🌊Extraordinary Universe🌊
Washington, Smithsonian Zoo.
The Smithsonian Zoo is renowned as the most famous zoo in the United States, celebrated for its outdoor giant panda habitat. In addition, it boasts ape houses, invertebrate exhibition halls, and reptile research centers.
Typically, zoos operate at a loss and often depend on state funding. However, with the introduction of pandas, the zoo transformed its financial losses into profits. The daily influx of tourists, mainly drawn to the giant pandas, filled the zoo to capacity.
Recently, an astonishing event in the zoo's panda house has drawn even more visitors, skyrocketing its popularity.
It was noon, and the fence around the Smithsonian Zoo's panda house was packed with tourists. People continued to crowd in from behind, many holding up their phones to capture the scene, while the lively chatter resembled a swarm of buzzing bees.
The Smithsonian Zoo houses three pandas, including a pair of two-year-old twins and a nine-month-old male panda named Big White.
The recent surprise in the panda house revolved around this very panda.
In the outdoor activity area, spanning about 50,000 square feet, new rocks, trees, and a large sandpit create an expansive playground.
Within the sandpit, two adorable giant pandas were playfully frolicking.
However, what truly captured the attention of many tourists was the platform built with wooden stakes.
"Hey, man, look at this panda. It's dismantling things every day. The staff has to rebuild this wooden platform every day."
"I saw it! When the previous keeper came in to feed him, he tore the keeper's clothes. Too bad he was too chubby."
"It's hilarious. The zoo staff has been busy dealing with the damage caused by Big White lately. The situation inside the zoo is quite entertaining. Recently, Twitter is flooded with videos of this panda causing havoc."
"Look, the wooden frame is about to collapse."
With an excited shout, a sturdy panda in the activity area, resembling a fluffy black and white ball, broke the wooden stake supporting a corner of the platform.
"Crash, crash..." The wooden stakes on the battered wooden platform began to tumble down one by one.
The sudden noise startled the two pandas playing in the sandpit nearby. Their ears perked up as they looked over.
"The keeper is coming in!"
"Hahaha, he's going to start lecturing again."
"I heard that this panda is a gentleman. He only teases male keepers and leaves female keepers alone. So, they switched his keeper to a female one."
The tourists laughed in anticipation of what would happen next.
"Big White! Look at what you've done again. You dismantled it yesterday, and after we rebuilt it today, you tore it down again." A young woman approached with a stern expression, pointing at the pile of wooden debris.
The keeper, likely in her twenties, wore a hat with a few strands of hair peeking out, dressed in work clothes with a panda emblem on her chest indicating her responsibility area. Her glasses framed a face now filled with exasperation.
Because the previous male keeper had his clothes torn, someone snapped a photo, posted it online, and it went viral overnight. The zoo's publicity department even did a live broadcast. As a newcomer, she was assigned to care for Big White.
Big White, pleased with his handiwork, felt a voice in his mind finally speak.
"Destruction points +10, accumulated 100 destruction points, you can get limb evolution, pasta skills, thick skin, and flesh."
"Please choose."
"Choose limb evolution." He had been eagerly awaiting this moment and promptly confirmed the choice. Previously, he had acquired the talent of a foodie, enabling him to eat human food in addition to bamboo shoots.
"Confirmed!" After the voice in his mind faded, Big White felt a tingling sensation in his round limbs, akin to an electric current coursing through them.
"Big White, are you listening? We agreed yesterday that if you keep destroying things, you won't get any more food." The keeper rubbed her head in frustration at the unresponsive Big White.
"I am a panda, and I'm not afraid of you."
Big White, with his newly strengthened limbs, stood up, placed his hands on his hips, and gazed at his keeper with disdainful eyes, letting out a defiant whine.
Becoming a panda, complete with a system, he felt empowered. If he didn't show a little arrogance, he wouldn't be worthy of his current identity.
A few months ago, he traveled through time and space, becoming a panda, and simultaneously awakened an evolutionary template system.
The first evolution template was the Dragon Warrior from Kung Fu Panda.
To evolve, he needed destruction points and kindness points, meaning he had to cause destruction and perform good deeds.
However, as a panda in a zoo, there were plenty of opportunities for destruction but few chances to do good deeds.
So far, his only success in gaining both destruction and kindness points occurred when he managed to get a female keeper assigned to him. This incident opened a new world of possibilities for Big White.
Looking at the defiant Big White, the keeper widened her eyes in surprise.
"What? What do you mean? Do you think I'm joking?" She spread her hands in shock, not expecting to be ridiculed by a panda just days into her job.
"You think I'm kidding." Big White maintained his arrogant demeanor, unmoved by the keeper's threats.
Though Big White didn't speak, his actions and calls conveyed a strong sense of arrogance and mockery, leaving the keeper feeling flabbergasted.
"My God, why was I given such a panda? Can't I catch a break? During the day, he dismantles the platform, the guardrail, and digs up the lawn. At night, he sneaks out and eats our dinner. All I ask for is a day off." She looked devastated.
Due to this panda's boundless energy, he often sneaked out when she wasn't watching, wreaking havoc throughout the zoo, even sneaking into their dining area and devouring their meals.
God knows what their expressions were when they returned to find their dinner plates empty, and the giant panda lying nearby with a mouthful of leftovers.
Especially some time ago, this panda figured out how to open door handles, sneaking out to the monitoring room, biting off wires, and paralyzing the zoo's security system for a time. She was reprimanded by her supervisor.
"Dad, the panda stood up, and it seems to disdain the keeper," said Gwen, standing with her family in the crowd, laughing at the situation.
"Hahaha, it seems we made the right choice coming here. What an entertaining scene."
George Stacy, the police chief of New York, had taken the day off to accompany his family to the Smithsonian Zoo at his wife and daughter's request to see the giant pandas.
Seeing the defiant Big White standing up to the keeper, he couldn't help but laugh despite his usually serious demeanor.
"Dad, can we keep a panda?" his young son, perched on his shoulders, asked, pointing at Big White.
"That's not possible. Pandas are protected animals, and only one country in the world has pandas. The pandas here are just on loan, and they have to return when the lease expires," Gwen explained with a smile. "If it were possible, everyone would want a panda as a pet."
Pandas are a symbol of peace and diplomacy. Their fur is a mix of black and white, they're Asian animals, they're bears but also vegetarians, and they belong to a minority group.
They symbolize peace more than white doves.
Apart from the Stacy family, the surrounding tourists couldn't help but laugh at the scene and quickly took out their phones to capture the moment.
Big White stood for a while, feeling a bit uncomfortable, then got back on all fours, ignoring the keeper, and began searching for something else to dismantle.
The outer fence had been damaged once before, causing a commotion. It was replaced from wood to iron, making it harder to destroy.
If not for the pandas' living environment, the zoo would have replaced everything with iron.
However, Big White's antics brought in many tourists, so management chose not to isolate him but instead treated him like a VIP.
A little destruction was a small price to pay for revenue.
After wandering around and finding nothing to dismantle, Big White found a wooden stake, lay on it out of boredom, and began feeling drowsy.
"It looks like we have to leave." Big White no longer cared about the tourists' stares. Holding a bamboo leaf in his mouth, he closed his eyes lazily and began contemplating his escape plan for the night.
With his limbs evolved and his natural talent for eating, except for not being able to speak, Big White's basic template was established.
Moreover, the opportunities for gaining destruction points in the zoo were becoming limited, let alone kindness points.
While pandas enjoy comfort and good food daily, being in a country like the United States means that if they threaten local interests, their treatment may not be abusive but will certainly decline.
After all, no matter how symbolic pandas are, in the face of vested interests, they are like drifting duckweed.
As for escaping the zoo, the risks are minimal, mostly tranquilizer guns.
However, once outside, there are more dangers but also more opportunities.
Yet, where to escape to remains a dilemma, as he is too conspicuous and would be quickly captured if discovered.
NOTE:
CHAPTER CONTENT 1500 WORDS ...