“Boom!”
A dull thud echoed through the air.
Dust swirled upward.
In that instant, every single person present felt as though they had been frozen in place by a spell cast by the Monkey King himself. The terrifying aura radiating from the tiger rooted them to the spot—none of them dared to move so much as a muscle.
Only when you come face-to-face with a fully grown tiger do you truly comprehend just how terrifying its size really is.
The sheer, overwhelming pressure that crashes down upon you is enough to make any unarmed human feel utterly hopeless.
Then, one of the crew members came running back. The moment he spotted the tiger, sheer terror seized him.
“Holy shit! Where the hell did this tiger come from?!”
“What are you all standing around for?! Run! Run for your lives!”
He shouted at the top of his lungs.
His words hit like the final straw that breaks the camel’s back.
In that moment, everyone’s psychological defenses crumbled—like a dam bursting in a catastrophic flood!
It didn’t matter how tough any of them had acted before.
It didn’t matter how brave they thought they were.
When faced with a top-tier predator like this, there was only one thought left in their minds—run!
“Help! Help! There’s a tiger!”
“Stay away, please, please don’t come any closer!”
“I fell down! Someone pull me up, pull me up—don’t leave me behind!”
“Where are the security guards?! Get over here! Why is there a tiger here in the first place?!”
“I don’t want to die!”
The silence that had reigned just moments before was now shattered by utter chaos. The primal terror buried deep within human veins erupted all at once, and the air filled with shrill, desperate screams.
But instead of drawing the security guards to their rescue, those screams only agitated the tiger further.
Startled, the beast bristled, its fur standing on end. It bared its massive jaws, revealing a fearsome, savage expression.
“ROAR!”
The tiger’s roar shook the very heavens and struck terror straight into the hearts of all who heard it!
Acting purely on instinct, it lunged at the nearest person.
And that person was none other than Chen Qiao’en—who had just finished her scene moments ago!
“Brother Jiang, did you hear something?”
Standing on a mountain a hundred meters high, Zhang Linyu had just hung up the phone after finishing his discussion with the scenic area’s manager. He vaguely caught a sound in the distance and couldn’t help but ask.
Hearing this, Jiang Nian’s expression turned grave.
He stood at the edge of the cliff, gazing down at the foot of the mountain. “If I’m not mistaken, that was a tiger.”
“What?!”
At those words, Zhang Linyu shuddered violently, his legs turning to jelly. “Brother Jiang, don’t scare me like that!”
Ever since Jiang Nian had pointed out tiger tracks on the mountain earlier, warning that a tiger might have passed through, Zhang Linyu had been on edge. He couldn’t shake the feeling that some beast was watching him from the woods.
And now, the moment he hung up the phone, Jiang Nian was telling him the tiger had already appeared.
Seriously? That fast?!
Seeing his panicked expression, Jiang Nian’s face remained grim. “Why would I lie to you? Something’s happened to the production crew. Hurry up and follow me down!”
“R-right now?” Zhang Linyu stammered.
He stepped up to the edge, peered down, and swallowed hard. “Uh, Brother Jiang, don’t get me wrong, but… this mountain is a hundred meters high. If we go down the normal way, it’ll take at least an hour—maybe half an hour if we’re lucky. By the time we get down there, everything will be long over. I mean…”
Zhang Linyu was about to say that even if they went down now, it wouldn’t make a difference.
But Jiang Nian shot him a glance. “Who said it’d take that long? Isn’t there an express lane right here?”
“Huh?” Zhang Linyu froze. Then realization dawned, and he stared at Jiang Nian in disbelief. “Brother Jiang, you don’t mean to—”
“That’s right. I’ll go on ahead. You take your time coming down.”
With that, Jiang Nian walked straight to the edge of the cliff—and stepped off.
“Holy—!”
Zhang Linyu’s brain short-circuited. He rushed forward and looked down, only to see Jiang Nian gripping the rocky protrusions and indentations on the cliff face, using them to leap downward in rapid succession.
In just a few seconds, he had already descended more than ten meters!
Zhang Linyu: “???”
“Am I still dreaming?!”
“Yeah, that’s it—I must still be dreaming. This is way too insane!”
He lay down and closed his eyes. But a moment later, he shot back up, utterly frantic:
“This isn’t a dream! It’s real!”
“How the hell did you just jump off a cliff?!”
“Brother Jiang, I know you’ve got skills, but don’t mess around like this! If you die, who the hell am I going to manage?!”
——-
Meanwhile, as Jiang Nian was speeding down his “express lane” toward the scene—
“Boom!”
A dull crash rang out.
The tiger pounced, throwing itself onto Chen Qiao’en, who had been the closest and was standing with her back turned.
Caught completely off guard, she was slammed to the ground by the immense force. Her head cracked against the bluestone path, and blood immediately began to flow.
A sickening crackle came from her back—probably broken ribs, if she was unlucky.
The searing pain twisted her face. She opened her mouth to cry out in agony—
But before any sound could escape—
“Grrrr…”
A deep, guttural growl rumbled right beside her ear.
Chen Qiao’en went rigid.
She turned her head in disbelief—and found herself staring directly at a massive face covered in black stripes!
“!!!”
Her eyes met those amber-colored pupils. She could smell the hot, fetid breath pouring from its jaws!
Her mind went completely blank. Only one thought kept repeating, over and over:
“Tiger! Tiger!”
An overwhelming sense of death wrapped itself around her.
In that moment—whether from sheer terror or something else—she wasn’t sure.
In a daze, Chen Qiao’en saw her entire life flash before her eyes.
From being born in Taiwan Province, moving schools so often that she never made any real friends, growing up withdrawn and solitary…
To entering the entertainment industry after high school, standing out in auditions with her quirky, comedic style, and becoming a star…
To clashing with her agency’s boss over career choices and being shelved for half a year…
As the images rushed past like a horse on a carousel, her desperate will to live reached its peak.
She didn’t want to die. She couldn’t die.
“Someone, anyone—save me! Please save me!”
Chen Qiao’en screamed in her heart, utterly hopeless. But in the face of the tiger, all she could do was tremble, her lips quivering, her face deathly pale.
Nearby, Director Huang Junwen and the others watched in anguish.
“Qiao’en! Qiao’en! How did she end up pinned by the tiger?!”
“What do we do?! What do we do?! Why is there a tiger here?!”
“Where are the security guards?!”
“We called them! They said they’re on their way—estimated arrival time: five more minutes!”
“Five minutes?! Are you kidding me?! In that amount of time, do you think Qiao’en will still be alive?!”
“Waaah… Qiao’en… Qiao’en…”
Panic consumed everyone. Some were even crying.
After all, they had all been working together day in and day out. Now, one of their own was pinned beneath a tiger—and would most likely die right in front of them.
How could they possibly accept that?
They were just here to shoot a movie! Why did such a senseless disaster have to strike?
Director Huang Junwen was drenched in sweat.
Clearly, this was far beyond anything he had anticipated.
But he knew one thing for certain: if Chen Qiao’en died here, his career was over. He had fought tooth and nail to reach his current position in the entertainment industry, to helm such a big-budget film. He couldn’t let it all end here.
So Huang Junwen looked around, grabbed an iron rod from nearby, gritted his teeth, and steeled his resolve.
“Is anyone willing to come with me to save her?”
Silence.
No one answered.
That reaction was perfectly understandable.
What is a tiger?
The top predator in the natural world!
Just the sheer size of a fully grown adult tiger was enough to make anyone’s scalp prickle just by looking at it.
They had barely escaped the tiger’s jaws themselves—why would they be foolish enough to walk right back into the lion’s den?
Huang Junwen’s heart sank, but he didn’t blame them.
He took a deep breath, gripped the iron rod, and forced himself forward, heading toward where the tiger was.
But after only two steps, the tiger caught his movement and jerked its head up.
Their eyes met—and in that instant—
The terrifying pressure of a top predator washed over him like a tidal wave.
It shattered the courage he had so painstakingly mustered.
His hand, clutching the iron rod, trembled violently. Sweat poured down, soaking the metal and making it hard even to hold.
“Director! Save me!”
Pinned beneath the tiger, Chen Qiao’en noticed Huang Junwen approaching. Her face was full of pleading desperation, begging him to come just a little closer.
But Huang Junwen’s legs felt like they were filled with lead. He couldn’t move an inch.
That single glare from the tiger didn’t just terrify him—it woke him up.
It made him realize just how reckless, how stupid his idea of rescuing Chen Qiao’en from the tiger’s jaws truly was.
Drip—
Drip—
Drip—
Sweat dripped furiously from the tips of his hair.
Huang Junwen couldn’t even turn his head away from the tiger’s gaze.
“ROAR!”
The tiger let out a low, warning growl.
In that instant—
Clatter—
With a sharp metallic ring, the iron rod slipped from Huang Junwen’s hand and fell to the ground—right in front of Chen Qiao’en’s pleading eyes.
He collapsed to his knees with a dull thud, as though all strength had been drained from his body.
Seeing this, Chen Qiao’en’s eyes filled with despair.
The security guards hadn’t arrived. The only person brave enough to step forward—Huang Junwen—had been utterly broken by a single glare from the beast.
Was there really no way out for her?
In utter hopelessness, she watched the tiger open its jaws, that foul, stinking breath washing over her.
Chen Qiao’en closed her eyes. A single tear traced down her cheek as she prepared to accept her fate.
But just then—
Whoosh—
The tiger suddenly turned its head, staring at the towering mountain behind it. Its amber pupils contracted.
As a wild animal, it could sense a terrifying presence approaching—something fierce and powerful.
Normally, if it detected such a beast in its territory, it would regard it as a challenger and charge forward to fight to the death.
But right now, it still hadn’t found the mighty male tiger it had been tracking.
So instead, it lowered its head, sniffed the scent on Chen Qiao’en’s clothes, and confirmed that she carried the male tiger’s odor. Then it clamped its jaws on her collar and dashed into the nearby forest, vanishing in an instant.
“It… it left?”
Watching the figure of the tiger and its captive disappear into the woods, until they were completely out of sight—
Only then did the people finally let out the breaths they had been holding.
Huo Jianhua and the others finally mustered the courage to approach Huang Junwen.
The director was pale as a ghost, utterly shell-shocked, looking like he had lost his mind.
And it was only at that moment—belatedly—that Jiang Nian, the investor’s representative, and the security guards arrived on the scene.
“What happened?!”
Jiang Nian slid down from the mountain and rushed over, asking urgently.
Because he had come from directly above, and the tiger had left while he was still in a blind spot behind the trees, he had no idea what had just occurred.
Huo Jianhua stared at the distant woods, still shaken. “A tiger! There was a tiger here!”
“Where is it now?”
The security guards, armed with air guns and riot shields, immediately asked.
They scanned the area. The place was in shambles, but there was no sign of the tiger.
“It ran off,” Huo Jianhua replied.
Hearing that, the security team and the investor’s people let out sighs of relief.
The investor’s representative asked, “Is everyone alright? Anyone injured?”
Yang Rong and the others shook their heads, their expressions complicated. “We’re fine, but…”
“But what?”
“Sister Qiao’en was carried off by the tiger.”
As Yuan Shanshan spoke those words—
It hit like a thunderbolt from a clear blue sky. The investor’s people and the security guards froze.
This was already a serious incident. But one of the lead actresses being taken by a tiger?
They could already imagine her fate—and the massive public outcry that would follow.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?! Huh?! How did a tiger get into the scenic area?!”
“Didn’t you swear to us that all the large animals stayed deep in the mountains?!”
“I’m telling you right now—if anything happens to Chen Qiao’en, every single one of you is going to pay! You’ll all be held responsible!”
“No—forget waiting for something to happen to her! I’m writing a complaint right now! I’m suing you! All of you!”
The investor’s representative immediately turned on the scenic area security guards, fuming with rage—and dumped all his anger onto them.
The guards turned pale, unable to offer any excuse.
At best, this was gross negligence that led to a death—which would land them in prison.
At worst, Jinyun Xiandu—the “natural film studio” recognized by the state—would become nothing but history because of this incident.
Either way, they couldn’t afford the consequences.
“We’ll send people right away! We’ll find her!” the guards stammered.
“Then what the hell are you standing around for?! Move!” the investor’s rep barked.
The guards nodded frantically and stepped aside to make calls and rally reinforcements.
But at that moment—
Jiang Nian pulled Huo Jianhua aside. “Teacher Huo, let me ask you something. Which way did the tiger take Chen Qiao’en?”
“O-over there.”
Huo Jianhua pointed to the nearby forest.
Jiang Nian stared at it, rubbed his scraped and bleeding hands from his rapid descent down the cliff, and started to move—but Huo Jianhua grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?!”
Jiang Nian shook him off without looking back. “What does it look like? I’m going to save her!”
“Huh? Wha—?”
Huo Jianhua blinked in confusion.
But Jiang Nian didn’t care what anyone thought. Once he had his target, he mobilized his inner energy.
Eight Steps to Catch the Cicada!
In the next second, his figure shot forward like an arrow. In the blink of an eye, he had covered more than ten meters. By the time people could even process what was happening, he had already vanished into the forest.
For a moment, everyone stared in bewilderment:
“Wh-what is Director Jiang doing?”
“Looks like he went to save her?”
“Save her?! From the tiger?!”
At that, the entire scene fell into a heavy silence.
But it didn’t last long.
Soon—
Ring-ring—
Ring-ring—
A frantic phone call came in on Huang Junwen’s phone.
He pulled it out instinctively and answered.
Zhang Linyu’s panicked voice blared from the other end: “Director! Director! Bad news! Jiang Nian jumped off the cliff! You need to get over there and save him!”
Huang Junwen: “??? Wh-what are you talking about? Jiang Nian’s still alive—and he just ran off after the tiger!”
Zhang Linyu: “??? Then stop him! Hurry!”
“Stop him?”
Huang Junwen glanced toward the forest where Jiang Nian had already disappeared. His mouth twitched. He felt like Zhang Linyu’s call had come way too late.
Beside him, the security guard was equally dumbfounded. Before hanging up, he quickly added into the phone: “Change of plans—send more people! We’ve got two victims now!”
Then he turned to the investor’s representative and said, “But just so we’re clear—this Jiang Nian guy chose to go after them on his own. That’s a ‘buy one, get one free’ deal he volunteered for. We’re not responsible for that!”
Investor’s representative: “…”
