Chapter 41
Chapter 41
[Leopard Cat: Are You Blind.]
Lin Qianyu lowered her head and touched foreheads with the steppe wolf. It looked soft and fluffy. She cupped its cheeks and gently ruffled its fur, covering its eyes with her hand, speaking softly: “Go to sleep.”
The steppe wolf didn’t move, just stayed like that under her hand for a long while before she finally heard a very faint response, “Whimper…”
Lin Qianyu placed a cushion behind her waist—the cold wall was uncomfortable after a while. The steppe wolf was half-lying across her legs, its hind legs curled tightly against her. If it weren’t for its adult-sized frame, it probably would’ve tried to curl into a small ball in her arms.
The gauze on her leg wasn’t torn like yesterday’s, but there were still some bite marks.
Blood had soaked into the gauze—injuries from a previous bite.
Because the steppe wolf wouldn’t cooperate, the doctor couldn’t change the bandage often. After all, they couldn’t use anesthesia every time.
Even healthy animals could develop problems from frequent anesthesia, let alone one already sick like the steppe wolf.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have wrapped its leg so heavily in gauze, using clumsy means just to barely save it.
Lin Qianyu gently stroked its fur, her hand occasionally brushing the wolf’s chest, feeling the steady thumping of its heart beneath her palm.
It hadn’t slept all night. In fact, it might not have had a peaceful sleep in a long time.
Unable to sleep, the lack of rest only made the steppe wolf more irritable.
It was draining itself.
Lin Qianyu recalled something she’d read online about its condition. She began to hum softly—a wordless tune she often heard as a child.
The melody was cheerful but not loud, like the trickling of a small river.
As she hummed, she lowered her voice, her hand continuing its slow strokes through the fur. She fiddled with its paw that rested on her lap, gently holding it, her fingertips brushing against its pads.
This time, the steppe wolf really fell asleep.
After being tormented for so long by rage and unrest, it finally found rare peace and slept deeply.
【Awooo?! What song is Sister Lin humming? It sounds so good—I’ve never heard it before!】
【Same here—I couldn’t find it online. Sob, I just clipped it and keep looping it.】
【I found videos from the foreign zoo where the little wolf used to be. It kept ramming into walls over and over—it was heartbreaking. Now look at it sleeping so peacefully on the streamer’s lap… I’m crying.】
【People who abuse animals deserve to die, aaaaah!!】
...
Pei Feng had been writing quickly in his notebook, but while watching Lin Qianyu soothe the wolf to sleep, he unknowingly stopped moving his pen, staring intently at Lin Qianyu’s smiling face—and… the steppe wolf, having dropped all defenses, lying trustingly on her lap.
Bo Shushu covered her mouth, eyes brimming with tears she could no longer hold back.
A nearby staff member tapped her arm and handed her a tissue.
Bo Shushu sniffled and dabbed at the corners of her eyes with the tissue. “This is so rare. If it keeps tormenting itself like this, I’m afraid it’ll end up becoming its own executioner.”
The steppe wolf had used a bristling, aggressive demeanor to push away all help.
Humans were the ones who made it this way—it had no reason to trust them.
Bo Shushu didn’t know whether the steppe wolf saw Lin Qianyu as one of its own, but if their communication was real, then its earlier hostility toward Professor Zhao seemed more like it was trying to keep him from approaching Lin Qianyu.In just this short half a day and night, the steppe wolf was already able to place Lin Qianyu behind itself to protect her.
In their initial treatment plan, they had considered finding the steppe wolf’s own kind to gradually soften it. But the problem was, steppe wolves are fierce beasts. With this injured wolf before them, any attempt to introduce another wolf—regardless of sex—would trigger snarling and probing at the outset, which was enough to ignite conflict.
When this steppe wolf bit the other steppe wolf they had borrowed from another rescue center, that plan was doomed to fail.
But Lin Qianyu wouldn’t do that. From the start, she had shown nothing but gentleness, without the slightest aggression.
Bo Shushu thought that if not for Lin Qianyu, the mission to rescue this steppe wolf might truly have become a dead end.
Just as she was thinking that, Professor Zhao suddenly turned around. Bo Shushu gave a sniffle, hurriedly putting down her hands. Remembering how the professor had just urged them to get back to work, the other staff members also began to disperse.
Then Professor Zhao pushed up his glasses and said, “Get me a chair.”
Bo Shushu nodded. “Okay, I’ll get one right awa—hm?”
—The steppe wolf lacked a sense of security.
This was likely related to what it had experienced over the past few years.
Lin Qianyu brushed through its fur several times until every strand was smooth and soft against its body.
“Little wolf, can I help you clean your wound?” Lin Qianyu spoke to the steppe wolf as it slept. It wouldn’t respond even when awake, let alone now.
“If the wound stays wrapped like this, it won’t heal properly. Walking must hurt too, right?”
“I’ll just unwrap the gauze and apply a little medicine,” she continued gently. “If you don’t want me to apply the medicine, you have to say no right now.”
The quiet room was filled only with the sound of the steppe wolf’s steady, even breathing.
“So that means you agree?” As she spoke, Lin Qianyu had already started gently peeling away one edge of the stuck gauze.
“Whimper…”
Amid the breathing, a faint response reached Lin Qianyu’s ears.
Whether it truly agreed with what she said, or it was just coincidence, she didn’t know.
But that response coming right after her words made even Lin Qianyu pause in surprise, then laugh softly. “So you really agreed, huh? I’ve got this all recorded on stream, you’re not allowed to go back on it.”
【??? Okay okay, so now it’s gone from "not saying anything means yes" to tricking an innocent little wolf, huh!】
【Little wolf: Y’all… who gets it? I talked in my sleep and sold myself out.】
【A soft little wolf who agrees to Sister Lin in its sleep—so if she sneaks a kiss now, that’s okay too, right?】
...
The gauze was really wrapped in several layers. Lin Qianyu moved carefully, peeling it bit by bit. The deeper she went, the more visible the bloodstains became.
For a wound like this, it would heal best if exposed to air after applying medicine. Wrapping it in gauze could actually hinder healing.
But… the steppe wolf’s emotions were unstable. Let alone healing—the moment it wasn’t wrapped up, it might just start staring at its own hind leg and biting, tearing at its own flesh.
Faced with a choice between preserving the leg and allowing proper healing, the doctors would naturally choose the former.
Besides, the steppe wolf would tear off its gauze anyway. Once it tore it open, at least the wound could breathe a bit.
It’s just that each time this happened, the doctors would then struggle with how to wrap it again. If the anesthesia dose was even slightly reduced, the steppe wolf would fight to the death and try to bite anyone who touched it.Applying medicine to the steppe wolf was one of the most troublesome tasks for the rescue center doctors.
When Lin Qianyu removed the final layer of gauze, the steppe wolf’s leg twitched slightly, but it didn’t wake up.
The medicinal powder on the wound had already been soaked through with blood, and some of the blood, mixed with the powder, had stuck to the gauze.
The smell of herbal medicine overlapped with the scent of blood.
The room was equipped with a medical kit, most of which had already been opened and specially prepared for the steppe wolf.
Lin Qianyu folded the gauze and set it aside. She didn’t rush to apply new medicine but instead used her fingertips to gently part the fur covering the wound to inspect it.
Some parts of the flesh, skin and all, had been bitten off, leaving depressions. Some of the bite wounds left by canines were deep and still bleeding.
It looked very painful.
Lin Qianyu’s already gentle movements became even more delicate.
In this condition, directly applying medicine wouldn’t help. The fur on the leg had stuck to the blood, and some clumps had already covered the wounds.
Lin Qianyu picked up the scissors used for cutting gauze from the medical kit, leaned closer, and carefully worked at a distance just near the skin, but without touching it, to slowly snip away the clumped fur.
The blood-soaked fur was placed on the discarded gauze.
Unknowingly, she had cut quite a lot.
If conditions allowed, using electric clippers to shave the fur would have been a better choice.
But clippers were loud and could easily trigger resistance in the already sound-sensitive steppe wolf.
Scissors were slower, but they allowed for more precision.
The sharp tip of the small scissors could also be used like tweezers to pick out stray hairs from inside the wound.
Clink—the small scissors made a light sound as she returned them to the box.
The steppe wolf had no reaction. Lin Qianyu freed one hand to rub its head.
With one hand, she opened a bottle of saline solution. The thick needle head remained in place, held by a rubber ring, so that squeezing the bottle would control the flow of the solution.
Rinsing a wound with saline generally wasn’t very painful—unless the wound was too deep or infected.
Therefore, Lin Qianyu was extremely cautious at first, letting the solution drip down a few drops at a time. Only when she saw the steppe wolf had no reaction did she increase the flow.
The mixture of saline and blood trickled onto the grass.
Lin Qianyu even found time to flick the wolf’s tail upward so it wouldn’t get wet from the saline.
While rinsing, she gently blew on the wound.
By the time she finished, more than half the bottle of saline had been used.
After rinsing, she disinfected the wound with iodine, applying it not only to the wound itself but also to a few centimeters of skin surrounding it.
Finally, she applied the medicine.
When Lin Qianyu set down the cotton swab and straightened her back, a slow, numbing ache spread through her waist, making her draw in a soft breath.
Afraid of waking the steppe wolf, even the way she massaged her sore waist was gentle and restrained.
But as soon as she turned her head, she found the steppe wolf staring at her—unblinking.“Eh?” Lin Qianyu blinked, a little surprised. “When did you wake up? Did I hurt you?”
【It woke up when you started applying the medicine! It’s been watching you for ages!】
【The staff kept saying the little wolf is fierce, uncooperative, and hard to handle. Ha—lies! Pure slander! The little wolf is clearly gentle and even-tempered.】
【Hahaha, must you stab the staff right in the heart like this?】
…
The steppe wolf turned its face and rubbed against her leg.
If the wound hurt, there would’ve been a reaction—but judging from the whole treatment process just now, where the steppe wolf remained still, it probably didn’t hurt.
Lin Qianyu stroked its head, cupping it in both hands, her thumbs gently pinching its ears. “Not sleeping a little longer?”
The steppe wolf yawned, but showed no sign of wanting to sleep again. It looked at the wound on its leg and sniffed.
Just as it leaned in, Lin Qianyu turned its face away and said seriously, “No licking.”
The medicine for animals was, of course, the best quality and chosen to have the least side effects even if accidentally ingested.
But still, externally applied medicine should be kept out of the mouth whenever possible.
“If you’re hungry, drink your milk,” Lin Qianyu said, standing up as the steppe wolf also rose. She stretched her legs a bit.
Sitting for too long, even a basic cushion behind her back wasn’t enough to help.
It just so happened she needed to go get the medicine too.
She opened the package, revealing a rather small white tablet.
It must’ve been taken from a whole blister pack—no packaging, no labels.
Lin Qianyu picked up the food bowl. “Wait a bit, I’ll go swap this out.”
Hearing that, the steppe wolf, which had been staring at its wound, lifted its head and turned to watch Lin Qianyu.
“I’ll be quick, just a few minutes.” As she said this and pressed the doorknob, before she could even step out, she saw Bo Shushu standing in the disinfecting room.
Lin Qianyu took a half-step back, but Bo Shushu was already enthusiastically reaching out. “Here, I’ve got it. This is the new nutrition meal.”
Holding the meal box, which was noticeably heavy, Lin Qianyu nodded lightly. “Thank you.”
“That’s what we should be saying,” Bo Shushu replied, feeling like their whole rescue center owed Lin Qianyu a huge favor. “If you need anything else, just message Pei Feng. We’ll get it to you right away.”
As she stacked the empty bowls, Bo Shushu added, “By the way, do you have any preferences for lunch? Any allergies? If there’s something you’d like to eat, I can have the kitchen prepare it for you.”
“No need. I’m still filming a variety show, so I’ll handle lunch myself.”
Bo Shushu opened her mouth, wanting to say that since Lin Qianyu had helped them so much, having a meal at the rescue center was just a small thing—it wasn’t like it’d cost them much.
But then she noticed the livestream equipment inside the room. She stopped herself before she could speak. With so many people watching and comments flying, and knowing how popular Lin Qianyu was right now, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone with ill intent tried to stir up trouble. If anything went wrong over a simple meal, a good deed might turn into a mistake.
“All right, then. Get back to work.”
Lin Qianyu returned with the food box. As she sat down, she casually scratched the steppe wolf under the chin. “Your eyes are open so wide. Aren’t you tired?”
The steppe wolf licked its nose and blinked in response.Meat was set aside—given the steppe wolf’s current condition, it wasn’t suitable for it to eat too much at once. Small, frequent meals were best.
Lin Qianyu directly tossed the unwrapped pill into the milk bowl. The warm milk soaked the tablet, and Lin Qianyu even poked it with chopsticks to help it dissolve faster. The prepared milk was a creamy white with a slight yellow tint, completely masking the color of the pill.
It was unnoticeable.
Bullet comments: 【……???】
【You're not even trying to hide it anymore! Drugging it right in the open like that!】
【The little wolf is still watching you, and you're doing it so openly? Steppe wolves are so alert—how could it possibly still drink it after watching you drug it?】
If the milk's scent was strong enough, it might suppress the bitterness of the pill.
But with the steppe wolf watching you add the medicine, this wasn’t even a matter of vigilance anymore.
Outside, Professor Zhao also frowned disapprovingly. “Prepare another bowl.”
This one was already wasted.
They had tried this method before—the steppe wolf didn’t take a single sip and kicked over the bowl.
Part of it was due to loss of appetite, but mostly it was the wolf’s acute sense of smell. Even the slightest irregularity, and it wouldn’t touch the food.
Now the medicine was added right in front of it—there was no way it would drink.
Pei Feng nodded. “Alright.”
However, before he could take a step, the steppe wolf that had just watched the medicine being added gently lowered its head and took a lick of the milk, looking completely docile.
Pei Feng paused. “Professor, do I still go?”
Professor Zhao: “……”
Grabbing at the few remaining strands of hair on his head in utter confusion.
“Where did you people find her?” Professor Zhao was genuinely baffled. “Did she have any previous interaction with this steppe wolf?”
Otherwise, there was simply no way to explain how Lin Qianyu had earned the steppe wolf’s trust in such a short time.
It was trust—true, unguarded trust from the steppe wolf toward Lin Qianyu—and it was unbelievable.
You had to understand, the steppe wolf hadn’t even been at their center for long. Even the staff who had flown over with it and cared for it around the clock had failed to bond with it. So—how had Lin Qianyu done it?
“To my knowledge, they’ve had no prior interaction,” Pei Feng shrugged. “Lin Qianyu has never even been to the zoo where this steppe wolf used to live.”
In fact, he could say with certainty: yesterday was the very first time Lin Qianyu had met the steppe wolf.
As for where they found her…
Before answering that, Pei Feng asked first, “Professor, do you believe humans can communicate with animals?”
Professor Zhao reined in his surprise and looked visibly unamused, his face darkening as he shot Pei Feng a glance.
That one glance told Pei Feng everything he needed to know.
Professor Zhao said flatly, “Watch less TV dramas. It’s all fake.”
Pei Feng: “……”But having witnessed certain things with his own eyes, it was hard for him to doubt the authenticity of this ability.
When watching the livestream as a viewer, things might be staged, scripted by the director.
But some things had happened right in front of him—seen with his own eyes, heard with his own ears—how could that be fake?
At the end of science lies metaphysics. In life, anything is possible.
However, given the professor's age, Pei Feng didn’t try to explain this kind of situation to the elderly man. He quietly sat back down.
The room simulating the grassland environment wasn’t small. Though called a “room,” it was actually more like a large flat with the walls in between knocked down.
It was at least over 200 square meters. After all, one of the reasons the steppe wolf had shown stereotypic behavior before was because its living environment was too small.
Just imagine: you used to run freely across hundreds of hectares of grassland, and then someone stuffed you into a square box just over ten square meters in size. Who wouldn’t develop problems?
So, even though this was only a temporary shelter for the steppe wolf, everything had been fully prepared—especially the living space. They had vacated nearly an entire floor of the rescue center, leaving only the outermost disinfection room and observation area.
Even so, the steppe wolf still curled up in the corner every day, its only activity being biting itself in agitation.
While the steppe wolf was eating, Lin Qianyu walked around the room.
There weren’t load-bearing walls here, but there were many columns. Fitting the environment, the columns were decorated.
They looked like trees on the outside, but a touch revealed they were fake.
The live chickens and rabbits lived more freely. As long as the steppe wolf didn’t move, they had a lot of space to roam.
Looking around, Lin Qianyu noted the wallpaper was made with a special process—if you didn’t get close and touch it, it looked like it stretched on infinitely.
She tapped on the wall with a smile and said, “This little hut really does have a bit of a grassland feel.”
【If only the zoo before had an environment like this, the little wolf wouldn’t have developed stereotypic behavior.】
【You can really tell the rescue center cares a lot. Keep praising our Island Master.】
After sitting for so long, her legs felt uncomfortable, and coupled with her ankle injury, Lin Qianyu walked very slowly, touching this and that as she went. Every detail showed how much effort the rescue center had put in.
The rabbit was far away from the steppe wolf, eating with its head down, constantly chewing grass without stopping.
Meanwhile, the hen was hopping around. Somehow it managed to get onto a fake tree, and when it saw Lin Qianyu approaching, it turned, flapped its wings, and jumped down.
“Bawk!”—as if on purpose, it stretched out a claw to scratch her, shaking off two feathers in the process.
These live animals were specially fed to the steppe wolf. They were lively, and hens were naturally aggressive, a bit like geese—spotting a person, they’d take a few steps to chase after them.
Full of mischief.
Lin Qianyu casually brushed away the fallen feathers, then swiftly and accurately grabbed one of the hen’s wings.
The startled hen flailed wildly with its wings. Lin Qianyu clutched both wings together in one hand. “This hen is really fat.”
When she first arrived on the island, she ate chicken the most. Holding up the hen, she shook it in front of the camera. “Fatter than the ones the production team prepared.”
As she shook it around up, down, left, and right, the hen’s head didn’t budge at all, always staying level and fixed in the direction of the camera.
“See how steady it is?” Lin Qianyu said. “It’s time again for a random prize-less trivia quiz: can you explain the principle behind this?”
【Heard of the Pythagorean theorem? It has nothing to do with this.】【Damn, if we're talking like that, do you know Lu Xueli? Yeah, that's my cousin from my aunt’s side.】
【Visual system anti-shake principle! Call me the class rep.】
……
Lin Qianyu’s eyes curved with a smile: “Correct answer.”
There were no tools here, and it wasn’t convenient to start a fire.
Lin Qianyu was just messing around with the hen when it came up to provoke her—she had no intention of eating it. After playing with it for a while, she let it go.
As soon as she loosened her grip, the hen flapped its wings and ran off, shedding feathers as it went.
Lin Qianyu clapped her hands and brushed off the feathers stuck to her clothes. Besides the bigger feathers, the fine downy ones clung stubbornly to the fabric.
As she plucked them off between her fingers and let them fall, she joked with a laugh, “If this chicken flies around a few more times, I’ll be able to collect enough feathers to make a feather duster.”
She was still lowering her head to clean off her clothes when a streak of black flashed before her eyes—like a meteor, gone in an instant. Before she could even process what it was, something shot past with a whoosh.
Then came the sharp squawk of the hen.
Accompanied by the faint sound of bones dislocating and snapping, the flapping stopped altogether.
“?”
It happened so fast, there was no time to react.
Lin Qianyu turned and saw the steppe wolf holding the hen by its neck, slowly walking toward her.
Because of its injured hind leg, it moved slowly. The wounded leg stepped on the ground without restraint—other animals might have curled up the leg in pain and hopped along, but not this wolf.
It acted like the minor injury meant nothing, and steadily walked up to Lin Qianyu, then crouched down. Along with it, it placed the lifeless hen on the ground.
“For me?” Lin Qianyu understood the wolf’s intention and smiled as she wiped the blood that had accidentally smeared near its eyes. She said, “Thank you, Little Wolf. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to catch it.”
In a wolf pack, the alpha would take on the responsibility of caring for the whole group.
It must have just considered Lin Qianyu one of its own.
Lin Qianyu pretended not to know that she wasn’t supposed to eat this chicken. Cheerfully, she picked it up and showed it off to the camera, saying proudly, “Look, Little Wolf caught this for me.”
Her proud tone made the steppe wolf lick its lips... then lick them again. Its ears twitched occasionally, and in its green beast-like eyes, it was hard to discern emotion—yet they seemed to hold a thousand unspoken words.
“I think Little Wolf thought I was hunting earlier,” Lin Qianyu glanced at the rabbit trembling in the corner and laid her hand on the wolf’s back, stroking its fur as they walked to the other side.
“I let the hen go, but Little Wolf didn’t know it was intentional. It probably thought the chicken escaped because I failed to catch it—so it ran over to help.” After a brief pause, Lin Qianyu snapped her fingers and analyzed clearly, “To be precise, Little Wolf wasn’t hunting—it was retrieving my escaped prey.”
【Don’t bother explaining, can’t you see I’m already drowning in envy over here?】
【Ugh… it’s injured and still trying to help you hunt. I’m so jealous.】
【What is this?! What are you trying to do to me, Lin Qianyu? You trying to kill me with envy today?! Say something!】
【I don’t care—I want a Little Wolf just like that or I’m gonna riot!】
……
Meanwhile, inside the observation room, the staff exchanged bewildered looks.After a while, Pei Feng broke the silence in a low voice, “The steppe wolf hasn't regressed. It still has a hunter’s instinct.”
Even though that was just a nearly defenseless… domestically raised hen.
But from the sudden burst of speed and the precision of its strike just now, it was clear that the steppe wolf still had strong hunting abilities.
Predators that are fed over long periods without hunting will see those skills degrade.
They had introduced live prey into the enclosure hoping to prompt the steppe wolf to hunt, or at least get its attention.
But the wolf ignored all of it, staying in its own corner, giving the staff the illusion that—it had accepted the presence of the hens and rabbits.
That, in fact, was a very dangerous sign.
Unfortunately, the staff simply didn’t have the time or manpower to train it to hunt. Before they could even think about hunting, they first had to make sure the steppe wolf stayed alive.
But now it seemed... all their doubts could be dismissed.
The steppe wolf might just not have wanted to bother with them—or with the live animals they brought in.
Professor Zhao clicked his tongue in amazement. “That Lin, Lin…”
Bo Shushu said, “Lin Qianyu.”
“Yes, Lin Qianyu.” Professor Zhao rested his chin on his interlocked hands. “Ask her if she’d be willing to work with us.”
After a pause, he added, “I can apply for the highest level of pay and benefits for her.”
Pei Feng smiled. Professor Zhao’s thoughts happened to align exactly with his. “We’ve already started the process. Strictly speaking, Lin Qianyu is technically already an intern.”
Once the paperwork was done, Lin Qianyu wouldn’t even need to go through a probation period or attend any of those mostly useless training sessions—she could start right away with her certification.
In a workplace where ability was everything, someone like Lin Qianyu, who performed like she had cheat codes enabled, would naturally hold considerable influence within the rescue center.
Inside the room, Lin Qianyu was frowning at the chicken.
She couldn’t eat it, and the steppe wolf took its time even with prepped raw meat—chances it would eat this were low.
The only good news was… “Well, at least I’ve secured feathers for my feather duster.”
Back at the temporary base, she hadn’t thought to collect feathers. By the time she wanted to make a feather duster, there weren’t many chickens left.
Besides, the chickens the production team put in had little survival instinct. It was already a miracle some had lived this long—many had been taken by predators, others eaten by guests, and after one heavy rainstorm, barely any were left.
Those that survived were small and thin, with shabby-looking feathers.
Even combining several, she still didn’t have enough for a single feather duster.
Her own fluffy pets back home occasionally caught birds with feathers still intact.
But those were often protected species—using their feathers to make dusters would be far too extravagant.
This hen, though, was just right—obviously well-fed, glossy and plump.
The steppe wolf sat quietly to the side, silently watching her pluck feathers.
It was so composed. The only sign of intimacy it ever showed was occasionally leaning its body gently against hers.
Most of the time, it just stayed quietly by itself—only its eyes never left Lin Qianyu."Is the wound bleeding?" Lin Qianyu put down the half-plucked chicken feathers and checked the steppe wolf's hind leg. Fortunately, it had only made a brief sprint, and the wound, which had already stopped bleeding, hadn’t reopened from the movement.
But sitting like that would still put pressure on the leg.
"Lie down. This way, if you lie on your side, you won’t press on the wound." As she spoke, Lin Qianyu gestured on the ground, showing the steppe wolf the best position to lie in.
The steppe wolf moved its paw, trying to follow Lin Qianyu’s guidance. It lifted the paw halfway and hesitated for a long time before tentatively placing it on her hand.
Lin Qianyu immediately turned her hand and grasped it, easily flipping the steppe wolf over.
"There we go, just like that."
Once the wolf was settled, Lin Qianyu focused on plucking feathers.
She started with the larger ones first. Even the fine down feathers would be useful later. Pulling out a bunch at once inevitably sent small feathers floating in the air.
Those tiny white bits at her fingertips looked like fluff—at a glance, you couldn’t even tell they were feathers.
The steppe wolf twitched its nose and sneezed when a feather brushed past, lightly blowing it away. As the feather floated in the air, it sneezed again, unable to hold back.
After collecting a big bundle of feathers, Lin Qianyu set the remaining chicken meat aside.
If the steppe wolf got interested, it could take a bite. If not, the staff would take care of it later.
She looked quite relaxed.
Lin Qianyu picked out the longest feather and waved it in front of the steppe wolf’s nose. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
The steppe wolf squinted, rubbed its nose with a paw, and then simply covered its nose with the paw and nestled its head against Lin Qianyu’s leg.
“Haha, alright, I won’t tease you anymore.” Lin Qianyu leaned down, pulled the steppe wolf up a bit, then lowered her head to kiss it. “There we go, good boy. Hungry? There’s still a bit of meat in the bowl—how about we eat together?”
——‘Bang!’ Just as Lin Qianyu finished speaking, a loud crash came from above.
It sounded like something heavy had slammed to the ground.
The steppe wolf flipped upright with a swift motion, eyes sharply fixed on the ceiling.
Right after the sudden noise, a few more loud bangs followed.
Lin Qianyu covered the wolf’s ears with one hand and pulled it back into her arms, frowning slightly. “What’s going on?”
The rescue center was over ten floors tall. It wasn’t clear which floor had the issue.
But given the center’s soundproofing—and how loud this was—it probably wasn’t far.
Judging from the intensity of the noise, it sounded like World War III was breaking out above.
While cuddling the steppe wolf to calm it and prevent any emotional outburst from the chaos, Lin Qianyu rapidly typed on the smartwatch keyboard to inquire about the situation.
The commotion was too obvious—staff outside had surely noticed it too.
Pei Feng lowered his head to reply to the message. Seeing this, Professor Zhao also asked what was happening.
Bo Shushu said, “That’s Kevin’s lounge upstairs. He’s probably fighting with the rusty-spotted leopard cat again. It’s been like this these past few days—as long as the leopard cat is awake, it keeps picking fights. Only when it’s asleep does it finally quiet down.”
Bo Shushu waved to the staff behind her. “Go upstairs and check. Tell Kevin to quiet down. If necessary, take the rusty-spotted leopard cat out first.”
Make sure it doesn’t disturb the steppe wolf.It had taken a lot of effort to calm it down.
"Alright."
……
After receiving the message, Lin Qianyu rubbed the watch face and waited a while, but the noise still didn’t stop.
Hearing the rusty-spotted leopard cat's cries and sensing something odd in them, she frowned suspiciously, patted the steppe wolf's head, and stood up. "Wait for me a bit."
She walked toward the disinfection room, opened the door through it, originally intending to go look for someone. But as she stepped out onto the stairs, Lin Qianyu turned back to glance behind her.
The steppe wolf hadn’t stayed put. Instead, it had quietly followed her. Now that she had stopped, the steppe wolf also halted and crouched down on the spot.
Seeing this, Lin Qianyu leaned around the door and called, "Pei Feng?"
"Hey!" Pei Feng responded quickly, "What is it, Miss Lin?"
Lin Qianyu asked, "Where did that rusty-spotted leopard cat come from?"
"Kevin brought it. Supposedly, he raised it from a young age. He’s a foreigner, and his family has some influence. At first, he kept it at his estate. Then someone told him this place had a better environment, so he applied with the big boss to bring the leopard cat here for fun."
Something seemed to come to mind, and Pei Feng rubbed his temples with a pained expression. "Actually, it was fine before. That leopard cat was docile and friendly, really no different from a Ragdoll house cat. But…"
His tone shifted as he sighed. "Lately, even though it’s not mating season, it’s suddenly gotten very aggressive—attacking everyone indiscriminately, being food-aggressive too. Hopefully this phase will pass."
Lin Qianyu cleared her throat. "Um… did the rusty-spotted leopard cat sneak out recently?"
Pei Feng nodded. "How’d you know?"
He looked surprised. "Last time Kevin took it on patrol, it ran off. We had to send people to search. It took us all afternoon, and we finally found it in a mud pit at dusk. What a mess—Kevin had to wash it several times. His hands and face were all scratched up."
"That leopard cat was cursing nonstop." Though it sounded odd to say a small animal was cursing, the things it said were genuinely nasty. "You probably got the wrong one. You must’ve brought back a wild rusty-spotted leopard cat that originally lived in this rainforest."
Pei Feng: "???"
Bo Shushu: "Huh?"
Bullet comments: 【?!! What the heck?!】
【For a moment there, I thought I was hallucinating.】
【Is that something you're even allowed to say out loud?!】
Although Pei Feng trusted Lin Qianyu’s abilities, at that moment, he couldn’t help but want to ask if she was being serious.
But before he could speak, Professor Zhao pushed past him. “You can tell when the leopard cat is cursing?”
Connecting that with Pei Feng’s earlier, random mention of speaking with animals, Professor Zhao appeared expressionless, but his lips were trembling. After living for so many years, his worldview was nearly shattered in this moment.
"Yes. According to the info you sent me…" Lin Qianyu raised her smartwatch. "That leopard cat’s daily routine is: eat, sleep, and then curse… Kevin."
Pei Feng: "……"
No wonder.
No wonder last time when he walked in, the leopard cat was digging in the litter box while yelling.
He’d been confused at the time—why shout while going to the bathroom? Turns out, it was cursing Kevin.Well, it made sense—after all, it had been living freely and happily in the wild, then a stranger came and carried it off, washed it with water—which feline animals hate the most—and even kept hugging it every day, calling it “daughter.”
Hiss… Kevin really didn’t get beaten up for nothing these past few days.
No time to think more, Pei Feng turned his head and said, “I’ll go up and take a look.”
But just as he stepped into the elevator, he suddenly remembered something and came back. “Miss Lin, could you come with me?”
He believed what Lin Qianyu said—but Kevin wouldn’t.
Kevin was stubborn, wholeheartedly convinced his "daughter" hated him because of some leopard cat outside. He’d even secretly been wiping away tears the past few days.
After saying this, Pei Feng smacked his forehead, realizing he’d been foolish—if Lin Qianyu left, what would happen with the steppe wolf?
At the same time, he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly—he really was relying on Sister Lin a lot now.
“Let’s all go together then.”
“Ah?” Pei Feng was about to say something, but saw that Lin Qianyu was talking to the steppe wolf.
“That’s okay, right?” Lin Qianyu crouched down, picked up the steppe wolf, grabbed one of its paws and waved it at Pei Feng, saying, “I promise it won’t hurt anyone, we’re just going for a walk, still within the rescue center’s range, not a step beyond.”
Pei Feng said, “I don’t have a problem. But the steppe wolf probably won’t want to come out.”
Inside the room, the steppe wolf always stuck to a small corner—how could it be willing to enter an even bigger space?
“No, it wants to. Right?”
“Woof…!”
The steppe wolf didn’t really understand, but still responded with a soft bark.
Seeing that, Pei Feng said, “Alright then, let’s all head up together.”
“Oh right, do you have—this kind of little cart?” Lin Qianyu opened an image on her smartwatch. “Something similar works too.”
“Yes.”
Pei Feng was quick on the job. Knowing what Lin Qianyu wanted, he immediately informed the staff to bring one over.
It was a stroller-like pushcart.
Compared to a baby stroller, this one had a lower back and a longer front, allowing the animal to stretch out comfortably on it.
Lin Qianyu patted the cart. “Little Wolf, come. Don’t use this leg, okay?”
She especially pointed at the injured leg.
The steppe wolf had already stood up, front paws resting on the cart. Hearing her, it paused slightly, then tried using just one of its hind legs to jump on.
Lin Qianyu reached out to support it, lifting under its belly. “Good job.”
As it lay down, she even adjusted the soft cushion for comfort.
Once the steppe wolf was settled, Lin Qianyu said, “Let’s go.”
【Wasn’t it said that steppe wolves aren’t suited for rainforest environments? Can it even leave that room?】【Of course it can. When we say the steppe wolf isn’t suited to the environment, we mean in terms of survival and hunting—not that it'll drop dead just by breathing rainforest air.】
【Am I the only one still thinking about the leopard cat? It sounds like the screaming’s even worse than before. (I mean the human. Probably Kevin?)】
……
The natural habitat of the steppe wolf is the vast open grasslands.
Logically speaking, a larger environment should actually help the steppe wolf relax more.
No matter how well-equipped a room is, it’s still a confined space. Compared to an animal exhibit in a zoo, the difference is only in size.
Staying in the same place all the time can become mentally exhausting, so since she was around, she figured she might as well take it out for a stroll and let it unwind.
The elevator went directly to the second floor.
Pei Feng and Lin Qianyu walked at the front, followed closely by Bo Shushu and Professor Zhao, and behind them trailed a whole group of people.
Luckily, the elevator had been designed with the need to transport large predatory animals in mind, so it had the weight capacity of a freight lift—otherwise it wouldn’t have fit so many people.
“Meow-aow, meow-aow—hiss!”
“Ahh—oowah!”
The closer they got, the more miserable and piercing the leopard cat’s cries became.
The steppe wolf’s ears tilted back slightly.
Lin Qianyu gently covered its head and said, “Good boy, you can’t get down.”
She stroked its fur soothingly. Inside, they could hear a staff member speaking to Kevin, “Let’s switch rooms—Brother Pei arranged a lounge for you on the seventh floor, head there first.”
In the room, a tall, blond, blue-eyed man looked like a noble from the Middle Ages—but the scratches on his face and his disheveled hair made him appear a bit rough around the edges. “OK, OK, I’m working on it. Once I catch her, I’ll bring her with me.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to leave—it was that the leopard cat was too agile. Kevin didn’t dare use force, and if he accidentally hurt her paw while gripping it, he’d be heartbroken. So after several attempts, he still hadn’t caught her.
When he saw Pei Feng coming in behind, Kevin’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Pei! Quick, help me—”
“Stop. You’ve got the wrong girl.” Pei Feng said, clearly exasperated, and repeated what Lin Qianyu had said earlier—emphasizing that he’d caught the wrong leopard cat.
Kevin: “???”
He looked completely baffled. “That’s impossible! She is my daughter! I’ve raised her for so long—look at the black spot on her right ear. She’s had that since she was little. That’s exactly why I picked her in the first place. There’s no way I grabbed the wrong one.”
Pei Feng didn’t know how to explain, so he looked toward Lin Qianyu for help.
Lin Qianyu adjusted the small blanket on the steppe wolf, stepped forward, and said, “Calm down for a moment. I know he grabbed the wrong leopard cat. Just calm down, and let me handle the negotiation, okay?”
As soon as she said that, the leopard cat that had been howling like it was dying suddenly went silent.
【Wha—what the hell?!】
【It stopped on command?? Not even a second of hesitation. What’s going on?!】
【Did he really catch the wrong one?】
【This script is so fake, I don’t like it. @Director, give me a new one!】
……Not only were the livestream viewers confused—Kevin himself was completely baffled. The daughter he’d been coaxing for days, who had been meowing non-stop from the moment she woke up, had suddenly gone quiet because of one simple sentence from a stranger.
It was too strange.
As the spotted leopard cat jumped down from the top of the cat tree, Kevin opened his arms to catch her—only to get stepped on in the face.
The spotted leopard cat stared unblinkingly at Lin Qianyu. “Mrow-aow!”
You tell him.
“I will,” Lin Qianyu nodded. “He mistook you for the leopard cat he raised from a baby. It’s not a kidnapping.”
At her words, the leopard cat bared her teeth aggressively, opened her mouth, and launched into a string of fierce “Aow aow aow”—
Patterns! Are! Easy! To! Tell! Apart!
Lin Qianyu held back a laugh. “But humans don’t recognize these patterns.”
Leopard cat markings are quite similar. If it were a tuxedo or orange tabby, you could at least distinguish them by eye.
“Mrow!”
The leopard cat was so angry she started pacing in circles, then turned and shouted at Kevin again.
Kevin was frozen, but he knew who to ask this time. Bewildered, he said, “What… what’s it trying to say?”
“Nothing too specific. If I had to translate it into human language, she’s probably saying: ‘You blond idiot—are your eyes... ahem—not working properly?’”
【That cough right there makes me really think the leopard cat swore.】
【Leopard cat: Are you blind??】
【Great translation—applause! I declare you qualified to appear on the show with Sister Lin.】
Kevin clearly started to realize.
“I really got the wrong one?” He scratched his head, still not quite convinced.
The leopard cat turned to look at Lin Qianyu.
There was no direct way to communicate between a human and a leopard cat—they didn’t speak the same language.
Lin Qianyu explained truthfully, “Have you ever seen his daughter?”
Doing the job thoroughly, Lin Qianyu added, “Do you have any photos or something? Maybe it can help you take a look.”
“Yes!” Although Kevin was still in shock, when it came to photos, he had plenty. Taking pictures with his daughter was one of his biggest joys. He opened his phone gallery. “Here.”
It was completely full of selfies and photos ofLin Qianyu: “…You two look exactly the same, and you’re calling her ugly?”
“Hah—!” The leopard cat bristled, clearly about to bare her claws.
“Awo!” The grassland wolf stood up on the cart, eyes sweeping coldly over the leopard cat.
The only thing a leopard cat might rival a large predator in was its temper. But in a real fight, it was no match for a grassland wolf.
The leopard cat paused, then, under the wolf’s stare, turned to lick its tail—clearly trying to awkwardly change the subject.
“Alright, alright, let’s not fight, okay, be good.” Lin Qianyu coaxed while hugging the grassland wolf, and relayed the leopard cat’s message, “Your daughter most likely went up the mountain. Try to make time to go look for her.”
After a moment of hesitation, she added, “If the leopard cat you raised didn’t receive any training for the wild, you’d better hurry to find her.”
After all, the rainforest was full of dangers.
Wild animal cubs learn hunting from their mothers. If Kevin raised her himself, she probably never got taught.
And with the spotted leopard cat being small in size, if a predator sets eyes on her, it’s a death sentence.
It’s already been so long—who knows how a leopard cat raised by humans is surviving out there.
“Huh?!” Kevin was completely stunned. “W-What do I do? I… I’ll go look for her now.”
But still struggling to believe it, he said, “She’s really not my daughter? But she looks exactly the same—look at the eyes, look at the tail—” He even reached a hand toward the leopard cat.
The spotted leopard cat swiped at him without mercy.
Kevin: “!!!”
“She’s really not!” Kevin finally seemed to convince himself, breaking down and shouting, nearly bursting into tears.
When he first brought her back, he thought she was just frightened from being in the wild and cradled her gently to calm her down for ages.
He kept thinking his daughter was just mad at him, but never imagined—he hadn’t brought back his daughter at all.
Pei Feng, exasperated, said, “I told you before, the rainforest is huge. You should’ve put a tracker on her. If she ran off, you could at least trace her location and bring her back.”
Kevin had been the first to object. “How could I do that! That thing has to be embedded into the skin—my daughter’s never been injured, it would hurt her so much!”
Pei Feng honestly couldn’t understand the logic of foreigners. Being bitten by something on a mountain surely hurts more than a tracker.
Then again, he figured if the tracker ended up inside some predator’s stomach, that’d be even more painful.
Pei Feng said, “Enough, enough, don’t talk anymore—just go find your daughter.”
“Ah… wait a sec,” Lin Qianyu raised a hand to stop Kevin. “The mountain’s so big—you won’t be able to find her just like that.”
Kevin was truly anxious. The leopard cat he’d raised from"Agreed, agreed!" Kevin's mind was entirely on his leopard cat. "Don’t just come over when you’re hungry—if you’re hungry, I’ll even deliver the food to your home."
As long as he could get his daughter back, he was willing to do anything.
【Aow! So that’s it! It liked the food Kevin gave it, so it couldn’t spare the effort to curse him while eating.】
【Hahahaha I can’t breathe—this is the real reason?!】
【That leopard cat has attitude—eats, drinks, and curses as needed. Not giving the caretaker any face at all.】
...
Lin Qianyu said, "Go on, it’ll take you to find her."
The spotted leopard cat gave Kevin a sideways glance, and unusually held back its temper as it growled low, "Aow..."
Kevin’s brain still hadn’t fully caught up, but once he heard it was going to find his daughter, he immediately followed, turning back to shout, “Hey! You—wait for me! Once I find her, I’ll thank you properly!”
"Aow!" The leopard cat had already run ahead quite a ways, and when no one followed, it glared impatiently.
This time Lin Qianyu didn’t need to translate—Kevin understood perfectly and hurried after it, saying, “Coming, coming!”
Seeing the two of them head out one after the other, Lin Qianyu let out a sigh. “Finally some peace.”
"Huh?" Professor Zhao was caught off guard, pen flying across his notes and still unable to keep up, so he just opened his recorder. “Wait, was all that stuff earlier just made up to trick them into leaving?”
“Nope, I just repeated what the leopard cat said.” Considering some of the language used, Lin Qianyu subtly revised her words, “With a bit of artistic phrasing.”
Professor Zhao didn’t really get it. “Artistic? You embellished it? Why not just say it as it was?”
Lin Qianyu helplessly pointed to the livestream equipment above. “If I had, the stream might have gotten shut down.”
【‘Verbal abuse’】
【Hahaha Lin-jie, just say it boldly, we’ll vouch for you.】
【Oh I get it now—too dirty! The leopard cat cussed way too hard!】
Author's note: Good night, sleep early, love you all.