The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

Lin Yuwei gritted her teeth, wanting to refute, but couldn't find a reason to do so.

She looked down at the little creature in her arms. The silver-spotted leopard cub was looking at her with its amber eyes, its gaze filled with an expectation that seemed to say, "Please accept me." Her fingers gently stroked its back, the silvery-white fur slipping through her fingers like silk.

"Don't you have one too?" Lin Yuwei looked up at Su Mu, her tone carrying a subtle, almost defiant tone, as if saying, "Why don't you make me blush?" "Why doesn't it come to you?"

Su Mu thought for a moment and said something that even he himself thought sounded like nonsense. "I was too fierce when I fought those monsters, so they probably didn't like me. I usually really like small animals."

Lin Yuwei was taken aback. "You like small animals too?"

"Yes." Su Mu nodded, his tone as serious as if he were making a vow. "Not a single meal can be missed."

Lin Yuwei's face changed from red to black, from black to red, from red to... she didn't know what it had become.

She looked down at the little creature in her arms. The silver-spotted leopard cub was staring at her with its amber eyes, a look of bewilderment that seemed to say, "I don't understand what you two are talking about." Her fingers gently stroked its back, and her lips twitched slightly, whether she wanted to laugh or scold it was hard to tell.

"You scoundrel," she muttered under her breath.

Su Mu pretended not to hear, turned his head, and continued to look at the increasingly dense purplish-black canopy of trees outside the window.

The silver leopard cub's wound was still bleeding. Lin Yuwei took out a small bottle of recovery potion from her backpack, broke open the cap, poured a little onto her finger, and then gently applied it to the deepest wound.

The moment the medicine touched the wound, the bleeding stopped, the edges of the skin and flesh began to contract, and new pink granulation tissue gradually filled the open wound. The silver-spotted leopard cub let out a soft whimper, like a kitten—not from pain, but from comfort.

Its tail went from being curled up to being straight, and then from being straight to swaying slightly.

Lin Xiaohe looked at the little creature in Lin Yuwei's arms, her eyes calm and undisturbed. She had no interest in animals, no interest in other people, and no interest in anything except Su Mu. She glanced at it, then lowered her head and continued to stroke the hilt of the knife.

Chen Jun saw the silver-spotted leopard cub in the rearview mirror, saw Lin Yuwei blushing, saw Su Mu pretending to look out the window, and saw Lin Xiaohe remaining calm as usual.

His lips twitched slightly, then he quickly regained his composure and focused on driving. He thought to himself, "Brother Su really has a way with women. I've seen this kind of thing many times; I'm used to it."

The carriage was quiet for a moment. The wheels crunched over gravel and fallen leaves, making a soft rustling sound that mingled with the distant, sparse gunfire and the sound of wind, like a low, melodyless march.

Lin Yuwei held the silver-spotted leopard cub, her fingers gently stroking its silvery-white fur. The cub's breathing was steady and long, as if it were asleep, but its ears would occasionally twitch, catching every sound around it. Su Mu turned his head from the passenger seat, glanced at the cub, and then at Lin Yuwei.

"Can you communicate with your contract?" Su Mu asked.

Lin Yuwei looked up at him, her brows furrowing slightly, as if asking, "Why are you asking this?"

But she didn't ask, because she was thinking the same thing.

The animals in the zoo... zebras, wildebeests, antelopes, hyenas, lions, tigers... they ran out from the direction of the zoo, not to migrate, not to find food, but to escape for their lives.

Something drove them out of the zoo.

The giant golden bird, the half-golden bear, and the brown bear whose eggs she stole.

What happened between them? The brown bear ran into the bear enclosure carrying two fake eggs, and then what?

It discovered the two cans were fake, and then what? What happened after the big bird chased after it? She lowered her head, looking at the little thing in her arms. The silver-spotted leopard cub's ears perked up, as if sensing something, and its amber eyes opened, staring at Lin Yuwei, her face reflected in its pupils.

"It said...something terrible happened at the zoo."

Lin Yuwei's voice was a little dry. It wasn't fear, but a complex feeling, like the difficulty of piecing together a shattered jigsaw puzzle.

Her eyes were closed, her fingers gently stroking the cub's back, as if she were reading fragmented, incoherent messages from the other end of the contract through touch. "That golden bear... and that bear with the tuft of golden fur on its head... suddenly went berserk. They don't know what happened, they became extremely violent, smashing everything in their path, and many animals were affected."

Su Mu frowned slightly. The golden giant bear, the brown bear with golden fur on its head... that's the one that stole the eggs.

Going mad?

He recalled the scene... A brown bear emerged from its eggshell clutching two mushy talismans, its eyes shifting from expectation to confusion, from confusion to anger, and from anger to madness. Those two bears weren't "unaware of what was happening"; they knew exactly what was going on.

They discovered the two eggs were fake. The smell of the fake eggs could fool their noses, but not their tongues. When they cracked open the shells, preparing to suck out the yolk, what flowed out was a foul-smelling chemical liquid and two rotten talismans. Su Mu didn't want to think about that scene.

"That big bird came too." Lin Yuwei's voice lowered, her brows furrowing. "That very large, golden bird. It flew into the zoo and fought with that giant golden bear." She paused, as if sifting through the most crucial fragments of information from the cub. "It was a fierce fight; many animals ran away."

Su Mu tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of his seat. The large bird had chased the brown bear into the bear enclosure and then fought with the golden giant bear. He had witnessed that battle through his binoculars...

The tree canopy was torn off, and craters were blasted into the ground. Even he, who was several kilometers away, could feel the ground trembling.

The big bird's eggs are gone, its nest destroyed, and its anger won't be quelled by a fight. It will return, and it will return with even more anger.

"It said..." Lin Yuwei's voice suddenly changed, no longer calm as before, but a slight sob, as if something was stuck in her throat. "Its parents... were killed by that big bird."