Chapter 50.2

 

 

The stuffed dog wasn’t exactly “small.” Given the massive size of the war beasts, their toys naturally needed to have substantial heft. This particular plushie was about half the size of a white fox.

 

After entering with it, Mu Ling crouched at the front right side of the cage, using the toy to attract the white fox’s attention. “Lingren, Lingren, look here. Look at big sister.”

 

The white fox trembled, glancing warily at Mu Ling before shifting its gaze to the plush toy in her hands.

 

Xiang Bie stood vigilant at the door, ready to shoot at any moment.

 

After checking his position, Mu Ling coaxed softly again, “Lingren, it’s a puppy. Do you like puppies?”

 

The white fox’s delicate body suddenly stretched forward. It fell silent, its nose twitching as though searching for a familiar scent in the air.

 

Seeing no signs of distress, Mu Ling pushed the toy through the cage bars and wiggled it gently by its hindquarters. “Come on, Lingren. Come.”

 

The exquisite fox, with its ice-purple beast eyes, stared fixedly at the plush toy. After a long moment, it took one cautious step forward.

 

“Oh?”

 

Mu Ling froze—could the white fox actually be interested in the toy?

 

She quickly signaled to Xiang Bie to hold his fire. Sedating wasn’t the goal; she wanted to better understand the fox’s behavioral state.

 

Xiang Bie had been ready to pull the trigger but frowned and ultimately held back.

 

The fox took another slow, wary step forward. Mu Ling continued to wiggle the plushie encouragingly.

 

“Lingren, come here.”

 

“Yip.” The fox suddenly let out a soft, coquettish whimper.

 

Mu Ling’s pupils dilated in shock. She glanced at Xiang Bie, equally stunned.

 

“Yip, yip.” The fox called out twice more. Its voice, which had been so harsh when howling and resisting fiercely, now turned unexpectedly gentle and pleading.

 

Mu Ling was completely thrown by the white fox’s drastically contrasting behavior. She couldn’t make sense of it.

 

Why such a sudden change?

 

“Yip.” The fox whimpered once more, crawling forward several steps before stopping about three paces from the plush toy.

 

Then it suddenly lay down, rolling onto its back in a pitiful pose. Its violet eyes brimmed with tears as it stared at the toy. Inching closer, it nudged the plush with its head.

 

The distance was too close. Having been attacked by Lingren before, Mu Ling instinctively pulled back.

 

But as she retreated, the fox grew even more despondent. It pressed harder against the toy, burying its head into the plush’s neck.

 

The scent was different..

 

The white fox suddenly realized something was off about the scent.

 

Its beast eyes widened in alarm as it staggered backward, retreating to the corner. A guttural, heart-wrenching screech escaped its throat…

 

The white bear in the same enclosure bared its teeth, almost ready to lash out, but held back upon seeing Mu Ling.

 

Mu Ling left the plush toy in the cage and motioned for Xiang Bie to leave. Once outside, she continued observing through the surveillance monitors.

 

The stuffed dog seemed to hold an irresistible allure for the white fox. After the humans left, it finally couldn’t resist, cautiously approaching to sniff the toy again.

 

After a while, it turned away disappointed, but stopped halfway back to its corner.

 

Finally, it picked up the plushie in its mouth, carried it to the corner, and began to lick it tenderly.

 

As it licked, soft whimpers escaped its throat. It still tried to cuddle with the plushie, even knowing this wasn’t the one it once knew.

 

“Xiang Bie, can we contact the Federation War Beast Center now? Someone might still be on duty. I need to understand what’s wrong with Lingren—there’s too little information, and only the Center would know about Lingren’s case.” Mu Ling’s voice carried genuine concern.

 

Xiang Bie studied her face for a moment, then pressed his lips together and nodded. “Alright.”

 

He stepped out of the veterinary station, dialing on his light brain.

 

Ten minutes later, he returned, his expression dark. “Lingren and its owner once served on Xuangu Star. A year ago, the planet suffered a devastating rebel attack. The rebels inflicted massive casualties by exploiting a traitor within the local garrison. The traitor, a high-ranking officer, stole military defense plans, allowing the rebels to destroy three heavily fortified areas. They also unleashed numerous mutated beasts, resulting in civilian carnage.”

 

Mu Ling’s face turned pale. She vaguely remembered seeing this on the news a year ago.

 

Xiang Bie continued, “The traitor was a dormmate of Lingren’s owner. They’d been close since military school, and even their war beasts were childhood companions. The traitor’s beast was an S-class mastiff named Loyalty.”

 

Mu Ling watched the monitor with clenched fists as the white fox continued to nuzzle the plush toy with longing.

 

“On the night of the attack,” Xiang Bie went on, “Lingren’s owner discovered the traitor’s suspicious behavior. During their confrontation, the rebels struck, releasing over a dozen mutated beasts into military headquarters. Lingren’s owner was the first casualty, bitten by a mutant beast. When Lingren rushed out to save its master, it nearly had its throat torn out by another beast. The traitor tried to flee with his war beast, but Loyalty couldn’t understand its master’s betrayal. It saved Lingren, and together they killed two mutated beasts.”

 

“But in the end, Loyalty was dragged away by its master. Lingren was severely injured, and its owner, who was rushed to the hospital, remains unconscious to this day. Lingren, suffering from neural trauma, faced retirement.”

 

Seeing Mu Ling’s ashen expression, Xiang Bie paused before continuing:

 

“When Lingren first arrived at the park, its mental damage value was 54. Over these ten months, that number has likely climbed to seventy or eighty. As the damage increases, its mental state becomes increasingly fragile. Earlier, it couldn’t even distinguish between the plushie and a real dog, still trying to act affectionate with it. This suggests severe cognitive confusion and loss of basic reasoning.”

 

Mu Ling squeezed her eyes shut, her throat dry. “Now I understand. The severe wear on its paws is recent—only from the last two weeks. That’s when it must have left its habitat for the outer areas. It lost its sense of time and reality, but suddenly realized it was alone. It’s searching—desperately searching for its owner and its friend. It’s been running itself ragged, covered in injuries from stumbling around, but it just keeps searching…”

 

Her voice caught. “It fears humans because humans betrayed it, betrayed its master, took away its friend. That betrayal destroyed everything.”

 

Noticing Mu Ling’s reddened eyes, Xiang Bie frowned and reached for the tissue box.

 

But Mu Ling wiped her eyes with her sleeve, took a deep breath, and said firmly, “Now that it has the toy for company, it should be more stable. I’m staying tonight. I’ll sleep in the ward next to Moonlight. When Lingren’s emotional state improves tomorrow, we can slowly work on building trust and getting it to take its medicine.”

 

She walked determinedly toward the ward area, leaving Xiang Bie standing with the tissue box.

 

Buzz buzz buzz..

 

His light brain buzzed repeatedly.

 

Looking at the screen, he saw two missed calls along with several messages received:

 

「Brother Xiang! I sent you surveillance footage of when Lingren’s owner argued with that traitor in the corridor.」

 

「Please check your messages.」

 

「Why aren’t you responding? Are you still there? By the way, where are you now? Can I reach you through this number in the future?」

 

「Why are you suddenly asking about Xuangu Star In the middle of the night? I thought it was a scam call!」

 

「Brother Xiang, hello!」

 

「You haven’t disappeared again, have you? You and Old Wei, it’s like you both vanished from the world these past three years!」

 

「What really happened back then? What’s hidden in Yuanhai Star?」

 

「If you don’t reply, I’m telling the president you called me in the middle of the night!」

 

「Wuwuwu, Just kidding! I won’t tell anyone! Brother Xiang, please just say something.. let’s talk about this properly!」

 

Messages continued pouring in after this point.

 

How could anyone be on duty at the War Beast Center at midnight? But Mu Ling had needed answers…

 

He didn’t want to contact people from his past, but this person, though gossipy, knew a little about everything. The inquiry would get results, and Mu Ling wanted answers!

 

Forget it!

 

Setting aside the tissue box, he sent one final message: 「Can’t reach me anymore, this is a borrowed light brain.」

 

He blocked the contact, removed the device’s chip, and tossed it in the trash, planning to buy a new one tomorrow.

 

Returning to the monitors, he saw Mu Ling had indeed settled next to Moonlight’s cage—human and bear pressed close together, separated only by steel bars.

 

Her hand reached through to stroke the bear’s paw while her eyes watched the white fox across the way.

 

The fox clutched the plush toy tightly. As gentle story-reading played from the small speaker, the snow-white creature finally calmed, slowly closing its eyes.

 

Watching this scene, Xiang Bie gathered his pillow and blanket from the sofa bed and quietly brought them to Mu Ling.