Become a Cheetah
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As the saying goes, two tigers cannot share one territory unless they are a male and a female.
Luo Qiao believed that the person who said this definitely did not consider one situation: what happens when both the male and female have families to care for?
Gama was a four-year-old primitive female cheetah. A few months ago, she had given birth to her first litter of cubs, three male cubs and one female cub.
Being inexperienced, Gama could only rely on her instincts to care for them. Unfortunately, when the cubs were five weeks old, while Gama was out hunting, a pack of spotted hyenas attacked her den.
Two of the male cubs and the female cub were killed, leaving only one male cub alive.
Gama named him Tata. Tata was now five months old. Although Gama was a primitive cheetah, Tata was an evolved cheetah, inheriting his father's superior genes.
He was smarter and more precocious than primitive cheetah cubs, which made Gama cherish him even more. This young mother spared no effort in protecting her child and her territory.
Aside from going out to hunt, she spent almost all her time caring for Tata. At the slightest hint of danger, even from her own kind, she would not hesitate to act.
Luo Qiao was somewhat at a loss about the current situation. This beautiful female cheetah clearly wasn’t very friendly. She was lying on a mound opposite him, staring intently at him, as if she would pounce at the slightest movement.
The two cheetahs stared at each other from a distance of about sixty meters. Gama knew the other was a male cheetah. Even though he had two cubs with him, she still wanted Luo Qiao to leave.
A mother cheetah raising her cubs had to protect her territory. However, Luo Qiao didn’t want to give up the herd of impalas he had been tracking for two days. If he lost this opportunity, who knew where his next meal would come from?
But Luo Qiao wasn’t willing to get into a conflict with this female cheetah. After all, she was a young single mother, and, well, quite beautiful…
Luo Qiao was finally starting to appreciate beauty from a cheetah’s perspective. A cause for celebration.
"Hello!" Luo Qiao tried to greet her.
Gama narrowed her eyes, looked at Luo Qiao for a moment, opened her mouth, and let out a sound: "Ah!"
The female cheetah’s call was cute, but Luo Qiao couldn’t detect much friendliness in it.
Tata leaned against Gama’s front leg, looked up at his cautious mother, then at the three cheetahs across from them, and said, "Mom means she wants you to leave."
Tata was quite helpless about Gama’s habit of not speaking much and preferring to make sounds.
As if to confirm Tata’s words, Gama let out a few more calls: "Ah ah ah!"
Luo Qiao was instantly exasperated. Although he was an evolved cheetah, that didn’t mean he couldn’t understand the meaning behind Gama’s calls.
Where did the cub get the idea that her calls were so polite? The first call was clearly saying, "Get out of here!" The second one was outright cursing: "Get the hell out of here, you cheetah freak!"
At first, Luo Qiao didn’t understand what "cheetah freak" meant. He had never heard anyone refer to an evolved cheetah as a freak.
But after thinking about it and combining it with the look on Gama’s face, he suddenly got it.
A person who is neither male nor female is called a 'freak.'
A cheetah who is neither male nor female is called a 'cheetah freak'…
Luo Qiao’s temper flared up. Although he didn’t hit women, that didn’t mean he would just take insults without responding.
So, the cheetah father, with dark clouds over his head, propped himself up on his front paws, perked up his ears, and let out a loud call at Gama: "Ah ah ah ah!" You’re the freak, your whole family are freaks!
You think you’re the only one who can yell? I can yell too! And I’m a male, so my voice is louder than yours!
Alright, this was the first time in two lifetimes that Luo Qiao had been mistaken for a female, and he completely lost his cool.
Gama: "Ah ah ah ah!" How dare you curse at me?!
Luo Qiao: "Ah ah ah!" So what if I curse at you?!
Gama: "Ah ah ah ah ah!" A male cheetah with cubs—if you’re not a freak, then who is?!
Luo Qiao: "Ah ah ah ah ah ah!" What’s wrong with raising kids?! Is it any of your business? Who says males can’t raise cubs?!
Gama: "..."
Luo Qiao: "Ah ah?" Run out of things to say?
Gama looked at Luo Qiao in horror, then at Luo Sen and Luo Rui, and, abandoning her usual habit of not speaking.
"Are they really your cubs?!"
This was terrifying. Could males really give birth now? Was the apocalypse coming?
Luo Qiao finally stopped yelling. He was so angry at Gama that he was left speechless. He had always heard that evolved cheetahs were smarter than primitive ones, but he had never heard of a primitive cheetah being this dense.
It completely ruined the image he had of her in his mind—a slender, long-legged beauty. If all female cheetahs were like Hida and Gama, his dream of finding a female cheetah to hold paws with would have to be postponed indefinitely.
While Luo Qiao and Gama were busy arguing, Luo Sen and Luo Rui started chatting with Tata from a distance. This wasn’t hard to understand. Tata was essentially an only child, and Luo Sen and Luo Rui had almost no contact with other cheetah cubs. They were all curious about each other.
In fact, from the time cheetah cubs are born until they grow up and leave their mothers, they rarely have the chance to interact with other cubs aside from their siblings. Adult female cheetahs are solitary creatures, unlike male cheetahs, who sometimes form alliances.
"Hello, my name is Tata."
Tata was younger than Luo Sen and Luo Rui, but he had a lively personality.
"Hello, I’m Luo Sen, and this is my brother Luo Rui."
"Oh" Tata nodded, twitching his ears, and then asked Luo Sen "Why is your mom a male?"
"We weren’t born by him."
"Dad?"
Tata still didn’t understand. "If he didn’t give birth to you, why is he raising you?"
This question was too profound for the little cheetahs. Aside from Luo Qiao, no one really knew why this male cheetah was raising cubs.
While the three cubs were chatting enthusiastically, Luo Qiao and Gama had stopped arguing and were preparing to fight.
Gama told Tata to stay put and not run off, then charged down the mound straight at Luo Qiao. Luo Qiao, forgetting all about gentlemanly manners, flicked his tail and went to meet her.
The two young cheetah parents were like a collision of fire and earth.
When it came to running away, Gama was no match for Luo Qiao. But when it came to fighting, two Luo Qiaos couldn’t match one Gama. Female cheetahs, once they reach adulthood, have to deal with male cheetahs constantly approaching them.
This gives all female cheetahs a wealth of fighting experience. If they don’t like a male, they beat him up! If they do like him, they still beat him up! Once both sides are satisfied, they’ll twine tails, lick ears, and get all lovey-dovey to have cubs.
If Luo Qiao were a bit older, Gama might have been more cautious, but Luo Qiao was just over three years old. For Gama, who was four, beating him until he was black and blue was no problem at all!
And so, the fierce and proud female cheetah Gama and the furious male cheetah Luo Qiao started clawing at each other…
Coincidentally, Parson and Jairo had just finished a meal and were planning to return to their territory when they stumbled upon this scene.
Jairo watched as Luo Qiao and Gama clawed, slapped, and scratched at each other, feeling a bit confused. Was he courting her? Clearly not.
But if it wasn’t for courtship, what male cheetah in his right mind would pick a fight with a female cheetah? Besides, he had never seen a male cheetah fight like this. It looked more like two females going at it.
Of course, Jairo would never say that out loud. He was straightforward, but he wasn’t stupid.
"Brother, should we go take a look?"
Parson stood still for a while longer, watching until he recognized the female cheetah fighting with Luo Qiao. Then he said, "That’s Gama."
Hearing that name, Jairo, who had been eager to join the fun, backed off.
That fiery female who was both a mother and a fighter was not someone he could easily mess with. As for Luo Qiao, who was currently in a tussle with Gama, Jairo could only offer his moral support.
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