Chapter 49

Chapter 49: The Alliance of Pots, Bowls, Ladles, and Basins

After the intense battle, Jié Jié indulged in the finest ingredients and drifted into a blissful slumber.

But the four baby dragons were eating something rather unsavory…

The moment hunger struck, the baby dragons would often let out sharp cries to summon their kin.

The four young fire dragons were no different; naturally, they called out for none other than Jié Jié.

Even with their throats burning and their flame bags on the verge of premature development, no dragon came to toss little meatballs into their mouths.

Having no choice, the four little ones began searching for food nearby. Under Jié Jié’s care, they usually feasted on nutrient-rich large monsters, growing rapidly to nearly the size of a full-grown thief dragon.

Their usual roughhousing over food wasn’t entirely useless, as they had now become small monsters with some basic hunting skills.

Although they could only effectively hunt beetles, Iron Pot stubbornly approached the herbivore dragon again, and the other three baby dragons didn’t fight alone but followed him.

These herbivore dragons were different from when Jié Jié first hunted them. They weren’t in a state of panicked escape.

Stable herbivore dragon herds, when faced with small threats, often have their strong adult members guard the perimeter, using their bodies to resist predators.

Even the gentlest herbivore dragons can swing away thief dragons with their tails when pushed too far.

The younglings of large flying dragons may be as big as an adult thief dragon, but they are still just children, unable to handle themselves well, merely having tougher skin.

After being driven away by the herbivore dragons, Wooden Ladle spotted crabs on the lakeside beach and set his sights on a new target.

They were easy to catch and nutritious, but the number was limited, and all four siblings saw the crabs.

The four young fire dragons fought over the distribution, causing chaos that allowed some crabs to escape. In the end, none of them got to eat many, instead exhausting more energy.

Perhaps because Jié Jié always transformed in front of them, engaging in interactions not seen in other fire dragon families, combined with their regular diet of fine foods, their brain development surpassed that of other hatchlings born at the same time.

At the same time, other young dragons were still cooped up in their nests, waiting to be fed.

In short, the baby dragons realized that infighting was a losing proposition and together searched for more crabs on other parts of the beach.

Rather than competing against each other, they had the idea of expanding the pie.

Wooden Ladle and Basin, as the later-hatched baby dragons, lagged behind their two older brothers in physical development, often being at a disadvantage in roughhousing, but even so, they had no intention of separating from Iron Pot and Porcelain Bowl.

Jié Jié had raised them too well, treating them equally and feeding them until they were full. Losing a fight simply meant losing, but the amount of food eaten would not decrease.

Other young dragons from the same period couldn’t eat as well, especially those from single-parent families in the Giant Ant Hill Wasteland.

Every female fire dragon in the Giant Ant Hill Wasteland had their shell’s luster dulled by life’s hardships. To support a family, even hunting all day, the young dragons often ate one meal and missed the next.

In such an environment, competition among young dragons was fierce. Female fire dragons, to alleviate the pressure, often turned a blind eye, allowing some offspring to be eliminated or disappear, returning to her belly.

From the perspective of human familial relationships, Jié Jié might think his young dragons aren’t very harmonious, but from the viewpoint of fire dragon society, the four baby dragons were quite harmonious.

They spread out slightly, maintaining relative distance while hunting individually but ensuring they remained close to each other.

Wooden Ladle and Basin didn’t compete for food, staying closer to each other.

Iron Pot, who liked roughhousing, lost that mindset after separating from his nest mates for a while and instead moved closer to them.

After a busy half-day, they only ate half-full, missing the times when Jié Jié was around and there was plenty of food.

“Roar~ Roar~ Roar~”

Thus, the strength they regained after eating was spent on roaring.

No response, so they continued hunting crabs along the lakeside.

Not having experienced hunger, their appetites became picky, and relying solely on crabs wasn’t enough.

Was there any bigger prey?

That would be the rabbits weaving through the grass on the shore.

Simple chasing wasn’t enough to hunt these rabbits. Being siblings, after several failures, they developed a tacit understanding.

They began attempting more advanced tactics, such as ambushes and encirclements.

The trapped rabbit charged toward the gap in the encirclement, but the second-born Porcelain Bowl displayed excellent calculation skills.

It pounced, crashing its head into the ground, and the rabbit wildly thrashed in its mouth.

The other three baby dragons watched the continuously wriggling rabbit intently.

Crabs were waterlogged, and they eagerly wanted to taste the chewy meat.

But there was only one rabbit.

Porcelain Bowl bit down on the rabbit in its mouth, the sound of bones breaking emanating from it, causing the young dragons to stir.

Before any cracks appeared, Porcelain Bowl chose to place the prey in front of Iron Pot.

Fire dragons have a certain degree of sociality, which often manifests during conflicts.

Wooden Ladle and Basin quieted down; Iron Pot, the strongest of the firstborns, had always been the leader.

If internal distribution was uneven, then find a way to expand the pie.

Iron Pot didn’t understand this point, but it accepted the rabbit and continued hunting with its siblings.

Their encirclement of the rabbits gradually became more skilled, and the rabbits they hunted didn’t all end up in Iron Pot’s mouth.

The second rabbit was caught by Iron Pot, who shared half with Porcelain Bowl.

When the sister caught the third rabbit, it didn’t choose to fight for it but let her nervously swallow it.

Instead, Basin got stuck swallowing the rabbit.

When Iron Pot and Porcelain Bowl showed signs of sharing, the tiny alliance formed by the baby dragons gained its maintainers.

They never stopped hunting, and this sense of sharing circulated among the four baby dragons. When all four nest mates became maintainers of this alliance…

As long as the baby dragons believed Jié Jié would return, this alliance would remain unbreakable.

They even learned to take turns calling for Jié Jié, one stopping when tired and another taking over.

While other baby dragons of the same period were still crying to be fed, these four had already formed an alliance, turning a kilometer of the lakeshore into their hunting grounds.

Jié Jié looked down from the air, feeling content, memories of the delicious times spent with the seasoned male fire dragon flooding back.

It wasn’t until an unbeatable foe appeared before the baby dragons that he let out a loud dragon roar, once again becoming the backing of this tiny alliance.