The old uncle fainted, and Shen Miao was stunned on the spot.
She quickly reached out and patted the old man, confirming he was fine—just frightened out of his wits. She let out a sigh of relief, then turned around and glared at Xiaoguai with her big panda eyes.
“This is all your fault for scaring him! Go hide behind the trees and stay far away!”
Awuu awuu~
Xiaoguai whimpered twice in grievance, feeling that this had nothing to do with a tiger.
But remembering how this panda had sent him flying dozens of meters with a single swipe of her paw, he could only tuck his tail between his legs and run off in grievance.
Xiao Bai, meanwhile, meowed anxiously and ran over to the old man, licking his face, while Shen Miao transformed back into her human form.
She absolutely could not be discovered as an Iron-Eating Beast demon!
These humans had locked up all the pandas in enclosures to act cute and be petted. Until her spiritual power fully recovered, she had no intention of being sent off for research!
[Ding, congratulations on completing the task. You have received the reward: Encyclopedia of Animal Knowledge.
New task issued: Model Panda Citizen.
Chinese panda, Chinese soul—as a panda, we must obey the law and become a good citizen praised by all!
Task reward: Complete Medical Encyclopedia for Land Mammals
Failure penalty: Lose your panda eye patches.
Time limit: Three hours.]
Shen Miao: !!
Eye patches!
Shen Miao tried to imagine what a panda would look like without its eye patches, and the image was so ugly that even a panda couldn’t believe it.
So how exactly did one become a Model Panda Citizen?
Shen Miao looked down at the old man.
So, just getting praised would do?
“Old uncle, old uncle, are you feeling better?”
At that moment, Zhao Jianhua, who had been picking mushrooms in the mountains, felt like he was being violently shaken in a dream, and that something wet was licking his face. He soon woke from his faint.
Wait! Had he just fallen asleep?
It seemed like in his dream he’d seen a panda riding a Siberian tiger?
That Siberian tiger was enormous—before he could even react, his legs had gone weak with fear and refused to move. And then, that panda had actually spoken to him?
“P-p-panda, a panda, a wild panda ran all the way to the Northeast?”
Zhao Jianhua sat up with a jolt, and seeing the cute little girl in front of him, he grabbed Shen Miao’s arm and asked urgently:
“Little girl, did you just see a panda? About this big, and it could talk?”
Shen Miao blinked, tilted her head, and pretended not to know anything:
“Old uncle, what are you talking about? Did you eat some mushrooms and get hallucinations?”
“R-really? Is that so?”
The old man rubbed his eyes, recalling that after picking the matsutake mushrooms, he had indeed taken a bite.
But those were matsutake, not poisonous mushrooms. Could matsutake cause hallucinations too?
“Mhm mhm, you must have seen wrong, old uncle!
And even if a panda could speak human language, would it speak Sichuan dialect or Northeastern dialect?”
Right! Why would a panda in the Northeast speak standard Mandarin with a Beijing accent?
Zhao Jianhua was immediately convinced by Shen Miao’s logic. He nodded and stood up, then pointed Shen Miao toward the mountain Xiao Bai had mentioned before heading home with his basket on his back.
But as he walked, he kept mulling over the dream he’d just had.
It was too absurd, but why did he feel like it wasn’t an illusion?
Zhao Jianhua scratched his head and pulled out his phone, half-heartedly searching for keywords combining panda and tiger. To his surprise, he actually found something!
[Live Stream: Panda Riding a Siberian Tiger!]
[Mysterious Loli Streamer Tames Wild Siberian Tiger?]
[Xiaoguai the Siberian Tiger Catches Fish Online to Support His Human]
These posts were pretty popular in the local feed, and when he clicked in, there were even photos!
When Zhao Jianhua saw the familiar image, he let out a sharp, incredulous shriek!
So that just now—it definitely wasn’t an illusion! It was a panda, a panda riding a Siberian tiger and speaking human language!
…
Meanwhile, Shen Miao, focused entirely on treasure hunting, had no idea she was gaining a little fame online. She had finally found the mountain Xiao Bai mentioned and quickly directed Xiaoguai and Xiao Bai to dig at the soil beside a tree.
“Meow! Here, it’s right here, this is it, meow!”
Soon, Xiao Bai dug out something golden and heavy. The cat immediately grabbed it in its mouth and, like presenting a treasure, dashed over to Shen Miao, its fluffy tail raised proudly in the air.
The ugly, scrawny cat was finally not a useless little kitten anymore!
It was so useful—Shen Miao would definitely adopt it now, right?
Xiao Bai’s eyes were full of expectation. Shen Miao took the gold bar and gave it a gentle bite with her teeth, determining it was real gold. She was overjoyed.
Excellent—it looked like there were lots of gold bars down there, plus jewelry of uncertain authenticity. She was rich now!
Back when she was human, she’d lived frugally in the Wen household, scrimping and saving while working part-time jobs to support herself. Now she could finally have food, drink, and a place to stay!
This solved the big problem!
Shen Miao was delighted. But just then, the system’s countdown began to chime in her head:
[Host, please complete the task in time, or you’ll become a panda without eye patches forever!]
Shen Miao: !!
Shen Miao only then realized that her task wasn’t actually complete yet—so helping the old grandpa down the mountain didn’t count as being a good citizen?
【That’s not enough. The host needs to turn in all these unidentified valuables. Police recognition is the best way to complete the task!】
As a panda, Shen Miao looked at the countless wealth before her and let out a reluctant, grumbling whine.
But she quickly realized that since these gold bars had no clear origin, she couldn’t exchange them anyway, so in the end, she called the police.
The police arrived quickly. After investigating the gold and jewelry, and then stepping into the adjacent room where they found the furs and teeth of wild animals, they quickly determined this was likely an illegal poaching organization.
Soon, Shen Miao also saw the blood-stained tiger teeth, deer antlers, and complete Siberian tiger pelts piled up everywhere in the room.
“They probably conduct transactions directly in cash or jewelry.
This is just their temporary hiding spot for illegal proceeds—they might come back soon to move everything.
Little girl, you should leave quickly. If you stay here and those people come back, you’ll be in danger.”
While the police officers were hauling the illicit money box by box into their vehicles, Shen Miao furrowed her brows but said nothing.
When even the last box of gold bars was being lifted, Shen Miao moved with lightning speed and grabbed the hem of a male officer’s uniform from behind.
She looked up at him with pleading eyes, almost drooling with longing.
Couldn’t they leave her just one box?!
She was a panda who had made contributions to the organization, after all!
“Leave one box—half a box—or just give me one or two, one, even one is fine!”
The young male officer whose clothes she’d grabbed, Qin Che, turned around to face the soft, adorable little girl staring up at the gold with such longing, and the corners of his mouth curved upward.
What an adorable short girl!
“No can do. It’s all illegal proceeds. Even if you took it, you couldn’t spend it.”
“…Oh.”
Seeing the little girl lower her head in dejection, Qin Che couldn’t help but pat her slightly messy hair and comforted her:
“But once the case is solved, the police station will give you a commendation.”
【Ding! Congratulations on completing the task. You have received: Complete Compendium of Land Mammal Medicine ×1.】
The task was done—no need to lose her panda eye circles after all. Shen Miaomiao finally breathed a sigh of relief.
While the police weren’t paying attention, she quietly clenched her fist around a small diamond she’d managed to pry out.
Sure, the logic made sense, but as a panda, what was wrong with taking one?!
Shen Miao sneakily used a wisp of demonic power as a concealment spell. The other officers didn’t notice a thing—only the team leader, Qin Che, raised an eyebrow imperceptibly.
After everyone had left, he walked back over and extended his hand:
“Hand it over. Don’t bother hiding it. I saw everything.”
Seeing the soft, adorable girl staring at him without moving, pretending she didn’t know what he meant, Qin Che let out another chuckle and said:
“You’re a yaoguai, aren’t you? If a yaoguai uses demonic power to steal someone’s property, you’ll be punished and sentenced by the Demon Management Bureau!
You’ll also be put on the yaoguai credit system and become a delinquent yaoguai!
A delinquent yaoguai can’t get a phone number or internet access, so you’ll never be able to go online with your phone again.”