Chapter 22.1

“Ah, forget the tour. Everyone needs to head down the mountain now!”

On the main path, tourists erupted in confusion at the abrupt announcement. As the person in charge, Professor Zhou stepped forward to ask, “Where is Director Mu? We’d like to discuss this with her.”

“She’s busy,” Xiang Bie responded curtly. Spotting Wei Li approaching, he pulled him aside and spoke in a low voice.

Wei Li’s face shifted immediately upon hearing that another mutant beast had entered the forest and the director had encountered it. When Xiang Bie mentioned he needed to rush over, Wei Li quickly said, “Got it, brother Xiang. You go. I’ll handle things here.”

After Xiang Bie left with the medical kit, Wei Li turned to calm the tourists, who were all pressing for answers. Knowing the truth would cause panic, he made up an excuse, “There’s a landslide blocking the road ahead, and no buses can pass.”

The tourists weren’t entirely convinced but grumbled as they boarded the buses.

It took Xiang Bie another twenty minutes to finally find Mu Ling.

She was seated on the grass beside a stream, holding a tranquilizer gun in one hand and cradling an injured brown deer in her arms. The deer rested its head on her knee as she gently stroked it, soothing it.

Not far from her lay two bloodied hyenas, their bodies motionless, their fate uncertain.

Xiang Bie approached with a frown. Hearing his footsteps, Mu Ling glanced back, visibly relieved. “Brother Xiang, bring the medical kit over, quickly!”

Xiang Bie hurried over, placing the kit beside her and asked in a serious tone, “What’s the situation?”

Though his question was directed at her, his gaze drifted to the other side of the stream, where the dense forest concealed a black panther with piercing green eyes, staring at them coldly. In the water below, the iron-scaled crocodile opened one half of its eye, silently observing.

Mu Ling opened the kit, swiftly loading a syringe with medication. “One hyena’s dead—the panther, Lightning, killed it. The other is unconscious from my shot. Lightning and the crocodile, Guardian, won’t leave because they know one hyena is still alive. But as long as I’m here, they won’t approach. We’re stuck in a stalemate.”

Once the syringe was ready, Mu Ling expelled the air bubbles and injected the medication into the deer’s vein.

The deer flinched in pain and tried to struggle, but Mu Ling held it steady, soothing it gently, “There, there. It doesn’t hurt anymore. Our brave little deer.”

After the injection, she waited for the medication to take effect before cleaning the wound.

Xiang Bie watched her throughout the process. Her precise, efficient movements left him uncertain about her emotional state. On one hand, she seemed calm and patient, comforting the injured deer. On the other, her cold expression and occasional sharp glances at the hyenas hinted at suppressed anger.

He crouched by the hyenas to inspect them and said, “We’ll need to cremate the dead one. As for the unconscious one, I’ll contact the military and see if they want it. If they do, they can take it for research.”

Mu Ling focused on treating the deer without a word.

Xiang Bie hesitated before adding, “If the military takes it, there’ll be a bonus—maybe around 500 star coins.”

Mu Ling paused, visibly displeased, and gave Xiang Bie a look.

He pressed on, “Maybe even 600 if we negotiate well. We could ask for a commendation banner too—something to hang by the ticket booth.”

Mu Ling gave a cold snort. “Oh, there’s money involved?”

Xiang Bie nodded. “For the live one, yes.”

He added, “You did great, by the way. Stopped Lightning from killing it.”

Mu Ling straightened a little, though her expression remained unreadable. “But won’t the news of mutant beasts in the zoo scare away future visitors? Hanging a banner at the ticket booth would be like advertising our problem.”

Xiang Bie reassured her, “First, the banner proves we can handle such incidents ourselves. Second, the mutant beasts got in because the protective fence isn’t fully operational yet. Once it’s fixed, the company will issue a safety certificate. With that endorsement, we’ll guarantee it won’t happen again, so there’s no need to worry about business.”

Mu Ling, whose biggest concern was losing business, finally relaxed a bit. “Alright. I’ll handle the negotiations. Let’s aim for the 600-star coin bonus.”

“You’ll get it,” Xiang Bie said confidently. “You’re good at this.”

Hearing the compliment, Mu Ling couldn’t suppress a small smile. As she resumed cleaning the deer’s wound, she even began to hum a tune softly.

Xiang Bie smiled in relief.

After securing the hyenas with vines, Xiang Bie opened the bottom compartment of the medical kit, pulled out two tablet-like pills, broke them apart, and tossed them into the stream. The water, tainted with the hyenas’ blood, needed disinfecting.

As for whether this method was sufficient—he wasn’t worried. Without a live host, the virus in the blood would dissipate naturally in the air. The hyenas were only in the early stages of infection, so they weren’t contagious.

All the while, Guardian and Lightning kept a wary eye on Xiang Bie, watching his every move.

Once Mu Ling finished dressing the deer’s wounds, she helped it to its feet. The deer wobbled, bleating softly in discomfort.

“Walking will be a bit painful, but you’ll feel better soon,” Mu Ling said, stroking its ears. “Come with sister down the mountain. You’ll recover faster in the infirmary.”

The deer let out a plaintive bleat and nuzzled its head into Mu Ling’s chest.

Mu Ling gave it an affectionate pat, then turned to Xiang Bie. “So, brother Xiang, we’re really not worrying about Lightning and Guardian?”

“If they’re not injured, we don’t need to worry about them.”

Satisfied with the answer, Mu Ling nodded.

Soon, with Mu Ling holding the deer by the scruff and carrying the medical kit, and Xiang Bie carrying the hyenas, the group made their way toward the Monkey Forest.

As they left, the crocodile’s dark head emerged from the water, and the panther leapt across the stream, silently following them into the Monkey Forest.

Meanwhile, Wei Li had just returned to the service area at the foot of the mountain with five buses. He spotted a familiar protective fence technician speaking with one of their temporary employees.

When the technician saw them, he hurried over. “Xiao Wei, why weren’t you answering the radio?”

Wei Li paused, pulling out his radio. “It never rang… Oh, right! I switched to a different channel and forgot to change it back. What’s going on, Master Li?”

Master Li glanced at the nearby tourists, hesitant to speak.

Wei Li understood and pulled him aside. Lowering his voice, Master Li said, “Animals from the inner forest have entered the park. We discovered it at noon. Judging from the footprints and fecal traces, they probably came in last night. We don’t know how many, but not less than one.”

Wei Li’s expression darkened.

“You already know?” Master Li asked, surprised.

Wei Li nodded. “Yes. It’s a mutant beast. Our team is dealing with it now.”

Master Li’s face paled. “A mutant beast? You just had a mutant python a few days ago, and now this? Is the mutation rate that high in the forest? This could get serious!”

Wei Li responded calmly, “I’ll discuss it further with Brother Xiang and the director. For now, tell the other technicians to be careful. If necessary, they should wait in their cars and pause work until we give the all-clear.”

With no signal in the mountains, radio communication was their only option.

Master Li reluctantly nodded and went to inform the others.

Wei Li glanced back at the restless tourists, who were still murmuring in dissatisfaction. He tried contacting Xiang Bie through the radio but got no response, so he called Mu Ling instead.

After listening to Wei Li’s update, Mu Ling sighed. “Pausing work was the right call. As for the tourists… we’ll have to trouble Qilin to entertain them again, see if that helps. We’ll also refund their tickets in full—it’s our responsibility since we didn’t provide a good viewing experience.”

Wei Li was stunned. Refunds? The notoriously stingy director is giving full refunds? Has she lost her mind?

Mu Ling was indeed close to losing it. She lowered her head to look at the two hyenas in Xiang Bie’s hands, her teeth grinding audibly.

Xiang Bie shifted the hyenas in his hands. “Calm down. Dismembering them here isn’t feasible. We have nothing to put them in, and one of them still needs to be exchanged for money.”

Mu Ling snorted heavily but looked away, still seething.

They quickly returned to where the shuttle bus was parked. Xiang Bie put down the two hyenas and was about to turn back to carry the deer. The shuttle door was small, and the deer was unwilling to get in, so it needed to be forced in.

But as he turned around, he saw Mu Ling casually getting into the bus through the back door.

And behind her, the deer, with its head lowered, obediently followed her into the bus.

Xiang Bie watched in amazement as Mu Ling found a seat and sat down. The deer instinctively walked to her side, bent its four legs in the aisle, and sat down right next to her. After sitting down, the deer naturally rested its head on Mu Ling’s knee, just like it had done by the stream earlier. Mu Ling didn’t seem to find this problematic; she even casually stroked the deer’s head.

Xiang Bie watched this entire scene silently. After a while, he got into the bus and started the engine.

As they drove down the mountain, Xiang Bie asked casually, “You’ve become quite familiar with the animals on the outskirts these past few days?”

Mu Ling thought Xiang Bie was referring to the golden rabbits from before and responded, “Yes, I brought food for them. After feeding them twice, they became familiar. Now they come chasing after me when they see me.”

“The Monkey Forest too?”

Mu Ling laughed, “Monkeys are even simpler. There’s no problem a banana can’t solve. If one doesn’t work, add another banana.”

Xiang Bie then said, “The first time Wei Li went to feed the monkeys in Monkey Forest, he had feces thrown at him.”

Mu Ling was stunned, thinking she hadn’t heard correctly. “Threw what?”

Xiang Bie looked at her through the rearview mirror, “Monkeys express their dissatisfaction by throwing feces at others.”