Chapter 35 part 3

【System Prompt: Your actions will be written into the South China tiger’s bloodline memory】

 

Kong Bi raised her eyebrows slightly. Understanding this hint in game terms, it meant that regardless of whether she succeeded in this task or not, this group of large cats would increase their favorability towards her. Moreover, this favorability would be permanently etched into their bloodline. This way, if she had descendants in the future, and those descendants needed to recruit subordinates, these cats would inherently have a favorable impression of her faction due to this event, giving them a higher probability of successfully recruiting them compared to other demon kings trying to do the same.

However, this didn’t mean much to Kong Bi right now. Tigers, unless absolutely necessary, were better off living freely in the wild. Although zoos provided food and shelter, but it is still a bit painful for those animals who don’t stay at home.

But… South China Tiger?

Kong Bi put away her phone, feeling that the whole country would probably experience a major earthquake in the next few days.

Because the South China tiger is now a species that has been recognized as extinct.

To be precise, it is functionally extinct in the wild.

What is functional extinction? It means that their population has dwindled to a point where it’s impossible to save the fate of the entire species. It’s really just a matter of time before they become completely extinct, like how if only a few men or only women are left on an isolated island, the species will disappear from the world when they die.

The South China tiger is a tiger species unique to China. If the famous story of Wu Song fighting a tiger^[1]The “Wu Song story” refers to a famous tale from the classic Chinese novel Outlaws of the Marsh (also known as Water Margin). In this story, Wu Song is a brave and skilled warrior who, … Continue reading were to exist in reality, then the tiger he encountered would very likely have been a South China tiger.

Currently, there are over 200 South China tigers in the country. At first glance, this number doesn’t seem to be anywhere near extinction. However, without exception, all these South China tigers live in zoos, and they are all offspring resulting from inbreeding.

This situation arose because South China tigers lived in the densely populated southern regions, and their activity areas highly overlapped with those of humans. Consequently, incidents of them injuring people occurred frequently. Limited by the constraints of the time, the large-scale tiger hunting campaigns of the past decimated their population. Few people thought about preserving this species, let alone specifically designating protected areas for their survival. By the time they were valued, it was too late, and no traces of them have ever been found in the wild again.

This is almost no different from declaring them extinct.

After all, unlike small animals, tigers have a significant appetite and size. If they still existed in the wild, it would be impossible to find no trace of them at all. However, since the 1950s, although news of South China tiger sightings occasionally surfaces, every investigation sent out has returned empty-handed. There is no evidence to support their continued existence, and such reports can almost be directly classified as fake news.

For anyone, this is truly heartbreaking news. After all, this tigers originated in China, so they are also called Chinese tigers and are considered the soul of China, a unique species found within the country.

Similarly, they are also the ancestor of all current tiger subspecies. They migrated north and evolved into Siberian tigers, and migrated south to form branches like Bengal tigers, Indochinese tigers, and Malayan tigers.

Given such origins and history, it’s conceivable what their status is in the hearts of the Chinese people, and it will inevitably make zoos the center of public opinion.

Kong Bi pressed her temples, feeling a deep headache. How was she going to make this up? That because all living things have a spirit, the pregnant tiger was having a difficult labor and had no choice but to come to humans for help?

Would anyone believe that?

Not long after leaving the tiger enclosure, the others immediately came to greet her.

“Director, are you alright?”

The light fell on Kong Bi, and everyone couldn’t help but look closely. There were no wounds, but one side of her cheek and neck were slightly red. This was from being licked by the big cat. It was well-known that tigers have barbs on their tongues. Even if they consciously retracted the barbs to lick, it would still be painful for delicate human skin.

It was like being licked by a pet cat, even a cat’s tongue could make skin red, let alone a tiger’s.

Kong Bi being like this was already a result of her skin being much tougher now.

“How could there be a tiger here?!”

“Could someone have secretly released a tiger from the Shiwan Mountains?”

“Wouldn’t it be impossible to secretly raise a tiger in our country without being discovered?”

“Well, it couldn’t have escaped from the zoo, right? There’s only one zoo here, and it’s in the city center. If it escaped, the surveillance cameras would have spotted it immediately. There’s no way it could have run this far!”

Everyone felt both surprised and uneasy about this. This wasn’t the northeast; this was the south!

“It probably ran out of the Shiwan Mountains. I think I saw it seems to be a South China tiger,” Kong Bi interrupted the various speculations.

“What?”

“How is that possible!”

The crowd exclaimed in disbelief than before. After all, they knew more about the South China tiger than ordinary people. Many of them had entered Shiwan Mountain many times. As far as the tiger’s range of activities was concerned, as long as they were still living in it, they would never find any trace.

But if it wasn’t a South China tiger, it seemed that it couldn’t explain why a wild tiger could appear in the south.

They looked at Kong Bi with both anxiety and excitement: “Are you sure?”

“I’m not sure,” Kong Bi said immediately, “It’s too dark to see clearly, but it’s pregnant. Do you have any unused blankets or something like that? I’ll take it in to cushion it.”

“There are in the nursery! I’ll go with you!”

“No,” Kong Bi quickly stopped them, “It’s pregnant and her emotions are likely unstable. It’s better if I go alone. Oh, and I’ll take some more beef over.”

Kong Bi asked a few people to get the meat. The others’ emotions also calmed down, and they agreed with Kong Bi’s approach, saying, “Should we bring a camera?”

“I’ll turn on the lights in a bit and start a video call in the group with my phone,” Kong Bi said quickly.

She definitely couldn’t install a camera inside the tiger enclosure right now, because some of her actions couldn’t be seen, or they would be impossible to explain.

Not long after, the group brought all the things they needed. An adult tiger can eat more than ten kilograms of meat a day, so they put all the things in the cart and watched Kong Bi enter the tiger house.

After all, based on what they had just witnessed, there was no one more suitable than Kong Bi. Moreover, because the tiger was a pregnant tigress, they were even more hesitant to use anesthesia. This was a potentially precious South China tiger; what if they risked using anesthesia and caused the death of both the mother and the cubs?

With these thoughts in mind, they could only repeatedly urge Kong Bi to be careful. After all, it was a large and fierce beast, and even though it had shown a very rare gentleness towards Kong Bi just now, they still couldn’t feel at ease.

Easily pushing the small cart, Kong Bi started calling out from afar, “I’m back!”

Tigers have very keen hearing. It would have definitely heard the sound of the small cart. Unknown and unfamiliar sounds would increase its anxiety. Hearing her voice at this time would make it less tense.

Sure enough, when Kong Bi pushed the cart inside, she saw the big cat already waiting at the entrance, its bright tiger eyes fixed on her.

Kong Bi opened the large door, pushed the cart in, and turned around to lock the door.

“Roar!”

The big cat nudged Kong Bi with its head, expressing its joy at her arrival.

Kong Bi couldn’t help but narrow her eyes slightly, reaching out to hand over the beef, “Come on, sweetie, time to eat.”

The big cat tilted its head. The long journey was very exhausting for its current physical condition. The instinct that had been suppressed finally surged up again at this time. It immediately ignored Kong Bi and opened its mouth to bite the beef.

Kong Bi touched its head with her other hand: “Are you starving? Don’t worry, eat slowly, don’t choke!”

The tiger couldn’t spare its mouth to respond to her. Its fangs as sharp as a dagger cut the beef, and quickly ate a large piece of beef into its stomach, looking at Kong Bi eagerly.

Seeing this, Kong Bi simply dumped all the beef she brought. The big cat immediately lowered its head and ate impatiently, focused and happy.

Although the taste is different from what it usually eats, it is just as delicious!

Looking down at the tiger eating, Kong Bi finally remembered the promise she made to everyone before, and took out her mobile phone to check.

However, in a short time, the group chat message has been refreshed to 99+, but because she was afraid that the tiger would be scared, Kong Bi not only muted the phone, but also turned off the vibration, so she didn’t notice it.

Quickly opened the video in the group, and everyone who had been waiting for a long time immediately clicked in and crowded in front of the computer.

The whole body of the tiger was not captured in the picture, only a tiger head that was eating could be seen.

Someone subconsciously exclaimed, “That fur color, reddish-orange, it really does look like a South China tiger.”

Although all tigers have orange-yellow fur, compared to the Siberian tigers in China, the South China tiger’s fur color is deeper. This difference in shade isn’t easily noticeable when they are observed separately, but once they are placed side-by-side for comparison, it’s easy to see that the South China tiger’s color is much darker.

Everyone nodded subconsciously. Quan Xiangsong suddenly’s expression changed, “Wait, why is the camera so close?”

Hearing Quan Xiangsong’s question, Kong Bi realized the issue with her filming angle. After all, it wasn’t a video call with another person, so only filming her face was unnecessary. She quickly took a few steps back, capturing the tiger’s entire body in the frame.

As the camera shook, everyone immediately saw Kong Bi’s feet entering the frame and the tiger at her feet.

“Director Kong, why are you in the cage? Get out of there quickly!”

They couldn’t help but be anxious. This was a tiger! Although female tigers are usually a bit smaller than males, even at their smallest, they are still tigers. Especially a pregnant tiger! Being in the same enclosure with it – was she worried it wasn’t eating well enough and wanted to offer herself as a change of pace?

They knew that one of the reasons the South China tiger went extinct was because of frequent attacks on humans. Their temperament was anything but mild. As apex predators, describing them as fiercely aggressive wouldn’t be an exaggeration. And a pregnant female tiger’s aggression was even greater than a male tiger.

“Roar?”

Having barely satisfied some of its hunger, the big cat’s rationality returned. It instinctively became wary of its surroundings. Upon hearing the unfamiliar voices, it immediately raised its head but couldn’t find the source. In the end, it could only turn its gaze towards Kong Bi.

“It’s alright, keep eating,” Kong Bi said, reaching out to pat its head reassuringly.

The big cat tilted its head. Since Kong Bi was so calm, it meant there was no danger nearby. So, it trustingly lowered its head and resumed eating.

–After all, being not hungry and being full are two different things.

Everyone watched this scene, exchanging bewildered glances. The tiger was behaving so docilely that they didn’t know what to say.

Generally speaking, even zookeepers who have been feeding tigers for years are not allowed to be in the same enclosure with them. This is for the zookeepers’ safety. After all, no matter how docile a tiger usually appears, even if it has lived in a zoo since birth and never been in the wild, it is still a tiger.

In the history of tiger breeding, there has never been a lack of tragedies caused by keepers who think they are very familiar with tigers and touch tigers with their bare hands or directly enter the cage to clean them.

But Kong Bi has always seemed to have a special magic that makes animals behave quite docile in front of her.

Quan Xiangsong was silent for a while, but still said seriously: “Xiao Kong, you should come out first. No matter what, it is a tiger. You can’t take it for granted that it will never hurt you if it behaves like this now. Once an accident happens, you will not be able to react at all.”