The Evolutionary Path of the Lion

Chapter 25 Reunion with the Lion King

Listening to the voice, Chen Fei made a rough estimate of the Lion King's weight and movement speed, which was at least 20% less. It had an injury on its leg, and the landing point of its right hind leg was lighter than that of its left hind leg. It was limping, but it could still walk.

Then he appeared at the edge of the low-lying area.

The Lion King had lost weight since half a month ago, with several scabbed wounds in its mane. Its right hind leg was slightly off-center when it walked, and the look in its eyes was a little different from what Chen Fei remembered. The fear was still there, but something else was pressing down on it. Chen Fei thought for a moment and found the closest word.

I'm tired.

Sel followed from behind, stopped to Chen Fei's left, glanced at the Lion King without saying a word, took two steps forward, briefly bumped noses with the Lion King, and then retreated to Chen Fei's side.

The Lion King turned his head toward Chen Fei.

The first move was to pace two steps in front of Chen Fei, deliberately widening the stride to push his aura toward Chen Fei. It was a standard move for a lion to assert its presence, and Chen Fei recognized this move.

Chen Fei shifted his gaze to the grass below the low-lying area, clearly diverting his attention away from the Lion King and turning it elsewhere.

This isn't showing weakness; it's circumventing the situation.

He suppressed the urge within him to force the lion king's stride back, locked it away, and sealed it securely.

The old territory was already mostly covered by the scent of the two lions, who could cross the river at any moment. He didn't need to bring this up with the lion king at this moment; what he needed was for the pride to re-form a cohesive unit as quickly as possible.

Internal strife is the biggest asset of the two powers.

[Host: Chen Fei]

[Identity: Sub-adult male lion]

[Energy Points: 520↑]

At this moment, the stingy girl came over. She had already lowered Big Head's threat level from "unknown intruder" to "strange thing that can be observed." She squatted down at the edge of the depression and continued to stare at Big Head, swishing her tail back and forth.

Big Head stood on three legs, looked down at her for a long time, then turned to Chen Fei and asked clearly with his eyes: Is this my responsibility?

Chen Fei did not respond.

Big Head tilted his head slightly, took a step to the side, and moved further away from the stingy guy, his expression suggesting he had decided to postpone dealing with the problem for the time being.

As the sun dipped below the treetops across the river, the evening air of the old territory rose from the meadow, carrying a mixture of scents of tall grass, damp mud, and distant bison dung—richer and more layered than that of the isolated island, as if this land held its own memories.

Chen Fei scanned the lions in front of him at the edge of the low-lying area: Sail, Lion King, Meimei, Big Head, and Stingy Guy. He went over them one by one, made a brief assessment of their condition, and compared it with the data of the two heroes, forming a rough comparison of their strength in his mind.

The conclusion of this comparison is: not yet.

Just as he turned his gaze away and prepared to find a place to settle down, a roar rolled in from the depths of the old territory in the distance.

Chen Fei recognized the roar of the dark brown mane, its frequency, and the unique weight it carried in the low-frequency range.

The two heroes discovered that they had crossed the river.

The roar echoed deep within the old territory for nearly ten seconds before dissipating.

Chen Fei didn't move.

He listened to the roar and extracted three pieces of information.

First, the other party knew they had crossed the river;

Second, the roar originated from the eastern part of the old territory, about two kilometers from the riverbank, indicating that the dark brown mane had advanced into the middle of the territory.

Third, the voice did not indicate any shifting direction; the other party was standing still when they called out, not chasing.

It's not a pursuit, it's a declaration.

The difference between these two is important.

Pursuing indicates that the other party wants to resolve the issue immediately, while declaring that they are still evaluating the situation.

The two giants are not yet ready for a decisive battle, but they have already begun to tighten the pace.

Chen Fei stored this judgment in his mind and then turned to look at the low-lying area.

Sel had already led the stingy girl and Meimei inside, and they chose a sheltered spot in the grass to settle down.

Big Head was licking his right foreleg, licking it very intently. When the roar came, he pulled his leg back, moved two steps to Chen Fei's right, and then sat down with his buttocks facing the direction of the roar, pretending to observe the distant sky, but there was nothing in that direction.

Chen Fei ignored him.

The lion king walked out from the depths of the low-lying area, his stride was a little longer than before, and the limp in his right hind leg was still there, but he was deliberately controlling his landing point to minimize the extent of the limp.

This is a lion's instinct when facing strangers or adversaries—to prevent the other party from seeing its weaknesses.

Chen Fei took in this detail without showing any expression.

The lion stopped two meters in front of him, took two steps, one to the left and one to the right, with a wide stride, and expanded his chest to make his body appear wider.

Chen Fei felt the muscles in his back tighten.

It was a very specific impulse, not entirely anger, but more like a conditioned reflex-like competitive response. His body realized what the lion in front of him was doing before his brain did, and had already begun to prepare to respond.

He suppressed the impulse.

The old territory is mostly covered by the scent of the two heroes. The window for the two heroes to cross the river may be within two days. What he needs now is a cohesive whole that can stand up and fight, not a scattered mess that has cracked from the inside out.

He shifted his gaze from the lion king to the edge of the grass on the left side of the depression.

Sel looked over from that direction, her gaze lingering on the lion's back for a second before she looked away and continued grooming Mei Mei. Her movements were small, but Chen Fei clearly saw the direction of her gaze for that brief moment.

She didn't interfere, but she let the Lion King know she was watching.

The lion king stopped pacing.

It wasn't that Chen Fei suppressed her, but rather that he was held back by that gaze.

He turned his head toward Sair, held that gaze for two seconds, then looked back at Chen Fei before finally looking away.

He sat down at the edge of the depression and gently stretched his right hind leg, as if loosening his joint, but the position was diagonally in front of Chen Fei's line of sight, neither completely with his back to Chen Fei nor directly in front of him.

This is a stance that Chen Fei can understand: I'm still here, but I'm not moving forward for the time being.

Chen Fei mentally assessed the confrontation, then put aside his assessment and emotions, stood up, and walked to the right side of the low-lying area.

He has other things to do.

Chen Fei began taking samples of the scent layer of the old territory after crossing the river, and now he plans to conduct a more systematic analysis.

He walked around the perimeter of the low-lying area, pressing his nose down to peel away the layers of scent.

The scents of the grasslands have a timestamp.

This is something that Chen Fei took a considerable amount of time to truly understand after his transmigration—it's not about "being able to smell," but rather "being able to discern the layers of a scent."

The same piece of ground may contain the scents of three eras: at the bottom is the scent of the soil itself, in the middle is the scent of the wildebeest that passed through here a week ago, and at the top is the mark from yesterday.

The two male markers begin to appear about thirty meters outside this depression.

The first layer is from two weeks ago; the odor has already begun to degrade, and the amino acid content has decreased by about half.

The second layer is from a week ago, stacked at the same point;

The third layer is from yesterday, fresh, and the concentration of glandular secretions is more than twice that of the first layer.