Chapter 22.2

Mu Ling was shocked. “Brother Wei, what did he do to make the monkeys hate him so much?”

Xiang Bie responded, “Wei Li was bitten the first time he fed the golden rabbits too.”

The saying “rabbits bite when frightened” wasn’t just an empty phrase.

Mu Ling sighed, “Brother Wei sure has bad luck.”

Xiang Bie remained silent. After all, he had his own share of encounters when he first started working with wild animals. They had all been bullied to some degree—all except Mu Ling.

Mu Ling had this fanciful idea that if she fed an animal twice, she could befriend it. But animals weren’t that easy to connect with, especially wild ones. Apart from domesticated animals like dogs and cats, most wild animals retained strong species-specific traits that made them wary of outsiders.

Yet somehow, this wariness seemed ineffective when it came to Mu Ling.

There was definitely something unusual about her.

For the rest of the journey, Xiang Bie remained silent. When they reached the service area, they saw the visitors still waiting.

As they arrived, many tourists approached. Mu Ling, looking a bit embarrassed, stepped out and apologized. “I’m really sorry, but something unexpected happened up on the mountain. We’ll have to suspend today’s tour. We’ll fully refund your tickets. Professor Zhou, I’ll transfer the money to your account shortly.”

Professor Zhou was surprised at first but quickly waved his hand. “No need for that! We still had a great time today. Although the ending wasn’t ideal, we—”

Before he could finish, his gaze suddenly fell on something inside the shuttle.

He looked closer and saw it was a brown deer.

The deer, seeing so many people outside, seemed frightened and huddled in the bus, not daring to move.

“Oh, is that a deer?”

“Look at its hindquarters, it seems to be injured.”

“Did something happen? Did Director Mu go to rescue the deer earlier?”

Mu Ling felt somewhat awkward and apologized, “Yes, I did leave because of the deer. In any case, all responsibility lies with us. I’m very sorry for giving everyone such a poor experience, but I promise that once we officially open, this kind of thing will absolutely not happen again.”

The visitors hurriedly reassured her. “It’s okay, saving the animal is most important. We’re all involved in war beast research, so naturally, we have a stronger affinity for animals than ordinary people.”

Earlier they had been quite unhappy, but now hearing that Director Mu had gone to save a deer, they suddenly understood. Someone asked, “Director Mu, was the deer attacked by another animal?”

Mu Ling hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Yes.”

“Was it a predator?”

Hyenas are indeed considered predators, so Mu Ling nodded again. “Yes.”

“Is it going to be okay?”

Mu Ling replied, “We’ve bandaged it for now and brought it back for hospitalization. It should be fine in about a week. The injury isn’t too severe.”

“Oh, I see. Well, you should attend to that first, Director Mu— We can talk later.

Mu Ling hurriedly apologized to everyone again before carefully leading the brown deer out of the car.

As she guided the deer toward the veterinary station, her body suddenly stiffened. She stopped abruptly, her expression changing dramatically as she stared toward the nearby forest. “Why are you here?” she blurted out.

Mu Ling’s sudden outburst seemed strange. Xiang Bie paused and looked at her, while the visitors followed her gaze.

And there, under the gaze of over a hundred people, in the dark forest that Mu Ling was staring at, a pair of cold, green beast eyes gleamed faintly in the shadows.

“What’s that?”

“A wild animal, I suppose.”

“What kind of animal? I can’t see clearly.”

Hearing the discussions behind her, Mu Ling broke out in a cold sweat. Others might not recognize it just by seeing its eyes, but she knew all too well. She had stared at this creature across a stream for over half an hour earlier.

Mu Ling was at a loss for words. Had Lightning followed them down here? Why? Just for that still-living hyena?

Why did it absolutely have to kill that hyena?

She had already lost money on tickets, bus rentals, and small gifts. She just wanted to earn a 600 star coin bonus. Was even that not allowed?

Mu Ling was really about to lose it. In desperation, she said, “Ancestor, if you must bite something, bite me instead. Please spare the dog!”

In the forest, hidden behind a large rock, the black panther quietly observed the crowd below. It saw the human standing at the front and the brown deer nestled by her side.

It lowered its body even further, its green eyes half-hidden behind the rock.

Just then, Wei Li came out of the office building. He had just finished reporting to the military department, who said they would come immediately upon hearing that there were live mutant beasts here.

As soon as Wei Li came out and saw this scene, he was confused. He walked over to Xiang Bie and asked, “Brother Xiang?”

Xiang Bie said, “Take the hyenas into the garage, away from people.”

Wei Li nodded. He glanced at the two hyenas stuffed under the bus seats, then got into the driver’s seat and drove the bus directly into the garage.

Xiang Bie walked over to Mu Ling and reassured her, “You take the deer inside. I’ll go deal with Lightning.”

Mu Ling seemed dejected. “I should go. It didn’t bite me earlier, so it won’t bite me now either.”

Xiang Bie frowned, instinctively wanting to say it was too dangerous. But thinking of Mu Ling’s strange way with animals, he fell silent again.

Mu Ling, however, didn’t think too much about it. She first took the deer into the ward and locked it in a cage far from Qilin. Then she grabbed a protective suit from the coat rack, picked up two cans of Qilin’s snacks, and walked out.

As Mu Ling put on the suit and walked towards the mountain, the tourists behind her said, “Look, Director Mu is going over there.”

“Did you see what animal it was? It’s too far away, the evaluation glasses can’t detect it.”

Amidst the discussions, Mu Ling’s figure gradually disappeared into the forest. Xiang Bie watched her silhouette vanish, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

Meanwhile, the distance between Mu Ling and Lightning grew shorter and shorter until Mu Ling stopped on a slope about ten meters away from Lightning.

Mu Ling stood in front of a rock, while the black panther stood behind it. Its posture was one ready to attack at any moment, its upper body lowered, sharp claws gleaming black.

Even its nails were black.

“Big brother, there’s no need for this, really. We’ll handle that hyena, honestly. You don’t have to bother. You coming down the mountain so suddenly, with so many people here—if they startle you and you bite someone, I’ll really go bankrupt, you know?”

Mu Ling was practically begging the black panther. She took out the cans from her pocket, opened one with a rip, and poured all the meat paste onto the rock. “Eat this, eat and go back, please. I’m begging you.”

The black panther looked at the meat paste, then at the human before it, its posture still not relaxing one bit.

Mu Ling opened the other can. “This is a vegetable can with bitter melon. It’s cooling and reduces internal heat. I can see you’re quite hot-tempered, so angry. Eat some, it’ll help you calm down.”

After pouring the vegetable can onto the rock as well, Mu Ling stepped back about ten meters with the empty cans before stopping.

The black panther kept one eye firmly fixed on her. Mu Ling didn’t know what it wanted to do, so she could only stand there in this standoff.

After a while, the black panther suddenly moved. It approached the meat paste, sniffing with its nose, then tentatively licked a bit.

Seeing it finally eat, Mu Ling let out a sigh of relief. “Eat up, it’s quite tasty. Qilin’s choice, even Qilin says it’s good.”

The black panther’s crimson tongue quickly licked up all the meat paste. It licked its lips, and when it opened its mouth wide, its cold teeth were clearly visible.

Mu Ling’s face now showed a smile. She waved her hand. “Alright, you’ve finished eating. Now go back, hurry back.”

Saying this, Mu Ling turned to walk down the mountain.

After a few steps, she looked back and saw that the black panther had come out from behind the large rock that served as its cover. It stood in front of the rock, watching Mu Ling.

Mu Ling waved again. “Go on, go back. There’s nothing to worry about. We’ll handle the hyena, and we’ll buy you a box of cans with the bonus money.”

Saying this, Mu Ling continued down the mountain.

After a few more steps, Mu Ling looked back again and saw that the black panther had moved forward another stretch, stopping about seven or eight meters away from her.

Mu Ling was taken aback. “Why are you following me? Didn’t you eat enough? Brother, we’ve put food at all the feeding points on the mountain. Go wander around, there’s food everywhere.”

After saying this, seeing the black panther not moving, Mu Ling continued down the mountain. When she had walked another dozen meters or so and looked back again, whoa! The black panther was right behind her, just two or three steps away!

“You startled me!” Mu Ling patted her chest, took half a step back, and stared wide-eyed at the black panther.

The black panther also looked up at her.

After the human and beast stared at each other for a while, Mu Ling thought for a moment and asked, “Do you want to eat canned food? Alright, come down with me, but you can’t bite people randomly. Will you behave?”

The black panther didn’t move, its green eyes emanating a dangerous light.

Mu Ling pointed to her right. “Come over here.”

The black panther remained silent.

Mu Ling beckoned. “Come on, sit here.”

The beckoning gesture seemed to be understood by the black panther. It hesitated for a moment, but eventually slowly walked over and sat on Mu Ling’s right.

Mu Ling’s eyes suddenly lit up. She pointed to her left. “Try coming over here.”

The black panther paused for a moment, then got up and moved to sit on the left.

“Wow!” Mu Ling was thoroughly delighted. “You understand commands?”

Mu Ling couldn’t help but curl her fingers, tentatively reaching out to touch the black panther’s ear. The panther’s ear twitched due to the ticklish sensation, but it didn’t pull away.

Mu Ling touched the black panther’s ear, finding it almost unbelievable. “Wow, I really didn’t expect you to be so docile. You look all black, I thought you’d be quite tough.”

As she spoke, Mu Ling crouched down and extended her hand to the black panther. “Let’s try again. Can you shake hands?”

The slender white fingers were placed in front of it. The black panther looked at Mu Ling, then at her hand, seeming to be in a dilemma.

After several seconds passed, the black panther seemed to compromise. So, it moved its head forward and pressed its chin onto Mu Ling’s palm.

Mu Ling: “…”

When a feline puts its chin in your hand, what do you do?

Almost instinctively, Mu Ling’s fingers moved slightly. Thus, the black panther, having its chin scratched, immediately relaxed. It sat down softly on the ground, then pressed its entire body towards Mu Ling.

By the time Mu Ling came back to her senses, she was already sitting on the ground, with the black panther lying across her knees, looking at her with half-closed eyes.

Mu Ling was startled to realize that her current posture of holding the black panther was exactly the same as when she had held the brown deer by the stream earlier.

“So you…” Mu Ling looked at the black panther, suddenly understanding everything. “So you didn’t come for the hyena, you came looking for a masseuse. You rascal, you figured out I’m a level 10 cat petter, didn’t you?”