Because Mungo was still an adolescent, his scales were very bright. If they belonged to older dinosaurs, these scales would look dimmer.
The sun shone through the lush forest into the river, reflecting sparkles on Mungo and Gulu. Gulu felt that every piece of Mungo was glistening and beautiful.
Mungo"s scales appeared dark brown and powerful at ordinary times. But under the sunlight and at closer look, one could see other colors on him. His forehead was red, his chest was blue, and his back appeared as golden color …
Gulu found that the scales on Mungo"s belly were smaller and softer than those on his other parts. They"re very comfortable to lie on, just like super soft sofa. No wonder Mungo said that a Tyrannosaurus rex"s belly was the most vulnerable.
Gulu was also exhausted today. He simply sat on Mungo"s belly. Mungo was so big. Gulu"s human body was 1.92 m tall but only occupied less than half of his belly. (T/N: 1.92 m = 6 ft 3 in.)
Gulu could sense that Mungo was very nervous. Even his breathing was extremely careful. He must be afraid of hurting him.
So Gulu turned over and faced Mungo. He wanted Mungo and his human body to slowly get familiar with each other. Mungo should at least know how much strength his human form could bear and how to get along with it.
Gulu found out that even though the forelimbs of Tyrannosaurus rex looked like adorable decoration compared to their huge hind legs, they were actually thicker than the arms of a 1.92 m tall man.
Mungo had three claws on each forelimb, which in turn had a very sharp claw hook at the edge. If a human was caught by this claw, that person would definitely lose a layer of flesh.
Gulu grabbed one of Mungo"s forelimbs and gently scratched it on his arm. This was to let Mungo understand that touching him with this much strength wouldn"t hurt him.
Under the guidance of Gulu, Mungo gradually mastered the balance. He raised his front paw and gently slid over Gulu"s arm, leaving no red marks.
To be honest, Gulu was a little surprised. Tyrannosaurus rex couldn"t control their strength very well. For them, a very light touch might kill human beings. Yet, Mungo managed to master the trick of not hurting him so quickly.
It"s really difficult for Tyrannosaurus rex to touch anything with such little force. Mungo was really great!
Mungo became a curious baby after he mastered the strength. He used his forelimbs to rub all over Gulu"s body.
Mungo had never felt anything so silky to the touch. The skin was more slippery than water and smoother than wind. It"s very comfortable. How could the human body be so magical?
Gulu was tickled by Mungo and rolled all over Mungo"s belly while laughing and splashing in the river.
After the two had enough playing in the water, Mungo remained in the river with his back to the sh.o.r.e to rest. Gulu still laid on Mungo"s belly and comfortably fell asleep.
Mungo"s adorable forelimbs seemed to be created in order to embrace Gulu"s human body. Compared to the rest of the Tyrannosaurus rex"s body, they"re just right to encircle Gulu. With their protection, Gulu could move about in his sleep without worrying about falling into the water.
At noon, the sun-bathed river water was warm while Mungo"s body felt cool in the water, which let Gulu sleep soundly.
Gulu woke up in the afternoon. He became a little Triceratops to lie on Mungo"s head and let Mungo carry him home.
The two were not in a hurry. They slowly strolled through the lush forest.
While walking along, Gulu suddenly saw a small Triceratops behind a big tree in the distance. It looked just like the one who knocked him off the cliff before!
Gulu immediately shouted, "Mungo, that"s the little Triceratops that hit me! Hurry up and chase! Over there!"
Mungo immediately ran in the direction of Gulu"s finger. But by the time they arrived, there was no sign of the little Triceratops.
Gulu also seemed to see a small feathered dinosaur on the back of the little Triceratops. Because of the large distance, he couldn"t make out what type it was. But there was definitely a small feathered dinosaur with the little Triceratops.
They searched nearby for a long time but couldn"t find it. When they prepared to head back, Gulu became attracted by a small dinosaur with beautiful long tails.
This dinosaur was standing on the trunk of a tree. Four long tails hung down. The four long tails were feathered. Each of them had different colors and shone with colorful light under the spa.r.s.e sunlight.
The beautiful little dinosaur was only about the size of a dove. Its body was covered with short feathers. Its tails were really beautiful and long, just like fluttering ribbons.
Gulu could confirm that this was an Epidexipteryx.
Since the companion of the little Triceratops was a feathered dinosaur, Gulu wanted to follow these feathered dinosaurs. Maybe they would lead him to the little Triceratops.
Epidexipteryx were covered with short feathers. Their hind end had four extended tail feathers, which were long and banded.
Epidexipteryx"s fossils were discovered in China and noted down as dinosaurs from the Jura.s.sic period. The reason why they were named Epidexipteryx was probably because their tails were too beautiful and useless for practical application. They couldn"t fly and were only used to show off when courting and fighting.
(T/N: Epidexipteryx = Yao Long in Chinese, which translates to Dazzling dinosaur)
Gulu conjectured that since there"re Epidexipteryx in this forest, there must be other feathered dinosaurs. This was simply extraordinary!
At present, most of the feathered dinosaur fossils were found in China. They were beautiful and could fly.
Gulu, as a human being, once summed up this for fun when giving lectures: most dinosaurs in our motherland are the Air Force. They"re mostly small and beautiful, but still very powerful.
This Epidexipteryx was hunting insects in the trunk. Epidexipteryx had three slender toes and protruding teeth. Their three slender toes were used for climbing trees and catching insects, while their teeth also had their places as hunting tools.
The Epidexipteryx moved quickly in the tree looking for food and soon found its target, a fat worm in the trunk.
Epidexipteryx approached carefully. As long as the worm went into the center of the trunk, it couldn"t be eaten. So the Epidexipteryx couldn"t disturb its prey.
At this moment, Gulu saw a Microraptor hiding under the tree where the Epidexipteryx was "standing by to wait."
The 7-meter-long Gigantoraptor was certainly not interested in such a small prey as the Epidexipteryx. But this was a Microraptor less than 1 meter in length. An Epidexipteryx was its most delicious snack.
Gigantoraptor and Microraptor were two completely different dinosaurs. A Gigantoraptor was also called an Erlian giant dinosaur. It couldn"t fly and weighed 1.5 tons. It"s the largest feathered dinosaur found in current research. In contrast, Microraptor could fly.
(T/N: Erlian refers to the Erlian Basin in Northeastern China where the dinosaur was discovered)
But this Epidexipteryx was so absorbed that it didn"t realize that it had become the prey that another was waiting for.
Gulu felt extremely nervous for it. If this Epidexipteryx dared to eat the worm, it would immediately be eaten by the Microraptor.
The Epidexipteryx walked beside the worm. Suddenly, a little Epidexipteryx appeared from the branch. Although the Epidexipteryx had caught the worm, this little Epidexipteryx was very fierce and didn"t understand the rules. It started to directly rob the former.
During their fight, the worm fell to the ground.
Gulu found the first Epidexipteryx to be very angry, but it didn"t dispute with the little Epidexipteryx either. Instead, it got ready to hunt other worms again. Gulu thought this Epidexipteryx was quite generous.
This Epidexipteryx was already an adult. If it wanted to settle accounts with the little Epidexipteryx, the little one wouldn"t be able to beat him. Yet, it spared the other.
The little Epidexipteryx excitedly ran under the tree, ready to pick up the worm to eat. As soon as its feet landed on the ground, it became the afternoon snack of the Microraptor.
Meanwhile, the adult Epidexipteryx was watching from the tree.
Gulu didn"t know until then that the little Epidexipteryx felt into the adult"s trap! This trap was directly deadly! It"s too vicious!
The adult Epidexipteryx must have found the hunter under the tree long ago. Even if it didn"t discover the danger, the adult Epidexipteryx knew that food was only safe on the tree. Once this food fell on the ground, it became a trap. Anyone who went to pick it up may be eaten by predators on the ground.
The little Epidexipteryx must be too young. It either didn"t have parents to teach it or had yet to learn or know about the "way of survival". The little Epidexipteryx thought that it had picked up a big bargain but ended up losing its life.
The Microraptor ate a small Epidexipteryx, which obviously couldn"t meet its standard amount of afternoon snack and continued to hunt.
Gulu let Mungo follow the Microraptor while keeping a good distance in between them.
Small feathered dinosaurs in the forest wouldn"t be afraid of Tyrannosaurus rex, because they were too small of a prey to hunt. Their meat wasn"t even enough for Tyrannosaur rex to stuff their mouth.
The Microraptor"s body was covered by a thick layer of feathers, with diamond-shaped feather fans at the end of its tail. Its feet, forearms and heads had long flight feathers. Microraptors were especially beautiful feathered dinosaurs.
At this time, the Microraptor was eyeing a Xianglong, which was very lizard-like in appearance, was good at climbing trees and could "run parkour" on these trees.
Xianglong discovered the danger and desperately ran up a tree. The Microraptor followed closely behind. Microraptor"s one-meter long claws were also very good at climbing.
Soon, Xianglong was chased to a dead end and saw that it would be eaten by the Microraptor.
However, a Xianglong had a top-secret weapon. Although it looked like a lizard without wings when climbing a tree, it could fly.
(T/N: 翔龙 – I can"t find the dinosaur"s name in English. But it most likely looks like the picture below – on the right / The flying lizard)
At this time, Xianglong jumped down. After its forelimbs were unfolded, there was a thin layer of flight membranes, which allowed it to fly using the wind. To be more precise, it wasn"t actually flying, but gliding. A Xianglong"s body was light and completely aerodynamic.
Although this was not real flying in the strictest sense, it was still a great skill when running for your life.
Xianglong was very proud after leaving, tweeting in the air as if to mock: You didn"t expect it, but I can fly!
Microraptor"s feathers were not used just to keep warm and show off. Each feather fan had a perfect "aerodynamic surface" and the Microraptor had four big feather fans! Not only could it glide in the air, but also stole away like a thief!
(T/N: stole away like a thief = can really control its movement)
The Microraptor came after it and also chirped, as if to reply: Unexpectedly, I can fly too. And I can fly 6 times better than you!
Both of their movements could only be regarded as gliding since they could only descend to the ground and not ascend to the sky. However, the Microraptor had a four-feather fan that could let it change direction in the air and fly faster.
However, the Microraptor"s feathers were too long and affected his performance after landing. Xianglong ran much faster on the ground, resulting the chase continuing on the ground, across trees and in the air.
The advantages of Microraptor were still obvious since Xianglong was close to being caught and eaten.
At this moment Gulu discovered a bigger flying dinosaur, Sinosauropteryx!
Sinosauropteryx was more than one meter long. Its whole body was covered with yellow-brown and orange feathers. Its long tail was like peac.o.c.k fans covered with orange-white feathers. Its erect hind legs were very good at running and its forelimbs had large fan feathers. It"s also very good at flying.
(T/N: this dinosaur doesn"t look like it can even glide to me. But it"s listed as a flying/feathered dinosaur…)
The Sinosauropteryx was closer to a Microraptor in dinosaur genus.
This Sinosauropteryx quickly joined the "flight chase". Because it was not only big, but also fast, it completely crushed the other two. The Microraptor became a Sinosauropteryx"s dessert in the afternoon.
Of course, the Sinosauropteryx despised the smaller Xianglong. This Xianglong unexpectedly ended up escaping death just like this.
The eaten Microraptor: How are we close relatives?! You ate me!
Gulu changed to follow the Sinosauropteryx. This Sinosauropteryx began to play in the forest after it"s full. Its flying or gliding ability were very good, and it could move through the forest unnoticed.
While flying around, several Jeholosaurus suddenly appeared below.
Jeholosaurus was a kind of small plant-eating dinosaur, about one meter in length with short forelimbs like Tyrannosaurus rex. But their bodies were small. Instead of looking strange, they"re quite adorable.
Jeholosaurus was one of the staple foods of Sinosauropteryx.
In addition, all of these Jeholosaurus were small. Gulu knew that the Sinosauropteryx in the air would not give up such a good hunting opportunity.
Sure enough, a few bigger Sinosauropteryx soon appeared. Just like eagles catching chickens, they picked up several small Jeholosaurus and planned to run away.
However, a few adult Jeholosaurus came along at this moment. Jeholosaurus were very "humanized" and would try their best to protect their young.
All of the remaining little Jeholosaurus rushed to the adult side to seek shelter.
Adult Jeholosaurus were much bigger than Sinosauropteryx. They desperately chased after the Sinosauropteryx, trying to recover their captured cubs.
Gulu saw the Sinosauropteryx release these little Jeholosaurus. He thought the Sinosauropteryx wanted to forget about it. As a result, they abandoned all of the smaller dinosaurs and directly hunted the big dinosaur.
Several Sinosauropteryx unitedly pecked at a very strong adult male Jeholosaurus. Soon the Jeholosaurus fell to the ground and stopped moving.
Normally, a few pecks shouldn"t have let out that much blood. How did it die so fast?
Gulu suddenly remembered that another unique skill of Sinosauropteryx was that they could use poison! Their teeth had grooves that could inject venom into the prey, quickly poisoning it to death.
The rest of the Jeholosaurus fled quickly.
Gulu: F***! This dinosaur, no, this bird, this Sinosauropteryx bird is too powerful! Not only can it run and fly fast, it can also use poison. This must be the time for evolution to "top-up".
(T/N: top-up = be raised to the peak)
Sinosauropteryx could be said to be a very horrible predator in this forest.
Afterward, the Sinosauropteryx flew some of its prey to a cave with luxuriant fern covering.
Suddenly, Gulu seemed to see that little Triceratops appeared at the entrance of the cave!
T/N: I think when the author wrote flying here, the actual meaning should be gliding down. I don"t think any of these feathered dinosaurs can actually fly up like the pterosaurs. Many of them don"t even have wings.
I woke up yesterday morning to all of your supporting comments. Thank you btw! While I don"t always reply to every comment, I do read them all and ‘Liked" them. ? If you see that ‘Liked by one person", it"s most definitely me.
Then I saw a two star comment review on NU. ? –> ? I think Gulu really hit a nerve there when he talked about human mothers aborting their babies. I have nothing to say about that. Everyone has their own trigger.
But I do take issue with the first point when the commenter blasted about Gaya mistaking Gulu for a T. rex. Gaya"s back story is actually coming up soon. Not every explanation is given in the first 15 chapters! h.e.l.lo!
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