Chapter 470: Chapter 235: I Want a Tiger! Not a Pet Cat

"You won’t have to worry about failing your hunt and going hungry. You won’t have to worry about an infected wound with no one to care for you. You can live out your golden years in peace and comfort."

The mother tiger fell silent.

Her amber eyes gazed at the rolling mountains in the distance, seemingly in thought, or perhaps in reminiscence.

Yang Qi didn’t rush her, waiting quietly.

He knew that for an intelligent animal like a tiger, it would take time to grasp the concept of ’retirement’.

While the mother tiger was thinking, the two little cubs, tired from playing, stopped their roughhousing and stared at Yang Qi without blinking.

They had spotted Yang Qi earlier, but hadn’t approached right away out of caution, and also because of their mother.

Now that their mother wasn’t stopping them, they immediately wobbled over to Yang Qi.

"Awoo~"

The smaller one padded up to Yang Qi’s feet, lifted its small, fluffy head, and sized him up with curious, large amber eyes, letting out a low growl.

’What kind of creature are you?’

’You smell so strange, but also good.’

"Rawr!"

The other, bolder cub gave Yang Qi’s pant leg a light, tentative nibble with its milk teeth, which hadn’t fully hardened yet. Then it looked up, its eyes full of expectation.

’Can I take a bite of you? Just a little one!’

"Hrmm?"

The first cub to speak then looked at Xiaojiu, who was perched on Yang Qi’s shoulder, looking down on them. Its eyes were filled with confusion.

’Why are you so small?’

’Are you a tiger, too?’

Xiaojiu swept its emerald-green eyes over them without responding. It leaped gracefully from Yang Qi’s shoulder, landing on a low-hanging branch nearby, and resumed elegantly licking its paws as if watching two unruly kids.

Yang Qi chuckled, amused by the two cubs’ innocent antics.

He crouched down, reached out, and stroked each of the little guys’ fluffy, warm heads.

The texture was superb, like the finest velvet.

"I’m a friend of your mother’s."

Yang Qi replied gently. With a flip of his right hand, he produced two Strengthening Pills from his Hundred Pouches Belt and offered one to each cub’s mouth.

The rich medicinal fragrance and unique aroma instantly captivated the little ones.

They sniffed at the pills with their noses, then immediately stuck out their little pink tongues, quickly lapped them up, and gulped them down.

The next moment, both cubs’ eyes lit up. They narrowed them in comfort, letting out contented purrs from their throats, and began rubbing against Yang Qi’s legs with great affection.

The mother tiger on the rock saw this but didn’t intervene. She simply watched the interaction between Yang Qi and her cubs with an even more complicated expression in her eyes.

She knew this Two-legged Beast meant no harm, and that what he gave her cubs was good for them.

After another moment of silence, the mother tiger finally raised her head again to look at Yang Qi, letting out a low, nostalgic growl from her throat.

’I do know an old one of my kind.’

"Really?!"

Overjoyed, Yang Qi immediately pressed, "Do you know where he is? What direction, roughly?"

"Grrr~"

The mother tiger growled lowly, her gaze turning to the west.

’In a forest I passed through before I came here.’

’That one of our kind is male. He’s very thin, his coat is dull, and he walks slowly.’

’When I saw him, he was hunting a deer but couldn’t catch it. In the end, he had to resort to eating carrion.’

Thin, a dull coat, slow movements, difficulty hunting...

This perfectly matched the target Yang Qi was looking for.

An old tiger, weakened by age and struggling to survive in the wild!

"To the west, right? How far is it from here, roughly? Do you remember?"

Yang Qi suppressed his excitement and continued to ask.

Grrr~

’The distance...’

The mother tiger tilted her head, trying hard to recall the long journey. An unintelligible gurgle came from her throat before she finally let out an uncertain, low growl a moment later.

’I don’t remember exactly.’

’After leaving that forest, I followed the sun and walked for... hmm... ten sunrises and ten sunsets.’

’Ten sunrises and sunsets?’

’That means ten days!’

Yang Qi quickly did the math in his head.

During their dispersal period, tigers can travel long distances each day in search of new territory.

According to research data, a dispersing South China Tiger covers an average of 30 to 60 kilometers per day, with some individuals traveling even farther.

’Let’s take the midpoint, and say 45 kilometers a day...’

’Over ten days, that’s 450 kilometers!’

This was far beyond the borders of Donghua City, or even Handong Province.

Cangshan was in the middle of Donghua City, and the mother tiger had come from the west...

In that direction, over four hundred kilometers away, she would have crossed into the neighboring province.

Into the territory of Hanxi Province.

An old South China Tiger, struggling to survive, was somewhere in the forests of Hanxi Province!

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