Chapter 26: The Cobra

Chapter 26: The Cobra

Jike did not take the pack of wild dogs nearby to heart. Having defeated hyenas, he felt these wild dogs were of no consequence. He likely felt the pack would never dare to target his pride, and he saw no reason to worry about their presence.

However, one cub in Jike’s pride was deeply concerned: Chu Ye. He never imagined that after the hyenas moved away, a pack of wild dogs would move in to take their place.

"Damn it, will these wild dogs target us cubs?" Chu Ye worried. It was the dry season, a time when anything could happen. "I have to find a way to deal with them."

Initially, Chu Ye had hoped to teach the other cubs to climb trees. If they could climb, they would have a refuge from hyenas, wild dogs, or rogue lions. But the cubs were a disappointment; after days of practice, they made no progress. Only Little Black could barely reach the treetop, while the others could not climb at all. This failure placed immense pressure on Chu Ye to find another solution.

"Climbing isn't enough; I need to master other skills," he thought. To protect the others, he needed to learn techniques that could help the three adult lions defeat invaders. But what could he learn? He was still too small, and against absolute strength, combat techniques often felt like mere posturing.

While he pondered this, a new crisis emerged. For several nights, the two lionesses had failed to hunt, plunging the entire pride into the panic of starvation. Without meat, the lionesses had no milk for the cubs. Chu Ye’s stomach rumbled incessantly. Even Jike had joined the hunt the previous night, but a cunning adult warthog had managed to escape them all.

By this morning, the two lionesses and Jike lay beneath a large tree, their eyes filled with despair. The cubs whimpered around the lionesses, begging for milk, but the mothers had gone days without food and had nothing to give. Chu Ye did not cry out; he knew it would be futile.

"I have to find my own food," he decided. The adults were exhausted and sleeping, needing to rest until they could try hunting again at night. The other eight cubs, having given up on nursing, eventually curled up against their mothers, too weak even to play.

Seeing that everyone was asleep, Chu Ye slipped away. He could no longer rely on the pride; he had to fend for himself. If there was no milk, he would eat meat.

He crept into the nearby brush. He dared not stray far from the pride, hoping only to try his luck nearby. He remembered seeing a small mouse—an elephant shrew—in these bushes when he had discovered the killer bees previously.

But when he arrived, the bushes were silent. There were no shrews, only a few grasshoppers hopping about. "I suppose I’ll have to settle for grasshoppers," Chu Ye thought, preparing to hunt them.

Just then, he heard a hissing sound, like something sliding across the ground. Curious, he crept forward and was shocked to find a cobra. The snake had a small elephant shrew in its jaws.

"So that’s why I couldn't find any mice; this venomous snake got to them first," Chu Ye sighed with envy. The cobra noticed the cub but showed no fear. It knew a lion cub—even an adult lion—would not dare provoke a venomous snake. Unbothered, the cobra finished off its prey with a small dose of venom and swallowed the shrew right in front of him.

Chu Ye drooled, his own stomach growling in hunger. "Forget it, I’ll stick to grasshoppers." Just as he turned to leave, he heard the nearby bushes rustle.

"Huh? What’s that? Could it be something I can catch? Maybe a springhare—I could ambush it and have a rabbit dinner," he dreamed, his mouth watering as he quickly ducked into the bushes to hide.