Chapter 62 Puff Adder

The king cobra was extremely pleased, feeling certain that as long as it managed to bite Chu Ye, it would surely poison him and quickly cause him to collapse unconscious on the ground.

However, to the king cobra's utter astonishment, even though it had successfully bitten Chu Ye, the young lion remained perfectly fine, showing no signs of trouble at all.

"Damn it, what is going on? Didn't I just bite this little lion? Why is it completely unaffected?" The king cobra could not comprehend it in the slightest.

Yet Chu Ye cared not a whit about whether the king cobra could figure it out; instead, he immediately began to attack and tear into the serpent.

Initially, the king cobra had believed that biting Chu Ye would instantly claim the lion's life. But after it bit him, Chu Ye reacted as if nothing had happened at all—as if the strike had never landed.

This left the king cobra utterly baffled.

For Chu Ye, however, he cared not what was running through the snake's mind; his sole intention was to devour this serpent.

Thus, Chu Ye set upon the king cobra, tearing fiercely into its body. From the king cobra's perspective, this should not have been happening; it felt that Chu Ye ought to have been terrified and fleeing for his life at the mere sight of it.

Yet after exchanging blows with Chu Ye, the snake realized to its horror that this was no ordinary lion, but a remarkably formidable one.

"Good grief, I've run into some kind of miraculous little lion today! How can it be completely immune to my venom? This is utterly absurd."

The king cobra simply could not fathom why Chu Ye was impervious to its poison, a phenomenon that went against every law of nature.

Regardless of its confusion, the cold reality was that it was losing the fight against Chu Ye.

"This is bad, I need to get out of here right now! This little monster is too strong, I'm no match for it."

Realizing that it could not defeat Chu Ye and that the young lion completely disregarded its venom, the king cobra decided that retreat was its only option. If it did not flee immediately, it would undoubtedly be killed by Chu Ye.

With that thought, the snake attempted to make its escape.

However, how could Chu Ye possibly let it get away?

"Hah, you think you can just run off? What am I supposed to have for breakfast then?"

Seeing the king cobra trying to slither away, Chu Ye immediately gave chase.

Sensing the pursuit, the king cobra frantically tried to drill its way into a patch of tall grass.

But Chu Ye was not about to let it slip away. In a flash, he lunged forward and clamped his jaws firmly around the snake's tail.

The king cobra struggled desperately, pushing harder into the grass, but Chu Ye refused to loosen his grip, holding on with tenacious strength.

Although the king cobra was desperate to escape, its physical power was no match for Chu Ye's. With a mighty tug, the young lion dragged the serpent right back out of the thicket.

Realizing it had been pulled out into the open, the king cobra whipped its head around and struck viciously at Chu Ye's neck once more.

Yet Chu Ye remained entirely unbothered, letting the snake bite him as much as it pleased without a single worry.

This was because the king cobra had already depleted nearly all of its venom; even if it managed to sink its fangs into Chu Ye now, it could no longer inject any poison into his body.

Indifferent to the futile assault, Chu Ye waited until the snake had latched onto his neck, then released its tail and countered by biting down hard on the serpent's own neck.

That spelled the absolute end for the king cobra. With just a slight exertion of force, Chu Ye snapped the snake's neck cleanly, and the reptile perished almost instantly.

And so, Chu Ye commenced his breakfast. This large, spicy-looking noodle of a snake served as his morning meal, and he eagerly set about savoring its flavor.

The king cobra was over three meters long and as thick as a chicken egg. For Chu Ye, it was a lavish feast, more than enough to fill his stomach completely.

Gulping down the meal with ravenous speed, Chu Ye finished the entire snake in no time at all.

With his belly full, Chu Ye felt a surge of boundless energy coursing through his limbs. As he ambled through the tall grass, he wondered if he might stumble across another venomous snake.

Naturally, walking through the grasslands often brought one into contact with poisonous serpents. While other young lions would flee in terror at the sight of one, Chu Ye viewed them not as threats, but as prey to be hunted, killed, and eaten.

"I'm already full. Perhaps I should catch another venomous snake and bring it back for the other cubs, letting them experience the taste of snake meat as well."

Chu Ye cared deeply for the pride he belonged to. Although he was still just a young lion himself, barely capable of looking after his own survival, his thoughts turned to his companions once his own hunger was satisfied.

Determined, he continued to scan the grassy expanse in search of another snake.

Initially, he figured that venomous snakes weren't so easily found, and that encountering the first one had been purely a matter of good luck.

Finding a second one so soon shouldn't be very likely.

Yet, to his pleasant surprise, after walking barely a few dozen paces forward, he caught sight of yet another serpent.

"Haha, this patch of grass really is crawling with venomous snakes!" Chu Ye thought, spotting the new creature ahead.

This serpent was not a cobra, but a different kind of snake—one extremely common across the African continent: the puff adder.

The puff adder, also known as the African puff adder, is a venomous viper species widely distributed throughout most of Africa. They are ovoviviparous and possess an extraordinary reproductive capacity.

Averaging around one meter in length and possessing a robust, thick-bodied build, they favor open grasslands and savannas, are generally nocturnal, move rapidly when provoked, and exhibit a high degree of aggressiveness. They inhabit the savannas and grasslands extending from Morocco and the western Arabian Peninsula across the Sahara and throughout sub-Saharan Africa, excluding dense rainforest zones.

Due to their widespread distribution, frequent presence, large size, potent venom, and readiness to strike, puff adders are responsible for more fatalities than any other African snake. Currently, two subspecies are recognized.

An adult puff adder averages one meter in length and is stoutly built, with the largest recorded specimens reaching up to 1.9 meters long, weighing over six kilograms, and measuring 40 centimeters in girth. Specimens found in Saudi Arabia tend to be smaller, generally under 80 centimeters.

Males are typically larger than females and possess longer tails. The head of a puff adder is somewhat triangular, thick, and blunt, noticeably broader than the neck. The scales around the mouth are small, with 10 to 16 scales bordering the orbit, and 7 to 11 interorbital scales across the top of the head.

The space between the eye and the upper lip is separated by 3 to 4 scales, while the upper and lower lips feature 13 to 17 scales, the first 3 to 4 of the lower lip connecting to the chin shields.

Each maxillary bone carries two functional fangs. The dorsal scales range from 29 to 41 rows, all distinctly keeled except for the outermost row.

There are approximately 123 to 127 ventral scales, and 14 to 38 subcaudal scales, with females having fewer than 24 subcaudals. The anal plate is single. The coloration of the puff adder varies according to its geographic region. Two distinct dark bands mark the head: one across the crown and another between the eyes. Two dark diagonal stripes run from the eyes to the upper lip. The underside of the head is yellowish-white with scattered dark spots.

The color of the pupils ranges from gold to silver-gray. The body coloration spans straw-yellow to pale brown, orange, or reddish-brown, marked with 18 to 22 dark brown to black chevron patterns extending down to the tip of the tail.

These markings are generally chevron-shaped, sometimes approaching a U-shape, with 2 to 6 crossbands on the tail. In some populations, brown and black speckling overwhelms the base coloration, giving the snake an almost entirely rusty-brown or black appearance.

The belly is yellowish or white, accented with sparse dark spots. Juveniles feature golden-yellow markings on the head, while the scales extending from the belly to the flanks are pinkish to red.

Generally speaking, puff adders display duller coloration, though specimens from the East African highlands and South Africa's Cape Province exhibit vibrant yellow and black patterns.

Puff adders are arguably the most common venomous snakes in Africa, inhabiting most regions south of the Sahara down to the Cape of Good Hope, as well as parts of the Arabian Peninsula, including southwestern Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

They are absent from dense rainforest regions, such as the coasts of West Africa and Central Africa, as well as the Mediterranean coastal strip and North Africa. In the Arabian Peninsula, their northernmost recorded range reaches Taif, and they are also found in Dhofar in southern Oman.

Aside from true deserts and dense rainforests, puff adders can be found in virtually all other habitats, frequently frequenting rocky grasslands.

Puff adders rely heavily on camouflage for defense. Their primary method of locomotion is rectilinear movement, utilizing their broad belly scales and body weight to glide forward in a caterpillar-like motion.

When disturbed, however, they can shift to standard serpentine movement, traveling at astonishing speeds. Though terrestrial creatures, when cornered, puff adders produce a loud, continuous hissing sound while coiling tightly with the upper half of their body raised in an S-curve, drawing backward to secure a defensive position.

They may launch a lightning-fast strike before immediately snapping back into a defensive posture, ready for the next attack. Their strikes are delivered with tremendous force, and their long fangs sink deep, capable of causing fatal trauma through physical impact alone.

Their strikes can penetrate soft leather, and their striking range can reach up to one-third of their total body length.

Juvenile snakes hurl their entire bodies forward when attacking. They rarely coil around prey; instead, they release their victims almost instantly and snap back into a ready stance.

Primarily nocturnal, puff adders rarely forage actively, preferring instead to lie in ambush for unsuspecting prey, which includes mammals, birds, amphibians, and lizards.

The moment Chu Ye laid eyes on the serpent before him, a flicker of tension arose within him. After all, this was a truly formidable and dangerous predator.