Chapter 648 - 538: This Guy Is So Annoying

Chapter 648: Chapter 538: This Guy Is So Annoying

Meng Er was zen, and Walnut was even more so.

In other words, he had very little interest in the world around him.

So he wasn’t particularly bothered by the change of enclosure, or by the large crowds that now came to watch him.

He ate when it was time to eat, and slept when it was time to sleep.

"Walnut, how about I give you a bath? Look how dirty your butt is. You’re about to become a black bear."

In the central courtyard of the Olympic Hall, Shen Xin sat right next to Walnut, handing him fresh bamboo shoots with one hand while chattering away.

"Smell it yourself, you’re starting to stink. Take a bath, get all nice and clean, and then I’ll find you a pretty little wife."

Shen Xin continued to ramble on.

Walnut leaned against the climbing frame, surrounded by bamboo shoot husks. He took every shoot Shen Xin handed him, methodically peeling back the layers with his teeth, completely ignoring Shen Xin’s nagging.

"Let me pet you?"

Shen Xin cautiously reached out, wanting to pet Walnut’s head.

Before he could touch him, Walnut whipped his head around.

He made no other move, but his cold gaze said it all: ’Touch me. I dare you. See if I don’t teach you a lesson.’

Shen Xin’s hand froze in mid-air. He gave an awkward laugh and pulled it back.

"Don’t be mad. Here, eat. I’ll peel it for you so you don’t tire out your teeth."

Shen Xin quickly picked up a bamboo shoot and started peeling it for him.

He looked up and was met with a pair of reproachful panda eyes.

A few meters away, on the other side of the fence, Meng Lan was clinging to the wire mesh, staring longingly at Shen Xin and letting out low bleats from his throat.

It was as if he was saying he wanted some too.

Shen Xin sighed to himself. ’They’re both pandas, so why is the difference so huge?’

"Go on, get back." Shen Xin waved at Meng Lan. ’Can’t you see your brother is fine? Go peel your own shoots.’

Meng Lan didn’t budge. He just gripped the wire mesh, calling out to Shen Xin again and again.

His pitiful act was more than the onlooking tourists could stand.

"Prince Shen, how could you do this?"

Someone gripped the fence and loudly questioned Shen Xin.

"Look, Meng Lan is about to cry! Pay some attention to him!"

"Yeah, Prince Shen! You can’t play favorites!"

"Just look at Meng Lan! Look at those hopeful eyes! How can you stand it? Go play with him!"

Shen Xin’s face darkened in exasperation. "I just played with him!" he retorted loudly.

He’d played with him enough, and since he finally had a free moment, he’d come over to try and bond with Walnut.

The tourists didn’t care and kept shouting.

"So what if you already played with him? If it were me, I’d stay and play with him forever."

"Exactly! This is Meng Lan we’re talking about! If I could play with him, I’d be smiling in my sleep."

"Prince Shen, give it a rest. Can’t you see our Uncle He won’t even give you the time of day?"

"Uncle He is cultivating his health. Just leave him be."

"If I were Uncle He, I’d be annoyed listening to you ramble on every day too."

The tourists all chattered at once, then began calling Meng Lan’s name in unison.

Meng Lan was now at Stage Two, 9 bars. He was already very smart. He might not have fully understood what the tourists were yelling about, but he knew very well that when the tourists got excited, he’d get to play with Shen Xin.

His cries became even more pitiful. He pressed his head against the wire mesh, staring longingly at Shen Xin.

Just then, Shen Xin noticed the missing bar in the affinity icon above his head slowly fill in.

The bar was full.

Then, the icon slowly changed, turning red.

Stage Three!

Shen Xin was startled.

He and Meng Lan had been together for over twenty days. Given how close they were, reaching Stage Three in that time wasn’t an exaggeration.

But Shen Xin knew that reaching Stage Three had certain conditions.

Either the animal had to be as smart as a human, like the dolphin...

...or it had to experience a strong emotional surge, like Celestial Skill before. Shen Xin’s pleas had triggered her powerful feeling of being needed.

But with Meng Lan right now, it felt like the roles were reversed.

It was his intense need for Shen Xin that had pushed him to Stage Three.

Shen Xin sighed and got up helplessly.

’Stop crying, I’m coming.’

’And Walnut... when will he ever reach Stage Three like Meng Lan?’

As his head ached with frustration, Shen Xin wasn’t thinking. He subconsciously reached out and casually patted Walnut’s head.

His position was just so convenient that it would have been a shame not to sneak in a pat.

’Holy shit!’

Shen Xin cried out in his mind and froze.

Walnut’s reaction had always been to resist physical contact. At most, he would tolerate Shen Xin hanging around him.

He’d even bared his teeth at him just now.

’Now that I’ve touched him, isn’t he going to take a bite out of me?’

Walnut, who was in the middle of chewing on a bamboo shoot, also froze, the shoot still in his mouth.

For a moment, the atmosphere became incredibly awkward.

Nervous, Shen Xin didn’t dare to move.

Walnut didn’t move either, as if he hadn’t processed it yet.

It was like that saying, "you can’t touch a tiger’s butt," only you actually did it, and the tiger itself was stunned.

A few seconds later, Walnut’s mouth closed, and he went back to chewing his bamboo shoot.

Shen Xin quickly pulled his hand back, a wave of fear washing over him in hindsight.

"I didn’t do it on purpose."

Shen Xin muttered in his defense.

Walnut just kept chewing his bamboo shoot, but his eyes shifted to glance at Shen Xin.

Shen Xin could sense a hint of speechlessness in that look.

An idea flashed through his mind, and Shen Xin suddenly felt he had a grasp on Walnut’s psychology.

He could use the analogy of pursuing a girl.

Take a school class, for example.

Meng Lan was like an obsessive fangirl, while Walnut was the aloof ice queen of the class.

In Meng Lan’s eyes, Shen Xin was devastatingly handsome.

But in Walnut’s eyes, he was probably just some random nobody sitting behind him.

Walnut had no interest in romance; he was completely indifferent to that sort of thing.

But he couldn’t stand this "random nobody" constantly pestering him and hanging around.

Walnut tried his best to keep his distance, but the "random nobody" was just too annoying. Not only was he a chatterbox, but he also used all sorts of clumsy tactics to get close.

And that pat just now was like the "random nobody" launching a surprise attack from behind, playfully flicking the class beauty’s hair.

The class beauty was annoyed but couldn’t be bothered to stoop to Shen Xin’s level.

Shen Xin nodded to himself. ’That must be it. Otherwise, he probably would have bitten me just now.’

In that case, Shen Xin now knew what to do.

’Just keep at it, then.’

"What was that old saying? ’A good woman can’t resist a persistent suitor.’"

He just had to keep pestering Walnut, and sooner or later, he’d break through his psychological defenses and win him over.

SSST!

Shen Xin sucked in a sharp breath.

’Why does that sound so weird? After all, Walnut is a tough, rugged guy.’

Thinking of this, while Walnut was still distracted, Shen Xin suddenly reached out again and gave Walnut’s head a lightning-fast pat.

Then he turned tail and ran.

Walnut started to get up, as if to give chase, but he only half-rose before sitting back down and taking a vicious bite of his bamboo shoot.

’This guy is so damn annoying!’

Shen Xin ran off a short distance and saw that Walnut wasn’t chasing him.

’Looks like I just had to be bold. Just because he doesn’t let me pet him, does that mean I shouldn’t?’

And what surprised Shen Xin even more was that the affinity icon above Walnut’s head flickered with a faint light and actually increased by one bar.

Shen Xin froze for a second, then was overjoyed.

’There’s a chance! There’s really a chance!’

He decided against going back for another pat. Besides, Meng Lan was craning his neck nearby, as if to say, ’Come pet me, I’ll let you.’

Just as he was about to leave the enclosure, Shen Xin suddenly noticed a familiar figure on the other side of the fence, at the edge of the crowd of tourists.

"Holy crap!"

Shen Xin exclaimed in shock and hurried out.

"Director Xu, what brings you here in person?" Shen Xin said as he went to greet him.

Xu Jinguang held a position of real power at the deputy-minister level. For him to show up here in plain clothes with only a small entourage felt a bit like an imperial incognito visit.

He even saw Lin Wei sprinting toward them from a distance like a rabbit.

He’d been slacking off under Shen Xin for nearly a month; Xu Jinguang’s arrival had probably scared him half to death.

Xu Jinguang waved his hand cheerfully. "It’s nothing, I just came to see how you’re doing."

Secretary Chen shot Shen Xin a meaningful look.

Shen Xin understood in an instant. There were too many tourists here; it wasn’t a convenient place to talk.

As Shen Xin approached, some tourists were already starting to crowd around.

He quickly led Xu Jinguang toward the keeper area.

They didn’t go inside, just found a quiet spot outside to talk.

Ding Yuwei, who had been soaking and washing bamboo, also ran out in a hurry.

Ma Tao thought something was wrong and came out with her, only to be stopped outside.

"Old Ma, who’s that?" Xu Haisheng asked in a low voice.

Ma Tao shook his head. "His rank is probably pretty high."

Living in Anjing, where you could hit a dozen directors just by throwing a brick, they had a good eye for these things.

Based on Xu Jinguang’s attire, his aura, and his bearing, his rank couldn’t be low.

And he was talking so cheerfully with Shen Xin... so what did that make Shen Xin?

He couldn’t figure it out, but Ma Tao suddenly had a feeling that Shen Xin’s visit to the zoo, specifically for Walnut, was probably no small matter.

Nearby, Xu Jinguang was still joking with Shen Xin, saying he’d even become a "Prince."

Shen Xin’s mind raced, trying to decipher the deeper meaning of his words. ’Could it be that he thinks I’ve been getting too much attention lately?’

’Otherwise, why would he come all the way out here in person?’

"What’s all this nonsense you’re thinking, kid? I really just came to take a look around." Xu Jinguang patted Shen Xin’s shoulder. "You’ve done a good job. The fact that you can get along so well with the giant pandas proves your abilities are beyond doubt. That means the path we’ve chosen might actually be feasible."

Shen Xin nodded quickly, secretly sighing in relief.

Xu Jinguang then asked Shen Xin if he had any thoughts on the case.

Secretary Chen had already reported to him that Yang Zeran had finished reviewing the case files.

Shen Xin should have a good grasp of the case by now.

A considerable amount of time had passed, so he ought to have some ideas.

"Director Xu, we actually do have some ideas."

It’s been over twenty days, and we’ve been holding meetings and discussions every day after work. It’s impossible not to have any ideas at all.

Shen Xin continued, "You previously theorized that Liu Baoli, Wang Shulin, and the third victim had teamed up to kill a female giant panda and faked the story about the meritorious award."

"We’ve analyzed it and believe this possibility is low. There was a team member in Liu Baoli’s group back then named Zhou Huayong. I find his account quite credible. He said that they wouldn’t go so far as to kill a giant panda for a few thousand yuan in reward money."

Zhou Huayong said that Liu Baoli only got a thousand yuan in reward money for that incident.

"Liu Baoli had a stable job, and his family wasn’t in desperate need of money. If it had been a tiger, whose body parts are all valuable and can be sold for money, then that would be more believable."

"But this was a panda. Panda fur and other parts aren’t actually worth much."

Incidents of giant panda poaching are rare. On one hand, it’s because giant pandas are precious and rare, with strong protective measures in place. On the other hand, the pandas themselves don’t have much market value.

The fur isn’t valuable, and eating the meat won’t boost your virility.

Xu Jinguang nodded, gesturing for Shen Xin to continue.

Shen Xin said, "However, the most conspicuous link between the three victims is the incident where they discovered the giant panda."

"So, we still believe the problem lies with the giant panda, but not in the sense of poaching it. Perhaps it’s the opposite—something to do with protecting a giant panda."

"We’ve hypothesized one possibility. For example, say Wang Shulin, Wang Erpeng, and a certain someone else went into the mountains to poach."

"They were trying to poach a giant panda, and Liu Baoli stopped them."

"During the confrontation, an accident happened. For instance, the ’certain someone’ I mentioned died."

"The three of them covered it up, but the deceased had relatives who slowly investigated and uncovered the truth, then chose to take revenge."

"I know this logic isn’t necessarily sound."

For example, if there really was such a dead person, he was clearly on the same side as Wang Shulin, so why would Wang Shulin also become a target for revenge?

There were some logical holes, but anything was possible.

For example, what if during the argument, this person was pushed, happened to hit his head on a rock, and died?

The deceased’s relatives wouldn’t know the details. They would only know he went out with Wang Shulin’s group and died, so they would simply suspect Wang Shulin was also one of the killers.

Or perhaps Wang Shulin didn’t help, so they decided to kill him too.

"And afterward, Wang Shulin might have used this incident to threaten Liu Baoli. That’s why it was Liu Baoli who took the call about rescuing the giant panda and led the response team."

"Of course, we haven’t found any evidence of financial transactions or blackmail between Liu Baoli and Wang Shulin."

"In that case, perhaps when the accident happened, Wang Shulin really did get involved."

"For example, maybe Liu Baoli gave him a push, and the person fell toward Wang Shulin and was stabbed to death by the knife in Wang Shulin’s hand."

In any case, it was all just brainstorming—irresponsible speculation.

"So our idea is to investigate missing persons from the period after the panda was discovered and see if we can find anything."

Yang Zeran and his team are already on it, checking cases one by one, but there are no results yet.