Chapter 8.2

Zhou Qin felt a pang of envy. It seemed only war beasts were difficult to approach, while animals in ordinary zoos could actually accept kisses from their keepers.

He longed to kiss Sisi too.

After the zookeeper kissed the tiger, it didn’t even open its eyes. If not for its tongue still licking its nose, Zhou Qin might have thought it had been sedated and knocked out.

«Qilin’s asleep, so let’s sleep too. Did everyone like our zoo’s little tiger? Feel free to let me know in the comments!»

With the woman’s final words, the video ended and automatically switched to the next one.

Wait, hold on!

Zhou Qin quickly scrolled back to replay the video. After watching it three times, he finally opened the comments section.

The video currently had only 4 likes and 1 comment.

That single comment seemed to be from a bot – the ID was just numbers, the avatar a gray default icon, and it simply said “Like”.

Zhou Qin was speechless.

Now he wasn’t so sure. Was this tiger really being abused? After all, it allowed the keeper to kiss it…

Scratching his head, Zhou Qin decided to download the video to preserve evidence. He then shared it to his class group chat, asking his classmates to take a look:

「Can someone check if this tiger’s condition is normal? Does anyone know how to assess animal injuries?」

It was a weekend, and plenty of students were idly browsing their phones. The group chat quickly blew up, reaching 99 messages in no time.

「I don’t know about injury assessment, but I can’t see any wounds. It’s all wrapped up. Though it looks like a Ripper Tiger. Is this a Ripper Tiger?」

「No way it’s a Ripper Tiger. Did they use a beauty filter to make it look like one? I remember after Colonel Jival’s qilin, the Federation doesn’t have any adult Ripper Tigers. The few artificially bred tiger cubs are still drinking milk at the breeding center.」

「I ran it through software. No beauty filter used.」

「Oh, no filter? Then I guess its markings just happen to look similar to a Ripper Tiger. Haha, this tiger is also called Qilin. It’s obvious – this zoo is deliberately riding on the popularity of the tiger world’s top star, Tiger King Qilin.」

「Is this even allowed? Qilin is a retired S-class war beast who earned first-class merits. Isn’t it disrespectful to imitate her like this?」

「I left a comment asking them to change the name.」

「What’s the use of commenting? They’ll just say it’s a ‘tribute’ to the hero war beast. I hate this kind of marketing. This zoo is on my blacklist forever.」

「I searched for this zoo. It’s on Shenwang Star, but it’s already closed. How old is this video?」

The group chat buzzed with discussion, the focus shifting from “tiger possibly abused” to “S-class war beast Qilin being imitated”.

When Zhou Qin checked again after lunch, he was shocked to find the video had been shared to the school-wide group and forum. In less than half an hour, it had garnered over a thousand comments, mostly criticisms and doubts. But that was still real engagement data. With high view counts and comments, the StarNet smart algorithm would push the video even more.

Zhou Qin stared at his screen, dumbfounded. “Am I unintentionally promoting this video?”

Meanwhile, Mu Ling was still unaware of the online commotion.

After changing Qilin’s bandages at 8 AM, Mu Ling caught a whiff of her own sour smell. She quickly took a shower before the protective fence company arrived.

At 9 AM sharp, the fence company employees arrived. Mu Ling personally received them and tearfully paid a 20,000 star coin deposit.

Indeed, if she wasn’t responsible for payment, she wouldn’t have wanted to come out at all. She hadn’t slept well last night and was hoping to catch up on rest.

Seeing her miserly expression, Wei Li quietly asked Xiang Bie, “Brother Xiang, why does the director look like that over a mere 20,000 star coins? Isn’t she supposed to be rich?”

Xiang Bie had heard from Lawyer Xu that the zoo was changing hands, not through sale but inheritance. He guessed, “She probably doesn’t have much money.”

Wei Li was skeptical. “How is that possible? How could she buy a zoo without money? Would someone without money spend 100,000 on a protective fence?”

“I guess the director is just a bit frugal. You know what they say – the richer people are, the more frugal they become,” Wei Li mumbled, then chuckled. “But I still quite like our new director. She’s much better than the previous one. Plus, she can handle Qilin. That’s a world first! I’m still blown away by how badass she is!”

While Wei Li was praising her, Mu Ling didn’t hear a word. She was still haggling with the fence company, asking if they offered free maintenance and a three-year warranty. They said they only covered one year, so she was trying to negotiate an extra year using zoo travel package tickets as leverage.

The fence company’s sales manager had never met someone who bargained so hard. In the end, after pulling strings and appealing to friendship, they settled on a one-and-a-half year warranty.

Satisfied, Mu Ling watched Wei Li and Xiang Bie lead the fence company’s vehicles into the forest. Then she stretched her legs and returned to the dormitory, collapsing into bed.

Before sleeping, she set an alarm for four hours later. She needed to wake up at 1 PM to change Qilin’s bandages again.

While Mu Ling slept soundly, the communication device at Shenwang Star’s Forestry Bureau was nearly overwhelmed with complaints. People were reporting that a zoo on their planet was abusing animals and maliciously marketing using a retired war beast’s name, causing extremely negative social impact. The zoo was confirmed to be closed on the corporate network, leading netizens to suspect illegal operations and unlawful confinement of wild animals. They demanded the Shenwang government thoroughly investigate.

The Bureau Chief was stunned. “What on earth? We’ve got a big problem on our hands!”

…