ATPnovel Chapter 24 Discovery
Chapter 24 Discovery
He had played games in his previous life and knew what it felt like to break through an attribute. A value jumps by one level, and the character moves a little faster on the screen. That kind of speed is abstract and numerical.
This isn't a number; this is his own leg.
The wildebeest calf was still running, with the same long stride and high frequency, but it was starting to fall behind. It wasn't that Chen Fei felt it was falling behind, but rather that the sound of its hooves began to move from the front to the side, and then to the rear side in his ears.
He surpassed it.
He cut across about three body lengths in front of it, blocking its escape route. The wildebeest calf stopped abruptly and turned to the right. Chen Fei took advantage of this, lowered his body, and cut in from the side. His right forepaw, hot from the heat, landed on the back of its neck, shifting its center of gravity, biting its neck, and locking it in place.
The wildebeest calf struggled on the grass for less than ten seconds.
Chen Fei stood still, slowly calming his breathing and reviewing the sensations in his limbs.
The heat was still there, evenly distributed in all four legs. It wasn't hot; it was a warm, continuous presence, much more stable than when there was only the right front paw. It was like a stool that had always been missing a leg, but now all four legs were complete.
He mentally compared the speed during the chase with that before and came to the conclusion that he could still catch up with the enemy now, but the distance he could catch up with had increased from fifty meters to nearly one hundred meters, and the energy consumption was lower.
These are not on the same scale.
He lowered his head and began to eat.
[Host: Chen Fei]
[Identity: Sub-adult male lion]
[Energy Points: 517↑]
...
The river crossing took place in the afternoon.
Chen Fei had been studying the crocodiles' activity patterns for nearly three weeks. The afternoon was when they digested their food and basked in the sun, and their level of vigilance towards the water was at its lowest, making it the optimal window for crossing the river.
He led Sail and the lame Big Head into the water from the shallows on the east side of the island. Big Head's right foreleg couldn't exert full force, and he was swept off course two steps in the middle section where the current was stronger. Chen Fei used his shoulder to push him back onto the correct path, and the three lions stepped onto the opposite bank.
The earthy scent of the old territory rose up from my feet, both strange and somewhat familiar.
He swept his breath through his nasal cavity; the scent of the two males covered most of it. The density of the markers on the dark brown mane was very high, indicating that the scent layer had been formed over a long period of time, not just in a day or two.
He walked upstream along the riverbank, looking for a safe place to settle down. Sel was on his right, and Big Head followed behind with a limp, walking a while and then resting.
There was a patch of low bushes on the riverbank. As Chen Fei passed by, a scent suddenly entered his nose.
He stopped.
It wasn't a pair of males, nor was it a strange animal; it was a scent he recognized, but one he hadn't smelled for almost half a month.
He turned his head toward the bushes.
There was a silhouette in the bushes, huddled up, thin, with fur that was similar in color to the withered grass.
There was an even smaller silhouette next to her, close enough to be barely visible.
Meimei?
Chen Fei stood outside the bushes, lowered his nose, and smelled the scent again.
He recognized Mei Mei's scent. After nearly three weeks on the deserted island, her scent had been added to his long-term file. This scent matched the one in the file, but it was fainter than the last time he smelled it.
The way you're handling it is wrong!
It's not that the distance makes the scent fainter; it's that the intensity of the scent itself has decreased, like a candle that has been burning for a long time—the wick is still there, but the flame has shrunk.
Mild dehydration, decreased physical strength, and prolonged stress.
The smaller one next to it had a more subtle scent, a mixture of the unique milky smell and urine odor of a cub.
Chen Fei mentally processed the smell.
It matches up! It's that stingy girl, that four-month-old female cub. She's in the scent file.
She was in the group when they fled, and this was the level of her scent before she disappeared.
Alive.
Chen Fei circled halfway around the bushes to make sure there were no unusual signs before slowly approaching from the front.
The commotion in the bushes paused for a second, then a head turned out from between the dry grass. It was Xiaoqi. She sniffed it, then pulled it back, sniffed it again, and pulled it back again. Finally, she poked half her body out, her big, round eyes staring at Chen Fei, her expression somewhere between recognizing him and being unsure.
Meimei raised her head.
There was something in her eyes that Chen Fei couldn't accurately describe with animal vocabulary. It wasn't entirely the surprise of being recognized, nor entirely the relaxation after escaping danger. It was a mixture of both, plus the exhaustion from hiding alone for half a month and enduring the ordeal with the cubs. The emotions that surfaced seemed very thin and restrained.
She kept her gaze fixed on Chen Fei's face for a second longer than usual, without looking away.
Chen Fei caught that gaze without looking away. Two seconds later, he tilted his head to the right of the bushes, indicating that he was coming out.
Just then, the rhythm of three-legged walking came from behind. Big Head limped over on his right front leg, walking excitedly. When he reached the edge of the bushes, he suddenly made eye contact with the stingy guy, and the two froze for a second.
The stingy guy got angry.
She spread her limbs, her fur stood on end, and she let out a small, sharp hiss. Her whole body swelled up almost a full circle. If it weren't for her short tail, this action would have been very intimidating.
Big Head took a half step back, tilted his head, looked at the cub that was only a quarter of his own size, and then looked at Chen Fei, his expression one of pure confusion as if asking, "What is this thing?"
Chen Fei ignored him and turned to the bushes, waiting for Mei Mei to bring the stingy guy out.
During nursing, cubs will perceive any unfamiliar scent as a threat; this is instinct, not cognition.
Chen Fei made a mental note, then put it down because he had something more important to do.
He continued walking downstream along the riverbank, thoroughly examining the air.
About fifty meters downstream, in a low-lying area, there was a scent hidden beneath the smell of withered grass. It was very deep, and had been deliberately suppressed by the owner, but traces of it still remained.
Chen Fei paused at the edge of that odor, breaking down its components for analysis—
High levels of residual adrenaline indicate severe stress. The wound smells like early-stage putrefaction, indicating a superficial wound that did not damage internal organs, but significant blood loss and physical exertion below 60% of normal levels.
It's the scent that hides after an injury.
Chen Fei matched the smell with the files in his memory, drew a conclusion, and then stood there for three seconds, letting the matter pass through his mind.
The injured male lion has two sets of instinctive reactions.
One type is an attack, triggered by stress, attacking whatever it sees;
Another strategy is concealment, a survival option when physical strength is insufficient, which involves suppressing one's presence to the minimum so that the enemy cannot detect one's presence.
The fact that the Lion King chose the second set shows that he was aware of his current condition and did not play recklessly.
Chen Fei did not approach immediately. He circled to the right and moved to the upwind side of the low-lying area, letting his aura arrive first.
The commotion in the low-lying area paused for a moment, followed by a slow, hesitant sound of someone getting up.