With the tiger snake gradually raising its head in a slow manner and its body coiling like a spring, it looked like it was ready to launch an attack at any moment.
At the same time, it emitted hissing sounds, which were used to intimidate its opponent, from its mouth.
Despite that, Ah Meow, who was its opponent, was unfazed by the hissing. I beat up an adult Mexican wolf before. Why would I be afraid of you—a soft piece of trash?
From the previous clash, it was clear that the tiger snake was not a match for Ah Meow.
Earlier, Ah Meow had saved Big Quinn's life. Tiger snakes were able to secrete potent venom that contained a neurotoxin, procoagulants, hemolysins, and a myotoxin that was unique to snakes and were known as one of the most venomous snakes in the world.
After being bitten by a tiger snake, besides the excruciating pain at the site of the wound, the venom that spread from the wound would lead to excruciating pain in the foot and neck regions. The person would then feel numb and perspire before immediately having breathing difficulties and partial paralysis of their limbs.
Even if they had an effective antivenom, the fatality rate was as high as 45 percent if they were not immediately sent to a hospital for treatment.
As Li Du and the others hadn't expected to encounter an attack from a venomous snake on the road, they hadn't brought along an antivenom.
Big Quinn had been too reckless moving the rock earlier. When he'd moved the rock away, the tiger snake, who was evidently underneath it, thought that it was being attacked and hence, launched an attack at Big Quinn.
Fortunately, as Ah Meow had been very close to him when the attack happened, he was able to swipe the snake away in time and save his life. Otherwise, Big Quinn would have definitely died!
Ah Meow had been six feet away from the tiger snake and Big Quinn while the tiger snake had been, at most, two feet away from Big Quinn. Ultimately, instead of being successful in its attack, the tiger snake had been swiped away by Ah Meow, who had waited for it to attack before making his move.
From this, it was clear that Ah Meow's judgment, reaction time, explosiveness, and speed were all better than the tiger snake's. With that, he did not need to be afraid of the tiger snake when having a showdown with it.
Similarly, the tiger snake was also not afraid of him. In Australia's wilderness, tiger snakes didn't have many natural predators. As such, the tiger snake was used to being arrogant and didn't take Ah Meow seriously.
With Ah Meow crouching in front of it, the tiger snake, who was ready to attack, was forcefully moving its tongue in and out of its mouth while swaying its head.
As Li Du was worried that an accident would befall Ah Meow, he wanted to call him back. However, he could not make any sound to distract Ah Meow as a split second was all it took in determining life and death during a stare-down between experts.
If he distracted Ah Meow and caused him to be bitten by the tiger snake, he would feel guilty for the rest of his life.
As Big Quinn also understood this point, both of them stood there motionless while quietly watching the stare-down between the ocelot and tiger snake.
In the meantime, Li Du called out the little bug and used its ability to slow down time to have a close look at the snake and ocelot.
After a few seconds of staring at each other, both parties began clashing.
Ah Meow was the first to make a move. However, instead of pouncing forward, he slowly curled his tail before quickly swinging it out to hit the tiger snake like a whip.
As though a spring was installed in its neck, the tiger snake launched its head out with lightning fast speed before opening its mouth to reveal its ferocious-looking venomous fangs and biting viciously at Ah Meow's tail.
Immediately after swinging his tail, Ah Meow retracted it. The speed at which he retracted his tail was much faster than the speed at which he swung it at the snake. While retracting his tail, he reached forward and swiped with his front paws. With his sharp claws, which were like daggers, out, he speedily left a wound on the tiger snake's body.
After rolling one round on the floor, the tiger snake hurriedly raised itself and stood upright.
With that, Li Du was no longer anxious—the tiger snake was definitely not a match for Ah Meow.
Ah Meow, who had also confirmed this point, kept feeling out the tiger snake with his tail by swaying it from side to side like a snake.
The tiger snake also seemed to be aware of the frightening prowess that the strong opponent in front of it possessed. Even though its whole body stood upright, instead of swaying its head, it obediently retracted its head close to its body.
It was only when Ah Meow swayed his tail right in front of it did it suddenly pop its head out and launch an attack.
Despite that, it was not successful in its attack as Ah Meow immediately retracted his tail once it popped its head out. Both Ah Meow's reaction time and speed were much better than the tiger snake's.
Seeing this, Li Du heaved a sigh of relief, "Ah Meow, come back, stop playing."
He was afraid that Ah Meow would overdo it and miss, which would be awful.
Although Big Quinn hadn't seen their actions clearly when they had been clashing, he was able to tell that the tiger snake had suffered an injury and that Ah Meow was teasing his opponent in a relaxed manner.
As such, he said, "Boss, let him play. This is one of the games that felines love the most and is also a type of training for them."
Li Du asked, "This is training?"
Big Quinn nodded. "Yeah, ocelots will tease their opponents as a way to train their hunting skills. They know what they are doing. Nothing will happen."
Li Du replied, "It's still better to be more careful. Also, since this snake didn't attack us first, we don't necessarily have to be so merciless."
Even though they had been in the surrounding area for quite a while, the tiger snake never came out. It was only when Big Quinn moved the rock that it was hiding under did it launch an attack.
Hearing his words, Big Quinn wondered, "Yeah, tiger snakes are actually not very aggressive, especially after meeting a strong opponent. The snake should have run away instead—why is it still here?"
Li Du shrugged. Only ghosts will know.
With Ah Meow continuing to tease the snake by swaying his tail from side to side, the snake became dizzy and disorientated.
Even though the speed at which snakes launched their attacks were very quick and took very little time, the amount of energy expended was huge. With the tiger snake having made many consecutive attacks at Ah Meow's tai—and failing—it was already exhausted.
While watching, Li Du felt extremely sad. This silly child is such a poor thing to have met Ah Meow and be teased so miserably.
What was Ah Meow? If ocelots were said to be fighters among felines, Ah Meow was the fighter among ocelots. Ah Meow was on a different level than tiger snakes.
As a matter of fact, not just tiger snakes, every ordinary snake other than vicious snakes with unnatural attacking speeds such as the black mamba and inland taipan were at a disadvantage when going against a feline.
The reaction times of felines were too quick. On the other hand, besides their fast reaction time, snakes relied only on confusion and nothing else. As such, once their reaction time was surpassed, they were finished.
Furthermore, it was noon. Even though there was not much sunlight and the sky was cloudy, this was late summer and early autumn in Australia after all. The temperature was still very high. Since snakes were cold-blooded animals, the tiger snake would have overheated.
With that, the tiger snake had become exhausted after being played with and stood upright in the same spot like a pile of noodles.
Seeing this, Ah Meow lost interest and hopped back.
At this point in time, the tiger snake still did not leave and was staring at them in the same spot like before.
Suddenly, Big Quinn slapped his forehead and said, "D*mn it, I get it now. There are probably snake eggs underneath the rock. It's incubating its eggs here!"
While speaking, he carefully went over to move the rock away.
Seeing this, the tiger snake swiftly slithered over and wanted to attack him. In the end, Ah Meow launched a precise attack and grabbed the snake with a swoop before sending it flying.
Sure enough, a pile of snake eggs appeared after Big Quinn moved the rock away. Furthermore, there were a few eggs that had been crushed.
It was clear now why the tiger snake wanted to bite him earlier. Earlier, as he had carelessly moved the rock away, quite a few snake eggs had been crushed.
Seeing the snake eggs, Li Du scratched his head. "How do we deal with this?"
Big Quinn replied, "Don't worry about it. We didn't discover the venomous snake at home. This is Australia's wilderness. Let's respect the decision of the nature."