Chapter 22: Keep a panda as a pet

"Yin?" The red panda tilted its head.

"Then I won't give you any to eat."

"Yin!" The little one became anxious immediately, grabbing Xu Xin's leg and not letting go. Its small eyes were full of pleading, and its large brown and white striped tail swished behind it.

It could indeed understand what he was saying. Xu Xin handed over the Blue-grade Red Berry in his hand. The little one took it with both paws, licked it twice, and then stuffed it into its mouth, letting out a comfortable cry.

It seemed that this high-grade fruit not only had special functions for survivors but was also deeply loved by animals.

There was actually another Blue-grade Red Berry plant on the other side of the lake. Xu Xin had discovered it two days ago during exploration, but he hadn't picked it for fear of spoilage. However, this little one seemed unaware and had come to him for two consecutive days to ask for it.

After observing for these two days, Xu Xin found that blue-quality fruits didn't seem to spoil like ordinary fruits after being picked. In the current jungle, especially at noon, temperatures could reach 35 degrees Celsius, but even so, the Blue-grade Red Berry (Blue) he had picked two days ago hadn't changed in taste at all, and still had a cool sensation.

He would go and collect that plant in a while.

After eating the Red Berry, the red panda stood upright like a human and licked its paws. Just as it was about to turn and run away like the day before, the quick-handed Xu Xin grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and lifted it to eye level.

"Yin?" The red panda wasn't in pain, it just tilted its head, as if wondering why this bipedal creature was lifting it up.

It didn't struggle, possibly because it had gained a liking for Xu Xin due to these two feedings.

"Why don't you stay with me from now on? I'll give you one of those you just ate every day." Seeing that the red panda wasn't resisting, Xu Xin stopped holding it up and instead cradled it in his arms, stroking the soft black fur on its belly.

This little one was definitely not an ordinary red panda. From rabbits to black bears, terrestrial creatures, except for some powerless fish, shrimp, and some insects that were treated as environmental factors, all other wild animals had been locked away by the world. Yet it could move freely.

Moreover, it seemed to possess high intelligence, able to understand Xu Xin's words, and couldn't be explored by Xu Xin's creator privilege ability.

This little one was so special, it might be related to the secrets of this world, and perhaps would be connected to whether Xu Xin could return to his original world.

The little one snuggled into Xu Xin's arms, seemingly finding his embrace very comfortable and showing no intention of leaving. It extended its small paw and made a gesture of two.

Was this a sign of bargaining?

Xu Xin looked at the little one in his arms as if he had discovered something very interesting. The little one's tail swayed, its fluffy tail sweeping against Xu Xin's arm, tickling him. He directly reached out to grab the mischievous tail and said, "I'll provide food and lodging, one Red Berry a day. If you can help me, I have other fruits of the same grade."

"Yin?" Hearing about other fruits of the same grade, the little one's ears perked up. Its pink tongue licked its mouth as it wriggled out of Xu Xin's arms, climbed onto one of his shoulders, with its large tail draped over his other shoulder.

Xu Xin knew it had temporarily agreed. He smiled and reached out to pat the little one's head. The little one nuzzled against Xu Xin's palm and lay down on his shoulder, closing its eyes to rest.

This outing had yielded quite a harvest, obtaining a red panda that seemed able to ignore the world's rules.

Even if it couldn't ignore the world's rules, just having a cute pet red panda was a substantial gain. Who could resist raising a red panda that could understand human speech in a place where you hardly ever see anyone?

After some thought, Xu Xin decided to go and harvest the Red Berry he had seen earlier. A Red Berry bush could produce at least 30 fruits at a time, enough for this little one's rations for a month.

He just didn't know if harvesting so many in front of it would cause it to rebel directly.

Xu Xin remembered the location of that Red Berry bush very clearly and quickly arrived in front of it. However, to his surprise, the red panda on his shoulder seemed completely uninterested in the Red Berries on the bush. It just lifted its eyes for a moment, then closed them again.

Xu Xin couldn't help but ask, "This is the blue-grade Red Berry you love the most. How come you have no reaction at all?"

"Yin?" The little one looked at Xu Xin puzzledly, then looked at the Red Berry bush. Its small paw scratched its head in a human-like manner, then it jumped down from Xu Xin's shoulder, reached out to pick one and stuffed it into its mouth, then shook its head, "Yin~"

Xu Xin was confused and also scratched his head. What's going on? Could these Blue-grade Red Berries be different? But the original bush had already been taken by his treehouse.

Looking at the little one that had climbed back onto his shoulder, Xu Xin felt a bit overwhelmed. Nevertheless, he still reached out to pick the Red Berries from the bush. After all, if this little one didn't eat them, he would. They were blue-grade fruits anyway.

Just as Xu Xin picked the first Red Berry, the little one on his shoulder suddenly opened its eyes, looking at the fruit in his hand and excitedly making soft calls: "Yin yin yin!"

"Hm?" Xu Xin was puzzled. Didn't it refuse to eat just now? Why did it want to eat after he picked it? Could it be…

To confirm his guess, he brought the Red Berry he had picked to the little one's mouth. The little one ate it in one bite, once again making a comfortable sound, its small eyes squinting.

Xu Xin took the little one down from his shoulder, brought it in front of the bush and asked, "The fruits on the bush, do you eat them?"

The little one shook its small head.

He then picked another fruit from the bush and asked, "How about now?"

"Yin!" The little one immediately nodded, its two paws reaching for the Red Berry in Xu Xin's hand. But because its arms were too short to reach, it could only flail about anxiously.

Xu Xin casually put the Red Berry into his backpack and placed the little one back on his shoulder: "We agreed on one per day, and I've already given you two today. No more."

Seeing Xu Xin put the fruit into the backpack, the little one tried to open the backpack, but it couldn't. It could only lick Xu Xin's cheek ingratiatingly, but Xu Xin didn't soften. If he gave it so many, wouldn't it just eat him out of house and home?

He had a guess in his mind.

He had been somewhat suspicious from the beginning about why these high-grade plants looked no different from the low-grade ones.

Now it seemed that perhaps these plants were no different for the natives of this world, but were given new attributes by this so-called survival game.

Only when the survivors brought into this world by mysterious forces cut down or picked the plants that had been given attributes would these attributes manifest. Otherwise, it was just an ordinary Red Berry.

This mechanism might be maintaining balance. With blue resources being so rare, if they were so attractive to wild animals, birds alone would eat up these few fruits, leaving nothing for the survivors.

Thinking of this, Xu Xin suddenly felt that the truth of this world was far from as simple and crude as he had imagined.

The voice that appeared in his mind might also be an outsider to this world, and they, along with this world, might just be a group of lab rats and an experimental field.