Pet King

he Soldier squatted beside the cages, thinking before talking, “I know who it was.
Someone left their tent for a long time last night during my guard shift.
They didn’t come back for a long time, and I thought they were taken away by some monster in the desert.
Just as I was going to find someone for help, he came back… So it must be him, only he has the time to.”

He looked towards Zhang Zian’s tent, meeting Zhang Zian’s eyes straight on.

“Jeff, you have violated the first rule of the group, that we cannot leave the camp grounds by ourself, especially without informing anyone before hand,” The Soldier sternly reprimanded him.

“I’m sorry, it was my fault.” Zhang Zian raised his hands up in surrender, “I promise I will never do it again next time.”

He didn’t try to provide excuses, because rules are rules, and there shouldn’t be exceptions for anyone or anything.

Seeing that there were a lot of people gathering in one area, Peter Lee and Weikang came over to understand what was happening too.

“What’s going on?” Peter Lee asked.

The people automatically split into two groups, leaving a path in the middle.

“Eh? It’s the fennec fox!” Weikang immediately recognized the rare Sahara Desert animal, rushing over to observe it closely.

Even though fennec foxes aren’t part of the endangered animal list, they still are rare animals.
Their numbers and distribution in the desert is still a mystery, and no one knows exactly how many there are.
There might be a lot, or might be only a few.
It’s too difficult tracking down these nocturnal animals in the vast desert.

Weikang’s four students followed behind him.
The four of them, usually a pretty harmonious bunch that would gather together to play games, have now distanced themselves from each other, as though bearing a grudge.
True friendship really does show in the midst of trouble.

“How did these fennec foxes end up here?” Weikang asked, confused.

The Soldier pointed at Zhang Zian, “Jeff didn’t follow the rules last night, and had left the camp by himself for more than half an hour.
He was the one that brought these foxes back.”

Peter Lee frowned, but Weikang didn’t have the time to care about these rules, gaping in shock, “Xiao Zhang, you…”

Zhang Zian nodded, “I didn’t leave camp purposefully.
My stomach was hurting last night, so I got up to use the washroom.
When I reached the spot, Famous heard some commotion behind the sand dune near us.
I was worried whether it would be some dangerous animal, so I quietly made my way there, and found these fennec foxes.
Professor Wei, you should know that these animals have amazing hearing.
Under those circumstances, if I come back to the camp to call for someone else, these fennec foxes definitely would have run off.
So, I made the decision and tried to catch them by myself.”

Even non-experts would know that these fennec foxes would have amazing hearing just by looking at those comically large ears.

Zhang Zian’s words weren’t contradictory at all, and strictly speaking, he didn’t even leave the camp by himself, Famous was with him.
In many times, especially outdoors, a dog is much more useful than another human.

“Then… how did you catch them? These foxes are really agile.” Weikang was still very confused.

Zhang Zian fished out his flashlight, “I used this.
I coordinated with Famous and Fina.
They chased the fennec foxes towards me, and I dazed them with the intense light, it’s that simple.”

They definitely thought that Famous must have played the greatest part in this, as there’s a type of dog called hunting dogs.