Chapter 23.2

Professor Zhou suddenly felt confused. ‘You’ve only known each other for two hours, and a mentally unstable retired war beast is already curling up in your arms and nuzzling your hand? Do you even realize what you’re saying?’

The other researchers accompanying Professor Zhou were equally dumbfounded. They exchanged bewildered glances, unable to formulate a response.

Mu Ling suggested, “Why don’t we just visit Qilin today? Next time you come, I promise you can see Lightning, and I’ll even give you a 50% discount on the tickets.”

As she said this, a glimmer of hope flickered in her eyes. She glanced nervously at Professor Zhou and his team, silently pleading, ‘Please come back, don’t let today’s mishap make you avoid our zoo. Please, please don’t leave a bad review online. I’m begging you.’

In the end, Professor Zhou and his team agreed. “Alright, let’s take another look at Qilin.”

Mu Ling was thrilled and quickly added, “It’s about time for Qilin’s snack. How about we have it put on a little ‘Princess Afternoon Tea’ performance for everyone?”

Professor Zhou: “…”

Soon, Mu Ling returned to the veterinary station. Xiang Bie was lounging on the couch, browsing his light brain. Seeing her return, he asked, “So, how did it go?”

Mu Ling replied, “We still need Qilin to save the day. It hasn’t drunk the water on the ground, has it?”

Xiang Bie: “No, it hasn’t.”

Mu Ling was relieved. She headed towards the treatment rooms but turned back halfway and casually pointed, “Brother Xiang, help me pull out this tablecloth and get a pair of scissors.”

Xiang Bie: “…”

Shortly after, Mu Ling returned with Qilin. As soon as she appeared, Lightning, a panther in a nearby cage, stood up immediately. However, Mu Ling didn’t spare it a glance and walked straight past.

Lightning’s gaze followed Mu Ling and Qilin as they left. After a moment, its green, glowing eyes locked onto the latch of its cage.

Outside, Xiang Bie had already pulled the tablecloth free. Mu Ling deftly cut a piece of it and, after some fiddling, successfully fashioned it into a bow.

Using cloth strips as a makeshift ribbon, she fastened the bow around Qilin’s neck. Stepping back to admire her handiwork, she asked Xiang Bie, “Does it look like a princess now?”

Xiang Bie: “…”

He found it difficult to comment.

After a long pause, Xiang Bie reluctantly nodded, “Mm.”

Satisfied, Mu Ling confidently led Qilin out.

It was the same small pond, the same group of old spectators. The only difference was that Wei Li had replaced the bathtub in the middle of the pond with a pile of snacks.

When Mu Ling finally arrived with Qilin, the crowd of spectators erupted with excitement:

“Whoa—”

“Qilin’s wearing a bow!”

“It’s so, so, so cute!”

“Seriously, I want to know—how on earth did the zoo director convince Qilin to cooperate? This thing used to wear armor in battle, and now it’s wearing a bow?”

“But isn’t Qilin the crown princess of Bi Ke Zoo? What’s wrong with it wearing a bow? Doesn’t it deserve it?”

Colleague: “…”

What could they say? They could only keep quiet.

Mu Ling heard the crowd’s praise for Qilin’s appearance and felt a bit proud. After leading Qilin to the snack pile, she instructed it to sit down.

The ripper tiger with the bow obediently sat.

Mu Ling opened a packet of meat biscuits and held one to Qilin’s mouth.

Qilin immediately flicked out its tongue and ate the biscuit. Afterward, it even licked Mu Ling’s palm, cleaning up the crumbs.

The visitors below grew envious. “Qilin is so well-behaved. It’s like they’re playing house together. I want to join in!”

“Quick, write it down—Ripper tigers like playing house.”

Colleague: “…”

Writing down everything will only get you into trouble.

After feeding it half a packet of meat biscuits, Mu Ling opened a carton of yogurt for Qilin.

Qilin loved yogurt. With one swipe of its large tongue, two-thirds of it was gone. However, it ate a bit messily, leaving a streak of yogurt on its nose, making it look like a little spotted cat.

Mu Ling casually wiped it clean, restoring the princess’s elegance.

While the scene by the pond was lively, back at the deserted veterinary station, a brown deer that had been sedated with painkillers suddenly heard a noise.

The deer opened its eyes and saw a black panther in a nearby cage extending its sharp claws through the bars, scraping at something outside.

After a while, there was a loud clang, and the iron door opened. The panther darted out and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The brown deer glanced in the direction the panther had fled, smacked its lips, and closed its eyes to continue sleeping.

“Now for some apple slices. An afternoon tea certainly can’t be without fruit,” said Mu Ling.

Mu Ling picked up a slice of apple and held it out to Qilin.

The big tiger took it in its mouth and ate it in two bites.

Mu Ling fed it another slice, and Qilin ate it again.

But when she offered a third slice, Qilin suddenly stopped eating. The majestic tiger rose to its feet, turned around, and its brown-green eyes stared intently in a certain direction behind it.

Mu Ling froze for a moment, and the audience also paused, following Qilin’s gaze. Far off by a tall building near the pond, a black swift-fire panther was pressed against the wall, its glowing green eyes fixed on their direction.

Standing outside the enclosure, Xiang Bie frowned. “How did it get out?”

Wei Li’s face turned pale. “Oh no, Brother Xiang! What does Lightning want to do?”

At that moment, Mu Ling, standing in the center of the pond, also shouted, “Lightning!”

Upon hearing her voice, the black panther launched itself forward like an arrow. Its powerful hind legs pushed off, and after jumping down from the pond bank, in less than two seconds, it had already rushed to Mu Ling.

“Roar!” Qilin immediately moved to shield Mu Ling, taking an aggressive stance toward the black panther.

Lightning stopped short in front of the tiger, baring its fangs. It lowered its body, eyes locked on Qilin, ready to attack.

The distance between them shrank, inch by inch, as the impending clash between the two beasts seemed inevitable. The visitors above were growing frantic.

Suddenly, Mu Ling stepped forward, standing directly between them, and sternly scolded, “What are you doing? Do you really want to fight?”

Animals are highly sensitive to tone. Both beasts immediately stiffened. Qilin glanced at Mu Ling out of the corner of its eye, while Lightning’s growl softened slightly.

Seeing that they had calmed down a bit, Mu Ling crouched down and gently scratched both beasts under the chin, one hand for each.

Noticing they still hadn’t fully relaxed, Mu Ling grabbed a few more apple slices and coaxed them into eating.

After a lot of effort, Mu Ling finally managed to pacify both the tiger and the panther. Exhausted, she sat down on the ground, one arm around each of them, and sighed deeply, “When children don’t get along, it’s often because the elders lack virtue. Their quarrel is my fault. I’ll reflect on it.”

“Pfft.” Someone in the audience couldn’t help but laugh, and with that, the tense atmosphere finally eased.

At 5:30 p.m., a black military truck turned onto Bi Ke Avenue Main Street.

Inside, six officers were discussing the two hyenas that Bi Ke Zoo had reported earlier that day.

“The boss and his team have already planned to enter the mountains tomorrow, starting from the other side of the zoo and going straight into the deep mountains. It seems there are already quite a few mutant beasts in those hills. Apparently, this wasn’t even the first one Bi Ke Zoo has discovered recently. A few days ago, they even found a python.”

“What happened to the python last time?”

“It died. No sample value, so the zoo buried it deeply according to regulations.”

“The zoo staff seem pretty capable. They handle mutant beasts skillfully.”

“According to the report, it wasn’t killed by the staff. It was one of their retired war beasts. The employees probably don’t know much about this stuff. Their strength lies in the number of war beasts they have—nine retired S-class beasts alone, not to mention the A and B-class ones.”

As they continued chatting, the truck entered the mountain road. Just then, several tour buses were coming down from the mountain. The military truck passed by four tour buses, and the officers glanced at them but didn’t think much of it.

The truck soon stopped at the main entrance of Bi Ke Zoo. Officer Lin, dressed in full military uniform, opened the passenger door and stepped out first.

On the open ground in front of the zoo entrance, temporary workers were still packing up tables and chairs. Hearing the sound of the truck, Wei Li looked over. Seeing the soldiers, he immediately understood who they were and walked over to greet them. He went up to greet them, “Are you gentlemen from the military district?”

Officer Lin shook hands with Wei Li and nodded. “We received a report saying that you have—”

“Yes.” Wei Li didn’t let Officer Lin say the words “mutant beasts” out loud. He said, “Follow me.”

The six military officers quickly followed Wei Li into the garage. Both hyenas were in cages. Because another anesthetic shot had been given later, both were lying down now, though the one below had obviously already died, while the one above was still alive.

Officer Lin nodded, “We’ll take both of them. It’s good that we can help you deal with the dead one too, saving you the trouble.”

Wei Li nodded, “Good, thank you for your hard work.”

As he was about to see them off, Wei Li suddenly thought of something and quickly said, “Oh right, we can receive a reward, right?”

The military officers were stunned for a moment. They looked at each other, and Officer Lin frankly said, “Yes, we’ll report it for you.”

Wei Li thought of Brother Xiang’s instructions and remembered that the zoo director had indeed refunded all the money when seeing the visitors off earlier. He gritted his teeth and asked, “Can it be reported as the 600 star coins category?”

Officer Lin paused. He looked at the two hyenas and said with difficulty, “Medium-sized mutant beasts are usually in the 500 category.”

Wei Li scratched his head, thought for a moment, and said, “Why don’t you talk to our zoo director? She’s right across.”

Officer Lin saw that Wei Li was just a worker and also felt it would be better to explain clearly to their zoo director. So the military officers followed Wei Li out of the garage.

The veterinary station was just across from the garage. Wei Li asked the military officers to wait a moment while he went in to call someone.

After Wei Li went in, the military officers behind him whispered, “I hope this zoo director isn’t too difficult to deal with.”

“Hard to say. Look at that employee, he seems quite afraid.”

“Anyway, it’s only 500. We’re just following the regulations.”

As they were talking, the door opened, and Wei Li came out leading Mu Ling.

Mu Ling smiled and said, “Hello, officers. Thank you for your hard work, and sorry for troubling you to come all this way.”

The officers hadn’t expected the zoo director to be a woman, and such a young one at that. However, regardless of who it was, rules were rules. Officer Lin said, “Hello, Director. Thank you for your zoo’s cooperation with our military in combating mutant beasts. In view of your contribution, we will report a reward for you. As for the reward level—”

Officer Lin hadn’t finished speaking when suddenly, he saw a majestic tiger with a golden body slowly walking out from behind this female director.

Officer Lin saw it, and his colleagues naturally saw it too. Instantly, everyone’s faces changed, and they all took a step back together.

“Qilin, why did you come out?” Mu Ling heard the sound and turned her head. She patted Qilin’s head and said apologetically to the military officers, “Don’t be afraid, gentlemen. It doesn’t bite people.”

The military officers looked embarrassed and were about to speak again when they saw a jet-black panther with cold green eyes also walk out from behind.

“Lightning, why did you come out too?” Mu Ling hugged Lightning with her other arm.

Now, she had a ripper tiger on her left and a swift-fire panther on her right. Mu Ling smiled gently, looking at the military officers who had already retreated a full five steps, and asked, “What were you gentlemen saying just now?”

“Gulp.”

Officer Lin swallowed, cold sweat sliding down his temples. He said, “I, I was saying that we’ll apply for the 600-level reward for you, and we‘ll also apply for a honorary banner for you. Remember to check for it.”

Mu Ling was overjoyed, “Really? You’re too kind! Thank you so much!”

Officer Lin: “It’s, it’s our duty.”

Wei Li: “…”