Chapter 80

Chapter 80

"Let's Make a Deal — I’ll Rescue You, But Don’t Scratch Me."

Judging by the pattern and body size, there’s a ninety percent chance it’s a grassland leopard cat.

The grassland leopard cat belongs to the carnivorous feline family and genus Felis. Its markings are extremely similar to those of a tabby cat. When seen in the wild, the first reaction is often to think it’s a stray city cat.

Its back fur is pale yellow, with irregular black spots.

There are small brownish spots on the top of its head, and four dark black stripes stand upright on the nape.

Its tail is half the length of its body, looking very cute.

Together with the Pallas’s cat and the desert cat, it forms the three most adorable wild cats of the west.

Because of its beautiful fur, humans overhunted it, causing a sharp decline in wild populations. Later, it was listed as a national second-class protected animal, and overhunting was stopped.

“Looks like it really is a grassland leopard cat.” Lin Qianyu thought of this little guy’s temperament. If she rashly reached out, the moment the leopard cat emerged from the hole, her sleeves would be shredded, and her arm would get several scratches.

Elegant in shape but with a fierce temperament, it’s a skilled hunter and fighter.

It has a strong territorial instinct; an adult grassland leopard cat will claim about a one-kilometer radius as its territory. Calling it the "overlord of the grassland" is not an exaggeration.

They are nocturnal animals and only occasionally appear during the day.

So, encountering one during the day today is quite lucky.

Looking around, Lin Qianyu estimated that she had probably already entered the grassland leopard cat’s territory. “Um… how about I rescue you?”

The leopard cat viciously kicked the ground with its paws, “Ha!”

Seems like that’s not a good idea.

[Why did it crawl into the hole?]

[This tiny one is quite fierce. I’d just pin it down for a good petting.]

[Just looked up pictures—grassland leopard cats are so cute! Round little face, want one.]

Lin Qianyu guessed, “Maybe it was chasing some burrowing rodent, and when it went into the hole, it didn’t realize and got stuck inside.”

Or maybe it felt the distance was right, thinking it could hook the prey with its claws once inside, so it rushed in.

But it didn’t control itself and went in too deep. Whether it caught the prey or not is unknown, but it trapped itself.

Thankfully, there are no vultures nearby; otherwise, seeing this grassland leopard cat stuck here, they’d definitely be waiting around.

In the wild, small animals stuck in holes sometimes die from thirst if they can’t get out in time.

Lin Qianyu felt she still needed to reason with the grassland leopard cat: “Let’s make a deal — I’ll rescue you, but don’t scratch me.”

Rodent burrows look simple but are actually very complex inside, with some even having multiple layers to withstand harsh extreme weather.

Buried inside like this, as long as the burrow doesn’t collapse, suffocation isn’t a concern.

“Ha!”

Lin Qianyu raised an eyebrow. Judging by this attitude, it’s not just a matter of waiting to be rescued — she’d probably get scratched as soon as she reached out.

Those sharp claws could easily tear through flesh... and her clothes.The previous outfit was already tattered, and she hadn’t figured out how to salvage it yet. If this one on her body got ruined too, she really wouldn’t have anything to wear outside.

At least she was still live streaming, so she had to pay attention to her appearance, right?

Lin Qianyu propped her chin with one hand and asked, “Isn’t it uncomfortable staying in there like that?”

This time, the grassland leopard cat didn’t hiss—maybe it was tired of hissing and started conserving energy.

The surroundings were quite open. Vultures had noticed what was happening but didn’t dare approach because of the white lion.

Earlier, when the grassland wolves were feeding, the vultures perched on nearby rocks. Now, they didn’t even dare land on the rocks and seemed to be circling without settling.

Lin Qianyu looked at the white lion, the one most likely to intimidate the vultures. “Have you ever caught a vulture?”

The white lion seemed uninterested in anything other than building or tidying up the wooden house. After thinking carefully, it nodded once, “Woof…”

Noisy.

The tone was dismissive, clearly annoyed.

But it seemed the vultures had been beaten badly, or maybe they were scared after witnessing the fate of their companions, which made them fear the white lion.

It was good they weren’t causing trouble, allowing Lin Qianyu to have a quiet environment to negotiate with the grassland leopard cat.

“Do you really not need my help? I’m about to leave,” Lin Qianyu poked the grassland leopard cat’s leg, unsurprised to see it kick wildly, its hind paws thrashing along with its tail.

“Ahem… okay, since you’re unwilling, then I have no choice.”

Hearing her say this, the leopard cat stopped kicking.

The next moment, Lin Qianyu reached out decisively, grabbed the leopard cat, and pulled it back.

Its head came out of the hole, and it hadn’t had time to extend its claws.

Lin Qianyu’s hands shifted, pressing down the leopard cat’s front paws left and right. Before it could raise its hind paws, she had already placed it steadily on the ground and released her grip.

With its paws on the ground, the leopard cat looked bewildered, its eyes filled with unfathomable confusion.

W-what just happened?

Looking around, it saw no others of its kind. The once noisy little cat was now completely stunned.

But upon seeing Lin Qianyu, the white lion, and the zebra, its fur instantly bristled, facing these intruders in its territory—both animals and humans.

The grassland leopard cat was not one to show fear even when facing the grassland wolves.

It still held something in its mouth. Lin Qianyu glanced—much of it had been eaten, and the head was gone. It was hard to tell what animal it was exactly, but it seemed to be a rodent.

The grassland leopard cat took a few steps back, appearing ready to leave but kept looking around.

Lin Qianyu saw its confusion and explained, “There are no others of your kind here. It’s me who’s speaking.”

The leopard cat suddenly widened its eyes. That voice was exactly the same as before!

Even though it had been buried in the burrow and the sound was muffled, for the sharp-eared grassland leopard cat, distinguishing the voice was easy.

Realizing it was this human who had saved it, the grassland leopard cat blinked, those pale yellow eyes lively.

The once fierce leopard cat seemed to become a bit shy. Its tail curled slightly, and it suddenly turned to leave. But after a few steps, it ran back, dropping the prey it had in its mouth at Lin Qianyu’s feet.This was meant as a gift for her.

But the prey caught inside the burrow would be torn to pieces. It was hard to tell when it was still in its mouth, but once placed on the ground, it was clear how much was missing and where.

The grassland leopard cat looked a bit embarrassed, picked up the prey again in its mouth, and ran off, calling out as it ran, “Ah aowu wuwu…” With something in its mouth and running, its voice bounced unevenly.

Lin Qianyu watched the grassland leopard cat run far away but still talk to her and couldn’t help but curve her eyes in a smile.

[“Ah? Why run off?”]

[“Wuwu wuwu, so cute, is it going to catch new prey?”]

[“Don’t know that Lin Lin was fierce when saving it, but knowing Lin Lin saved it, its eyes suddenly softened, so obedient!!!”]

It seemed the grassland leopard cat wouldn’t be back anytime soon.

Lin Qianyu patted the white lion sitting quietly beside her, like a reliable guardian, “Let’s go.”

— The prey left by the lake looked the same when it left and when it came back.

The prey near the yard was covered in fur. No one knew how long it had been eaten, but it looked like it was hanging there, and a few had already bitten the meat and closed their eyes to sleep.

Maybe this way they could have good dreams?

The fur-covered animals that had gone hunting hadn’t returned yet. Lin Qianyu sat by the lake, picked up a kitchen knife, and sharpened it a few times on a stone. Suddenly she called out, “Zhuifeng.”

The zebra, who was eating wild fruit with its head down, ran over. The fruit was still in its mouth, but it stopped when it saw the movements in Lin Qianyu’s hands.

With a ‘clack,’ the fruit dropped, and Zhuifeng’s eyes widened in disbelief, “Xui?!”

“No…” Noticing its gaze, Lin Qianyu sheathed the kitchen knife, “I want you to go find the little wolves and tell them to come back and eat. No hunting today.”

Otherwise, with so much meat in this hot weather, no one knew if it would last till it cooled down in the evening.

If left out dry, it would rot.

Zhuifeng seemed to snort, letting out a breath, acting prideful as it lifted its head, ignoring Lin Qianyu’s words completely.

Lin Qianyu didn’t rush. She silently picked up the kitchen knife, sprinkled some water on the stone and blade, then held the handle with one hand and rubbed the blade edge against the stone with the fingertips of her other hand, producing a ‘shua shua’ sound.

Zhuifeng immediately lifted its head, sharp-eared and alert. Without Lin Qianyu repeating, it called ‘xui xui’ and ran off in the direction indicated.

Lin Qianyu raised her brow, picked up the kitchen knife again, rested the tip on the stone, and spun the handle once with her wrist.

A sharpened kitchen knife made skinning easier. Though it wasn’t a professional whetstone, a smooth ordinary stone worked quite well.

After finishing processing the skins of all the remaining prey, Zhuifeng also returned with the wolf pack.

The cheetah and the thylacine got along well with the wolves, perfectly integrating into the pack.

In Lin Qianyu’s eyes, this was a good thing. The principle of strength in numbers applied just as well to animals.

The grassland wolves had been carrying prey but, upon seeing the white lion by Lin Qianyu’s side, dropped the antelope they were carrying and ran to stand next to Lin Qianyu on her side.

Lin Qianyu raised her hand, scooped up one of the little wolves into her arms, “You’re back. The white lion brought a lot of prey over. Let’s eat these first, alright?”

The antelope brought back by the little wolf hadn’t been skinned yet. She threw it into the palm leaf shelter, which should keep it until evening.

The grassland wolves looked at the white lion not far away, licked their lips, and didn’t oppose Lin Qianyu’s suggestion.“Then you all decide what you want to eat. I’ll hang the skins to dry.” The grease-removed, washed pelts were still dripping water. It was impossible to wring them completely dry; Lin Qianyu just squeezed them a bit by hand after lifting them out of the water.

Picking up the pelts, Lin Qianyu didn’t forget to call out, “Doudou? Xiao Huang, Xiao Hui, come eat quickly, or it won’t be fresh later.”

The cheetah only ate fresh food. The meat was still okay for now, but if delayed further, the cheetah might refuse to eat it.

The cheetah carrying its cub in its mouth opened its mouth, “Ao!”

The little cheetah cub landed and happened to fall onto a companion. It paused, then looked down to find the companion was also staring at it.

“Ha—” The pressed little cub bared its teeth and raised a paw to hit.

Lin Qianyu took the pelts to the back, shook them open, then swung them to cover the shelter, “Later we’ll go to the seaside, let Dabai and the white lion get familiar with each other.”

She paused, thinking that the chances of Dabai and the white lion fighting were basically zero.

Lions hated water; with how clean the white lion liked to be, it obviously wouldn’t run into the sea to play.

The orca’s combat strength would be weakened on land; the ocean was its battlefield.

Even if friction did happen, a fight was unlikely.

But they still needed to get acquainted; after all, they were all her furry companions—it was good to recognize each other.

Thinking this, Lin Qianyu hung the last piece of pelt by the wooden house. The palm leaf shelter was already covered; laying more downwards wouldn’t hold, so this was the best spot.

A magpie fluttered its wings and landed on her shoulder.

Used to the red-tailed hawk perching on her shoulder, Lin Qianyu felt the magpie was light and almost weightless. She noticed the breeze as it flapped its wings.

And also...

The cicada in the magpie’s beak was really noisy.

Before, she thought it was cicadas nearby making the sound, but the noise got louder as the magpie came closer, and only when it landed did she realize the magpie had caught a cicada.

Lin Qianyu squinted, feeling buzzing layered cicada sounds in her mind, especially on her right shoulder where the magpie landed; her ears almost went deaf, “Magpie?”

“Chiu!” The magpie seemed to want to feed her the cicada, but just as it responded, the cicada took the chance to fly away.

Ignoring Lin Qianyu, the magpie quickly flew after it.

Lin Qianyu rubbed her buzzing ears. This kind of auditory stimulation was no less than shouting into one’s ear with a loudspeaker, and it was an extremely sharp sound.

When the magpie flew back after chasing around, the cicada noise had stopped. “You eat it yourself, I don’t eat this stuff.”

The magpie tilted its head, seeming not to understand why she wouldn’t eat something delicious.

After healing its wounds, the magpie seemed keen on catching all sorts of insects.

Even though Lin Qianyu always refused, the magpie only thought she didn’t like the insect caught this time and would try to catch something different next time.

Lin Qianyu even suspected the insects on the grassland island were almost all caught by it.

Seeing the magpie opening its mouth again to ‘chiu,’ Lin Qianyu hurriedly said, “Next time, definitely next time.”

[“Haha, don’t say next time. The intention to repay kindness is good, but I suggest not repaying.”]

[“The ones the magpie caught make my scalp tingle. Lin Jie can still coax out a ‘definitely next time.’ No wonder you attract small animals.”][“Come, come, place your bets. Guess what insect the magpie will bring back next time—bet thirty points.”]

The cicada caught ended up, unsurprisingly, in the magpie’s stomach.

One cicada was obviously not enough to eat, so it flew off to join the furry ones by the lake to eat meat.

Using its beak to pick and peck bit by bit, although slow, it still managed to eat quite a bit mouthful by mouthful.

The prey was all laid out there.

After the furry ones at home had eaten, two whole animals remained; the others’ skeletons still had some scattered meat, but the internal organs had all been eaten clean.

Lin Qianyu looked at the two remaining ones, kept one big one whole, and cut the other into large chunks to salt and cure.

The meat’s outer layer was coated with a layer of salt, and the salt grains could still be seen shining through the light.

After curing, it was laid on flat stones to dry. Compared to hanging racks for drying meat, this method required occasionally turning the meat.

But all the wood at home had been used to build the wooden house, so this was the only way to preserve the meat for now.

Lin Qianyu washed the salt grains off her hands, looking at the meat spread out over four large stones, and said, “Once dried, I’ll try cooking salted meat stir-fried with chives.”

This was also a common dish on the table.

She just didn’t know if the wild chives, which had been harvested last time, could grow back by then.

The white lion lying on its side by the lake watched her intently.

Thinking the white lion would learn human habits, Lin Qianyu quickly said, “If you want to dry meat, just dry meat strips—no need to coat it with all kinds of random stuff.”

Like salted meat, coated thickly with salt, even if the salt was washed off before eating, it was still saltier than ordinary meat cooked directly in dishes.

Especially since the white lion didn’t know what salt was. If it saw her touching it and tried to coat the meat with something similar, that would be bad.

The white lion slightly lifted its head, seeming to have taken in Lin Qianyu’s words.

After the wolf pack returned, the previously timid cubs grew bolder; after all, this was their usual activity area.

Several wolf cubs squeezed up close to Lin Qianyu, sprawling out in all directions.

Lin Qianyu lined them up, tapped their noses, and said, “You can’t eat this, it’s too salty.”

Some animals would reject salted food upon smelling it and refuse to try, but they couldn’t stop the cubs’ curiosity.

If they smelled it and thought it tasted bad but wanted to test just how bad it was, one bite would go in.

Even if they spat it out in time, the salty taste left in their mouths would linger for a long time.

“Ao!” A little wolf cub twitched its nose, actively moved away from the meat, and backed up.

The white lion lazily sneezed, while the little wolf cub, focused on retreating, didn’t notice behind it and bumped into the lion’s leg, naturally sitting down.

Its eyes closed, not yet opened. Mid-sneeze, the lion lowered its head and felt something in its mouth. Lin Qianyu, looking at the little wolf cub’s body left outside, eyes suddenly wide, exclaimed: “?!!”

The white lion slowly opened its mouth. The cub clearly didn’t realize what had happened; perhaps for it, the sky had just suddenly gone dark.

[“Hahaha, fake injury—did it fake an injury!?”]

[“It just sneezed, and a grassland wolf-flavored snack ran right into its mouth.”][The King of Hell stared thoughtfully at the flickering cub of the grassland wolf on the Book of Life and Death.]

[Book of Life and Death: You have recalled one grassland wolf.]

The little wolf cub lifted its head; from its upward-looking angle, it couldn’t see the white lion behind it, and looked toward the sky that had brightened again. It shook its head—the weather was truly unpredictable.

Lin Qianyu suppressed a laugh and picked up the little wolf cub, placing a wet towel over its head and rubbing it, saying, “You almost became rations, you know that?”

Knowing the white lion had no intention of eating the cub—it was just yawning with its head slightly raised—who would have thought that when it lowered its head and closed its mouth, a grassland wolf cub would come in?

The little wolf cub’s head shook wildly as it was rubbed, clearly still unaware that it had just narrowly escaped death.

At that moment, the grassland wolf usually responsible for watching the cubs flared up its fur, but since it was farther away, just two steps away from running here, the cub was already released. Except for its fur being a bit wet, it seemed unharmed.

Seeing this, the wolf’s pace was no longer so urgent.

When it arrived, Lin Qianyu handed the almost dried cub to it, saying, “Here, the rest is up to you.”

“Wuu!” The grassland wolf bit the cub’s neck and turned around to take it back to groom.

—The meat at home must be watched over by furry ones.

Short absences were fine, but if gone too long, other animals would inevitably be attracted by the blood scent.

Therefore, when Lin Qianyu went out in the afternoon to deliver meat to Dabai, she only took Zhuifeng and the white lion.

“Are you really not going home to wait for me first?” Lin Qianyu held the prey on Zhuifeng’s back, “I’ll find you after I deliver the meat to Dabai.”

The yard of the white lion’s wooden house should also be put on the agenda. At least before the variety show ended, the green plants in the yard should sprout. Otherwise, when the dry season comes, the plants will wither and the yard’s appearance will be greatly diminished.

“Roar…”

The white lion showed no intention of leaving; instead, it walked a few steps forward along this path, clearly meaning to follow.

Lin Qianyu was behind, walking slowly with Zhuifeng because she had to be careful not to drop the prey. Seeing this, she called out, “White lion?”

The white lion ignored her and kept walking forward.

“White lion…”

“Ao!”

The white lion, unwilling to move, tried to walk deeper into a path.

Lin Qianyu couldn’t help but laugh and say, “I’m not trying to stop you; you’re just going the wrong way.”

The white lion’s stepping paw stopped mid-air, its front paw pulled back before touching the ground.

Lin Qianyu pointed to the left, “Dabai is at this part of the sea.”

Strictly speaking, the orca’s range should cover all areas near the shore of this island, but the only frequently visited shore was here. There was no agreed meeting point, but it seemed this place had become an unspoken understanding.

Lin Qianyu smiled and stroked the white lion’s mane. The thick texture made her want to pet it a little longer. “Good boy.”

The white lion obediently sat still, letting her scratch its mane. It felt strange but not unpleasant.

Lin Qianyu said, “Let’s hurry over.”

After confirming the direction, the white lion continued to walk ahead.But when facing the beach, the white lion hesitated.

Sand, like pebbles, would get stuck in the paw pads of feline animals, making cleaning a big hassle.

The cleanliness-loving white lion didn’t want sand sticking to its fur.

“How about you wait here for me?” Lin Qianyu pointed toward the sea. “I’ll just go deliver something, and you can still see me from here.”

“Wuu…”

The white lion squatted right there, its tail curling around its body, and responded softly.

Zhuifeng didn’t have the same trouble facing sand as felines did; besides feeling uncomfortable walking on sand, there was no other issue.

“Dabai!” The prey was too big, so Lin Qianyu didn’t hurry to take it down but first called out toward the sea, “Dabai, are you here? Dabai?”

The waves hitting the beach largely muffled her voice, but soon the shape of an orca appeared near the shoreline, spouting water from its blowhole. The black-and-white orca was faintly visible in the water.

“I brought you something tasty.” Lin Qianyu lifted the processed prey, though she wasn’t sure if it would still carry the white lion’s scent once thrown into the sea.

But as she tossed the prey into the water, she said, “This was caught by the white lion. Do you know the white lion? You probably know lions, right?”

The orca, which could only stay on the beach at most, probably had no concept of the white lion.

But it should be familiar with common lions.

“Ying—!”

The orca flipped over, grabbed the prey, flicked its tail, stirring the waves. As the waves receded, a turtle curled inside its shell slowly lifted its head and stared at Lin Qianyu.

Seeing a human, the turtle immediately retracted its limbs back into the shell.

The shell still showed marks from the last removal of barnacles, indicating recent luck—no new barnacles had grown.

Lin Qianyu waved and tried to greet it, “Hi, nice to see you again.”

Scientifically, turtles have low intelligence, but some domesticated turtles can distinguish between familiar feeders and strangers after being fed for a long time.

They had met in recent days, so this turtle probably remembered her—or at least had some impression.

Hearing Lin Qianyu’s voice, the turtle cautiously looked over.

Turtles are naturally slow, and this one was quite old, so slow movement and reaction were normal.

After what seemed like a long time, the turtle finally recognized the person in front of it and began slowly crawling on the ground. When it reached Lin Qianyu, it lifted its front paw and tapped her leg. After interacting, it didn’t retreat but turned on the spot and headed toward the sea.

“Don’t leave! Since you’re here, have some jiamuguo fruit before you go.” Lin Qianyu stopped the turtle and took two jiamuguo fruits from Zhuifeng’s side pouch, which was nearly empty, making the two fruits stand out more.

She patted Zhuifeng’s side and said, “There are plenty more on the trees. I’ll pick some more for you when we go back.”

Zhuifeng raised its head and “Hui!”

After the excitement, it felt it should act a bit more reserved. It didn’t really want the jiamuguo fruit but having empty bags on both sides felt strange. More jiamuguo fruit to weigh down the bags would be better.

[Zhuifeng’s sly look clearly shows all its thoughts on its face.]

[Haha, are all zebras like this? So funny.]

[The zebra in documentaries: handsome, brave, and not to be messed with. The zebra in Lin Jie’s livestream room: a clueless youngster, the rest is just about tasty food.]...

The prey in the orca’s mouth hadn’t been finished when a speedboat approached from not far away. It bore the rescue station’s logo. Lin Qianyu thought it must be the maritime patrol team that Bo Zhao mentioned earlier.

“Hey!” The man with chestnut brown hair sitting at the front of the speedboat waved his crossed hands and shouted, “NO! NO! NO!”

“Don’t, don’t feed the orca! No, wait—”

His words were halting, echoing, and carried a distinct foreign accent, making them sound unclear.

Lin Qianyu only caught the “NO,” and before she could listen carefully, the orca dropped the half-eaten prey from its mouth, turned, and charged the speedboat, flipping it over with a single tail strike.

The man shouting “NO” was the first to fall into the water.

The driver and another crew member also inevitably fell in.

Fortunately, the patrol team wore life jackets. The speedboat spun several times in the air in a 360-degree rotation without landing on any of the fallen team members.

Thanks to the life jackets, they floated to the surface the moment they hit the water.

“Orca?” The group, hair plastered messily to their faces, exchanged looks, all thinking the same question: The orca attacked humans!

How was that possible?

Since records began, there had never been any record of orcas attacking human vessels.

Mostly, orcas were only curious about boats and would approach them, but only out of curiosity.

The chestnut-haired man exclaimed in shock, “Oh... we were attacked by an orca!”

“Dabai!” Lin Qianyu noticed the dorsal fin on the water’s surface and observed the orca’s swimming direction. It seemed to be flicking its tail at the people in the water.

She hurriedly shouted to stop them, “The gazelle was taken by the orca in the pod!”

The tail, raised halfway, suddenly froze, failing to flick, and then dropped heavily behind the orca. Dabai swam back aggressively, “Ying!”

But no other orcas appeared; only some small fish nibbled on the meat.

Dabai opened its mouth and swallowed the remaining half of the meat along with the small fish attached in one gulp.

With a pause, the two people in the water dared not delay any longer. Swimming to the speedboat was obviously too late, but luckily, joining the maritime patrol required strong swimming skills, and they weren’t too far from shore, so they swam directly up.

The lingering fear of nearly being attacked by the orca weighed on their minds. The chestnut-haired man sighed and blurted out a string of English.

The girl driving the speedboat scoffed, “Stop joking, Mori. How could that be? Orcas playing by slapping away stingrays and turtles, that’s play. How could they flip a speedboat and hit people? Who pissed off the orca?”

[I guess it’s Mori.]

[No doubt. Dabai was happily waiting for Lin Jie to feed him, but after only a couple bites, he was screaming ‘don’t feed me!’ If it were me, I’d fly over and hit him too.]

[Good person, good intentions, just talks too much!]

[The boat should’ve sprung a leak! Mouth crooked.]

Mori shook his head, still confused. Then he suddenly turned to Lin Qianyu standing on the shore, “Hey, what did you feed the orca? Did it become like this because of that?”

He probably thought Lin Qianyu fed the orca something strange, which caused the drastic change in its temperament.

But when he saw Lin Qianyu’s expression clearly, he suddenly opened his mouth wide, “Oh! Yeah! Right—you’re the one on the live stream, what’s your name?”Mori patted his head, completely blank and unable to remember who the person in front of him was.

The girl beside him reminded him, “Lin Qianyu.”

Mori clapped his hands, “Right! Lin! Kevin mentioned you to me, he said you’re really amazing.”

Seeing his embarrassing state, the girl just pushed him aside and walked up to Lin Qianyu to greet her, “Hello, Lin Jie. I’m the leader of Team 3 in the maritime patrol team, my name is Shi Danni.”

Shi Danni stretched out her hand, but halfway noticed the seawater on her hand, so she hurriedly rubbed it on her clothes, which were also wet, hesitating halfway about whether to shake hands or not.

Lin Qianyu raised her hand and grasped hers gently, saying softly, “Hello.”

Shi Danni smiled. As a fan of Lin Qianyu, she couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous after seeing her in person. Previously, because so many people wanted to meet Lin Qianyu face-to-face, their team’s departure was discovered.

The higher-ups simply issued a rule forbidding rescue station staff from actively contacting Lin Qianyu; violators would be directly removed.

But… since this was just a chance encounter on a speedboat, it probably didn’t count as a violation.

Shi Danni withdrew her hand and looked at the orca circling nearby in the water, trying to come ashore, and said, “No wonder the orca suddenly turned back halfway through its swim — turns out it was you calling it.”

Lin Qianyu was momentarily stunned, not expecting that, “You’ve been following Dabai?”

“Yeah. After you sent that thing to the rescue station last time, we held an overnight meeting, expanded the patrol range, and added two more patrol boats. When we finished work today, we noticed the orca and decided to follow and see where it wanted to go. But halfway through, the orca suddenly dove and went the opposite direction. I thought something had happened.”

Shi Danni recalled how she had been wildly guessing if something was wrong, but after chasing after it, she realized nothing had happened — it just heard Lin Qianyu calling it.

“Sorry for my attitude just now. I’m really sorry, I…” Mori ran up, “I also! I also want to shake hands, okay?”

He spoke with gestures, using both spoken and sign language.

It was clear he was trying hard.

His hair was either wet from just coming out of the sea or soaked with sweat from the effort, desperately trying to express himself.

Lin Qianyu nodded, “Okay.”

“Yeah!” Mori grabbed her hand, his face full of excitement, “I, I’ve become a fan!”

The white lion frowned and walked out from behind Mori.

Lin Qianyu instinctively looked up toward where the white lion had been waiting before. The footprints on the beach were very light.

She didn’t even know when it had come.

Lin Qianyu thought about how to warn them so they wouldn’t be scared when they suddenly saw the white lion approaching. But after brief consideration, it seemed there was no simple way to explain it all, so she just said directly, “That…”

Mori, immersed in his excited mood, paying no attention to what Lin Qianyu was saying, looked at their joined hands happily.

He turned his head and said with a chuckle, “Hehe, look, the white lion is happy for me.”

Then… his smile suddenly froze on his face.

“Roar—!”

The white lion gave a low growl. Mori wanted to dodge but instinctively gripped her hand even tighter.

Seeing that hand, the white lion narrowed its eyes.

Comments: [???]【Isn’t that brother? Are you really that brave? Why don’t you let go quickly?】

【Don’t be afraid, the white lion is a neat freak. Mori just came out of the sea all dirty, so the white lion probably won’t bite.】

【Wow, such tight logic, who can even tell you apart from Judge Bao?】

…

The white lion’s gaze was unabashed. Mori obviously realized something and hurriedly loosened his grip.

“Oh—hey, calm down everyone, I’m a good person.” Mori seemed not at all nervous, but actually had lost it for a while, babbling nonsense, not knowing what he was saying, but just speaking anyway.

Even after letting go, the white lion kept staring at his arm.

Mori put both hands behind his back and grinned, “Hey… I’m just an admirer of Lin, no ill intentions.”

Lin Qianyu raised her hand to rest on the white lion’s neck. The white lion’s mood was more stable than most animals on the grassland, so there was no worry it would suddenly attack. She then shouted toward the sea, “Dabai, help me push the speedboat.”

The speedboat drifting on the sea bobbed up and down with the waves but wasn’t sinking anytime soon.

The orca lingering near the shore responded with a ‘ying’ sound, dived underwater for a short while, then appeared beside the speedboat.

Using its tail to slap, the speedboat skimmed like a skipping stone, flying over in a few hits.

“Thanks!” Shi Danni was still wondering whether to contact other colleagues for pickup or swim back to retrieve the speedboat.

They hadn’t driven the speedboat back right after being flipped over, partly because it was too far and partly because they didn’t know why the orca suddenly overturned them.

After all, they had followed all the way and saw no signs of anger from the orca, so no one understood why it suddenly flipped the boat. Their first thought was that leaving the sea was the safest.

But… now that the misunderstanding was cleared, if the speedboat wasn’t damaged, they could drive it back themselves.

Anyway, their patrol work was finished, and they had chased the orca only after handing over to Team 2.

“No need, you guys go ahead, be safe.” After a pause, Lin Qianyu explained to the orca, “Dabai is actually very friendly. If you encounter any problems at sea, you can ask it for help.”

The orca leapt from the sea, its snout pushing against the just-pushed speedboat, “Ying!”

The speedboat flipped twice, landed on the beach, and was hit by an incoming wave.

“Alright Lin Jie, see you next time.” Shi Danni grabbed the speedboat’s handrail to avoid being dragged back by the waves, but the retreating wave’s force still pushed her two steps forward.

Mori cheerfully said, “Looking forward to next time! I—” As he started speaking, the white lion stepped forward.

Mori’s words got stuck, his brain froze for three seconds, and when he came back to himself, he forgot what he wanted to say. Seeing the white lion staring at him, he hurriedly turned his arm from behind to the front, and didn’t dare let go when running onto the speedboat.

Afraid that one careless move would mean needing a custom prosthetic.

The white lion licked the corner of its mouth, lowered its head, raised a paw, about to lick it, but paused when it saw the paw pads covered in sand.

Lin Qianyu raised her hand to pat it, but the effect was minimal, “It’s okay, I’ll help you clean it later when we get back.”

The dirty paw made the white lion unhappy. Standing beside Lin Qianyu, it didn’t even want to sit down, and its tail lightly swaying would sweep sand on the ground, so it stopped moving its tail altogether and wrapped it around Lin Qianyu’s calf, hanging there.

【If before saying the white lion had a neat freak habit was a joke, now I really believe it.】

【Sob… doesn’t like the beach getting it dirty, still came down to shake hands with Lin Lin when seeing a stranger, it really makes me cry.】

【I really love some unreasonable favoritism.】The sea turtle took a long time to finish eating a wild fruit and was struggling to get to the next one.

Sometimes the sea turtle would find wild fruits fallen under trees, but the chance was very small; more commonly seen on the beach were coconuts.

Also, the overripe wild fruits fallen from the trees tasted different from fresh ones.

Lin Qianyu brushed the sand off her legs. “Dabai, I’m going back too.”

“Ying!”

—The beach was not far from the white lion’s home.

Zhuifeng followed along but got distracted by some leaves halfway and squatted nearby pulling at the leaves for a long time.

Seeing this, Lin Qianyu took the hiking backpack off Zhuifeng’s back and let it run around, while she first went back with the white lion.

They didn’t go straight to the wooden house but first detoured to the river behind the white lion’s cabin.

Lin Qianyu took a compressed towel from the backpack, tore open the package and soaked it in water. The compressed towel quickly absorbed the water and expanded. After folding and wringing out most of the water, she held it out to the white lion, shaking off the drops to avoid accidentally dropping water on it, which would make it have to clean itself for a long time again.

Lin Qianyu folded the towel multiple times to a suitable size, then held out her hand to the white lion, palm up, “Come, give me your paw.”

The white lion sat down on the grass, imitating her, raising its right paw to place on her hand.

Lions don’t like water. Because of hunting or other reasons, when their fur gets dirty, they won’t jump into water to bathe like tigers do.

For the neat white lion, grooming its fur is a troublesome and exhausting task.

Lin Qianyu first wiped off the sand floating on the surface of the paw. After cleaning, she parted the white fur on the paw. The palm had pink pads, filling her hand. She couldn’t help but hold the paw and shake it in front of the camera, “Look.”

Even the white lion’s paw pads were pink, which didn’t match its mighty and imposing appearance at all.

Lin Qianyu pressed her thumb on the pads and poked lightly twice.

The white lion didn’t know what she was looking at but noticed when she raised the paw and turned its head to look.

Lin Qianyu pulled her hand back and petted the white lion’s head, “Show everyone the paw pads.”

Saying that, Lin Qianyu sat cross-legged and used the damp towel to slowly wipe the gaps of the pads, repeatedly wiping twice until there was no trace of dirt left. Then she turned around to show the white lion, “Okay, how is it? Isn’t it very clean?”

The white lion lowered its eyes and licked Lin Qianyu’s hand.

“You licked it crooked.” Lin Qianyu held the white lion’s paw, tapping the pads on its nose, smiling, “Come, switch to the other paw.”

“Woo…”

Author’s note: Here it comes, here it comes. One more chapter left, will post after finishing~ probably late, around eight or nine. I’m going to eat now. (Update: couldn’t finish by nine, will guarantee update before midnight.)