[Oh my god! An adult wild Northeast Tiger! Streamer, you call this Xiaoguai?]
[Ahhh, it really is a Northeast Tiger. How did the streamer train it? I want a golden-gradient big cat too!]
[What’s so impressive? It’s all fake! Clearly composited technology!]
[A panda and a tiger together? Could that possibly be real? The AI tech these days is pretty convincing!]
[Obviously fake! All scripted! If that’s a real Northeast Tiger, I’ll livestream myself standing on my head eating shit!]
But Shen Miao didn’t even look at the comments. At that moment, the round black-and-white ball stood up, wiggling its fluffy tail left and right as it hopped onto Xiaoguai’s back:
“Xiaoguai, hurry and take me down the mountain!”
When Shen Miao shut off the livestream, the comments suddenly flooded in faster than she could read, filling the entire screen.
However, starving Shen Miao didn’t have that kind of panda patience. She turned off her phone and lightly patted the big cat’s head:
“Hurry, hurry! If you’re even one second slower, this bear is going to starve to death!”
[Ding! Congratulations, host, on successfully conquering a human! The Panda Conquers the World System has been activated.
New mission issued: Panda Venting
How dare they throw an Ancient Panda off a cliff and leave it to die? Unforgivable! Vent your dissatisfaction toward that person!
Mission time limit: One hour.
Mission completion reward: Complete Animal Medicine Manual
Mission failure penalty: Lose all panda fur]
Shen Miao: !!
Riding the tiger down the mountain, Shen Miao was startled by the failure penalty. She quickly grabbed the scruff of Xiaoguai’s neck to avoid tumbling off and rolling into a round ball—a tragic fate.
What the heck? Making a panda lose all its fur?
That’s terrifying!
“Hey, you so-called system, do you even know what you’re doing? You’re abusing a nationally protected first-class animal?!”
[Don’t be mad, host. As an Ancient Panda Great Demon and a majestic Iron-Eating Beast, I, System 16, am only doing this to spur you on to conquer the world sooner.
Good medicine tastes bitter. Pandas need a loyal system to motivate them too, right?]
That actually made some sense.
After System 16’s flattery, Shen Miao was successfully soothed. Sure, the penalty sounded scary, but the reward was pretty generous too.
[Right, right, right! High risk, high reward! Trust me if you’re a panda—you won’t go wrong!
Now let’s go immediately and slap away the person who bullied you before!]
Shen Miao nodded. But as soon as she got down the mountain, she caught a whiff of fragrant braised meat and shook her black-and-white head, the system’s voice quickly fading into the distance.
She transformed into human form and dashed into a roadside restaurant:
“One whole pot of braised goose! And all the side dishes!”
Soon, a bunch of Northeast locals watched as a clearly short but incredibly soft and adorable Southern little potato single-handedly devoured an entire pot of goose!
Everyone in the restaurant was stunned, staring blankly at Shen Miao as she ate.
Being stared at by everyone was nothing new for a panda—she was used to it. Shen Miao kept her head down and focused on eating, even tossing a bit of food to a small white cat that was meowing and begging beside her.
This pure white cat was skin and bones, limping as it walked. Clearly a scraggly white cat ostracized by the stray cat gang.
“You’re such an ugly cat. If you hadn’t run into such a kind-hearted panda like me, you’d have starved to death.”
Hearing that, the little white cat was moved to tears.
After gratefully eating its fill, the kitten curled up at Shen Miao’s feet. Knowing it was dirty, it only dared to gently nuzzle her pant leg with its head:
“Thank you, big sister! If big sister packs me another portion of goose, kitty will tell you where there’s lots of shiny yellow treasure!”
The little white cat raised its head proudly and continued:
“Kitty knows that yellow stuff is called gold! Two-legged Beasts love it! This kitty has buried tons and tons of it!”
Its previous owner had let it sniff the stuff, then sent it out to find more of the same.
Maybe because the cat never found it, the previous owner didn’t want it anymore.
“So kitty wandered around looking for gold ever since, and finally found it!
So much of it! All in the mountains, meow!”
Hearing this, Shen Miao’s eyes lit up. She scooped up the little white cat and left.
Getting rich was right around the corner—no more worrying about a hungry bear!
But wait… wasn’t she forgetting something?
A panda’s brain only runs one track at a time. Shen Miao scratched her head, couldn’t remember, and decided not to bother. But just then, she suddenly heard a somewhat familiar voice.
“Shen Miao! You followed me all the way here?
Seriously, you’re so clingy! I told you I don’t like you! I like Wen Jiaojiao! Just give up already!”
Oh, her mission!
Shen Miao finally snapped back to reality. If she didn’t complete it soon, she’d lose her fur!
That wouldn’t do!
She needed to vent—right now!
Shen Miao immediately turned and walked toward Zhou Xingyao, who was frowning and scolding her.
Suddenly, her heart gave a sharp thump, and that heavy, suffocating feeling from before rose up again.
She vaguely remembered that this person had made a pact with her as children to be together when they grew up, but after Zhou Xingyao arrived at the Wen family, he immediately fell in love with Wen Jiaojiao at first sight.
Trashy two-legged beast, no integrity!
To avoid accidentally hurting the wrong person, Shen Miao politely asked before making her move:
“Yesterday, none of you came looking for me, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
Zhou Xingyao frowned, looking at the torn cotton-padded jacket on Shen Miao with clear disapproval in his eyes.
Wen Jiaojiao had cried all night worrying about Shen Miao yesterday. Yet here Shen Miao was, eating her meal just fine, and even following him all the way here:
“Shen Miao! What exactly are you messing around with? Why didn’t you reply to your family’s messages?
And how did you manage to ruin perfectly good clothes like that? Are you trying to make me feel sorry for you with this act?
Stop pretending. I will never get engaged to you!”
So annoying!
Why was this person so annoying?!
The panda head was overwhelmed by his endless chatter.
If this were the old Shen Miao, she probably would have been too aggrieved to speak.
But now, as an ancient divine beast, Shen Miao had none of that human restraint or patience.
Smack—
“Shut up, you’re so noisy!”
A heavy, crisp slap rang out, and the endlessly chattering Zhou Xingyao was suddenly sent flying by a soft, adorable girl barely over one and a half meters tall!
Zhou Xingyao traced a perfect parabola through the air before crashing into a haystack nearby.
Passersby: ??
Everyone around stood frozen in shock, but Shen Miao simply let out a relieved sigh.
Finally, some peace and quiet!
Shen Miao contentedly hugged the cat and walked off to find the treasure without looking at anyone.
Just as she stepped out, the people behind her rushed forward and quickly let out gasps of shock.
“Xingyao-gege, are you okay?!”
“Shen Miao, how could you hit Xingyao-gege!”
“Shen Miao, where did you run off to? Do you have any manners at all?!”
It turned out the three members of the Wen family had arrived. Seeing the scene, they gasped and shouted in outrage.
But Shen Miao didn’t listen at all, focused solely on treasure hunting. She treated the three of them like air and simply walked away.
Wen Jiaojiao frowned, feeling that something about Shen Miao was different now.
But the unconscious Zhou Xingyao clearly needed more urgent attention. The Wen family was busy calling emergency services, and no one paid any mind to Shen Miao.
By the time Zhou Xingyao was loaded onto the ambulance, Shen Miao had already carried her cat up the mountain.
Her spiritual power still wasn’t enough, so Shen Miao transformed back into her original form, sprawled comfortably on Xiaoguai’s back while holding Xiao Bai as she searched for the treasure.
“Meow meow meow! It’s definitely on this mountain range, but there are too many mountains!
Meow isn’t lying! There’s a mountain with a really thick, thick big tree, and next to it there’s a little wooden house! It’s right there!”
However, the area was surrounded by mountains, and she couldn’t find it right away.
Just then, Shen Miao ran into an old man coming up the mountain.
Her eyes lit up immediately, and she waved at him, bringing Xiaoguai and Xiao Bai over to greet him politely:
“Uncle, could you tell me where—”
But before Shen Miao could finish, the man’s eyes went wide and he started screaming!
“Oh my god, a panda! A panda has come to our Northeast!
A p-p-panda that talks?!”
Thud— Before Shen Miao could even finish her question, the old man fell flat on his back, rolled his eyes, and fainted.