Chapter 22

"Ah? No more sightseeing? Everyone go down the mountain? Now?"

On the main mountain path, the tourists immediately became noisy when they heard Xiang Bie announce the cancellation of the tour. Professor Zhou, the person in charge, stepped out to communicate: "Excuse me, where is Director Mu? We want to speak with her."

"She's busy." Xiang Bie said briefly. Seeing Wei Li coming over, he pulled Wei Li aside to talk.

Wei Li's face changed when Xiang Bie told him that another strange beast had entered the jungle and had been encountered by the headmaster. Then, when Xiang Bie said he was going to rush over, he said hurriedly, "Okay, Brother Xiang, you go quickly. Leave this to me. I'll take care of it."

After Xiang Bie left with the medicine box, Wei Li went to comfort the tourists. They all asked what had happened, but Wei Li couldn't tell the truth, as that would scare them to death. He could only vaguely say, "The mountain road ahead has slipped, and the car can't go in."

The tourists didn't know whether this was true or not. Anyway, they were all very unhappy and got on the bus while complaining.

-

Xiang Bie didn't see Mu Ling until twenty minutes later.

At this time, Mu Ling was sitting on the grass by the stream, holding a tranquilizer gun in her hand and a wounded brown deer in her arms. The deer's head was resting on her knees, and she gently stroked the deer's head, as if to comfort it.

Not far from her, two hyenas, whose lives were unknown, were lying on the ground, covered in blood and motionless.

Xiang Bie walked forward with a frown. Mu Ling turned around when she heard the footsteps. Seeing that it was Xiang Bie, she breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said, "Brother Xiang, give me the medicine box quickly!"

Xiang Bie quickly walked over, placed the medicine box next to her, and asked in a deep voice, "What's the situation now?"

As he asked this, his eyes were looking at the jungle on the other side of the stream. In the woods, a black cheetah was showing a pair of green eyes, staring at them coldly. At the same time, at the bottom of the stream, the iron crocodile with half of its eyes open was also peeping secretly.

Mu Ling opened the medicine box and, while removing the syringe and injecting medicine into it, said, "Two hyenas, one dead and one unconscious. The dead one was bitten to death by Lightning, and the unconscious one was shot by me. Now Lightning and the guards refuse to leave, probably because one of the hyenas is still alive. But I'm guarding here, so they don't dare to come over, so they're stuck."

After Mu Ling finished speaking, she filled the syringe with medicine, pushed out the air, and then pushed the needle into the brown deer's blood vessel.

The brown deer felt pain and wanted to struggle, but Mu Ling quickly held it down, rubbed its fur, and coaxed it gently, "Don't hurt, don't hurt, our little deer is the bravest."

The injection was completed quickly. After removing the needle, Mu Ling waited for a while until the medicine took effect before starting to clean the wound on the brown deer.

Xiang Bie watched Mu Ling's quick and efficient movements throughout the whole process, and he couldn't tell what her mood was at the moment. If you say she was almost mad, she still had the patience to coax the brown deer. If you say she accepted the reality, her expression was chillingly cold. Even in the intervals of disinfecting the brown deer, she would glance at the two hyenas from time to time with a murderous look, and it was obvious that she had not swallowed her anger at all.

Xiang Bie went to check on the two hyenas again, and then said, "Just take the dead one away and burn it. I'll send a communication to report the living one and ask the military if they want it. If they do, let them take it away and use it as an experimental sample."

Mu Ling continued to clean the wound on the brown deer without saying a word.

Xiang Bie looked back at her, hesitated, and said, "If the military takes it back, they will give you a bonus, about 500 interstellar coins."

Mu Ling paused, looking unhappy, and glanced at Xiang Bie.

Xiang Bie racked his brains and said, "If we have a meeting, the bonus might be 600. Let's see if we can get a banner to hang at the ticket office."

Mu Ling's expression remained cold as ever. She snorted twice, "Do you still have money?"

Xiang Bie nodded: "There are living ones."

Then he praised: "You did a good job in not letting the lightning bite it to death."

Mu Ling's back straightened a little, and it was hard to tell if she was feeling any better. She simply asked, "But if the news of our zoo having an exotic beast gets out, won't it affect our business in the future? Tourists won't dare come, and we're hanging a banner at the ticket office. Isn't that just giving ourselves away?"

Xiang Bie: "First, the banner proves that we have the ability to independently handle strange beasts. Second, strange beasts appear because the protective net is not yet complete. Once it is completed, the protective net company will issue a safety certificate. Once the certificate meets the standards, it is equivalent to official endorsement, proving that strange beasts will not appear here in the future. So, there is no need to worry about losing business in the future."

Mu Ling was most afraid of having no business in the future. After hearing what Xiang Bie said, her mood finally improved a little. She said, "Then I'll go and negotiate for the 600 bonus. I'll see if I can get it..."

Xiang Bie said: "Of course you can, you are very eloquent."

Mu Ling was praised twice in a row, and she couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth. She lowered her head and continued to clean the wound of the brown deer. Her movements seemed to be no different from before, but Xiang Bie had sharp ears and heard that she had started humming a song.

This is finally done...

Xiang Bie also breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiang Bie dragged the two hyenas in a little further, tied them together with vines, and then opened the bottom compartment of the medicine box. He took out two effervescent tablets from it, broke them into pieces and threw them into the stream to disinfect the water contaminated by the hyena's blood.

As for whether this disinfection is too simple, and whether other places in the park have been infected by hyenas, this is not a big deal. The virus will naturally dissipate with the air without a living parasite. Judging from the current level of infection of these two hyenas, they are only primary infected bodies and are not yet contagious.

When Xiang Bie was doing these movements, the "guard" at the bottom of the stream and the "lightning" deep in the woods were always staring at him, without relaxing for a moment.

After a while, Mu Ling bandaged the brown deer's wound. She helped the brown deer to stand up. The brown deer was a little unsteady and kept calling with its mouth open, as if it was in great pain.

"It will be a little painful if you walk. It will be better if you walk slowly. There is analgesic in the medicine." Mu Ling rubbed its ears and said, "You and your sister should go down the mountain. Your injury will heal faster if you stay in the ward."

"Yo——" the brown deer cried again, sounding particularly aggrieved. It seemed to have recognized Mu Ling, and directly nudged its head into Mu Ling's arms.

Mu Ling had no choice but to hold its head again, then looked at Xiang Bie and asked, "Brother Xiang, do we really not have to worry about Lightning and the Guards anymore?"

"Don't worry if you're not injured."

Mu Ling remembered that they were not injured, so she said, "Okay."

Soon, Xiang Bie carried the two hyenas, Mu Ling grabbed the brown deer's neck hair in one hand and held the medicine box in the other, and the two people and the deer walked towards the monkey forest.

In the stream, the crocodile finally poked out its dark head, and in the woods, the black panther leaped across the stream, followed the two men and the deer, and actually walked into the monkey forest.

-

At the same time, on the other side, Wei Li brought five cars and just returned to the service area at the foot of the mountain. He saw a familiar protective net master talking to their temporary employees not far away.

Seeing their car coming in, the protective net master hurried forward and shouted anxiously: "Xiao Wei, why don't you answer the intercom!"

Wei Li was stunned for a moment. He stopped the car, jumped out, and took out the walkie-talkie from his pocket while saying, "My walkie-talkie didn't ring... Oops, I tuned to another channel and forgot to change back. Master Li, what's wrong?"

Master Li glanced at the tourists behind him with a hesitant expression.

Wei Li understood and walked to the side with Master Li. Master Li then lowered his voice and said, "Animals from the deep forest have entered the park. We discovered them at noon. Judging from the footprints and feces, they probably came in last night. I don't know how many there are, but it must be at least one."

Wei Li's face darkened slightly, and he remained silent.

Master Li looked at his expression and asked in surprise, "You already know?"

Wei Li nodded and lowered his voice: "It's a strange beast. Our people are already dealing with it."

Master Li's face changed drastically. "Is it really a strange beast? Xiao Wei, this is no small matter. A mutant python entered your place a few days ago, and now another strange beast has come in. Is the mutation rate of animals in this deep forest so high? Will this cause any trouble?"

Wei Li said, "I'll discuss this with Brother Xiang and the headmaster. Master Li, please tell the other masters to be careful. If it's not possible, please stay in the car and suspend work. We'll notify you when we have feedback."

There is no signal in the mountains, so we can only communicate using walkie-talkies when going up or down the mountain.

Master Li looked very bad, but he could only nod and went to the back with the walkie-talkie to contact his colleagues.

Wei Li turned around and looked at the tourists behind him. They were still talking, and it was obvious that they were disappointed because their tour was temporarily stopped.

Wei Li had no choice but to use the walkie-talkie to contact Brother Xiang and the others. No one answered Brother Xiang's intercom, so Wei Li contacted the head teacher.

Mu Ling's expression turned grim after hearing Wei Li's words. She said helplessly, "It's right to ask the masters to stop working first. As for the tourists, I'll have to trouble Qilin to open the restaurant for a while to see if that can calm them down. As for the ticket fees this time, we will refund them in full. It's our responsibility that they didn't have a good viewing experience."

Wei Li: “…”

Wei Li was holding the intercom, feeling a bit dazed...

What? The stingy director actually wants to refund all the tickets? Is she, is she... is she crazy?

Mu Ling was indeed going crazy. She lowered her head and looked at the two hyenas in Xiang Bie's hands, her teeth chattering.

Category: "..."

Xiang Bie switched his hand to hold the hyena and said to Mu Ling, "Calm down. We have nothing to pack them in here, and one of them needs money."

Mu Ling snorted heavily and turned her head away!

The two men quickly returned to where the shuttle bus was parked. Xiang Bie put the two hyenas down and was about to turn back to pick up the brown deer. The door was small and the brown deer refused to get on the bus, so they had to force it in.

As a result, as soon as he turned around, he saw Mu Ling casually getting into the car from the back door, and behind her, Brown Deer actually lowered his head and obediently followed her into the car.

Category: "..."

Mu Ling found a place to sit down, and the brown deer consciously walked to her side, bent its legs in the aisle, and sat down next to her. After sitting down, the brown deer naturally rested its head on Mu Ling's knees, just like before by the stream. Mu Ling didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it, and she even touched the brown deer's head.

Xiang Bie just watched quietly the whole process. After a while, he got in the car and started the engine.

As the car drove down the mountain, Xiang Bie asked casually, "You've been going up the mountain these past few days. Have you become familiar with the animals out there?"

Mu Ling thought Xiang Bie was referring to the golden rabbits from before, and responded, "Yes, I brought food to them. After feeding them twice, they became accustomed to it. They will chase me when they see me."

"Monkey Forest too?"

Mu Ling smiled and said, "Monkeys are simpler. There's nothing a banana can't solve. If that doesn't work, just add another banana!"

Xiang Bie then said, "The first time Wei Li went to the monkey forest to feed the monkeys, he was thrown feces."

Mu Ling: “…”

Mu Ling thought she didn't hear clearly, she said in confusion: "Throw what?"

Xiang Bie looked at her through the rearview mirror: "Monkeys express their dissatisfaction by throwing feces at each other."

Mu Ling was shocked: "Brother Wei...what's wrong with you? Why are you so unwelcome to the monkey?"

Xiang Bie said: "The first time Wei Li fed a golden rabbit, he was also bitten."

It is not an empty saying that a rabbit will bite when it is cornered.

Mu Ling was numb: "Why is Brother Wei so unlucky?"

Xiang Bie didn't say anything, he himself was in the same boat. When they first came into contact with wild animals, they had all been bullied by some animals to varying degrees. Only Mu Ling...

Mu Ling thought that animals could become familiar with each other after feeding them twice. This idea was very far-fetched. Animals were not so easy to get close to. Except for those that had been domesticated, such as dogs and cats, most other wild animals still had strong racial characteristics and would be very repulsive to other races.

But this kind of rejection seemed to be ineffective on Mu Ling.

There's something really wrong with her.

Xiang Bie didn't say anything else on the way back. When they arrived at the service area, they could see from afar that the tourists were still there.

Seeing them return, many tourists came to greet them. Mu Ling felt a little embarrassed and got off the car to apologize to everyone first: "I'm really sorry, something happened on our mountain, so today's tour has to be suspended. We will refund all the ticket fees. Professor Zhou, I will transfer the money to your account in a moment..."

Professor Zhou was stunned at first, then quickly waved his hand: "No need to refund the money, we still had a lot of fun today. Although the ending was a bit unsatisfactory, but we..."

Before Professor Zhou finished speaking, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something inside the shuttle bus.

He looked closely and found that it was a brown deer!

The brown deer was a little scared when it saw that there were people outside, so it hid in the car and dared not move.

"Hey, is that a deer?"

"Look at your butt, does it look injured?"

"Did something happen? Did Director Mu just go to rescue the deer?"

Mu Ling felt a little embarrassed and apologized, "I did leave because of the deer. Anyway, all the responsibility lies with us. I'm sorry for giving everyone such a bad experience, but I promise that after the official opening, this kind of thing will never happen again!"

The tourists hurriedly said that it was okay, saving the animals was the most important thing. They were all engaged in research on war animals, so naturally they had stronger feelings for animals than ordinary people.

They were quite unhappy before, but now that they heard that Director Mu was trying to save the deer, they suddenly understood. Someone asked, "Director Mu, was the deer bitten by another animal?"

Mu Ling froze for a moment, then nodded: "Yes."

"Is it a beast?"

Hyenas are indeed ferocious beasts. Mu Ling nodded again: "Yes!"

"Is it okay now?"

Mu Ling said, "Bandage it first and bring it back to the hospital. It should be almost healed in about a week. The injury isn't too serious."

"Oh, oh, oh. Then, Director Mu, you can go ahead and do your work. We can talk later if you have anything else to say."

Mu Ling hurriedly apologized to everyone, then led the brown deer out of the car.

Mu Ling led the brown deer towards the veterinary station. After taking just two steps, she suddenly stopped, her expression changed drastically as she looked towards the forest ahead, blurting out, "Why are you here?"

Mu Ling's words came out of nowhere. Xiang Bie paused and looked at her.

The tourists behind also looked over.

And in full view of more than a hundred people, in the forest that Mu Ling was staring at, a pair of green, cold animal eyes were hidden in the darkness, flickering slightly.

"What is that?"

"A beast?"

"What kind of beast is this? I can't see clearly..."

Mu Ling was sweating profusely when she heard the discussions behind her. Others couldn't recognize him just by looking at his eyes, but she recognized him very clearly. She and this guy stared at each other across the stream for more than half an hour!

Mu Ling was speechless. Did Lightning follow them down here? Why? Just for that still-living hyena?

No, do you have to bite the hyena to death?

She had lost everything from tickets, car rentals, and small gifts, and she only wanted to earn a 600 yuan bonus! Is that not acceptable?

Mu Ling was really about to lose her temper. She said in despair, "Ancestor, stop biting the dog. Just bite me to death!"

In the forest, a black cheetah hiding behind a big rock quietly watched the crowd below. It saw the human standing in the front and also saw the brown deer snuggling beside the human.

It lowered its body further and further, its green eyes half hidden behind the mountain.

Wei Li also came out of the office building at this time. He had just called the military. When they heard that they had a living strange beast, they said they would come over immediately.

Wei Li saw this scene as soon as he came out. He was a little confused and walked over to ask Xiang Bie: "Brother Xiang?"

Xiang Bie said: "Take the hyena into the garage and away from people."

Wei Li nodded. He glanced at the two hyenas stuffed under the car seat, got into the driver's seat, and drove directly into the garage.

Xiang Bie walked over to Mu Ling and said soothingly, "Take the brown deer in, I'll deal with Lightning."

Mu Ling was a little dejected: "I'd better go. It didn't bite me just now, and it won't bite me now."

Xiang Bie frowned, subconsciously wanting to say it was too dangerous, but when he thought of how Mu Ling interacted with animals, he fell silent again...

Mu Ling didn't think too much about it. She led the brown deer into the ward first, locked the brown deer in a cage far away from Qilin, then grabbed the protective suit on the hanger, took two cans of Qilin's snacks, and walked out.

Mu Ling put on her clothes and walked up the mountain. The tourists behind her saw her and said, "Hey, Director Mu is going over there."

"Did you see what that animal was? It's too far away for the testing glasses to detect it."

Amidst the discussions among the crowd, Mu Ling's figure gradually disappeared into the forest. Xiang Bie watched her back gradually disappear, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

At the same time, the distance between Mu Ling and the lightning became shorter and shorter, until Mu Ling stopped on the hillside ten meters away from the lightning.

Mu Ling stood in front of the stone, and the black cheetah stood behind the stone. Its posture was as if it could attack at any time, with its upper body lowered and its sharp claws flashing with black light.

Even its nails are black...

"Brother, there's no need, there's really no need. We'll take care of the hyena. Don't bother with me. You came down the mountain so suddenly, and there are so many of us here. If I scare you and you bite me again, I'll really go bankrupt, you know?"

Mu Ling was practically begging Black Panther. She pulled a can from her pocket, opened it with a rip, and poured all the meat sauce inside onto the stone: "Eat it, and then go back. This old slave, I beg you."

The black panther looked at the meat paste, then looked at the human in front of him, without relaxing at all.

Mu Ling opened another can. "This is canned vegetables. It has bitter melon in it. It's supposed to clear away heat and reduce internal heat. I see you're quite irritated and have such a strong temper. Eat some to calm down."

After pouring the canned vegetables onto the stone, Mu Ling took the two empty cans and stepped back more than ten steps before stopping.

The black panther showed half of its eye and kept staring at her. Mu Ling didn't know what it was going to do, so she could only stay with it in this stalemate.

After a while, the black panther suddenly moved. It approached the meat paste, sniffed it with its nose twitching, and then licked a little tentatively.

Seeing that it had finally eaten, Mu Ling breathed a sigh of relief: "Eat it, it's delicious. It's the best of Qilin. Qilin people say it's good after eating it."

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

Mu Ling also smiled now. She waved her hand and said, "Okay, we're done eating. Let's go back. Let's go back quickly."

Having said that, Mu Ling turned and walked down the mountain.

After walking a few steps, she looked back and saw that the black panther had walked out of the big rock that served as a cover. It stood in front of the rock, looking at Mu Ling.

Mu Ling waved her hand again: "Let's go, go back, there's nothing to worry about. We will take care of the hyenas, and we can buy you a box of canned food with the prize money."

Having said that, Mu Ling walked down the mountain again.

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

Mu Ling was stunned. "Why are you following me? Are you hungry? No, brother, we have food at the distribution points on the mountain. Just go around, there's food everywhere."

After Mu Ling finished speaking, she saw that the black panther did not move, so she continued to walk down the mountain. After she had walked another ten meters, she looked back and saw that the black panther was right behind her, only two or three steps away from her!

"You scared me!" Mu Ling patted his chest, took a half step back, and stared at the black panther with wide eyes.

And Black Panther was also looking up at her.

After the man and the beast stared at each other for a while, Mu Ling thought for a moment and asked, "You want to eat canned food? Fine, come with me, but you can't bite anyone randomly. Are you obedient?"

The black panther didn't move, and there was a dangerous light in its green eyes.

Mu Ling pointed to her right: "Stand over here."

Black Panther was silent.

Mu Ling waved: "Come, sit here."

The black panther seemed to understand the waving gesture. It hesitated for a moment, but finally walked over slowly and sat on Mu Ling's right.

Mu Ling's eyes suddenly lit up, and she pointed to her left: "Come here and try?"

Black Panther paused for a moment, then stood up again and went around to the left to sit down.

"Oh my god!" Mu Ling was completely surprised: "You understand the instructions?"

Mu Ling couldn't help but curled her fingers and tentatively touched the black panther's ears again. The black panther's ears trembled because of the itch, but it didn't avoid it.

Mu Ling touched Black Panther's ear and was amazed. "Wow, I didn't expect you to be so docile. You looked so dark, and I thought you were very social."

Mu Ling said, squatting down again and extending her hand to Black Panther: "Try again, do you know how to shake hands?"

The black panther placed the white and slender fingers in front of his eyes. He looked at Mu Ling, then at Mu Ling's hand, and seemed to be conflicted.

After several seconds, the black panther seemed to compromise. It stretched its head over and pressed its chin on Mu Ling's palm.

Mu Ling: “…”

Mu Ling: “!!!”

What do you do when a feline puts its chin in your hand?

Mu Ling moved her fingers slightly almost instinctively, and the black cheetah, whose chin was scratched, felt relieved. It sat down softly on the ground, and then pressed its entire body against Mu Ling.

When Mu Ling came to her senses again, she had already sat down on the ground, and Black Panther was lying on her knees, looking at her with narrowed eyes.

Mu Ling was shocked to find that the way she was holding the black panther was exactly the same as the way she was holding the brown deer by the stream before!

"So you..." Mu Ling looked at the black panther and understood everything at once: "So you're not here to find a hyena, you're here to find a masseur. You saw that I'm a level 10 cat petting expert, didn't you?"