The moment the cage door slammed shut, Pingtou reacted, lunging forward. But no matter how fast it moved, it couldn’t beat the trap’s spring-loaded mechanism. Its head slammed into the wire mesh door with a loud THWACK.

"Haha, we got it!" Sylvie exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She was incredibly curious about this clever animal and couldn’t wait to get a closer look at it.

’An animal is still an animal. Its intelligence can’t compare to a human’s, after all,’ Shen Yibin smiled. He was already thinking about how to drug Pingtou once they got it back to the hotel. He was also curious about what changes the medicine would bring. ’Will it listen to me like Egg and Hah’Er?’

’I hope so.’ If it didn’t obey, knowing Pingtou’s temperament, he wouldn’t dare let it out for any reason. It would probably kill all the other pets in the shop. It might even scratch up Hah’Er’s face, and Shen Yibin would never let that happen.

"I’ll go get the cage," Shen Yibin said, starting to get up. As far as he was concerned, Pingtou posed no threat now that it was locked inside.

"Wait!" The guide pulled him back again and handed him the binoculars. "Look what it’s doing."

’No way. Three-millimeter wire? It can’t possibly bite through that, can it?’ Shen Yibin wasn’t too concerned. He casually took the binoculars and glanced toward the trap. But what he saw nearly made him fall to his knees. Pingtou was going at the wire cage with tooth and nail, biting and clawing, and had actually managed to snap several of the wires.

"Holy crap, is that a Mongoose or Wolverine?! Are its teeth and claws made of Adamantium Alloy?" Shen Yibin couldn’t help but yell. Come to think of it, Wolverine is based on a wolverine—I wonder what Hugh Jackman would think if he saw this Mongoose.

Hearing this, Sylvie quickly grabbed her binoculars to see for herself. Her jaw dropped in disbelief, just like Shen Yibin’s. But the biggest shock was yet to come. After gnawing a small hole in the cage, Pingtou stuck its paw through the opening and deftly unfastened the trap’s latch, demonstrating an incredible level of intelligence.

"Its intelligence is terrifyingly high," Sylvie said in amazement. What ordinary animal would think of that? She didn’t know that animals like Pingtou were among the few highly intelligent creatures in the animal kingdom capable of using tools. This was the main reason so few zoos could house them. If you locked one in a cage, it would come up with all sorts of ways to escape.

They would use their teeth and claws to chew through wire mesh, learn to undo latches by watching zookeepers, dig tunnels under enclosure walls, or even move rocks and clods of dirt to a corner to climb out. Even a broom or mop accidentally left behind by staff would become a tool for their great escape.

’I’ve decided. Once I catch you, I’m going to call you Scofield. With escape skills like these, who else could possibly compare?’ Shen Yibin had already come up with a name for it.

"It’s getting out!" Sylvie’s cry pulled Shen Yibin’s attention back to Pingtou. ’Naming it can wait,’ he thought. ’The most important thing right now is catching it!’

Pingtou dragged the bread and swaggered out of the cage. Once free, it even let out a few roars in Shen Yibin’s direction, though it was unclear if it had actually caught their scent. Then, it leaned comfortably against the trap, devoured the honey-slathered bread down to the last crumb, rested for a moment, and strutted off arrogantly, as if looking for its next fight.

"*Grrrrowl...*" Watching Pingtou, Hah’Er couldn’t help but rub its own belly. The sight had apparently stirred its appetite; it had just eaten, but it was already hungry again.

"What should we do? Go back to the hotel and try again tomorrow?" Sylvie asked, lowering her binoculars. Both of Shen Yibin’s plans had failed. The pitfall and the cage trap had been useless. He didn’t have a third plan, and they had used up all their equipment. It seemed their only option was to retreat and regroup.

"Let’s wait a little longer," Shen Yibin said, scratching his head in frustration. ’Looks like I really underestimated this Pingtou. But then again, they’re already tough to deal with, and this one was specifically designated by the Future Pet Shop. Its combat strength and intelligence must be far beyond that of an ordinary Mongoose. It was never going to be this easy to catch it.’

"Here, Hah’Er, have some juice," Sylvie said, twisting open two bottles. She handed one to Hah’Er and the other to Shen Yibin. "Maybe we can get a stronger trap tomorrow? It loves honey so much, I’m sure it’ll fall for the bait again."

’That’s true. No matter how smart Pingtou is, it’s still an animal driven by instinct. If it’s willing to be stung to death for honey, it will definitely risk it again.’

"I don’t know about that. It already fell for it once. Tricking it the same way again won’t be easy," Shen Yibin said reflexively. ’Wait... honey?’ An idea suddenly struck him.

’Wait a minute, what is wrong with me? I’ve been so focused on using honey to lure Pingtou into a trap that I completely forgot my real goal was just to get it to eat the medicine!’ 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Shen Yibin had been stuck in a mental rut, assuming he had to physically capture Pingtou before he could administer the medicine. He’d forgotten that the honey itself was the delivery mechanism. Pingtou hadn’t left a single drop of it earlier; it had licked it all up and swallowed it.

’So, if I just coat the pill in a thick layer of honey, push it into a piece of bread, and prepare the bait just like last time, Pingtou will definitely eat the medicine, right?’

"I’m such an idiot, seriously," Shen Yibin said, looking at Sylvie with earnest self-reproach. He immediately pulled the crystal vial from his pocket, tipped out the pill, coated it in a thick layer of honey, and pressed it into the center of a piece of bread. He then proceeded to smear the entire remaining bottle of honey all over it.

"A tranquilizer? Is that safe? Is that what you bought earlier?" Sylvie assumed it was a sedative and nodded slightly. "Not a bad idea. But the cage is broken now. Even if you manage to knock it out, how are you going to get it back?"

"Let’s just worry about that after we catch it," Shen Yibin said vaguely. He had no idea what effect the pill would have once ingested.

Once it was ready, Shen Yibin took the pill-laden bread, stepped out of the helicopter, and found another suitable spot to place it. Whether or not he could finally get Pingtou all came down to this.