Huang Tao was somewhat curious after hearing this: "From what you're saying, the male crocodile is larger than the female? How much bigger?"
Zhang Zhen's expression turned grave as he gave Huang Tao a deep look. "In crocodile populations, males are typically 1.5 times the length of females on average, with body weight reaching 2-3 times that of females."
The smile froze on Huang Tao's face. "That big of a difference?"
Zhang Zhen nodded. "Yes, crocodiles practice polygyny. Generally, one crocodile population inhabits a river section, consisting of one dominant male, several females, and some sub-adult individuals. If food is particularly abundant in an area, the crocodile population will increase accordingly. Based on the size of this female crocodile, I estimate the male should be between seven to eight meters in length."
Seven to eight meters...
Qin Ziwen, standing not far away, overheard their conversation and instinctively glanced back at the deep river surface.
Zhang Zhen looked deeply concerned. "If my estimation is correct, then this giant male crocodile... could truly be terrifying."
Seeing that others didn't grasp the severity of the situation, Zhang Zhen explained: "Have you heard of Lolong? The largest crocodile ever captured by humans on Earth. In the documentary, they used steel cables to hang chicken meat from tree branches. Whenever the crocodile bit the meat, it would get caught, but the steel cables were directly snapped. They kept thickening the steel cables, but Lolong kept destroying them. They continued thickening the cables until finally, they captured Lolong."
"Then they called over a dozen villagers to try dragging Lolong out of the water. Lolong didn't budge at all and almost escaped. Eventually, all the watching villagers came to help - over sixty people engaged in a tug-of-war lasting several hours before finally dragging Lolong ashore."
"In an empty stomach state, it weighed 1,075 kilograms, but its body length was only 6.2 meters."
This last statement shocked everyone the most.
Someone murmured: "Only 6.2 meters and it was that powerful? Then 7.2 meters would be absolutely insane!"
Zou Sheng frowned deeply. "It might even exceed 7.2 meters. Based on the 1.5 times calculation, the length should be at least 7.5 meters or more."
As a fitness trainer, he understood clearly that differences in tonnage were difficult to overcome with technique alone. The 6.2-meter Lolong weighed one ton, while a 7.5-meter crocodile would likely reach two tons.
It was essentially an amphibious super-physical monster.
Zhang Zhen said: "If it's truly a giant crocodile over seven meters long, we probably have no way to restrain it. To deal with it, we can only dig traps and find a way to bury it in a pit."
But some thought Zhang Zhen was worrying unnecessarily. "You said that was on Earth. Who knows if the crocodiles in this different world might have larger females? It's been several days already, and no one has seen the giant crocodile you mentioned."
"Right, if it really existed, why hasn't it come out when we've been hunting its kind?"
"Ah—"
A distant scream interrupted everyone's discussion.
"Run quickly!"
"Such a huge crocodile~"
Those who were still dividing the meat looked at each other.
Then they simultaneously turned to look at the person who had just said it wouldn't come out.
Zheng Yuan's mouth twitched: "You and your jinxing mouth..."
That person also regretted it, never expecting his words would come true so literally.
Through the sparse bushes, everyone could see many residents fleeing in the distance.
Huang Tao shouted: "Wait, the residential complex's main gate is over there. If we go that way, we might get blocked by the giant crocodile right at the entrance. Let's go in a different direction."
Qin Ziwu moved to his brother's side. "Brother, let's take the east gate."
"Okay, we need to be careful."
Then Qin Ziwen saw the bushes shaking violently, as if a monster was charging recklessly through the grass.
"Wait, the crocodile seems to be coming this way, run!"
Qin Ziwen ran back several dozen meters before turning to look. Where they had just been dismembering their prey, an extremely ferocious giant crocodile now lay quietly beside the female crocodile's remains.
Just by lying there, this giant crocodile gave off a terrifying presence.
The already butchered female crocodile beside it looked as small as a little girl in comparison.
Qin Ziwu murmured: "So huge..."
Qin Ziwen could feel his pounding heart - this was humans' instinctive emotion when facing giant beasts. "Its height must exceed one meter."
The giant crocodile opened its massive jaws, emitting low roars from its throat. The height of its mouth was almost enough to swallow an adult whole.
Then it bit down on the remains and dragged them directly toward the river.
Only when the enormous body completely submerged in the water did everyone collectively sigh in relief.
Qin Ziwen felt this giant crocodile's behavior didn't quite match Zhang Zhen's description. According to Zhang Zhen, crocodiles were emotionally indifferent creatures whose behaviors were primarily for survival, but he had sensed an emotion beyond mere survival from this male crocodile - more than just anger over territorial violation.
Zhang Zhen murmured: "It seemed to be expressing rage just now. This is bad - this crocodile's intelligence might be quite high."
Everyone quickly retreated along the residential complex's outer wall.
They circled all the way to the east gate and re-entered the complex from there.
When they returned to the south gate, it was packed with people.
From listening to conversations, Qin Ziwen learned that a crocodile hunting team at the south gate had finally managed to kill a crocodile. While they were cutting and dividing the meat, the giant crocodile suddenly burst from the water, directly bit someone, then dragged the crocodile corpse from the shore back into the river.
The bitten person had been snatched back by the others.
But... while they retrieved the person, his condition wasn't good at all.
Even those completely ignorant of medicine would fall silent seeing his miserable state.
His chest cavity along with his pelvis - this entire area was sunken inward, like a smashed fruit. His clothes were completely soaked with blood, and he was only breathing out with no breath coming in.
His family knelt beside him, holding him and crying.
Seeing Huang Tao arrive, the deceased's family rushed over and surrounded him.
"How could there be such a terrifying crocodile in that river!"
The deceased's mother grabbed Huang Tao by the collar. "My son was only twenty-three! He just graduated from university, he had so much life ahead of him!"
"Why, why did this have to happen! I'd rather it was me who died." The deceased's mother weakly released her grip, collapsing to the ground with despairing wails.
Huang Tao remained silent. "I'm sorry."
Huang Tao looked around at everyone present. "We must kill this crocodile. It's different from ordinary crocodiles - it's more intelligent and stronger. Now it holds hatred toward us. If we don't kill it now, our chances of killing it later will only decrease."
"This crocodile is likely the leader of its population. As long as we can kill it, we will truly dominate this river section."
Someone said: "Easier said than done. How do we kill such a huge crocodile? We tried using nets earlier, and it just shredded them."
Huang Tao said firmly: "We dig traps. For dealing with heavy-tonnage enemies like this, pit traps are most effective."
The atmosphere fell into silence.
The precedent lay on the ground before them - this terrifying giant crocodile was absolutely the most fearsome opponent they had encountered so far.
The deceased's mother gritted out through her teeth: "I'll dig."
"Alright, let's dig! Let's kill this crocodile!"
"Let's get it! Damn it, we can't be bullied by a beast!"
"Who knows when this crocodile might target me or my family? Kill it! No matter how strong it is, it's still a carbon-based life form. Let's trap it in a pit and bury it alive!"
For a moment, the crowd became fiercely determined, their roars shaking the sky.
Qin Ziwen felt somewhat dazed, then the corners of his mouth slowly curved upward.
This male crocodile leader should definitely meet the standard of a powerful life form that can drop cards.
He just wondered what form the dropped card would take.
As others had said, no matter how strong it was, it was still just a carbon-based life form.
As long as it was carbon-based, it could be killed.
...