A bunch of sneaky bastards

Lu Heng perched high in a tree branch, his gaze steadily fixed on the woodland below.

He made no extra movements, simply observing quietly. The core forest of the Frost Forest was now divided into two completely different states. Although the carnivorous beasts on the periphery were each entrenched in their positions and occasionally made slight movements, the sounds they emitted were faint and suppressed, maintaining a restrained silence.

But this commotion was no match for the fierce battle raging in the center of the arena.

The fierce battle between the boar and deer tribes has continued to this day without a moment's respite, only the pace of the fighting has subtly changed.

It was no longer the frenzied, relentless, and brutal attack of the beginning. The prolonged battle left every surviving individual from both groups wounded.

The frequency of the Fang Boar ' charges decreased significantly. Many of their legs were torn, their gait was unsteady, and their Giant-Horned Deer opposite them, refusing to let go.

The Mutant Big-Horned Deer also suffered heavy casualties.

Many of their giant antlers were broken and missing, and their sides and lower abdomens were covered with puncture wounds. The ferocity in their scarlet eyes was still intense, but their movements could no longer keep up with their obsession with killing. They still lowered their heads to butt and slash with their antlers, their postures violent, but everywhere they showed signs of exhaustion.

Neither of the two groups was completely unscathed.

While large numbers of the remaining soldiers were attriting each other, subtle changes occurred at the edge of the battlefield.

The core leader beasts, who respectively commanded the pig and deer herds, no longer stubbornly fought for the center.

Under the cover of the chaos of the battle, they crouched low and moved silently to the very edge of the battlefield. There lay many mutilated corpses of those who had died early in the fighting, their blood frozen in the snow. The lead wild boar and the Red-Eyed Deer briefly confronted each other, each picking up a small carcass and quickly retreating to a secluded corner of the woodland at the rear of the battlefield, where they began to gnaw on the carcass.

They did not gorge themselves; instead, they moved cautiously and swiftly, chewing while listening intently to the battle in the center, ready to defend against a sneak attack at any moment.

Lu Heng, who had a clear view from his vantage point, was exceptionally clear-headed.

Ultimately, the most ruthless fights are when people fight each other.

These two tribes had long since transcended the category of ordinary herbivores, their temperaments mutated, and their ferocity surged. The cruelty of their internal battles far exceeded any normal hunting fight in this forest. What was clearly just a tribal conflict turned into a battle to the death, fighting until they were exhausted and their bodies were strewn across the field. In the end, they would even secretly gnaw on the remains left by their own kind.

The remaining soldiers in the center of the battlefield were still mechanically and frantically killing each other, completely oblivious to the changes around them.

The real variable appears in the carnivorous beasts lurking on the periphery.

The Wild Dog Pack and the ordinary Grayfang Wolf on the outskirts were gradually losing patience.

The stalemate of the beasts remaining still had lasted far too long. The leaders remained in place, occasionally moving and occasionally feeding, their demeanor calm and restrained. But the younger, lower-ranking individuals in the group were far less shrewd than the leaders, and their greed, which they could not suppress or hide, was evident in their eyes as they stared at the bloody corpses scattered on the ground.

While their leader was preoccupied with gnawing on the remains of a carcass, several wild dogs and a few Grayfang Wolf secretly broke away from the group and quickly darted toward the nearby pile of animal carcasses.

Their target is very clear—the chest and abdomen area of the corpse that has been broken open, the internal organs area where the blood is thickest, the flesh is most tender, and the nutrients are most abundant.

All the beasts present understood that this was the most valuable part of a carcass.

Most of the lower-ranking beasts knew this and adhered to the unspoken rules of the tribe: no one below was allowed to overstep their bounds and compete for the best meat until the leader had finished eating. They simply watched from afar, not daring to cross the line.

But there are always greedy people who ignore the rules.

Several wild dogs and gray wolves charged ahead, heads down, frantically tearing at the flesh of the victim's abdomen, their teeth clenching together, making a soft tearing sound. The commotion instantly shattered the tranquility of the surrounding area.

This scene was witnessed by both leaders.

Whether it was the leader of the Wild Dog Pack or the leader of the Black Iron Tier Grayfang Wolf Leader, their dormant postures froze instantly.

In the social order of wild animals, ownership of food is a direct reflection of status. Openly seizing core ingredients that the leader has tacitly allowed to monopolize is not just greed; it is a public challenge to authority and dominance.

Zero tolerance.

Two dark figures suddenly sprang up almost simultaneously.

The Grayfang Wolf Leader suddenly lunged out with incredible speed and without any warning, biting down hard on the back of the most aggressive gray wolf that was vying for food. Its sharp fangs pierced through the fur and dug deep into the flesh.

The leader of the wild dogs also pounced and landed instantly, his heavy body crushing the limbs of a wild dog and locking its neck.

A muffled thud, like bones crushing and flesh tearing, suddenly exploded out.

The two lower-ranking beasts, caught in the jaws of their leader, instantly sensed the deadly danger. They struggled violently and twisted their bodies frantically, but they could not break free from the leader's grip. The extreme fear and pain forced out their heart-wrenching screams.

The sharp, mournful, and desperate cries of beasts pierced through the entire forest, completely drowning out the sounds of battle in the center.

In an instant.

All actions of pushing, tearing, and trampling came to a complete halt.

In the center of the battlefield, the Fang Boar and Red-Eyed Giant-Horned Deer, numb from the fierce fighting, all stiffened and suddenly raised their heads.

The blizzard stopped, and all the beasts turned their gazes away from each other, looking around.

Only at this moment did they truly see the whole picture.

The surrounding woodlands were teeming with lurking predators.

On one side was Black Copper Bear, crouching motionless and exuding an aura that dominated the entire area; on both sides were two Dark-Spotted Leopard, pressed close to the shadows and poised to pounce; nearby were a pack of Gray-Fang Wolf Pack and Wild Dog Pack, their ferocity rising from their recent killing spree.

The densely packed ferocious beasts had already completed their encirclement.

Corpses littered the ground, bodies riddled with severe injuries, combat strength completely exhausted.

The two races of beasts, who had been locked in a life-or-death struggle, were now completely frozen in place.

Lu Heng quietly looked down, clearly capturing the emotions that surged in the eyes of the two clan leaders in an instant.

It was the unease of sudden clarity after an extreme battle, the panic of being trapped in a dead end with no way out, the regret of blindly wasting resources and ultimately ruining the whole situation, and the overwhelming anger of fighting in vain and ultimately becoming the prey.

Four emotions are nakedly intertwined in the beast's scarlet, murky eyes, without embellishment or concealment, the purest and most authentic instinctual expression in a life-or-death situation.

A sense of emotion welled up in Lu Heng's heart.

No matter how exquisite the performance on screen, it is still acting.

The look in the eyes of these wild beasts in dire straits is a raw, piercing, and unmistakable truth, a testament to their willingness to risk their lives.

The entire woodland was utterly silent.

After a brief pause, the real hunt was just beginning.