Chapter 76

Chapter 76

[Hahahaha, this elephant is actually quite nice.]

That piece of baobab fruit ultimately wasn’t eaten and ended up as fertilizer enriching the soil.

The little wolf cub had a low tolerance for food that didn’t suit its taste. It was obvious it had tried to eat it, but it wasn’t much different from taking medicine—maybe even a pill would go down easier than baobab fruit.

Lin Qianyu stood up and placed the cub back into the shallow pit, then turned and leaned against a rock next to the cheetah. “Doudou, the little cheetah will be back in a few days. Happy?”

The cheetah yawned, licked its paw, and didn’t really react.

Lin Qianyu thought for a moment and ultimately decided not to bring the cheetah along to see the cub. Not to mention the sterile environment over there—just getting to the floor where the cub was required several rounds of disinfection.

The special disinfectant sprayed on clothing and skin could be washed off by humans, but on a cheetah, it might lick it off. Even if washed, it might not be completely clean. Ingesting even a little could be dangerous.

After weighing it all, it still wasn’t a good idea to bring the cheetah over.

The cheetah rested its head on her shoulder, its tilted ear pressed against Lin Qianyu’s neck. “Awoo…”

They were quite close. Lin Qianyu raised the baobab fruit in her hand. “Want a bite?”

The cheetah paused in its nuzzling, didn’t refuse, didn’t resist—just rolled over, turning its back to her.

Not only that, its ears folded back too, as if it were listening behind it, afraid she’d really try to feed it that weird-smelling fruit again.

Lin Qianyu let out a humph, taking a big bite of the baobab fruit. “This is a delicious, nutrient-rich wild fruit. Why are all of you so picky?”

But… with how picky the cheetah was, it really wasn’t going to touch that fruit.

[Watching Linlin eat so happily before, I thought it had to be some heavenly delicacy. But now the fluffballs are all rejecting it... now I’m not so sure.]

[Hahaha, maybe animals and humans just have different tastes. I already ordered some. I need to find out how bad this really is.]

[So the only animal who can actually eat this is the little wolf, huh. Truly the alpha.]

Lin Qianyu finished off the baobab fruit in a few bites. The last bits she tossed into the ostrich water cup to soak. “Gotta go earlier today and do another full-body checkup.”

In the past, whenever she went to the rescue center, Lin Qianyu didn’t need to bring anything—just the fluffballs that were going with her.

But thinking about the soap pod tree she saw last time, she specifically brought her backpack today.

She’d wanted to collect some last time but had nothing to carry them in. This time, she planned to bring back more.

She emptied out her backpack—even left behind her cleaver.

The rescue center’s vehicle hadn’t arrived yet, so Lin Qianyu changed out of her worn, tattered clothes. In the past, they’d be beyond salvaging, but on the show, a few stitches and patches meant she could wear them a few more days.

She opened the door and walked out while tying up her hair. The previously empty spot outside was now occupied by the rescue center’s car.

—On the way, Bai Zhao handed Lin Qianyu a report. “Here’s what you asked for. I bound it into a folder.”

“Thanks.” Lin Qianyu took it and began flipping through. There was an electronic version, but the paper copy was more convenient for reading on a variety show.

Though the smartwatch was quite smart, its screen was so small that viewing documents meant the text was reduced by several sizes—very unpleasant to read.

The steppe wolf leaned over to take a glance. Not understanding any of it, it just lay down across her lap. Lin Qianyu felt the weight but didn’t react. The wolf half-opened its eyes and moved its paw slightly.

Lin Qianyu set the report aside. “Hm? What is it?”

“Awoo…”Lin Qianyu curled her lips slightly and freed one hand to rub and knead the little wolf's scruff.

There was no particular technique, and her strength was casual—rubbing and squeezing, curling her fingertips to smooth the fur, then messing it up by rubbing it in reverse.

She played with it however she wanted.

The yellow marsupial wolf looked over curiously, its gaze fixed on Lin Qianyu’s hand without moving away.

At the edge of the seat, the gray marsupial wolf sat squatting upright, looking out the window. It seemed to have seen something, its paw scratching at the glass.

The sound of claws scraping the window was quite clear. Lin Qianyu turned her head and smiled. “What are you seeing out there?”

Just as she was about to lean forward and take a look, the driver suddenly hit the brakes.

Lin Qianyu lurched forward uncontrollably, catching the startled and puffed-up little wolf in her arms. “What happened?”

Bai Zhao said, “The director’s supply truck ahead seems to have been robbed.”

“Robbed?” Lin Qianyu could hardly believe what she was hearing.

Some lunatic robbers came to a remote island in the middle of the sea to commit robbery?

What kind of divine treasure did they think was here? Even if they managed to steal something, leaving the island would be a whole other problem.

[Only a true genius would come to an island to commit robbery.]

[Are there really robbers that stupid?]

Lin Qianyu was curious about what kind of robbers they were, but when she opened the car window and looked out—there were no robbers at all. It was just a group of elephants surrounding the director’s truck.

“I just remembered,” Bai Zhao slapped his forehead. “Didn’t you send a bunch of jia gu fruit to the show crew last time? Director Su felt really bad about it and splurged on a lot of fruit to give to the animals at the rescue center. The elephants probably caught the scent.”

Although the island wasn’t lacking in supplies, some fruits really weren’t available.

Director Su never hesitated to spend money. A whole truck full of bananas and oranges—it was practically begging to be robbed by elephants.

It was lucky the giraffe herd wasn’t around. Otherwise, with the elephants and giraffes eating together, there might be nothing left of the truck but cardboard boxes by the time it reached the rescue center.

“The director bought it?” Lin Qianyu raised her brows with interest, opened the door, and said, “Let’s go take a look.”

[!!!]

[Director Su: Code Red! Code Red!]

[Someone said there were no robbers. Sister Lin: Says who?]

As Lin Qianyu got out, she didn’t forget to grab her backpack. “I knew I had a strong feeling when I left the house today—like I absolutely had to bring my backpack. At first, I thought it meant I should pick more soap pods. Never expected this.”

As she spoke, she suddenly sighed, clearly a bit exasperated. “If I’d known, I would’ve brought Wind-Chaser too.”

Those two pouches on Wind-Chaser could hold quite a bit.

Maybe they could’ve gathered all the fruit needed for the next few days of the show in one go.

Lin Qianyu walked up to the two supply trucks. The covers had already been pulled off, and the elephants were happily using their trunks to roll up fruit and stuff it into their mouths.

Noticing this, she asked, “These haven’t been sprayed with any chemicals, right?”

Some fruits are treated with various chemicals during transport to keep them fresh.Bai Zhao shook his head. “No, I’ve checked the inspection report.”

Anything brought to the island for the animals naturally had to be thoroughly examined.

Su Yuxing probably took that into account as well—he had the fruit air-shipped directly, then transported from the island’s small airport to this side.

“Alright.” Lin Qianyu opened her backpack. “Then I’m relieved.”

——“Wait!!!”

Su Yuxing’s heart-wrenching shout came from not far away. The elephants enjoying their fruit buffet all paused. One, still holding an orange in its trunk, popped it into its mouth and turned to look in the direction of the voice.

“You can’t take that! That’s against the rules!” Su Yuxing stuck his head out the car window, the wind from the moving vehicle nearly blowing his hair off, but he still shouted firmly, “That’s not show inventory, it’s not for taking!”

The car stopped nearby, and Su Yuxing scrambled down in a panic. “No taking! I’m watching! You—can—not—take!”

He emphasized each word clearly, still out of breath.

“Alright, alright, look how anxious you are.” Since the director had said so, Lin Qianyu could only zip up her backpack. But just as her fingers pinched the metal zipper—plop—something was tossed into her bag.

Stunned for a moment, Lin Qianyu looked up and saw an elephant standing in front of her, its trunk holding a small bunch of oranges that tumbled straight into her backpack.

“This…” Lin Qianyu’s face slowly broke into a smile. “I didn’t take anything. I didn’t even touch it. It went into my backpack on its own.”

Su Yuxing: “???”

Lin Qianyu took an orange from her backpack, peeled it, and took a bite. “If an orange falls from a tree while I’m passing by and lands in my bag, that’s perfectly reasonable.”

“Mm, it’s pretty sweet.” Big, sweet, and seedless—almost the size of a large tangerine, with hardly any pith inside.

【Hahahaha, Su Yuxing is completely dumbfounded.】

【Elephant: You’re here for the buffet too? Don’t be shy, eat! Is that enough, child? No? I’ll get more.】

【Sister Lin isn’t wrong. Anything that mysteriously falls into my backpack is mine!】

【A solid “mysteriously.” You’ve truly inherited Lin-jie’s style.】

While eating her orange, Lin Qianyu didn’t forget to thank the director. “Thanks for the hard work, Director Su. These oranges are a great pick.”

As she ate, the elephant continued happily loading up her backpack. Before long, it was full of oranges.

But eating too many oranges gets a bit cloying.

After swallowing a segment, Lin Qianyu said, “Mm… uh, so…” She hesitated over how to phrase it, while Su Yuxing stood by with a watchful gaze.

“Mm, well, um…”—a few words repeated endlessly. Then she glanced at the nearby truck, and with a smile, turned back to the elephant.

The elephant understood immediately and went over to use its trunk to bring back a few bunches of bananas.

Lin Qianyu’s eyes lit up. She quickly pulled her backpack wider open and said, “How could I accept this?” while holding up the oranges that were about to fall.

Su Yuxing: “……”

Kill me. Right now.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough. I won’t be able to finish it all.” Lin Qianyu’s backpack was now piled high—oranges at the bottom, bananas on top.

The bananas were still slightly green, not fully ripe—they’d keep for a good while.If these were ripe bananas, Lin Qianyu really wouldn’t have taken so many. Fresh ripe bananas start developing black spots after just one night’s sleep, rotting at a rapid pace until they turn completely black.

They simply can’t be preserved.

The elephant, completely hooked on feeding her, even used its trunk to lift down an entire basket of bananas.

The tilted basket sent bananas clattering down.

Lin Qianyu pulled the now-stone-faced director a few steps back, shielding the little wolf from going forward at the same time.

Thud—the elephant placed the basket, now only half full of bananas, on the ground.

The basket was fairly deep, with three layers of bananas inside. Each layer was separated by paper to absorb moisture and prevent bruising.

Looking at the basket, then at Su Yuxing—who had begun pinching the bridge of his nose in distress—

Lin Qianyu thought for a moment and said, “Thanks, but I think I have enough already.”

There weren’t any fruit-loving fluffballs at home. Especially with oranges—the smell of orange peel was far too pungent for sensitive-nosed fluffballs, and they wouldn’t eat the flesh either.

As for bananas, what she had in her backpack was just right. Any more, and even if a fluffball liked bananas, there’s no way it could eat them all day long. A whole basket left uneaten would just go to waste.

Lin Qianyu reached out and patted the elephant’s trunk. “Leave the rest for yourself.”

Beside her, a baby elephant was munching on bananas with its trunk. Upon hearing this, the larger elephant turned and offered a bunch of bananas to Su Yuxing.

【Hahaha, this elephant is seriously sweet.】

【I’m crying—this elephant’s been working all this time and barely ate anything itself, still thinking of the director.】

【Director Su, what are you doing? Say thank you already!】

Su Yuxing’s face was ashen. “...Th-thank you.”

The livestream chat burst into another wave of laughter.

“We can’t finish all the bananas, but that basket… it looks like it’s pretty good quality.” Lin Qianyu rubbed her chin—after falling from that height, the basket hadn’t cracked or broken at all.

It looked like plastic, but knowing Su Yuxing’s meticulous nature, who knows—it might be some kind of new material.

“?!!”

Hearing her words, Su Yuxing immediately grew alert. “It’s just a useless plastic basket, really.”

He reached out to pull the banana basket over.

But the elephant misunderstood again and placed another bunch of bananas into his hand.

Before Su Yuxing could even touch the rim of the basket, his palm was full of bananas. The elephant used its trunk to nudge the basket directly over to Lin Qianyu.

“Oh, so you wanted the bananas? You should’ve said so earlier.” Lin Qianyu handed all the bananas from the basket to the director, and in turn, transferred the bananas from her backpack into the basket.

She lifted the basket and said, “Thanks.”

Su Yuxing’s lips trembled. His teeth chattered slightly as he fumbled to pull an oxygen tank from his assistant’s backpack and hooked it to his face to breathe.

Damn it!

Lin Qianyu’s quick trip off the car could truly be called a fruitful return.She finished the orange in her hand, patted the elephant, and said, “You all keep eating, I’m heading off.”

The moment she saw it earlier, she recognized this elephant as the one that had delivered the jia gu guo to her before—familiar elephants made things easier.

Actually, in Lin Qianyu’s view, the temperaments of this herd were all pretty good. Even when a grassland wolf came by, it didn’t cause any chain reaction. Instead, the elephants just focused on eating.

Experts have categorized elephant personalities into several types—leaders, troublemakers, aggressors... and so on.

Recalling some of the materials she’d read before, Lin Qianyu thought: these ones should be “gentle giants.”

That term fit this herd she encountered quite well.

The second banana truck that was opened seemed to be more favored by the elephants. Over by the orange truck, only a few elephants remained—all the rest had gathered around the banana truck.

Carrying her things back to the vehicle, Lin Qianyu said, “Mind if I use your trunk for a bit?”

Bai Zhao had already followed her around to the back. “Go ahead.”

A spontaneous fruit buffet ended up trending on social media less than half an hour after the supply trucks were “raided.”

#BananaOrangeTrucksCompletelyLooted#

When people saw this trending topic, their first reaction was: who the hell is so heartless to bully fruit farmers?

Then they clicked into the video—and immediately changed their tune: Let them eat! If there’s not enough money, just open a donation channel—we’ll fund it ourselves.

How could it be called looting when it’s a Class I nationally protected animal eating some bananas and oranges? That’s just normal loss during transport!

Only then did they notice Lin Qianyu in the footage, eating fruit right alongside the elephants.

Mainly because the trucks were so tall and the elephants so massive, just their legs alone could block a person from view completely—let alone a whole herd of elephants. Their crisscrossing limbs fully shielded Lin Qianyu from sight.

It wasn’t until she followed one of the elephants to the adjacent truck that viewers finally caught a glimpse of her.

And at the same time, they saw the elephant crazily lifting baskets to feed her.

【Alright then! Even at the zoo I wouldn’t dare feed like this.】

【Look at the director’s face, hahahaha—like he climbed Everest with no gear.】

Thanks to her frequent appearances on the trending list, even casual viewers who clicked in now recognized her face.

Since the show aired, Lin Qianyu had made it to the trending page so often it could no longer be called “every now and then”—it was practically every day. With wolves, with cheetahs, with thylacines… and the video of her sharing a frame with a white lion just yesterday was still trending.

In this era where traffic is king, you could say Lin Qianyu’s livestream alone was feeding several video-editing marketing accounts.

People had grown completely accustomed to how naturally she got along with animals.

Some fans even started threads in her super-topic to discuss what animal they wanted to see her appear with next.

Jokes, memes, bets—endless amusement kept popping up, and the discussion rate in her super-topic soared right alongside it.

Su Yuxing, who had been on oxygen just a while ago, instantly steadied himself after learning the event had gone viral. No more panic, no more dizziness—he carried two full baskets of fruit upstairs in one go without his legs even trembling.

Meanwhile, Lin Qianyu sat by the thylacine’s hospital bed, scrolling Weibo on her watch.

A doctor knocked on the door from outside. “All data looks good. Just finish this bottle today and come back in three months for a follow-up.”

After a brief pause, he added, “When does your variety show wrap up?”It might be that they’re worried the thylacine won’t come on its own when the time comes, and their staff can’t really go fetch it either. After all, up to now, the thylacine only shows no strong resistance when seeing familiar doctors and nurses.

If it were to run into unfamiliar people on the road, it would still react with strong rejection.

To make things easier during this period, the hospital even reassigned some doctors and nurses to branch locations, just to avoid triggering the thylacine.

If things are already this delicate after spending time together, then after three months—when the thylacine might have mostly forgotten them—wouldn’t it be even harder to handle?

“We probably won’t make it to the follow-up,” Lin Qianyu didn’t even need to calculate how long the show would last. Just hearing “three months” was enough to know there wouldn’t be time.

Considering the thylacine’s special case, she said, “Don’t worry. I’ll make all the arrangements when the time comes.”

The doctor had a lot of trust in Lin Qianyu’s words. He nodded and said, “Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Although the thylacine didn’t resist familiar doctors now, that was only if the doctors didn’t stay too long. So, after finishing what he had to say, the doctor didn’t linger and turned to leave the room.

“Did you hear that, little one?” Lin Qianyu sat back down by the bed. Her eyes were full of warmth as she looked at the gray thylacine. “The doctor said you’re all better. Starting tomorrow, we don’t have to come here for injections anymore.”

“Woo!” The gray thylacine lifted its head slightly.

Seeing it seemingly about to raise a paw to smack the bed, Lin Qianyu quickly stopped it. “Wait… you still can’t move around recklessly.”

The doctor had secured the needle with medical tape to prevent the animal from dislodging it during the IV drip. Even with that protection, it was still best to be cautious.

The gray thylacine lowered its head and licked the back of her hand, then stayed obediently still.

Lin Qianyu’s eyes curved with a smile. “Good boy.”

They must have changed the medication today—it wasn’t as much as before. The bottle was finished in just half an hour.

When the doctor came in and removed the needle, Lin Qianyu looked at the tape on the thylacine’s paw and let out a quiet sigh of relief.

From the very first visit to now—fully recovered—Lin Qianyu had been quietly nervous the whole time. At this moment, she could finally relax.

For now, their back-and-forth between the rescue station and the hospital had come to an end.

When leaving—

Lin Qianyu still picked two handfuls of soap pods, taking advantage of every inch of space to stuff them into her hiking pack.

She also filled both side pockets meant for water bottles with oranges and stuffed some soap pods in there too.

Once everything was packed, Lin Qianyu slung the bag over one shoulder, turned, and waved at the little wolf and the thylacine crouching by the door, waiting for her. “Let’s go home.”

“Woo!”

They returned earlier than usual today. Normally, by the time they got home, it would already be pitch dark.

But now, the sky was still bright.

Lin Qianyu got out of the car, carrying baskets of fruit in both hands.

At the smell of oranges, the little cheetahs and wolf pups all scurried far away.

The little cheetahs were alright—just two of them. They curled up in a corner and could still hide.

But the wolf pups didn’t have enough room to all hide away.

During the jostling and shoving, a few got pushed upward and just flopped down on the spot, accidentally stacking into a pile like a human pyramid.

All their heads pointed toward the corner, with just a pair of hind paws sticking out—paw pads facing upward.Lin Qianyu couldn’t help but curl her lips into a smile at the sight of them. She cleared her throat and said seriously, “I strongly suspect that some furry one described the taste of baobab fruit to the other pups, which is why they’re so averse to fruit now.”

Just a hint of orange scent shouldn’t be enough to cause such a reaction.

After all, they hadn’t even gotten close to smell it—what they were picking up was already diluted by the air.

One of the little wolf pups inside seemed to sense something—or perhaps the word “baobab fruit” left a strong impression—so it looked up at Lin Qianyu with wide, expectant eyes.

Lin Qianyu was instantly amused by its obedient, innocent expression. “Haha.”

【Little wolf pup: Auntie, what are you talking about? That fruit tastes so good, why would anyone resist it?】

【Ahhh this is too cute! Hurry up and feed it some baobab fruit. Maybe if it eats a few more bites it’ll start crying with joy.】

【Girl, with what you just said, Satan’s going to wake up and find they’ve been bumped to third place.】

【So many fluffy little paw pads and you’re just fussing over your fruit?! Sister Lin, if you won’t go pet them, let me do it!】

…

The little wolf pups were playing stacking games, their paws naturally spread out. They were still small, with not much fur, so their little black paw pads looked plump and shiny—too many to poke even with both hands.

Their tiny tails hanging down would occasionally give a wiggle.

Who could resist giving them a pet?

Fans in the livestream were getting anxious, desperate to roll up their sleeves and dive in for some heavy petting.

Lin Qianyu brought the oranges inside first, storing them in a treasure chest she had found during a previous scavenger game. It didn’t preserve freshness, but it had a large capacity, enough to hold everything.

Her backpack had plenty of space too, nearly on par with the treasure chest. By the end, oranges were practically spilling out.

Thankfully, the top of the treasure chest was curved, so closing it wouldn’t squash the fruit.

“All done.” Lin Qianyu patted the chest and pushed it under the table, then turned to go get the bananas.

Once all the fruit was put away—

She took the now-empty banana basket and laid a thick layer of fur inside, patting it to test the feel. “This should do, right?”

But when she ran her hand along the sides, she felt it was a bit rough.

If the pups were playing and accidentally scratched themselves or pressed too hard, it might hurt their paw pads.

So Lin Qianyu picked up some rabbit pelts and wrapped the inner edges tightly as well.

The basket had gaps along the edge, so she didn’t even need tape or string—just tucked the fur into the gaps and it stayed in place.

“Done.” Lin Qianyu patted the basket. “This one’s for the little wolf pups to play with.”

It was big enough to fit all the wolf pups, though it’d be a bit cramped.

Lin Qianyu placed the fur-lined basket in the yard. The little wolf pups, clueless but curious, all squeezed their way inside.

“Ao?!”

“Ao!”

“Aowoo…”The little wolf pups were all eager, but just after climbing down from their stacked pile in the corner, the one at the bottom moved first, causing the ones on top to tumble down.

One flipped over on the grass and stumbled its way toward the basket as well.

Lin Qianyu reminded them, “Be careful, don’t fight, and don’t step on each other’s paws.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a pup’s paw landed right on another pup’s head.

Lin Qianyu: “……”

Still, an attack like that hardly counted as fighting.

The leopard cubs next door were extremely quiet, comfortably curled in their own basket, grooming themselves, occasionally licking their companions too.

Lin Qianyu sat nearby, resting her chin on one hand as she watched them all crowded together, their fluffy little heads poking out over the edge of the basket.

Thinking of the white lion, she clicked her tongue and said, “If only the director had a bigger basket.”

Out here on the grassland, she couldn’t think of anything that could be used to make a basket big enough for the white lion to play in—not even a large cardboard box was possible.

Then Lin Qianyu suddenly froze. She didn’t have the materials to make a cardboard box, but she could use other materials—why not make a wooden crate?

She smacked her right fist into her left palm. There were enough planks, so making a wooden box wasn’t a problem. But… connecting the planks together might be a bit tricky.

Mortise and tenon joints?

Lin Qianyu weighed the only tool she had—a kitchen knife—and started thinking about whether she could carve out joints with it.

This would require some longer-term planning.

The gray marsupial wolf came over and nudged her hand, then lowered its head and set down a rabbit.

“Hm?” Lin Qianyu was surprised—she hadn’t even noticed when the marsupial wolf had gone hunting. “You caught that?”

The gray marsupial wolf pushed the rabbit toward her with its paw, then looked up, eyes bright: “Woo!”

“Great job. Looks like you’re quite the hunter too.” Lin Qianyu praised it without holding back, then patted its head and said, “But you’ve just recovered. You still need a few more days of rest. No rush to go hunting.”

“Aoo…” the gray marsupial wolf responded obediently.

Lin Qianyu didn’t move her hand from its head. Her fingers slowly brushed through its soft fur as she said quietly, “Technically, now that you’re well, you could go back and live on your own.”

But after spending so much time together, Lin Qianyu hesitated and asked, “Um… do you want to stay here?”

The gray marsupial wolf didn’t hesitate: “Aoo!”

The yellow marsupial wolf also came over with a bird in its mouth, dropped the prey next to the rabbit, and let out a soft “Woo.”

A smile spread across Lin Qianyu’s face. “Alright.”

“To celebrate the marsupial wolves’ recovery, I’ve decided to make something special today to improve our meals a bit.” Lin Qianyu was visibly excited, but then her tone shifted. “But first, we need to give both of you names.”

Before, she hadn’t been sure whether the marsupial wolves would stay after recovering.

But now that they were clearly staying, of course they needed names. She couldn’t just keep calling them “marsupial wolf” all the time.

If she said it enough, they might actually think that was their name. What then?

【Here we go, it’s that most exciting moment again.】【So, are we going with “Xiao-” names or reduplicated ones?】

【One of the joys of this livestream: watching the streamer name little animals.】

“A name is just a form of address. What matters is the meaning behind it, not how complicated it is.” Lin Qianyu looked at the two marsupial wolves sitting neatly in a row. After a brief pause, she quickly gave her answer, “Xiao Hui and Xiao Huang.”

【Beautiful.】

【Nice!】

【Consistently solid—classic you.】

【I was wondering why there was such a long buildup. Lin-jie, next time just say it. We’re all old friends here, no need for all the formalities.】

Lin Qianyu: “……”

Stream ended.

See you again for the third episode of the variety livestream.

And just like that, the names were settled without a hitch.

Lin Qianyu took a kitchen knife and headed out. “Better find something to eat first—see what to make for dinner.”

The fluffballs all ate meat, but Lin Qianyu was in the mood for something vegetarian. She remembered seeing some wild garlic by the river where she had rescued the giraffe.

But the situation had been urgent then, and she hadn’t had the mind to think about anything else besides the giraffe. After saving it, she hadn’t gone back either.

Fortunately, it wasn’t far—she could head over anytime.

Lin Qianyu was always one to act on thoughts immediately. As soon as the idea struck, she got up to go. But after taking just a couple of steps, she paused.

Looking up at the sky, then back at the fluffballs following behind her—and the pups still hopping in the shallow pit who hadn’t played far from home—she thought for a moment and said, “Why don’t we all go together?”

The pups wouldn’t be any help with foraging anyway. They could just play around while she picked wild garlic.

The little ones at home were all well-behaved. She didn’t expect them to do anything—just not running off was enough.

Fortunately, they really were obedient and stuck close to her.

The only downside was… they stuck a little too close. There was a high chance of getting tripped while walking.

So Lin Qianyu walked very carefully, step by step.

The grassland wolves naturally surrounded the group from the outer edge. The two marsupial wolves stayed right beside Lin Qianyu. The leopard cub walked ahead, stopping and turning back from time to time to check on her.

The flowing river was dangerous. Lin Qianyu deliberately kept to the inner path and didn’t bring the pups too close to the water. She lowered her head, searching for wild garlic. “Zhui Feng, do you remember the grass you were eating back then? Was there wild garlic?”

She remembered that when Zhui Feng walked this path, his mouth had never stopped chewing.

Now, he was probably full—branches were brushing his mouth, and he wasn’t even taking a bite.

“Whinny.” The zebra trotted over. Clearly, he had no memory of what Lin Qianyu was asking.

Maybe he didn’t even know what wild garlic was in the first place.

Lin Qianyu thought for a moment. Wild garlic leaves were slightly narrower than the ones usually eaten at home, and the flavor was spicier. But describing it, it still just sounded like regular grass. The zebra probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference anyway.After weighing her words to describe the appearance of wild garlic, Lin Qianyu chose to give up.

She’d have to find it herself.

Halfway down the path, broken branches started to appear ahead—this was probably the spot where she had dragged the giraffe from the river.

Then it should be… around here.

Lin Qianyu bent down and began searching nearby.

“Eh, this…!” Lin Qianyu suddenly stopped in her tracks. She looked at the patch of grass not far away, where shrubs crisscrossed through it. “This looks like wild garlic.”

Lin Qianyu squatted down, pinched a bit of the wild garlic tip and smelled it. It was indeed wild garlic. But there wasn’t much of it here, and it was crushed under weeds and branches.

If she hadn’t been looking carefully, she might’ve walked past it again without ever noticing.

Lin Qianyu picked up the cub at her feet and set it down in front of her. “I’m going to pick some garlic here. You all play around here and don’t run off, okay?”

“Awoo!”

She wasn’t sure which cub answered.

But she quickly realized her concern was unnecessary. Forget running off—when she squatted down, all the cubs swarmed in, jostling to climb onto her. Each one was seriously focused—far from running away, their paws never even left her legs. The ones who couldn’t reach her were whining in frustration.

Lin Qianyu gathered them all together in front of her.

With them all right there, she could keep them within her peripheral vision. It felt safer that way.

“Alright, go play.”

Once the cubs were settled, Lin Qianyu began harvesting wild garlic.

She didn’t pull them out by the roots but instead pinched them off near the base. She held them in her hand and only put them in her backpack once she had a handful.

The wolf pups didn’t leave, so the rest of the pack also stayed put.

The leopard paced around the area once, then stopped by the water and watched for a bit, then leapt up to rest on a higher spot.

The marsupial wolves didn’t know what she was doing. Mimicking Lin Qianyu, they bent down and bit into the grass as if they were picking wild garlic too.

【What a massive team. Imagine what it’ll be like once all the cubs grow up.】

【Wouldn’t that be straight-up ruling the prairie? One command from Lin-jie, and it’s game over for everyone else.】

【I love this character setting. Lin-jie, step down and let me take your place. Don’t make me beg on my knees.】

【Why suddenly take the cubs out today?】

While focused on picking wild garlic, Lin Qianyu caught sight of the chat from the corner of her eye and chuckled softly. “The cubs have been cooped up at home, and their space is limited. Now that we have the means, might as well get out more.”

Take the cubs to see the world.

Lin Qianyu flicked her wrist. The wild garlic here looked sparse, but once she started picking, it turned out there was quite a bit. In no time, she had a full handful.

Since it was so close to home and wild garlic grew quickly, she could come back anytime she wanted more. No need to pick too much at once.

Splash—the calm surface of the water rippled. The leopard on the rock sensed it immediately and looked down. But the water’s surface showed nothing unusual.

The leopard slowly licked its paw and began grooming upward.Lin Qianyu was picking wild garlic a fair distance from the riverbank, but even so, the prairie wolf sensed something and turned to glance back.

“小狼?” Lin Qianyu noticed the prairie wolf's movement and waved her hand in front of it. “What is it?”

Seeing what was in front of him, the prairie wolf opened his mouth to bite, and Lin Qianyu quickly pulled her hand back. “This is too spicy. You can’t eat it.”

The prairie wolf tilted his head and nuzzled her wrist.

By the riverside, the grass shifted slightly. A crocodile slowly crawled over, flattening a patch of grass beneath its massive body as it crept toward the nearby human. Its eyes locked tightly onto her back.

The livestream camera, positioned high above, caught the rustling in the grass. Once fans noticed, the comments flooded in with exclamation marks.

That crocodile looked huge and heavy, still wet, its slightly parted jaws revealing a mouth full of teeth—clearly locked onto its prey and ready to ambush.

But in the next moment, a white paw landed lightly on the crocodile’s tail.

The leopard landed beside the crocodile, narrowing his eyes at the white lion. The white lion remained still as a statue, letting him observe.

After a brief stare, the leopard’s bristled fur slowly smoothed down, and his gaze shifted toward the crocodile.

Prairie wolves circled in from all sides. The crocodile lifted its head stiffly and looked up toward the shadow cast over it—Little Wolf was lowering his head expressionlessly, face unreadable.

It turned to flee, but in the only direction with a gap, the two marsupial wolves were squatting side by side, silent, having approached at some point without a sound.

【!!!】

【I—I'm literally holding my breath.】

【Crocodile: I thought the delivery guy knocked. You should’ve told me it was a police sting!】

Author’s note: Good night, sleep early, love you all.