Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse - Chapter 22

Chapter 22 Raising a Red Panda as a Pet

“Yin?” The red panda tilted his head.

“Then I won’t let you eat it.”

“Yin!” The little guy panicked and grabbed Xu Xin’s leg, refusing to let go. Its little eyes were full of pleases, and its brown and white tail was wagging.

As expected, it could still understand what he was saying. Xu Xin handed the red berry over to the little guy. The little guy took it with two paws, licked it twice, and stuffed it into its mouth, letting out a comfortable cry.

It seemed that not only did such high-grade fruit have special functions for survivors, but it was also deeply loved by beasts.

On the other side of the lake was a big red berry shrub. Xu Xin had discovered it two days ago when he was exploring, but he was afraid that they would go bad, so he didn’t pick them. However, this little guy didn’t seem to know about it and had come to him for berries for two days straight.

After two days of observation, Xu Xin realized that blue-grade fruits were not as easy to spoil as ordinary fruits. The temperature in the forest could reach 35 degrees, especially at noon. Even so, the big red berries he picked two days ago still have not changed in taste. It even had a cooling texture.

He should go and collect those big red berries too in a while.

The red panda, who had just eaten a red berry, stood up like a human and licked its claws. Just as it was about to turn and run away like the day before, Xu Xin, who had sharp eyes and agile hands, grabbed it by the back of its neck and lifted it up to the same height as his eyes.

“Oh?” The red panda didn’t feel any pain. It just tilted its head as if it was wondering why the two-legged beast had picked it up.

It didn’t struggle either, perhaps because Xu Xin’s feeding had won its favor.

“Why don’t you just follow me from now on? I’ll give you one of the berries you just ate every day,” Seeing that the red panda didn’t resist, Xu Xin stopped grabbing it by its neck. Instead, he held it in his arms and stroked the soft black fur on its belly.

This little fellow was definitely no ordinary red panda. Other than some fish and shrimp that had no combat power and some insects that were regarded as environmental factors, all other wild beasts, even those as small as a rabbit or as big as a black bear, were locked up by the world during the newbie protection period, yet this red panda could move freely.

Moreover, it seemed to have a high IQ and could understand Xu Xin’s words. At the same time, his Creator’s Authority could not detect

This little guy was so special, maybe it had something to do with the secret of this world. Maybe it would affect whether Xu Xin could return to his original world.

The little guy snuggled into Xu Xin’s arms. It seemed to feel very comfortable in his arms and had no intention of leaving. It simply stretched out its little paw and gestured a ‘two’.

Was it trying to bargain with him?

Xu Xin looked at the little guy in his arms as if he had discovered something interesting. The little guy’s tail wagged and brushed against Xu Xin’s arm, making him feel ticklish. He immediately reached out and grabbed the little guy’s tail, “Food and accommodation are included. One red berry a day, but if you can help me, I still have other fruits of the same grade.”

“Yin?” The little guy’s ears perked up at the mention of other fruits of the same grade. It licked its lips with its pink tongue and struggled out of Xu Xin’s arms. Then, it climbed onto one of Xu Xin’s shoulders, its big tail resting on the other.

With this, Xu Xin knew that it had agreed for the time being. He smiled and patted the little guy’s head. The little guy rubbed against his palm, lay on his shoulder, and closed its eyes to rest.

He had gained a lot from this trip, obtaining a red panda that seemed to be able to ignore the rules of the world.

Regardless of the fact that it seemed to be able to ignore the rules of the world, even if it couldn’t, just finding a cute red panda was already a great harvest. Who could refuse to raise a red panda that could understand human speech in a place where no humans could be seen all day long?

After thinking for a while, Xu Xin decided to go and pick the red berries he saw earlier. A single red berry bush could bear at least 30 fruits at a time, enough to feed the little fellow for a month. The only thing he didn’t know was if it would start a rebellion if he were to pick so many in front of it.

Xu Xin remembered the location of the red berry bush. He quickly arrived in front of it, but to his surprise, the red panda on his shoulder seemed to be uninterested in the red berries. It only raised its eyes for a moment before closing them again.

Xu Xin couldn’t help but ask, “This is your favorite blue-grade red berry. Why is there no reaction from you at all?”

“Yin?” The little guy looked at Xu Xin with puzzlement, then looked at the red berry bush. It scratched its head like a human and jumped down from his shoulder. Then, it picked a berry and stuffed it into its mouth, shaking its head, “Yin-“.

Xu Xin didn’t know what was going on and scratched his head as well. What, weren’t the big red berries the same? The original big berry bush had been replaced with his treetop though?

Xu Xin felt his head throb when he saw the little guy climb up his shoulder again. However, he still reached out to pick the red berries from the bush. After all, even if the little guy didn’t eat it, he would. They were blue-grade fruits after all.

Just as Xu Xin picked the first red berry, the red panda on his shoulder suddenly opened its eyes and looked at the red berry in his hand. It excitedly let out soft cries, “Yin, yin, yin! “What?” Xu Xin was a little confused. Didn’t it refuse to eat just now? Why did it suddenly want to eat now that he had picked the berry? Could it be …

To confirm his guess, he sent the red berry he had picked to the little guy’s mouth. The little guy ate it in one bite and once again let out a comfortable cry, its small eyes squinting.

Xu Xin carried the little guy down from his shoulder and brought it to the bushes, “Do you want to eat the fruits on the shrubs?”

The little guy shook his head.

He plucked another berry and asked, “What about now?”

“Yin!” The little guy immediately nodded its head and reached out for the red berry in Xu Xin’s hands. However, its hands were too short to reach the fruit, so it could only struggle in panic. Xu Xin put the red berry into his backpack and placed the little guy back on his shoulder, “We agreed on one a day. I’ve already given you two today. There’s no more.”

When the little guy saw Xu Xin put the berry into the backpack, it tried to open it, but couldn’t no matter what. It could only lick Xu Xin’s cheek to please him, but Xu Xin didn’t soften. If he gave it so many berries, wouldn’t he be poor?

He had a guess in his heart.

He had been suspicious from the beginning. Why did these high-grade plants look no different from the low-grade ones?

From the looks of it now, perhaps these plants were the same to the natives of this world. It was just that they were given new attributes by this so-called survival game.

Only after the survivors who were brought into this world by the mysterious power cut down or picked the plants would the attributes bestowed upon them would be revealed. Otherwise, it would just be an ordinary red berry.

Perhaps this mechanism was to maintain balance. After all, there were so few blue-grade resources. If they were so attractive to wild beasts too, just the birds would be able to eat all of these fruits. Nothing would be left 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 be an outsider to this world, while they might just be a group of white mice and in this world, the testing ground.