Chapter 8.1

On a Sunday morning, Zhou Qin, a sophomore at the Beast Taming Military Academy preparing for makeup exams, was up at five a.m., diligently studying his textbooks.

After memorizing a substantial portion of modern history, Zhou Qin rubbed his stomach and glanced at the clock.

It was already noon. No wonder he felt hungry.

He ordered lunch from the cafeteria and, while waiting for the robot to deliver his meal, flopped back onto his bed. Deciding to take a break, he opened StarNet to browse for a bit.

Given his beast taming studies, Zhou Qin’s feed often suggested animal-related videos. Today was no exception. After scrolling for a while, he came across a tiger video with less than a hundred views.

Seeing the fierce tiger in the thumbnail, Zhou Qin assumed it was an educational video about the species. However, the title read: 「The Eldest Princess of Bi Ke Zoo.」

Zoo?

A zoo with tigers?

Zhou Qin immediately frowned. As a beast taming student, he was well aware of how some zoos typically treated large predators.

In essence, it involved either beatings or starvation. They’d deprive the animal until it broke down, then offer just enough food to force obedience, using torment to subdue the beast.

Zhou Qin strongly opposed such practices. It wasn’t just him; most teachers and students at his school rejected these crude animal training methods.

Beast training was acceptable, but it had to be done scientifically. The goal wasn’t to make the animal fear you, but to make it trust you. At their Beast Taming Military Academy, the first course for all freshmen involved visiting the War Beast Institute to personally select their own war beast.

Students would bottle-feed, accompany, and care for the beast while it was still a cub. After six months, the war beast could join the Beast Taming Academy, training alongside its student companion. This training focused on fostering cooperation, habits, and mutual understanding between master and beast. This way, when they eventually went to the battlefield, they could fight side by side, entrusting their lives to each other.

This was the essence of beast training: to make animals partners of humans, not slaves like what these zoos were doing.

Although Zhou Qin knew not every zoo engaged in unethical practices, there were far too many that did. This led him to react negatively whenever he saw “zoo” associated with fierce animals.

Looking at the tiger thumbnail before him, Zhou Qin clicked play with an almost judgmental attitude, ready to scrutinize the content.

The video began with a deliberately softened female voice.

«Hello, everyone! Let’s take an immersive look at our zoo’s little tiger!»

Little tiger?

Where’s the little tiger?

Zhou Qin was confused at first, until he realized the “little tiger” the woman referred to was actually a fully grown tiger, nearly three meters long, with claws about twenty centimeters long and an estimated bite force of at least a ton. He was utterly speechless.

What the hell? You call this a little tiger?

«This little tiger is named Qilin. She’s an eight-year-old baby» the woman continued.

Seriously? Who told you an eight-year-old tiger is still a baby?

Clearly, this wasn’t a professional zoo. The keeper couldn’t even calculate the animal’s age correctly. Normal tigers typically live 15-20 years; an eight-year-old tiger is equivalent to a human in their twenties.

The female voice went on, «She was injured yesterday. Look at how many bandages she has. But fortunately, she’s now out of danger.»

Zhou Qin was fuming.

There it was, evidence of animal abuse. They really were one of those unethical zoos.

How dare they talk about injuries? What harm could possibly come to a tiger locked in a zoo cage? It was obvious they had beaten her, right?

And they had beaten her so badly she was in danger?

Zhou Qin’s hands shook with anger. He wanted to immediately contact the Wildlife Protection Association and report this heartless Bi Ke Zoo for its inhumane treatment.

However, Zhou Qin forced himself to calm down. He needed to watch the entire video first and gather all the evidence.

«Qilin, say hello to everyone!»

The camera suddenly zoomed in on the nose of the eight-year-old adult tiger. The tiger’s cold beast eyes gazed coolly at the lens. Its gaze was extremely indifferent, with dangerous undercurrents lurking in its eyes.

Zhou Qin inexplicably felt nervous. Even through the screen, he seemed to sense the tiger’s solemn and sharp killing intent.

Wait, this didn’t look like an ordinary tiger. The pattern… could it be a Ripper Tiger?

In the current interstellar era, there were over 300 species of tigers, but Ripper Tigers were extremely rare, classified as endangered animals.

He must be seeing things. With so many bandages, it was hard to be certain. It couldn’t be a Ripper Tiger, right?

If it really was a Ripper Tiger, abusing a federally protected animal at the highest level would land the zoo director in prison.

The reclining tiger merely glanced at the camera before closing its eyes to sleep, completely disregarding their presence.

Was it because of the injury? Was its energy so depleted that it forgot even a wild beast’s instinctive vigilance, sleeping so lazily in front of humans?

«Our little Qilin is quite aloof, but she has a very gentle temperament. Oh, and she’s a girl, by the way,» the keeper said.

Zhou Qin was about to retort – the tiger is injured and wants to rest, how does that make her aloof? It just showed how they usually mistreated the animals.

But in the next second, the camera zoomed in again, and with a “smooch” sound, the keeper actually kissed the tiger.

Zhou Qin froze.

What in the world was she doing?

Can you really kiss a wild beast like that?

An adult wild beast at that?

Zhou Qin thought about his own war beast, “Sisi,” a small gray wolf just over a year old.

Sisi had only recently graduated from the War Beast Institute’s nursery and was now attending the Beast Taming Military Academy. Sisi lived in the war beast dormitory with other freshman war beasts, cared for by professional teachers. Zhou Qin only had three beast taming classes per week to see Sisi. The last time he tried to kiss Sisi, the little wolf nearly bit him to death.