“WTK!”
Lu Zheng was speechless. He immediately clicked the link. “They actually found one? That lucky? Last time I searched for ages and only found a tiger beyond the border!”
The page opened to a video.
“There’s even video evidence?” Lu Zheng grumbled. “Didn’t they say last time to keep a low profile? How did it end up on video?”
The video soon started playing. In the footage appeared Zhao Xiaodao and Lin Wan. Zhao Xiaodao wore a hat and sunglasses, Lin Wan had a mask on, and beside them was Zhao Xiaodao’s little bag-carrying assistant.
The camera was quite far from the three of them. None of them looked towards the lens, and the image shook. It seemed a passer-by had recognised Zhao Xiaodao and was secretly filming while following them, without getting too close.
They walked to a road beside farmland just outside the town, with endless forest and mountains nearby.
In the video, a people-carrier was parked a short distance away. It looked like Zhao Xiaodao’s ride; they were about to get in and leave.
At that moment, the bushes at the edge of the forest suddenly rustled, and a dark shadow leapt out.
A massive creature over three metres long, black and yellow stripes, with the character “king” on its forehead, charged straight towards them at terrifying speed.
A Northeast tiger!
An adult Northeast tiger!
“Aaaaaah!”
The person filming was a young woman, judging by the scream. She was clearly terrified, the camera shaking as she backed away.
Yet she seemed to have some professional instinct and forcibly kept the lens trained on Zhao Xiaodao’s group.
Her subconscious told her this was massive news!
And it truly was. The video quickly reached its climax.
The little assistant threw down the bags in panic, screaming to vent her fear while actually stepping forward to try to pull Zhao Xiaodao away.
Zhao Xiaodao herself stood frozen, neither shouting nor moving, as if stunned.
Because the distance between the treeline and the group was short, the tiger closed to within five metres in just four or five seconds.
You could clearly see the ferocious aura of the tiger in the video. It was nothing like the tigers in circuses or zoos.
But then…
The next instant, the other woman beside Zhao Xiaodao, Lin Wan, stepped forward.
Lin Wan moved one step ahead, placing herself in front of Zhao Xiaodao, and charged straight at the tiger.
To the person filming, Lin Wan wore a white lightweight trench coat over a fitted pair of jeans. Tall and graceful, she looked like a model, definitely not a bodyguard, perhaps just Zhao Xiaodao’s friend?
Rushing forward alone, she was clearly prepared to sacrifice herself to buy Zhao Xiaodao time to escape.
What a pity…
In the footage, the two sides rushed towards each other. Just as they were about to collide, the tiger kicked off with its hind legs, reared up, and pounced at Lin Wan.
Then…
Lin Wan twisted and turned sideways, dodging the tiger’s front paws. She spun back, raised her hand like a blade, and using her forearm as the striking point, slammed her whole body into the tiger’s shoulder.
BANG!
With a huge thud, the Northeast tiger was sent flying sideways.
“Holy crap!”
That was the involuntary exclamation from the person filming. The turn of events had completely blindsided her!
She stopped retreating and even stepped forward a couple of paces to zoom in and capture it clearly.
The tiger rolled once on the ground after being knocked aside before scrambling up. It glared at Lin Wan and let out a low roar.
Perhaps its ferocity was provoked. It charged again, pouncing at Lin Wan.
Lin Wan, however, remained calm. She shifted half a step back and delivered a side kick.
Her long, beautiful leg, wrapped in jeans, drew an elegant arc and struck the tiger squarely on the side of its face, whipping it back the way it came.
“Aaaaaah!”
The filmer could not help screaming. The impact was overwhelming.
Lin Wan did not wait for the tiger to attack again. She closed in proactively. As the tiger swiped its paw, she parried the claw with her left hand, then swung her right fist hard into the tiger’s head.
BANG!
The sound carried clearly even through the video.
Terrifying!
Lin Wan grabbed the scruff of the tiger’s neck, raised her fist, and pounded the tiger’s head three times.
Then, wrapping her arm around its neck and using its own struggling momentum, she executed a lateral throw, followed immediately by a reverse lateral throw using the same force.
BANG! BANG!
The Northeast tiger lay on the ground, motionless.
Lin Wan stepped back two paces and quietly watched the tiger.
When the tiger saw she was not moving, it tried to get up.
Lin Wan took one step forward.
Instantly, the tiger obediently lay back down, rolled over, paws in the air, and exposed its belly.
Lin Wan nodded. Done!
In the video, Lin Wan waved to Zhao Xiaodao to show it was safe, then pointed towards the person filming.
Zhao Xiaodao turned, instructed the assistant to jog over to the filmer.
The filmer hurriedly swung the camera around and ran off.
The video ended.
Lu Zheng found the original poster. According to her comment, she was worried Zhao Xiaodao would ask her to delete the video, so as a precaution she uploaded it immediately.
Because she had tagged several major news outlets, the video was quickly picked up and reposted by media. In less than half an hour, it dominated the front pages and hot-topic lists everywhere.
The video exploded!
Zhao Xiaodao exploded in popularity!
But what exploded even more was the question sitting at number two on the trending searches:
Who is that tiger-beating woman?
…
Lu Zheng switched to the trending page and, sure enough, found Zhao Xiaodao’s new posts.
Two updates.
One reposted the video, confirming it was real.
The other was photos with the Northeast tiger, a few short clips of petting the big cat, plus pictures and videos of the tiger being handed over to the authorities.
Her caption read:
[I came to the Northeast this time for location scouting, to experience real rural village life and prepare for future filming.
I never expected to encounter a Northeast tiger, and it was even caught on video. Sorry for worrying everyone.
I’m fine, my friend is fine, she’s amazing. Even a Northeast tiger is no match for her.
The forestry department was very professional. They arrived on site in under half an hour and have taken the tiger to the Northeast Tiger Park for further observation and treatment.
Finally, here are some beautiful shots of me with the tiger.
Honestly, stroking a big cat feels so good. Its belly is soft, its fur is silky, and when you touch its head its ears flick and twitch. So cute!]
Zhao Xiaodao really could not resist showing off a little at the end.
