Chapter 60 King Cobra

Chapter 60 King Cobra

Chu Ye knew that in the future, he had to rely entirely on himself. A person must rely on himself, and being a lion was no different—he had to rely on himself.

These days, the Jike pride was still living a hard life. For a pride with only two lionesses, trying to feed eight lion cubs during the dry season proved to be extremely difficult.

Under such circumstances, Chu Ye knew he should not expect the two lionesses to bring back any good food for him every day. If he wanted to fill his stomach, he had to hunt by himself.

"I am already six months old, and I have been weaned. From now on, I must provide for myself." Chu Ye knew that he needed to look for prey quickly and grow strong as fast as possible. If he wasn't strong enough, he would only end up as someone else's prey.

Thinking about these matters, Chu Ye decided that in the mornings, he would go out hunting on his own. Regardless of whether the lionesses could bring back food, he had to search for food in the vicinity by himself.

Currently, the other lion cubs simply waited for the lionesses to bring food back for them; they practically never hunted on their own.

If lion cubs in a pride were allowed to stay within the pride, they could remain until they were two years old before the male lions drove them out. Only after leaving the pride and beginning a nomadic life would young male lions slowly learn to become independent.

While young male lions were still in the pride, they practically did not hunt at all. Everything relied on the lionesses hunting outside to sustain their lives.

However, when the cubs reached the age of two, they would be driven out of the pride by the resident male lions. From then on, the young lions would become true nomadic male lions, and they would have to rely entirely on themselves to survive.

Chu Ye was only six months old now, and he was still quite far from the age of two. He did not need to worry about living the life of a nomadic male lion just yet. As long as he stayed within the pride, he only needed to solve his own food and shelter problems when there was no food available.

On this particular morning, Chu Ye went out hunting alone.

Across this vast grassland, there were currently no large prey animals available for Chu Ye to hunt. After all, Chu Ye was not capable of hunting exceptionally huge animals either. Given his current size, he could at most hunt some creatures comparable to his own build.

"What should I eat today?"

Chu Ye arrived at a patch of bushes within his pride's territory. This thicket was relatively dense, making Chu Ye feel somewhat safe inside.

"I'll eat whatever I happen to run into! Anyway, my abilities are still quite strong, and ordinary prey cannot defeat me."

Chu Ye believed that with his capabilities, as long as it wasn't a fellow lion of his own species, there was no animal he needed to fear.

Even poisonous snakes, which could strike fear into the hearts of lions, were nothing for Chu Ye to fear. After all, he now possessed the ability to neutralize poisons, and he could casually eat any venomous snake.

Yet, for Chu Ye, he didn't really want to eat venomous snakes. After all, he was a human reborn as a small lion, and he still harbored a certain aversion to creatures like snakes.

However, ever since Chu Ye was reborn as a lion cub, he had lost his extreme revulsion toward snakes. After all, in the eyes of animals, snakes were merely another kind of animal.

Chu Ye walked through the brush, but searched back and forth without encountering any huntable prey.

"Sigh, why is there nothing here at all? Is it really this hard just to get something to eat?!" Chu Ye felt that this place offered no food for him to consume.

Just as Chu Ye was thinking this, he suddenly sensed something rustling in the grass ahead.

"Oh! What is that? Could it be a little springhare?!" Chu Ye hoped there would be a springhare ahead, as he felt rabbit meat tasted quite good.

Thinking of this, Chu Ye immediately rushed forward, hoping to catch a small springhare. But when he arrived, he was dumbfounded.

"Damn it, it's actually a venomous snake."

Chu Ye saw that hidden in the grass ahead was a black venomous snake.

Upon spotting Chu Ye, the venomous snake abruptly raised its head, the skin on both sides of its neck expanding into two wing-like hoods.

The moment he saw this venomous snake, Chu Ye's eyes widened in shock.

"Crap, it's actually a cobra, and moreover, a king cobra." The moment Chu Ye laid eyes on this venomous snake, a wave of fear gripped his heart.

One had to know that this was a king cobra.

King cobras preferred solitude, hunting during the day and hiding in rock crevices or tree hollows to rest at night.

Like other cobras, when threatened, a king cobra would raise the first third of its body, open its mouth to expose its fangs, and stare fixedly at its opponent while monitoring its surroundings.

Once the king cobra believed it was in danger, it would launch an attack without hesitation. Its diet consisted mainly of snakes and lizards, but it also consumed birds, bird eggs, and rodents.

A king cobra's diet typically consisted of other snakes. Because its body contained antitoxic serum, when other venomous snakes bit a king cobra, it usually remained completely unharmed.

Its diet included pythons of suitable size, other venomous and non-venomous snakes such as cobras, banded kraits, many-banded kraits, and rat snakes. When food was scarce, they would even consume other members of their own kind; hence, the king cobra was also known as the "nemesis of snakes."

The king cobra was a highly intelligent snake. They hunted other snakes and could distinguish whether their prey was venomous or not. When preying on non-venomous snakes, the king cobra did not casually use its venom; it would simply bite down and refuse to let go, allowing the prey to struggle and resist until it died before slowly swallowing it.

When preying on venomous snakes, however, it would not act rashly. Instead, it would continuously provoke the opponent. When the target was finally infuriated and launched an attack, the king cobra would deftly dodge. Once the prey was exhausted and had lost the will to fight, the king cobra would seize the opportunity, bite down on the prey's head and neck, and release venom to kill it.

King cobras were agile with flexible heads, capable of striking forward, backward, left, and right, and could even leap vertically to attack objects above their heads.

Once it bit something, it often refused to let go easily. Its venom contained about 100 milligrams of dry venom, while the average lethal dose was 12 milligrams. A bite would trigger swelling, nausea, abdominal pain, respiratory paralysis, speech disorders, and coma within minutes, and a human would inevitably die within half an hour without timely medical treatment.

The venom of a king cobra primarily contained neurotoxins, along with cardiotoxins. The toxin was composed of peptides and proteins.

During an attack, once the venom was injected into the victim's body, the toxins would rapidly assault the victim's central nervous system, causing severe pain, visual impairment, dizziness, lethargy, and paralysis. The victim would enter a state of shock due to cardiovascular system collapse, ultimately dying from respiratory failure and weakened heartbeats. Clinical cases showed that bitten individuals also stood a chance of experiencing renal failure.

Like other venomous snakes, the toxicity test results of king cobra venom varied across different toxicological studies because LD50 data changed with different injection and research methods.

Subcutaneous injection of 1.7 mg/kg, intravenous injection of 1.31 mg/kg, and intraperitoneal injection of 1.644 mg/kg in laboratory mice were relatively frequently cited data.

Another study yielded a result of 1.93 mg/kg (subcutaneous injection) based on five wild Southeast Asian king cobras.

Other studies indicated that the toxicity of the Chinese king cobra was 0.34 mg/kg (intramuscular injection). The toxicity of individuals from different regions might also vary slightly.

A single bite from a king cobra could be rapidly fatal. On average, it could inject 200 to 500 milligrams of venom, with maximum venom secretion reaching up to 7 milliliters. Bitten individuals often required massive amounts of antivenom to combat the snake venom and prevent the toxins from further destroying bodily functions.

There were even claims that the venom injected in a single bite by a king cobra could kill an adult Asian elephant within three hours.

The mortality rate and speed of death after being bitten were influenced by many factors, such as the amount of venom injected by the snake, the location of the bite, and the health condition of the victim. Additionally, surveys conducted by organizations in different regions might yield different answers.

For example, although one webpage reported that king cobras usually injected less than a fatal amount of venom, another snakebite case report published by a South Indian hospital showed that two-thirds of the patients bitten by king cobras were injected with massive amounts of venom, falling into the "critical" category.

Chu Ye also understood a thing or two about the terrifying nature of the king cobra. After all, he used to be a third-tier college student, and he possessed some knowledge about venomous snakes.

When Chu Ye saw this cobra, he wondered whether he should eat it or not.

Yet Chu Ye also doubted whether he could truly immunize himself against this snake's venom. One had to remember that this was a king cobra, arguably one of the most venomous snakes in the world.

"Do I dare to eat this venomous snake?" Chu Ye looked at the snake and pondered this question.

Upon seeing that its opponent was merely a lion cub, the venomous snake apparently did not take Chu Ye seriously at all.

"Humph, with your puny size, do you dare to eat me? Why don't you scurry off and cool your heels! Watch out or I'll bite you to death."

A king cobra was not to be trifled with; on this grassland, very few animals dared to harbor designs on a king cobra.

This king cobra was a gigantic male king cobra, measuring over three meters in length. Its body was as thick as a chicken egg, making it a truly massive specimen.

Looking at such a huge king cobra, Chu Ye couldn't help but swallow his saliva. After all, the two lionesses in Chu Ye's pride hadn't caught any large prey for several days. Yesterday, they had only brought back a single small springhare, which wasn't even enough to pad the resident male lion's stomach, let alone feed the lion cubs.

Chu Ye hadn't eaten anything yesterday either, and could only watch helplessly as the male lion devoured that entire small springhare.