The Evolutionary Path of the Lion

Chapter 92 New Abilities

I lay on the high ground, one leg on the ground, watching the western sky slowly sink. The colors of the wilderness changed from yellowish-green to grayish-green, then slowly faded into a dark gray, finally blending into the thick twilight.

The old lioness behind him lazily rolled over, her long, steady breaths rising and falling evenly.

The young lioness licked the mud off her legs, slowly lowered her head to her paws, her eyelids drooped, and she fell asleep.

The night wind suddenly picked up, bending the patches of wild grass and making a soft rustling sound, before quickly returning to normal.

The old lioness rolled over again, her breathing still steady and long, completely unguarded.

The young lioness's ears twitched rapidly, scanning her surroundings. Once she confirmed there was nothing amiss, she gently lowered them, completely relaxing.

The one-legged creature slowly raised its head, tilted its head slightly to adjust its posture, and gently rested its chin on its front paws again.

In the dead of night, the sandy highlands were completely silent, save for the chirping of insects. Occasionally, a night bird would call out in the distance, its cry short and muffled, stopping after a single call, repeating itself endlessly.

The right forelimb remained in an awkward compensatory posture, with the sole of the foot pressed firmly against the rough, cold sand, the coolness slowly spreading along the skin and flesh.

It lowered most of its eyelids, retaining a trace of clarity.

The scent of the place they landed carried northward on the night wind, with Chen Fei's scent being the most calm and peaceful, unhurried and unperturbed, like a spring flowing from the bottom of a sandbar, gentle, continuous, and never ceasing.

The one-legged creature slowly closed its eyes.

Around 5 a.m. the following morning, the aura of the split mouth once again enveloped the entire southern side.

No longer the heavy aura wall that had surrounded the entire clan yesterday, but rather several scattered aura points, dispersed and steadily advancing northward from the east, due south, and southwest.

The three routes were dispersed to probe and test each other, thus restraining one another.

Chen Fei lay prone on the southern edge of the bushes where he had landed, his ears twitching nimbly to detect movements to the east and south, quickly assessing the pace of the three teams' advance in his mind.

The east side moves the fastest, the south side is at a moderate speed, and the southwest side is the slowest.

The attack from the southwest was merely a feint to mislead the enemy.

Hyena packs typically employ a multi-pronged encirclement strategy, with the main force always advancing 20-30% faster than the decoy teams. They seize the initiative by using the pretext of feints to draw attention. This team, located southwest, deliberately slowed its pace, clearly delaying and waiting to coordinate with the other two groups in a diversionary tactic.

Yesterday's direct attack failed, and the sudden roar of the lion disrupted the plan. Overnight, the tactics were adjusted, and the player learned to use roundabout probing.

Knowing how to analyze and adapt means that this hyena leader is far more difficult to deal with than imagined.

Chen Fei silently made a note of it, focusing all his attention on the fastest team on the east side.

The main force is on the east side, and this route extends all the way to the wide gap in the shrubbery on the east side of the landing point.

That was the weakest point in the entire defensive line, with the widest opening, and it was also the only blind spot that the defenses failed to cover completely during yesterday's confrontation between the tribes.

If a direct attack doesn't work, then the split-mouthed man plans to flank and launch a sneak attack, striking at the man's weak point.

As his thoughts raced, Chen Fei recalled the idea that had come to him yesterday.

His voice simulation ability allows him to replicate any sound that enters the ear.

From the observation point onward, he recorded all kinds of calls from the hyena pack on the south side day and night. Taunting and playful shrieks, startled and wary growls, signals for gathering and retreating, whistles to launch an attack, secret signals for retreating and seeking safety, as well as the unique low-frequency long howl of the slit-mouthed hyenas, and the regular rhythmic sounds of the vanguard probing... The frequency, characteristics, and usage scenarios of each sound were all clearly sorted out in his mind.

Without the theoretical instruction from books and documentaries, his daily field observations and sound recordings had already allowed him to thoroughly understand the vocal language of hyenas.

But he never tried to replicate that kind of high-frequency, sharp cry.

The lion's roar that shook the entire audience yesterday relied on its innate chest cavity, amplified by the heat flow within its body, and combined with chest resonance to unleash such a powerful and awe-inspiring force. In essence, it was the ultimate amplification of its own power.

The calls of hyenas are quite distinct.

Short, sharp, and high-frequency, it is completely contrary to the deep and long low-frequency roar of a lion. To accurately replicate it, one needs to deliberately contract and squeeze the throat cavity, completely change the vocal structure, and reverse the path of internal heat flow, changing from outward expansion to inward tightening and compression.

Chen Fei lay hidden behind a bush, secretly channeling his internal heat and quietly trying to contract the muscles in his throat.

The entire process was conducted without making a sound; one could only subtly perceive the changes in muscle tension. The inner walls of the throat contracted and compressed inward, the tension spreading from the middle of the cavity to both ends, with a slight tremor at the end, and the vibration frequency suddenly increased, completely different from the relaxed and exerted feeling of yesterday.

feasible.

While I've figured out the knack for generating power in terms of physical sensation, what works in theory doesn't mean I can perfectly control it in actual combat. Even a slight deviation will backfire and expose my weaknesses.

When trying a completely new vocal technique for the first time, it should never be used at a critical juncture of direct confrontation. Instead, a low-risk opportunity should be found to test the actual effect first and maintain a steady approach.

He looked up, his gaze piercing through the layers of branches and leaves, locking firmly onto the approaching dark figure to the east.

Twenty meters to the northeast, in the shade of a protruding rock, the wandering carnivore lay quietly dormant.

His right ear was always facing east, and he dared not relax for even a moment.

This was the defensive position that Chen Fei had specially designated yesterday evening. It was exactly the same as the layout during the crisis, and it was positioned right inside the gap in the bushes on the east side, guarding the key passage.

It was unaware of the lurking danger, only remembering that yesterday at dusk, Chen Fei flicked his tail to indicate direction and lightly nodded his chin to the east, giving the order to stay and guard.

After that, it stayed in that area without leaving for a moment, guarding it all night.

Several times during the night, it drifted into a light sleep. Even when resting with its eyes closed, its beast ears remained alert, instantly waking it at the slightest disturbance to the east. Only after confirming that the surroundings were safe would it relax and lie dormant again.

At five o'clock in the morning, the atmosphere around us suddenly changed.

A strong, pungent stench of hyenas wafted slowly in, three in total, steadily approaching from the southeast. Their pace was somewhere between reconnaissance and attack; their objective was clear, yet they carried a cautious, probing air.

The Wanderer instantly lowered its body, its limbs firmly pressed against the ground, slowed its breathing, and suppressed all its aura, quietly waiting for its prey to enter the ambush range.

Chen Fei waited quietly behind the bushes for twenty minutes. When the hyena reconnaissance team on the east side advanced to a position 150 meters from the boundary of the landing site, he quietly got up, lowered his body, and used the shadows of the grass and trees to meander to the east.

He deliberately took a gentle arc, avoiding a straight path, and precisely positioned himself between the reconnaissance team's forward route and their retreat route, quietly cutting into the gap.

When a hyena scout team is ambushed, their instinct is to retrace their steps, following the scent trail they left behind. If sound interference is laid out beforehand along their retreat route, mimicking the calls of their own kind, they are easily misled by the noise in their panic, fleeing along the sound and ultimately straying into the ambush area guarded by the stray hyenas.

This tactic is based on deductions from the survival habits of wild animals.

But on the grasslands, there are never any absolute rules. When animals are in a state of panic and stress, they often break free from their established behavioral patterns. Once their instincts are out of control, their escape routes become completely unpredictable, and all their meticulous plans will become utterly ineffective in an instant.