Chapter Thirty-Four: The Crocodile Turns Out to Prefer Sweets

After staying in the cave for seven or eight days, Lu Chen felt as if his body were growing mold. The impurities expelled during his recent evolution only made the discomfort harder to bear. Seeing the rain had passed and the sky cleared, he could hardly wait to crawl out of the cave. He dove straight into the chilly current, scrubbing himself clean of all filth.

Afterward, he sprawled across a stone, basking in the nourishing sunlight, feeling utterly at ease. Several baby estuarine crocodiles lay nearby, chattering incessantly with voices filled with excitement.

Not long after, a filthy mud-covered monkey struggled out of the cave. It glanced at the crocodiles, then boldly leapt into the river and used its tiny paws to meticulously groom its fur. This creature was the same rhesus monkey that had nearly been killed by the Burmese python days ago.

Lu Chen hadn’t expected the little thing to be so tough. At first, it seemed half dead, surviving only by gnawing the python’s blood and flesh. Yet after days of recuperation in the cave, its spirit grew stronger. The wounds on its body not only failed to fester; they gradually scabbed over. Lu Chen couldn’t help but marvel at its fierce will to survive.

Moreover, the monkey possessed remarkable intelligence. It seemed to understand the reptiles posed no threat, and once its initial terror faded, it grew lively again. To prolong its life, it learned to curry favor with Lu Chen, for example by trying to pick at his scales for lice.

Damn it… I don’t have a single hair from head to toe, where would lice grow? Lu Chen snarled and whipped his tail to drive the monkey away.

Undeterred, the monkey balled its paws into fists and gently drummed against his scales. The gesture reminded Lu Chen of an animated monkey from his previous life, massaging King Jiji’s legs. Truth be told, the tapping felt quite pleasant.

He had to admit, the monkey was clever. Its flattery and survival skills seemed to flow in its very blood.

More than once, Lu Chen considered eating it. Yet seeing its docile, obedient manner, he felt embarrassed to go through with it. Eventually, he simply treated the little fellow as a pet, naming it “Gold Spot” for the tuft of golden fur on its head.

With the python’s blood and flesh around, food was no shortage in the cave. Raising a monkey as a pet—Lu Chen felt he was getting a bit carried away.

Gold Spot, having cleaned off the mud, stayed by the shore to dry its fur in the sun. After chattering twice, it darted up the giant banyan tree atop the cave, swinging among the branches until it disappeared.

No conscience at all… After freeloading in the cave for ten days, it just ran off. Lu Chen sighed but didn’t dwell on it, continuing to sun himself atop the stone.

Unexpectedly, over an hour later, he heard chattering in the treetops again. The little monkey had returned, holding a twig with several bright red fruits, freshly picked from the jungle. It hopped to the rock, plucked the fruits, and offered exactly four.

This creature actually knew gratitude… Lu Chen was slightly moved. But he was an oviparous carnivorous reptile; offering him fruit—what was that supposed to mean? Lu Chen would rather starve than eat fruit.

Wait… The fruit’s skin was bright red, looking quite appetizing. A feeding instinct stirred within him. He saw the elder crocodiles had already swallowed the fruit.

Was this a joke? Crocodiles wanting fruit? Lu Chen was baffled, but decided to follow suit. He opened his jaws, grabbed a fruit, and crushed it.

Delicious—sweet and fragrant! It tasted like a wild apple, a bit tart and sweet, surprisingly pleasant.

Few realize that crocodiles have tongues—though their tongues lie flat against the lower jaw, rarely visible. When a crocodile opens its mouth underwater, the tongue blocks the throat to prevent water from entering the lungs and causing drowning. This miraculous adaptation allows them to hunt underwater.

Moreover, their tongues are lined with taste buds, able to sense flavors. Lu Chen now confirmed that crocodilian instincts regarded fruit as food, and they had an unspeakable craving for sweets.

His world-view was shaken anew: the crocodile clan truly favored sweets.

Unbeknownst to Lu Chen, zoologists in his former life had long discovered this peculiar craving: carnivores though they were, crocodiles secretly enjoyed fruit. Avocados, bananas, apples, pineapples—these were all favorites.

The Siamese crocodiles of Southeast Asia even sneak into farmers’ fields to steal watermelons. Their method is crude—bite and smash. At first, farmers thought vandals were breaking the melons, but only after staking out at night did they discover the real thieves.

For Lu Chen, a single fruit barely filled a gap. Yet seeing Gold Spot’s tact, he decided to return the favor.

He slipped back into the river and soon emerged with a half-pound catfish. Catfish, much like their relatives, favor grass holes and rocky crevices—easy to catch but not tasty, so Lu Chen rarely ate them himself. But as a gift for the monkey, it was perfect.

Seeing the bloodied fish, the monkey’s face was incredulous. It chattered at Lu Chen, seemingly confirming if the gift was truly for itself.

Lu Chen rumbled, nodding his long head.

The monkey then grabbed the fish and bit in happily. Its quick understanding of his gestures amazed Lu Chen again—this creature’s cleverness was astonishing.

If not for its fur, he’d almost mistake it for a human child.

Primates’ intelligence far exceeds imagination; most individuals rival human children aged three or four, and the exceptionally smart can reach the level of ten-year-olds.

The little monkey devoured most of the catfish, then carried the remainder away in its mouth.

Watching it depart, Lu Chen’s memories of fruit were stirred. He considered venturing into the jungle for fruit someday—this subtropical region surely had plenty of wild produce.

Wait, why limit himself to wild fruit? Other sweets could be sampled, too.

Suddenly, Lu Chen recalled that during his earlier explorations of the riverbank, he had found a wild honeybee hive on a large tree, as big as a washbasin and likely yielding plenty of honey.

He could experiment with honey-roasted fish, honey-roasted wild rabbit, honey-roasted duck… All possible.

After all, premium ingredients often require only the simplest cooking.

As for making fire… Wasn’t there over two hundred episodes of wilderness survival videos in his previous life? He still remembered the classic scene: “Stranded on an island, after failing to start a fire with wood, the young man lit a cigarette with a lighter to calm his nerves.”

Perhaps buoyed by the good mood from his evolution, Lu Chen now felt inclined to invent a crocodile-specific recipe book.