NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 859: Despicable Outlander
The noisy and vivacious olive and brown baboons were the iconic sight of the African Savanna.
They were also the best group to use for finding water.
After placing some plant seeds in the hole, Bi Fang pretended to walk away nonchalantly, but in reality, he was steering Harley away from the baboons' line of sight and hiding behind a large tree.
The silent drone hovered in midair, capturing everything within a hundred meters, so that every movement of the baboons was clearly visible to the audience.
A baboon seated on the slope looked around, tormented by its curiosity, eager to find out what the giant two-legged ape had put in the hole.
Why so mysterious, so hidden.
Harley lay under the shade of the tree, panting, seeing so many baboons for the first time made it anxious.
Bi Fang patted its head, comforting it while signaling it to be calm.
Then, a man, a cheetah, and a rat in a backpack rested behind the tree.
On the grassland, the sunlight bathed the earth, casting long shadows of the baboons.
After a full ten minutes, Bi Fang had vanished without a trace. At last, Mr. "Curiosity" couldn't stand it any longer and decided to investigate.
As the first baboon took a step, moving on all fours toward the slope with rapid speed, its eyes scanning left and right, it displayed a mix of nervousness and eagerness.
[Ahh, here they come, the monkeys are out!]
[It's moving, it's moving!]
[What happens next, let it take away the things?]
[Is there some magical effect to the seeds?]
[Definitely Old Fang placed a "lead me to water" curse on them!]
At that moment, Bi Fang, observing carefully through the branches, showed a smile.
"I've said that the seeds actually don't have any special effect; they're just wild melon seeds I picked up off the ground, but the baboons don't know that. Their curiosity drives them to want to obtain them."
"But the hole I chose isn't random. It's about the same width as a baboon's forearm, probably left by a rodent. These animals' burrows have one characteristic: narrow passageways but large interiors to prevent predators, such as snakes, from entering. And the drought has made the entire burrow very hard."
"Through such a passage, the baboons can reach in to get the seeds, but it's impossible for them to pull their hands out with the seeds."
"When that happens, while its hand is stuck, we can go up and catch it; it's a natural trap."
[Ahh that]
[I feel like my intelligence is being insulted]
[Isn't this too simplistic? Can't they just let go and escape (facepalm)]
"You are clear as onlookers and overestimate the animals' intelligence while underestimating their stress responses."
"As a baboon, when it grabs a handful of seeds but finds it can't pull its hand out, the first thing it thinks of won't be to let go, but extreme fear."
"It will only feel that something in the hole must have bitten its hand, and out of an instinct to protect itself, it will definitely not let go to expose the soft palm of its hand."
"Especially when we return after just leaving, its inner fear will intensify to the extreme, making it almost impossible to think of letting go."
"Remaking a trap is troublesome and time-consuming; it's not as useful as a natural burrow like this."
"Besides, I just mentioned that this is a method invented by the indigenous Makala people of Africa, and it is definitely practical, so you all just watch," Bi Fang said.
Hearing this, the previously skeptical audience suppressed their confusion. Watching the baboon getting closer and closer to the hole, they couldn't help but hold their breath, their hearts pounding.
They wanted to know if the method Bi Fang spoke of would really work.
Shadows moved along the ground and then gradually reached the mid-point of the slope.
As the baboon propped itself up with its hands and stepped towards the hole, stretching its neck to peek inside, it saw nothing but pitch-black darkness.
In just a moment, the baboon decided to reach its hand inside to pull out whatever had been put in by its two-legged primate counterpart.
As its dark hairy arm reached into the hole, the nerves of the audience were stretched to the limit.
Inside the hole, where no one could see, the baboon's palm soon touched the seeds Bi Fang had earlier placed there. Excited to have found something, it tried to pull out a handful of seeds, but a great force suddenly trapped its wrist.
In an instant, its excitement vanished, replaced by the fear of being caught unexpectedly.
The baboon howled as it could not pull its hand out of the hole, and at the sound of the cry, Bi Fang immediately rushed out from behind a tree. Covering tens of meters in mere moments, he arrived, pulled out a rope, and tied it around the baboon's body.
Harley, driven by his innate hunting instincts, hopped and skipped along behind Bi Fang.
"The baboon's claws are very sharp, and because they eat meat, their teeth are also very pointed, so you have to be careful when tying them up. Don't get bitten or scratched; it could be very troublesome. A deep wound can easily get infected in the wild."
"Right, and their legs too. Baboons, monkeys, and gorillas have very agile feet, almost just like hands. They can kick as well as grab, so be careful of that too."
Bi Fang, holding the rope, somehow managed to thread it through the wildly struggling baboon's body in a few moves, and with one pull, he tightened it firmly.
By the time he had finished tying it up, the baboon thought of letting go, but by then it was already too late.
"This is a very clever method the locals use to catch baboons. If it had known to let go sooner, it wouldn't have been caught, but now it's too late."
[Online Game Planner Psychology]
[I am Baboon]
[You translate for me, I don't understand]
[Clever humans adapt and modify the design to create strategies for finding female baboons... But baboons also know humans are desperate to find water (find female baboons), so in the search for water sources (search for female baboons) they lead humans into ambushes—Cactus jump (Dog's head)]
[In the latest version, they fixed the bug where baboons wouldn't let go of the seeds]
[When ordinary people try to catch baboons, their arms probably get gnawed to bits]
[So what exactly did Master Fang put inside as bait?]
[Just reach inside and grab a handful to find outԅ(¯ㅂ¯ԅ)]
[Do you think I am a baboon? (Dog's head)]
Bi Fang lifted the baboon up; this particular baboon wasn't big, its body length barely over half a meter, making it a non-adolescent among savanna baboons.
Perhaps because it was indeed non-adolescent, with heavy curiosity, it's uncertain whether the same method would have worked on an older, wiser baboon.
Bi Fang carried the baboon to a nearly leafless dead tree and tied it directly to the tree.
"It's not enough just to catch a baboon; we also need to make it talk."
"When the locals capture a baboon, if they want to find a water source, they drop salt blocks nearby. Instinctively, the baboon licks the salt blocks and devours them like candy."
"The more they lick, the thirstier they get. In just an hour or two, once we release the ropes, the baboons will lead us to water," Bi Fang explained.
"Unfortunately, we don't have a salt lick right now. To save time, we can only find a dead tree without shade and let the baboons bake in the sun. Maybe by the afternoon, we'll achieve our goal."
[Ahh that, why do baboons like eating dry salt?]
[Baboon: I need water now.]
[So you're basically curing it, right?]
[Titanic strength face.]
[You could even give them a fire to warm up.]
[Be human, please.]
"Because animals are different from us humans, they don't just add salt to their food. Carnivores get salt by drinking blood, and herbivores lick rock walls, but these methods barely meet their basic needs."
"In fact, when we eat, in order to make our food tasty, we usually add more salt than the healthy standard, let alone animals."
"Therefore, their bodies have a 'craving for salt' due to mineral deficiencies, similar to a physiological instinct. Like how goats climb up rock walls and take the risk to lick salt from crevices, they can't help themselves."
[So, this is the method Master Fang mentioned for teaching cheetahs. Can cheetahs really learn it? (Funny)]
[Harley: Are you misunderstanding my ability to comprehend?]
[It's too hard, too difficult.]
[Cheetah: What a B.S. method.]
[Until one day, people on the savannah discovered a cheetah that could use seeds to bait and bind baboons.]
[Is this considered animal abuse? (Dog's head)]
[Wildlife protection is outraged!]
[Despicable outsider!]
Bi Fang laughed at the live stream comments: "Teaching Harley to bait and bind baboons and to bask in the sun eating salt licks is of course impossible, but that's not the real point here."
"The key is to follow certain animals and eventually find their water source. That's the crucial part."
"Whether it's baking in the sun or feeding salt licks, these are the methods we use to shorten the time. They are like catalysts in a chemical experiment, speeding up the reaction. But the absence of a catalyst does not mean that the reaction doesn't occur, it just means the end result is different."
"Moreover, even though Harley may not understand or learn from what we're doing, it can reinforce memories, deepening its recollection of tracking baboons."
"As for whether it's considered animal abuse, I can only say yes, I won't deny that. But if it weren't to teach Harley, I wouldn't use this method. And I can assure you that what we're doing here won't cause any irreversible physical harm to the baboons."
"There are at least ten different ways for me to find water on the savannah."
[I believe that.]
[If someone else said this, they'd be bragging. When Master Fang says this, I just think he's being modest, he probably didn't even bother to count. (Funny)]
[Old Fang knows best.]
[Is this what they call humblebragging? Love it.]
[Persecution from the big brother of primates.]
[Honestly, what harm could humans do?]
After wrapping the rope around the tree several times to ensure it wouldn't come loose, Bi Fang left the spot.
Although the rope was made from trees and could potentially be gnawed through, it depended on who had made it; Bi Fang was quite confident in the ropes he crafted.
"Next comes the long wait; it'll probably last until tomorrow. I don't want to move around at night."
"We can't see clearly at night. The light from the torches is limited and we could easily lose sight of our target. Plus, it's not safe, as predators are active."
Bi Fang found a shady spot with Harley and began to rest, letting time tick by.
In the distance, the baboon's own kind showed no intention of coming to help, maybe deterred by Bi Fang and the cheetah watching nearby; the baboons could only watch as their counterpart was tied under the tree, suffering under the sun's scorch.
Occasionally, the bound baboon under the tree would let out a howl.
Seeing this, Bi Fang offered an explanation.
"Actually, the animals of the African Savannah often come into contact with some native humans and have an idea of the level of danger that humans pose."
"Like baboons, some indigenous Africans would catch them for food. Although it's hard for ordinary people to accept this behavior since they are both primates, this is Africa."
"Just like the Maasai people—three Maasai armed with spears can drive away a whole pride of lions and take their prey. Often, the animals on the Savannah walk around humans."
"Unless I invade their territory or steal their resources, the Baboon King won't easily choose to wage war against me for the loss of one companion. Of course, if I kept hanging around in their presence, that might change."
Among primates, baboons are the only high-ranking monkey species that live in large groups, sometimes even forming troops of hundreds, each comprised of several families bonded together.
Each family is led by the strongest, largest, and most handsome experienced male, especially the size and sharpness of the male's canine teeth are important criteria for leadership.
At the same time, baboon troops are very cohesive; the group is led by sturdy males, with specific baboons responsible for alerting the group to incoming threats.
Baboons are rough in nature and often engage in group fights. Should an intruder enter their territory, the leader typically takes the lead, charging ahead with the rest following closely—each like a fierce and tenacious soldier, shouting out loud and hurling stones or using their sharp canines to bite.
Being attacked by dozens of baboons could be dangerous unless you escape early; if you choose to resist, it could be perilous.
As time passed, the sun began to slope westward, and before long, the baboon under the tree became listless.
Bi Fang started searching for dry branches nearby to prepare for the first night's campfire on the Savannah.
A few branches were put together, one of which was notched.
The dry branches were devoid of any moisture.
With Bi Fang's rapid rubbing, a wisp of blue smoke rose quickly.
Accompanied by the spreading tinder and the blowing, sparks scattered until a bright bonfire rose on the Savannah.
The arrival of night brought a significant drop in the surrounding temperature, and the previously listless baboon perked up a bit.
When Bi Fang looked over, the baboon tilted its head and avoided his gaze, hiding behind a tree.
The starry sky glittered, the burning wood snapped and crackled, and sparks fell to the earth. From the darkness in the distance, the occasional howl of baboons fighting could be heard.
Bi Fang sat on a rock, feeding the fire.
His backpack rested against the stone, and the curious Gambian Pouched Rat poked its head out to look around, saw the cheetah next to it retract its head, then retreated back into the bag.
The tired and hungry cheetah had no spirit left for teasing; it lay down at Bi Fang's feet, yawned, and closed its eyes.
The brilliant orange flames illuminated the area, casting gently swaying shadows.