Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

But the pangolin king seemed very happy when he looked at the little cutie, and his tail even wagged.

Ou Yun cleared his throat: "However, Nanbei in my family has very high standards. If you want to pursue it, you have to be sincere."

The pangolin king's ears twitched.

Sincerity? What sincerity?

It can use its claws, which can cut through iron like mud, to dig the most luxurious underground palace for the big white cat!

It will start digging tomorrow!

"We don't ask for much."

Ou Yun smiled and pointed to the cliff behind the Pangolin King.

"We came here hoping to get some iron ore. If you could give us some, I'd put in a good word for you with Nanbei."

The pangolin leader had initially thought these two would make some outrageous demands, since his initial impression of them wasn't very good—

Unexpectedly, this request is completely reasonable!

They've promised you the North and South; you can't just get something for nothing!

The Pangolin King immediately nodded.

It's just iron ore! Sure, all of it is fine!

It's just a few stones, yet it gave the little cutie the entire mine to build an underground palace!

Then it turned around and roared at the group of pangolins behind it.

Roar!

What are you all standing there for?! Start mining!

"..."

The pangolins around them were completely bewildered.

Boss!

Boss, wake up!

Only the first little pangolin to emerge tentatively responded with a "coo coo coo?"

Uh, but, boss, what about our livelihood...?

The pangolin king slapped its tail on the ground with a loud crack.

What's wrong with digging some ore for the little cutie?!

Dig! Dig now!

I'm going to share a bed with my sweetheart right now tonight!

Now I completely understand the boss's implication.

The pangolins froze on the spot, all staring at the white lynx in the tree that was frantically bristling with fur—

Mimi's eyes widened in fright.

Little cutie?

So this is their sister-in-law?

Is this your sister-in-law?

Really?!

That big white cat?

Our pangolin clan's eldest sister-in-law?

The chat in the Dragon Kingdom's live stream was already bursting with laughter:

"King Pangolin: My ore is yours! My heart is yours! My mine is yours too!"

"Hilarious! You've really mastered the art of negotiation, getting something for nothing."

"Where did we go empty-handed? Didn't we just hand over the North and South?"

"I want to make memes out of the expressions from the North and South and look at them every day!"

"Captain Leng, stop laughing and give Nanbei a hand, hahaha!"

Leng Ruolan was squatting on a tree branch, looking at Nanbei's lifeless expression, and almost fell off the tree laughing.

Oh dear, hold it in.

"North and South."

She tried to make her tone sound gentle.

"Don't worry, your older brother is just saying it; he won't actually make you go through with the marriage."

Nanbei turned to look at her, his eyes seeming to say, "I don't believe you, you two-legged beast, you're so wicked!"

Indeed, Europe is overjoyed right now.

The last time he saw negotiations go this smoothly was—no, he'd never seen negotiations go this smoothly before!

He smiled and asked the pangolin king, "Alright then. How do you want us to transport it?"

The Pangolin King thought for a moment, then turned to his underlings and gave them another set of instructions.

All the pangolins went out in force, dug out the best ore, and personally delivered it to the camp for the big white cat—no, for the sister-in-law!

The pangolins were full of questions, but they couldn't disobey their leader's orders.

With tears in their eyes, the pangolins dug into the ground with their claws and disappeared instantly.

Hey, what's wrong with the boss? Is he possessed? Why has he gone completely mad after encountering these two hairless monkeys today? Waaah!

Soon, a series of rapid digging sounds came from underground, and occasionally a few pieces of rubble were thrown out of the ground and precisely piled up next to it.

Ou Yun exclaimed in admiration, "This efficiency... is more than twice as fast as when we were digging the hole!"

Leng Ruolan chimed in, "Indeed. We should have caught a few pangolins to use for infrastructure."

Nanbei lay sprawled next to the European Games, looking utterly dejected and lifeless.

He couldn't stop snorting, venting his dissatisfaction.

Ou Yun wanted to laugh when he heard this, so he secretly touched it twice.

"It's alright, Nanbei. This is just a temporary measure. How could we really hand you over to that old pangolin!"

Leng Ruolan chimed in, "That's right, we're going to keep Nanbei by our side for life!"

How could the Lynx King hand it over so carelessly!

At least we should wait until it's a marriage between equals, and then have a grand and special celebration—

But this is in the eyes of the Pangolin King.

Oh dear! The little cutie is shy!

It must have sensed my feelings!

I'm just too embarrassed to respond!

Then they started assigning tasks to their underlings.

"Awoo!"

Dig! Brothers, hurry up and dig!

These are all gifts for your future sister-in-law! The more the better!

*

So, for the next half hour...

Ou Yun and Leng Ruolan sat in the tree, each of them pecking at a peacock while watching the pangolins seemingly having a cheat code, continuously transporting ore from underground.

The ore is of excellent quality, each piece gleaming with a deep iron-gray luster, and the surface faintly reveals metallic crystal patterns.

The pangolins are also very particular, sorting the ore by size and piling it up neatly, without wasting even the scraps.

The pangolin king stood under the tree the entire time and did not participate in the digging.

It had to maintain the king's majesty—and more importantly, it had to stay here to see its beloved cat.

Yes, even just looking at that white figure makes it feel full of power!

It felt like every scale had been carefully nourished, warm and tingling.

Until the voice of a two-legged beast echoed in my mind—

"That's enough, brothers. This should last us for a while."

The Pangolin King reluctantly withdrew his gaze and looked at the small mountain of ore.

Is that enough?

It wasn't happy about that.

It hasn't even dug out the best ore from the deepest part of the mine yet! Is that enough?

Who do you think you are!

That piece of ore had been treasured for many years; it was left to him by his great-great-great-great-grandfather.

Now is the perfect time to take it out!

Even if the two hairless monkeys had said enough, it acted as if it hadn't heard a word.

The pangolin king immediately barked a few times at the ground.

A sound of earth churning came from underground, and three pangolins emerged.

The Pangolin King, strutting confidently, began instructing his men on how to extract the ultimate mineral—

Meanwhile, Ou Yun and Leng Ruolan stared at the pile of ore, lost in thought.

Hmm, this pangolin is a good guy; he really does carry good stuff. They deliberately didn't specify how much they wanted, but this fellow gave them so much at once—

And judging from the situation, it seems like there are still bigger ones who haven't arrived yet.

Ou Yun chuckled and said, "I think this brother is alright. Why don't we let Nanbei and him take this charade for real?"

Leng Ruolan and Nanbei immediately rolled their eyes at him.

Leng Ruolan exclaimed, "Good heavens! You treat Nanbei like this even though it's not your own child?!"

Nanbei immediately meowed in agreement.

European Express: ...

No, something doesn't sound right here...