Chapter 911 The Arrow Is on the String

In the autumn of the northern hemisphere, the air is slightly cool.

The Kilimanjaro Mountains block the humid monsoon from the Indian Ocean, and the abundant water vapor flows back to the grassland, subsiding the heat of the day and adding a bit of chill. Under the night, the clear sky is dotted with stars.

The sharp howls of jackals rise and fall on the vast plains, and the red-necked nighthawks fly under the cover of the black curtain. The calls they make when they pass by their peers are like sad cries, praying to the silent gods in the African wilderness.

Apart from this, the night is empty.

Cecil, the eleven-year-old lion, paced and walked briskly along the sandstone path, occasionally taking big steps and jumping over the rugged ground.

The soup plate-sized paws grabbed the rock ground, and the quartz sand squeezed and collided, exploding with a crisp sound.

The majestic lion king would only stop for a while when he wanted to leave a scent on the bushes by the roadside.

As the only cat in the world with both male and female forms, Cecil's mane fluttering in the night wind strongly declares his unquestionable king status in this tropical grassland.

Since becoming the lion king who occupies this territory, Cecil has patrolled the territory every night for nearly five years, using smell to mark the boundaries to maintain his dominance.

This is also why male lions do not need to hunt. Their job is to ensure the safety of the territory and fight intruders.

With a powerful scrape of his hind paw on the sand, Cecil heavily underlined his "smell signature" as a finishing touch for today's work

Just as the lion king shook his hair and prepared to return to the lion group, a strong and unique smell suddenly came from the darkness ahead.

Elephant meat!

Cecil moved his nose and easily smelled the owner of the smell, and his mood became excited.

Elephant meat, what a long-lost food.

In the vast grassland, even the lion group has animals that they are reluctant to touch - elephants.

No matter how powerful a lion group is, it has to live in harmony with the largest dominant unit on land. Even if it is hungry, it has to endure the pain.

To eat elephant meat, lions can only rely on luck to encounter an old elephant that died of starvation, or the remains of an elephant killed by humans.

Generally, they are the remains of elephants killed by humans. Old elephants that died of starvation often die near water sources and are eaten by crocodiles early. The skeletons with meat filaments are covered with leeches and ants, becoming rotten and basically inedible.

However, elephants killed by humans are almost intact except for their broken heads. As long as they can drive away the hyenas that come to smell the fishy smell, they can have a comfortable meal.

Cecil doesn't understand why humans kill elephants but don't eat them, but the experience of generations tells him that it is never wrong to stay away from humans. They are more brutal than hyenas.

After not eating elephant meat for a long time, the smell of dead elephants suddenly came in the dark, which undoubtedly strongly attracted Cecil, who had just finished work and became hungry.

Experience tells the lion king that a free lunch has been delivered to his door.

But this wreckage seems to be slightly different from the past. According to the experience of this large cat, it should avoid taking risks.

There is a human smell on it.

It can smell it.

No matter how quiet humans think they are and how they try to avoid emitting odors, animals can always find clues.

Clothes rub against each other, and toothpaste and body deodorant are mixed with the smell of gun lubricant and plastic.

Unless they abandon everything in industrial society, naked and covered in mud, these smells are so out of place in the sensory world of wild animals, like a white snowflake floating into a black coal mine.

The strong and tempting smell of blood, mixed with the complex smell of industrial products, made Cecil hesitate.

But the smell of elephant meat was so fragrant that every empty intestine of it was shaking desperately, sending feeding signals to the brain.

Maybe it was those humans who drove big monsters and liked to roar?

Cecil thought.

Experience has taught Cecil that humans are terrifying. Their "claws" can easily penetrate the thickest rhino skin, but it has also become accustomed to the presence of humans.

More and more humans are authorized to enter the national park for photography trips. The lion king has long been accustomed to the smell of humans. It never approaches, nor dares to drive them away. It can only wait for the strong, unnatural smell to slowly dissipate on the grassland.

These people must have happened to pass by.

Suspecting the neighbor of stealing the axe, once there is a suspect, they will take the wrong information and constantly strengthen their own logic chain. This is a mistake that even the smartest humans will make, let alone a hungry lion?

Unfortunately, this time, the people who targeted the lion king were no longer those people that Cecil was familiar with.

In order to minimize the impact of smell and sound and prevent them from drifting in this open space, the sneaky people hid on a platform raised on the tree trunk downwind of the elephant's body.

An ugly man crouched on a high platform, watching the lion king step into the trap step by step according to the plan. The man couldn't help but grin, revealing his white teeth. It can be seen that he must cherish his teeth very much.

But the man obviously didn't cherish nature. A powerful compound bow was pulled in his hand. His palm with slightly blurred fingerprints held a sharp arrow in the quiver. It was self-evident what he wanted to do.

Palmer was an ugly dentist. For this hunt, he spent a full $300,000 to get everything done, just for a few photos after the successful hunt.

A sturdy guide was on Palmer's left, and on his right, there was a man with a more sturdy temperament, sitting like a bodyguard. Obviously, the man holding the gun was the safety pin of the hunting operation.

In order to ensure concealment and safety, they dragged the elephant carcass to the open ground with an off-road vehicle, and then built a platform on a nearby tree and set up a hunting tent for camouflage, so as to better overlook the elephant's remains.

After completing the camouflage, Palmer went up to the platform and waited quietly for the lion to show up.

Sitting motionless in this narrow hiding place, facing all kinds of reptiles and mosquitoes, this was originally a difficult chore, but facing the upcoming trophy, the excitement dispelled all negative factors.

This reminded Palmer of his memories of sitting in front of the game console and holding his urine to pass the level when he was young, but as he grew older, he liked some more exciting sports and had the financial resources to put them into practice.

As the lion kept approaching, everyone knew that this wait would be over soon.

This lion king was an excellent target for hunting - alone at the edge of the reserve, and accustomed to the presence of humans.

Cecil sniffed the open space, and finally the attraction of elephant meat overcame his vigilance. He slowly approached the elephant carcass, and his sharp teeth tore through the hard elephant skin that felt like dry wood like scissors, revealing bright red flesh and blood, and an even stronger smell emerged.

Just a few minutes later, Cecil, who was so absorbed in eating, didn't notice that the hunter's arrow was already on the string.