Chapter 41: Fighting Landlords and Seizing Territory!

The next morning dawned bright and clear.

Chu Xu woke up early and completed his daily skill proficiency training. Even though he had been on a long-distance migration recently, he had not neglected his routine training, and his proficiency continued to accumulate and improve bit by bit.

When the training concluded, Chu Xu opened the "meat storage bag" he carried with him, took out a few pieces of dried dinosaur meat, and ate them for breakfast.

These dinosaur meat strips, dried over a fire to remove moisture, were made by Chu Xu himself along the migration route. They required far less time to prepare than smoked meat; although their taste was mediocre, their advantage lay in convenience, time-saving qualities, and a shelf life of about a month.

Thanks to Chu Xu's habit of packing and storing food, his family had avoided a hand-to-mouth existence during the migration and managed to endure more than a month of arduous life.

"The food is running low again. It's about time to go restocking."

With his appetite greatly increased, Chu Xu consumed over a hundred pounds of meat strips in a single meal before feeling full.

Yet the taste of the dried meat was truly nothing to write home about—bland and uninspiring, yet a waste to discard. Chu Xu's palate felt utterly deprived, and he deeply yearned for steaming hot, fresh raw meat.

"Roar~~!!"

Mother T-Rex had also woken up, letting out a low rumble to urge Longyue and Liuxing, who were still lingering in their sleep, to get up.

Today they did not need to travel, but they had to find a place to settle down as their territory as soon as possible.

Without a territory of their own, Mother T-Rex could not even sleep peacefully at night, constantly worrying about the intrusion and attacks of external enemies.

To find a new territory, there were only two choices.

Either find a piece of unclaimed land, or seize a claimed one.

In comparison, the first option was the safest, as it avoided conflict.

However, most of these unclaimed lands lacked resources and could hardly meet the living needs of Chu Xu's family.

The second option was much simpler and more brutal: play king of the hill and fight for territory. As long as one's fists were hard enough, any blessed land of good geomancy could be conquered!

Naturally, the danger was also very high. After all, Mother T-Rex, as an adult Tyrannosaurus Rex, could not possibly compete with medium and small carnivorous dinosaurs for territory; she had to fight her own kind!

When two tigers fight, one is bound to be injured, to say nothing of the even more formidable Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Once injured in this manner, a T-Rex's subsequent survival would be compromised, even threatening its life. The price was simply too high, so they had to proceed with the utmost caution.

"Roar!!"

With a call, Mother T-Rex led the three young T-Rexes into action, traversing this unfamiliar land in search of a future dwelling place for their family.

...

During the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous, Tyrannosaurus Rex was widely distributed across every corner of the North American continent of Laramidia, boasting a massive population that ranked at the very top of carnivorous dinosaurs.

In his previous life, Chu Xu had read a study published in the journal *Science*. According to calculations by paleontologists, over the approximately 2.5 million years that the Tyrannosaurus Rex existed, a total of 2.5 billion T-Rexes had lived on Earth.

Around 2,000 adult T-Rexes lived on the Laramidia subcontinent at any given time, averaging one adult individual per 100 square kilometers, which meant their distribution range reached 2 million square kilometers.

These figures were truly staggering. While their exact accuracy remained unknown, they were more than enough to prove the immense numbers and wide distribution of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

At this moment, in a forest near the coast, towering araucaria trees growing toward the sun stood densely packed like upright swords and halberds, their canopies merging into dark green clouds.

A tributary of the Missouri River meandered through them, its surface shimmering with daylight as it nourished the tree roots and nurtured the lifeblood of the forest.

The herbivorous dinosaurs in this coastal forest all knew that this region was the territory of a subadult Tyrannosaurus Rex, who would set out to hunt with punctuality every evening as dusk fell.

"Honk—honk—"

"Roar!!"

Amidst the flickering shadows of the trees, a herd of juvenile *Hypacrosaurus* from the family Hadrosauridae fled in panic, closely pursued by a subadult female Tyrannosaurus Rex.

She was already 18 years old and nearing adulthood, reaching a length of 11 meters and a tonnage exceeding 7 tons—qualifying as a standard T-Rex physique.

"Bang!"

Under the relentless closing-in of the subadult T-Rex, a panicked juvenile hadrosaur slipped and fell to the ground.

By the time it tried to scramble back up, the subadult T-Rex had already closed the distance, opened its massive blood-filled maw to bite down on the youngster's neck, and violently crushed its cervical vertebrae.

With the prey secured, the hungry subadult T-Rex began to enjoy a grand feast right where she stood.

This entire area was her domain, and the subadult T-Rex had no cares or worries, able to calmly and comfortably savor the delicious meal.

"Snort!"

Yet her keen sense of smell soon captured an unfamiliar scent drifting from not far away.

It was precisely the scent of her own kind.

An intruder!

"Roar——!!"

The subadult T-Rex instantly tilted her head back and let out an angry roar, the deafening bellow transforming into a fierce gust of wind that set the surrounding sea of boundless forest trees swaying with waves of rustling pines.

She could not bother to continue eating; she took wide strides and hurried in the direction from which the scent came.

Soon, upon arriving at the scene, what met her eyes was an adult female Tyrannosaurus Rex even more massive than herself, reaching a length of 12 meters and weighing at least 8 tons.

Her torso and hind limbs were exceptionally thick and robust, with muscular bulges piled block upon block across her neck, shoulders, back, and hind legs. Her scales rippled with the hard, granite-like luster of raw power, brimming with formidable explosive force.

This adult female Tyrannosaurus Rex was none other than Mother T-Rex. Given her physique, she could be considered fierce even among adult T-Rexes.

"Roar!!"

Mother T-Rex had already settled the three young T-Rexes safely beforehand, leaving herself with no worries in the rear.

Thus, she was able to fully display the might and majesty of an adult Tyrannosaurus Rex. A single titanic roar shook the entire forest violently, sending countless birds and beasts scattering in terror.

"Roar!!"

Though intimidated by Mother T-Rex's size, the subadult T-Rex showed no intention of backing down. This was the territory she had managed to find with such great difficulty; how could she easily hand it over?

The two sides maintained a standoff, continuously roaring at each other. The atmosphere grew tense to the breaking point, and battle was imminent!

It was Mother T-Rex, acting as the invading attacking force, who struck first, charging toward the subadult T-Rex who stood as the defender.

The subadult T-Rex did not show weakness and swiftly met the charge.

"Bang!!"

When the two massive T-Rexes collided, the air itself seemed to undergo a violent explosion, releasing a massive wave of displaced air.

The outcome of the first round of collision was instantly clear: the subadult T-Rex was sent stumbling backward repeatedly by Mother T-Rex's impact.

Though falling into a disadvantage, the subadult T-Rex was not so easily defeated. Regaining her footing, she used her most lethal jaws and banana-sized teeth to tear and bite toward Mother T-Rex.

Mother T-Rex answered tooth for tooth, fiercely crashing against her opponent once more, plunging into the most direct and bloody close-quarters combat. Her thick, short neck twisted madly, her bloody jaws and sharp teeth opened wide to bite, and her two pairs of fierce, golden, glaring vertical pupils flashed with a murderous crimson light...

Just as the battle between Mother T-Rex and the subadult T-Rex reached its white-hot climax—

A half-grown young T-Rex silently appeared behind the subadult T-Rex, and seizing a moment when the latter was off guard, leaped up and lunged directly onto her back!