Chapter 656 - 545: The Mouth Says No, but the Body Is Honest

Chapter 656: Chapter 545: The Mouth Says No, but the Body Is Honest

Walnut cowered in the corner of his cage, whimpering.

Even Meng Lan came over curiously, peering in from outside and pawing at Shen Xin.

’What’s wrong with him?’

’He’s actually worried.’

Shen Xin ignored him, watching Walnut with extreme nervousness.

The sudden explosion in affinity was a good thing, in terms of the outcome.

But it meant Walnut had experienced a violent emotional fluctuation.

’So what was the reason?’

’He was fine just a moment ago. Why the sudden mood swing?’

’The snow?’

At that moment, the only variable seemed to be the snow.

But it wasn’t as if Walnut had never seen snow before.

’Unless he hadn’t reacted to snow in the past, but now, influenced by my talent, he had become smarter, more attuned to human feelings, and was simply thinking more.’

So this particular snowfall had triggered some kind of emotion, causing such a huge fluctuation.

"Shen Xin, let’s take him back for now," Ma Tao said, his face etched with worry.

Shen Xin nodded and hurriedly took Walnut back to the Olympic Hall.

Back at the hall, it was as if Walnut had woken from a nightmare. He calmed down, found his way back into his cage, and huddled in the corner.

He wasn’t whimpering anymore, and his condition had improved considerably.

But he seemed dazed, ignoring the calls from Shen Xin and the others.

"Shen Xin, what’s wrong with him?" Ding Yuwei asked nervously.

This was the first time they took Walnut outside, and this happens. How could they possibly take him out again after this?

Shen Xin shook his head, not saying a word.

Recalling the scene from before, ’it felt like a cat’s stress reaction.’

’Of course, pandas can have stress reactions—or rather, any animal can.’

’The problem is, there weren’t any stressors before.’

’He was surrounded by familiar people, and there were no loud, jarring noises.’

’Only the snow.’

Shen Xin called his name a couple of times, but Walnut didn’t react.

Seeing that he seemed fine otherwise, the situation didn’t warrant a blood test. All they could do was keep observing him.

"Let’s leave it at this for now." Shen Xin got up, preparing to leave.

He planned to let Walnut cool down for a bit.

Unexpectedly, just as he was getting up to leave, Shen Xin abruptly heard an inner voice.

’It must be from Walnut.’

’Don’t go.’

Shen Xin whipped his head around.

’He’d just been wondering about that. Now that he’d entered the second stage, he should have been able to hear his thoughts right away.’

Walnut was still sitting by himself, motionless, showing no reaction.

But Shen Xin sharply noticed his little eyes darting toward him, the very picture of a furtive glance.

’Then again, it wasn’t easy to tell for sure.’

’Mainly because of those two big black eye patches.’

"Walnut, I’m really leaving now," Shen Xin said again.

Walnut still didn’t react. He even shifted his weight and turned his back to him.

But the voice in his head betrayed his true thoughts.

’Don’t go.’

Shen Xin secretly shook his head. ’This little guy says one thing and means another.’

"Alright, I’ll stay with you for a while," Shen Xin said, walking back. He told Ding Yuwei and the others to go on ahead and look after Meng Lan.

After the others left, Walnut was still acting the same.

"Can’t bear to see me leave?" Shen Xin teased.

’I knew it. All this time I’ve spent with him, raising his affinity by several bars... it had to have an effect.’

’This little guy has probably gotten used to me hanging around him.’

Walnut grabbed a piece of bamboo from the floor and started chewing on it, keeping his head down.

’Nope.’

Shen Xin chuckled to himself. He stood up to tease him, "Well, since you can bear to see me go, I’m leaving for real."

Walnut kept to himself, gnawing on his bamboo, but his little eyes were still secretly peeking at Shen Xin.

’Don’t.’

’Yep, that settles it. This little guy’s body is more honest than his mouth.’

’He’s like some tsundere pretty boy, saying "Get lost, I never want to see you again," while his heart is screaming, "Please stay! How can I live without you?"’

"Alright, stop peeking at me. I’m not going, I’ll stay here with you." Shen Xin leaned against the wall and sat down beside him.

’Who’s peeking?’

Walnut turned his head away.

But his body inched closer to Shen Xin, as if he could only feel secure when he was next to him.

Shen Xin wanted to take this opportunity to ask what had really happened earlier.

He wanted to know if it was related to the snow.

But on second thought, he decided against it, afraid he might upset Walnut again.

’In any case, reaching the second stage in one go and being able to hear his thoughts proved that my method is working.’

Walnut was like a quiet, pretty boy; his inner voice wasn’t very active.

Moreover, he seemed to enjoy the silent companionship. As he chewed, he gradually went still.

Shen Xin turned to look and saw that he had already fallen asleep.

Shen Xin got up to leave, but felt a tug on his arm.

He looked down and saw that Walnut had woken up and subconsciously grabbed his arm.

He quickly let go, slowly got up, glanced at Shen Xin, and then went to a corner by himself.

’Just go.’

’So he’s trying to shoo me away.’

’Then why did you grab my arm?’

"See you tomorrow." Seeing that Walnut had already lain down, Shen Xin said his goodbye and left.

The door CLANGED shut and was locked. Lying on the floor, Walnut’s eyes snapped open again, and he gazed in the direction Shen Xin had gone.

Only when he could no longer sense Shen Xin’s scent did he finally curl into a ball and drift off to sleep.

Shen Xin felt that something was still not quite right with Walnut.

So, before he left, he made a point to tell the person on the night shift to contact him immediately if anything was wrong with Walnut.

After returning to his hotel, Shen Xin made a point to do some research online.

In ’09, the last snowfall in Wudu was on March 9th. After that, there was, at most, some sleet.

And that was for the urban areas, the main counties, and the low-altitude regions.

That meant the high-altitude areas around Motianling likely still had snowfall.

He couldn’t find any specific data, but he estimated it would have lasted until mid-to-late March.

Walnut, however, had been reported by Wang Shulin on April 13th.

Hetaoping, where he was discovered, wasn’t a core, high-altitude area, and there were inhabited places nearby.

’Then, if what our team speculated really happened—that Walnut’s mother was killed by Wang Shulin and his men...’