Chapter 184: Chapter 145: Interspecies Love at First Sight
It was a while before he hung up and walked back.
"I found it."
Zhao Mingfeng cleared his throat, looked at the crowd of people waiting eagerly for his answer, and said, "Shipped in the same container as Bart was a Bengal White Tiger."
"A tiger?" one Veterinarian blurted out instinctively.
"Bart fell for a tiger?!" another Veterinarian exclaimed.
"Holy crap! A lion fell for a tiger? This... what is this, some kind of cross-species romance?" a third Veterinarian said with an exaggerated expression.
"Is that how ligers are made?" someone murmured, as if they had discovered a great secret.
Before Zhao Mingfeng could finish, the young Veterinarians had already started chattering excitedly, their faces lit up with the kind of excitement one gets from hearing juicy gossip.
Lu Gangsheng was just as surprised, but his expression soon turned thoughtful.
Stroking his chin, he muttered to himself, ’Africa has no tigers. Bart is from the African Savanna, so he’s never seen the other king of big cats...’
’This would be his first time seeing one, and a rare white variant at that. From an aesthetic standpoint, the White Tiger’s fur color and physique might indeed have a powerful visual impact and an ’exotic’ appeal to a lion...’
He had actually started analyzing it from the perspectives of animal behavior and aesthetics!
Yang Qi sighed inwardly as he listened from the side.
’It’s true, Africa doesn’t have tigers. It’s not entirely incomprehensible that Bart, upon seeing a big cat of similar size but with such a unique coat and an equally majestic and elegant posture for the first time, would develop a strong impression or even ’affection’ for it.’
Even from a human perspective, a White Tiger could certainly be called "beautiful," possessing an air of mystery and nobility.
At first, Zhao Mingfeng was still confused, but after hearing a few sentences, his jaw dropped. He asked, stunned, "What are you all talking about? Bart fell for Duke?"
"Duke?"
Yang Qi sharply caught the name. A sense of foreboding rose in his heart, and he quickly pressed, "Minister Zhao, the Bengal White Tiger in the same container as Bart—is it a male? Named Duke?"
"That’s right!"
Zhao Mingfeng’s eyes widened as he answered with certainty, "That White Tiger is male. His name is ’Duke.’ He’s from a private breeding center in Southeast Asia with a very pure bloodline. The plan was to send him to a newly built Zoo in the capital to be displayed as a star attraction."
"Due to routing and paperwork issues, they were temporarily shipped together in one container and were only separated for transfer after reaching the port."
"A male?"
"A male White Tiger?!"
"Bart is in love with a MALE tiger!?"
The voices of the several Veterinarians, who had been excitedly discussing just a moment ago, came to an abrupt halt, as if their throats had been squeezed shut.
The expressions on their faces froze instantly, shifting from gossipy excitement to complete, absurd bewilderment.
Lu Gangsheng was dumbfounded as well. His whole "aesthetic analysis" was now stuck in his throat.
He had studied large felines for decades and knew that male lions sometimes engaged in "mounting" behavior, but that was typically a social act to establish hierarchy and display dominance, unrelated to actual sexual orientation.
In the animal kingdom, aside from a few rare exceptions like male giraffes, stable homosexual tendencies are extremely rare, especially in a species with a distinct social structure like lions.
Now, Bart, a male lion in his prime, was so infatuated with another male, the White Tiger "Duke," that he had lost his will to eat or drink?
This... this had completely surpassed the scope of normal animal behavior and entered the inexplicable realm of the bizarre.
"..."
The group fell into a strange silence.
Just a moment ago, they thought a "lion-tiger romance" was outrageous enough. Now it had escalated to "a male lion’s unrequited love for a male tiger"?
Yang Qi felt a headache coming on. His temples were throbbing.
This situation was a hundred times trickier than he had anticipated.
If Bart had fallen for a lioness or even a female tiger, arranging a meeting would be troublesome, but at least it would align with biological instincts. It might have actually solved the problem, even if only temporarily.
But now...
Let a lovesick male lion meet the object of his unrequited, same-sex affection?
The mental image was too much to bear; Yang Qi didn’t dare to even imagine it.
What would happen after they met?
Would they be "gazing at each other teary-eyed, too choked up to speak"?
Or would "love turn to hate, leading to a massive fight"?
Or would it be a case of "unrequited love," completely shattering Bart’s already fragile mental state?
The risk was too great!
But if they didn’t try, the emotional knot in Bart’s heart would never be untied.
’I’ve already given him hope. If that hope is shattered, he might fall into an even deeper despair. At that point, even ’hope therapy’ probably wouldn’t work anymore.’
Yang Qi struggled internally, quickly weighing the pros and cons.
In the end, he decided to get a clear picture of the situation first.
"Minister Zhao."
Yang Qi chose his words carefully before asking, "That White Tiger, ’Duke’—is it confirmed which Zoo in the capital he’s at now?"
"He’s at the new ’Galaxy Wildlife Kingdom’ that just opened in the capital. I hear it was a huge investment with top-of-the-line facilities."
Zhao Mingfeng replied, but then it dawned on him. He looked at Yang Qi, his voice rising an octave, "Advisor Yang, you... you’re not actually thinking of arranging a meeting between Bart and Duke, are you?"
"Yes."
Yang Qi nodded, his tone calm. "That’s where Bart’s emotional block lies. I only managed to temporarily pacify him and get him to eat with the hope of a ’possible meeting’."
"Before I came out, I promised him I would help ask around and see if they could meet again. Only by meeting, regardless of whether the outcome is good or bad, is there a possibility of truly resolving his emotional issues."
He paused, looked at the shocked and uncertain expressions of Zhao Mingfeng, Lu Gangsheng, and the others, and added a sentence.
"Of course, it’s also possible that the situation will get worse after they meet, and Bart will suffer an even greater shock."
Zhao Mingfeng: "..."
He opened his mouth, but for a long time, no words came out. The look on his face said it all—
’Are you sure you’re not messing with me?’
