Chapter 108: National Treasures Yaya and Huanhuan

"Grumble..."

After a night of exertion, Zeng Shen felt hungry. He found a fast-food place, a KFC, and ordered a large bucket of fried chicken, sitting down to slowly enjoy his breakfast and fill his stomach.

Meanwhile, he took out his new phone and opened the WeChat account Xiao Ai had set up for him. He immediately saw a message from Xiao Ai with a Chinese map of Old Gold Mountain, marked with locations of the zoo, pet market, national infrastructure equipment production base, and grain reserves warehouse.

The place Zeng Shen was most interested in was the national zoo on the eastern outskirts of Old Gold Mountain. Finding large beasts suitable as mounts would be easier in a zoo than in the wild, and there would likely be one or two.

However, Zeng Shen decided not to head to the zoo immediately. Instead, he opened the map app and searched for insectariums in Old Gold Mountain.

Soon, the map displayed three insectarium locations. One was conveniently close by in the north, while the other two were near the eastern zoo and the southern pet market.

Finding this, Zeng Shen was slightly annoyed by the spread-out locations. But since one was nearby, he wouldn't have to travel far and wide.

After consuming twenty chicken legs, two large sodas, and a big bag of fries, he still felt only partially full. He used his bank card to pay for two more takeaways before leaving.

As he exited KFC, two overweight, pale-skinned officers in blue uniforms drew their guns on him.

"Don't move, it's you," one officer said.

Zeng Shen's heart skipped a beat. How had he been discovered? Had he exposed himself somehow?

While Zeng Shen was puzzled, one officer studied a photo for a long time before frowning, "Fk, these yellow-skinned folks all look too similar. It's not him."

The other officer holstered his gun after hearing this, checked his photo again, and then showed it to Zeng Shen, "Hey, have you seen this fugitive?"

Seeing his own picture, Zeng Shen calmly shook his head and replied in broken foreign language, "No, no."

"If you see him, and provide useful information, there's a ten thousand dollar reward," the officer said.

"Am I only worth this much?" Zeng Shen mused to himself, then nodded at the officer, "Yes, yes."

The two overweight officers, seeing the nod, turned to leave in another direction. Zeng Shen, meanwhile, moved to a corner without cameras, stored his food in his backpack space, and hailed a taxi to the nearby insectarium.

Soon, he emerged from the insectarium carrying a perforated, sealed glass tank containing two rhinoceros beetle larvae. There were no spiders for sale, only beetle-type insects.

The larvae were insect-type beasts with lord-level qualifications, known as True Sting Beasts. Following his principle of taming anything potentially useful, Zeng Shen tamed the larvae and purchased them.

Finding a secluded corner, he opened a portal to his divine realm and placed the larvae near the breeding flower bushes, but didn't release them from the glass tank.

He then hailed another taxi driven by a pale-skinned driver and headed east towards the zoo. However, approaching the eastern highway, they encountered a roadblock set up by pale-skinned officers.

The taxi stopped, and several officers approached with guns drawn.

"What's going on?" the driver asked nervously.

"Please cooperate, we're apprehending a fugitive," a dark-skinned female officer said, scrutinizing a photo as she looked at Zeng Shen in the back seat. After a long look, she concluded, "It's not this yellow-skinned one."

The officers holstered their guns, and the female officer flipped the photo towards them, "If you have any information on this person, you can report it for a fifty thousand dollar reward."

"My value has increased!" Zeng Shen thought, looking at his own photo, "But seriously, am I only worth this much?"

"Yes, ma'am," the pale-skinned driver nodded, driving towards the zoo on the eastern outskirts.

Old Gold Mountain was vast, taking thirty minutes to cross from north to east. Along the way, a series of notifications rang in Zeng Shen's ears.

[The host calmly and swiftly passed through the Noble District, occupied by beasts, earning 1000 survival points.]

[The host courageously traversed a wood deity's territory unharmed, earning...]

[The host fearlessly...]

...

[Warning, warning, the Mengchuan Zoo is occupied by terrifying beasts and several deities. Given the host's current strength, encountering them poses a risk of capture, enslavement, and exploitation. Immediate evacuation is advised.]

When the taxi stopped at the zoo, Zeng Shen heard the warning and saw a vivid red alert panel in front of him. He smiled, bought a ticket, and entered.

The zoo was expansive, bustling with domestic tourists during the May Day holiday, eager to see the national treasures, the giant pandas Yaya and Huanhuan, on loan here. Naturally, this drew many visitors from Daxia, curious about how their "relatives" were living.

Zeng Shen, having seen reports on TV about the pandas being housed in a spacious and bright enclosure with blond caretakers, was curious too.

Ticket in hand, he headed straight for the panda exhibit. As he stepped into the panda area, before reaching the main enclosure, a sudden warning rang in his ears.

[Danger! The host is about to encounter a tier-4 beast deity, its powerful kin, and ferocious beasts lurking here. Immediate avoidance is advised.]

He then heard a commotion ahead, with familiar angry voices.

"Dammit."

"How can you treat Yaya and Huanhuan like this, locking them in cages?"

"Where's your manager? Why are they in such a damp, dark environment?"

"Yeah, and do you even bathe them?"

"I'm furious. How can you feed them rotten leaves and mistreat our national treasures? I'm going to expose this."

"Yeah, I'm reporting you."

Following the voices, Zeng Shen wove through the crowd to see many young Daxia faces surrounding the panda enclosure, angrily confronting several middle-aged, stubbly-faced caretakers in zoo uniforms.

The caretakers, however, appeared indifferent, ignoring the crowd's outcry.

Frowning, Zeng Shen squeezed through to peer into the panda enclosure.

Inside, the space was dark and cramped, unlike the bright, spacious setup shown on TV. Two dirty pandas, their black-and-white fur covered in grime, were confined in cages, clutching wilted leaves, silently watching their protesting "relatives."

In that moment, Zeng Shen felt anger welling up within him.

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