Chapter 258: Bao Bao

"Brand-new, high-power, humming loudly."

"I feel like a car suddenly sped past and crushed right over my face."

An Sheng muttered under his breath, while Lin Ying pulled out her phone, opened a shopping platform, typed in the logging saw the Old Master Fuli wanted, paused, then chose a four-stroke gasoline saw instead of an electric one.

Electric saws, powered by electricity, have better noise control than traditional gasoline saws; two-stroke gasoline saws produce thunderous roars when started that can be heard for miles. Electric saws are very quiet, suitable for neighborhoods and home use.

But precisely because of electric power, electric saws fall far short of traditional gasoline saws in endurance and power output.

Considering Old Master Fuli needed to cut down spiritual beasts, an electric saw's power would surely be insufficient. Although two-stroke gasoline saws had sufficient endurance and power and wouldn't run out of juice halfway through, they were too loud.

During her studies abroad, Lin Ying had seen both electric and gasoline saws at her family's estate.

Thus, after careful consideration, Lin Ying selected a four-stroke gasoline saw for Old Master Fuli.

It combined ease of operation, environmental friendliness, energy efficiency, and stable, powerful output.

"Huh? Not an electric saw?" After selecting the four-stroke gasoline saw, Lin Ying handed her phone to An Sheng, gesturing for him to pick a color he liked.

An Sheng glanced at the four-stroke gasoline saw's page and said with slight disappointment: "What a shame."

As a Class II protected animal and a distinguished representative of the new era of spiritual beasts, An Sheng strongly supported the Green Mountains and Clear Waters policy—improving environmental protection and greening increased the probability of spiritual beast births, helping Old Master Fuli meet his performance targets.

Listen to Daoist electronic music, experience cybernetic karma, see cybernetic bodhisattvas on the Note Platform.

Well, since there's no electric saw, forget it.

"Boss! Give me a pink one." Considering Yu Xueqing might need it for school, An Sheng, who had originally wanted purple, thought again and chose pink.

He specified a pink four-stroke gasoline saw.

On the chat interface, the opposite side was frantically typing.

Lin Ying took back her phone, not noticing the boss's frantic typing, and simply typed and sent: 【Please take care of this for me—I need it urgently. Beyond the listed price, I'll pay extra cash on delivery. Please deliver before midnight tonight.】

The hardware store boss, checking Lin Ying's account rating in the backend, quietly deleted his complaints and typed one mature, steady phrase: 【Completely ojbk!】

It's just repainting and sanding by hand!

We're a hardware store—what kind of paint don't we have?

If you're willing to pay more, even rainbow-black or velvet-wrapped finishes are possible.

…………

With Lin Ying's written promise of additional payment, the hardware store owner quickly opened the workshop door, pulled out the spray-painting equipment previously used for the ash cart, disassembled the saw, and painted its casing pink.

Meanwhile, on the other side, after Old Master Fuli entered Changancheng…

Two weasels, carrying two shrews, arrived near Qichi Park, not far from Moyang Palace.

Across from Qichi Park lay a villa district; the two weasels led the shrews into the villas.

"Gagaga—"

The slender weasel arrived at the villa gate across from Qichi Park and let out a series of "zhi-zhi" calls, somewhat like a duck's quack.

"Has the King woken up?"

"Something's happened! A spiritual beast entered the city—a white fox, extremely arrogant, ignored our warnings, and paraded openly through the streets!"

In this spiritual beast-controlled region, only two kinds of animals exist.

One willingly bows to the boss.

The other reluctantly bows to the boss.

The shrews, resembling rats, were the eyes of the city's ruling overlord.

Upon sensing a spiritual beast entering the city, they immediately reported to their superior, who then used weasels and other birds to deliver a message to the intruding spiritual beast:

You must pay homage to the King before entering the city.

But the fox ignored them, lounging in his business car like a lord, parading through the streets, completely disregarding the rules set by Changancheng's ruling spiritual beast.

Realizing something was wrong, the weasel, upon hearing its companion's warning, rushed to the King's den to report: the city was in chaos—a spiritual beast had defied the King's authority and his established rules.

Any spiritual beast entering Changancheng must come to the villa district of Qichi Park, pay homage to the King, and receive his permission before gaining the right to move about in the city!

All unauthorized intruders will be treated as acts of defiance and contempt toward the King.

For such lawless spiritual beasts, the King usually slaps them down, then bites them to death in one gulp!

"Come in."

Amid a flurry of urgent "zhi-zhi" calls, a woman in her mid-twenties, with chestnut hair flowing loose and wearing a nightgown, yawned as she opened the villa door and spoke to the two weasels and the shrews outside.

After opening the door, the woman staggered back inside, collapsed onto the sofa, and fell back asleep.

The two weasels, carrying the shrews, wiped their paws on the doormat, closed the armored door together, then ran to the living room facing the bed and let out a "zhi" sound.

The villa's nearly seventy-square-meter hall held nothing but a single bed half a meter high.

On the bed lay a Xia Beihu leopard, its entire body golden with black coin-like markings, gazing at the ceiling projector. The projector screen showed Animal Planet: two fierce male cheetahs chasing prey, the scene brutally bloody.

"Hmm? What do you want, Your Majesty?"

The golden leopard, lying on the bed, lifted a claw, poked into a bowl beside it, plucked out a few pieces of meat, and tossed them before the weasels and shrews.

The leopard rolled over, propped itself on the bed's edge, its powerful arms resting on the side—muscles and shoulder blades bulging, exceptionally massive.

If not for its distinctive markings, a casual glance would never identify it as a member of the leopard subfamily—it was as stout as a tiger, its long tail swishing behind it.

"Bad news, Your Majesty!"

"A fox entered the city and sprinted west toward Xiqi!"

After eating the meat, the weasel immediately stood up and recounted the entire story to the Leopard King.

"Another one heading straight for Xiqi?" The Leopard King's golden face showed a flicker of surprise as he growled low:

"Wang Qiqi, wake up! A fox with an extraordinary nose is heading toward the university—this requires two strong, muscular cheetahs to handle."

Wang Qiqi, asleep hugging a pillow, was jolted awake by the leopard's roar.

Listening to the leopard's roar, she mumbled sleepily:

"I told you already—no."

"You're a Class I protected animal—only five hundred left nationwide. Don't go chasing ducks or acting recklessly; you'll cause genetic contamination and ruin the Xia Beihu population."

"The Nongke Academy hasn't cultivated any spiritual plants lately—don't use that as an excuse to blackmail me."

Wang Qiqi curled up on a single sofa, stretched out long and slow, and glared at the golden leopard.

Every day, a male model leopard, big bowls of meat.

You're a male model? I haven't even picked one yet.

Don't you have any sense of proportion?

(End of chapter)