion can be heard for nearly a kilometer in the quiet night.

This was the only herd of bison on the deserted island, and they would be their only source of food for the next few days.

If the bison herd's stress levels spike tonight, the hunting window for tomorrow and the day after will essentially be closed.

Chen Fei went through this logic in his mind and quickened his pace a little.

He stopped about twenty meters away from the leopard.

The moonlight was sufficient to make out the leopard's silhouette. It was crouching low, almost touching the ground, moving slowly on all fours. Its spots blended into the shadows of the grass, giving it a camouflage ability that far surpassed that of Da Tou, a difference of an entire species.

Thirty meters ahead, a herd of bison was densely packed at the edge of the reeds, with several cows standing on the outer ring, their horns pointing outwards. One of them was grazing with its head down, completely unaware of what was happening.

The leopard is still advancing.

Twenty-five meters, twenty meters. It chose a calf that landed slightly behind the outer circle as its target. The angle was precise, and the distance was fifteen meters away. Three more steps and it would be within the take-off range.

Chen Fei did not wait any longer.

He didn't rush forward or make a sound; he simply stood up straight, pushing all his oppressive aura forward so that the wind could precisely deliver his scent into the leopard's nostrils.

The leopard froze.

His entire body froze on the grass, even his breathing stopped, and his ears slowly turned toward Chen Fei.

Chen Fei pressed his aura forward another layer, not with anger, not with warning, but with a calm and undeniable presence.

The heat was stored in the right front paw, pushed halfway up, but not released outwards.

No need.

The leopard remained still on the grass for about four seconds, then slowly turned its head to the side and glanced at Chen Fei with one eye.

Chen Fei didn't move.

Two seconds later, the leopard slowly lifted its body from the ground, without any hasty movements, with an extremely restrained posture, and took one step towards the bushes, then another, its steps carrying a silence that was hard to define as either frustration or resignation.

It went back.

The bison herd was unaware.

The cows on the outer ring continued to stand, their calves nestled at their feet, not raising their heads. The breathing rhythm of the entire herd remained unchanged. Nothing had happened on the grassland at night, except for the wind pushing in from the east, carrying the scent of reeds and river mud.

Chen Fei stood there for a while, then pushed the heat back down.

He mentally reviewed the past few minutes.

Leopards are intelligent hunters, but their intelligence is instinct-driven. If an ambush fails, they retreat and look for another opportunity. The entire logic does not include the variable of "whether this failure will affect the state of the target next time".

It doesn't put tonight's retreat and tomorrow's hunting window for the bison herd into the same equation.

This is the most fundamental difference between it and Chen Fei.

It's not about combat strength, it's about the different levels of information processing.

...

Chen Fei walked back towards the acacia tree. Sel was still in the same spot, half-squatting, his ears still perked up, waiting for him to return.

Chen Fei sat down next to her and leaned his shoulder towards her.

Sel lowered his head, gently pressed his chin against his earlobe, paused for two seconds, then looked away and turned his gaze back to the grass on the east side.

It was very quiet over there; the bison herd's breathing was even and steady, and the whole herd was present.

Chen Fei closed his eyes again, lowered his ears, and turned his attention away from the east, focusing on the direction of sleep.

Just then, a sound came from the grass on the east side.

It wasn't loud, it sounded like something rolled across the grass, followed by a series of rapid snorting sounds, a few indistinct low hums, and a very bewildered pause.

Then came the voice of Big Head, a bewildered groan emanating from a creature forcibly pulled from deep sleep by some kind of scent.

After the bison herd moved eastward, they left behind a large amount of dung accumulated over several days on the eastern grassland. As the temperature dropped at night, the odor remained trapped on the ground and did not dissipate, making it nearly three times more concentrated than during the day. The entire eastern grassland was now a large accumulation zone of bison dung.

Big Head probably rolled to the east while he was asleep.

Chen Fei opened his eyes a crack and looked eastward.

Big Head was sitting on the grass, head down, nose wrinkled, sniffing the air around him, then looking to the left and right. His face was blank, as if he had just been hit by reality and hadn't yet reacted. His ears were crooked and his tail was listlessly draped on the grass.

He sat there for about three seconds, then slowly got up, moved his body away from the smell of feces, took two steps, lay down on the grass again, buried his face in his front paws, and let out a short, low growl, announcing that he had returned to sleep.

Chen Fei looked away and closed his eyes again.

Before dawn, the wind changed direction.

A fresh, earthy scent blew in from the direction of the old territory. It wasn't the earthy smell of dry grass, but the smell of damp soil dug by claws. It was fresh, indicating that it had been dug up no more than half a day ago.

Chen Fei located the scent in his mind.

The source wasn't the riverbank edge, but the riverbank soil layer, near the waterline. The soil there has a high moisture content, and the scent spreads quickly after being dug up by claws. The fact that it could be detected indicates that the other party marked the area near the waterline.

The two men are measuring the water depth.

Or rather, one of them is already probing for a place to land to cross the river.

Chen Fei opened his eyes and, in the gray-blue light before dawn, carefully reviewed the atmosphere of the old territory once more.

Dark brown mane, light type, both auras are present, both located near the riverbank, but in different intensities; the light aura is fresher and closer to the waterline.

It's lightweight and easy to test.

Five days may not be enough.

He redistributed his weight on the grass, pressing his hind legs firmly and straightening his back to fully wake himself up.

[Host: Chen Fei]

[Identity: Sub-adult male lion]

[Energy Points: 491↑]

It's almost nine o'clock; this must be resolved today.