Chapter 4.1

The long-tailed civet’s sudden behavior completely confused Mu Ling.

The furry sensation at her fingertips was as soft as cotton.

After nuzzling her finger, the civet turned its head again, its cold vertical pupils staring directly at Mu Ling inside the car.

Mu Ling: “…”

Her mind was on the verge of shutting down.

What exactly did this cat want? Could it really have been moved by her meat sticks, now wanting to get close to her?

But it hadn’t eaten a single bite!

Utterly puzzled, Mu Ling stared back at the civet.

Just then, the long-tailed civet twisted its body, jumped off the tire, and swiftly darted into the forest, disappearing from sight.

…

By the creek, the situation was dire.

Wei Li used a tree branch to turn over the body of a massive, four-meter-long python, examining its fatal wound.

This python didn’t belong to the park.

They only had three pythons in their reserve, and this wasn’t one of them.

It was a native python from the deep forest, one that had recently emerged. A python this large would certainly have been remembered if seen before.

Clearly, the protective fence had developed holes in other places again.

Thinking this, Wei Li lifted the python’s skin folds, looking at its esophagus.

The esophagus had been completely torn apart, but it was evident that before dying, the python had been digesting something…

It was a rabbit. Wei Li saw a rotting rabbit’s head—a golden-furred rabbit!

No wonder there were no signs of the golden rabbit colony nearby. They must have encountered the python and fled in fear.

But how did this python die? It was extremely thick, even more robust than the pythons in their park. Under normal circumstances, the outskirts were home to smaller animals. Which small animal had the capability to kill such a python?

Wei Li stood up and walked further along the stream bank.

The farther he went, the grimmer his expression became. There were many bloodstains on the ground…

“Who’s there!”

Suddenly, Wei Li raised his head, his hand reflexively gripping the tranquilizer gun at his waist.

Before he could open the holster, he saw a man emerge from the trees opposite. Wei Li’s face lit up with relief: “Brother Xiang!”

The man across wore a brown field uniform with black mountain boots. He too held a gun. Seeing it was Wei Li on the other bank, his sharp gaze softened slightly as he tucked the gun back into its holster and approached.

Wei Li greeted him with a smile: “Brother Xiang, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in the inner area?”

The man didn’t speak immediately. His gaze lowered, first examining the bloodstains on the ground, then following them back to the dead python on the stream bank.

His expression grim, lips pressed into a thin line, he said: “There’s damage to the protective fence in the southeast. When I saw it, I guessed that a large animal had already entered. I followed the tracks all the way here.”

Wei Li looked back at the python: “Is it this snake?”

Xiang Bie: “Probably.”

Wei Li asked: “But how did it die? The wounds are too messy, I can’t tell what kind of animal inflicted them…”

Xiang Bie pondered for a moment before speaking: “Ripper Tiger.”

Wei Li’s eyes widened: “Ripper Tiger? Qilin?”

There was only one Ripper Tiger in the park, named Qilin. It was formerly the war beast of Colonel Val, the third team commander of the Northwest Battle Zone.

Qilin had been raised by Colonel Val since his military academy days. They had a deep bond, fighting side by side for eight years. Qilin itself was exceptionally brave, with extremely high innate talents, a rare S-class war beast. However, in a certain battle, Qilin was severely injured while protecting Colonel Val and had to retire.

When S-class war beasts are injured, their mental state becomes even more unstable. They can’t be like other ordinary retired war beasts, kept and well-cared for by their owners or the government. S-class war beasts have more sensitive and paranoid personalities, prone to withdrawal and rejection. Forcibly confining them, caging them, would only drive them to refuse food and water, leading to depression and suicide.

Colonel Val had sent Qilin to Bi Ke Wildlife sanctuary because it was the largest wildlife park in the entire star system, providing Qilin with a larger area for free movement.

Qilin had been here for seven months now, but its physical condition remained poor. It was too resistant to treatment and rejected the approach of all humans and even other animals. Last week, Brother Xiang had said that Qilin was likely nearing its end. Wei Li had hurriedly called Colonel Val, who said he would try to take an extended leave to come to Shenwang Star and accompany Qilin through its final days.

But Colonel Val hadn’t arrived yet. Could it be that Qilin was already…

Wei Li looked again at the fresh blood on the ground. If the python had been killed by Qilin, then this blood must surely be Qilin’s. But Qilin’s body was already in extremely poor condition. Losing so much blood would certainly be unsustainable.

Wei Li dared not imagine how dire its situation must be now!

“Find Qilin,” Xiang Bie said concisely.

Wei Li quickly responded: “Alright! Let’s split up to search!”

There were only a few pools of blood here, with no more further ahead. It must have been washed away by the stream. But severely wounded, Qilin couldn’t have gone far. It must be somewhere nearby.

At this point, Wei Li didn’t even have time to go back and inform Mu Ling. However, Mu Ling had always obediently waited for him in the car before. He had told her the forest was unsafe, and he trusted she wouldn’t wander off.

…

“Cat brother, is it here?”

Betraying Wei Li’s trust, Mu Ling was now standing in front of a patch of bushes in the forest.