Chapter 503 - 37: Something Fishy
The light rain continued to fall, making the road slippery and muddy due to the precipitation.
Chen Zhou walked briskly wearing a raincoat, not caring about getting soaked.
The indigenous guide who came to deliver the message saw the Leader in this state and felt quite anxious, bending low and enduring fatigue to lead the way for Chen Zhou.
Behind them, the three sailors, who hadn’t rested long, wore raincoats, carried a box of medicines, and closely followed with Lai Fu.
...
Chen Zhou had traveled the path to the cave many times, but this time, he was the most anxious.
Although the indigenous messenger had mentioned that Tiger Head’s injury was just a superficial wound, Chen Zhou was still worried about the possibility of infection or other illnesses.
It was known that Tiger Head was a cat in its prime, and in the wild, it had no natural predators. In such an environment on the island, at its age, it should not have gotten injured.
If it did get injured, it was highly likely due to virus, bacteria, or parasites causing physical weakness and leading to a chain reaction affecting its hunting ability.
Therefore, the external injury observed by the indigenous guide might not really be an external injury since they knew little about animals, especially cats.
...
It didn’t take long for the group to reach the place where the zebra rescued Tiger Head.
Upon hearing that this unusual big cat was a pet once cared for by the Leader, the indigenous people working in the fields put down their work and gathered near the woods.
If not for the zebra’s prestige among the indigenous people, they might have crowded even closer.
Only when Chen Zhou arrived did the curious natives make way, allowing the Leader to enter smoothly.
With little attention to the zebra caring for Tiger Head, Chen Zhou squatted beside Tiger Head and checked its condition immediately.
...
The rain had drenched Tiger Head’s beautiful fur, and its tiger-like stripes were smeared with tangled fur, broken twigs, blood, and mud.
Tiger Head lay on a sailor uniform, seemingly belonging to the zebra.
Despite being wounded, its spirit wasn’t particularly dull; it was curled up on the clothes, with its ears flat on the head, bearing the pain, it was warning the surrounding people.
Just looking at Tiger Head’s bright eyes, one wouldn’t think it had many bleeding wounds.
It was wagging its tail, hissing at the surrounding large creatures, and only when it saw Chen Zhou did Tiger Head’s mood slightly calm.
...
Chen Zhou tentatively reached out his hand, cautiously touched Tiger Head’s head with his fingertip.
This creature was now extremely tense, approaching rashly could likely result in an attack, and besides, Chen Zhou hadn’t seen Tiger Head for a long time, so Tiger Head might have forgotten him.
Initially, Tiger Head was somewhat resistant to Chen Zhou’s actions.
But after sniffing Chen Zhou’s scent, it seemed to instantly recognize the person who had cared for it even before it could open its eyes; its tail immediately stopped moving.
Its ears, which had been almost flat on the head, returned to an upright position, and the wary look in Tiger Head’s eyes turned exceedingly pitiful, as it looked at Chen Zhou and meowed softly.
Afterward, Tiger Head rubbed its cheek against Chen Zhou’s hand, trying to get up and leave the sailor uniform on the ground to get closer.
The injuries spread across its body made each step painful to endure.
Yet this forest-dwelling cat never paid much mind to minor injuries and pains—
Since getting wounded, it had felt fear for the first time in ages, and Chen Zhou was the only creature who could bring it a sense of security; it wanted to return to the cave.
...
No matter how worried and agitated Chen Zhou was before setting off.
No matter how many times he blamed Tiger Head for being aloof, insisting on staying here only to get hurt, trying to convince himself that Tiger Head was "reaping what it sowed."
When Tiger Head cried out softly and rubbed against Chen Zhou’s hand, he felt his heart melt.
Looking at the canopy above that could barely shield any rainwater, then at Tiger Head’s tangled fur, making its injuries invisible, Chen Zhou decided to move Tiger Head to a dry place for treatment.
Judging from Tiger Head’s spirit, it was likely just a superficial wound.
Therefore, Chen Zhou wasn’t overly cautious, he directly picked up Tiger Head and headed towards the cave.
Though they hadn’t seen each other much in nearly three months and hadn’t had close contact for nearly half a year; upon picking up Tiger Head, Chen Zhou felt it was still as heavy as before.
Afraid of touching Tiger Head’s injury, he avoided touching its spine.
But just by feeling, he concluded that Tiger Head had been eating well and sleeping soundly recently, with no ailments besides external injuries.
This gave rise to a suspicion in Chen Zhou’s heart—
If Tiger Head was in good health, how did it suffer such severe injuries?
On this island, apart from the two cows brought by a mysterious reward, the giant python slain personally by Sunday, goats, and Lai Fu, Tiger Head was essentially at the top of the food chain.
Even an attack from the same species would hardly injure Tiger Head, let alone during a season of cat disputes and mate contest.
The only ones capable of injuring Tiger Head were humans, but the indigenous people were under orders not to harm Tiger Head; they had even seen Tiger Head’s picture, so it wasn’t possible they didn’t recognize it...
Thinking of this, Chen Zhou suddenly realized a problem—
The newly joined indigenous people might not have received this order, meaning they could be the ones who harmed Tiger Head.
However, the new indigenous members usually behaved very obediently, and under the guidance of the older indigenous members, how could they suddenly target a hard-to-capture, elusive cat?