Chapter 47.1

“Moonlight, time to eat.”

On a typical Monday afternoon at the Bi Ke Zoo Veterinary Station…

After feeding Pimi, Mu Ling placed Moonlight’s food bowl in its cage and turned around, planning to use voice control to coax the bear.

Unexpectedly, the white bear sitting in the corner, clutching its teddy bear, suddenly moved.

The bear slowly crawled over, stopped in front of the food bowl, lowered its head, and licked at the canned food inside.

“Huh?”

Mu Ling watched in astonishment. She hadn’t even walked away yet or used the audio to comfort it, but Moonlight had already come to eat on its own.

Mu Ling stood frozen by the cage, not daring to move.

The bear seemed uncomfortable with her presence. As it ate, it kept glancing at her, then used its sharp claws to drag the bowl further inside. It circled once, turned its back to her, and only then continued eating.

Mu Ling wanted to laugh at this sight but held back, afraid of startling it.

The white bear finished eating quickly. It picked up the bowl in its mouth and looked up at the ceiling where the small speaker was still playing stories.

Mu Ling quickly opened her terminal to change the audio and praise Moonlight, but before she could, the bear turned its head back toward her, still holding the bowl, when it received no response from the speaker.

Mu Ling: “…”

She lowered her voice carefully, asking softly, “Moonlight, what’s wrong?”

Moonlight dropped the bowl, nudged it toward her with its nose, then lowered its head to scratch at its paw pads.

After a moment’s hesitation, Mu Ling crouched down and praised, “Moonlight is amazing! You finished such a big bowl of food all by yourself!”

Hearing the familiar praise, the bear scurried back inside, retrieved its teddy bear from the corner, and returned to sit near the cage door, hugging the stuffed animal while watching her.

Mu Ling felt a surge of inspiration: “Moonlight takes such good care of the little bear. It must really like you too.”

The bear understood the word “like” – its round ears immediately began twitching. It shyly buried its face in the teddy bear’s chest, stealing glances at Mu Ling before rolling playfully on the ground.

Mu Ling’s heart melted at the sight. She moved closer, extending her finger through the bars, beckoning, “Moonlight, come to big sister.”

The bear held its teddy bear tight, watching her from a distance.

“Moonlight,” Mu Ling coaxed gently, her voice growing softer, “come here.”

The bear still seemed afraid – clutching its toy in its mouth, it retreated to the corner. Despite its massive size, it curled into a small ball, lying there watching her warily.

Mu Ling smiled. “Well, this is progress. You’re starting to break your internet addiction. Soon we’ll have you living a normal life, won’t we?”

As she spoke and stood up, her gaze drifted to another cage, where she noticed Pimi standing at the door, expressionless, watching her and Moonlight.

“Oh!” Mu Ling exclaimed in surprise. “Pimi, you’re standing again!”

She walked over, opened Pimi’s cage, and went inside to pet it. “What momentous event made our lord decide to stand? Did you wet yourself?”

Mu Ling checked Pimi’s bottom.

“Huh, no wetness.”

She paused, noticing that Pimi’s legs weren’t trembling much at all.

When she touched its legs, there was only a slight quiver, but overall, all four legs were strong and steady.

“Wow, Pimi! You can stand so steadily now without sister supporting you!”

Previously, Mu Ling had to support Pimi when it needed to relieve itself, but now it seemed markedly stronger.

At that moment, Pimi licked her finger and turned toward the litter box.

Mu Ling noticed its gait, though still slightly unsteady, was much improved from before – even better than that morning.

The lion entered the litter box and turned to sniff its rear.

“Need to go potty?” Mu Ling moved to help remove its diaper, ready to support it.

But Pimi seemed determined to prove itself. Avoiding her hand, it moved to the other side and assumed a posture for relieving itself.

Mu Ling: “…”

She watched silently.

One second, two seconds, ten seconds passed…

The lion hadn’t actually relieved itself. It stood up, scratched at the sand, left the box, and looked up at her meaningfully.

Mu Ling: “…”

It had been a demonstration.

Suddenly understanding, Mu Ling smiled. “Are you telling me you can handle your business by yourself now and don’t need diapers anymore?”

The lion sat down, its tail swishing gently in confirmation.

Mu Ling immediately crouched to ruffle its great head. “Oh my, our Pimi is so capable now! Alright then, no more diapers – you can handle your biological needs all by yourself.”

As she petted it, Pimi suddenly turned its head to the left.

Following its gaze, Mu Ling saw that in the A4 ward, Moonlight had pressed itself against the bars. The white bear was still clutching its teddy bear, its pointed nose poking through the gaps as it watched them from afar.

“Roar!” Pimi suddenly let out a low growl at the white bear.

Mu Ling startled as Moonlight quickly withdrew its nose, lowering its head to scratch at its teddy bear with its black claws.

“Pimi, what’s wrong?” Mu Ling hugged the lion’s head, confused. “Why are you suddenly being fierce with Moonlight?”

Pimi stopped looking at Moonlight, instead turning to nuzzle into Mu Ling’s embrace.

After comforting Pimi for a few minutes and seeing it had calmed, Mu Ling glanced over at Moonlight, who was playing with its teddy bear as if nothing had happened.

Mu Ling patted Pimi gently. “Well, sister needs to go work now. Both of you rest well.”

As she got up to leave the cage, she turned to close the door and found Pimi staring at her intently.

Something wasn’t right – Pimi’s behavior today seemed off somehow.

Frowning, Mu Ling went to check the surveillance footage, wanting to see what the animals did in her absence.

After watching for five minutes with no unusual interaction between the lion and bear, she reviewed earlier footage.

The review proved revealing..

That morning, after tending to Pimi, she had moved on to Moonlight. As usual, she had coaxed it to eat, and once it fell asleep, she had entered its cage to change the bandages, even giving it affectionate kisses while it was unconscious.

Watching now, she realized that Pimi had been observing her the entire time – from the moment she entered Moonlight’s cage, its gaze never left her.

Rewinding further through previous days’ footage revealed the same pattern.

For several days, because caring for Moonlight required more attention, Pimi seemed to feel neglected when there were only two animals in the ward.

Mu Ling kept rewinding until the day before the zoo opened, when Qilin and the others moved to the animal dormitory. While Qilin and the others were still there, Pimi seemed fine, but after they left – when Pimai wanted to go with them but couldn’t – it started becoming sensitive.

When Mu Ling spoke more with Moonlight, Pimi would watch. When she gave Moonlight extra affection, Pimi would watch. When she spent too long treating Moonlight’s wounds, Pimi would watch.

She even discovered that in her absence, Pimi had been secretly practicing rehabilitation exercises in its cage.

It would carefully walk along the cage edges and practice its movements.

Now she understood why Pimi had grown steadier – beyond the improved diet and care, it had been making its own determined effort.

It seemed to believe that if it improved enough, she would give it more attention.

That explained why earlier, when she was in its cage, Pimi had suddenly growled at Moonlight in jealousy – it thought Moonlight was stealing her affection again.

“Oh!” Mu Ling covered her mouth as tears welled up.

She rushed back to the ward, opened the cage, and embraced Pimi.

The lion, having thought she’d left, had been preparing to nap. The sudden embrace left it confused – its rough face showed surprise with mouth agape.

“Mwah!” Mu Ling kissed its head, nose, ears, and face repeatedly, then hugged it close again, saying softly, “Our Pimi is so wonderful. You’re the most adorable lion in the whole world. Now that you’re better, shall sister take you to the animal dormitory? You can see all your other friends there.”

Without hesitation, she opened the cage door wide, beckoning for the lion to come.

Pimi sat dazed, not comprehending the open door’s meaning.

Only after several gentle calls from Mu Ling did the lion cautiously stand and take a tentative step forward.

It paused after that single step, looking up at her uncertainly.

Mu Ling encouraged it from outside the cage, “Pimi, come, don’t be afraid, come.”

Understanding the familiar command “come,” the lion moved forward.

Mu Ling beamed with joy as she led it out.

At this hour, the service area was nearly empty of visitors, with even the staff dining in the cafeteria.

“Shit!” Xiao Zhao, who had just finished lunch and was heading back to the ticket office, caught sight of the director leading Pimi out and quickly ducked back into the cafeteria.

This was the black-maned lion, after all!

Other employees in the cafeteria gathered at the glass door to watch, whispering among themselves:

“Hey, doesn’t Pimi look better now?”

“Still walking slowly though, and so thin still.”

“Well, after that hunger strike, its health was completely ruined. Full recovery will take months. I saw the director still having to hand-feed it the other day.”

This was Pimi’s first time leaving the veterinary station in half a month. It lowered its head to smell various scents, each step careful and cautious.

Until suddenly, it caught a familiar scent.

Mu Ling opened the door to the animal dormitory, announcing happily, “Ta-da, we’re here!”

At her announcement, several animals in the dormitory lifted their heads to look their way.