Chapter 12.1

When it came time to trim the hind claws, Qilin had already given up resisting. Mu Ling moved swiftly, finishing the task within moments. She didn’t bother rounding the edges of the nails—only domesticated pets needed that. For a wild beast, the sharper the claws, the better.

Just as she finished, their food arrived.

Mu Ling didn’t turn the camera to show Wei Li outside the cage. She kept it focused on Qilin while retrieving the food bowl, calling out cheerfully, “Qilin, dinner time!”

The tiger, lying lazily on the ground, shook itself and stood up, its tail swishing back and forth.

Mu Ling set the bowl down. Qilin sniffed it before beginning to eat in an unusually graceful manner—delicate, slow, and elegant, completely unlike other wild beasts that devoured their food ravenously.

Mu Ling adjusted the camera, capturing Qilin’s eating process.

«Qilin is on a three-meal schedule now, and this is about the right portion. This here is freeze-dried food, the white powder is nutritional supplement, the red is calcium powder, and the chicken is mixed with yogurt. Qilin quite likes strawberry-flavored yogurt. We’ve also added some coat-enhancing oil; it’s said to take effect in seven days. In a week, our qilin might just turn into a sleek, shiny little beauty. Isn’t that right, qilin?»

As she spoke, Mu Ling casually stroked the tiger’s still rough and dull fur.

The tiger, now accustomed to Mu Ling’s touch, continued eating without even turning its head.

The video continued until Qilin had finished the entire bowl of food, along with two additional cans of treats. Then Mu Ling finally ended the recording.

As the screen faded to black, silence descended on the small dorm room.

Zhou Qin: “…”

Zhou Qin’s roommate: “…”

The two dazed university students stared blankly at each other. Finally, Zhou Qin’s roommate broke the silence.

“What the—”

Zhou Qin: “Hell.”

Another glance at each other.

“What the hell?!”

They both exclaimed, completely stunned.

What kind of hallucination was this? Had they just witnessed an S-class retired war beast willingly being caged, allowing itself to be cuddled, accepting medication, letting its claws be trimmed, and even being touched while eating?

No way. Impossible. This couldn’t be real. It had to be special effects—definitely special effects.

Clinging to a last hope of debunking the video, Zhou Qin’s roommate nervously opened the comments section.

Surely there would be some expert revealing the secrets of the special effects. There had to be.

When they first found the video, it had only been posted for fifteen minutes. Now, after watching the nine-minute video, the timestamp read “24 minutes ago.”

And in the comments section…

The pinned comment was a screenshot of Qilin’s adoption documents, posted by the uploader herself. Colonel Val’s signature was bold and unmistakable, making their hearts race.

Below it, other comments poured in:

「Am I going crazy, or is the world going crazy?」

「Somebody tell me, is this the power of advanced technology?」

「I ran the FOC testing software nine times, nearly breaking the video, and couldn’t detect any AI, special effects, or editing. She didn’t even use a beauty filter. It’s real. I’m in tears.」

「Folks, don’t be fooled by this vlogger. I’ve seen this kind of thing before. I can tell right away that there must be a human soul inside this tiger’s body. It’s the only explanation for this situation. I’m not kidding.」

「I think it must be a clone. Is it a cloned tiger? Did you clone a tiger that looks exactly like Qilin? That’s illegal, you know.」

「So, before we report the vlogger and send her to jail, have we all agreed that this tiger is really the Ripper Tiger, really Qilin?」

「I don’t want to admit it either, but damn, Colonel Val reposted this video five minutes ago and even liked it.」

「Okay, okay, you’ve got Colonel Val backing you up, so you’re amazing. I’ll believe your tiger is the real Qilin. But you have to explain how on earth you managed to get qilin to let you trim its claws!”」

「Though I don’t know how this zoo keeper did it, friendly reminder: Beast Taming Military Academy students, do not try this at home.」

「Thanks for the advice. I’m already in the infirmary. After watching the video, I tried to coax my war beast with a can of food for a kiss. Now my arm has twelve stitches.」

Zhou Qin and his roommate, having read the comments, were even more bewildered. As they struggled to accept reality, the video had already rocketed to 50th place on the Starnet hot search list.

The trending topic: «Live footage of retired Ripper Tiger getting claws trimmed»

After posting the video, Mu Ling curled up next to Qilin, scrolling through comments. Watching the comments and views increase, her face beamed with joy.

Wei Li, passing by the door, couldn’t help but ask, “Director, is the feedback good?”

“It’s great, incredibly great!” Mu Ling was overjoyed. “We’re already at 49th on the hot search list! Hehe, I deliberately chose to post during the evening peak traffic time. I’m such a genius!”

Wei Li: “…”

Unable to say much, Wei Li could only suggest tactfully, “Well, Director, if you have time now, shall we decide on the animals’ food rations for next week?”

Mu Ling: “…”

The smile vanished from her face as she stared stiffly at Wei Li.

Wei Li explained, “If we order now, the earliest delivery will be the day after tomorrow. We only have enough food left for tomorrow’s feeding.”

Mu Ling: “…”

In the end, Mu Ling dragged herself out of the iron cage like a zombie, following Wei Li to the office. There, on the office’s computer, she watched helplessly as Wei Li added a string of purchase orders, clicked to pay, and showed her the payment code.