"Mr. Yang, how on earth did you do that?"

Huang Leqing snapped back to his senses, grabbed Yang Qi’s wrist, his face flushed with excitement, and fired off a barrage of questions.

"Did you use a specific form of emotional resonance induction? Or did you use the audiovisual stimulus of the video to activate the reward circuits in its brain associated with ’satisfaction’ and ’relief’?"

"Or did you embed some kind of undetectable, mood-regulating ’pheromone suggestion’ in your communication?"

"Your positioning just now, the timing of when you played the video, the number of times you replayed it—was all of that precisely calculated?"

"There must be a systematic theory supporting all this, right? Can you explain your methods in detail...?"

...

Yang Qi felt a bit dizzy from the barrage of profound questions.

’What systematic theory? I don’t have one.’

It was all thanks to the cheat-like Basic Spirit Communication Technique and a bit of worldly intuition.

Grumbling internally, Yang Qi maintained his smile, discreetly pulled his hand back, and began to spin a plausible-sounding tale.

"Teacher Huang, you give me too much credit. It’s not that complicated, really. I just try to put myself in the animal’s emotional state."

"Take Ah Wu, for example. It missed its partner and felt guilty about its past actions. This conflict was causing it pain."

"First, I confronted its guilt, making it face its mistakes and feel remorse. That helped diminish the idealized image of the past created by its longing."

"Then..."

His explanation was specious, sounding somewhat reasonable but offering no quantifiable or replicable steps. He was simply applying human psychological counseling techniques to an animal.

Finally, Yang Qi added another sentence.

"Of course, it might also have something to do with the fact that I’ve always been naturally close to animals."

"I’ve been like this since I was a kid. Animals don’t seem to be very afraid of me, and they’re willing to listen to me ramble a bit. I guess you could call it a small talent."

"Natural?"

Huang Leqing froze. The fanatical research gleam in his eyes faded slightly, replaced by a mixture of amazement and a hint of helpless resignation at something so "unscientific." He murmured under his breath.

"He really is a Druid in the flesh!"

A younger veterinarian nearby remarked, half-joking and half-serious.

"That’s just talent."

Tong Xiaoyue smiled faintly. "A gift from the heavens. Others can’t learn it."

"That’s true."

A researcher nodded in agreement, as if remembering something. "I once heard a classmate of mine who works at a wildlife rescue station in the Southwest say they have a ’freak of nature’ there too. She’s a young girl, a born ’nurturer.’"

"Any animal cub, even newborns that are at their most guarded and weakest, is guaranteed to be docile in her hands. They don’t cry or fuss, and feeding, check-ups, and treatments go exceptionally smoothly. Her success rate is even higher than that of veteran veterinarians. Isn’t that strange?"

"There are people like that?" Yang Qi was amazed to hear it.

The world is a vast place full of wonders. It seemed that people with a special affinity for animals, though rare, were not entirely unique.

On second thought, he felt a wave of happiness.

’The more ’freaks of nature’ like that, the better!’

With more people like that around, the abnormalities about him wouldn’t seem so abrupt and conspicuous. He could better hide behind the relatively reasonable explanation of "being gifted," and the external scrutiny and pressure he faced would be reduced accordingly.

...

The successful recovery of Ah Wu the long-armed ape was a sigh of relief for everyone involved.

Although the whole process seemed a bit like "metaphysics" to an orthodox researcher like Huang Leqing, the result was right there before their eyes and couldn’t be denied.

At noon, the Red Star Zoo management laid out a sumptuous spread in a small private room in the cafeteria, both as a thank you to Yang Qi and as a celebration.

Yang Qi was also in a cheerful mood.

This time, for counseling the long-armed ape, the system’s reward was "Geng Metal Sword Pointing."

This was a genuine offensive-type magic!

Unlike his previous Spirit Awakening Technique, Spirit Communication Technique, Entanglement Technique, and Small Transport Technique, which were all support and control-type abilities.

"Geng Metal Sword Pointing" could be used for both offense and defense. From a distance, he could condense qi into a sword-like projectile, and up close, he could imbue his fingertips with sharp energy to increase their lethality. Although it was only a Basic Magic, it was relatively flexible to use and didn’t consume too much energy.

With it, Yang Qi’s ability to protect himself and handle sudden dangers was undoubtedly greatly enhanced, and his sense of security soared.

...

Although the male ape had recovered, to be on the safe side and to avoid giving people the impression that he was rushing off after his success—which could lead to gossip—Yang Qi didn’t leave right away. Instead, he booked a high-speed train ticket for that evening.

In the afternoon, after declining Zhou Jing’s offer to continue being his guide, Yang Qi wandered around the Red Star Zoo by himself.

By mid-afternoon, the sun was slanting west, but there were still plenty of visitors.

Yang Qi sat down at a drink stand in an open-air food court, ordered a glass of juice, and drank it slowly.

Suddenly, a commotion erupted not far away.

First came a few gasps and women’s screams, followed immediately by a beastly roar filled with fury and violence, exploding like a clap of muffled thunder.

"ROAR—"

"What’s going on?"

A couple sitting at the table next to Yang Qi jumped in fright. The man looked uncertainly in the direction of the sound.

"That roar... it sounds like... like a bear?" his partner guessed, her voice trembling.

"A bear? No way. How could a bear get out?" the man retorted, but his expression turned strange as well.

"ROAR—!!!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

The furious roar sounded again, closer this time.

The sound was clearer, filled with a brutal aura that made one’s eardrums buzz.

"AHH~!"

"Run! A brown bear, the brown bear got out!"

"Mommy~"

"..."

On the main path ahead of the food court, which connected to the carnivore section, a crowd of tourists scattered like ants from a disturbed nest, screaming, crying, and scrambling frantically away from the roar.

"Holy shit! A bear really did get out!"

The tourists in the food court, who had been watching from a distance, instantly panicked as well. The sounds of toppling tables and chairs, shattering cups and plates, and terrified screams blended into a cacophony.

Everyone instinctively fled in the opposite direction of the roar, and the scene descended into chaos.

Yang Qi was running, too.

But instead of turning and fleeing like everyone else, he ran against the panicked crowd, heading straight toward the sound of the roar.

He moved forward with an agile Body Technique, his eyes scanning sharply ahead.

He hadn’t gotten far from the food court when a little girl, about four or five years old, was knocked down by the crowd. She sat in the middle of the path, wailing.

Yang Qi darted forward, bent down, and scooped the little girl into his arms, simultaneously sidestepping a few tourists who were blindly charging past.

Glancing around, he saw a young woman who had been pushed into a corner, calling out anxiously and reaching for the girl. He quickly moved over and placed the child in her arms.

"Thank you, thank you, young man~"

The woman hugged her child tightly, thanking him repeatedly through her tears.

"You’re welcome. Be careful."

Yang Qi tossed out the words and continued moving forward.

The farther forward he went, the fewer people there were.

He rounded a bend, and the scene ahead came into view.

A huge adult brown bear, weighing at least four to five hundred pounds by his estimate, was standing on its hind legs, furiously swatting at the reinforced metal railings and several decorative trees as thick as a bowl.

The brown bear’s eyes were bloodshot, and drool dripped from the corners of its mouth. It let out a deafening roar, and each strike made the railing groan as if it would buckle. The small trees snapped at the impact.

It was clearly in a state of enraged frenzy!

Yang Qi’s gaze swept over the scene, his feet never stopping.

His right hand moved stealthily to his "Hundred Pouches Belt" and took out a small amount of "calming powder."

Seizing the moment the brown bear stood on its hind legs again and roared at the sky, he gave his wrist an almost imperceptible flick, sending the colorless, odorless powder scattering toward the bear’s head...