Chapter 34 – Panda Baby

Su Mo let out a bamboo rat. He had casually caught these bamboo rats, and after tying them up with string, he held them by the string. He had caught ten of them and fed hallucinogenic potions to all of them.

The bamboo rat that he let out shakily walked over to the panda.

The panda was startled and looked around before grabbing the bamboo rat and shoving it under its bottom. The little bamboo rat's head was crushed and its legs kicked a few times before it stopped moving.

This killing method… Su Mo felt a chill in his heart.

At that moment, a few more pandas walked over. Su Mo silently counted them and found that there were seven in total: three adults and four babies.

They were an endangered species in real life, and their numbers were quite low in the game as well.

It seemed that his plan of selling this information would not be feasible anymore. Su Mo was someone with morals, especially in this area.

He had participated in an operation to save wild animals in the past, as they were doing a mission nearby. The criminal gang had much firepower, or else people like him would not be necessary in such a situation.

During that operation, they had cheated.

They had pretended to be weak, making the other side become arrogant, before dealing a fatal blow.

That operation had scared away the opportunistic plunderers who had tried to get rich while their country was in trouble, and no one dared to catch even a rabbit.

However, if he took away a panda and another one spawned, perhaps he could bring trustworthy Hunters in the future.

There were seven pandas in total, so Su Mo let out six more bamboo rats. The bamboo rats' noises caught the attention of the pandas, and they were immediately set upon by the panda family.

The little bamboo rats were only low-grade monsters, and they did not have any strength.

After seeing that panda crush the little bamboo rat with its bottom before, Su Mo did not dare to go up himself, so…

Lafu's fur stood on end in wariness, and he retreated a few steps, giving a low growl. He looked like he was about to turn and run.

He now regretted being so gluttonous. Su Mo often fed him meat, and because he never refused, he was in perfect shape. His Loyalty was also at Unwavering.

Essentially, he would attack whatever Su Mo commanded him to.

The seven pandas had already divided the food and had their fill.

The original panda may have been harbouring thoughts of keeping the bamboo rat to itself, but seeing that everyone could have one each, they all decided to share equally.

As such, each panda received one bamboo rat, and they ate them with great relish.

After eating, they were satisfied and lay on the ground as they sunbathed. A wolf cautiously crept towards the large panda closest to Su Mo before swiping at the panda's round bottom.

The pandas' Defense was indeed high!

After being swiped, it only scratched its bottom, as if it only felt a bit itchy…

Lafu was infuriated. Even though he felt fear towards the pandas, he could not tolerate being ignored like this, and he ferociously leapt up.

The panda was startled and entered battle mode. The two sides exchanged blows twice, and Lafu HP immediately dropped to critically low health. He was dragged under the panda's bottom and viciously sat on.

System: Your pet Lafu has died in battle. Please restrain your grief and accept fate.

This was not a Level 30 monster. For a Defense-type monster to be able to kill a Level 25 wolf in just a few strikes, it was at least Level 40 or 50.

Su Mo felt quite troubled; he revived Lafu and continued to feed him meat.

At first, Lafu refused, but Su Mo brought out the exquisite roast meat he had bought from Lota Royal City's best butchery. Normally, Su Mo did not bear to eat even a piece himself.

Lafu was drawn to the aroma of the roast meat, and he was only able to resist for a few seconds before digging in.

He ate to the point that oil dribbled out of his mouth.

Lafu could not take many hits, and the terrain was not suited for kiting, which meant that it was essentially impossible for Su Mo to defeat that panda.

Did he have to find someone to help him? Putting aside the matter of if he could find someone suitable, he could not bear to spend money to hire people. No one would be willing to come for five gold coins, and even if someone did come, Su Mo would owe them. Moreover, he did not want anyone else to know about the panda's homeland.

Su Mo dumbly sat there for a few minutes before his eyes lit up.

He wanted to slap himself; why did he have to focus on the adult panda? Look at those four pure and naïve baby pandas. They were different than their lazy parents; after resting for a bit, they started to play.

He would steal one of those!

Su Mo and Lafu were like two burglars, circling this area as they looked for an opportunity.

They had to wait until the panda babies got far away from the adult pandas, and they had to lure them out even further away. Otherwise, if the adult pandas were drawn over when they started to fight, Su Mo would most likely be crushed under a large bottom. In the worst case scenario, he would be sat on by three bottoms.

Finally, the hallucinogenic potions came into effect, and the adult pandas that were lazing around went to sleep.

However, the panda babies continued to wobble about and run around, most likely because they were younger and more playful.

When the panda baby came close, Su Mo tossed out another bamboo rat, which the panda baby soon saw. Seeing the yummy food, the little fellow's eyes lit up, and just like the original panda, it looked around warily. Seeing that there was no one around, it rushed at the bamboo rat.

The bamboo rat was unsteady on its feet, and seeing the panda baby come over, it quickly retreated.

How could the panda baby give up on the food right in front of it? The panda baby did not think and chased after it, and just like the old Beast Tamer said, it was as fast as lightning.

Su Mo was holding a length of string, the end of which was tied to the little bamboo rat's back leg. As such, it was not so much retreating as it was getting dragged backwards. If it was an adult panda, perhaps they would have noticed, but the naïve panda baby could not tell that anything was off.

Finally, Su Mo enticed this little fellow to a place with no one else around.

Lafu swiped at the panda baby, and this time, it did not merely make it feel itchy. The panda baby cried out with a tender voice and became angry. It disregarded the bamboo rat and rushed at the wolf in front of it.

Fortunately, Lafu was able to bear this little fellow's attacks.

The two of them exchanged blows, and Su Mo used the crossbow to also wear down the panda baby's HP. After it reached critically low HP—10%—he carefully wore it down by another 5%. This was the ideal HP for taming a pet.

Normally, the less HP the better but Su Mo did not want to accidentally kill it and let all his efforts go to nothing.

He commanded Lafu not to retaliate, and the panda baby continued to childishly hit him. At that moment, Su Mo took out a Taming Scroll and ripped it open before throwing it at the panda baby.

The taming began, and Su Mo nervously squatted by the side.

He found that the old Beast Tamer had not tricked him—the taming speed was incredibly slow, more than ten times slower than when he had tamed Lafu. It would take at least two minutes to complete.

Even after the channeling completed, it would not necessarily be successful. After all, the longer it went on, the greater the chance that the panda baby would resist it.