Chapter 33: A Platter of Dragon and Tiger—Enough to Deter Hundreds

After passing through the more than ten-meter-thick city wall, everything suddenly brightened.

Of course, it wasn’t exactly dazzling, but compared to the pitch-black gloom of the forest outside, the city of Jiang, illuminated every few dozen or hundred meters by a few hundred-watt bulbs, was several times brighter—perhaps reaching as much as 0.2 lux. By the faint, almost surreptitious glow of those lamps, Alpha Ji saw that inside the gateway was a cacophony of dragons and tigers.

And it was no exaggeration—there really were the roars of dragons and tigers!

But what sort of tigers? They were at least two meters long from nose to tail, weighing in at no less than half a ton, with rolls of fat swaying as they yawned sleepily. From afar, each seemed like a huge, chubby orange tabby; up close, one could see it truly was the kind of tiger where “orange is weightier.”

And what of the dragons? Each was easily twenty meters long, thick as a barrel, with eyes as large as lightbulbs, green scales as broad as roof tiles, faint horns on their heads, and small limbs sprouting from their sides. From a distance, they resembled enormous pythons, but on closer inspection, one realized these were juvenile dragons in the midst of transformation.

If a dragon and tiger were to battle, ordinary people would have no hope of eating their fill—unless it was that mythical “a Kun so vast, it can’t fit in one pot; a Peng so enormous it needs two grills for roasting.”

And even among dragons and tigers, there were remarkable variations.

There were orange tabbies larger than real tigers, as well as British Shorthairs, Persians, and tabbies; there were leopard cats, calicos, Scottish Folds, and tabbies the size of small leopards; there were also Siamese, Sphynx, and tabbies roughly the same as in the pre-catastrophe era…

It was as if, among dogs, there were short-legged dachshunds, bulldogs, and pugs as big as elephants; Tibetan Mastiffs, Shiba Inus, Akitas, the “three silly sled dogs,” and pugs as large as bears; and shepherds, blackbacks, all sorts of hunting breeds, and pugs as swift as leopards.

Humanity had spent thousands of years breeding cats and dogs of every size and shape, yet thirty years of super-evolution since the catastrophe had produced effects far beyond those millennia.

Nor were there only dragons and tigers.

“Chitter-chitter-chitter…” What were once tiny, adorable chinchillas and hamsters now matched the size of pre-catastrophe cats and dogs, darting nimbly among the throng of pets.

Rabbits, too, had become long-legged jumpers, leaping about like kangaroos.

“Welcome home! Thank you for your hard work…” Even the parrots, flapping their wings, were now taller than a person, and could no longer fly—only walk. Yet their voices, though now impossibly resonant, still mimicked human speech so perfectly it was as if they were performing a comedy routine.

Accompanied by the roars of dragons and tigers, the students who had crossed the border finally woke fully, waving and greeting the stampeding animals from atop the dogs’ backs.

This menagerie of dragons and tigers seemed, faintly and improbably, to be the students’ own pets.

Alpha Ji even spotted a rolling ball of fluff!

Yes, it was a panda!

Dressed in a little vest and shorts, the black-and-white creature curled itself into a perfect sphere, rolling swiftly like a tire, alongside a similarly rolling, dusty-gray… tortoise? Astonishingly, they outran all the other birds and beasts, reaching the pack of dogs first.

Beside a short-legged dachshund, the panda straightened up, stood on its hind legs, and tried to climb onto the dog’s belly. It missed, but nimbly kept its balance, standing upright with a soft bleat, its dark eye patches gazing imploringly at Ye Chao, as if begging to be petted.

How adorable!

Just one look, and you’d meet your destined companion… Alpha Ji felt as though she were melting at the sight of the panda.

Yet the way that panda looked…

Alpha Ji turned to Ye Chao in disbelief.

“That’s right, this panda belongs to our family,” Ye Chao replied calmly, straightening his clothes before leaping lightly down.

In an instant, as though rehearsed a hundred times, the panda leapt up and caught Ye Chao in midair, cradling him in a nimble princess carry before tumbling gently to the ground and setting him down with care.

Now it was clear why Ye Chao had said, “There’s nothing to see in a panda…” If you had one at home yourself, you’d probably say the same… or would you? After all, pandas are living fossils, national treasures of China, ambassadors for the World Wildlife Fund, flagship species for global biodiversity conservation…

Their habitat is home to more than 8,000 species of plants and animals, covering 70% of China’s forest-dwelling endemic mammals, 70% of endemic birds, and 30% of endemic amphibians. Protecting any patch of forest beloved by pandas could shelter countless unknown, unique, and possibly endangered species…

As a program in the biochip project team, Alpha Ji could recite gigabytes of such data from memory—every byte was laced with envy, jealousy, and resentment for Ye Chao!

In reality, Alpha Ji was simply too excited and overjoyed to think straight…

Thirty years of super-evolution had turned even short-legged dachshunds into mammoths—what else was impossible?

Weak digestion? Low reproduction rates? If these were issues that evolution could solve, would they still be problems? Once resolved, with the third-highest combat power among bears, would survival and propagation still be in doubt?

“So cute!” Alpha Ji circled the panda, trembling all over as if ascending to heaven…

[Panda favorability +100]

[Ye Chao favorability +50]

“I actually touched a panda! A living panda!” She continued to tremble.

[Panda favorability +66]

[Ye Chao favorability +33]

“Ahhh, I need a photo! I have to post this to my circle!” Still trembling.

[Panda favorability +55]

[Ye Chao favorability +27]

“Does this mean I can cuddle a panda every day from now on? Other people cuddle cats—I cuddle pandas! Ha, how cool is that!”

[Panda favorability +88]

[Ye Chao favorability +44]

Worthy indeed of being China’s mascot, the flagship species for animal protection. Under the panda’s radiant aura, Ye Chao’s favorability finally enjoyed a rare surge, letting him fully savor the adoration lavished on both panda and owner.

His favorability, which had plummeted below -1500, miraculously climbed back to -1300.

???

After setting Ye Chao down, the panda—broad-headed, round-backed, and sturdy—rolled cheerfully around him, expressing its happiness in its own way. From time to time, it would sniff him, as if checking to make sure all was well.

After a few moments of affectionate fussing, the panda suddenly stopped and regarded Alpha Ji, who had been rolling alongside it, with a look of confusion. Then, quicker than lightning, it clapped its paws together—“Smack!”

What a huge mosquito!

!!!

Ye Chao started in alarm, half-afraid Alpha Ji would be squashed flat.

But the next instant, Alpha Ji darted out from under the panda’s paw—after all, she was a projection, not a real person. “Ahhh, the panda touched me! The panda touched me!” she shouted gleefully, rolling about in excitement.

[Panda favorability +100]

[Ye Chao favorability +50]

Ye Chao: 눈_눈

Was that really being touched?

Alpha Ji’s reaction startled the panda, which immediately assumed a defensive pose—utterly authentic, just like Kung Fu Panda or Genma Saotome.

“Ahhh… this panda knows kung fu? So cool!” Alpha Ji cried even louder, her little eyes turning into hearts.

[Panda favorability +100]

[Ye Chao favorability +50]

Ye Chao couldn’t help digging at his ear, half-deafened.

He looked awkwardly at Alpha Ji, feeling as though this calculating AI had morphed into an entirely different creature—one he no longer recognized at all.