Chapter Seventy-Six: An Unexpected Outcome

“Screech, screech!” Seeing Lu Chen hiding in the treetop, the little magpie flew back, shrieking, its beady eyes full of confusion. It seemed to be urging him—hurry up, act now, or the prey will escape.

Speechless, Lu Chen gazed at it.
He would need to reinforce its education in the future, make the little fellow understand that not every moving creature could be hunted.
Especially these clothed ones—when spotted, it was best to keep far away. Killing too many would get their story cut short.

After dropping a buoyed rope, the fishing boat slowly headed upstream.
By now, Lu Chen fully understood.
There was nothing novel about this trap; it simply took advantage of the saltwater crocodile’s keen sense of smell.
The average crocodile, unsuspecting, would never imagine that the tasty flesh concealed a deadly hook. Swallow it, and it was doomed—the iron hook would lodge in its throat, rendering it helpless until the humans returned to claim their kill.

Lu Chen didn’t intend to intervene—nor did he have the power to do so.
However, he thought the grisly spectacle was worth letting the other crocodiles observe up close, so they’d not lose their lives to such tricks one day.

Seeing the third crocodile silent, the magpie perched on a nearby branch, craning its neck to observe the distant fishing boat.
“Hiss, hiss, hiss…” Lu Chen turned to the little one beside him and growled softly.

Quick to understand, the little magpie flapped its wings and soared into the sky.
When the other crocodiles returned, they too hid their bodies among the dense leaves, just as Lu Chen had.

At last, ripples spread across the water nearby.
A saltwater crocodile from downstream, drawn by the scent of blood, hurried over.
It was nearly five meters long, weighing six or seven hundred pounds, its exposed back like a giant piece of driftwood as it glided swiftly upstream.

It paid no attention to the smaller kin hidden in the riverside trees.
Upon finding food in the water, it showed not a hint of suspicion—instantly opening its massive jaws to swallow it whole.

Foolish!
Though Lu Chen had expected this outcome, he was still surprised by the utter lack of caution—the crocodile was walking right into death’s jaws.

A great tumult erupted on the river’s surface.
“Hiss… hiss…” The saltwater crocodile let out shrill, agonized cries, its massive body thrashing madly in the water.

Clearly, having an iron hook jammed down its throat was excruciating.
Its struggles were futile—the hook only dug deeper, blood trickling from its mouth and dyeing the river red.

“Hiss, hiss…”
“Hiss…”

In the eyes of the three crocodiles, there was now a flash of terror and confusion.
That seemingly innocuous man-made object could inflict such terrible harm upon their kind.
If they ever encountered it, they must steer well clear.

Lu Chen, meanwhile, pondered how to explain to the three of them the structure of the hook trap. The buoy was just a marker; the real danger was the iron hook below.
The best way, of course, was to get hold of a buoyed rope and teach them on the spot.

After considering, Lu Chen decided to take the group further along the riverbanks to observe, treating it as an exploration of the jungle environment.
With him as their guardian, the jungle was much safer than the river.
At least, when facing land creatures, his size gave him some advantage.

After traveling several kilometers, they entered another saltwater crocodile’s territory.
This was another foolish one—right now, it was dragging a buoyed rope, burrowing into the riverside thickets.

At the sight, the three crocodiles growled lowly, their fear of the floating man-made objects only deepening.

Wait… Was that human voices?

Lu Chen cocked his head, listening closely to the wind.
Yes, there were chaotic shouts for help drifting over—mingled with strange, guttural cries.

Something was happening upstream!

Leading the crocodiles, Lu Chen sped through the jungle.
As they drew nearer, the screams became clearer—and a heavy scent of blood reached his nostrils…

The riverside evergreens stretched skyward, crowded and uneven, forming a dense, sticky canopy.
Lu Chen’s extraordinary vision was limited; beyond ten meters, it was all a blur of green.
He couldn’t see what was happening ahead.

After a few hundred more meters, rounding a river bend, the scene finally opened up before him.

The river was in chaos.
A hundred meters away, a six-meter-long fiberglass fishing boat was half-capsized.
A gaping hole marred its hull, and water gushed in. That was the nature of fiberglass boats—light and fast, but easily damaged.

All the humans had fallen into the water, panicked shouts scattering as they swam for the shore.
Not far behind them, a corpse torn in half floated on the water.
A massive saltwater crocodile, enraged, was in wild pursuit—catching up to another human in the blink of an eye.

Its jaws snapped shut—crack!—and another was wrenched in two.

This kin… was enormous!

The instant the beast erupted, Lu Chen was utterly stunned.
No other word came to mind—just enormous.

He couldn’t see all of it in the water, but the creature was definitely over seven meters long, its frame shockingly robust. It radiated a savage, ruthless aura, like some prehistoric monster come to life.

A buoy floated in the water by its jaws.
So, it too had fallen for the trap.

Its dark scales bore several holes, streaked with fresh blood—evidence of recent gunfire from the humans…

Such ferocity reminded Lu Chen of another infamous crocodile from his past life—Gustave. This beast’s life story was even more legendary than Lolong’s.

It was first discovered by humans in the 1990s, dubbed the “Demon of the Lake”—Gustave.
Not only did it attack fishermen, it would stealthily lurk in the shallows, dragging women washing clothes on the riverbank to their deaths.

It was said that over three hundred people had fallen victim to it.
Because Gustave had never been captured, its exact length and weight were unknown. Some estimated it weighed over a ton and exceeded six meters in length, perhaps even more.

Besides its size and ferocity, Gustave was cunning.
Many attempts had been made to hunt or capture it, but all failed—only three bullet wounds marked its body.

Yet it did not die. Years later, someone saw it dragging a full-grown water buffalo from the riverbank.

These humans deserved their fate—they’d finally met their match.

In the past, Lu Chen might have tried to save them.
Now, watching them flounder toward the shore, he had no intention of intervening—he stayed hidden in the woods, watching coldly.

He even felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

To borrow a famous saying from Lu Xun: “Only those prepared to be killed have the right to shoot.”

If they saw saltwater crocodiles as prey, they should be prepared to be hunted themselves.

Nearly a year into his life as a saltwater crocodile, Lu Chen’s outlook had changed.
Those who recklessly wield power over other lives would, in the end, be consumed by life itself.

No species reigned supreme forever—especially now, as a great upheaval was about to begin…

Perhaps soon, humanity would no longer rule this planet.