Zhao Hongjie was nearly fifty years old. After years of a desk job, the middle-aged man had inevitably put on some weight.

But the moment the police car screeched to a halt, he moved like a young man again, throwing open the door and being the first one out. "Hurry!" he bellowed.

They were watching it all unfold on the drone feed.

After the tiger darted into the duck coop, all hell broke loose. A dense flock of ducks burst out, frantically flapping their wings.

The huge commotion had clearly startled the people inside the house.

A moment later, a woman, hastily wrapped in some clothes, came out to see what was going on.

She didn’t immediately spot the tiger in the coop. She just stared, bewildered, at the ducks filling the air, trying to herd them back inside.

To make matters worse, a little boy followed the woman out, rubbing his eyes.

He was in his pajamas and had clearly just woken up.

Only then, as the woman neared the duck coop, did she finally get a clear look at what was inside.

A tiger!

She screamed, spun around, and ran. In her haste, she tripped and sprawled on the ground.

She scrambled back to her feet, scooped up her bewildered son, and rushed back into the room.

The instant she dashed inside, the tiger’s momentum carried it right through the coop’s wire-mesh fence.

The weather in Nanjiang hadn’t hit its coldest yet, with temperatures still above freezing, so the duck coop wasn’t fully enclosed.

The impact from its 200-kilogram body and raw power was incredible.

It seemed to get tangled in the netting for a second. With a powerful twist, it threw off the mesh, leaped into the air, and snatched a frantically flapping duck out of the sky.

Just then, the main contingent of officers arrived.

A special police vehicle slammed on its brakes. The rear doors flew open in unison, and fully armed officers poured out, rushing the entrance with their rifles at the ready.

"Stop!"

Zhao Hongjie yelled.

The officer who was about to kick in the gate froze.

"Hold on, hold on."

Zhao Hongjie held up a hand. The drone feed showed the tiger lying on the ground, devouring a duck.

Rushing in now would leave them with only one option: to put the tiger down.

"Get the tranquilizer guns!"

Kuang Guorong, captain of the special police detachment, gave a wave.

As planned, a special police SUV swerved and pulled right up against the perimeter wall.

Two officers holding tranquilizer rifles then leaped onto the hood of the vehicle.

The height was perfect. They could take the shot from a half-crouch.

Shen Xin got out of his car as well. As he turned, he saw an electric scooter heading their way.

Sun Zhao spotted him too and rushed forward, waving his hands to signal the rider to stay back.

It was no use. The rider just sped up.

He drew near, jumped off in a panic, and tossed his scooter to the roadside before sprinting toward them.

"My house! That’s my house!"

Sun Zhao intercepted him, but he pointed at the duck coop and yelled frantically.

"My wife and kid are still in there! Don’t hold me back!" he screamed, so distraught that two men couldn’t restrain him.

He had just stepped out to buy breakfast. On his way back, he had stopped to chat with people on the roadside, watching all the commotion.

He asked why there were so many police cars, only to learn a tiger was on the loose.

Then he saw the massive convoy heading straight for his house.

The drama he’d been watching turned out to be centered on his own home. Terrified, he’d scrambled to follow them.

Just then, they fired.

It was followed by a terrifying roar from the tiger.

It was the kind of roar that could shake a forest, making hearts pound even from a distance.

Shen Xin whipped his head around.

From between the police cars, he saw the two officers with tranquilizer guns scrambling off the vehicle in a panic.

The moment they hit the ground, the tiger let out a roar, placed its front paws on the wall, and vaulted over it.

That two-meter-high wall was nothing to a tiger.

It landed lightly on the ground and let out another furious roar.

Two tranquilizer darts were sticking out of its back.

This time, it wasn’t ducks scattering in terror, but people.

Can’t blame them.

Shen Xin wanted to run, too.

But the tiger didn’t attack the moment it landed.

Suddenly faced with so many people, it seemed to be startled as well.

BANG.

Someone had fired a warning shot into the air.

"Don’t shoot!"

Kuang Guorong yelled. "At this range, a stray bullet could easily hit someone!"

"Everyone, spread out!"

It was impossible to tell who had shouted.

The tiger had just devoured a few ducks. The fur around its mouth was soaked in blood, giving it a terrifying, savage look.

But it seemed even more panicked than the humans. It glanced left and right, then turned to flee.

Shen Xin instinctively moved to get back in a car.

’A car is the safest place to be right now.’

But as he yanked open the door of a nearby police car, he spotted Ding Yuwei just a few meters away.

She and Sun Zhao were trying to drag the duck coop’s owner to safety.

But the man was still fighting them.

"My wife! My son’s still in there!"

He struggled so violently that Sun Zhao and Ding Yuwei couldn’t restrain him.

Just then, there was another roar.

The fleeing tiger had leaped onto a car and then landed right in front of the three of them.

The struggling man saw the blood covering the tiger’s mouth, and his eyes instantly went red with fury.

"You motherfucker!"

He shrieked, about to charge.

The tiger seemed startled by his wild reaction. It halted and roared at the trio.

Sun Zhao had the man in a desperate bear hug around the waist, his legs kicking frantically in the air.

"Here!"

Shen Xin suddenly shouted.

The wary, agitated tiger snapped its head around to look at Shen Xin.

"Here!"

Shen Xin roared again, suppressing his own fear and staring directly at the tiger.

In that moment, he didn’t know if the command was working, or if his Druid skill had kicked in.

Either way, the tiger’s gaping maw slowly closed.

It lowered its head, watching Shen Xin with a look that was both wary and perplexed.

"Motherfucker!"

The man behind them was still screaming, forcing Ding Yuwei to try and cover his mouth.

The tiger instinctively started to turn its head.

"Here!"

Shen Xin barked out the command again.

The tiger’s attention snapped back to Shen Xin.

Not daring to break eye contact, Shen Xin jabbed a finger toward the ground and yelled, "Down!"

The tiger shifted, and Shen Xin could sense its profound confusion.

"Down!"

Shen Xin shouted again.

This time, the tiger slowly lowered itself to the ground, though it kept its head raised, its eyes fixed on Shen Xin.

"Your wife’s fine. It was eating the ducks,"

Sun Zhao whispered in the man’s ear. Only then did the frantic man quiet down.

Sun Zhao quickly dragged him back, retreating slowly with Ding Yuwei.

Hearing the movement, the prone tiger started to turn its head.

"Here!"

Shen Xin shouted again, holding his posture and staring intently at the tiger.

He had learned these commands earlier from Lu Wenxue, while they were waiting for the main team to arrive.

A moment ago, the tiger had leaped over and the owner was hysterical. If he had startled the tiger and triggered its attack instinct, Ding Yuwei and the other two would never have had time to escape.

That was why Shen Xin had taken the risk.

He never expected it to actually work.

’Of course, maybe my Druid skill played a part, too?’

’But that’s not important right now.’

On the other side of a police car, Chen Chao peeked out, giving Shen Xin a questioning look.

More heads began to peek out.

Zhao Tianxing looked terrified, frantically trying to signal something to Shen Xin with his eyes.

Zhao Hongjie, Kuang Guorong, and Lv Youwei were all craning their necks to see what was happening.

"Xiaoshen, how are you doing that? Is the tiger listening to you?" Lv Youwei’s voice called out in a hushed tone.

Shen Xin didn’t move a muscle, forcing the words out through clenched teeth.

"Director Lv, never mind that for now! What do we do next?"

’This is a hand-reared, domesticated tiger after all, so it’s following commands.’

’But what’s next?’

’Do I just keep staring at it and wait for the tranquilizer darts to take effect?’

’Seriously, are these tranquilizer guns always this shitty?’

’Did they not use a high enough dose? It took two darts and it’s acting like nothing happened.’

’The problem is, while it’s just lying here, we can’t really do anything to secure it.’

’We should probably secure it first.’

’But it’s huge. What could we even use to tie it up?’

’We need a cage. A big one. A steel cage.’