Chapter 41.2

“Here it comes, here it comes!” Xiao Wei clutched the arm of a stranger beside him. “Will it come inside?”

The man, busy snapping photos, laughed. “It won’t. That’s ‘Little Brother Ding.’ It looks bold, but it’s not actually that brave. Watch this.”

He extended his arm, and sure enough, the blue-tailed squirrel sprinted away. It stopped a short distance ahead, turned back, and tilted its head toward the shuttle bus.

“So cute!” Xiao Wei exclaimed, shaking the man’s arm again.

Nearly rattled to pieces, the man couldn’t resist boasting, “Actually, Little Brother Ding isn’t the cutest. The real stars are Baby Sister and Princess Lili. Look, the one nibbling on a pine cone over there is Baby Sister. Here, use my binoculars.”

Xiao Wei peered through the binoculars. On a branch sat an adorably clumsy squirrel, nibbling its pine cone, occasionally glancing around before continuing to eat.

“Wow, it’s adorable! So this is Baby Sister? Her color is gorgeous. The other squirrels are dark blue, but she’s a soft, milky blue, and her head is creamy yellow. She looks gentler than the others.”

The man nodded. “Right, the zoo director said she didn’t develop properly when she was young, so her fur turned out lighter. It’s a kind of congenital condition, and she’s also slower than the other squirrels. Look again.”

Xiao Wei watched as Baby Sister finally noticed the shuttle bus. After a moment’s hesitation, she ran toward it but stopped about seven or eight meters away, her bright eyes blinking in confusion at the vehicle.

“She should be the princess!” Xiao Wei declared. “Just look at her—how is she not a princess?”

The man shook his head. “No, no. Princess Lili’s status is still unshakeable. Oh my, why hasn’t Lili shown up yet? The bus is leaving soon. Let me show you a video of her.”

Xiao Wei watched the video. Although Lili was indeed beautiful, he felt seeing Baby Sister in person left a stronger impression. It was like the difference between listening to music through a neural computer and attending a live concert—two entirely different experiences.

Now biased, Xiao Wei insisted, “I still think Baby Sister is more princess-like.”

The man, realizing Xiao Wei wouldn’t be swayed, took back his binoculars, not wanting to show him anymore.

—Fifteen minutes later—

“Hey, why has the car stopped?”

The man didn’t answer, but his girlfriend—whom Xiao Wei now mentally referred to as ‘sister-in-law’—smiled and explained, “This is the habitat of Yun Yun’s family. I asked earlier—we can feed Yun Yun and even hold it for photos. Everyone’s probably getting off to take pictures.”

Sure enough, people began disembarking, and Xiao Wei followed the crowd.

Half an hour later, Xiao Wei returned to the bus, his photo album brimming with new pictures. He set one of them, featuring a chubby little pig snuggling into his arms, as his new screen saver.

“I declare, from now on, my favorite animal is the little Steel pig!”

—Another half hour passed—

Xiao Wei: “I declare, from now on, my favorite animal is the Dada sheep!”

—An hour later—

Xiao Wei: “Ah ah ah ah! That was actually a retired B-class war beast! I saw a live retired war beast! What kind of beast was that? A Pinya tiger? The fur on their backs is so beautiful!”

The man finally couldn’t hold back and said, “The zookeeper hasn’t named this Pinya tiger yet. But at a glance, it’s not as grand and imposing as Qilin. Qilin’s back fur is truly breathtaking. Qilin is the most beautiful tiger in the world.”

Having never seen Qilin in person, but having just seen the Pinya tiger, Xiao Wei once again disagreed with the man, “I still think the Pinya tiger looks better.”

The man: “…”

By noon, the bus stopped to let everyone eat. Many tourists bought boxed meals at the supermarket or restaurant in the service area, but Xiao Wei hadn’t. He looked enviously at the man’s bowl.

In the end, it was the ‘sister-in-law’ who kindly shared half a sandwich with Xiao Wei.

After eating, they set off again, this time taking a different route. Xiao Wei saw white-headed gazelles, leopards, long-tailed civets, and even a python.

Xiao Wei lost count of how many photos he had taken. He only remembered that he personally touched a white-headed gazelle and threw a piece of cooked meat given to him by the keeper to feed the python.

The python ate it on the spot, glancing in his direction several times as it ate, scaring Xiao Wei into immediately running back to the bus. But not before he managed to send out his camera to take a few more photos.

By the time they came down from the mountain and returned to the service area, it was already 3:30 PM.

Xiao Wei counted: he had seen twenty-three species of animals and had close contact with five of them. Yet he still felt unsatisfied. Just as he got off the bus, he heard a burst of screams coming from the front of the service area.

“Ah ah ah ah ah ah! Tayun! Tayun is so handsome!”

Xiao Wei didn’t know what was happening, but the couple who had been touring with him all along remembered that the animal dormitory opened at 3 o’clock. The two quickly ran towards where the crowd was thickest, and Xiao Wei immediately followed.

At this time, there weren’t many people around the animal dormitory because some tourists were still on the mountain and hadn’t returned. However, the two or three hundred people surrounding the animal dormitory were already shouting with the intensity of tens of thousands.

“Wow, Qilin, Lightning, Qingjiao, it’s really them, it’s really them!” The ‘sister-in-law’ grabbed her husband’s arm, extremely excited.

The man was also very happy. He said, “I felt something was strange when I entered the park. In the zookeeper’s early videos, he filmed the service area, right? At that time, this big building clearly wasn’t there. It turns out this is the animal dormitory. My God, Qilin and the other war beasts are living in a dormitory together!”

As he spoke, tears suddenly flowed down his face.

Xiao Wei was stunned, not understanding what he was seeing.

The ‘sister-in-law’ explained to Xiao Wei, “He works in animal rescue. The retirement issue of the Federation’s war beasts has always been a big problem. This is the first time that war beasts can live so healthily and harmoniously after retirement. It’s really not easy.”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help but tear up as well.

Xiao Wei didn’t understand this emotion, but when he looked around, he found that among the screaming crowd, quite a few people were wiping their eyes while taking photos. Perhaps the tourists who scrambled to buy opening day tickets at all costs were those who had a special affection for the animals.

Xiao Wei couldn’t help but think of Xu Wenshuang. Would she cry if she saw this animal dormitory?

Thinking this, Xiao Wei looked again at the interior of this huge capsule house, just in time to see a black panther suddenly leap onto a large tree, then stand vigilantly on the highest branch.

The panther’s body was robust, its muscles evenly distributed. Its pair of emerald green eyes stared intently at the giant eagle circling in the sky. The next second, the eagle suddenly swooped towards it, its sharp beak aiming straight for the panther’s face.

The panther showed no fear. It didn’t even dodge, just quickly raised its front paw and swatted at the eagle’s head.

The eagle slid sideways to avoid it, circled around the panther, and flew back up into the sky.

“Ah ah ah ah ah, Lightning is so handsome too!”

“Guys, who understands the value of that one swipe? Is it really a war god?”

“But Tayun’s flight was too sharp! Baby, What kind of fighter jet are you?”

Watching this scene, Xiao Wei also felt his blood boiling. He couldn’t help but ask, “What were they doing just now? Were they fighting?”

The tourists nearby didn’t know either, but they guessed, “They should be playing. After all, Lightning was also roughhousing with Qingjiao earlier. Qingjiao even tried to hold Lightning’s entire head in its mouth, but its teeth scraped Lightning’s ear and hurt it. Qilin even scolded Qingjiao.”

Xiao Wei: “…”

Xiao Wei found this scene very interesting and quickly asked, “Brother, do you have a video?”

“Yes, I filmed the whole thing.”

“Can we add each other’s contact? Send it to me later to watch.”

“Haha, follow my StarNet account. I’m called xxx. I’ll post it later.”

“Alright.”

*

Meanwhile, because the supermarket’s goods were selling too quickly, Mu Ling, who was helping with the urgent restocking, had just brought out a box of jelly from the warehouse when she heard Little Zhao running over to call her, “Boss, Boss, come quickly and take a look! Lightning and Tayun seem to be fighting again.”

Mu Ling: “…”

Mu Ling was so alarmed that she immediately ran towards the animal dormitory. But as soon as she arrived, she saw Lightning standing on a tree and Tayun standing on a board in the glass house. The bird and the cat stared at each other across the space for a moment, then simultaneously pounced towards each other.

Mu Ling: “…”

Have mercy!

Mu Ling hurriedly pushed open the dormitory door and shouted, “Tayun! Lightning!”

In an instant—

Tayun, who had flown halfway, made an emergency detour.

Lightning, who had jumped halfway, made an extreme landing.

The eagle and the panther had a false alarm, then one circled around, fawningly flying around Mu Ling, while the other flattened its ears and carefully walked towards Mu Ling.

Mu Ling looked at one, then at the other. Finally, she helplessly beckoned to the black panther and raised her arm to the eagle.

The next second, the black panther happily ran over, vigorously rubbing its forehead against Mu Ling’s body.

Tayun perched back on Mu Ling’s arm, leaning forward to look for lice in Mu Ling’s hair.

“Now you know how to act cute.” Mu Ling muttered, considering that there were still outsiders watching.

So Mu Ling patted Lightning’s head, making Lightning sit properly facing the audience’s direction. She also shook her arm, making Tayun face the audience as well.

Mu Ling said, “Lightning, Tayun, bow your heads.”

The war beasts knew this command, so the audience outside saw that after the black panther and giant eagle stopped roughhousing, at the female keeper’s signal, they suddenly faced them and then bowed to them.

Bowed to them!

Why are the war beasts so obedient and polite?!

The tourists went crazy.

Xiao Wei was getting more and more excited.

Instantly, the sound of cameras clicking outside rose again in a wave. Inside the dormitory, the black panther and giant eagle, who had finished bowing towards the wall, received a kiss and a pat from Mu Ling respectively.

The giant eagle wanted Mu Ling to kiss it too, so it deliberately leaned its head towards Mu Ling, but Mu Ling acted as if she didn’t see it, resolutely not kissing, only patting.

The giant eagle was very sad, making a dragging “gu” “gu” sound in its throat.

At this moment, the giant eagle didn’t know that licking dogs end up with nothing in the end. It still wanted to try hard…

At 4:20 PM, Xu Wenshuang finally returned to the service area, satisfied. She had just gotten off the shuttle when she saw everyone running towards the main entrance. Xu Wenshuang was startled and immediately ran along.

As soon as she ran over, Xu Wenshuang saw that the huge capsule house contained all the retired war beasts she had been longing to see.

Xu Wenshuang was extremely excited. Just as she was about to scream along with everyone else, she heard an extremely familiar male voice suddenly stand out, loudly calling, “Lightning, Daddy loves you! Look at Daddy!”

Xu Wenshuang looked in that direction and vaguely, blurrily, saw her boyfriend who had no fondness for animals at all.

Xu Wenshuang: “…”

What had she missed?