Chapter 97

Chapter 97

【Aaaah! I really love big cats with this kind of attitude.】

Lin Qianyu rubbed the leopard’s whiskers with her fingertips. “Wanna go home?”

The leopard opened its mouth, pretending it was going to bite her. “Roar!”

Lin Qianyu didn’t dodge—instead, she deliberately offered her arm into the leopard’s mouth.

“…Mrr?” The leopard’s roar paused. Its open mouth trembled slightly, and its paws fumbled at her arm.

Lin Qianyu laughed and hugged the leopard’s head, then slid her hand down to stroke its belly. “Did you miss me, Huahua?”

The leopard lay on its side, stretching out comfortably. Its chin tried to rest on its paw, but ended up on Lin Qianyu’s forehead. After a moment’s pause, it snuggled down.

It was only leaning against her—the leopard didn’t put its whole weight down.

Lin Qianyu felt warmth on her forehead, like a soft fluffy blanket had been laid there. A low purring rumbled from its throat, close to her ear—gentle and trembling, like it was acting cute.

Not getting a reply, Lin Qianyu tapped its ear, smoothing out the fluffy tip. “Why aren’t you talking? Did you miss me or not?”

Huahua’s breathing gradually evened out, but the purring didn’t stop. Still, no answer.

“Huahua, Huahua…? Huahua!”

“Roar!”

Yes!

Maybe because of her voice nagging right by its ear, the leopard gave a low growl in response.

“Haha.” Lin Qianyu laughed, patting its fur. “Alright, alright, no need to shout so loud. I know you missed me—I missed you too.”

【LMAO. Huahua: Fine, I’ll admit it—barely.】

【Please, Huahua is all tsundere but body says yes! No way this is just “barely.”】

【Our proud big cat looks annoyed and indulgent, but probably said ‘missed you’ in its head a dozen times already before saying it out loud.】

…

Lin Qianyu shifted to lie in another position on the leopard, fingers buried in its soft fur. “Wanna go home? It’s hot up here.”

Even though the leaves and branches blocked the sunlight, the air up high felt stifling. Only for a brief moment after the rain did it feel truly fresh.

Lin Qianyu said, “Hungry? I don’t think you’ve eaten yet. How about I slice some meat for you when we get back?”

“Roar!”

Dropped.

“You lost your prey?” Lin Qianyu sat up. “No wonder.”

Went out to hunt but came back with nothing—she thought the prey must’ve been small and already eaten, which would explain why it didn’t seem full.

But now it looked like it had caught something, but ditched it on the way back, probably annoyed it was slowing it down.

“Then let’s go back and look for it. Maybe no other animals have taken it yet.” Huahua was especially good at hiding prey. Some carnivores that couldn’t climb trees, even if they spotted food up in the branches, could only panic like ants on a hot pan—seeing it but unable to get to it.

Lin Qianyu felt her way down the tree, getting ready to call the leopard down too.Just as she looked up, the leopard had already landed—its front paws hit the ground, and the paw pads muffled all sound of impact.

Lin Qianyu grabbed the leopard’s head and gave it a good rub. “Let’s go.”

“Mur!”

Leopards generally remember exactly which tree they’ve hidden food in. And even if they forget, they can find it again by scent.

Lin Qianyu followed behind Huahua, letting the leopard lead the way.

But after circling around, they ended up back where they started. There was no sign of prey anywhere on the ground or in the trees.

“Did another animal carry it off?” Lin Qianyu said doubtfully.

If anything, it was most likely taken by another leopard—but this was Huahua’s territory. Stealing food hidden by the territory’s owner was undeniably a provocation.

A temperamental big cat wouldn’t be acting this calm if that had really happened.

Lin Qianyu caught sight of a camera mounted on a tree. After thinking for a second, she said, “I’ll ask Pei Feng, see if the surveillance caught anything.”

When ordinary methods fail, it’s time to turn to science and technology.

Pei Feng replied: 【One moment.】

Checking surveillance takes time.

So Lin Qianyu kept searching around the area with Huahua.

After a while, Pei Feng sent over a video directly.

Lin Qianyu opened it. In the footage, a dead gazelle was hanging precariously from a tree. Judging by the timestamp, it seemed to have just happened recently.

When the gazelle fell, it seemed to startle a passing black bear.

The bear first sniffed at the gazelle, then circled around it. Finally, it sniffed the fatal wound on the gazelle’s neck—perhaps due to long familiarity, it caught the leopard’s scent on the gazelle.

So the black bear thought for a moment, and between the prey it had its eye on and this gazelle, it chose to return the gazelle.

Lin Qianyu showed the video to Huahua. “Wasn’t lost—Little Bear took it back.”

The leopard raised its head and rubbed against her wrist.

【Little Bear: Thank you, nature for your gift—wait... why does nature smell like Huahua?】

【Conclusion: Huahua = Nature.】

【Wow, that logic is impressive. Nothing’s too difficult for you, huh.】

Besides that video, Pei Feng also sent another one.

Pei Feng: 【I found this while checking the previous video—felt it was pretty interesting, have a look.】

An interesting video?

Lin Qianyu raised an eyebrow and curiously opened the second video.

The surveillance angle was mostly from above, with a few cameras placed closer to the ground.

This video seemed to be from a high-mounted livestream camera shooting downward—it showed a group of gazelles grazing.Just watching gazelles graze doesn’t seem particularly interesting—until the next moment, when the video zoomed in on a clump of bushes at the edge.

Lin Qianyu enlarged the view and only then noticed something slightly off within the shrubs—there was a leopard hiding inside.

Next, the leopard sprang out and scattered the gazelle herd. It quickly killed an adult gazelle, then, while the rest of the herd fled in panic, it lunged at another.

The gazelle panicked, clearly terrified, and upon seeing the leopard charging toward it, turned to flee.

But just as it turned, the leopard caught it. The video wasn’t muted, so the gazelles’ cries filled the audio—it was unclear which one was crying, or perhaps all of them were panicking.

The leopard lowered its head, just about to finish off the gazelle, when it suddenly looked to the side. Taking advantage of the distraction, the gazelle struggled free and escaped.

When a leopard is hunting, other predators might appear nearby to try and snatch a share. But usually, there’s an unspoken understanding to avoid each other and hunt separately.

The leopard stood frozen for a moment, then took two steps in that direction. But it didn’t seem like another predator was there—and in the surveillance footage, that area was just open ground with not even any shrubs.

The timestamp in the upper right corner coincided exactly with when Lin Qianyu got off the plane.

The gazelle that had escaped was so frightened its legs were weak. It stumbled forward a few steps before collapsing, limbs splayed, struggling to get up. When it saw the leopard charging at it again, its eyes filled with despair, and it tried desperately to run faster.

But the leopard rapidly closed the distance and then—leapt right over it, jumping cleanly over the gazelle’s head without even glancing at it, grabbed the already-dead gazelle on the ground, and ran off.

The gazelle left behind: “???”

From the slow, confused movement of its hooves, it was clearly baffled and dazed.

If it had hands, it’d be scratching the back of its head wondering what just happened.

【Hahaha help, that gazelle’s expression has me laughing so hard my stomach hurts.】

【Did Huahua go looking for Linlin? Does anyone know Lin-jie’s exact schedule today? I really want to know.】

【The rescue center’s website has flight info! I posted a timestamp comparison screenshot on Weibo—it was totally going to find Linlin!】

【Huahua is really gonna make me cry to death—realized Lin-jie was back and didn’t even want the gazelle that was right there.】

...

Lin Qianyu watched the video, then glanced down at the leopard beside her.

Huahua was sitting calmly next to her, facing the phone screen but keeping its eyes on Lin Qianyu. When it saw her look over, it lifted its head to lick her and nuzzled the side of her neck.

Lin Qianyu’s eyes crinkled as she leaned in and rubbed her forehead against it. “You knew I was back all along, didn’t you?”

The leopard just kept nuzzling her.

“But wait—if you knew I was back, why were you up in the tree?” Lin Qianyu sensed something didn’t add up, so she continued watching the video.

This new video was a compilation, showing footage from several different cameras.

The leopard, not good at long-distance running, was clearly exhausted carrying its prey. It must have realized it was too slow like this, so it quickly scrambled up a tree, dropped off the prey, and jumped down to keep running.

It didn’t bother to cover the prey with branches or leaves—compared to how meticulous wild leopards are with hiding food, Huahua had stashed it rather casually.

Probably in a hurry, and because it was in its own territory, it wasn’t too cautious.

The video showed it running for a while longer, then suddenly stopping as if it saw something. It quickly climbed a tree nearby, and less than two minutes later, the little bear appeared in the footage—shortly followed by Lin Qianyu.

Realizing she had returned, the leopard had run all the way there, but just before their reunion, it hid—pretending to be completely indifferent, lying on a tree as if asleep.The awkward and tsundere leopard.

After watching the video, Lin Qianyu's eyes were filled with laughter. “Why’d you hide? Don’t want me to see, is that it?”

She wrapped her arm around the leopard’s neck. “Well, I am going to see.”

“Roar!”

It said it was hiding, but really, it had just climbed a tree. When Lin Qianyu arrived, it had even been sneaking peeks from above, stretching its head out to see better.

Half its body was almost hanging off the branch.

【Ahhh! Help! I’m seriously in love with this big cat’s attitude.】

【Wuwu… even when Huahua bares its teeth now, it just feels like it’s being cute. How can it be this adorable?】

【Huahua’s love for Lin-jie is practically spilling out of the screen!】

【Oh divine powers! I swear I’ll eat balanced meals, sleep early, and exercise every day—just send me a leopard like this!】

Lin Qianyu raised her hand and covered the leopard’s mouth, and while it wasn’t expecting it, she quickly kissed its forehead.

Its paw had just landed on her wrist. The moment she kissed it, it seemed to freeze for a second. Lin Qianyu noticed and kissed it again, then grabbed its furry head in both hands and gave it a vigorous rub.

The leopard’s head wobbled under the rubbing, and its fur looked like it was about to puff up from static.

Though it looked like it was about to bristle, and occasionally let out a frustrated growl, its sharp fangs never once touched Lin Qianyu’s hands.

—It even carefully avoided letting its bared teeth make contact with her.

Realizing this, Lin Qianyu’s heart melted into a puddle. Hugging the leopard, she rubbed and nuzzled it, “Let’s go. Little Bear brought the prey back. We should head home too… Oh right, have you seen Big Orange?”

Judging by how Big Orange always appeared the moment Feng Jingye set foot on the island, it must have some way of knowing. So it likely knew she had returned too.

She just didn’t know why it hadn’t shown up yet.

Or maybe… it was out hunting buffalo?

Maybe it was at a critical point in the hunt and couldn’t get away.

“Woo…”

The leopard didn’t know either.

Unable to guess the reason, Lin Qianyu decided not to think about it anymore. “I’ll ask Big Orange when it gets back. Come on, let’s go home.”

She’d been standing there watching the video for quite a while. When she finally stood up, Lin Qianyu noticed a slight ache in her calves. As she turned around, a small black snake suddenly dropped straight down—less than ten centimeters from her.

“Hissss…!” The little black snake opened its mouth wide and lunged at Lin Qianyu.

She didn’t flinch. Raising her hand, thumb pressed against the tip of her ring finger, she flicked the snake’s head—snap.

With a sound like snapping a watermelon seed.

The little black snake, hanging only by its tail from a branch, spun several times around the branch like a pivot, coiling itself tighter with each spin.

Until it wasn’t long enough anymore, so it bounced its head off itself. When it finally stopped, its eyes were wobbling in circles.

Clearly dazed beyond belief.The big spin—anyone would be dizzy after that many turns!

Lin Qianyu hadn’t expected that just a light flick would make the little black snake nearly tie itself into a knot. She quickly snapped off a tree branch and, seeing the little black snake wobbling its head as it lay on her, asked with concern, “Are you okay?”

Though her voice still carried a trace of amusement.

“Hiss hiss!” The little black snake let go of the branch, intending to drop onto Lin Qianyu, but the spinning had left its head dizzy and the world around it seemed to swirl and tilt. It couldn’t even aim for her nearby shoulder and missed entirely—falling straight down.

Only to land in Lin Qianyu’s warm palm.

Its cool, jade-like texture felt like holding a piece of black jade bangle.

Once it came to its senses, the little black snake uncoiled itself, raised the front half of its body, and angrily protested, “Hiss hiss!”

Too much! That was way too much!

“Hiss hiss, hiss hiss!” Meeting her only to get flicked on the head, the little black snake’s eyes seemed to shoot fire. Its tail pointed to the tree, then back to itself, hissing nonstop.

Even its forked tongue flicked so fast it looked exhausting.

Noticing the corners of Lin Qianyu’s mouth lifting, the little black snake grew even more furious. “HISSSS——!”

【Look at how mad the little black snake is—it’s gone full rage mode.】

【When the leopard’s extremely angry, it takes on three at once. When the tiger’s furious, it hunts and blocks relentlessly. When the little black snake’s furious... it's just furious!】

【HAHAHA what the hell—have some manners, man!】

Seeing this, Lin Qianyu lowered her head and kissed the little black snake on its head. “There, there.”

The snake, just moments ago brimming with rage, instantly stiffened like it had frozen solid. Its fury vanished completely. It slowly curled up, its upright body swaying from side to side, looking shy and awkward.

Lin Qianyu tapped its forehead. “Why are you out here alone?”

All the furry ones at home had the idea of hunting to contribute. Whenever they hunted, they’d bring food back.

Judging from the pile of bones down the slope, even while she’d been away from Rainforest Island, the fluffballs still hunted and brought prey back to the cave to share.

Naturally, that included the little black snake’s share.

“Hiss hiss!”

Hunting!

Hearing this from the little black snake didn’t surprise Lin Qianyu at all.

So it also wanted to hunt and contribute.

Thinking it through, with the potency of its venom, it could easily kill animals the size of adult wild boars. But it didn’t really have the ability to bring its catch back home.

After all, it was just too small.

Lin Qianyu patted its head. “Next time, do your hunting after dinner.”

The little black snake didn’t object. As her hand withdrew from her pocket, it wound itself around her wrist again.

In the sweltering heat, it felt like her skin temperature was rising.

Having the cool little black snake hang there actually made for a pretty nice way to beat the heat.—Earlier in the video, she saw Little Bear bring back a gazelle.

Lin Qianyu thought she’d see Little Bear when she got home, but there was only a gazelle placed in the outer kitchen of the cave.

She thought for a moment and said, “Looks like Little Bear went out hunting again.”

So, it seemed Little Bear must have realized that this gazelle was caught by Huahua, helped deliver it for her, and then went off to hunt for himself.

The fluffballs got along really well.

Even non-social animals had started helping each other out.

A smile appeared on Lin Qianyu’s face—how nice.

Taking advantage of the gazelle’s freshness, Lin Qianyu separated its meat and organs.

She weighed it in her hands and said, “This gazelle is pretty heavy.”

Just this one would be enough for the two fluffballs at home. Little Eagle, Little Bear, and Big Orange were all excellent hunters—when it came to meat, the fluffballs had more than enough to eat three meals a day.

There was plenty of food. Since they used to just catch one and eat it, but now needed to catch several, their activity levels had gone up too.

As a result, their bodies grew stronger—each one sleek and shiny, and the feel when rubbing them was indescribably satisfying.

After the meat was sorted, Lin Qianyu prepared some powdered milk.

As for meat, even if Lin Qianyu wasn’t home, they could catch and eat it themselves—though not in neatly portioned chunks.

But milk powder—only when Lin Qianyu was around could they have that.

So she made a larger batch at once.

Buzz buzz—her phone vibrated twice. Lin Qianyu stirred the milk powder with one hand while holding the kettle in the other. She didn’t dare stop for fear of it clumping, which would make it hard to dissolve later.

She glanced at the little black snake, who was holding a piece of fur in its mouth, and called out, “Little Snake, help me check who messaged me.”

The little black snake slithered in upon hearing her. Lin Qianyu tilted her chin, motioning toward the phone.

The screen hadn’t turned off yet, and Pei Feng’s message notification was still visible.

The little black snake stared at the screen, then coiled itself up on the phone, lifting the tip of its tail to cover the top message box. “Hiss hiss……”

“You don’t know who it is?” Lin Qianyu laughed at the serious tone in the little snake’s response. “Get down, don’t crush my phone.”

“Hiss hiss!” The little black snake puffed up its chest indignantly… though it probably didn’t have one. It straightened its upper body, head leaning back, curving slightly like it was striking a proud pose.

But it didn’t look very stable.

Lin Qianyu poked its side. Though the pose looked cool, the center of gravity was all off. With that poke, the little black snake immediately flopped over with a thud.

“Haha.”

The little black snake smacked its tail against the phone. “Hiss hiss!!!”

【My turn! My turn! Let me poke it!】

【Such a cute little black snake—if you don’t tie a bow on it, it’s a waste of adorableness.】

【Little black snake: My thanks to your ancestors for eight generations—you're truly the reincarnated King of Hell, what a kind soul.】After finishing the milk powder, Little Snake was still making noise. Lin Qianyu wiped the powder off her fingertips with a wet wipe, picked up her chopsticks, and fed a piece of meat to its mouth.

The chattering Little Snake suddenly choked, silenced by the meat.

After it clamped down on the meat, it continued trying to speak while swallowing, “Hiss... hiss…”

With the meat in its mouth, the hissing sound got distorted, almost turning into a "shi" sound like "lion" in Chinese.

By the end, perhaps feeling it had lost all its imposing air, it smacked its lips, stopped hissing, and obediently focused on eating.

Putting down her chopsticks, Lin Qianyu picked up her phone.

Pei Feng: [Did you see the big tiger?]

Lin Qianyu typed back: [Not yet.]

Pei Feng: [Alright. If you still haven’t seen it in ten minutes, send me another message.]

Lin Qianyu asked suspiciously: [Did something happen to Da Ju?]

Pei Feng: [Not really. Boss Feng arrived on the island today and came ashore by boat earlier than you. We saw through surveillance that the big tiger squatted nearby for quite a while. It didn’t move even when the boat docked, but the moment Boss Feng disembarked, the tiger walked off. Boss Feng suspects the tiger may have chosen to find you over settling the score with him.]

You have to know, this was the same big tiger who once abandoned a freshly hunted buffalo—its belly already torn open—without even taking a bite of the organs, just to chase down and intercept Feng Jingye.

Today, for some unknown reason, Da Ju temporarily set aside its grudge.

This was something worth looking into for the rescue center.

After all, every time Feng Jingye came to the island, they had to assign someone to escort him.

Facing such a massive tiger every single time—who wouldn’t be afraid? Watching it dozens of times still wouldn’t erase the fear of a predator suddenly lunging at you.

Lin Qianyu, reading the message: “???”

So much drama happened behind the scenes without her knowing.

Pei Feng: [According to our time estimate, it should reach your side in about ten minutes.]

If it didn’t show up, then they’d need to revise their assumptions and track down who or what had caught the big tiger’s attention.

That way, next time Feng Jingye came to the island, they could place something in advance to lure the tiger away, ensuring his safe landing.

Lin Qianyu hovered her fingertips over the keyboard, typed a couple of words, then deleted them again, unsure what to say. In the end, she simply sent: [Okay.]

The leopard looked at her putting the phone down, then raised its gaze. Lin Qianyu rested her hand on the leopard’s head and sighed, “Good thing Da Ju and Tuanzi haven’t met.”

Otherwise, two very intelligent animals plotting together on how to deal with Feng Jingye… wasn’t entirely impossible.

【Next time Linlin should come with Boss Feng. The island master is so pitiful—remember to livestream so I can see just how pitiful he really is.】

【Thought you were being considerate in the first half. Turns out the second half exposed your evil heart!】

【Truly tragic. Now the Rainforest Island landing has a tiger waiting, and on the Savannah Island, a white lion is watching the drop-off point. @Director Su, are you seriously not going to award our island master a special grand prize for being the least liked by animals?】

…

Lin Qianyu glanced at the time. Ten minutes was enough to do a lot.

She added cool purified water to the well-mixed milk powder to lower the temperature.She thought for a moment, then decided to leave the milk bowl inside the tent instead of taking it out.

The meat and organs were all cleaned and set aside.

She did a quick cleanup of the blood that had dripped onto the ground while cutting the meat.

Checking the time again—exactly ten minutes had passed.

Still no sign of the big tiger. Lin Qianyu picked up her phone, just about to send a message to Pei Feng.

As soon as she moved, a powerful roar rang out—

“Roar—!”