Chapter 271: Dahuang

Any pain, after enough time, will eventually be tolerated.

After the initial shock, the lion gradually felt a cool sensation coming from its hind leg, so much so that it let out a snort.

Qin Yun fetched water from the baobab tree five times, thoroughly rinsing the lion's hind leg until it was visibly clean. Then he went to the other side, dug up a handful of yellow soil, crushed it bit by bit, and spread it all over the wound.

'Slap! Slap!'

Patting the lion's body, Qin Yun said: 'Now, as long as luck isn't terrible, the risk of this lion dying from infection is low.'

After saying that, he repeated the previous steps, treating all the wounds on its spine and neck, finally applying a layer of yellow soil to each.

'High-temperature, dry sand quickly dries out wounds, blocks flies and insects, and forms a natural protective layer that prevents secondary bacterial invasion.'

After finishing everything, Qin Yun looked up at the baboons on the baobab tree, still huddled motionless on a branch. The baboon that had fallen earlier was now completely still—he went over to check and found it had died from the fall.

Falling from over ten meters with no cushioning, death was normal.

'Baboon: We're at least close relatives, can't you save me?'

'Baboon: Thanks a lot.'

'Haha, that baboon fell from such a height—it was dead the moment it hit. Qin Ye couldn't have saved it.'

'All we can say is this lion wasn't meant to die—eating that big a baboon will feed it for several meals.'

'Still feels a bit cruel. Baboons are primates too.'

Seeing these comments, Qin Yun said: 'Baboons aren't close relatives to humans—barely distant ones. If evolution is true, baboons and humans split 25 million years ago. True close relatives are chimpanzees and gorillas—they share over 98% of our genes.'

Qin Yun filled another canteen with baobab tree water, then picked four or five fruits and hung them on his back.

Finally, pointing at the baboon, he leaned close to the lion and said: 'I'm leaving, Dahuang. Eat this baboon and get moving fast—otherwise, if more spotted hyenas show up, you're dead for sure.'

'Roar—!'

The lion roared at him, then rose and tugged at the baboon, crouching down to bite into it.

'What the hell is Dahuang? Qin Ye, if you can't name things, don't name them.'

'Yeah, last time it was Whale Xiangxiang, now it's Lion Dahuang.'

'Total failure at naming.'

'Why not call it Golden Mane? Look at that glorious mane.'

'You get lost too.'

Qin Yun didn't care what the netizens said—he thought Dahuang suited this lion perfectly.

Watching the lion devour the baboon in a bloody mess, Qin Yun finally stood up and left.

After walking a hundred meters or so, the lion suddenly lifted its head, watching the direction Qin Yun had gone, and let out a low, distant roar—as if conveying some message.

Hearing the roar behind him, Qin Yun smiled.

'I've wasted some time—I need to keep moving. If I don't cover ground now, I won't get more than a few kilometers in a whole day.'

After hearing this, the netizens replied:

'Wait till the lion's wounds heal—you can take it with you. With it around, you won't have to worry about anything the whole trip, and your speed will be amazing.'

'No rush, take it slow. If twenty days isn't enough, try forty.'

'You've got a bodyguard handed to you—wait a few days, it won't hurt.'

Qin Yun glanced at the screen and said: 'No way. A lone lion's useless to me—it can barely save itself, let alone guard me. Do you know how much an adult lion eats in one meal? Who's the bodyguard here, and who's the babysitter?'

He walked on for another two hours.

In a city, he'd have covered at least ten kilometers by now—but here on the grassland, his pace was slow, and he had to stay alert for sudden dangers, so in two hours he'd only gone a bit over four kilometers.

Altogether for the day, twenty kilometers would be a stretch.

Now, his water was gone again, along with the two football-sized baobab fruits on his back.

He checked the display time on his livestream.

'It's 5:13 local time—less than an hour and a half until sunset. I need to find a place to spend the night. Otherwise, once night falls, danger increases dramatically, since most creatures in nature are nocturnal, and humans are the weakest of all.'

But in the Serengeti, where he currently was, there was no suitable spot—endless grassland was the only landscape.

He walked for a full hour; back home, it was already deep night, but here in the Serengeti, dusk had just begun—the sunset at the horizon was breathtakingly beautiful.

'Looks like finding a cave for shelter is out of the question,' Qin Yun stopped, gazing at the magnificent sky, and sighed helplessly. 'I'll have to lower my standards—find a place where I can build a shelter.'

He opened his canteen and tipped it—only a single drop fell out.

'Damn, water consumption here is insane,' Qin Yun cursed, walking toward a nearby acacia tree—he decided to spend the night on it.

But as he approached the acacia, he looked ahead and saw an abrupt, massive granite outcrop—two or three huge stones stacked together, beside which stood a golden acacia tree—an ideal natural shady spot.

Of course, no animal would miss this place!

Before Qin Yun could even smile, he spotted a leopard lying on the granite—clearly, it had arrived long before him.

In the drone's camera feed, livestream viewers instantly saw the leopard on the rock.

'As you can see, this is a leopard—a much larger cat than the cheetah. It's an animal bold enough to tangle with lions. Far more courageous than a cheetah, and unlike cheetahs, leopards are expert climbers. I think I'll move farther away.'

'What if I fall asleep in the tree and this leopard sneaks up? That'd be dangerous.'

Hearing his caution, netizens commented:

'You're the guy who casually killed seven spotted hyenas—now you're scared?'

'It's just one leopard—can't be stronger than a lion. You weren't afraid of lions.'

'Exactly, don't chicken out—go kill it.'

Looking at these encouragements, Qin Yun was exasperated.

'You guys really can't stand me being comfortable. I'm not afraid of it—but I need to rest, I need to sleep. Leopards have insane patience. If one of these beasts is watching me, how the hell am I supposed to keep moving?'

Saying that, he shook his head and turned to walk in another direction.

In just this short while, darkness had already fallen.

As soon as it grew dark, night came swiftly—within minutes, the sky was filled with stars, visibility dropped drastically, and the temperature slowly dipped to around ten degrees.

Compared to the daytime temperature of over thirty degrees, the difference reached twenty degrees.

He switched the drone to night-vision mode and walked another two hundred-plus metres before finding a thick myrrh tree. It was completely bare, with not a single leaf left on it.

In a few quick moves, Qin Yun climbed up the tree and looked around — not a single branch was wide enough for a person to lie on.

He had no choice but to climb back down and start gathering dry grass. At this season, dry grass was everywhere, so Qin Yun didn't have to worry about lacking kindling.

"Remember the stones I collected at Lake Endoto? They're natural flint, very handy. There's no way I can drill wood to make fire right now, and this dry grass catches easily — just striking the flint together will do."

Qin Yun pulled two stones from his chest — exactly the ones he'd casually picked up at Lake Endoto.

Soon, as the stones struck sparks, the dry grass began to smoke in no time, and flames leapt up at once.

Seeing the fire rise, the viewers in the livestream instantly felt a great deal more secure.

Qin Yun sent the secondary drone to patrol overhead, switched off night-vision mode on the main one, then leaned back against the myrrh tree and began chatting with his viewers, half-heartedly.

He had taken five fruits from the baobab tree, and eaten two of them on the way.

"This fruit tastes pretty average, but its flesh can top up a bit of water and vitamin C — its vitamin C content is ten times that of an orange, and it's rich in calcium, potassium and magnesium. It's just extremely sour." Qin Yun cracked open the fruit, then took out two eggs and cracked them inside, gave it a quick stir with his dagger, and set it straight on the fire to roast.

"Dinner will have to do for tonight."

While the fire roasted the fruit-and-egg mix, Qin Yun circled the myrrh tree and set up two more fires. Then he went nearby to find some dry hardwood, brought it back, and smashed it into pieces around the myrrh tree, scattering them in a ring.

That wasn't all — he climbed the myrrh tree straight away, chopped down several branches, and put them on the fire to burn.

"At night, even though fire can keep most animals at bay, leopards for instance aren't afraid of fire, and some snakes are extremely sensitive to temperature. The smell of burning myrrh wood has a repelling effect."

"666, learned something new."

"If I'd known that, Qin-ye might as well have gone and dried out that leopard — at least we'd have had meat tonight."

"Qin-ye is still too kind."

"……"

Qin Yun finished his dinner with a frown, ended the stream around eight o'clock, then spent the whole night leaning against the myrrh tree, waking up every so often to add firewood so the fire wouldn't die in the middle of the night and let something sneak up on him.

……

Thanks to Xianghu De Huan'er for the "urge to update" charm. Friends, please tap that update button — the numbers are too tragic to look at, I can't bear to check, I'll just have to wait for the book's trial push!