Chapter 61.1

Humans often imitated animal sounds in various situations.

For instance, when one had a pet that made a sound, one might instinctively respond, trying to bridge the connection between them.

Or at a zoo, when wild animals roared, one might roar back as a way of interacting with them.

While imitating animal sounds wasn’t inherently problematic, the issue lay in choosing the right context.

The Purple Lightning Baboon was neither a pet nor a caged beast.

This was the wild, a high-risk environment surrounded by armed police. This highly intelligent and aggressive beast had just killed someone and was already in a state of tension and stress.

In such circumstances, mimicking animal calls could provoke it, making it interpret actions as a challenge.

While online viewers were merely entertained and Wei Li felt embarrassed, only the police truly understood the danger.

The captain was sweating profusely, his eyes fixed on the human and baboon before him, fearing that any slight distraction could send the baboon into a frenzy.

“Wo-wa wo-wa”

The baboon’s calls grew increasingly shrill, yet no familiar Scarlet Flame Monkey appeared in response.

Why hadn’t it appeared despite hearing the calls?

It had to be fake… A trick…

The Purple Lightning Baboon suddenly realized it had been tricked. It grabbed the policeman’s neck, climbed onto his shoulders, and roared angrily toward Mu Ling: “Ao-zhi, ao-zhi!”

The already panicked captain quickly asked, “What’s wrong with it? Did you frighten it?”

Other officers excitedly spoke through their radios: “Captain! This position is perfect – we can shoot its limbs from here!”

The captain ignored them and focused on Mu Ling. “Director Mu, can you handle this?”

Mu Ling took a deep breath, striving to maintain her composure.

Having recently immersed herself in animal behavior studies, she could clearly see that the baboon’s calls now carried hostility.

But everything had been fine just moments ago – why had it suddenly turned aggressive?

Had it detected her deception?

Could it really have been that perceptive?

Had it been to university or something?

After some thought, Mu Ling decided to try another approach. She reached into her backpack and pulled out some freeze-dried snacks meant for Lingren.

While continuing to make “wo-wo” sounds, she gently tossed the treats over.

Seeing something thrown its way, the baboon immediately retreated behind the policeman, then cautiously eyed the treats on the ground.

The treats lay motionless – clearly not weapons – and emitted a sweet aroma.

But it wasn’t hungry; food wouldn’t capture its attention. Once again, it glared fiercely at the human across from it.

Mu Ling was truly at a loss.

Commands didn’t work. Calls didn’t work. Food didn’t work.

The difficulty in calming this baboon far exceeded her expectations.

Was this really a Purple Lightning Baboon? Its intelligence seemed almost human-like.

Wait a minute—high intelligence!

Mu Ling began carefully observing the baboon’s behavior and noticed it kept staring at the greenery behind them.

She asked the captain, “Is it trying to escape through the back?”

The captain had already noticed this. “Probably, but we won’t let it escape. If it breaks through our cordon, there are civilians outside. Any injuries to bystanders would cause chaos.”

Mu Ling pondered for a moment, glanced at the overturned truck nearby, then said, “I have a bold idea.”

The captain looked at her in surprise.

One minute later, Mu Ling slowly began backing away.

The Purple Lightning Baboon, seeing the fake monkey gradually leave its sight, tilted its head in confusion, watching vigilantly.

After just two seconds—

“Wo!” A strange call caught its attention.

Confused, the baboon turned to find another human imitating the Scarlet Flame Monkey’s call, though it sounded more like a chicken clucking.

The baboon tilted its head at this human.

The captain, red-faced, steeled himself and called out another “Wo-wo!”

The baboon stared blankly.

The hostage policeman was speechless.

Other officers were dumbfounded.

“C-Captain!” other officers stammered in panic. “What are you doing?”

The captain’s ears and neck turned crimson as he snapped, “Don’t listen! Don’t ask!”

Across various livestreams, hosts and viewers were left bewildered.

Wait, how did this become a chain reaction?

Wei Li tugged at Brother Xiang’s arm in despair. “Brother Xiang! The director’s starting to recruit followers—has she brainwashed the police?”

Xiang Bie, “…”

He coldly pulled his arm away and said feeling a headache, “Just shut up.”

Mu Ling had the captain temporarily distract the baboon while she retreated beyond the police line toward several stranded motorists.

Meanwhile, the Purple Lightning Baboon was utterly confused by these humans. It quietly rested its chin on the hostage’s head, its long arms wrapped around his neck, legs crossed around his waist, just holding on while blinking curiously.

The hostage was speechless.

For some reason, he suddenly felt somewhat happy.

The captain continued calling out, internally praying for Director Mu’s quick return.

Finally, after a minute passed, car horns sounded from behind.

The surrounding officers turned to see seven or eight cars at the police line with their lights on, seemingly trying to enter.

“What’s going on? Wasn’t this area sealed off?”

The captain then announced over all frequencies: “Let them through. Allow the vehicles through.”

“Captain?” Other officers didn’t understand. “Why let them through?”

The captain said firmly, “You’ll understand soon.”

Hearing their captain’s order, the security personnel naturally complied.

Instantly, vehicles entered, disrupting the police formation as several cars drove through.

They complained over their radios: “Captain!”

“Captain, what are you—”

Before they could finish, someone suddenly shouted: “It’s running! The baboon’s running!”

Everyone looked over.

Taking advantage of the chaos, the Purple Lightning Baboon had swiftly jumped off its hostage’s back, darted into the bushes, and was running along the greenery!

“Everyone in the cars!” the captain immediately commanded.

The officers then realized that the incoming cars belonged to civilians who had been blocked outside, and upon stopping, these motorists had voluntarily given up their vehicles to the police.

Though confused, they quickly got into the cars.

The captain ordered again: “Pursue at steady speed, don’t get too close to the baboon, await my orders.”

Of the eight cars, seven now carried police officers, while one hadn’t stopped since entering.

Mu Ling drove that car, parallel to the Purple Lightning Baboon along the greenery.

The baboon naturally noticed Mu Ling’s car and attempted to veer away, but Mu Ling stepped on the gas, driving ahead of it instead.

The baboon initially thought the car was trying to capture it but relaxed when it wasn’t.

However, before that relief could settle, it noticed more cars pursuing from behind, with humans pointing guns from the windows—these were the ones trying to catch it!

Survival instinct made the Purple Lightning Baboon decide quickly.

Its leg was injured; it knew it couldn’t outrun the cars behind. It immediately accelerated, caught up with the car in front, and leaped onto its roof.

Mu Ling felt the baboon land on her car roof, glanced upward, then maintained her speed.

But then gunfire erupted from behind!

The “bang bang” of gunshots made the Purple Lightning Baboon fearfully look back, bearing its teeth and roaring at the pursuers, only to be met with more gunfire.

After looking around frantically and finding nowhere to hide, it hung upside down and crawled through the open back window into the car cabin.

Just as it entered, before it could react, something sharp pricked its arm.

It immediately turned to look, but consciousness rapidly faded. Before passing out, it only managed to see a blurry human figure and a white collar.

“Screech.” Mu Ling stopped the car in the middle of the road.

Soon, the pursuing cars caught up and surrounded her, with numerous officers getting out and approaching with raised guns.

Mu Ling stuck her head out and told them, “It’s been sedated.”

The captain led his men to check the back seat, indeed finding the unconscious baboon.

Mu Ling exited her vehicle and retrieved her backpack from the passenger seat, hanging the white fox back around her neck.

The captain then ordered others to carry out the baboon, while he picked up a white collar from the back seat and handed it to Mu Ling.

Mu Ling accepted the collar, said thanks, then kissed her curious white fox who was peering at the baboon, saying, “Sister used your sedative collar on another animal, so sister will buy you a new one later, okay?”

The white fox, not understanding, just affectionately nuzzled Mu Ling’s chin with its nose.

The captain watched the woman’s intimate interaction with the fox, recalling her words from minutes ago:

“I have a bold idea…”

When she had explained her plan, the captain had immediately refused: “Indeed very bold. Do you realize how risky this is? What if it gets scared by the car noise? What if it directly attacks someone? What if—”

“It won’t hurt anyone, officer. Can’t you see? If it wanted to hurt people, it wouldn’t have held back all this time. It just wants to escape.”

“Won’t hurt people? Look carefully at our officer’s clothes, see what state they’re in? The chest area, the arm area—it was going for their hearts, and you say it won’t hurt people?”

“That was because it felt unsafe then. It wasn’t sure if the hostage would attack first when it approached, so it had to strike first. You’re all carrying guns—it’s afraid of you. But after confirming the hostage wouldn’t harm it, it didn’t hurt him. Officer, it’s a war beast, it’s professionally trained. It won’t harm people without reason unless someone hurts it first.”

Their discussion had reached a stalemate.

Then Director Mu had spoken again: “I know this is risky, but please trust me. I have sedatives here, and my white fox wears a sedative collar that can knock out an extraordinary being in less than half a second. If I can just get close to it…”

“But you can’t get close to it. Even if I agreed to your plan and it really ran into the bushes, how could you guarantee it would jump onto your car voluntarily and let you complete the plan? What if it got away? We finally have it under control—what if it hurt civilians?”

“Then you can shoot. If several cars drive over and it gets scared and hurts your colleagues, shoot immediately. If it doesn’t get in my car and runs toward crowded areas, shoot immediately. Would that work?”

The captain had been exasperated: “Couldn’t we just wait? Wait for the zoo staff to arrive with tranquilizer guns?”

“Officer, do you think it will let us keep stalling? Its back leg is bleeding, it’s anxious now. If we insist on not letting it go, we’re forcing it to become agitated, forcing it to go berserk.”

Perhaps he had been bewitched, or maybe he’d seen enough videos of Director Mu handling war beasts successfully.

Finally, he had actually agreed to her absurd plan.

But it wasn’t until he saw the Purple Lightning Baboon actually escape in the chaos, actively jump onto her car roof, and hide in the car cabin from their deliberately created gunfire before being sedated, that he realized this Director Mu truly understood animal psychology to an extreme degree.

“One question.” As other officers transferred the Purple Lightning Baboon to a larger police vehicle, the captain stood before Mu Ling and asked seriously: “How were you so certain it would jump onto your car?”

“Because it is very intelligent,” Mu Ling smiled. “So this was a trap specifically designed for smart animals. Less intelligent ones might not have fallen for it.”

The captain pondered thoughtfully, then said, “We’ll need you to come with us, and as for these cars, we’ll return them.”

There had been only two police cars. Mu Ling had needed many cars to divert the baboon’s attention, so she had borrowed them from the stranded car owners using her reputation. Having nothing else to offer in thanks, she had promised each of them ten tickets to Bi Ke Zoo, valid anytime with no expiration date.

Mu Ling went to the police station in a police car.

An hour later, after finishing her statement and leaving the police office, she saw Director Tian already waiting for her outside.