Chapter 66: Two Stray Dogs Have Arrived

Chapter 66: Two Wild Dogs Arrive

Therefore, for the animals on the vast savanna, they never take the time to savor the taste of their food; instead, they simply bolt it down ravenously rather than chewing it slowly.

If Chu Ye were an ordinary lion cub, upon catching a wild hare, he probably would have finished it in a flash. After all, ordinary carnivores compete with one another when eating, meaning they have to eat quickly.

However, for Chu Ye, there was no need to rush, because he was both a lion and a human. As a human, one must eat slowly.

The dining style humans emphasize is chewing carefully and eating slowly. Only in this way can one fully appreciate the deliciousness of food while also benefiting one's health.

Chewing slowly reduces the burden on the stomach, allowing the food to stay in the stomach for a shorter period.

In short, the reason humans chew their food slowly is that we do not need to worry about anyone else snatching our food while we are eating; we can comfortably take our time finishing our meals.

For the animals on the savanna, however, it is entirely different. Surviving on the savanna requires a bandit-like strategy of existence.

In the animal world, there is no such thing as fairness or justice, nor are there laws and regulations to restrict their behavior.

On the savanna, all animals live by instinct. Everything they do is merely to survive in this vast grassland.

To humans, certain cruel behaviors of animals seem incomprehensible, as if animals are inherently cruel.

In reality, an animal's cruelty is merely for the sake of survival. If they were not cruel, they would starve to death.

Carnivores killing herbivores is a completely natural course of things. Yet, to human eyes, it feels cruel because it involves killing—a "cruel" act.

However, if carnivores did not eat herbivores, wouldn't they starve to death? Since nature has ordained them to make a living by eating meat, they must eat meat.

If you were to make lions eat grass, they wouldn't survive for long. Conversely, if you were to make buffalo eat meat, they wouldn't last long either.

Carnivores eating herbivores is completely natural and has nothing to do with cruelty. All cruel things can also happen in human society; they just do not happen as frequently.

As a human being reborn as a lion cub, Chu Ye's actions and thoughts naturally bore the imprint of a human; he could never be purely a lion cub.

Now that Chu Ye had caught a springhare, he did not behave like other lion cubs, who would frantically devour their food the moment they saw it.

In this place, Chu Ye was the only lion cub around. Having caught a springhare, he could leisurely savor its taste amidst the grass.

Just like other carnivores, Chu Ye ate the springhare's internal organs first, followed by the meat on its four limbs.

"Mmm, this springhare meat is truly delicious, far better than that of the venomous snake or the meerkat."

Chu Ye slowly savored the flavor of the springhare, feeling that it tasted much better than the meat of other animals.

Of course, this might just be psychological. After all, deep down, he felt that rabbit meat tasted better than snake or meerkat meat.

"Rabbit meat is truly delicious. I must hunt and eat more rabbits in the future."

While eating the rabbit meat, Chu Ye resolved to consume more rabbit meat hereafter, simply because he psychologically preferred it over the meat of other creatures.

Naturally, this was because Chu Ye possessed a human soul and was inevitably influenced by human habits when eating.

Just like how humans instinctively feel that rabbit meat tastes better than snake meat or the meat of other small omnivorous animals.

"Hehehe! Hehehe!..."

Just as Chu Ye was savoring the rabbit meat and was about to finish it, he suddenly heard the strange call of an animal in the distance.

Although the sound was peculiar, Chu Ye immediately recognized what kind of animal it belonged to.

"Damn, some wild dogs are here."

Upon hearing those snickering sounds, Chu Ye knew wild dogs were approaching.

The calls of wild dogs are quite distinct. They rarely emit loud or long, drawn-out howls; instead, they usually make sounds that resemble a muffled, snickering chuckle.

A pack of wild dogs lived on this vast savanna—specifically, the wild dog pack ruled by Kurt and Larry.

This pack of wild dogs was currently having a very difficult time. After all, they had more than a dozen pups to raise, which was a heavy burden for any pack.

The wild dog pack led by Kurt had to go out hunting almost every day because they needed an immense amount of food. If they skipped hunting for a single day, their pups would go hungry.

This morning, Kurt had led his army of wild dogs out hunting once again.

Only this time, they were not gathered together in a single group. This was because they could only hunt small animals now, rather than large herbivores.

Since it was the dry season, the herbivores on the savanna had migrated elsewhere. Although large herbivores like buffalo had not yet left, they too would soon depart.

Wild dogs are generally incapable of hunting large prey like buffalo, unless they happen to stumble upon old, weak, sick, or injured ones. Against adult buffalo, wild dogs are utterly helpless.

This morning, Kurt led his pack to wander across the savanna. Initially, they had wanted to hunt baboons. However, ever since losing a few infants last time, the baboons had become extremely vigilant and refused to give the wild dogs any opportunities.

Consequently, the wild dogs had no choice but to search for smaller animals. The only small animals they were currently capable of hunting were creatures like wild hares.

Yet, when hunting small prey like hares, there was no need for the pack to stay concentrated. Hares were so small that a single wild dog could handle one easily. Gathering together would serve no purpose.

Only by scattering and searching for hares independently could they hope to encounter any; if they stayed clustered together, it would be much harder to stumble upon them.

Therefore, Kurt had ordered his wild dog army to scatter and search for traces of hares among the grass.

Of course, even when dispersed, they did not wander off entirely alone; they hunted in small groups of two or three.

Even so, they spent half the day without encountering a single hare. But just then, two wild dogs suddenly caught the scent of blood drifting from the grass ahead—the very scent of the hares they were looking for.

Catching this scent immediately excited the two wild dogs. Having searched for hares without success for so long, stumbling upon the scent now sent a surge of excitement through them.

"Hehehe! Hehehe!..."

The two wild dogs trotted toward their target while emitting their characteristic calls.

They were a pair of male wild dogs that had not eaten anything for several days. Catching the bloody scent of a hare acted on them like adrenaline, making them eager to taste rabbit meat immediately.

Soon, the two wild dogs arrived right in front of Chu Ye.

Chu Ye was still sitting there, finishing his rabbit meat.

Upon seeing him, the two wild dogs realized it was just a small lion cub eating a rabbit. The hare was quite plump; Chu Ye had only finished the internal organs, and plenty of meat remained on the limbs.

Normally, Chu Ye could have finished the hare quickly, but because he wanted to savor its flavor, he had been eating it slowly.

Because of this, he had ended up waiting right into the arrival of the two wild dogs.

Discovering that a small lion cub had caught a rabbit and was feasting on it, the two wild dogs were beyond thrilled.

After all, Chu Ye was merely a six-month-old cub, smaller in build than a single wild dog. Judging purely by appearance, let alone two wild dogs, even a single wild dog could potentially defeat him.

Thus, the moment they saw Chu Ye, immense excitement surged in their hearts, convinced that this lion cub was no match for two adult male wild dogs.

One of the wild dogs thought to itself, *Haha, this is wonderful! It's just a little lion cub eating a rabbit. The two of us can easily take down both the cub and the unfinished rabbit!*

The other wild dog thought, *Haha, we are so lucky today! Not only did we run into a solitary lion cub, but it's also eating rabbit meat. The two of us are about to score a double catch!*

When Chu Ye saw the two wild dogs, he felt a brief flash of tension, but quickly calmed down. After all, he had already fought with these wild dogs before. Forget two wild dogs; even if there were seven or eight of them, he had nothing to fear.

"Good, two more wild dogs. It seems today I won't just fill my own stomach; I'll also be able to bring some prey back to the pride."

The thoughts running through the minds of the two wild dogs and Chu Ye at that moment seemed rather comical. The wild dogs viewed Chu Ye as their prey.

Yet they could never have imagined that the creature standing before them was no ordinary lion cub, but a remarkably formidable and powerful one.