King of the Wilderness

When Lin Yu’an and Max returned to that secluded isolation room, their mood was completely different from a few hours ago.

The small orange-and-black ball of fur had already awoken. It was sitting on the ground, carefully licking its front paws with a small pink tongue.

Seeing them enter, it tilted its head again, those innocent big blue eyes full of pure curiosity without a hint of fear.

Max stepped forward and deftly opened the door to the isolation room.

She crouched down, speaking to it with an unprecedentedly gentle voice, "We’re taking you to a new home, little one."

Lin Yu’an also walked in, crouching down in front of it and extending his hand towards it.

The little tiger curiously looked at the huge palm reaching out in front of it.

It hesitated for a moment, then extended its furry little paw with incomplete claws, gently placing it on Lin Yu’an’s palm.

At that moment, Lin Yu’an’s heart completely melted.

Looking into its pure eyes, he softly said, "From now on, you won’t be called that cold survivor anymore."

"Your fur, like the autumn foliage of Whiskey Valley, is a warm golden color."

"Your eyes, like the pure blue waters deep within Alaska’s glaciers."

"From now on, you’ll be called..."

He paused for a moment, uttering the name that had circled in his heart for a long time.

"How about Amber? Do you like this name?"

The little tiger Amber, of course, couldn’t understand. It just affectionately rubbed its fluffy little head against Max’s soft hand.

From then on, in Lin Yu’an’s animal kingdom, there was another forest-born and adorably clumsy little prince after Ice Princess December.

After Director Fisher’s phone call, little tiger Amber’s fate experienced a dramatic twist.

It was no longer a forgotten historical issue in the logistics zone, but was duly brought into December’s spacious and luxurious isolation pavilion by Max under the guise of inter-species behavior observation.

An intimate encounter full of uncertainties began under everyone’s tense watch.

They all knew, between cubs of different species, especially two top predators, the first meeting could easily explode into deadly conflict due to territorial awareness and fear.

In the surveillance room, the air was so still it seemed to freeze. Everyone held their breath, their eyes glued to the screen.

When the orange-and-black ball of fur was put into that vast, pure white world, the strong contrast tightened everyone’s heart.

Its innocent blue eyes looked around, the small body quivering slightly with anxiety. The cold air and unfamiliar odors made it shrink back, emitting a series of whimpering cries.

Originally happily rolling around the snow with a red rubber ball, December instantly noticed the intruder.

It stopped its actions, the massive body slowly standing up from the snow like a moving snow mountain.

As a four-month-old polar bear, its size was nearly three times that of Amber, every movement imbued with the inherent pressure of a top predator.

Curiously, step by step, it approached the strange little creature whose color was completely different from its own.

Each heavy step on the artificial snow was like a heavy hammer striking the heart of everyone in the surveillance room. Max’s hands unconsciously clenched together.

December walked up to Amber, its gigantic figure almost completely casting the little tiger into shadow. Lin Yu’an stood by, ready to intervene if a conflict broke out.

It lowered its head, the huge bear head coming close to the little head, the wet black nose like a cool stamp meticulously sniffing every inch of Amber’s tiny scalp.

Amber was terrified by this behemoth, its fur standing on end.

Yet, its flawed nervous system seemed to short-circuit at the most critical moment, forgetting fear and how to emit a threatening hiss.

It simply instinctively lifted its head, using those equally pure blue eyes to gaze back at the huge furry existence in front.

Then, under the attention of everyone drawing a gasp, it performed an action that the entire research center remembered.

It extended its little pink tongue, with newborn calf-like innocence and trust, tentatively licking December’s cool black nose.

December seemed stunned too. It paused for a full three seconds, its massive head tilting to one side, as if a supercomputer processing an incomprehensible program.

A few seconds later, it seemed to draw the simplest conclusion belonging to beasts. Turning around, it carried its beloved red rubber ball, a treasure covered in its saliva.

Carrying the ball, it walked back solemnly to Amber’s front.

It gently and tenderly placed the toy, never shared with anyone, at Amber’s feet, even nudging it forward with its nose, seemingly saying, "Here, this is the most fun."

Having done this, it gently rubbed its big head against Amber’s small body, throat emitting a series of happy growls used for play invitations, like a powerful yet tender engine.

"Oh, God..." someone in the surveillance room gasped with a sob.

The next second, uncontrollable exclamations and applause erupted like a tide.

Max, watching the screen, finally relaxed as the white and yellow fur balls awkwardly chased and played together on the screen.

In the following days, the phrase family time was given a whole new meaning.

December completely showed its role as the older sister. No longer the occasionally temperamental bear child, but a silent and reliable guardian. Its massive figure was Amber’s warmest support and safest barrier.

When Lin Yu’an brought out the large bottle, December would use her nose to push the nipple towards Amber’s mouth, quietly sitting nearby, patiently waiting.

When they were tired of playing and went to sleep, December would coil her warm thick body, allowing the little orange flame to sleep peacefully on her pure white belly.

And Amber thoroughly took December as its reliance and object of imitation.

It clumsily rolled on the snow imitating December, becoming a sugar frost covered in snow powder.

It mimicked December, nudging Lin Yu’an’s leg in affection, yet due to its small size, each attempt resembled a gentle bell ringing.

Two souls equally abandoned by the world, on this isolated iceplain, crossed species boundaries to form a unique and new family.

Their existence is a gentle tribute to life itself.