Chapter 14.1

The situation with the wolf cub still required careful consideration. Since the mother wolf wouldn’t be coming tonight, Xiang Bie told Mu Ling to get some rest.

Mu Ling didn’t argue. She had already stayed up all night yesterday and knew she couldn’t manage another sleepless night.

However, Mu Ling felt like she had barely closed her eyes when urgent knocking jolted her awake, followed by Wei Li’s anxious calls, “Director! Director!”

Mu Ling groggily opened her eyes and glanced at her light brain—it was 1:30 a.m.

Sleepily, she called out, “What’s wrong?”

Wei Li’s voice came through the door, “Director, something’s happened to the wolf cub!”

Mu Ling instantly snapped awake, grabbed her coat, and rushed outside.

On the first floor—

“Awoo! Awoo!”

“Bang! Bang!”

Before reaching the veterinary station, Mu Ling heard intermittent wolf howls and the sound of metal bars being struck. When she entered, she was met with utter chaos.

The wolf cub, previously receiving an IV on the operating table, had vanished. Blood was splattered everywhere, with shattered IV bottles and spilled medication across the floor. Surgical instruments from the cart were scattered about, and everything from the table—drugs and cups alike—had been knocked to the ground. From the back of the pet ward came the agitated growls of Qilin and the sound of it scratching at its iron cage.

Mu Ling stood in shock, her gaze fixed on Xiang Bie, who was crouching by the medicine cabinet, peering underneath.

Noticing her stare, Xiang Bie turned and explained, “It’s under here.”

Mu Ling felt dizzy, nearly fainting. “What on earth happened?”

Wei Li apologized profusely, “Director, it’s all my fault! I just dozed off for a moment and didn’t expect the wolf cub to wake up so quickly and jump off the operating table. I tried to catch it, but it was too slippery. Xiang Bie came down when he heard the noise to help, but by then the cub had already crawled under the cabinet and refuses to come out. I’m really worried its wounds might have reopened.”

Mu Ling’s head throbbed, but seeing Wei Li’s remorseful expression, she couldn’t bring herself to scold him. Wei Li had been busy all day, so dozing off during night watch was understandable. Mu Ling herself had dozed off while watching Qilin last night. The main issue was that the wolf cub shouldn’t have woken up so soon. Based on the anesthesia’s effects, it should have slept for at least another five hours.

Could it be that the mother snow wolf’s immunity to anesthetics had been inherited by the cub, giving it some resistance to sedative drugs?

Now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. Mu Ling rolled up her sleeves and said, “It’s okay, Wei Li. Go get a can of food.”

Xiang Bie stood up, holding an opened can of meat. Frowning, he said, “We’ve already tried that. It won’t come out.”

Mu Ling took the can and waved the two men away. “You two have already spooked it. It won’t come out with you here. You both go out and close the door. I’ll handle this.”

Wei Li was worried, “Director, are you sure you can manage?”

Mu Ling replied with a hint of humor, “Don’t underestimate your director. Of course I can handle it!”

Xiang Bie reminded her, “Put on your protective gear.”

Mu Ling nodded and shooed them away. “Go, go, go.”

After Xiang Bie and Wei Li left, Mu Ling donned her protective suit but didn’t immediately approach the wolf cub. Instead, she headed to the back where Qilin’s cage was.

As expected, Qilin was still clawing at the iron door, looking highly agitated. Its strength was evident, and Mu Ling noticed that the bandage on its right paw had started to loosen.

Mu Ling crouched down to be at eye level with the big cat and called softly, “Qilin, come here.”

The golden tiger approached aggressively, its massive body pressing against the cage bars as it let out a furious roar, “Roar!”

Mu Ling cautiously extended her hand through the bars. Qilin sniffed her fingers but didn’t attack.

Gently, she stroked its rough fur, coaxing softly, “Is the commotion outside making you anxious? Don’t be afraid, Qilin. Xiang Bie and Wei Li weren’t hurting the wolf cub; it was just being naughty. They’ve already left, and now it’s just your sister here.”

There’s an idiom, “Kill the chicken to scare the monkey,” meaning to make an example of someone to warn others. The current situation was similar. Although Qilin didn’t know the wolf cub, hearing Xiang Bie and Wei Li “besieging” it had made Qilin feel threatened and intimidated, causing it to become angry and fearful, showing aggression and resistance by scratching at the door.

Mu Ling was now trying to calm it down.

She was very patient. At first, Qilin would still growl softly, so Mu Ling gently rubbed its head, scratched behind its ears, and massaged its neck.

Finally, after nearly five minutes of soothing, the previously agitated tiger gradually calmed down. When Qilin finally sat and then lay down, Mu Ling sighed in relief and whispered gently, “Now that Qilin is being good, sister will go check on the wolf cub. It’s probably very scared too.”

Mu Ling tiptoed away quietly. Qilin watched her leave, flicked its tail once, and didn’t move.

The wolf cub was still huddled under the medicine cabinet, refusing to come out. Its trembling cries had grown softer, indicating that it was losing strength.

Mu Ling didn’t force it. The cub was already in a state of stress and needed time to calm down on its own.

She pushed the can of food under the cabinet, then used a clean small bowl to fetch some warm water and pushed that in too. Then she sat on the sofa to wait.

The severely injured wolf cub was already quite weak, but its survival instinct kept it alert. It remained crouched in the farthest corner under the cabinet, shivering, curled up tightly into a ball.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes passed.

It was on the brink of passing out.

Just three steps away were food and water. It could smell the meat, wanted desperately to eat, but was too afraid.

Four minutes, five minutes, six minutes…

Finally, after ten minutes, Mu Ling heard a sound from under the cabinet—the cub lapping up water.

A moment later, chewing sounds followed as the cub started eating from the can.