Chapter 63: Manager, Are You Running a Wholesaling Business?
The critical first step in treating the rescued raptors was a comprehensive diagnostic sweep.
Su Wudeng guided the birds, who had formed an surprisingly orderly line, into the battleship’s advanced medical bay.
“Alright, Xiaoxue, you’re up first. Stand right on the center plate and remember to stay still.”
The Snowy Owl’s golden eyes narrowed. …What do you mean, ‘Xiaoxue’?!
It was a proud, fiercely independent Snowy Owl! The apex aerial predator of the sub-zero tundra!
Yet, no matter how majestic its lineage, beneath Su Wudeng’s calm, authoritative gaze, it found itself shuffling forward to plant its heavy talons onto the examination platform without a single trace of resistance.
“Good boy, Xiaoxue. Let sister take a look at your charts.”
A comprehensive, real-time three-dimensional holographic matrix of the owl materialized on the primary overhead display, framed by dense rows of physiological data tracking its cellular and bone structures.
Fortunately, though the industrial mutilation of its primary flight feathers looked gruesome, the underlying muscular structures hadn’t sustained fatal necrosis. Given the standard regenerative treatment vectors available in the modern era, a month of complete rest would be more than enough to completely restore its wings.
“Excellent. Your prognosis is highly favorable, Xiaoxue. Just ensure you maintain a consistent dietary intake, execute minor physical therapy, and complete the medical applications over the next month, and you’ll be completely healed.”
“Next! Xiaojin!”
The Snowy Owl stepped down from the platform in a profound daze, its predatory mind completely short-circuiting. Did the human just state a single month? It would only take thirty days to reclaim its absolute freedom in the sky?!
While the owl was drowning in disbelief, the massive Golden Eagle shoved its way past, completely impatient to take its place.
“Sister, inspect my files next! Look at me!”
The desire to recover had consumed its entire consciousness. God knew how intensely its predatory soul had bled when it witnessed Qingqing soaring through the upper generators of the arena earlier.
The Golden Eagle’s physical proportions completely eclipsed the Snowy Owl’s mass. Though its traditional lineage name carried the word “Golden,” the vast majority of its heavy plumage consisted of rich, dark-chocolate and rust-brown tones, with only the sharp crests of its crown feathers gleaming with a true metallic gold luster.
Compared to the sleek, aristocratic elegance of the Snowy Owl, the Golden Eagle radiated a wild, savage, and intensely fierce aura.
If a Great Tiger was the absolute master of the terrestrial forest, then a Golden Eagle was the undisputed king of the open sky. Their evolutionary status was entirely equal.
Perhaps recognizing the extreme threat profile of the species, the poaching syndicate had treated the eagle with far greater sadism than its companions. Its primary wing-joints were almost entirely severed, and its broad chest was cross-hatched by deep, jagged lacerations that appeared to have been inflicted by a combat knife.
Reviewing those horrific, overlapping scars, anyone could deduce that the eagle had mounted multiple violent rebellions during captivity, driving the poachers to inflict increasingly brutal physical punishment to break its spirit.
Su Wudeng reached out, her touch incredibly soft as she traced the borders of the scar tissue. “You’ve endured so many structural injuries, Xiaojin. Sister is going to manage your rehabilitation very carefully, alright?”
“Yes! Yes! As long as the tissue can regenerate, I will endure any procedure!”
The Golden Eagle was intimately aware of how close its body had come to total mechanical failure. As long as a path to recovery existed, it would submit to any timeline, no matter how grueling. The singular terror that had stalked its thoughts inside the iron cage was hearing that its wings were permanently ruined. If it was destined to remain earth-bound forever, it would rather its reactor go permanently dark today.
Su Wudeng crooned, “Our Xiaojin is the strongest, most resilient warrior in the sky. I know you can pull through this, right?”
“Absolutely!” the eagle shrieked back heroically, its fierce chest swelling.
“Good boy. Next candidate—Xiaofeng!”
The Swift Falcon possessed exceptionally streamlined, aerodynamic body lines, its slender wings engineered for high-velocity atmospheric displacement. Its plumage featured a beautifully coordinated matrix of charcoal, slate-gray, and stark white tones that gave it a highly polished look.
If the Snowy Owl was defined by an aristocratic coldness and the Golden Eagle by a savage ferocity, then the Swift Falcon was the absolute embodiment of modern, high-speed elegance.
“Xiaofeng’s structural parameters sustained the least amount of trauma. Your flight capability will be fully restored within two weeks!”
Hearing the diagnostic conclusion, the Swift Falcon offered a graceful, deeply reserved nod of its head. “My sincere gratitude, Sister.”
Su Wudeng instinctively clutched her chest, her inner animal-lover screaming. Oh my god, Xiaofeng’s telepathic vocal timbre is so incredibly charming and melodic!
Snowy Owl: “…”
Golden Eagle: “…”
Unconvinced.jpg
Right then, the massive Golden Eagle marched back toward Su Wudeng. Before she could process its approach, it flared its damaged wings, using its immense bulk to gently but firmly wrap her within a heavy, feathered embrace.
“Tell me, Sister… isn’t my chest structure vastly more reliable and grounding?”
Su Wudeng’s brain completely melted. “!!!”
What an overwhelmingly passionate little eagle! He literally just initialized a voluntary hug!
The Golden Eagle’s mass was formidable, its individual feathers possessing a rigid, razor-sharp texture that felt almost like machined carbon-alloy against her skin. While the outer plumage felt cool to the touch, its broad chest radiated an intense, metabolic heat that felt like a localized furnace.
That classic tsundere combination of an icy exterior and a burning heart left her completely dizzy with affection. “Yes! Yes! You are incredibly reliable, Xiaojin!”
The Swift Falcon narrowed its eyes. Where on earth did this land-locked brute learn such blatant manipulation tactics?
The falcon’s mind rapidly computed how to re-divert its manager’s hyper-focus back to its own profile…
Strategy logged.
A subtle fracture appeared in its elegant composure, and its voice dropped to a low, beautifully breathy pitch. “Sister… I cannot define the mechanics of it, but an intense discomfort has suddenly materialized across this specific sector of my wing.”
Su Wudeng immediately lunged forward, her protective instincts red-lining. What? Physical pain?!
“Where does it hurt, sweetie?!”
She rushed up to Xiaofeng, only to watch the falcon smoothly tilt its wing-joint, resting the velvet-soft plumage directly against her open palm.
Su Wudeng stood frozen. Xiaofeng literally just placed his wing in my hand!
How was this logistically any different from a formal hand-holding protocol? It wasn’t!
If she rounded up the data points, she and Xiaofeng were officially holding hands.
“Let me evaluate the coordinates!”
Su Wudeng rapidly scanned the wing profile, eventually isolating a minor, superficial abrasion near the secondary joint. She gently applied a soothing pressure. “Is this the location of the irritation?”
Xiaofeng offered a rhythmic, slow nod of its crown. Su Wudeng promptly retrieved a high-grade tube of regenerative ointment from her utility belt, delicately massaging the cream onto the raw hide.
“There we go, the neuro-blockers will eliminate the discomfort in seconds.”
“Come here, let sister blow on it to cool it down~”
Seizing the tactical opening, the Swift Falcon lowered its head, nuzzling its sleek beak against Su Wudeng’s cheek, its telepathic voice vibrating right against her ear canal. “Sister handles my parameters with such exquisite gentleness.”
Witnessing the ongoing display from the baseline floor, the Snowy Owl’s expression turned utterly flat. “…”
Aren’t these two overacting their behavioral scripts a bit too much?
The atmospheric displacement from a human breath can’t possibly register through a falcon’s skin density!
So why on earth does that stylish idiot look like he just cleared a cultivation breakthrough?
Yet, while it judged the Golden Eagle and the Swift Falcon’s blatant sycophancy, the owl could not deny that its companions were merely attempting to articulate an absolute gratitude.
Should I… execute an equivalent protocol?
In reality, ever since the manager had violently wielded that sledgehammer to liberate them from their trauma, her status in its cognitive matrix had shifted completely away from the rest of humanity. In the segments of the day where she assumed they weren’t tracking her, every single raptor in the holding bay had been covertly shadowing her movements, filtering her through their senses.
It was her hand that had reached down into the dark abyss to drag their entire flock back to the light.
Plucking up its primitive courage, the Snowy Owl awkwardly shuffled across the linoleum, lowering its head as its telepathic voice crackled at a barely audible frequency. “Hey… human… thank you…”
“Hmm?” Su Wudeng blinked, looking up from her charts. “Did you say something, Xiaoxue?”
The Snowy Owl squeezed its eyes shut, forcing its internal processors to lock in the vocal command before shouting the telepathic link: “…Thank you!”
The exact millisecond the communication cleared its neural paths, the owl felt its pulse skyrocket to dangerous levels. Overwhelmed by its own emotional output, it turned on its heel and bolted out of the ward like a criminal escaping a heist.
The communication had been so rapid and muffled that Su Wudeng had barely managed to parse the acoustic file. “…Was that cool guy trying to express a bashful appreciation?”
But tracking its erratic, completely panicked retreat down the corridor, she couldn’t help but burst into a soft, melodic laugh.
“How precious.”
How could a legendary apex predator look this overwhelmingly cute when it’s embarrassed?
Her love for these avian cubs was rapidly scaling past all safe limits!
Leaving the flight division to complete their automated nutrition cycles, Su Wudeng marched into the holding bay assigned to the rescued tiger cubs.
The moment the pneumatic seal slid open, she found Amber collapsed flat on the floor mats, her naturally expressive eyes drowning in a state of absolute, existential despair. Two massive Saber-Toothed Tiger cubs were aggressively pinned to her back like furry backpacks; a juvenile Leopard cub was using its razor-sharp baby teeth to play a frantic game of tug-of-war with her tail; while her front paws were frantically extended, pinning down a pair of Holy Lion cubs to prevent them from launching a synchronized frontal assault against her face.
Hearing the threshold clear, the husky whipped her head around, her eyes instantly transforming into sparkling dinner plates when they locked onto Su Wudeng.
A long, tragic whine echoed through the comms: “Master! You’ve finally arrived to execute an extraction protocol! Save me!”
“Amber is going to suffer an absolute neural burnout if she has to manage these toddlers for another hour!”
The sheer metabolic energy locked inside these cubs was terrifying. The second the automated nutritional mists filled their bellies, their physical systems hit maximum output, completely neutralizing whatever baseline exhaustion they had, rendering them entirely immune to Amber’s psychological bedtime stories.
Furthermore, their genetic blueprints made them incredibly dense and resistant to physical corrections. Whenever Amber deployed a corrective paw-strike to enforce boundaries, the cubs didn’t register the impact as discipline; they simply rolled over onto their backs, wagging their thick tails, assuming the vanguard husky was engaging in high-contact wrestling. They would instantly launch a counter-rush, demanding a secondary strike while biting her ears.
Amber whimpered, “My physical reserves are entirely depleted!”
How did a young, single dog of her elite standing get systemically walked into a lifetime sentence of unpaid childcare?
Seeing that her vanguard was on the absolute verge of a psychological mutiny, Su Wudeng quickly stepped into the fray, scooping up the heavy Saber-Toothed tiger cub that was actively gnawing on Amber’s flank. “Oh, our precious Amber has carried the entire department on her back today~”
“Give sister a kiss~”
“I’ve already arranged a massive cache of premium snacks inside your private quarters. Go take a well-deserved break and enjoy your treats, girl!”
The exact millisecond the word “snacks” cleared her eardrums, Amber exploded to her feet. “For real?!”
Her propeller tail engaged at maximum velocity, and she vanished through the door flaps like a high-speed kinetic missile, leaving a trail of pure joy behind her.
An ecstatic bark drifted back down the hall: “Ah! A luxury buffet! Curated jerky! Flame-roasted fish skins! And honey-glazed chestnuts! Master, Amber declares her eternal allegiance to your house!”
The dramatic canine was easily pacified with the right calorie allocation, allowing Su Wudeng to let out a quiet breath of relief.
She turned her attention back to the cub in her arms. Among her entire staff, only Amber possessed the skeletal durability and high stamina required to manage the high-impact “playtime” of this many apex predators.
Though these animals looked like nothing more than oversized, fuzzy stuffed toys right now, their taxonomic lineages were strictly commander-class, possessing elite genetic baselines and terrifying bone density from birth.
The solid, heavy little “brain-axe” she was currently holding by the scruff belonged to the exact same evolutionary branch as the apex war beasts stationed inside the frontline Ether War Zone—the mythic Saber-Toothed Tiger.
But at this specific moment of its development, the fearsome apex predator was entirely paralyzed by the universal biological kill-switch: the maternal scruff grip.
Su Wudeng evaluated its physical mass, lightly pinching its hind muscle groups. “Incredible. Such density for a fledgling body. The muscular fibers are completely tight and fully formed. Exceptional blueprint!”
She nuzzled the fluffy cub before gently lowering it onto the padded floor mat. Instead of executing a rapid retreat, the little tiger instantly rolled over onto its back, exposing its plump, velvet-soft belly to her. Its four thick, oversized paws reached up, hooking her wrist with its baby claws, absolutely refusing to break physical contact.
Hmm? What was the behavioral meaning behind this matrix?
Was it demanding an immediate belly-rub protocol?
Then she would gladly oblige!
This was an authentic Saber-Toothed Tiger in its absolute cub stage—oblivious, overwhelmingly soft, and beautifully chubby across every dimension. Furthermore, the tactile feedback of its fur was magnificent—velvety, radiating a rich metabolic warmth, and smelling faintly of a clean, sugary milk fragrance.
She lightly tapped its pink nose, laughing softly. “You’re practically marinated in milk-fat, little guy. I can tell you’ve been aggressively draining the automated formula dispensers!”
The cub let out a pair of tiny, rhythmic snorts, executing a dramatic full-body stretch before lazying its entire weight across her lap.
Staring at the peaceful scene, a sudden marketing strategy struck Su Wudeng. It had been weeks since she had updated the pet home’s public media channels with fresh content. This was the perfect operational window to capture some high-res footage and drop a massive viral bomb onto the Starnet!
“Come here, little tiger. Direct your liquid eyes toward sister’s interface!”
“Oh, magnificent form!”
The cub assumed the black tracking cube of her recording terminal was a new interactive toy, happily lunging toward the lens, staring blankly into the sensor array before extending an oversized, clumsy paw to bat at the casing.
The device remained inert. The cub tilted its head in deep, fuzzy confusion, a visual that was so intensely, criminally adorable it almost made Su Wudeng’s heart stop.
“Hello, Starnet community! It has been entirely too long. Today, I am thrilled to officially introduce the newest, elite additions to our growing Chong’ai family matrix~”
“Ta-da! First up, behold our exceptionally precious Saber-Toothed Tiger infants~”
“They are currently clearing their primary cub cycles… intensely active… and beautifully socialized…”
After capturing several high-definition b-roll sequences of the tigers, Su Wudeng panned the lens toward the opposite corner where the lion cubs were nesting. The juveniles had formed a tight, synchronized circle, their golden fur gleaming with a brilliant luster under the studio lighting.
“Next, allow me to present the Holy Lions—our magnificent little sun cubs~”
“Just track the alignment of that golden coat. Isn’t the reflective index absolutely breathtaking?”
“Let’s execute a quick feeding demonstration with some premium spiritual jerky!”
The moment she scattered a handful of curated meat strips onto the mat, the golden cubs let out a chorus of tiny grunts, scrambling over one another to reach the payload. They clamped their baby jaws onto the jerky, chewing with immense, comical focus. Su Wudeng zoomed the macro-lens in, capturing their pure, blissful expressions as they processed the high-grade nutrients. “Hehe, the data suggests the flavor profile is an absolute hit!”
“And finally, let’s turn our sensors toward our elegant shadow stalkers~”
“An ultra-rare, black-melanistic panther strain… officially cataloged as the Shadow Wind Leopard.”
The sleek, obsidian coats of the leopard cubs radiated a faint, silken sheen, their magnificent emerald-green eyes locked onto the tracking drone with intense, curious focus. Because they were still clearing their infancy cycles, they lacked the cold, ominous mystery of their adult forms, displaying nothing but a hyper-cute, clumsy charm.
Su Wudeng reached down, smoothly stroking their sleek backs before sliding her fingers under their chins to scratch the sweet spot. The leopard cubs instantly squeezed their eyes shut, purring like tiny engines as they leaned into her hand.
“Oh, you little panthers are entirely too precious. My executive defense walls are completely melting under this pressure!”
“Alright, that concludes our introductory media package for today. If these new lineages call to your soul, please drop a comment on our main board~”
“See you on the next stream!”
She terminated the transmission, drafted a few concise, high-impact descriptions, tagged the key metadata categories, and published the file to the global network.
Setting her terminal aside, she distributed a massive allocation of specialized treats to the nursery. She watched the juveniles gorge themselves until their bellies transformed into tight, round globes, their heavy eyelids beginning to naturally droop as the food comas hit their systems.
Su Wudeng let out a long breath, forcing herself to stand as her lower back groaned from the prolonged crouching. “You toddlers possess entirely too much raw horsepower. My physical systems are completely drained.”
“It looks like I need to expedite the contract matching process for this division.”
If she had to manage this nursery solo for another week, she would face total physical liquidation.
Speaking of contract matching… her mind suddenly recalled a critical data point: General Chu was still operating without a bonded companion. She immediately grabbed her terminal, drafting an encrypted dispatch to his personal channel.
It was highly probable that one of these elite, commander-class juveniles would establish a natural resonance with the General’s high-intensity aura. Once a successful bond cleared the system, everyone would win! After all, General Chu possessed an infinite pool of raw physical energy; matching him with a high-stamina apex cub would easily resolve her childcare problem while keeping both of them thoroughly entertained.
Checking the warp telemetry, she noted they were precisely two hours away from entering their home planet’s atmosphere.
Su Wudeng pondered her schedule. “This provides the perfect operational window to evaluate the clinical status of the comatose Rock-Armored Bear and the feral Wolfhound pack.”
The systemic trauma profiles of those two specific groups remained deeply volatile. Combined with the comatose Spirit Fox Princess… these three demographics represented her most complex medical challenges.
Inside the primary stabilization ward.
“Xiaoju, tilt your head and sweep my spinal ridge again. Yes, right across the base of my neck.”
“Here?”
The Snow Crystal mother and the Orange Tabby mother were resting side-by-side on the padded thermal berth, meticulously engaging in mutual grooming to soothe their nerves.
“I… my internal systems are experiencing a severe anxiety spike,” the Snow Crystal mother suddenly whispered, her telepathic aura faltering. “What if… what if my kittens fail to recognize my bio-signature?”
She had been separated from her first-born litter for entirely too long. What if the months of absolute absence had caused the kittens to completely purge her shape from their developmental memory?
Drowning in sudden panic, she lowered her head, frantically grooming her front paws to redirect her stress. But the moment her eyes locked onto the ragged, necrotic scars scoring her wrists where the poachers’ clamps had bitten into her flesh, her confidence completely evaporated.
The Orange Tabby behind her paused her motions. She gently lowered her snout, pressing her warm tongue against the scarred, hairless hide her companion despised. “No. If those juveniles truly carry your genetic code, their instinctual recognition will bypass time entirely. They will never forget you.”
“But tell me… do you truly place absolute faith in that human’s narrative?”
To her calculated worldview, the Snow Crystal mother was being dangerously naive. How could the universe possibly contain a coincidence that perfect? A random human just happened to cross light-years to liberate them from a processing camp, and that exact same human just happened to have legally adopted the specific kittens she had abandoned in a hollow log months prior?
It defied all logical probability.
In her dark estimation, it was far more probable that the manager had simply engineered a more sophisticated, psychological narrative to keep them submissive, ensuring they wouldn’t rebel when she locked them into a new set of breeding cages to harvest more cubs. This human was simply deploying a gentle, high-welfare approach to minimize their stress responses, thereby extending their biological lifespan to maximize long-term reproductive yields.
Sapient humans were, historically, the most terrifyingly deceptive predators in the cosmos.
“No, you’re wrong,” the Snow Crystal mother responded firmly, rotating her neck to face her. “My senses can explicitly extract an authentic, familiar spatial frequency from her uniform. Furthermore, she risked her own life to vaporize that entire syndicate installation to rescue our flock.”
“Her soul is inherently good.”
Just as the beast kingdom contained both benevolent lineages and savage predators, humanity possessed both merciful protectors and cruel monsters. Ever since Sister Su had assumed control of their parameters, not a single beast in the inventory had sustained a physical strike.
Furthermore, they were currently housed in a temperature-controlled, ultra-soft luxury suite, insulated by thick thermal blankets, and supplied with premium, nutrient-dense cuisine they had never encountered in the wild every single day. If this level of care didn’t define a good protector, then what did?
The Orange Tabby mother fell into a heavy silence. Her logical matrices couldn’t compute why a human would expend massive capital resources just to provide luxury hospitality to broken animals.
But… she was well aware that she didn’t possess a lucky star. She refused to believe that a cosmic miracle of this magnitude would ever be permitted to alter her own dark trajectory. All humans were, ultimately, master deceivers!
“Shelley,” she whispered softly, utilizing the Snow Crystal mother’s true lineage name. “Have your processors completely erased the memory of how Ah Hu and Brother Jie were hunted down?”
Shelley’s posture stiffened, her telepathic aura turning entirely rigid. “Orange, are you suggesting—”
“We cannot afford to bet our survival on human empathy…” the Orange Tabby murmured, her sigh heavy with a lifetime of betrayal.
Concurrently, inside the intensive care bay, Su Wudeng discovered that the white giant bear’s clinical prognosis was deteriorating. The moment the automated mechanical arms had severed the final iron chains from his shoulders, the deep, infected cavities began to rapidly necrotize, triggering an acute, systemic septic fever that threatened to shut down his vital organs.
“We need to accelerate warp exit and rush him straight to the primary terrestrial medical theater for surgical intervention!”
But with an hour remaining before the dreadnought could clear orbit, she had no choice but to call upon her ultimate medical catalyst. She turned to the elegant stag. “Lu Feng, I need you to establish a localized vitality stasis. We must buy exactly sixty minutes to ensure his heart keeps beating until he hits the operating table!”
The stag offered a solemn, deeply focused tilt of his antlers. “Rest assured, Sister Su. I will exhaust my entire energy matrix to preserve his spark.”
Given the sheer depth of the structural trauma, utilizing a standard, generalized healing field wouldn’t be enough to stabilize his organs for an hour. To cheat death, he required an intensely focused, targeted cell-stasis protocol…
He closed his eyes, his consciousness entering the bear’s broken system to map the microscopic failure points. If he could precisely deliver localized vitality bursts to the failing vascular nodes, a narrow window of survival might materialize.
However, a granular, microscopic intervention of this scale would impose a terrifyingly high drain on his own mental and spiritual reserves…
Seeing the stag’s ears begin to tremble from the immediate cognitive load, Yu Lan stepped forward without a word. She extended her hands, pressing her palms against the base of Lu Feng’s antlers, seamlessly linking her own mental grid to his consciousness. “I will manage the systemic surveillance and target-mapping. You focus entirely on the vitality delivery.”
Yu Lan’s baseline capability was a certified, military-grade A-class mental matrix. The moment her immense psychic presence integrated with his system, the crushing weight on Lu Feng’s cognitive processors instantly vanished.
Furthermore, her academic history at the university included elective modules on emergency alien biology, allowing her to smoothly synchronize her tracking telemetry with the stag’s mystical inputs.
Staring at the seamless cooperation unfolding before her, Su Wudeng let out a quiet breath of relief. The patient is secure.
More than that, she couldn’t help but admire how beautifully aligned the girl and the stag looked. Ever since the crucible of the trade conference, their operational resonance had scaled linearly, their mutual trust transforming into something deeply profound.
Once she verified the Rock-Armored Bear’s vitals had entered a stable stasis lock, Su Wudeng marched toward the adjacent isolation ward to evaluate the Spirit Fox Princesses.
“Still entirely catatonic.”
The tragic trajectory of the fox princesses was entirely identical to the white bear’s narrative. The poaching syndicate had targeted the bear for his paws and the foxes for their pristine, high-density white pelts.
Consequently, following their initial capture, the grunts had withheld all food, waiting for the animals’ starvation to reach a terminal threshold so they could execute a clean exsanguination, harvesting the fur without a single drop of blood compromising the premium market quality of the pelts.
Though their bodies lacked deep structural fractures, the prolonged starvation had left their cellular reserves completely hollowed out, their bodies trapped in a state of extreme, lethargic weakness.
Even Su Wudeng didn’t dare to introduce solid food into their fragile digestive tracts at this stage. She could only program the automated systems to continuously deliver a micro-filtered nutrient solution to slowly, systematically rebuild their biological baselines. This metabolic restoration process would likely span weeks, if not months.
But the single most volatile variable on her manifest…
Su Wudeng cast a deeply worried look through the reinforced glass viewport of the high-security sector, where the quiet pack of “wolf-dogs” was housed.
They were authentic Czechoslovakian Vlcaks—an elite canine lineage that possessed the near-infinite stamina and ferocity of wild wolves, combined with the extreme intelligence and tracking capability of domestic working dogs. They represented the absolute apex of the canine working class. Consequently, if a master successfully secured a bond with a Vlcak, their operational combat efficiency would skyrocket.
However, their genetic makeup guaranteed they would never submit to conventional taming methods. To break their spirits, the poaching syndicates always deployed a brutal methodology: Metabolic Violence.
First, the pack would be subjected to total starvation until their physical frames lost the muscular capacity to mount a kinetic rebellion. Once their bodies were paralyzed by caloric depletion, the handlers would deploy severe physical trauma to forcibly overwrite their behavioral autonomy.
It was an industrial, horrific process, yet its commercial efficiency was undeniable. The Wind Wolves utilized by the syndicate’s patrol grunts earlier had been systematically broken through this exact sequence.
Currently, this specific pack of Vlcaks was trapped in that exact transitional window—completely starved to the point where their muscles lacked the glucose required to stand and fight.
The favorable data point was that their core psychological spirits remained unbroken; they were merely physically incapacitated by starvation, meaning their muscular mass would restore the moment a solid caloric regimen was introduced.
The catastrophic data point was that the poachers’ violence had left the Vlcaks with an absolute, genocidal hatred for the human shape. The exact millisecond their sedation cycles dropped, they would launch a mindless, suicidal assault against any sapient being within their visual field.
Faced with an absolute threat profile of this magnitude, Su Wudeng’s only current operational choice was the continuous deployment of chemical anesthetics.
But long-term sedation was a ticking clock. Having monitored their telemetry over the past few days, she detected a rapid, terrifying curve in their metabolic charts—the Vlcaks’ chemical resistance to the sedatives was scaling exponentially. Their advanced systems were actively mutating to process and neutralize the anesthesia. If the trend continued, within forty-eight hours, the sedatives would fail entirely, unleashing a feral, hyper-vicious apex pack within the ship’s bulkheads.
Should I simply execute a wilderness release protocol once we clear orbit, returning them to the deep forests of the home world?
But releasing an entire alpha pack of hyper-intelligent, human-hating apex wolves into a developing ecosystem… what if their presence permanently destabilized the fragile local biological balance?
Yet, if she retained them, she couldn’t keep them chemically suppressed forever…
“Sigh…” Su Wudeng rubbed her temples, a heavy sigh escaping her lips.
Her only current option was to commission the immediate construction of a specialized, high-density simulated habitat within the pet home’s infrastructure—modeled exactly after the advanced forest and snow mountain training matrices. While it was merely an operational band-aid designed to buy time, it was the only vector available to isolate the threat. It wouldn’t eliminate their generational hatred for humanity, but providing them with open space might at least de-escalate their immediate stress responses.
She stared at the comatose Czechoslovakian Vlcaks through the glass. In their quiet, sedated state, they looked entirely majestic—a stark, jarring contrast to the rabid monsters that had tried to tear through the metal bars hours prior.
“I honestly cannot comprehend how a primitive poaching syndicate managed to trap an entire alpha pack of this caliber given how terrifyingly high their collective tracking vigilance is.”
“And to bag the entire bloodline in a single harvest operation…”
An hour bled away, and the heavy thud of the docking clamps echoed through the hull—the dreadnought had officially touched down on the home world coordinates.
Zhong Huihui and the primary terrestrial staff were already waiting across the hangar deck. The moment they saw Su Wudeng wheeling a colossally large, comatose Polar Bear out of the starship’s main lift, they frantically surged forward to manage the transport.
“Manager! Is this the critically injured Rock-Armored Bear from the manifest? Holy Christ, this is horrific!”
Zhong Huihui gasped, her hand instinctively flying to her mouth. Throughout her career managing basic veterinary trauma, she had never witnessed a biological frame subjected to this level of deliberate, industrial sadism. The hollow, jagged cavities carved through his shoulder matrices were a gruesome sight.
“Clear the corridor! I am taking him straight into the primary surgical theater! Yu Lan, Xiyao, execute Phase One of the logistics plan—distribute the remaining avian and juvenile sectors into the designated enclosures inside the main facility!”
Su Wudeng didn’t waste another microsecond on pleasantries, single-mindedly steering the hovering medical gurney toward the advanced surgical wing.
The crimson illumination above the theater door flared to life, and the master-tier automated medical system immediately initialized its primary processors. High-resolution diagnostic scans and multi-layered surgical trajectories flashed across the console displays at high speed, accompanied by the crisp, synthetic chime of the core AI:
[Initializing master-class biological reconstruction sequence…]
[Calculated operational timeline: Three Hours.]
[Surgical blades engaging…]
Minutes dissolved into hours. As the automated laser scalpels and cellular cellular regenerators systematically rebuilt the shattered vascular networks of the bear’s shoulders, the volatile vital curves on the monitor began to gradually smooth out into a stable, rhythmic pattern.
Su Wudeng finally allowed the tension to drain from her shoulders. Once the automated dermal needles finalized the complex cross-stitch suturing across the white bear’s hide, she cautiously reached out, her hand gently resting on his massive, velvet-soft crown.
His winter-white coat felt slightly coarse under her palms, his massive chest rising and falling in a deep, peaceful respiratory rhythm. The system-produced medical tech was exceptionally thorough; they had even encased his raw, scarred wrists in four clean, padded white compression guards, making the fearsome apex predator look like he was wearing four tiny mittens.
“You are an incredibly resilient warrior, big guy. Your system has cleared the worst of the infection; you are going to get better.”
“The second your strength returns, sister is going to guide you out into our open sanctuary, alright? I guarantee you will fall completely in love with our primeval forest. The sky there is entirely free and uncorrupted, the ancient trees are a breathtaking green, and a crystal-clear mountain stream flows right past the meadows.”
“We’ll go hiking alongside Sister Amber. That forest is her ancestral home world, and she’s already drafting a massive list of fun territories to show you, okay?”
The thick, white eyelids of the Polar Bear seemed to experience a micro-tremble under her voice, before his system settled back into a deep, uninterrupted recovery cycle.
Meanwhile, outside the surgical wing.
Zhong Huihui and the terrestrial handlers stood frozen on the hangar deck, their minds entirely short-circuiting as one mythical beast after another was systematically wheeled out of the dreadnought’s cargo hold.
“A Polar Bear lineage… an elite Spirit Fox Princess bloodline…” Shu Can rubbed his eyes frantically, turning to the heavy-set security officer beside him. “Brother Chu, execute a hard pinch protocol on my arm immediately. I need to verify my visual sensors aren’t malfunctioning.”
“The manager left our planet to attend a standard regulatory trade conference, didn’t she? Do core world conferences traditionally distribute apex, commander-class wildlife as door prizes?!”
After frantically stepping in to assist the handlers in wheeling one elegant, white-furred fox princess after another into the premium recovery wards of the facility, Shu Can finally leaned against a storage crate, letting out a long, breathless wheeze. “Why does it feel like our manager didn’t travel out to attend a conference… but to run a wholesaling business?!”
Right then, Yu Lan’s sharp voice echoed from the cargo elevator, her hand waving frantically to catch their attention. “Canine division, stop lounging and report to deck three! We have an immense batch of adult working hounds that require immediate tactical isolation!”
Shu Can bounced to his feet. “!!! More dogs!”
His inner husky-lover instantly hit maximum output. He frantically grabbed Lan Gen by his uniform jacket, dragging the veteran tracker toward the lifts. “The canine division acknowledges the directive! We’re en route!”
Lan Gen sighed, a look of profound, long-suffering exasperation settling onto his weathered face. “…The ‘Canine Division’? Is that what the junior staff are officially calling our tracking department now…?”
But tracking Shu Can’s frantic, joyful sprint toward the lift bay, the veteran could only shake his head helplessly and follow. Kids these days.
However, the exact millisecond Lan Gen and Shu Can stepped into deck three and faced the reinforced titanium cages, the sheer weight of the visual data brought both experienced trackers to an absolute, dead halt—
“What… what kind of impossible operation is this?! More than a dozen fully matured Czechoslovakian Vlcaks?!” Shu Can yelled, his voice cracking. “What on earth did our manager execute planet-side?!”
To see a single, purebred adult Czechoslovakian Vlcak in a lifetime was a rare privilege, yet here were more than a dozen massive specimens resting silently within the reinforced cells! If these had been untrained puppies, his brain could have barely processed the valuation. But an entire pack of fully matured adult Vlcaks? Their collective combat efficiency and strategic tracking weight were terrifying to contemplate. How had a lone boutique manager managed to systematically capture and contain an entire active alpha pack?
It wasn’t just the junior handler; even the veteran Lan Gen felt his chest tighten, his breath catching as he reviewed the muscular structures through the bars. He murmured, his voice laced with profound awe, “A pack of this density… its strategic utility is equivalent to a fully armed black-ops military detachment, isn’t it?”
The Czechoslovakian Vlcak was a breed that achieved absolute, terrifying optimization when executing synchronized pack tactics. Individually, their physical reflexes and structural agility were elite. It was no exaggeration to state that if the manager hadn’t deployed high-tier tactical containment, this group could have cleanly dismantled their entire planet’s current security force without sustaining a single casualty.
Yet here they were, resting in absolute, sedated silence.
Xia Xiyao hurried past them, hauling a rack of specialized medical drips. Seeing their paralyzed expressions, she called out, “The visual dataset is authentic, gentlemen, but we don’t have the luxury of a prolonged debriefing right now. The manager didn’t disclose the operational mechanics of how she neutralized them. Our immediate mandate is to transport their cages straight into the high-security subterranean isolation zones!”
“Right! Of course!” Shu Can scrambled out of his daze, his reflexes kicking in as he grabbed the automatic alignment tracks of the gurney. “Execute the manager’s directive! Clear the elevator!”
The moment they cleared the canine cargo out of the transport starship, the structural bays of the upper deck became accessible. Su Yulan’s melodic voice drifted down from the intercom: “Canine division has cleared the sector! Feline division, you are cleared to advance!”
Chu Yansen and his specialized cat-rearing team didn’t waste a second looking at the wolf-dogs, quickly ascending the cargo ramps into the ship’s upper deck. The moment they cleared the seal, they faced a spectacular nursery array.
The enclosures were packed with hyperactive, vocally expressive juveniles. The infants appeared intensely stimulated by the environmental shift, their systems reacting to the fresh planetary atmosphere.
They were frantically scratching at the plexiglass panels, their round eyes wide with curiosity as they tracked the humans. Suddenly, a tiny Saber-Toothed tiger cub spotted the juvenile Snow Crystal cats perched on the handlers’ shoulders. It let out a tiny, high-pitched mew, extending its oversized, chubby front paw through the automated feeding slot, desperately trying to bat at the kittens’ tails.
“Chirp! Mew!”
Zhong Huihui felt her throat constrict, her breath hitching as she reviewed the taxonomic indicators on the digital cage manifests. “Are these… are these authentic Saber-Toothed Tiger infants? And Holy Lion cubs? And a full litter of Shadow Wind Leopards?!”
Every single infant in that room belonged to an ultra-rare, mythic-tier commander-class bloodline!
Where in the uncorrupted cosmos had their manager managed to harvest a nursery of this caliber?!
Chu Yansen felt completely numb, his brain struggling to compute the sheer economic and biological weight of the deck. For a reason he couldn’t scientifically define, Shu Can’s ridiculous phrase suddenly echoed through his mind with absolute authority: The manager didn’t go to a conference; she went out to stock up!
Was this not the literal definition of running a wholesaling business? Look at the sheer volume of elite biological inventory! How was this any different from an industrial restocking run?!
Though the handlers’ minds were entirely blown, their professional discipline remained intact. They quickly coordinated their movements, systematically transferring the priceless, fragile juveniles into the specialized, climate-controlled nursery sectors of the primary facility.
Ultimately, the exact moment they finalized the cub allocation protocols inside the nursery ward, they stepped out into the main central atrium only to run directly into Shu Can’s return security detail.
Shu Can’s eyes flared into brilliant green spotlights the second he panned his gaze across the nursery glass. He let out a loud, dramatic howl, sprinting across the polished floor to press his face flat against the pane, his expression radiating an unadulterated, desperate greed. “Oh my god! Look at all that raw, unbridled fluff!”
“Jesus Christ, what kind of mythic secret realm did our manager raid to score a haul like this? Our pet home’s registry just gained an entire empire of new family members!”
“Look at that tiny tiger cub! Is it consciously tracking my shape? Look at how thick those little baby paws are! It’s so fluffy I’m going to lose my mind!”
“And that little lion over there—look at the reflective index on that golden fur! It is staring right into my soul!”
He abruptly whipped his head around, fixing Chu Yansen with a dead-serious, intensely pleading stare. “Brother Chu… compute the variables for me. If I submit a formal petition to the manager to adopt a secondary companion… do you think she’d sign off on it?”
Chu Yansen didn’t verbally respond. Instead, he slowly, deliberately lowered his gaze, pointing a finger toward the ground right beside Su Wudeng’s boots. His expression carried a profound meaning: You are officially dead.
Shu Can blinked, tracking his finger downward. Resting right by the manager’s boots was Ha Shuai. The little husky was staring up at his owner, his ears flattened into lethal airplane wings, his teeth bared in a silent, deeply ominous snarl.
Shu Can’s soul left his body. “Holy shit! I misspoke! It was a lapse in judgment!”
He frantically dropped to his knees, scooping the angry puppy into his arms, his voice tracking a frantic, desperate apology. “Ha Shuai! My king! My absolute alpha! Don’t bite my nose, let’s negotiate this logically!”
“Hey, hey, hey! It was a rhetorical exercise! An absolute joke! I swear to the cosmos! My heart has zero space for any furry entity but you!”
Keke covered her small mouth, her giggles echoing through the atrium. “Brother Can, your behavioral optimization is completely broken.”
“How could you possibly execute a speech matrix like that right in front of Ha Shuai?”
She immediately turned around, planting a warm kiss on the cheek of the kitten resting on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Xiaoxue. Your handler possesses absolute loyalty. I would never entertain a secondary contract; you are the undisputed center of my universe~”
Xiaoxue let out a proud, melodic purr, happily rubbing her fuzzy chin against Keke’s jaw line.
Witnessing the ongoing domestic chaos, Chu Yansen could only shake his head, silently mourning his colleague’s broken survival instincts.
He turned toward the remaining senior staff. “Let’s return to the primary cargo elevators and verify if the starship contains secondary manifests that require our logistics support.”
Zhong Huihui stared at him, her jaw dropping. “…Huh? There’s more cargo?!”
No way! Did the manager truly execute an industrial wholesaling operation?!
The volume of elite biological assets the manager had cleared from that starship today already exceeded the total planetary inventory they had accumulated since day one.
Chu Yansen said, “Let’s go verify the telemetry.”
If his data tracking during orbit was accurate, there should be a secondary reinforced hangar deck inside the dreadnought housing a massive bio-inventory—and the energetic radiation signatures emanating from that sector carried a highly volatile, intensely dangerous aura. He was profoundly curious to see what hidden entity could project that level of presence.
The exact millisecond the core team cleared the atrium doors and stepped onto the secondary observation deck, an absolutely spectacular, world-shifting sight materialized before their eyes, freezing them into an absolute, breathless silence.
Emerging from the starship’s main flight ramp was a synchronized squadron of exceptionally beautiful Northern Long-tailed Tits. They flew out with immense excitement, forming a flawless, aerodynamic line in the air, executing a tight orbital loop around the hangar scaffolding before cleanly banking back toward the entrance.
But as they finalized their formation, the onlookers processed a terrifying detail—trailing directly behind each microscopic cotton ball was a colossally large, fearsome bird of prey.
Those apex raptors, carrying a wild ferocity that could strike terror into the heart of any wilderness tracker, were currently marching down the cargo ramp in a neat, perfectly disciplined, and entirely conscious line—each single-mindedly tracking the micro-movements of the tiny Northern Long-tailed Tit guiding their vector.
The squadron of little tits maintained an absolute structural discipline, ensuring that each cotton ball seamlessly guided its designated giant predator straight into the facility’s specialized avian sanctuary blocks.
Leading the vanguard of the migration array was Yu Lan, flanked by a heroic young woman clad in a striking red uniform. Perched proudly on the red-clothed girl’s shoulder was a remarkably plump, white fledgling tit.
“Uh… are my optical sensors suffering from severe data corruption?” Shu Can rubbed his eyes until they turned red. “What kind of physics am I looking at?”
“Those apex raptors are actually following those tiny cotton balls like obedient schoolchildren?!”
Keke was also frantically rubbing her eyes. “Oh my god, look at those precious little round birds! How did our manager engineer a behavioral synchronization of this scale?”
“Jesus, I need to log high-res imagery of this matrix immediately!” Zhong Huihui frantically pulled up her tactical terminal, her fingers flying across the keys. “The media value of this shot is astronomical!”
In contrast to the juniors’ excitement, the veteran Lan Gen’s gaze narrowed as he isolated a critical anatomical detail across the raptors’ profiles. “Wait… look at the trailing edges of their primary wings…”
The flight feathers had been completely clipped to the bone!
A collective gasp echoed across the deck as the realization hit the handlers. Most of the raptors’ flight matrices had been industrially mutilated. No wonder they weren’t commanding the sky, but were forced to trudge down the cargo ramps step-by-step like ground animals.
“Connecting the variables,” Chu Yansen analyzed quietly, his gaze turning serious. “It is highly probable that our manager intercepted and liberated these apex raptors from an illegal syndicate operation! Look at the precision of those wing lacerations; they are perfectly level, indicating an industrial, man-made tool profile. This is the absolute signature of professional poachers.”
The atmosphere on the deck instantly turned somber. Through the snow leopard’s historical files, they had already been made aware of the poaching syndicates’ presence in the sector. Furthermore, the mythic Lingnai Deer, Nana, whom the manager had rescued weeks ago, had sustained systemic tracking injuries from those exact networks. Now, they were facing an entire mutilated battalion of the sky.
“Those corporate poachers are absolute parasites…”
Looking back at the disciplined line of raptors, the handlers’ perspectives underwent a complete paradigm shift, their eyes filling with profound respect and pity.
“Wait a minute, those guiding birds… the Northern Long-tailed Tits…” Shu Can’s brain suddenly flagged a critical geographical record. “Isn’t that species a protected, high-tier ecological specialty of the Athens star system?”
“The records indicate the Northern Long-tailed Tit lineage is one of the three foundational pillars backing the legacy beast-taming houses of the Scott Galaxy—specifically, the exclusive brand of the Fei family.”
Chu Yansen and Shu Can exchanged a sharp, wide-eyed glance, stating the conclusion in perfect unison: “Did our manager successfully lock in a corporate alliance with a legacy house?!”
“An alliance?” Su Wudeng’s calm voice cut through their speculation from the corridor behind them.
She had just finalized the post-surgical documentation and stepped out of the intensive care ward when she overheard her handlers debating her corporate positioning.
Shu Can immediately spun around, his face flushed with frantic excitement as he pressed for confirmation. “Manager! Did you truly secure a formal, long-term strategic alliance with the Fei family council during the trade conference?!”
Su Wudeng offered a mild, entirely unbothered nod, her voice smooth and conversational. “Oh, you’re tracking that operational line? Yes. And it isn’t merely a commercial alliance; the entire council of all three legacy houses—the Xia, the Mu, and the Fei families—are currently executing total planetary evacuations to permanently migrate their operations to our planet’s jurisdiction.”
The handlers’ brains completely melted. “!!!”
Not just a commercial alliance… but a total planetary migration?!
And all three titan lineages of the traditional sector are moving their entire asset bases here?!
Manager… are you seriously rewriting the geopolitical architecture of our galaxy on a weekend trip?!
Was their impoverished, fourth-tier backwater planet about to experience an unchallengeable economic and institutional ascension?!
“But keep this intelligence locked within our internal channels for now,” Su Wudeng instructed calmly. “We wait until their colony ships clear warp and finalize their physical zoning protocols before we publish the formal data packages to the Starnet.”
“Oh, by the way, I have a secondary piece of exceptional news for the cat department.”
She dropped a final, catastrophic emotional bomb with a gentle, serene smile. “The biological mother of our Snow Crystal kittens has also been successfully recovered.”
“She is currently resting inside the primary starship ward.”
Keke, Chu Yansen, and Zhong Huihui simultaneously screamed, their voices echoing through the scaffolding: “WHAT?!”
