Crocodile Tears

The fifth apex predator made its appearance on the small island!

But at this moment, it was struggling with a dead python.

The python was thick, and the crocodile was getting a bit anxious.

It seemed like it had already eaten some; now there was less than half the python left. It needed to roll over to a different angle to break the snake’s body in two.

It rested for a bit, then tried to bite the side of the python’s body with its mouth while rolling over again, finally making some progress.

Ning Shu cried out in horror, “Bro, let’s get out of here!”

“Wait a little longer!”

“What are we still waiting for?”

“Crocodiles don’t chew, they rely on this kind of rolling to tear food apart to eat it - it's their killer move. But it takes a lot of energy!”

“What are you going to do?”

Lu Zhe said in a low voice, “Having such a large predator wandering around near our camp, I just don’t feel assured. If it can sneak bites of our python now, who knows if it will attack our camp in the future. We need to tame it a little.”

“You’re not thinking about killing it, are you!”

“The great outdoors is about harmonious coexistence, I won't randomly take lives just for protein! Of course, another secondary reason why I don't want to do this is because forcing slaughter without the right tools would severely damage the blades.”

Ning Shu looked at Lu Zhe: “I feel like that last part is actually your main reason!”

“That’s not important, but what I want to tell you is, if you run into a crocodile yourself, run away without hesitation - that would definitely be the right call. Don't be reckless like me.”

The crocodile performed a few more rolls. Each time, the breaks in between lasted longer and longer.

It was clearly getting more and more tired.

Finally, about half a meter from the crocodile’s mouth, the python’s body was twisted apart. The crocodile started swallowing.

It swallowed with great difficulty, taking a full ten minutes before it finally swallowed that large chunk of python meat.

Then, no longer eating, it turned its head away from the remaining half of the python and lay there motionless, seemingly disgusted.

“That should be about it!”

Lu Zhe took out some rope and walked over.

The fully fed and exhausted crocodile opened its eyes lazily at Lu Zhe, seemingly feeling that the creature before it posed no threat. It closed its eyes again to keep resting.

Lu Zhe made a lasso out of the rope in front of it. He carefully extended a branch with the noose over the crocodile’s mouth. Then he walked over to the crocodile’s side.

He pulled the rope taut with his hands and viciously kicked the crocodile’s mouth.

The noose tightened accordingly.

The crocodile was annoyed. It wanted to open its mouth to bite this provoking invader to death, but was shocked to find that its mouth wouldn’t open.

It thrashed its head around a couple times, but its mouth still wouldn’t open.

It wanted to crawl away but had expended too much energy eating the python, so it could only let this human ride on its neck, winding more and more rope around its mouth.

As Lu Zhe wound the rope around, he said, “A crocodile’s bite force is very strong, but the muscles that control mouth opening are actually quite fragile. It’s said that even a thick rubber band can prevent it from opening its mouth. But to be safe, I’m going to use nylon rope.”

This short rope was also found on the beach. He didn’t expect it would come in handy here.

“Is it safe now?”

“Not yet. It can still reproduce and make more crocodiles. And most of what crocodiles prey on are useful to us. And I don’t plan on keeping this kind of animal, so....”

As he spoke, Lu Zhe flipped the crocodile over to locate its cloaca, gently stirring inside with his combat knife.

As if injected with adrenaline, the crocodile immediately began writhing violently again. Lu Zhe quickly pulled out the knife and jumped away.

The crocodile flipped back over. Now its eyes were full of innocence and confusion, even shedding tears.

Ning Shu was shocked. “My god, it’s actually crying?”

Lu Zhe nodded. “That’s one way it excretes salt. Of course, it’s also possible it was moved by our compassion!” Alright, I’ll spare you. Starting today, don’t always think about eating. Face the sunlight and love life.”

After lecturing it, he patted the crocodile's snout and carried away half the python meat with Ning Shu.

Back at the camp, Shen Bing was surprised that only half the python was left. Lu Zhe sighed, “It was eaten by a saltwater crocodile.”

Shen Bing worriedly said, “That’s the largest crocodile species in the world, also called the man-eater crocodile. Very dangerous, it even eats sharks! You guys weren't hurt, right?”

"I talked to it heart-to-heart and it's already promised to repent and absolutely never eat humans again! Though of course its friends and family are still very dangerous. This is also one thing I’m worried about with building this camp here - we have to consider the harassment of certain creatures."

"So what should we do?"

Lu Zhe thought for a moment: "We need to fence out an enclosure. It’s too late today, but tomorrow no matter what else, we have to get this done first."

Jiang Yao worriedly asked, "What about tonight?"

Lu Zhe considered and said, "Someone still has to be on night watch duty, blow a whistle to wake everyone if there’s danger."

Shen Bing nodded. "Looks like that's all we can do."

Just then, Qian Qian noticed something off about Lu Zhe's clothes and couldn't help but be shocked. "Lu Zhe, what happened to your clothes?"

Lu Zhe took his clothes off for inspection. His back was riddled with holes. He pondered briefly before quickly understanding.

"It was acid! Looks like before this, the python had eaten something too, leaving lots of strong acid still in its stomach."

After speaking, Lu Zhe hurried over to the python’s body. The cross section was indeed giving off an acidic, rotten smell.

Although disgusting, Lu Zhe understood it was useful!

The acid could generate electricity and also clean off rust. But there wasn’t much left and inexplicably it was a bit nauseating, so Lu Zhe didn’t want to keep it.

He brought over the rusted bicycle, dripping the acid onto the rust-dead axles and rusty chains.

Then he used his military blade to cut up the remaining snake meat to dry and preserve as rations.

Everyone had a simple dinner of python meat and millet porridge, lighting mosquito coils. Those who were to sleep went to sleep; those on night watch started their duty.

The nighttime temperature here felt warmer than the previous camps, no doubt thanks to the northern mountain ridge blocking the northern chill.

The shelter the girls built was very nice. Lying on the rope bed with straw pillows felt extremely comfortable.

In the middle of the night, other little sprites emerged on the banyan tree, moving about. They were smaller than mice, huddling in groups on the branches, eyes wide open as they curiously watched these mysterious guests.

“What’s that? Tree elves?” Tang Xiaoguo, who was on watch, asked Lu Zhe.

Lu Zhe examined them and said, “Those are pygmy marmosets, one of the world’s smallest monkeys.”

“They’re so cute!”

“The banyan tree provides them with shelter, and they help the tree by cleaning up bugs on it - they have a symbiotic relationship. We also shouldn’t think about eating them. There’s hardly any protein anyway, plus they may be our long-term neighbors in the future.”

An uneventful night passed.

July 23rd, their 44th day stranded on the deserted island.

Today, Lu Zhe decided to build a bamboo fence to prevent python and crocodile intrusions. If there was still energy left, he wanted to go around to the other side of the lake to check out the status of the volcano.