The Evolutionary Path of the Lion

Chapter 22 The Lion Takes the Water

The sound of water rose for the second time before dawn.

Unlike last night, which was a tentative, short, and intermittent exploration, like touching water with a claw to feel the flow.

Today, the sound of water was continuous, with a louder splash as it entered the water, carrying a rhythmic forward momentum. It rang every four or five seconds, interspersed with the low, rumbling sound of water being parted.

They're not measuring the water depth anymore.

They were wading through water.

Chen Fei turned his right ear almost ninety degrees toward the river, lowering the angle of his earlobe to filter out the rustling of the reeds and the panting of the wildebeest herd in the distance, focusing all his attention on the sound of the water.

Lightweight, it's officially launched.

A lion's ears operate independently; the left and right auricles can rotate independently without interfering with each other. This allows it to isolate a specific sound source from the background noise in a noisy environment, with a positioning accuracy of no more than a few steps within a 300-meter range.

Chen Fei didn't have these ears in his previous life, but he does now. After using them for nearly three weeks, he still hasn't fully adapted to the precision. Occasionally, his brain is still fighting because both ears receive sounds from different directions at the same time.

But today, you don't need to use both ears at the same time; you only need your right ear and focus on the sound of the water on the river surface.

He adjusted the angle of his right ear twice, pinpointing the sound source to about 35 meters below the upstream reef area. The location of the shallows where the sound entered the water was consistent with his calculations from the previous night.

They all chose the same landing point.

The rhythm of the water told him more: the depth of the immersion was no more than belly-deep, the pace was slow, and there were brief pauses before each step, indicating that the lion was sensing the underwater terrain and judging whether it could land firmly on the next step. This was not an impulsive lion forcing its way across the river; it was a planned reconnaissance.

Lightly navigate the entire route through this shallow area, figuring out the landing point of each step.

Chen Fei mentally went through the process of thinking about it.

Today's trip isn't about crossing the river, it's about scouting the location.

After scouting the location, we'll go back and bring the two with the dark brown mane tomorrow or the day after.

In other words, the time left for him is not five days, not three days, but two days.

A soft sound came from the grass.

The noise wasn't from the bison herd; it came from about twenty meters to the right of the acacia tree. The sound was very faint, like something had slipped and tripped at the edge of the grass, followed by a short, low moo, clearly indicating an element of surprise.

Chen Fei shifted half of his attention from the river to the direction of the acacia tree.

The aura of a big head.

He turned his head to that side, pushing his gaze across into the morning light.

Big Head was standing on the right edge of the mound, his right foreleg raised but not touching the ground. He lowered his head and brought his nose close to his right foreleg to look at it. His expression was one of bewilderment after being offended by reality. His ears were tilted to one side and one side forward.

There was a claw mark on the ground, but the depth was wrong. It was left after someone lost their balance and stepped into a hole. There were also a few torn blades of grass nearby, freshly broken, indicating that the incident had just occurred.

There is a shallow pit at the edge of the mound, a hoofprint made by a herd of bison migrating eastward. It is covered by grass, so its depth is not visible.

Big Head was probably chasing something when he stepped into that hoofprint.

Chen Fei glanced around the hoofprints and saw a lizard disappear into the grass at the highest speed its species could achieve.

Da Tou slowly lowered his right front leg, landed, and took a step forward. His gait immediately became problematic. The landing point of his right front leg was light, and his center of gravity consciously shifted to the left. This was an instinctive protective action, indicating that his right front leg was experiencing discomfort when it was under stress.

It's twisted.

It wasn't a fracture, it was a sprain, but the sprain would completely disable his movement for the next three days, let alone allow him to participate in any actions that required explosive power.

Chen Fei mentally placed this matter alongside the sound of the river.

On the right, Lightly is making its way to the shallows, arriving within two days with its dark brown mane.

On the left, Da Tou twisted his right front leg and needs someone to take care of him. He can't move around randomly, and he can't be allowed to try any movements on his own in the next few days.

With two things happening at the same time, there was only one place he could stay.

He quickly went through the options in his mind because there was only one option—stay here, continue to monitor Qingqiao's crossing route, and keep Datou's situation in mind, so he could go see him after Qingqiao retreated.

When you look at Da Tou, he has to pull his right ear back from the river surface, and then the sound of the water stops, and the complete sequence of footsteps that he walked today is gone.

That information, in the next two days, may be more important than Big Head's right foreleg.

He adjusted the angle of his right ear back to face the river.

The sound of water is still there, and the light-footed person continues to wade forward.

Big Head moved a few steps toward the mound, and the limp in his right foreleg became more and more obvious. He lowered his head, placed his right foreleg on the grass, lifted it up, and then placed it down again, as if testing whether the leg could still be used. The test result was obviously not satisfactory to him. He stopped, leaned his whole body to the left, used three legs to maintain his balance, and sat down on the grass.

Then he raised his head and glanced in Chen Fei's direction.

Chen Fei did not move.

Big Head waited for about five seconds, then lowered his head again and began licking his right front paw, licking very seriously, as if that would solve the problem.

Sel walked over from the acacia tree, sat down next to Big Head, and gently touched Big Head's right front leg with her nose. Big Head flinched. Sel lowered her head and touched it again. This time Big Head didn't move, so she checked.

After looking at him for about ten seconds, Sel raised his head and glanced in Chen Fei's direction, his eyes questioning.

Chen Fei tilted his chin slightly towards the ground, signaling her to stay where she was and watch Big Head.

Sel looked away, lowered his head again, and used his tongue to lick Big Head's leg.

Big Head's ears tucked back, then slowly stood up. Its tail twitched slightly on the grass, and it stopped struggling, letting Sel handle it.

The sound of the river water was moving forward.

Chen Fei followed the sound with his right ear, memorizing the landing point of each light step he took.

The first step is to enter the shallows, where the water is about waist-deep and the terrain is firm enough to stand on.

The second step involves moving forward about one meter. There are hidden rocks on the bottom of the water. The right foot lands slightly off-center, and there is a slight pause for nearly three seconds, indicating that this step needs adjustment.

From step three to step six, the water sound rhythm is stable and the terrain is flat. This section is the main body of the shallows and is the safest.

Step 7: Pause, lasting nearly eight seconds, something's up here.

Chen Fei marked the eight-second pause in his mind.

Prolonged pauses usually have two causes: a sudden change in terrain, or the perception of a threat.

He could rule out changes in the underwater topography, and he had already calculated the topography of the main section of the shoal, so there wouldn't be a sudden problem in the seventh step.

That is, what was perceived.

He lowered the angle of his right ear by one degree, separating the sound layers from the river surface.

The sound of flowing water, the sound of water seeping from the roots of the reeds, and then another sound, very low and slow, like something large moving slowly underwater, a dull, low-frequency vibration of water being pushed aside, not on the surface, but below the surface.

Crocodile.

Chen Fei mentally reviewed the map of the shallows again.

The shallows are safe, as Nile crocodiles do not like to lie in wait in waters that are not deep enough to reach their bellies, as these areas are not secluded enough for them to remain completely still.

However, there is a deep bay on the right side of the main shoal, where the water depth suddenly increases. It is the boundary between the entrance to the shoal and the deep water area. That kind of terrain is the crocodile's favorite ambush point. It can rush into the shoal to attack or retreat into the deep water to disappear.

By the time you lightly walk to the seventh step, you should have already entered Deep Water Bay's effective attack range.

It stopped, but stopping doesn't mean it's safe. Crocodiles have more patience than any savanna hunter; they can stay motionless underwater for up to four hours, waiting for their prey to lower its guard before making their move.

After pausing for eight seconds on the seventh step, she lightly took the eighth step forward.

Then the river exploded.

The sound of the water instantly changed from stillness to a deafening roar. The splashing, the deep roar, and the sharp scraping of claws against the rocks on the shallows all blended together, spreading along the river to both banks. The birds in the reeds were startled by the noise and fluttered up into the sky.