Seeing a wild animal rush over, Li Du and the others did not have time to react. The four little ones took the lead and reacted before the humans did.
Compared with the huge bodies of African buffalos, lions, and hippos, the porcupine was small—it wasn’t even as big as Ah Ow.
Once inside the oasis, the four animals, whose opponents here were more powerful in terms of momentum and size, had finally found a chance to show off their strength. They howled and rushed at the porcupine.
The porcupine was worried. It was now being attacked from the front after being attacked from the back. However, it could only fight back.
Facing the four rushing little ones, the porcupine stood still, turned its head quickly and aimed its butt at them.
What kind of damn attack was this? The four little ones almost laughed at the sight of the porcupine’s butt.
Porcupine quills were concentrated on the back and buttocks. The animal had a long mane of quills on its head and neck as well. When it noticed the four little ones, it had turned around, but it had also immediately arched its back into a crest.
The side and chest of the porcupine were covered with flat quills, which were unable to inflict damage on other animals—the animal relied on the weapons on its backside. The quills on the porcupine’s buttocks could be as long as half a meter, standing like a horse on a battlefield.
As its quills stood, the porcupine shook its hips and they rustled. It was like a rattlesnake trying to frighten its opponents.
The four little ones continued laughing. What is this whole thing? We have been to Asia, America, Oceania, and now we’re in Africa. We’ve seen the world, and you’re insulting our intelligence with this?
They split into two groups and ran to each side of the porcupine, ready to attack.
But the porcupine could do offense as well as defense.
The porcupine gritted its teeth, planted its feet and, like a car in reverse, ran backward at the largest of them: Ah Ow.
Ah Ow was shocked. Oh, this is an attack? Hey, isn’t there supposed to be a signal when you reverse?
The Mexican Wolf had natural fighting skills. Although she had never seen a porcupine, she subconsciously knew that this backward action was not a good thing.
She braked quickly, but the porcupine was too aggressive, too fast, and the ground was grassy and slippery.
So Li Du saw the following scene: Ah Ow was running and suddenly tried stopping, but the friction of the grass was not enough to offset her inertia, and she slid forward.
Ah Ow stared hard as her head shrunk back, trying to avoid the oncoming porcupine. However, her efforts were in vain and the two animals collided!
Li Du was scared and shouted, “Ah Ow, run!”
Ah Ow suddenly howled.
“Owuuuuuuuu!”
The howling was shrill—the loudest and most terrified it had ever sounded!
This setback exhausted the last of the seriously injured porcupine’s strength. It had been shot by an arrow and, injured, rolled down a large hill. Its survival up to this point could be considered a miracle.
Ali and Ah Meow were very loyal and ran to help Ah Ow. Ali punched the porcupine’s head and Ah Meow jumped on its side.
In this way, the porcupine was supposed to die, but the movement just stuck more quills into Ah Ow’s body.
Ali and Ah Ow’s attack pushed its body forward, and the quills went deeper. Ah Ow howled in despair, “Aow, aow, aow, aow!”
“Oh, that rhythm is quite strong,” Big Ivan said in surprise.
Lu Guan smile. “It sounds like singing.”
“I bought a watch last year,” someone said.
Li Du became infuriated with the group of people. He ran up and held Ah Ow in his arms. At the same time, he kicked the porcupine away.
The porcupine ran off, but the spines on its buttocks easily fell away. They stuck out of Ah Ow’s chest.
Ah Meow walked over with his careful cat steps. He curiously reached out a paw and tapped a quill twice. His fat face was filled with a puzzled expression. Ouch! What’s wrong with your chest?
Ah Ow was in pain. “Owwu!”
Li Du gently scratched his head and asked the lion hunter, “Is there any magic medicine to cure this?”
“Just pull out the quills,” he said. “They are not poisonous. The animals are very resilient.”
Brother Wolf nodded. “This is all we can do. There should be no problems, and I have alcohol to disinfect to the wound.”
Li Du pulled out a quill for Ah Ow. When he did so, she howled.
The porcupine had poked a dozen of them in Ah Ow. As he pulled out the remaining quills, the wolf’s howl could be heard throughout the grassland.
Finally, he pulled out the last quill. Brother Wolf took the bottle of alcohol out and poured it on the wounds.
When the alcohol hit the wounds, Ah Ow felt extreme pain. She had finally thought she could catch his breath when the liquid hit. The wolf suddenly raised her head and craned her neck, yelping strangely and struggling.
Li Du was not heartless and realized she must be in a lot of pain if she couldn’t even howl normally. He felt hesitant about applying more alcohol, but Brother Wolf was merciless. He held onto Ah Ow’s neck and carefully poured the disinfectant onto her wounds.
Once he loosened his hand, Ah Ow felt horrible pain. Her vision became cloudy as tears flowed from her eyes.
Only now did Li Du learn that a wolf could shed tears when it was in pain.
Someone came down from the hill. Ah Meow and the others turned their heads and looked at these people fiercely. Ah Ow was usually the fiercest one, but she settled down beside Li Du with tears in her eyes.
The two men walking toward them had a javelin, bow, and arrows. They wore traditional clothing made with weeds. They were the Hadzare hunters who had been preparing to ambush the porcupine.
They walked slowly over and looked at the porcupine on the ground. One of them said something.
Li Du could not understand. He looked at the lion hunter. The lion hunter said contemptuously, “Who knows what kind of language that is? Primitive man, ha.”
The man was still talking. Although he couldn’t understand their words, Li Du could see that these men had good attitudes. They had simple and honest expressions that were very sincere and looked around at everything with gentle eyes.
Li Du saw them pointing at the porcupine. He guessed they wanted it.
He didn’t want to eat the porcupine, so he went up and handed it to the man.
The two of them bowed with their hands clasped together, a gesture everyone understood as a courtesy gesture expressing gratitude.
Carrying the porcupine, the two people happily walked away.
Upset, the lion hunter said, “Well, we didn’t get anything.”
Li Du smiled and said, “Didn’t you hunt a calf?”
The lion hunter said, “We must hunt for dinner, Abdo. Go and find a pool. We’ll have a crocodile feast tonight!”
Abdo nodded in silence and walked forward quickly.
Li Du smiled wryly. “Crocodile feast?”
When he first came to Africa, Wang Zhongshi had introduced him to eating crocodile meat. It was as if people here in Africa had a prediliction for this type of meat.
The lion hunter nodded. “Crocodile feast!”
