Chapter 46: Baby Panda Comes to the Door Seeking Help

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Baby Panda Comes to the Door Seeking Help

Bad news: an iron-eating beast had broken into the Third Service Area.

Good news: the intruder was a baby iron-eating beast.

"Why does it keep crying around us? Is it hungry?"

Generally speaking, the service areas were the ones initiating animal rescues. This was the first time an animal had come knocking on their door, leaving the staff somewhat at a loss. Fortunately, Liang He soon arrived.

"Liang He! You’re finally here. Quickly, come see what’s wrong with this baby iron-eating beast. We gave it food and water, but it hasn’t touched a thing. Is it sick?"

Seeing Liang He, the Station Chief of the Third Service Area looked as though he had just seen his savior. Usually strict and unsmiling, he now wore a mask of a smile, though it looked a bit forced.

"Don’t worry, let me take a look."

Liang He cared deeply about iron-eating beasts—otherwise known as panda cubs. Without needing the Area 3 Station Chief to say more, she stepped forward and crouched in front of the baby panda.

"SQUEAK, SQUEAK!"

The moment the baby panda saw Liang He, it reacted as if seeing a beloved family member. It circled her, crying non-stop in a mix of grievance and urgency.

"Is it from Blue Star?" Watching the baby panda expertly cling to her thigh, Liang He found it hard to believe it was wild.

"Ah? Yes, yes, yes! It was a special gift to the Federation from Blue Star as a gesture of goodwill."

Liang He nodded in understanding. Typically, Blue Star would only loan out giant pandas, but the Interstellar Federation was different, so a gift was perfectly normal.

The Area 3 Station Chief didn’t react at first, but then he remembered that Liang He was also one of the Blue Star people. He immediately looked at her with excitement. "You are from Blue Star. Can you understand what it’s saying?"

"It must have lived with a breeder all its life, so looking for its caretakers when something happens is a daily habit."

Raised in captivity, the baby panda instinctively trusted humans, and Liang He clearly fit its impression of a caretaker.

"SQUEAK, SQUEAK!"

"Alright, alright, I know. Don’t worry. Can you show me the way?" Seeing that the baby panda was so anxious it was nearly crying, Liang He quickly stood up, gesturing that she would follow it. Sure enough, the cub stopped crying and immediately headed outside, looking back every three steps to ensure Liang He was keeping up.

"Where is it taking us?"

The Third Service Area was located in a mountain forest. Deep in the woods, there were many fierce beasts, making it extremely dangerous. The Area 3 Station Chief was somewhat worried.

"Judging by its reaction, it’s highly likely that a companion is injured. Is this the only panda—or rather, iron-eating beast—sent by Blue Star?"

"I think... there’s a big one too."

Liang He’s question made the Area 3 Station Chief pause slightly. He seemed to recall something but found it difficult to say, so he could only give a vague answer. Hearing this, Liang He remembered Hoder mentioning earlier that there were traces of two iron-eating beasts, one big and one small.

"Then that makes sense. The big iron-eating beast must be in danger." That was why the baby panda had sought help from humans.

Liang He quickened her pace to keep up with the baby panda, completely unaware that the Area 3 Station Chief was using his Light Brain to contact the General Station Chief and report the situation.

[Area 3 Station Chief: General Station Chief! What should we do? A little iron-eating beast just came to us for help, and now it seems to be leading us to find the big iron-eating beast. But that’s a Beastman!]

Indeed, the so-called big iron-eating beast was actually an SSS-level Beastman discovered on Blue Star. Precisely because he had entered his Evolutionary Stage, Blue Star sent him to the more experienced Tianyao Star Protection Zone to help him get through it smoothly.

[General Station Chief: Calm down. You’re a grown adult, why are you panicking? An iron-eating Beastman... are you talking about Xuan Jiao?]

"Xuan" meant black, and "Jiao"—homophonic with the bright moon—was taken from sparkling jade, meaning white.

[Area 3 Station Chief: Yes, Xuan Jiao! Liang He is currently following that little iron-eating beast to find him. Won’t his identity be exposed?]

The Area 3 Station Chief remembered very clearly when the Federal Security Department ordered a blackout on all Beastman-related information regarding Liang He. A lot of people were still paying close attention to that so-called love pursuit operation!

[General Station Chief: I will immediately track Xuan Jiao’s status. As long as he’s still in his Evolutionary Stage, it should be fine.]

Following the coordinates sent by the Area 3 Station Chief, the General Station Chief initiated a large-scale surveillance search. Finally, he found Xuan Jiao’s tracks deep in the forest—but at that exact moment, Liang He found him too.

"It really is a *big* iron-eating beast!"

Standing a short distance away, Liang He craned her neck to look up at the iron-eating beast, which stood over two meters tall. She then looked down at the baby panda crying anxiously at its feet. Well, the size difference was a bit too drastic!

"When did Blue Star get pandas this huge?" Liang He muttered to herself.

The Area 3 Station Chief happened to overhear, which scared him into quickly explaining. "It’s probably a mutation from a Returning Ancestor phenomenon. Don’t the Blue Star people have a legend that the iron-eating beast was the mount of a great god?"

"There is such a thing." Hearing his words, Liang He recalled the legend; it really wasn’t impossible. "Let’s hurry over and see what’s going on."

Figuring that the Area 3 Station Chief might not dare to approach, Liang He didn’t force him. She had a natural love and affinity for pandas, so she wasn’t afraid of this Returning Ancestor panda in the slightest.

"SQUEAK, SQUEAK!"

Seeing her arrive, the baby panda hurriedly called out to her. Liang He followed its gaze and discovered that the iron-eating beast had its foot caught in a hunting trap, rendering it immobile.

"Why is there a hunting trap here?"

The only one brave enough to follow her was Hoder. This was the royal key Animal Protection Zone of Sky Shining Star; things like hunting traps shouldn’t exist here at all!

"This is very likely what Dass has been doing for the Rebel Army." Liang He quickly made the connection to Dass, who was collaborating with the Rebel Army. If they wanted to create more fierce beasts, "restocking" from the protection zone was undoubtedly the most convenient and fastest method.

Hearing her say this, Hoder also realized the implication and felt it made perfect sense. "Then I need to contact Uncle Huo An right away. There’s definitely more than just this one trap around here; they might even be scattered across the entire protection zone."

Many of the animals in the protection zone were star-level protected species of the Federation, and there were also fierce beasts transformed from SSS-level Beastmen. If something went wrong, it wouldn’t be a trivial matter!

While Hoder went to contact Huo An, Liang He began to treat the iron-eating beast.

"Good boy, I’m here to help you. Please don’t kick me." Because the iron-eating beast was injured on the foot, it would inevitably twitch and struggle uncontrollably while the trap was being removed. Liang He had to give it a heads-up.

"GRUNT."

Compared to the baby panda, the iron-eating beast was much calmer. The entire beast sat lazily on the ground, obediently offering its foot to Liang He.

"What a good boy." Seeing this, Liang He couldn’t resist rubbing the iron-eating beast’s furry belly. Her eyes were full of a smile, looking at it as affectionately as if it were her own child.

"Hoder, give me a pair of gloves!" To remove the trap, she had to pry it open, which meant Liang He needed to wear gloves.

"Alright, catch!" Hoder skillfully dug a pair of gloves out of his backpack and tossed them over. Liang He caught them cleanly, slipped them on, and prepared to pry open the hunting trap.

"Station Chief Liang, why don’t we wait for someone to bring the proper tools? Doing this by hand must..."

He had been about to say it must hurt. But then he saw just how much strength she was using!

The Area 3 Station Chief watched the hunting trap being swiftly pried apart and fell into deep thought.

He thought, "Ahhhh! Just how massive is my misunderstanding of the Blue Star people?! To hell with them being petite, fragile, and utterly defenseless!"