Chapter 854 - 24: The Cooperative Hunt of the Golden Eagle and Snow Leopard

"Actually, on the way here, I already had a plan in mind!"

The Golden Eagle said, with a wise sparkle in its eyes.

Having lived in human society for over a year now, the Golden Eagle was no longer the same as it once was.

Though still timid, its intelligence had greatly improved.

At this moment, the Golden Eagle was watching the distant pikas, pondering something.

The Snow Leopard heard that the Golden Eagle had a plan, so curiously asked.

The Golden Eagle said, "My thought is, first we’ll find their burrow, you launch a surprise from the burrow direction and chase them, while I’ll seize the chance to hunt from above. With the two of us working together, we can definitely hunt a whole bunch of pikas!"

Snow Leopard didn’t understand much about plans or strategies.

It immediately agreed to the Golden Eagle’s idea.

After all, this was about its food. Snow Leopard needs to eat a lot in the coming days to store enough energy for giving birth.

Golden Eagle saw Snow Leopard agreeing and immediately started searching for the pika burrow alongside it.

About ten minutes later, Golden Eagle found it.

The burrow was located not far from the group of pikas, if they wanted to escape, they could reach it in a matter of seconds.

Therefore, blocking their way back to the burrow was the key to this hunt!

Golden Eagle approached Snow Leopard.

Told it about this.

Snow Leopard’s expression also turned serious.

It nodded and said, "Don’t worry, I’ll block them off!"

...

Anyhow, after the Golden Eagle and Snow Leopard’s discussion.

The two top predators of the plateau began their first cooperative hunt.

Following the Golden Eagle’s method, Snow Leopard crouched down, body nearly hugging the ground as it approached the pikas.

Meanwhile, Golden Eagle was circling high above, ready.

Approximately when Snow Leopard was about twenty meters away from the burrow, the pikas seemed to sense something.

But just at this moment.

Golden Eagle suddenly let out a sharp cry, loud and piercing, instantly attracting the attention of all nearby animals.

Even Snow Leopard couldn’t help but look up, glancing warily at Golden Eagle.

This wasn’t out of distrust towards Golden Eagle.

Its vigilance was entirely genetic.

After all, the Golden Eagle is a natural enemy of Snow Leopards, young or immature ones are very vulnerable to their attacks when outside.

But soon, Snow Leopard shrugged off this vigilance.

It quickly lowered its head, focusing on the pikas.

With Golden Eagle attracting attention, the pikas were not guarded against threats from the ground.

Snow Leopard’s ferocity surged, with a low growl, it dashed to the pika burrow.

Blocking the necessary path back to their burrow.

Only then did the pikas realize they had been set up.

Panic-stricken, they quickly crawled, trying to follow their usual predator-escape plan, hiding back in the burrow.

But Snow Leopard had already blocked the entrance.

In their terror, they had no way to return to the burrow.

Golden Eagle, seeing this from above, had a gleeful spark in its eyes: Snow Leopard did a great job!

It immediately retracted its wings and dived down sharply.

Its speed quick, even surpassing that of a peregrine falcon!

Now, the Golden Eagle had the bonus perks, it couldn’t be considered just an ordinary Golden Eagle.

Under Golden Eagle’s dive, it quickly arrived above the pikas.

Wings spread wide!

Golden Eagle flapped its wings, stirring up a lot of dust, obscuring the pikas’ vision.

But the Golden Eagle was hardly affected by this.

It extended its sharp talons, catching each one accurately.

Almost instantly, it grabbed two pikas.

With its talons tightening, the bones of the two pikas made a squeaking sound.

Before they could even cry out, Golden Eagle forcibly ended their pain.

And the hunt wasn’t over.

The remaining pikas sensed something wrong, scattering in all directions.

Golden Eagle targeted the fattest pika, flapping its wings in pursuit.

Under the Golden Eagle’s sharp claws, that pika didn’t have a chance to escape.

Another precision strike, the pika was firmly caught by Golden Eagle.

Meanwhile, Snow Leopard guarding the burrow couldn’t sit still.

It emitted a series of low growls, sounding a bit lacking in force, but its body sped toward the nearest pika like a wraith.

The pika hadn’t reacted yet, before being pinned down by Snow Leopard.

As soon as it let out a shrill cry, Snow Leopard lowered its head and bit down hard on it.

A crunch.

The pika’s head tilted, dead without a doubt.

The attacks of the two animals were impressive.

There were eight pikas basking in the sun; together, they killed four instantly.

The other pikas fled miserably, diving into backup burrows, barely escaping.

"Perfect!"

Golden Eagle tossed the largest pika to the ground, eyes gleaming with delight.

If it had only been itself, the outcome of this raid wouldn’t have been so successful.

On its own, it would only be able to kill one or two pikas.

The other pikas could sense it before it even dove down and would just flee.

But with Snow Leopard’s attack, it threw the pikas into panic.

And Snow Leopard blocked their habitual escape route, disorienting them.

This gave Golden Eagle the second chance to strike.

And Snow Leopard seized the opportunity, achieving a remarkable result.

Golden Eagle looked at Snow Leopard, very satisfied.

This seemingly clueless fellow, wasn’t so dumb after all.

Snow Leopard chuckled at the pile of four pikas.

If it acted alone, it most likely wouldn’t catch any pikas, or would only catch one.

But teaming up with Golden Eagle, they caught four straight away.

Simply perfect!

The two animals carried the pikas, happily heading towards the camp.

...

Over at Chen Wen’s side.

He was busy making a rack for drying meat.

Just as Chen Wen was working on the meat rack, Golden Eagle descended from the sky with two pikas.

Plop!

The pikas were tossed into the valley by Golden Eagle.

Chen Wen glanced calmly before withdrawing his gaze.

Catching pikas wasn’t peculiar.

Moreover, Chen Wen always thought Golden Eagle could easily catch pikas.

It gained many speed perks from Chen Wen, if it still couldn’t catch them, then it would be... a bit dumb.

Just as Chen Wen was thinking this.

Suddenly, Golden Eagle, having tossed the pikas, made some nervous sounds: "Chen Wen! When I was getting back, I saw a fluffy big creature quickly heading towards Snow Leopard, might it be dangerous?"

Hearing this, Chen Wen was stunned.

Fluffy big creature?

"How big?"

Golden Eagle roughly described it.

And as Golden Eagle gave its description.

Chen Wen dropped his work, grabbed his long spear, wore the helmet he just made, and walked briskly out of the valley.

He had already determined what was approaching Snow Leopard.

If there were no surprise, that thing should be one of the most dangerous in the pastoral area and Qiangtang Wilderness — a Tibetan mastiff!