After Crossing the Grasslands, I Became the Leopardess’s Cherished Mate - Chapter 4

In a short span of time, she had encountered both a lion and a leopard.

Zhou Mingwu attributed her narrow escapes to a combination of sheer luck and her ability to assess the situation quickly.

But facing the hyenas, even in the sweltering heat, her body went cold, and her limbs froze.

These were the most cunning and brutal predators on the savanna, hunters that worked in packs. There were likely many more hyenas hidden in the surrounding grass.

The spot where Zhou Mingwu stood was a natural trap.

She remembered the nature documentaries she’d seen, hyenas were the most shameless animals on the savanna, and also the most relentless. They would surround their prey and harass it until it collapsed from exhaustion.

The Hyena Queen emerged from the grass.

Her massive frame loomed, her sharp fangs bared in a menacing snarl. Her signature gray fur seemed to wrap her in a shroud of cunning.

Zhou Mingwu’s throat felt dry and sore.

Her eyes stung as if scorched by flames. She stole a quick glance at her backpack.

The Hyena Queen immediately saw through her intent. With a low growl, two more hyenas darted from the grass and circled Zhou Mingwu. One of them clamped its jaws onto her backpack and dragged it away.

The expected tearing and pulling never came.

Zhou Mingwu steadied her breathing and flexed her fingers. The backpack contained her last remaining resources, and she clenched her jaw in resolve.

Knowing the hyenas could understand her, she asked, “What do you want?”

The Hyena Queen’s black pupils fixed on Zhou Mingwu.

This human is bolder than I thought.

The Queen slowly approached, her presence becoming an oppressive weight that made Zhou Mingwu frown. The Hyena Queen stood taller than Zhou Mingwu’s waist, and the pungent, carnivorous musk of a predator wafted from her. Zhou Mingwu wrinkled her nose in distaste, fighting to keep her body from trembling.

“Humans,” the Hyena Queen rasped, her voice low and gravelly as she circled Zhou Mingwu, “are a gift bestowed upon the Mengbabi Grassland.”

Judging by her voice alone, the Hyena Queen sounded like a middle-aged human. Yet her physical condition and commanding aura still allowed her to dominate the rest of the pack.

Zhou Mingwu couldn’t help but retort, “For humans, however, it’s a disaster.”

The other hyenas let out a series of cackles, as if they were laughing.

Suddenly, the Hyena Queen extended her tongue and licked Zhou Mingwu’s hand, which hung by her side, clenched into an unconscious fist.

The barbs on the hyena’s tongue rasped against her skin, the sting making Zhou Mingwu flinch and pull her hand away.

The Hyena Queen’s mouth watered at the sight of the human woman’s warm, smooth skin. But Zhou Mingwu was far more valuable to the pack than a single meal.

The Hyena Queen let out a few low chuffs, and the other hyenas, understanding the signal, began to slowly form a circle around them.

They didn’t pounce on Zhou Mingwu like prey. The Hyena Queen’s cryptic words had made her intentions clear in an instant.

Zhou Mingwu quickly assessed her own strength and decided to become the hyenas’ captive for now.

Friday, with his injured leg, couldn’t run. The hyenas might show restraint with a human, but they had no such qualms about him. As a hyena’s jaws snapped toward him, Friday let out a pitiful shriek.

“Don’t eat him!” Zhou Mingwu cried out. “He’s my companion!”

The hyena spared Friday, but the pack sneered at this human trait.

Among the carnivores of the grassland, there was a legend about humans, the “complex animals” who formed emotional bonds with any creature they encountered. They called this “kindness.”

But harboring kindness toward fierce beasts was a sure path to extinction.

And for this human to show kindness to a stray Emerald Monkey, a creature so weak it would only bring her trouble, was the height of folly.

Friday clung to Zhou Mingwu’s side, her wide eyes filled with terror.

Zhou Mingwu’s gaze remained fixed on the backpack clutched in the jaws of a scrawny hyena. The moonlight of the grassland night offered just enough light to discern their direction, the grass rustling under their frantic footsteps.

She realized the hyenas were leading her back the way she had come.

Suddenly, the lead hyena turned and approached the Hyena Queen, its low-slung tail wagging as it communicated.

The Hyena Queen halted, standing still as she gazed into the distance.

Her young, waiting in the den, were on her mind, and this path was the shortest way back to them.

Even in the dim moonlight, the Hyena Queen’s expression was heavy with a complex mix of fear, wariness, and a faint, simmering hatred.

Zhou Mingwu surmised that the only animals capable of making hyenas this cautious were those stronger than them, like lions or leopards.

And in that direction, there was only the female leopard who had once defeated a lion.

From what Zhou Mingwu knew, no matter how powerful a female leopard might be, she shouldn’t have stood a chance against a pack of cunning hyenas.

Still, Zhou Mingwu was more concerned about her own survival.

The Hyena Queen paused where she stood for several minutes, pacing in an anxious circle before letting out a series of low, guttural howls. The sound wasn’t commanding or fierce; it carried a heavy, somber undertone.

The rest of the pack joined in, their howls rising and falling in response to their queen’s call. Then, two more hyenas moved to the front, and the pack continued forward.

Zhou Mingwu’s mind was momentarily occupied by this solemn, almost tragic display. She followed closely, flanked by several hyenas, her thoughts racing. Could it be? she wondered. Would a pack of hyenas really be afraid of a single female leopard with her cub?

Her mind whirled with possibilities. If the leopard and the hyenas clashed, she could use the chaos to escape, just as she had two days ago.

As they neared the leopard’s territory, the hyenas became cautious. Suddenly, Zhou Mingwu collapsed to the ground, clutching her injured leg. To make the fall more convincing, she dug her fingers into the unhealed wound. The searing pain made her vision swim.

The hyenas didn’t notice her small gesture, but her fall inevitably made a sound that pierced the stillness of the night.

Animals have much sharper hearing. The high-ranking female hyenas growled in low, threatening snarls, clearly displeased.

Zhou Mingwu met the Hyena Queen’s gaze, sweat from the pain beading on her forehead. “My leg is injured,” she said. “I can’t walk.”

Blood slowly seeped through the gauze on her lower leg, a sight easily visible to the hyenas’ keen eyes.

Humans were troublesome creatures. If their brains could survive on their own, the Hyena Queen would have torn off Zhou Mingwu’s head without hesitation and dragged it back to her territory.

The Hyena Queen crept closer, her menacing teeth bared. She clamped her jaws around the human’s fragile, delicate neck. “Humans are cunning. That’s what my grandmother taught me.”

She could feel the pulse thrumming in Zhou Mingwu’s slender throat.

She wasn’t sure if the human had fallen on purpose. If not for the arrogant and brutal leopard Geslan, who claimed this territory, she would have assumed this was a trap set by Zhou Mingwu and Geslan.

“You’d better behave,” the Hyena Queen threatened before releasing her grip.

The lower-ranking hyenas scanned their surroundings. Finding no sign of Geslan, they returned to the Hyena Queen’s side and fell into a loose formation.

Every extra minute spent in Geslan Territory brought immense danger. That leopard was a madman of the grasslands.

Zhou Mingwu curled up, cradling her injured leg. “I can’t walk right now,” she said softly.

“I don’t know where you’re taking me,” she continued, her tone a mix of cunning and sincerity, “but I’m clearly a burden.”

The Hyena Queen moved to the lead position. A few lower-ranking hyenas lowered their heads and approached Zhou Mingwu. Perhaps the moonlight was playing tricks on her eyes.

She watched as the hyenas’ bodies began to transform. After a series of bone-chilling cracks and pops, they shifted into humanoid forms.

Zhou Mingwu’s eyes widened. Legends were one thing, but seeing it with her own eyes left her utterly stunned.

This grassland never ceased to shatter her understanding of reality.

Her vision was clear, and she could see the humanoid hyenas in detail. Compared to humans of the twenty-first century, they were far coarser. Their shoulders were broader and thicker, their exposed bodies still covered in patches of gray fur. Their heads bore sparse hair, their eye sockets were deeply sunken, and they retained beast-like features, including sharp fangs.

Several pairs of eyes fixed on her. Then, a humanoid hyena grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. The creature’s pungent, musky stench hadn’t faded, and Zhou Mingwu felt a wave of nausea churn in her stomach.

She swallowed hard, forcing down the saliva that flooded her mouth.

Her plan to stall for time had been shattered. Still, Zhou Mingwu refused to give up. She went limp, trying to make herself as heavy as possible, but the humanoid hyena’s strength was immense. Compared to a wild boar or a zebra, Zhou Mingwu’s weight was nothing.

When the pack had been hunting for this human, her faint scent had led them astray. If not for that, they wouldn’t have waited until the dead of night to find her trail. To get back to their den, they now had to cross through the “Madman’s” territory. The hyenas weren’t having a lucky day.

The hyena might not kill her immediately upon bringing her back; she likely had some value.

If she screamed with all her might, she might attract other carnivores in the area. But if she failed to escape the hyenas’ grasp, she would be torn to shreds.

Zhou Mingwu weighed her options. “Friday” limped behind the hyena pack, a truly farcical sight.

Suddenly, the hyena pack skidded to a halt. About a kilometer away, a silhouette emerged, staring fixedly in their direction.

The hyenas raised their heads, their noses twitching. The Hyena Queen lowered her head and sniffed. The scent didn’t belong to Geslan.

Having led her pack for many years, the Hyena Queen was an experienced leader. She dispatched two low-ranking male hyenas to scout ahead.

The males hesitated, but under the Queen’s ruthless command, they reluctantly advanced, one behind the other. Blocking their path was a young adult lioness named Lia, a name well-known across the Mengbabi Grassland.

Lia was a rogue lioness. While rogue male lions were common on the plains, a lone female like her was almost unheard of.

Her parents had betrayed their pride to sire her and her two brothers. In a pride, all mating rights are reserved for the Lion King. Lia’s father had defied this rule, and his luck ran out five months ago when the pride slaughtered him. Lia was the only one to escape.

Ever since, she had been a wanderer. Lacking the skills of a great hunter, she resorted to stealing kills during the dry season, earning her a terrible reputation throughout the Mengbabi Grassland.

The hyenas’ confidence surged, and their steps grew lighter. Driving away Lia, a lone and useless lioness, was certainly nothing for them to fear.

The hyenas’ harassment forced Lia back several steps. She swished her tail to avoid their occasional snaps, her gaze fixed on Zhou Mingwu, who was being held down by the pack.

Wary of her roar, the hyenas kept their attacks restrained.

As they were driven further away, the two low-ranking hyenas focused entirely on the lioness. A pair of golden eyes watched coldly from the Hyena Queen’s position.

In the darkness, the dense grass provided the perfect cover. With the lioness as a distraction, the savanna’s most infamous madwoman could crouch low and creep toward the Hyena Queen undetected. With every step, her powerful muscles rippled with contained strength.

Seeing the obstacle ahead driven away, the Hyena Queen continued leading her pack through the grass. By the time her ears caught the faint, unusual sounds, it was too late. The leopard leaped from the underbrush, its sleek, powerful body arching through the air as its teeth clamped down on her throat.

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