As the crocodile surfaced, Abdullah slowed down the rhythm and intensity of the pole hitting the water, and finally, he retracted the pole.
Mr. Lion Hunter spoke as he played with the cigar in his hand. “Look carefully, buddies, Abdullah is about to retract the net.”
When he retracted the pole, the crocodile did not submerge again. It remained quiet on the surface of the water.
Brother Wolf explained, “It’s looking for an opportunity. It will move extremely slow toward the shore. Once it gets a chance it will launch a deadly attack.”
There were two types of attacks that crocodiles could use. The first type was for when they were near the shore. When their prey was distracted drinking water, the crocodile would attack suddenly and fiercely.
Another type of attack was when they slowly emerged on the surface of the water after hiding right below. This way they would scare off their prey and slowly follow behind. The crocodile would not rush to success. It would keep floating on the surface of the water and slowly move toward its prey, adapting the preying model of cooking a frog with warm water.
Apodu poured the frog’s blood into the water. The giant frog was one of the crocodile’s favorite food; they were very sensitive to the smell of frog’s blood.
It attracted the crocodile, but because the frog’s blood had dispersed throughout the water, the crocodile could not locate its prey. It floated to the surface of the water to check its surroundings.
This crocodile floated above the surface of the water quietly as if it were just another rock.
Apodu pulled the wire at the front the pole, and there was a leather strap at the end of it. It became a lasso on a pole.
Li Du could guess what Apodu planned to do. This method was simple but brutal.
Just as he expected, Apodu held onto the pole, and slowly moved the leather strap near the crocodile’s head. When they were almost touching, he jolted forward and wrapped the leather strap around the crocodile’s head.
The crocodile, shocked, started rolling around and struggling fiercely.
It was extremely powerful, and Apodu could not hold on to it. He was dragged to the side of the water, and one of his feet slipped in.
Just at this moment, the situation changed drastically!
The murky water at the edge of the boat rippled into waves, and suddenly a huge gaping mouth was there. The mouth had a display of sharp and deadly teeth, and it was going to bite Apodu’s calf!
Li Du was watching with all his attention. When the waves started crashing, he knew something was wrong. He reacted quickly and used the time deceleration skill of the little bug.
Everything became slow in that instant. He could see the crocodile opening its mouth wide, and saw that it was closing in on Apodu and about to bite his calf.
At this moment Apodu reacted. His thin face had a shocked expression on it, but he could not retrieve his leg in time. Moreover, his body was being dragged by the leather strap tied around the crocodile, so he could not react as he wanted.
Li Du stretched out his hand at what appeared to be lightning speed. He caught Apodu and pulled him back.
Kachak! The crocodile’s mouth snapped shut, its deadly teeth clashing together and causing a painful sound.
Li Du pulled Apodu back with all his might. He had to use all his might because his hands were still tightly holding onto the pole!
Mr. Lion Hunter was really shocked. It wasn’t that there was more than one crocodile at the riverbank, and it also wasn’t because Apodu still wouldn’t let go of the pole at the brink of death—it was because of Li Du’s reaction speed. He was unbelievably fast!
He yelled with surprise, “You are really the God of Lightning!”
Apodu had a deep frown on his face. He intensely tugged at the pole, and he paid Li Du no attention as if he hadn’t just save his life.
“You’re still not letting it go?” Li Du yelled. “Are you insane? There might be other crocodiles stalking around the riverbank!”
Apodu didn’t acknowledge him. He gnawed on his lips as he played tug of war with the crocodile in the water.
Li Du pulled on his arm, but Mr. Lion Hunter shook his head at him. “Apodu wants to pull the crocodile out of the water, you don’t need to waste anymore energy to convince him otherwise. He will not listen to you.”
“Does he not want his life anymore?” Li Du asked.
Mr. Lion Hunter said, “This is the price to capture a crocodile. Every year our tribe sees at least have two men dead and two more injured hunting crocodiles.
“This is the price!” he repeated. “He has paid the price, he does not want to give up the return.”
Just like fishing, Apodu sometimes released his hold on the pole and sometimes he pulled on it hard. This would expend the crocodile’s energy, and when its energy was depleted, it would not help but be pulled ashore.
“You guys are really playing with your lives hunting for crocodiles,” Li Du said unhappily. “Is crocodile meat really so delicious?”
Mr. Lion Hunter was about to say something but there was some shocked yelling coming from the far shore of the more.
They turned their heads around to look, and they saw a cheetah appear next to the banks. It was slowly circling the bodyguards guarding the giant frog.
The person who had yelled in shock was obviously the bodyguard. “Come over and help me! Get the beast away! Ahhh! Scram! I’ll shoot you!”
The cheetah was not interested in the human; its eyes were trained on the giant frog on the ground. Its eyes were filled with hunger, and it continued circling in on the bodyguard.
There was still some distance between the cheetah and the bodyguard. It was not looking good for the bodyguard, but he was not in immediate danger. Of course, he did not have a chance to take his shot to kill the cheetah either.
This bodyguard was not a sharpshooter. The distance between them left him without the confidence to give the cheetah a deadly shot. If he could not kill cheetah with one shot and simply scared the cheetah instead, the cheetah would probably attack and then he would not have the chance to take a second shot.
The agility of the cheetah was one of the fastest in the natural world. Its strength was among the most powerful of predators in the African grassland.
A group of people appeared and noticed the situation. They did not hesitate and started running toward the cheetah while screaming loudly, drawing its attention and forcing it to hesitate.
Finally, as the group of people reached the bodyguard, the cheetah felt threatened and slowly retreated. Then it turned and ran away.
Mr. Lion Hunter looked at the bodyguard with displeasure after he reached the shore. He said, “It was just a cheetah. Look at your performance—you acted like a little a b*tch. Why didn’t you just take a shot and kill it?”
A bodyguard being accused by his employer as timid and useless meant that he was about to lose his job.
But they all saw what happened The bodyguard did not have any explanation, because his performance had indeed been bad.
Li Du put in some good words for him. “That cheetah was pregnant and about to give birth. Killing such an animal is not the behavior of a good man. I think your bodyguard did not kill it because of this reason.”
The bodyguard knew that Li Du was giving him a chance to step off the stage, so he quickly nodded and said, “Yes, boss. Its stomach was really big, it should be delivering soon.”
Mr. Lion Hunter was very smart. He coldly laughed, “Is that so? Li, how did you see that from such a distance?”
Li Du was not afraid of intimidation. He replied, “Are you doubting my eyesight? I was the one who saw the Harzain hunter hiding in the grass before.”
Mr. Lion Hunter’s mouth twitched a couple of times, and he silently agreed with his statement.
After that, Abdullah dragged the dead crocodile along and walked toward them. They had gotten their reward, and the day was no longer early. They began preparing for the return journey.
The grassland actually came alive during dusk. Many animals would come out to hunt for food and drink water during nightfall. Dusk was the beginning of their nocturnal lifestyle.
On their way back, Ah Meow, Ah Ow and the other animals caught some small beasts, such as wild rabbits, wild chickens, and also a small deer. Along with the crocodile and giant frog, their spoils were actually quite wonderful.
