Chapter 84: Chapter 71: Survival of the Fittest, Capturing Male Rock-Horned Horses
Before the operation to capture the Tier One Male Rock-Horned Horse began, Chen Shanshan, under Lin Feng’s leadership, donned the Level 10 Light Battle Armor and met with the Duncan Squad.
Duncan Squad was greatly shocked by the seventh member who had been hiding in the tram and never showed her face.
Even Lisa, who had been in low spirits with red eyes, looked astonished upon seeing Chen Shanshan.
Soon she realized that Liu Qian, who had always been by Lin Feng’s side, was not the squad’s second-in-command.
The female Evolver in battle armor, holding a Silver Spear before them, was Lin Feng’s hidden trump card.
"The Tier One Female Rock-Horned Horse we killed earlier had evolved to Level 11, and we were lucky enough to extract two Evolution Agents."
Lin Feng explained, looking at Old Duncan:
"Now with three Evolvers, we have a greater chance of capturing the Tier One Male Rock-Horned Horse alive, so let’s make it quick."
Old Duncan looked at the fully armed Chen Shanshan and nodded solemnly.
Clearly, the Lin Feng Squad before him was also well-prepared, just like them.
They had prepared battle armor matching the Evolver in advance, aimed at killing the Rock-Horned Horses to evolve and rapidly form combat capability.
Evolvers in battle armor could easily defeat the entire Duncan Squad.
No wonder Lin Feng had previously been so blunt, constantly probing.
Having two Evolvers plus a set of battle armor, the balance of power between the two sides had already reversed.
Fortunately, there was still the Rock-Horned Horse Herd in the Rift Valley, and compared to clashing with the Duncan Squad, hunting the Rock-Horned Horses seemed lower-risk and yielded higher rewards.
"Okay, our team members we left behind have already observed and selected the target."
As he spoke, Old Duncan led Lin Feng and another person to the edge of the slope in the Rift Valley.
It was a drop of three to four hundred meters down, with a steep slope more than seven hundred meters long. The steepest part could reach sixty to seventy degrees, like a cliff.
The tram certainly couldn’t go down; only mountain bikes could flexibly ride down the slope.
Those wandering single male Rock-Horned Horses gathered at the edge of the Rift Valley, at the bottom of the slope.
They would first battle each other to assess their strength and refine their fighting skills. Once the strongest few were determined, they would confidently enter the Rift Valley and engage in fierce, bloody duels with those established male Rock-Horned Horses possessing a herd.
For beasts, the struggle for mating rights has always been an event only second to life and death in importance.
Sometimes, driven by internal hormones and genetic command, they would lose their sanity, covered in wounds, fighting until the death.
Therefore, sometimes a Hunter only needed the courage to walk at the edge of the underground pit of the Rift Valley when the scorching sun was about to cover the area to pick up some dead remains.
If the Desert Wolf Pack had not ambushed Li Hu’s squad and gotten injured, they should have followed the Rock-Horned Horse Herd to this Rift Valley.
Relying on the end of this grand feast of life, they would give birth to offspring and reproduce, following the Migrating Beast Herd and growing strong.
Now with no predator threat, the migration speed of the Rock-Horned Horse Herd has gradually slowed.
Consequently, the Rift Valley became more crowded, and the males fought even more frequently among themselves.
This was both good and bad for the live capture mission.
The advantage was that the target for live capture was easier to lock onto. A casual observation would reveal several exhausted male Rock-Horned Horses, panting near the edge of the Rift Valley.
The downside was that the previously sparse slope bottom was now packed with Rock-Horned Horses.
It’s like the crowded subways and trams during commuting hours, horses packed tightly together with no room to move.
Even quite a few small-sized Level 10 male Rock-Horned Horses, taking advantage of the herd leader’s distraction, snuck into the herd to mate secretly with females.
It was as thrilling as speed and adrenaline.
Many sneaky ones, when caught by the herd leader, were brutally slammed, resulting in a gruesome scene.
Lin Feng’s mouth twitched upon seeing this scene.
Those eunuch-like male Rock-Horned Horses were degraded, worth even less than the females.
Old Duncan’s target, however, was a group of five male Rock-Horned Horses forming an alliance.
They occupied the bottom of the slope on the northeast side of the Rift Valley.
Just not far from the camps of both teams.
Among them, two were particularly strong, evolved to Level 13, top-tier among the Early Tier One and the victors in the northeastern region.
These five Rock-Horned Horses, looking alike, were driven out from the same herd, grew up together, and formed an alliance.
This was very common among stray male Rock-Horned Horses, who often faced mid-stage Tier One herd leaders.
In single combat, they would surely be at a disadvantage.
So they would unite to deal with those elderly, weakened old leaders.
And after gaining power, such relationships would continue to stabilize.
The main reason is the difference in body size after the Rock-Horned Horses evolve.
Generally, a mid-stage Tier One male Rock-Horned Horse, about seven to eight meters in size, found it difficult to pair with un-evolved late enhancement stage females, so those members would be passed down to the younger Early Tier One ones.
Therefore, for the herd leader, the truly important ones are the Tier One females; any other members, even lost calves, wouldn’t cause much distress.
Previously, when Lin Feng killed a Tier One Female Rock-Horned Horse, it angered the male herd leader, who turned directly to counterattack.
And now, they faced a group of young and vigorous young male Rock-Horned Horses.
In terms of threat level, they were no less than the herd leader.
"They come from the same herd, capable of nurturing five Tier One males, indicating that their father was at least a Leader Level Rock-Horned Horse, which means mid-Tier One."