Arctic animals danced as Fru Fru and her groom¹ fed each other cake. Nick and Judy looked like giants as they sat at the head table, next to Mr. Big.

 

"Otterton is my florist," said Mr. Big. "He's like a part of the family. He had something important he wanted to discuss. That's why I sent that car to pick him up. But he never arrived."

 

"Because he was attacked," said Judy.

 

"No...he attacked," Mr. Big explained. "He went crazy. Ripped up the car, scared my driver half to death, and disappeared into the night."

 

"He's a sweet little otter²," said Judy.

 

"My child, we may be evolved...but deep down, we are still animals."

 

Nick and Judy exchanged a worried look.

 

"You want to find Otterton, talk to the driver of the car. His name is Manchas, lives in the Rainforest District. Only he can tell you more."

 

Judy and Nick left the wedding and headed straight for the lush, humid Rainforest District in search of their next clue.

 

As the steam trees pumped a steady stream of mist into the rainforest air, Judy and Nick climbed higher and higher. They followed a winding³ road to a home high up in the canopy⁴. Once the steamy fog cleared, they could see Manchas's moss-covered apartment.

 

"Mr. Manchas?" Judy called, after ringing the doorbell. "Judy Hopps, ZPD. I'd like to ask you some questions about Emmitt Otterton." She knocked on the door as Nick snooped through Manchas's mailbox.

 

"He's a kitty," said Nick, holding up an issue of Cat Fancy magazine. "Hey, buddy⁵, I got a can of tuna out here. Open the door, we'll talk it out—"

 

"Not every cat likes tuna," said Judy.

 

"Oh, right, got it," said Nick. He turned back to the door. "Buddy, I got a ball of yarn⁶ out here—"

 

Judy playfully punched Nick. "Sir, my partner's an idiot. You're not in trouble. We just want to know what happened to Emmitt Otterton."

 

Finally, the door slowly creaked open, just a crack. "You should be asking...what happened to me," said a voice from inside.

 

The chain lock prevented the door from opening all the way. Through the space, they could see that Manchas was a big jaguar⁷ and he had been badly beaten, with bruises⁸, scratches, and a black eye.

 

"Whoa. A teensy otter...did that?" asked Nick.

 

"What...happened?" Judy asked.

 

Manchas described the scene, sounding haunted. Like he was reliving it. "He was an animal, down on all fours. He was a savage⁹. There was no warning, just kept yelling about the ‘night howlers, the night howlers,' over and over."

 

Nick and Judy shared a look. "Oh. Wow. That's crazy, because that is actually why we came to talk to you...about the night howlers. Right?" said Judy, pumping for more information.

 

"Yes," said Nick, picking up on Judy's cue. "Absolutely. Whole ride over here we're sitting there going, night howler this, night howler that. Tell him."

 

"Yup. So you just open the door and tell us what you know, and we will tell you what we know," Judy persuaded. "Okay?"

 

Manchas considered a moment and then shut the door.

 

As he unlocked each of the locks from inside, Nick glanced at Judy, impressed. "You're not as dumb as you look," he said.

 

With a smile, she punched him on the arm. Hard.

 

They heard Manchas make a strange grunting¹⁰ noise.

 

"Mr. Manchas?" said Judy. "Are you okay?"

 

A loud thud sounded. Then the door creaked and opened just an inch. Judy slowly pushed it and saw Manchas hunched¹¹ over in the middle of the room.

 

"Buddy?" Nick asked.

 

With a low growl¹², Manchas turned to them. His eyes were huge. He was SAVAGE! He raced at Nick and Judy like a primal¹³ predator¹⁴.

 

"Run. RUN!" Judy screamed.

 

露露和她的新郎互喂蛋糕的时候，极地动物们在跳舞。尼克和朱迪坐在上座，挨着大先生，体形显得特别高大。

 

大先生说：“奥獭顿是我的花匠，我把他当家人看待。他那天说有重要的事情要和我商量，所以我就派车去接他，但他一直没有到。”

 

朱迪说：“那是因为他遭到攻击了。”

 

“不对，是他攻击别人了。”大先生解释道。“他晚上发狂了，掀翻了车子，把司机吓得半死，然后就逃走了。”

 

朱迪说：“他只是只善良的小水獭而已。”

 

大先生说：“孩子，虽然我们已经进化了……但归根到底我们还是动物啊。”

 

尼克和朱迪对视了一下，忧心忡忡。

 

“你要是想找到奥獭顿，去问问那天的司机吧。他叫麦岔，住在雨林区，那天的情形他最清楚。”

 

朱迪和尼克离开了婚礼现场，直奔繁茂湿润的雨林区，寻找下一个线索。

 

喷汽树向雨林上空喷出一道雾气，朱迪和尼克顺着雾气向上越爬越高。他们沿着蜿蜒的小路爬到了树冠高处的一间房子。云雾消散，他们发现那就是麦岔长满青苔的房子。

 

朱迪按了声门铃，喊道：“麦岔先生在吗?我是动物城警察局的朱迪·霍普斯。我想问问您几个关于艾米·奥獭顿的问题。”朱迪敲门的同时，一旁的尼克正往麦岔的邮箱里窥探。

 

“他是只小猫。”尼克取出一本名叫《猫科动物幻想》的杂志对朱迪说。“嘿，老兄，我这儿有一罐金枪鱼罐头。开开门，我们好好聊一聊——”

 

朱迪说道：“不是每只猫都喜欢金枪鱼。”

 

尼克说：“哦，对的，我知道了。”他继而背对着门喊道：“老兄，这儿还有一团毛线呢——”

 

朱迪被逗乐了，打了尼克一拳：“先生，我搭档是个白痴。您没有陷入麻烦之中，我们就是想问问艾米·奥獭顿的情况而已。”

 

最终，门缓缓打开了，只开了一条缝，里面传出一个声音：“你应该问问……我的情况。”

 

门上上了链条锁，因此门不能完全打开。但从门缝中依然能看见麦岔是一头体形庞大的美洲虎，他看上去伤得很厉害，身上青一块紫一块，还被打成了熊猫眼。

 

尼克惊讶地问道：“哇!是那只小水獭……干的?”

 

朱迪也跟着问：“到底……发生了什么事情?”

 

麦岔描述起当晚的情形，他依然忧心忡忡，仿佛一切历历在目：“他是只动物没错，四只脚走路的。但他是只怪兽，没有征兆，只听他不停地喊：‘夜嚎者, 夜嚎者’。”

 

尼克和朱迪相视一眼。“哦，哇，真是太吓人了。这也是我们到这儿找你的原因——‘夜嚎者’，对吧?”朱迪说着，想要多问出点线索。

 

“对的!”尼克接着朱迪的话茬说道，“没错。我们来这里的一路上都在听说夜嚎者这个，夜嚎者那个的事情。跟他说说吧!”

 

朱迪劝道：“对啊，你开开门，把你知道的告诉我们，我们也会把我们知道的告诉你，可以吗?”

 

麦岔思忖了一会儿，关上了门。

 

不一会儿，锁从里面被一个个打开了，尼克颇有深意地看了朱迪一眼，说：“其实你也没有那么笨嘛!”

 

朱迪笑着又给了尼克一拳，这一拳可不轻。

 

他们听见麦岔开始发出奇怪的咕噜声。

 

朱迪说：“麦岔先生，您没事吧?”

 

砰的一声，门嘎吱作响，裂开了一个小口子。朱迪小心翼翼地推了推，看见麦岔伏在屋子中央。

 

尼克问道：“老兄?”

 

麦岔转向他们俩，喉咙里发出低吼声，眼睛变得巨大。他发狂了!他一下子冲向尼克和朱迪，就像一个残暴的捕食者。

 

朱迪叫道：“快跑!快跑!”

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