Chapter 298: Dahuang

At a few kilometers away, Qin Yun found Dahuang, gave him a quick check—thankfully, Dahuang hadn't been injured at all, only his fur looked messy.

"Slap!"

After checking him over, Qin Yun gave him a hard slap, scolding, "You brainless lump, you dare hunt a water buffalo alone? You trying to die? Absolutely clueless."

"Woooh—!"

Dahuang let out a low whine, hung his head, and rubbed against Qin Yun.

"Fool," Qin Yun sighed, shaking his head. "If I hadn't been here this time, see how you'd handle it."

Watching the human-lion interaction, viewers in the livestream kept shouting "666"—a massive lion showing affection and submission toward a human was an incredibly striking image.

Following the same path back, they returned to their original resting spot.

The two continued forward, traveling another dozen kilometers, when Qin Yun spotted a small river—the water crystal clear, needing no filtration, just boiled to be safe to drink. No large predators lived near its banks, only a few scattered herbivores.

After fetching water, Qin Yun didn't set up camp by the river; instead, he stopped three hundred meters away.

Here, piles of rocks leaned against two flat-topped acacias, their thick foliage perfect for overnight rest. With the delay from Dahuang's incident, time had unknowingly slipped to five in the afternoon.

Glancing at where the sun was sinking, Qin Yun noticed thick clouds overhead; the sunset's glow filtered through them, shimmering like gold.

Qin Yun gathered materials on-site, stacking stones to build a stove, lighting a fire, then began constructing their nighttime camp.

"Slap!"

"Damn, so many mosquitoes—even through clothes they bite! Seriously over the line."

Qin Yun waved his hand, revealing a dense swarm of mosquitoes visibly flying through the air, their "buzzzz" grating on the nerves.

Dahuang lay nearby, flicking his tail to shoo them off—mosquitoes had zero effect on him.

"Near a river, mosquitoes are normal, but in Africa, they're not like in China. These mosquitoes are called human killers—news reports say over a million Africans die annually from mosquito-borne malaria."

Hearing that number, netizens were stunned.

"What? Mosquitoes kill that many people?"

"Africa's really primitive—light some mosquito incense."

"I recommend Li brand incense."

Qin Yun chuckled helplessly, shook his head, waved away more mosquitoes, and said while building the camp: "Everyone knows I'm Chinese. In China, there's a saying: where venomous snakes appear, within ten meters there's always an antidote. It's not always perfectly accurate, but it holds true in most cases—like here, where mosquitoes swarm, there must be plants that repel them."

"Back by the river, I already spotted several plants useful for repelling mosquitoes—we'll gather some now."

Soon, Qin Yun finished building a simple stone camp, stacking a flat area for himself to sleep on.

He clapped his hands, then turned and walked toward the river.

At the riverbank, the sun was nearly gone; though lingering light remained, the sky had turned dull yellow.

Seeing this "animal" appear, the local animals by the river were startled again—but after a moment of caution, realizing no further threat, they resumed drinking calmly.

Qin Yun ignored them; unless he needed food, he wouldn't hunt unnecessarily.

He took a few steps along the bank, his eyes lighting up as he pointed to a clump of plant resembling orchids: "Look—this is citronella, also called lemon grass. It contains high concentrations of citronellal—excellent mosquito repellent."

He stepped forward, sliced the stems at the base with his dagger, and gathered a large bundle in his hands.

Swinging the citronella, he said to the camera: "Crush fresh leaves and rub them directly on skin to avoid mosquito bites. Burning them also drives mosquitoes away."

He took two more steps, crouched down, and studied another plant: "This is papyrus. Its roots, stems, and leaves all contain mosquito-repelling essential oils—very effective. I'll take some too."

Papyrus grew abundantly by the water; Qin Yun pulled up four or five stalks.

"Everyone recognize this marigold? It's also a great mosquito repellent, but we don't need much of it."

"Splash—!"

Suddenly, a splash rang out, followed by a scream.

The unexpected noise made Qin Yun whirl around.

By the riverbank, a young zebra was being dragged underwater by a crocodile, thrashing wildly. The zebra mother screamed desperately on shore, powerless, forced to watch as her child was pulled away.

The sudden event terrified all nearby animals—they scattered instantly. Within moments, not a single beast remained near the river. Even the zebra mother, seeing she couldn't save her young, turned and fled.

A child can be replaced; if you die, you're gone forever.

"Holy shit, that's a Nile crocodile! That ambush—no one could react in time."

"That size? Definitely a Nile crocodile."

"So sneaky—hiding underwater, we didn't see a thing."

Qin Yun watched the river surface bubble and churn, then the crocodile and the zebra vanished beneath the water.

"This is a Nile crocodile. Between the Grumeti and Mara rivers, there are no other crocodiles—only Nile crocodiles. At Tian Guo Zhi Du, there are three to four thousand of them, hunting heavily during the wildebeest and zebra migrations. Their bite force is around one to two tons, and they can hold their breath for hours—two hours underwater in resting mode is no problem."

"They strike suddenly—no one can react."

Shaking his head, Qin Yun returned to camp, citronella and papyrus in hand.

Back at camp, he waved the plants and smiled: "With these, we won't have to worry about mosquito bites tonight."

He quickly processed them—first rubbing citronella on his skin, then adding a layer of papyrus essential oil. Then, dragging a reluctant Dahuang, he smeared the mixture all over the lion's body.

Finally, he burned the leftover citronella and papyrus, scattering the smoldering plants around the camp to repel mosquitoes.

Soon, the camera showed no mosquitoes left in the air—all had been driven away.

"666, Brother Qin gives total safety vibes."

"Dahuang: I didn't need this, it smells awful."

"Qin Yun: Yes, you did."

…

"Awooo—!"

With a roar, Dahuang exploded off the ground like an arrow shot from a bow, his powerful legs pounding the grass with "thud-thud" impacts, his mane flaring in the wind—looking utterly majestic on camera.

The young wildebeest panicked, sprinting desperately forward, trying to escape the pursuit.

But Dahuang's speed far exceeded its expectations—in mere seconds, the distance closed.

With a leap, it slammed its front paws onto the rhino-horse's back, its sharp claws instantly piercing the hide, leaving several deep gashes of blood. The rhino-horse let out a piercing scream, thrashing desperately, as if calling for help from the distant herd.

But the distant rhino-horses had fled far away—none dared come near to die.

Soon, the rhino-horse stumbled and collapsed to the ground, pinned down by Huang the Great, who held it fast, denying it any chance to rise. Then, lowering its head, it opened its mouth full of sharp fangs and bit down hard onto the rhino-horse's neck.

Its sharp canines pierced the skin effortlessly; blood gushed out immediately, staining Huang the Great's mane red.

In the footage, the rhino-horse's struggles grew weaker, its screams faded into low moans, its limbs kicked feebly, and its body slowly went limp.

Viewers witnessed the complete hunt, seeing Huang the Great's ferocity—poor rhino-horse, now just a meal on the plate.

At this moment, Qin Yun was less than a day's journey from the Mara River; he would arrive precisely at noon tomorrow. As he drew closer to the Mara River, the animals in view multiplied, and the great migration herd reappeared before his eyes.

When the rhino-horse had finally fallen silent, Qin Yun walked over from afar.

But after taking two steps, he suddenly stopped. The camera then swung to another direction—where four lionesses stood, no male lion nor cubs in sight.

……

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