Chapter 39.1

By the time Mu Ling arrived at the foot of the mountain, it was already nearing 9 p.m.

Wei Li spotted Mu Ling’s car pulling in and was about to greet her when he noticed her get out of the driver’s seat and head to the back, rummaging through something inside.

Assuming she was unloading fish food containers, Wei Li hurried over to help, calling out, “Director, let me—”

Before he could finish, a massive eagle with a white head, gray body, and golden wings suddenly appeared in his line of sight.

Wei Li froze mid-step, standing a few feet away, his expression utterly bewildered.

The giant eagle stepped down from the car, finally free, and instantly spread its wings, preparing to take flight.

Mu Ling grabbed its leg and held it down with all her might.

Unable to fly, the eagle awkwardly collapsed back into the woman’s arms. As it began to struggle, the woman—fully equipped in a helmet and protective gear—gripped its wings firmly and headed toward a nearby building.

Wei Li watched, stunned, as the director, looking like she was ready for a heist, rushed towards the veterinary station with the eagle in tow and Lightning trailing behind. After a moment, he snapped out of his daze and hurried to follow.

As soon as Wei Li stepped inside the vet station, he saw the director losing her grip on the flailing eagle, which immediately took flight.

“Quick, close the door! Close the door!” Mu Ling yelled in a panic, afraid the eagle would escape.

Wei Li hastily shut the door, then looked in confusion at the eagle circling the small station. “Wait, isn’t this Tayun? Director, did you steal this bird?”

Lifting the visor of her helmet, Mu Ling gave Wei Li a deadpan look. “Brother Wei, I am the director. Tayun is one of our zoo’s animals. Why would I need to steal it?”

Wei Li was momentarily at a loss for words. “That’s not what I meant! I just thought you were being so sneaky—”

Mu Ling rolled her eyes beneath her visor. How am I being sneaky? This is called being cautious.

Lowering the visor again, Mu Ling asked, “Has Brother Xiang returned?”

“Brother Xiang? No, I haven’t seen him all day, now that you mention it,” Wei Li replied, frowning. “Where could he have gone? He hasn’t even checked in on the radio.”

Feeling a bit uneasy, Mu Ling glanced back at the eagle circling above. Raising her arm, she called out tentatively, “Tayun.”

The massive eagle swooped down sharply, its talons gripping Mu Ling’s arm tightly.

“Whoa!” Wei Li was visibly shocked. “Director, did you train this bird?”

“No, I didn’t.” Mu Ling, struggling to support the weight of the eagle with one arm, used her other hand to prop it up. She guided the bird over to the examination table and gently set it down. “It seems like you don’t need to train it. I just called its name, and it came right over. Honestly, I thought it would ignore me after I yanked its wings earlier, but surprisingly, it didn’t. The bird must have been very well trained by its previous owner. Brother Wei, you should try calling it next.”

Wei Li was at a loss for words.

Try what? There’s no way I can get this eagle to listen to me, he thought.

He still vividly remembered the chaos Tayun caused when it first arrived at the zoo. At that time, Tayun was irritable and aggressive, its calls piercing and shrill. After being injected with a wing-softening drug, its already unstable temperament worsened.

That beak could tear flesh with a single bite, and its wings were powerful enough to send anyone reeling with one flap.

Back then, Bi Ke Zoo had more staff, but every single keeper assigned to feed Tayun ended up hospitalized—without exception.

Tayun harbored a deep-seated grudge against humans. It seemed to know that humans had given it the injection, and it held an intense hatred for them because of it. Anyone who passed by would be kicked, and it especially enjoyed attacking people’s faces, often going for the eyes.

Looking back at Mu Ling, Wei Li suddenly understood why she had geared up like a robber. She was scared too, wasn’t she?

Indeed, Mu Ling was frightened, which was why there was no way she was taking off her helmet.

Mu Ling explained to Wei Li how she found and rescued Tayun. After hearing her story, Wei Li frowned. “I didn’t know the wing-softening drug could fail. Good thing you were there today, Director. If you hadn’t been, Tayun might have drowned.”

Mu Ling replied, “Brother Xiang said it’s because Tayun ate too many snake galls, effectively breaking the seal on its ability to fly.”

Wei Li thought for a moment, then nodded. “That’s possible. Tayun is very clever, and it’s always been frustrated about not being able to fly. I heard from the avian specialists that even after losing its ability to fly, Tayun still insisted on perching in high places. Can you imagine a massive eagle flapping like a chicken, struggling to climb a tree? It did that every day.”

Mu Ling was silent.

She looked at the eagle resting on the examination table and patted its feathers. “It’s rude to compare Tayun to a chicken.”

Wei Li shrugged. “Either way, it seems like Tayun desperately wanted to fly again. It probably discovered by accident that eating snake gall helped, so it ate a lot. But even now, its flight still isn’t stable.”

Mu Ling sighed, grabbing a dry towel to gently wipe the eagle’s feathers. She carefully worked through the damp feathers, drying them thoroughly. “Now that it’s in my care, nothing like this will happen again.”

Tayun behaved well during the drying process. Although it occasionally flapped its wings in frustration or took a few steps, it neither flew away nor attacked Mu Ling.

Seeing how docile it was, Mu Ling even considered taking off her helmet for a moment, but after a brief hesitation, she decided against it—she wasn’t brave enough to risk getting hit by Tayun.

Wei Li, standing by and watching the whole process, felt as if he were witnessing something out of a science fiction film. The memory of his former colleagues, all admitted to the hospital after trying to handle Tayun, flashed through his mind. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for them.

Ten minutes later, the eagle was mostly dry, and Mu Ling switched to using a hairdryer to ensure its feathers were completely dry.

Wei Li, assuming Tayun would react negatively to the hairdryer, was surprised when the eagle, if anything, seemed even more relaxed during the blow-drying. In fact, it nearly dozed off.

“Seriously?” Wei Li muttered under his breath.

Once finished, Mu Ling carried the eagle over to the examination room for some x-rays. The entire time, Tayun remained calm and cooperative.

Outside the examination room, Wei Li found himself entertaining an unlikely thought: Could Tayun have really become tame after a year of being in the zoo?

Mu Ling’s earlier words, suggesting that Wei Li could try calling the eagle himself, popped into his mind, and for the first time, he felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, Tayun would be just as calm with him.

A few minutes later, Mu Ling emerged from the examination room with the x-ray results. After studying them carefully, she turned to the eagle and said, “Congratulations, no major issues. But just to be safe, I’ll give you some medicine.”

Mu Ling mixed the medicine into a can of meat and placed it in front of the eagle.

Wei Li suddenly remembered hearing from the avian specialists that Tayun didn’t eat processed meat or bird feed. It only ate live prey, like wild rats.

He was about to warn Mu Ling, but before he could say anything, Tayun lowered its head and pecked at the can, quickly devouring a small piece of meat.

Wei Li was stunned.

Well, look at that. It’s gotten used to processed food. Maybe I really can call it over.

As soon as Tayun finished its meal, Wei Li couldn’t resist. “Director, um,” he began, stretching out his arm and waving it a bit in front of Mu Ling.

Mu Ling, sharp as ever, immediately understood. She laughed, “You want to try? Go ahead. Just call its name.”

Wei Li confidently raised his arm and called out, “Tayun, come here.”

The eagle continued preening its feathers, paying him no attention.

“Tayun, come here.”

The bird finished preening its left wing and moved on to the right.

“Tayun…”

“Tayun…”

After three minutes, Wei Li looked over at Mu Ling, feeling dejected.

Mu Ling, now a bit embarrassed, raised her arm and said, “Maybe it’s full and doesn’t feel like moving. Let me try.”

With a simple gesture, the eagle instantly spread its wings and flew to Mu Ling’s arm, landing gracefully. It hadn’t even needed her to call its name.

Both of them stood there in awkward silence.

Mu Ling, glancing carefully at Wei Li’s expression, offered a sheepish explanation, “Maybe it just doesn’t recognize you yet.”

But Wei Li, resigned to reality, sighed, “At least it didn’t peck at me. That’s something, I guess.”

You don’t need to be so self-deprecating…

Mu Ling thought for a moment, then said, “It might also be because I rescued it. After all, Tayun is quite old now. It’s probably able to recognize and appreciate the one who saved its life.”

Tayun was indeed quite old for an eagle, at eighteen years old.

In the wild, eagles typically live 50-70 years, making them remarkably long-lived creatures. As an eighteen-year-old S-class eagle, Tayun had already amassed significant life experience. It wouldn’t be as naive and mischievous as a typical animal; it would be more mature and understand reason better. So it was understandable that Tayun would show special consideration towards the one who had saved its life.

Wei Li shook his head, no longer wanting to dwell on the matter. He had simply been too hopeful. Looking at the zoo’s other rare animals like Qilin, Lightning, Qingjiao, and Pimi, he realized none of them would allow anyone but the director to approach them. Adding Tayun to that list was hardly surprising.

Mu Ling didn’t know how to comfort Wei Li, so she just said awkwardly, “Well, I’ll do a mental assessment on it first.”

Mu Ling’s ability to get Tayun to respond to her summons was an unexpected boon. If Tayun became controllable, she might no longer need to give it the wing-softening injections.

However, whether Tayun was truly controllable depended on the stability of its neural damage. The assessment was crucial – only after reviewing the results could Mu Ling discuss with Director Wang how best to handle Tayun moving forward.

During the mental assessment, Tayun remained highly cooperative. An hour later, the results were in, but as Mu Ling studied the data, her expression turned grave.

89.6

Tayun’s damage value had reached a staggering 89.6.

This was an extremely high number, on par with Moonlight’s 92.7. Moonlight had been in an utterly agonized and biased state, requiring powerful sedatives just to stabilize it.

But Tayun…