Chapter 40 part 2

Though strictly speaking, she probably deserved the title of “grandma” or “grandmother” by family hierarchy, everyone had their own way of addressing things, and Kong Bi saw no problem with that.  

Miaomiao also let out gentle calls to summon her cub.  

The little tiger cub perked up its ears. The familiar sound made it finally feel less nervous about the unfamiliar surroundings. It cautiously lowered its body and diligently sniffed the surrounding scents. A gentle breeze carried the familiar scent over, and the little tiger cub’s spirits immediately lifted. It started moving towards them.

However, compared to the little demon tiger’s running posture, it couldn’t run at all. Even walking was still wobbly. Its two front paws laboriously dragged its heavy body. Its soft belly brushed against the damp weeds on the ground, causing it to shiver involuntarily. But looking at the blurry outlines in the distance, it still stubbornly crawled forward.

“Roar?”

Miao Miao watched the little tiger cub struggling to crawl towards her and couldn’t help but let out a questioning roar. It didn’t understand why the little tiger cub didn’t run over like the older one.

Although their legs couldn’t stand up completely at this stage, causing them to walk unsteadily, it was impossible for them to crawl only on their forelimbs.

Miaomiao stared at the cub blankly, and suddenly thought of everything she had experienced when she was young.

It was a very ordinary day. Her mother went out hunting. She and her two older brothers waiting quietly in the den for her return with prey, until an uninvited guest arrived.  

Her brave older brother had charged at the wolverine, only to be thrown aside. Miaomiao pressed close to her brother, not understanding what death was, yet instinctively feeling fear and dread as her brother’s body gradually turned cold.  

Finally, their mother’s timely return saved Miaomiao, who would have otherwise fallen prey to the wolverine. She still remembered her mother’s mournful cries. Her wounded brother, breathing weakly, had mustered his last strength to crawl to their mother’s belly, desperately suckling one final taste of life’s sweetness. The wolverine had torn off his hind legs—even if he had survived the attack, he could never have endured the harsh wilderness. In the end, their mother tenderly licked him clean, then, after a moment of silent grief, devoured him.  

——She refused to let her child be found and eaten by other animals after she was gone.

This is an inevitable death ritual that many mammals face when their young die.

Miaomiao thought with some fear, would she have to do this too?

Before this, Miaomiao hadn’t noticed anything wrong with the little tiger cub at all. Compared to his older sister, the second cub was clearly much less troublesome. He had stayed by her side since birth and never wandered off. He only acted out when his older sister provoked him, and he seemed lively and healthy. Furthermore, Miaomiao’s attention was mostly focused on the troublesome eldest cub, so she really hadn’t noticed the second cub’s problem at all.

Unlike the eldest, the second cub showed no interest in exploring his surroundings. Perhaps this was because he sensed his own condition, and instinct drove him to suppress his curiosity.

“Wah?”

Having finally crawled to Miaomiao’s side, the little tiger cub relaxed. He looked up at Miaomiao, confused why his mother wasn’t rewarding him like before. Even when he lost in play-fights with his sister, his mother would still encourage him.

He couldn’t help but nuzzle his small body closer to Miaomiao.

Miaomiao finally came back to her senses and lowered her head to gently lick the little tiger cub. Although in her eyes, the little cub might not be far from death, she was unwilling to give up on this child. She would continue to care for him until the day he died.

The little tiger cub’s fluffy little head stood blankly, being licked bit by bit by Miaomiao. He felt his mother’s ‘abnormal’ emotions, but didn’t understand what this strange emotion was, but he instinctively panicked and looked up at Miaomiao.

“Roar~”

The gentle roar made the little tiger cub relax. Its fluffy head rubbed Miaomiao’s soft fur and squinted happily.

As if he had sensed Miaomiao’s emotional changes, the little demon tiger immediately came over, tightly attached to the little tiger cub, and reluctantly rubbed her little head gently against her brother.

Tigers are very lonely creatures. The warmth of their childhood can only be searched in their memories after they grow up. Even if they know where the territories of their relatives are, they still rarely approach them. To them, those relatives are just passers-by in their lives. The little demon tiger has been a little bit of a wanderer since she was a child. She is not close to her only brother, let alone licking his fur. In fact, even when Miaomiao did this to her, she was not very happy, but she just couldn’t resist it at the moment.

“Wah?!”

However, facing his older sister’s sudden affection, the little tiger cub was not only not flattered but was actually startled. His little face was filled with terror, as if he thought his sister had been possessed by some demon.

The little demon tiger’s ears twitched, and she immediately became displeased, swatting a paw on his head.

“Wah-ooh~”

The little tiger cub’s head buzzed, and his whole body relaxed. Great, his sister was back to normal!

Kong Bi watched from the side, unable to help the corners of her lips from lifting, but her mood inevitably grew heavy

Though the chances were slim, Kong Bi still held some hope that the spirit spring water might help—not necessarily to make the cub strong, but at least to prevent it from remaining disabled. Unfortunately, judging from the little cub’s current behavior, it was clear that this wasn’t a problem that could be easily solved.

She wondered if current medical conditions could resolve the issue.

Kong Bi couldn’t know the answer. She took out her phone and sent a message to Wang Ling, asking them to complete the preparations so that they could directly perform an examination when they brought the little tiger cub over.

But it would only be an examination.

The newborn tiger cub wasn’t capable of undergoing surgery yet. At the very least, they would have to wait until it started trying to wean and eat meat. Afteall Its underdeveloped body simply couldn’t withstand the demands of postoperative recovery. Therefore, in the past few days, Kong Bi had only dared to feed it a little diluted spiritual spring water each day. She also avoided stimulating his body with demonic energy, fearing that the little cub couldn’t handle the stimulation and directly passed away.

After Wang Ling sent a message confirming that everything was ready, Kong Bi then scooped up the little tiger cub, preparing to take it over.

Seeing this, Miaomiao immediately couldn’t help but stand in front of Kong Bi, letting out anxious and urgent whimpers.

Recently, the food hadn’t been hunted by her own efforts. If Kong Bi felt it wasn’t necessary to feed the second cub anymore, wasting food, she had the right to decide the little cub’s fate. But Miaomiao didn’t want to give up on her poor child, even though she vaguely understood that even if it was kept alive, it would be difficult for him to survive on his own when he grew up.

But Miaomiao didn’t want to follow the rules of her species.

She howled mournfully, her amber eyes full of pleading.

She wanted to keep her child.

The tiger cub didn’t understand what his mother was doing. The familiar smell of Kong Bi made the tiger cub lying in her arms very relaxed. It even couldn’t help but stick out his tongue and lick it with effort, so that he could get more love from the other party.

Although he didn’t understand why he had two ‘mothers’, the little tiger cub instinctively knew that it would be difficult for him to survive without Kong Bi providing food for him.

Kong Bi was stunned for a moment. Miaomiao was nervous when she picked up the tiger cub at first, but soon she became familiar with Kong Bi’s behavior and didn’t have any special reaction because she suddenly picked up the tiger cub. Why did it suddenly get nervous today? Did she find something?

She stretched out her hand to scratch Miaomiao’s chin soothingly and whispered: “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, I’ll take second cub to see a doctor and bring him back soon.”

Miaomiao didn’t understand what Kong Bi was saying. The word “see a doctor” was too difficult for it to understand, but it could feel the peaceful aura she exuded, which was not cold.

She stared at Kong Bi, and finally giving the little tiger cub’s small head one last affectionate lick before picking up the restless little demon tiger beside her and quietly lying down on the ground.

The little demon tiger shook her head, not understanding why, even though she hadn’t caused any trouble today, her mother was already restricting her tiger-cub freedom.

Seeing this, Kong Bi then left with the little tiger cub to go for the examination.

Miaomiao’s eyes followed her departing figure. For a long, long time, Miaomiao then carried the little demon tiger, looking back every few steps, as she went back into the inner part of their enclosure.

The sun was already high. Although Miao Miao felt that the strong little demon tiger would not be injured by the sun, after discovering that something was wrong with the second cub, Miao Miao didn’t want to take any possible risks.

She didn’t want to lose her child.

The little tiger cubs who were born not long ago could not withstand too much stimulation from strong light, so even if the tiger mother would take them out to see the world, she would choose the early morning and dusk to avoid the strongest sun.

Kong Bi held the little tiger cub to her chest and held its head to prevent it from looking around. According to the normal growth pattern of tigers, the little tiger cub is not suitable to see too much sunlight now. After all, it is different from the little demon tiger, and it is normal for it to develop slower than normal tigers.

Darkness is not unfamiliar to the little tiger cub, so it did not struggle and let Kong Bi take it to the medical room.

The medical room wasn’t crowded, because the complex scents would scare the little tiger cub. Despite this, the cub still let out soft, distressed “wah-wah” cries, burrowing desperately into Kong Bi’s arms. It took quite some time to soothe him before he finally settled onto the cold medical equipment.  

While waiting for the test results, Wang Ling took the opportunity to examine the cub’s bones through palpation.  

The traditional Chinese medicine diagnostic methods of observation, auscultation and olfaction, inquiry, and palpation are still quite accurate when applied to animals. From the daily collection of tiger feces and urine, you can generally get a rough idea of its health condition without even needing to do a fecal examination. Many zoologists are also experts in feces themselves, and they can discern some problems just by visually observing them.

Kong Bi made sure to collect samples daily while cleaning the tiger enclosure for their observation, so Wang Ling already had a decent understanding of the cub’s condition. She didn’t need to ask Kong Bi anything before proceeding with a full examination.  

It wasn’t an easy task. Even with Kong Bi present, the newborn cub struggled to understand commands or suppress its instincts enough to stay still. But when it came to examining animals, the team was accustomed to using methods like food lures rather than relying on cooperation.  

Fortunately, the little tiger cub was particularly sensitive to food. As long as there was something to eat, everything went smoothly, and the examination proceeded with minimal difficulty.