Inside the enclosure, as Sister Hua made her domineering return, the tigers that had been forcefully herded back lowered their heads even further, fearing that a single misstep might once again attract the attention of that tigress. Sister Hua appeared quite satisfied with their reaction.
"It's been so long since I had such a satisfying fight. That was truly exhilarating."
Just as Sister Hua was lost in thought, Yang Lin walked over.
His first question was: "Have you counted how many tigers you actually brought back?"
Hearing Yang Lin's question, Sister Hua was taken aback.
"Why would I count that?"
"Are there still some escapees? I'll go catch them right away, I haven't had my fill yet."
"There were two who were stubbornly refusing to admit they had escaped, so they took a couple more swipes."
As she spoke, she turned to leave again.
However, Yang Lin gleaned a crucial piece of information from her words. If his memory served him correctly, the staff had mentioned two extra tigers earlier. Realizing a possibility, he quickly stopped Sister Hua.
"Can you still find those two stubborn tigers you just mentioned?"
"Of course, they seem to be a couple, a bit stronger than the others."
Saying this, Sister Hua's gaze swept across the tiger group. As her tiger eyes scanned, the tigers present wished they could dig a hole and bury their heads in it. Even so, Sister Hua still managed to identify two tigers that looked slightly different from the rest.
"You two, yes, you. Come here!"
Although Sister Hua's tone was very gentle, the two tigers singled out trembled in fear. They took a full minute to cover the ten-meter distance. When they arrived in front of Sister Hua, Yang Lin immediately noticed that these two tigers appeared to be South China tigers. Compared to the other tigers, they seemed to possess a more untamed wildness. This further solidified his earlier suspicion.
However, to confirm it further, he forcibly pulled a staff member over.
"Take a look at these two tigers. Are they from here?"
"Ah?"
If Yang Lin hadn't dragged him along, this staff member would never have dared to enter the enclosure. Not to mention the tigers inside, Sister Hua alone made his heart pound. But when he heard Yang Lin's question, he still glanced at the two tigers Sister Hua had picked out.
With just one look, he froze. Having worked there for so long, he was generally familiar with the appearance of the tigers in the park. But these two tigers looked completely unfamiliar. After a thorough confirmation, he finally shook his head.
"They are not from our enclosure."
"Then, did tigers from other enclosures mix in?" Yang Lin added.
"Not that either." The staff member shook his head again. "We register and tag every tiger born here. These two have no tags, nor vaccination labels, so they are definitely not from here."
"Tags?" With a hint of confusion, Yang Lin quickly looked at the other tigers present. Indeed, a special mark could be seen on the necks of these tigers, while the two identified ones did not have them.
Understanding this, Yang Lin showed a wry smile.
"It seems these two are indeed not from Bear Tiger Mountain Villa, but are likely wild tigers that originally lived in the forest area."
Hearing Yang Lin's words, Sister Hua's expression froze.
"Wild tigers? Aren't all the tigers from the forest area the ones that ran out from here?"
"That's not necessarily the case. There are records of South China tigers in Guangxi, so it's quite normal for two to wander here."
As he spoke, Yang Lin looked with sympathy at the two wild South China tigers. At this moment, they must have had a belly full of grievances with nowhere to vent. They were peacefully strolling and hunting in the forest when suddenly a giant tiger appeared and beat them up, and crucially, refused to listen to their explanations. In their entire tiger lives, they had always been the ones to beat up other animals, never suffering such indignity. If it weren't for their pride, they would have burst into tears on the spot for Yang Lin to see.
"Alright, alright, it's good that we figured it out. I'll let you two go back now, and as compensation, I'll have them prepare some meat for you two."
While appeasing the two unlucky South China tigers, Yang Lin had the staff members of the villa bring two beef legs from the cold storage.
"Here, take your compensation and leave quickly. Don't come near here again."
"Go!"
With a wave of Yang Lin's hand, the two unlucky South China tigers felt as if they had received a great pardon. They grabbed the beef legs from the ground and ran back into the forest. They kept looking back as they ran, fearing that this was some kind of sting operation orchestrated by Sister Hua. Only when they were sure Sister Hua wouldn't chase them to beat them up again did they quicken their pace and disappear into the forest in a flash, making all the other tigers present envious.
When Yang Lin saw the envious expressions on the faces of these tigers, he shook his head.
"You all shouldn't be envious. Before you have the ability to survive in the wild, even if I let you go, you would starve to death out there."
But his words sparked defiance in the tigers.
"Even if we starve to death out there, we won't eat anything from here."
"That's right, we are the kings of the jungle, we will never surrender."
...
Before the group of tigers finished their grumbling, the park staff arrived with a cart full of meat. As the meat was thrown onto the enclosure floor, the tigers, who had been hungry all day, swarmed towards it like starving ghosts. Watching them devour the meat, Yang Lin shook his head again. Although the enclosure was not yet repaired, he was certain that these tigers would not try to escape again in the short term. Humans couldn't withstand such a combination of punishment and reward, let alone these less intelligent tigers.
Looking at them, Yang Lin felt a touch of pity for them. However, from the moment they were born here, their fate was sealed. Forcing them back into the wild would not be mercy, but greater cruelty. This was why Bear Tiger Mountain Villa chose not to send them away, even at a significant financial loss.
As Yang Lin was lost in thought, Nie Feng, who had learned that the matter was resolved, approached again. As soon as they met, Nie Feng uttered a sentence that caught Yang Lin completely off guard.