The Game of Life - Chapter 495

Chapter 495: Chapter 493: De Watches the Play

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The giant panda, scientific name: Ailuropoda melanoleuca, is a species of bear and a national first-class protected animal in China.

Legend has it that the giant panda was originally a carnivore. Through evolution, it has adapted to primarily consume bamboo, yet it still belongs to the carnivore order. It’s a creature that appears to be honest and docile but is in fact quite different behind its benign facade—a being whose exterior deceives.

The black and white coat of the giant panda serves as camouflage in the dense forests and snowy landscapes, preventing detection by natural predators. Their sharp claws and strong limbs allow them to climb trees swiftly, and their thick skin provides protection against attacks.

Overall, this creature seems to have an aggression level of merely 5, with a special skill of looking cute, but in reality, its biting force is second only to that of the polar bear. With a single swipe, it could send Jiang Feng flying into the ICU—a mystical animal once the mount of the ancient demon Chi You.

When Jiang Feng finally had the opportunity to see the legendary mount of the ancient demon Chi You, he understood why Chi You had lost the battle against Emperor Huang.

He observed many giant pandas, and not a single one wasn’t presenting its behind to him while lying on the ground, asleep.

Additionally, due to the influx of visitors wishing to see the giant pandas near the Spring Festival, there were queues just to catch a glimpse of a panda’s rear, and each person was only allowed about ten seconds before being urged by others to move on.

An hour after entering the zoo, Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi had collectively seen less than five minutes of panda butts, with their phone galleries filled with photos of the same.

Leaving the view of the last panda’s backside, Jiang Feng began to search for signs to head towards the next enclosure and the rear of another panda.

“Panda Mansion No. 1, 1.9 kilometers away. Qiqi, should we head there? It’s a bit far; do you want to wait for the tour cart?” Jiang Feng asked.

“It’s only 2 kilometers, not really that far. By the time we’d wait for the cart, we could have walked it. Let’s go,” Wu Minqi declined Jiang Feng’s suggestion, taking his hand and moving forward in the direction indicated by the sign.

As they walked, Jiang Feng saw the next signpost.

Panda Mansion No. 1, still 1.6 kilometers to go.

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Jiang Feng: ?

He and Minqi had only walked 300 meters in 10 minutes?

Could it be because they were wearing too much in winter, causing them to walk slowly?

Perplexed, Jiang Feng continued to walk forward with Wu Minqi. After a while, they came across a new signpost.

Panda Mansion No. 1, now only 0.9 kilometers away.

That’s more like it, Jiang Feng nodded to himself, leading a now visibly tired Wu Minqi onward.

After more than 10 minutes, just when Jiang Feng thought they might have gone the wrong way, they finally found another signpost.

Panda Mansion No. 1, still 0.8 kilometers away.

Jiang Feng: ???

Wu Minqi: ???

Wu Minqi felt more than just a tingling pain in the balls of her feet—her entire soles and even her arches were aching.

When they were only 0.3 kilometers from the Panda Mansion, Jiang Feng finally noticed something was wrong with Wu Minqi.

“Qiqi, did you sprain your ankle?” Jiang Feng noticed Wu Minqi was not only walking slower but also limping.

Unable to resist, Jiang Feng glanced at Wu Minqi’s shoes, which were just ordinary boots and not some high-top kind that would likely cause a sprain.

Wu Minqi, aware of Jiang Feng’s gaze, forced a smile: “I’m just a little tired from the long walk. We’re almost there; let’s hurry along.”

A painful lesson had taught her not to explain to a boyfriend why she needed to insert insoles in her boots—just to enhance the shape of her legs and not appear too short.

Because most of the time, boyfriends would only fixate on why she’d resort to insoles instead of just wearing high heels, rather than the fact that insoles can improve the contour of the legs.

Heartwarmingly, the last sign seemed to be accurate. 0.3 kilometers really meant just that, and after walking a few more steps, Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi were delighted to finally see Panda Mansion No. 1, which they had been searching for.

Compared to the other modest, rectangular, transparent enclosures with nothing but dry straw, bamboo leaves, water troughs, and burrows leading to who knows where, Panda Mansion No. 1 was certainly a luxurious abode. It was not just spacious but also beautifully designed.

The floor was covered in fresh bamboo leaves, and the backdrop included a blue sky and artificial hills. In the middle of the venue, there were wooden bridges and climbing frames.

Because the venue was so vast, Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi didn’t see the pandas at first sight. Three pandas concealed by the wooden bridges and climbing frames came into view only after they walked deeper inside. The prime spots for viewing the pandas were already taken by a dozen visitors, and Jiang Feng estimated that even if he and Wu Minqi managed to squeeze in, they would likely have to adopt very awkward postures to see them.

From a distance, he could see the three pandas sitting on the ground, merrily munching on bamboo. The one Jiang Feng could clearly see somehow reminded him more and more of De, looking not just spiritually but even physically similar.

It reminded him of De, happily munching on snacks in the yard during a visit to their grandfather’s house over the New Year.

“Fengfeng, what are you looking at?” Wu Minqi, because of the pain in her feet, had found a place to sit down.

“Qiqi, come over here and look, don’t you think that panda sitting on the right, nibbling on bamboo, looks like De!” Jiang Feng exclaimed as if he had discovered a new continent.

Wu Minqi: ???

Wu Minqi stood up and leaned over to Jiang Feng to have a look.

“… It does seem quite similar,” Wu Minqi was shocked.

After the initial excitement of seeing pandas eat bamboo had passed, Jiang Feng returned to Wu Minqi’s side and they sat together and started playing with their phones.

No matter how long Jiang Feng stood there, he could only ever see pandas eating bamboo, although sometimes they might eat cornbread and drink from bowls of milk, he guessed he wouldn’t see that today.

But as soon as he got home, he could see De, with his panda-like demeanor, sitting in the yard eating jerky, lamb skewers, grilled lamb ribs, lamb legs, beef noodles, fried chicken legs, drinking juice, and soda.

The menu was far richer than that of pandas, and De’s recent period of working hard overtime had even his dark circles not belonging to a panda.

“Qiqi, when are we leaving?” Jiang Feng asked.

Wu Minqi glanced at the time: “It’s only 4:30 now. My mom sent me a message earlier, telling us to go to the restaurant at 7. It will be fine if we get there around 6:40.”

“Let’s leave in another half an hour, it’s quite warm here. Let’s sit for a while before leaving.”

“Okay,” Jiang Feng nodded, “By the way, Qiqi, dinner tonight is…”

“Just our family and you, my dad, my mom, and my grandpa. It’s the first time you come to our house, so my dad and grandpa said they have to treat you well,” Wu Minqi said with a smile.

For some unknown reason, despite it not being cold, Jiang Feng’s legs were shaking a little.

While Jiang Feng’s legs were trembling, a panda that had been happily eating on the ground somehow made its way past the wooden bridge and came in front of Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi.

Just as Jiang Feng, in great excitement, was about to take out his phone and snap 10 consecutive photos, the panda turned its head to face away from them, starting to urinate and defecate right there.

Jiang Feng: …

As Jiang Feng hesitated with his phone in hand, pondering whether or not to take such a photo that invaded the panda’s privacy, another panda quietly approached. Its chubby body advanced in a distinctive stroll, its black and white fur being the perfect camouflage. At that moment, it was not just a common panda; it was a lurker, an assassin, a cold-hearted killer.

The cold-hearted killer drew close to the unsuspecting panda and stretched out its sinful chubby paw to fiercely poke the unsuspecting panda’s buttocks.

Jiang Feng: “Pfft.”

Wu Minqi: “Pfft.”

As expected, the next second the two pandas started fighting, one pulling the other’s ears, one biting the other’s scalp, both seemingly determined not to stop until they reduced each other to baldness. The two chubby bodies twisted and fought together, making it difficult for Jiang Feng to tell friend from foe. He could only judge who was the real aggressor by who was pulling ears and who was biting scalps.

Tourists on the other side who had been watching the pandas chew bamboo swiftly realized that there was a dramatic fight going on and quickly gathered around Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi. They pulled out their phones to take photos and videos.

The only one who persisted in eating his meal happily, De, realized he had lost his stardom, as his spotlight was stolen by the two fighting pandas. Angry, De dropped the bamboo he was eating, slowly stood up, and made his way toward the battling pandas in a stance that seemed to be breaking up the fight.

De intermittently pulled the scalp of one panda and gnawed the ears of the other, looking determined to nibble them bald without letting go, which reminded Jiang Feng of many things.

The fight was intense, and by the end, Jiang Feng could no longer tell which panda was gaining the upper hand. All he could make out was De wavering between the two sides, one moment embrace-hugging one panda, the next providing backup, the most crucial part being that the two fighting pandas were so involved in their enjoyment that they hadn’t noticed De at all, potentially making him the biggest winner of the battle.

Although the fighting techniques of pandas were limited to rolling, weight suppression, biting scalps, and pulling ears, which seemed to lack finesse and didn’t include the punches and kicks that Jiang Feng had imagined, they excelled in endurance.

Jiang Feng had never before seen anyone fight for over half an hour without stopping.

Just as the battle reached its climax, De suddenly let go. He might have been tired, or he might have realized that no matter who he helped, neither side looked like it would win. Dragging his weary body, De slowly climbed up the wooden bridge, found an ideal spot to watch, stood upright, embraced the bridge, and rested his head on the railing.

De began to eat his snacks quietly, just like the silent bystanders outside the glass windows.

Jiang Feng: ?

“Mommy, mommy, look at the panda lying on the railing watching the show!” exclaimed the little girl next to Jiang Feng.

The crowd, who had been absorbed in watching the two pandas fight, were alerted by the child’s exclamation and turned their attention to De, who had quit the battle to become an onlooker, and began to shift their cameras to capture various close-up shots of De.

“That panda is so naughty,” in dialect.

“Mommy, is that panda tired?” in Mandarin.

“Panda No. 3 begins watching the show, while pandas No. 1 and No. 2 are still fiercely grappling,” came the commentary from a mysterious ringside announcer.

“Fengfeng, Fengfeng!” his girlfriend called.

Huh? Girlfriend?!

Jiang Feng turned his head abruptly, to see Wu Minqi anxiously stuffing her phone into her bag with one hand and already pulling his arm with the other.

“It’s past 5 already, we need to hurry or we’ll be late!” Wu Minqi said, pulling Jiang Feng to run, showing no sign of the pain in her foot from earlier.

The onlooking crowd quickly filled the space left by Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi’s departure.