119: Great Migration of Wildebeest

The Serengeti in the early morning was awakened by the chirping of birds.

As the first ray of sunlight pierced through the thin clouds and sprinkled onto the canopies of the acacia trees, the transparent Crystal Palace that had appeared out of thin air last night was silently undergoing a transformation.

There was no grand demolition project.

Jiang Yuan stood on the dew-chilled grass, holding a steaming cup of black coffee.

Behind him, the extremely luxurious villa seemed to melt like ice and snow; its walls softened, contracted, liquefied, and finally re-condensed into a capsule, which automatically rolled back into Zero’s hand.

Jiang Yuan took a sip of coffee, his gaze directed towards the northwest.

That was the border between Kenya and Tanzania.

There was a river there, named the Mara River.

In this season, it had an even more resounding name—the “River of Death.”

“Buzz—”

The air vibrated slightly. A sci-fi-styled twin-rotor stealth helicopter—codename Falcon—silently descended from the clouds, hovering half a meter above the ground.

It was painted entirely in matte tactical gray and lacked the deafening roar of traditional helicopters, relying instead on Eternal Star City’s magnetofluid propulsion technology, making it very quiet.

“Let’s go.”

Jiang Yuan handed the coffee cup to the maid and stepped into the cabin.

The aircraft did not ascend to a high altitude.

This was Jiang Yuan’s special request.

The Falcon maintained an ultra-low-altitude flight of only fifty meters above the ground.

Looking down from this perspective, the wild beauty of the African continent was fully displayed.

Beneath them was a black “river.”

It wasn’t water, but a horde of animals.

Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of wildebeest and zebras were converging into a mighty torrent, surging in the same direction.

The dust they kicked up obscured the sky, creating a yellowish-brown smoke trail dozens of kilometers long across the land.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?”

Jiang Yuan sat in a spacious leather seat, looking down through the panoramic window.

“This is the instinct of life.”

Just twenty minutes later.

At the end of their vision appeared a winding river. Its waters were turbid and rapid, with steep earthen cliffs on both banks.

Even from several kilometers away, one could almost smell the damp earthy scent lingering in the air, and… a faint stench of decay.

“Land on the highland ahead.”

Jiang Yuan pointed to an earthen mound on the riverbank with an excellent view.

The Falcon landed smoothly.

The cabin door opened, but Jiang Yuan did not walk out directly.

He casually threw out a second nano-capsule.

Click, click, click—

The silver liquid metal rapidly expanded and hardened on the red earth. In the blink of an eye, a modified Land Rover Defender Commander Edition appeared on the riverbank.

It featured a raised chassis, bulletproof armored body, and a flat-top terrace specially modified for viewing.

Jiang Yuan jumped onto the roof of the car and sat down cross-legged.

By this time, the sun had risen directly overhead, its rays scorching and dazzling.

On the opposite bank, the dense herd of wildebeest had gathered to its maximum.

They paced and whinnied along the bank, the back rows pushing the front, and the front rows braking sharply at the edge of the cliff.

Anxiety, fear, desire. All sorts of emotions spread through the herd.

In the river, beneath the seemingly calm, murky surface, black objects resembling deadwood were quietly rising.

Those were Nile Crocodiles.

The largest reptiles on Earth, and the masters of this river.

They had been hungry for an entire dry season, just waiting for this feast.

“It’s time to begin.”

Jiang Yuan took out a pair of sunglasses and put them on, then snapped his fingers.

“Zero, activate the Sky Eye Drone Swarm.”

“Start the global live broadcast.”

“Also, disable all tipping channels. I don’t want those colorful special effects to obscure the view.”

The live broadcast began.

It wasn’t a shaky handheld camera.

This time, Jiang Yuan deployed a divine-level drone.

Three stealth drones, no bigger than flies, ascended, locking onto a high-altitude Overlooking perspective, a low-altitude close-up perspective, and a water-surface macro perspective, respectively.

The moment the live broadcast screen lit up, Jiang Yuan’s face was not shown.

What greeted the eyes of millions of viewers was the surging, roaring Mara River, and the hundreds of thousands of animals on its banks, so dense they could trigger trypophobia.

The picture quality was incredibly clear; every speck of dust raised, every terrified look in a wildebeest’s eyes, was perfectly rendered.

“Holy cow! This picture quality! Am I watching an IMAX movie?”

“Why isn’t there a tipping button? I want to send rockets!”

“Upstairs, shut up. God Jiang has never enabled tipping. Everyone watch quietly.”

“Oh my god… Is this the Great Wildebeest Migration mentioned in geography books?”

At this moment, Jiang Yuan’s voice, acting as a narrator, clearly and calmly entered everyone’s ears.

He didn’t show his face, like a narrator documenting history.

“What everyone is seeing now is one of the greatest natural wonders on Earth.”

“Every year, over 1.5 million wildebeest and 500,000 zebras trek three thousand kilometers across the East African Plateau in search of water and green grass.”

“And this Mara River, which lies before them, is the biggest gate of hell on their journey.”

“Cross it, and it’s a paradise of lush water and grass.”

“Fail to cross, and it’s a meal for crocodiles.”

Before he finished speaking.

The animal herd on the bank suddenly stirred.

Perhaps the pushing from behind was too severe, or perhaps a leader had made a decision.

A sturdy wildebeest suddenly leaped.

It plunged like a black stone from the four-to-five-meter-high earthen cliff into the rushing river.

“It has begun,” Jiang Yuan said faintly.

That leap was like a signal, instantly igniting the entire powder keg.

Immediately after, the second, the third, the hundredth… Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

It was the sound of tens of thousands of horses stampeding, shaking even the earth. Countless black figures, like dumplings, frantically leaped into the river, splashing water everywhere. The originally turbid river instantly became churned up by countless hooves.

The live stream perspective instantly switched to low-altitude.

Viewers felt as if they were suspended above the river, witnessing this breathtaking scene firsthand.

“Roar!”

The long-lurking killers moved.

A giant Nile Crocodile, over five meters long, burst through the water’s surface like a torpedo launched from a tube.

Its large, fanged mouth snapped shut on an adult wildebeest that had just fallen into the water.

Crunch.

The crisp sound of bones breaking was transmitted clearly across the globe through high-fidelity audio equipment.

The wildebeest, weighing several hundred catties, had no chance to struggle and was dragged directly to the bottom of the water by the terrifying bite force.

Only a crimson splash bloomed on the surface, which was then swept away by the rapid river current.

But this was just the beginning.

More and more crocodiles joined the hunt, and more and more wildebeest leaped into the river.

The river surface instantly transformed into a massive slaughterhouse.

Some wildebeest had their legs bitten off by crocodiles, wailing in despair in the water.

Some young wildebeest were swept away by the current, their mothers calling anxiously from the bank.

Others, unable to climb the steep riverbank, were trampled to death in the mud by their companions from behind.

Death, here, became so concrete, so blunt.

The live stream’s bullet comments went wild.

“It’s too cruel… I can’t watch anymore…”

“Can God Jiang save them?! That little wildebeest is so pitiful!”

“Upstairs, you bleeding heart, shut up! This is nature! If you save one wildebeest, the crocodiles will starve!”

“Is this the true law of the jungle… it’s making my scalp tingle.”

“It’s so stunning, a million times more stunning than any movie special effect.”