Chapter 652 - 542: Bear-kin Will Never Be Slaves, Unless Room and Board Are Included

Chapter 652: Chapter 542: Bear-kin Will Never Be Slaves, Unless Room and Board Are Included

Shen Xin only found out about the whole affair on the morning of the 2nd, when he got a call from Xu Jinguang.

He hadn’t heard it from Ma Tao, but from Xu Jinguang. That made it obvious the news had blown up, to the point that even Xu Jinguang knew.

Ma Tao’s team was probably going crazy, too busy to even contact him.

After hanging up, Shen Xin felt like his world had been thrown into chaos.

"What’s wrong?" Ding Yuwei poked her head out of the bathroom to ask.

Shen Xin said blankly, "Meng Lan... escaped?"

"Who?"

Ding Yuwei’s voice shot up an octave. She said hurriedly, "Isn’t he a panda?"

Shen Xin nodded, bewildered.

’Right, he’s a panda, so how did he escape?’

Shen Xin quickly checked his phone.

Yesterday was the engagement party. After it ended, there was still a ton of stuff to do, like seeing off relatives and friends. He then went drinking with a few good buddies that night and had too much, so he barely looked at his phone at all.

Only now did he see that even WeChat had sent him a news notification.

[BREAKING: Internet-Famous Giant Panda Meng Lan Escapes]

Number one on the trending list.

Weibo’s top headline.

And of course, the short-video platforms were all over it.

A quick glance showed that four of the top ten trending topics were about Meng Lan.

He randomly clicked on a video, and it was footage of Meng Lan pulling himself up the enclosure wall, his head poking over the top.

Shen Xin’s vision went dark. ’How did that little rascal manage that?’

It was all filmed by tourists, so the entire escape process was captured in perfect detail.

"Holy crap, he even knew to take out the surveillance camera first."

Shen Xin exclaimed in shock as he saw Meng Lan swat the camera down.

And the timing was probably intentional, too, because Ma Tao and the others were on their lunch break at that point.

Then came the nimble climb over the enclosure wall.

And of course, there were also videos of the tourists outside scattering in all directions after he got out.

The comment section had also exploded.

There were tons of memes and edited pictures.

Especially the ones of Meng Lan peeking his head over the wall and shimmying his way down.

[PANDAS WILL NEVER BE SLAVES!!]

[Bros don’t run, give me a hand!]

[It’s always "Meng Lan this, Meng Lan that," but when he actually needs you, y’all just dip?]

[Nobody’s gonna cushion his little feetsies?]

[Y’all call him ’sweetie’ through the glass but then scream ’BEAR!’ and run when he’s out? Hypocrites.]

[This ticket was so worth it. A live-action prison break.]

"This..."

Ding Yuwei’s eyes were wide, and she was speechless for a long moment.

There were just too many related videos.

There were videos of Meng Lan waddling his way through the greenery, running to Waterfowl Lake, and chasing pelicans.

There were videos of him leaping off a rock formation and splashing playfully into the lake.

Xu Haisheng nearly had a heart attack, and when Shen Xin saw it, he felt pretty much the same.

This was no joke.

It wasn’t until he saw Meng Lan "dancing" with a black bear through the glass in front of Xiongshan, and then getting tranquilized and collapsing, that Shen Xin could finally relax.

Xu Jinguang had also mentioned earlier that although it caused some panic and fright, fortunately, no one was injured.

And this unprecedented, first-of-its-kind event naturally drew the attention of the entire internet.

Especially since Meng Lan was already a top-tier celebrity in the panda world.

With that added to the hype, one could only imagine how huge the incident had become.

Shen Xin quickly called Ma Tao. He should have started work by now.

The call connected.

Because of yesterday’s sudden incident, the zoo was closed today.

Meng Lan, of course, was fine.

He was tranquilized for two hours. When he opened his eyes, he was back in his cage, very displeased and sullen.

But he had been very well-behaved since yesterday.

After his romp outside, he was probably hungry. His appetite was good.

In any case, he was the very picture of repentance.

Naturally, they didn’t dare put him back in the outdoor enclosure and kept him locked in the cage area.

As for the zoo, first, they held a meeting to reflect on their mistakes, and second, they discussed what to do next.

The unanimous decision was that the enclosure had to be modified.

The climbing frame needed to be replaced and secured.

Anything Meng Lan could possibly use as a footstool had to be confiscated.

And the enclosure wall—three meters was nowhere near enough.

They contacted people that very afternoon to discuss modification plans, and workers came in at dawn to start the job.

They had to make it taller and add an inward-facing overhang, leaving Meng Lan absolutely no chance to escape again.

"Although there have been similar cases before, Meng Lan’s escape this time was really terrifying," Ma Tao sighed over the phone.

Meng Lan wasn’t the first panda to stage a jailbreak.

It’s happened quite a few times in the country.

For example, the progenitor of panda escapes, Bai Xue, known as the "Escape Queen."

Rescued in ’93, she climbed over her enclosure wall, collapsed a roof, and, in the ensuing chaos, fled into a nearby forest park while on display at the Pingyu Zoo next to Nanjiang in ’94.

It took the Pingyu police over two months to find Bai Xue.

Back at the Wolong Base, in ’01, she unbelievably climbed over three iron fences and ran back into the wild on her own.

Then, in ’05, just when the base staff had all but forgotten about Bai Xue, she came back on her own.

A piece of bone was stuck in her gums. She was injured and had returned seeking treatment.

After that, she never left again, living out her days peacefully at the base.

A living embodiment of the saying: "Pandas will never be slaves... unless room and board are included."

And there were other similar cases.

For instance, Meng Lan’s great-aunt, Yashuang. In ’07, at the Wolong Base, the four-year-old went into heat, scaled a two-meter-high wall in search of a mate, and ended up being dragged back to the base by the ear by a keeper.

Then there was Bai Xue’s daughter, who, in ’16 at the Bifengxia Base, followed in her mother’s footsteps. She and her companion, Commandery Princess, used tree branches to climb a wall and roamed the park for three hours before being found.

And then there was the escape king, Qingqing.

The true king of jailbreaks. Born in ’99, he holds the record for the most escapes in the panda world.

A grand total of four times.

He completed his first escape at the tender age of three.

He even used his brain.

Unable to climb the wall himself, he led his companion Xiu Xiu over to the wall and climbed over by stepping on her back.

The second time, at age four, he used sheer brute force, constantly shaking an iron gate until it opened, and then he fled.

After that, he constantly tried to escape, full of longing for nature and brimming with wild spirit.

"Shen Xin, when are you coming back?" Ma Tao finally asked.

They had discussed it privately and concluded that Meng Lan had escaped because he was looking for Shen Xin.

If Shen Xin came back, Meng Lan would surely behave.

Shen Xin heard the subtext. With a soft sigh, he had no choice but to say he’d return today.

His original plan was to wait a day and return to Anjing tomorrow.

But now... it was best to go back as soon as possible.

After hanging up, Shen Xin asked Ding Yuwei to pack their bags while he made a series of calls.

He had to make arrangements at home. The house was bought, and his mom was planning the renovations.

He also needed to explain the situation to the bureau.

And there was Yang Zeran; the direction they’d previously decided on still needed to be pursued.

Then he changed their flight tickets, and the two of them rushed back to Anjing that same afternoon.

On the plane, he was even recognized by people who joked that Meng Lan had escaped to find him, Prince Shen.

There was even a similar topic trending on Weibo.

[Where Did Prince Shen Go? Your Meng Lan is Looking for You!]

By the time they rushed to the zoo, it was already almost five in the afternoon.

Lin Wei was the one who picked up Shen Xin. When they arrived at the zoo entrance, it was surrounded by a large crowd of reporters.

The story was too hot; of course the reporters would come.

The zoo administration hadn’t made an official statement, only announcing that Meng Lan was in good health and nothing was wrong.

But the reporters were clearly not satisfied, and they continued to crowd around, fishing for information.

When they saw Shen Xin appear, they swarmed him.

"Stop asking, I don’t know anything either." Shen Xin held up his hands, struggling to push his way inside, anxious to see Meng Lan.

After finally squeezing through the crowd, Shen Xin stopped dead in his tracks.

"Holy crap!"

Shen Xin cursed, completely dumbfounded.

Inside the main gate, which had a century of history, what was that black-and-white thing?

"A panda!"

"It’s Meng Lan!"

"What the hell, how did he get out again?!"

The reporters present turned their heads and finally spotted Meng Lan.

A huge crowd was trailing behind him, with Xu Haisheng at the forefront, shouting Meng Lan’s name from a distance.

But Meng Lan completely ignored them. However, upon reaching the main gate, he stopped abruptly.

He smelled a familiar scent.

He whipped his head around.

He was too far away to see clearly.

But among the jumble of scents, one was so, so familiar.

Shen Xin!

Meng Lan was instantly thrilled, and he galloped over like a happy puppy.

There were security guards and ticket takers at the entrance.

But seeing such a huge ball of fluff charging at them, who would dare stand in his way?

And so, Meng Lan passed through the ticket turnstile unimpeded and made a beeline for Shen Xin.

These reporters weren’t stupid.

They had been raising their cameras to take pictures, but seeing Meng Lan charging furiously toward them, they realized he was coming for the crowd.

They scattered like a flock of birds and ran for their lives.

Meng Lan’s attention wasn’t on them at all; he rushed straight to Shen Xin.

He did a butt-skid to a stop and immediately hugged Shen Xin’s leg.

[Where did you go?]

[I missed you to death!]

[Bad!]

[They poked me!]

Meng Lan let out a flurry of anxious cries.

The moment they made physical contact, Shen Xin also saw what he was thinking.

It was the memory of the moment he collapsed in front of Xiongshan.

He had turned his head just in time to see the syringe in his butt.

’Don’t think I didn’t know! I remember it!’

[Pet me.]

Meng Lan looked up at Shen Xin, crying out again and again.

The next moment, he suddenly fell silent. He looked past Shen Xin’s legs toward the bustling traffic behind him.

Outside the zoo’s south gate was West Gate Street.

Meng Lan’s eyes glazed over.

’What a vibrant, strange, and yet novel world!’

Meng Lan subconsciously loosened his grip and started to walk outside.

"Where are you going?" Shen Xin quickly tried to stop him, but couldn’t move him with a single pull.

Ma Tao and the others came running up, panting.

Meeting Shen Xin’s questioning gaze, he took a ragged breath and waved his hand dismissively. "Don’t even ask."

As he spoke, he quickly gestured for Shen Xin to help get Meng Lan back inside.

No one but Shen Xin dared to lay a hand on him.

"Let’s go."

Shen Xin grabbed Meng Lan under the arms.

’You just escaped yesterday, and now you’re at it again today. With so many reporters here, this is never going to end.’

Ma Tao and Xu Haisheng exchanged a look. Forgetting everything else, they rushed forward, one on the left and one on the right, each grabbing a leg, and swiftly carried Meng Lan back inside.

Meng Lan tried to struggle, not wanting to go back.

But having Shen Xin there was useful. After a few stern reprimands, he immediately behaved.

"Take him to his mom."

Passing the Asian Games Hall, Shen Xin gestured for them to carry Meng Lan over to Meng Meng’s enclosure.

’If I can’t control you, I’ll let your mom handle you.’

[No!]

Meng Lan immediately cried out.

He didn’t struggle with all his might, though. Otherwise, the three of them really wouldn’t have been able to hold him down.

They took him directly into Meng Meng’s outdoor enclosure.

Giant pandas have a certain sense of family. The cub remembers its mother, and the mother remembers her cub.

However, Meng Meng didn’t have much of a reaction to Meng Lan’s arrival. She just kept to herself, munching on bamboo shoots.

Meng Lan didn’t dare approach his mother either. He turned and hugged Shen Xin’s leg, trying to act cute.

"Brother Ma, how did he get out again?" Shen Xin finally had a moment to ask. "He just escaped yesterday. Weren’t you guys keeping a close eye on him?"

At the mention of this, Ma Tao sighed deeply. He looked at Meng Lan and said, utterly speechless, "Seriously, he’s practically a trickster spirit."

Then he explained how Meng Lan had escaped this time.

He’d been well-behaved for a day, kept locked in the cage area with the iron gate shut tight. No one even went in, for fear he’d seize the opportunity to run out.

But then, just a moment ago, Meng Lan had suddenly started crying out in pain.

Giant pandas use different vocalizations to express their emotions.

It startled Sister He, who was nearby. Thinking something was wrong with Meng Lan, she didn’t think twice before opening the cage door and going in.

As a result, the moment the door opened, Meng Lan, who had been rolling on the ground, shot forward like an arrow. Before Sister He could close the door, he had already darted out.

Annoyed, Shen Xin gave Meng Lan a light smack on the head.

’You little rascal. So you’ve even learned to fake being sick now.’