Don't Discriminate Against Species

Chapter 94 - Betrayal

“You’re scared of snakes?” Fu Li lowered his head, glancing at the hand extended to him. He reluctantly took hold of Zhuang Qing’s hand.

Fu Li’s hand was clean, soft, and warm. Zhuang Qing seized the opportunity to walk beside him, nodding with a straight face. “En.”

“Aren’t you a dragon?” There were less visitors at the snake compound compared to the other animal compounds, so Fu Li’s question didn’t attract anyone’s attention. “Dragons are quite similar to snakes. If you’re scared of snakes, do you dare to even look at your original form?”

“Did you forget that half of the blood in my veins comes from a human?” Zhuang Qing simplified scientific knowledge in deadly earnest. “The human fear of dangerous animals is carved into their genes. Despite so many years of evolution, the fear that has been carved into these genes will subconsciously manifest. Many humans might have died from the venomous fangs of snakes when they didn’t yet have advanced tools, which is why humans have a natural fear of snakes. I get very vexed over this sometimes too. I’m half-dragon, but scared of snakes. Will you make fun of me?”

“How could I? Am I that kind of yao?” Fu Li came to a stop and used his other hand to pat Zhuang Qing on the shoulder. “It’s okay, I’m not fond of furless, smooth creatures either. You’re half-human and have that...”

“Genetic memories.”

“Right, genetic memories, so it’s very normal for you to be scared of them. Going against nature is difficult and not something shameful for yao.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Aren’t we good friends?” Fu Li gripped Zhuang Qing’s hand tightly. “Don’t worry, don’t be scared.”

Looking at their intertwined hands, Zhuang Qing revealed a pure smile. Even the faint stink of snake in the snake compound had no effect on his good mood.

In the middle of the snake compound, She Weilong was wearing a zookeeper’s outfit and looking loftily through the glass at the snakes within the enclosure. The cameraman following him discovered that She Weilong really wasn’t scared of snakes. Rather, it was the snakes who all raised their heads after spotting him, seemingly welcoming him.

She Weilong spoke to the camera in delight, “Did you see that? I might have even been the king of snakes in my past life.”

His next challenge involved crossing over three large pythons and retrieving the sponsored bag all the way inside. As long as he successfully obtained the sponsored bag, the sponsor would donate an additional 200 000 yuan to impoverished elementary school children.

The worker opened the passage for zookeepers. While introducing the various snakes in the different areas as well as their level of endangerment, the worker led She Weilong to the rearing area.

The accompanying cameraman watched She Weilong cross over a large python without any change in expression. Fine sweat seeped out of the cameraman’s forehead. Just looking at such a big snake made his heart feel weak, yet She Weilong had such huge guts.

“Big Black is the one all the way at the back. He was sent to our zoo by the forestry bureau’s emergency rescue. This snake has a very docile temperament and even went to a foreign zoo not long ago for a friendly exchange, so you don’t have to be scared later on.” The zookeeper took out a piece of paper from the pocket of their jacket. “Your task today is to feed Big Black his meal and stroke his head thrice. The sponsored bag will then be successfully obtained.”

It was just a matter of feeding a snake, thought She Weilong. To be personally fed by him would practically be a few hundred years’ worth of good fortune for the snake. He took the feeding bucket, used the feeding tongs to pick up the meat chunks, and then walked in.

Worried that this big celebrity would run into trouble, the program team still arranged for many professional assistants, despite the fact that they had specially arranged for docile snakes to be at this place. If something were to really occur, they wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences.

Fortunately, She Weilong made his way through without any mishap. Upon reaching the innermost section, he saw a large black python sprawled on the ground lazily. Probably because it led a very comfortable life in the zoo, the python gave off a subtle feeling of contentment through the lens of the camera.

The black python looked up upon hearing the sound of human footsteps, flicking its tongue.

In the eyes of the humans, this was merely the snake’s reaction towards being disturbed. However, She Weilong seemed as if he had been struck by lightning. This was a snake? Were the people from the zoo blind? This was clearly a python Jiao who could transform into a dragon if it were to gain a chance.

“Tsk, little sh*tty snake!”

The black python sneered contemptuously as it coiled its body.

She Weilong swallowed. Using the language of the snakes, he said, “Senior, this junior has a task to complete. Can you lend me a hand?”

“Bah!” The black python buried its head.

“Boss, big brother, this meat is very good. Give me some face and take a few bites of it, okay?” She Weilong offered the meat to the black python with shaking hands.

To the program team, She Weilong was mimicking the hissing sounds issued by snakes with the intention of reaching the goal of a ‘friendly exchange’. This sort of behavior was similar to how humans would involuntarily meow when faced with cats.

But everyone knew that humans had no talent for learning animal languages.

Therefore, the black python didn’t give She Weilong even a tiny bit of face. With a twist of its head, it slithered to another corner. No matter how She Weilong hissed, none of it worked.

Faced with the uncooperative black python, She Weilong nearly kowtowed to it. If he’d known that there was a real snake ancestor here, how would he have dared to proclaim himself an ancestor of snakes? It was no wonder that the two snakes outside stayed there obediently; it turned out that the true boss was in here.

“I can cooperate with you, but you must help me do something,” The black python finally relented a little after She Weilong pleaded with it piteously.

“Don’t hesitate to tell me any good food and wine that you need. This junior will definitely satisfy you,” She Weilong feared this sort of powerful senior, but also harbored some suspicion in his heart. Why would such a powerful yaoguai stay in a poverty-stricken area like the zoo? Just look at how magnificent it was to be a big celebrity like him.

“You’re a yao who thinks only about wine and food?” She Weilong looked extremely displeasing to the black python. He had poor cultivation and mixed around with humans all day long. He was willing to stoop to even the lowest level. It was just that that repulsive yao had placed a restriction on him, preventing him from employing any magic power despite having cultivation, so he had no choice but to let this little yao run errands for him instead.

“I want you to help me kill someone,” The black python smiled coldly. “Help me kill a security guard at Affinity Moon Hotel. When I’m out, I’ll definitely give you the best cultivation method so that becoming a Jiao and dragon won’t just be a dream.”

She Weilong felt that this senior not only had issues with his conduct, but also didn’t have a very good brain. Society was ruled by the law now, and killing people at random was a bad idea. He didn’t dare to provoke the management bureau’s great masters.

“Senior, I just want you to complete a game, how did it become killing someone?” She Weilong actually wanted to ask if there was something wrong with his brain but didn’t dare to.

“You don’t want the cultivation method?”

“Becoming a Jiao and dragon is indeed good, but I feel that being a big celebrity is also not bad,” She Weilong responded. “A hundred years later, I’ll switch up my looks and mix into the entertainment industry again. That will also be quite interesting.”

The black python hadn’t expected this snake cultivator junior to be so disappointing. Angered, he wanted to send his tail flying over, but seeing that the zookeepers were still present, he could only resentfully feign sleep. Who knew what trick that vile yao had used on him? As long as he did something excessive, intense pain would wrack his entire body, giving him no choice but to yield.

The program team had no choice but to change the game rules after noticing that the black python had actually fallen asleep. After letting She Weilong interact with the two pythons outside, they allowed him to retrieve the sponsored bag. Hugging the sponsored bag, She Weilong glanced back at the lazy black python. He felt like he was a genuinely good snake who wasn’t corrupted by wealth or riches. He even gave up on a profound cultivation method just so he wouldn’t kill.

The more he thought, the more lofty he felt he was. She Weilog walked out of the rearing area with immense delight and turned towards the observation area for visitors. He hadn’t walked more than a few steps when he collided head-on with two people, the fright causing him to even drop the sponsored bag onto the ground.

Why?!

Why did he meet these two great masters again? Did they know about his conversation with the black python and think that he was following the black python’s bad example? She Weilong very much wanted to give Fu Li and Zhuang Qing’s hands a hard shake. It really wasn’t like that, listen to my explanation!

But he couldn’t toss aside his idol image. As a dedicated idol, he couldn’t allow himself to be imperfect in front of the camera.

She Weilong, stand your ground, you can do it. Legs, don’t soften. More importantly, don’t reveal your original form!

“Your item,” Fu Li bent down and picked up the sponsored bag. Zhuang Qing, whose hand was intertwined with his, was made to take one step forward because of his actions. He nodded at She Weilong. “Hello.”

“H-Hello,” She Weilong hastily took the sponsored bag from Fu Li. “Thank you... Mr Fu Li.” The word ‘daojun’ nearly slipped out of his mouth.

“You’re welcome,” Fu Li had noticed the cameraman following behind She Weilong. Tugging at Zhuang Qing, he indicated for them to walk faster so that they wouldn’t hold up the other party as they filmed. Zhuang Qing glanced at the anxious-eyed She Weilong and silently followed Fu Li a distance away.

The cameraman switched off the camera and asked She Weilong in a low voice, “Teacher She, are those two your friends? Should we cut their scene?”

She Weilong was jolted out of his state of fear. “Cut?”

“Yes, those two are lovers. Although this sort of romantic love is highly respected now, there will inevitably be more extreme people. Broadcasting it may not be good for them.” The cameraman had given it considerable thought. Their program was in need of amusing antics, but if it were to cause a huge commotion, their reputation would also be affected.

She Weilong suddenly turned his head towards the direction Fu Li and Zhuang Qing had left in, and discovered that those two people’s hands were actually... linked.

Linked?

She Weilong was struck dumb. Were those two... together? He remembered that Fu Li daojun’s original form was a rabbit. For a rabbit to be with a dragon, wasn’t the difference in their original forms a bit too big? No wonder the Dragon Lord spent a million yesterday night on bidding for that lousy wooden carving. It was definitely because there was a dragon and rabbit on it.

Unexpected, truly unexpected. The grand chief of the management bureau, Dragon Lord Zhuang Qing, was actually engaging in an office romance.

Despite the fact that Zhuang Qing was walking very slowly, the two people eventually made it out of the snake compound. Gazing at the hand Fu Li had released, he said nonchalantly, “Let’s go.”

“Handsome brothers, how about buying some panda hairbands?” A young girl at a selling booth greeted them enthusiastically. “They’re very cheap. One for twenty yuan, and thirty yuan for two. Many visitors bought it today, why not get one too?”

Twenty for one, and only thirty for two – it seemed like they would save ten yuan. Fu Li unhesitatingly fished out thirty yuan and bought two panda hairbands.

“For you,” Fu Li wore one and took out his phone, using the front camera to happily look at himself. The fluffy animal ears were very nice to look at. Having looked enough at the camera, he offered the remaining one to Zhuang Qing.

“For what?” Zhuang Qing remained unmoved.How could a dignified seven chi man wear this sort of thing?

“We have to blend into the masses’ way of life, look at how many people are wearing it,” Fu Li pointed around them. There were indeed many people wearing panda hats or panda ears among the visitors that came and went. “We must move from the masses to the masses, wearing this is called ‘integrating deeply into the masses’.”

This sort of fallacious reasoning couldn’t move Zhuang Qing. He was going to reject it again when Fu Li reached out and placed the headband on his head. Then, he grabbed Zhuang Qing’s hand. “Let’s wear them together, don’t take it off.”

The corner of Zhuang Qing’s lips twitched. He looked at Fu Li, who was all smiles. “Let go.”

“I’ll let go if you promise not to take it off.”

Zhuang Qing stared at Fu Li for a few seconds before saying helplessly, “Let go, I won’t take it off.”

“Wouldn’t it have been good if you’d gone ahead with this earlier?” Fu Li let go of Zhuang Qing’s hand and adjusted the angle of the panda ears on his head. “You’re clearly younger than me, so why do you live your life like an old and decrepit man? The humans have invented so many interesting toys, don’t you think it’s a waste not to experience them?”

Zhuang Qing watched the panda ears on Fu Li’s head sway as he spoke. Springs were attached at the bottom of the ears to raise the panda ears’ level of meng, so the ears would sway back and forth with the slightest shift of the head. It would definitely be cuter if it were rabbit ears, thought Zhuang Qing somewhat absent-mindedly.

He cocked his head self-consciously. Following behind Fu Li, they moved forward slowly.

Several young girls not far from them had long since been attracted by their looks. Shrieks nearly escaped their mouths when they saw Fu Li putting the panda hairband on Zhuang Qing.

“Those two were Chairman Zhuang and Assistant Fu, right?”

“That’s them, I swear on the video on my computer.”

“I really didn’t think that two men’s interactions could be so provocative that my young girl’s heart would thump nonstop. But Assistant Fu and Chairman Zhuang are really handsome. Chairman Zhuang’s expression when he doesn’t want to wear the panda ears but has no choice but to compromise because he dotes on Assistant Fu is such a perfect textbook example of a lover.”

“Why don’t we catch up to them and take a look?”

“Don’t, they’re having a perfectly good date. How hateful would we be if we ran up and surrounded them?”

“That’s right, that’s right, that’s right. A cute bystander girl who disrupts a date will be struck by lightning.”

The zoo was too big and chairs for visitors to rest were available between every area. Fu Li and Zhuang Qing picked a chair to sit on. Everyone around them was drinking and eating; only the two of them were sitting with empty hands, standing out like a sore thumb.

A bear child spat grape skin on the ground, and was berated by his even more valiant mother. Fu Li thought that the child would start bawling, but under his mother’s formidable eye attack, the child sniffled, stuck his little butt out, and picked the grape skin up. Then, he acted like a spoiled child, twisting about on his mother’s body like fried braided dough.

“Wait here,” Zhuang Qing suddenly stood up. “Be good and sit here, don’t walk off randomly.”

Fu Li: ...

“Be good and sit here, don’t move. Mother is going to throw the rubbish,” The bear child’s mother rubbed the child’s head and headed to the rubbish bin three meters away to toss the grape skin.

The bear child sat there obediently, although his chubby hand was stretching towards another bag of snacks.

Fu Li had an inexplicable feeling that Zhuang Qing’s words were extremely similar to what the bear child’s mother had said.

The bear child opened another bag of snacks and stuffed two pieces into his mouth. Turning his head, he saw Fu Li looking at him and hurriedly twisted his buttocks, hiding the bag of snacks.

Give up, evil stranger. I won’t give any of my snacks to you.

When the woman returned after throwing away the bag of snacks, the bear child hastily picked out the largest piece from the bag. “Mama, here.”

The mother smiled radiantly as she ate the snack.

Fu Li noticed that the bear child had dropped a biscuit onto the ground by accident, which he obediently picked up later on, throwing it into the trash bag beside him.

It seemed this bear child wasn’t all that bear-ish after all.

“Stop looking.”

A large bag of snacks took up Fu Li’s entire line of sight. The next second, it was placed in Fu Li’s arms.

He looked down at the items in the bag. There was cola, fruit juice, all sorts of potato chips and biscuits, and even a box of red grapes wrapped with cling wrap. He tore open a bag of potato chips and placed it between them. “Why did you buy these?”

Zhuang Qing wasn’t fond of potato chips. He took a drink can from the bag, pulled the tab, and took a sip from it. “Didn’t you want to eat them very much?”

“When did I want to eat them?” Fu Li was confused.

“Then what were you staring at another child’s food for?” Zhuang Qing patted his shoulder. “It’s fine, eat if you want to. No one other than me will know about it anyway.”

Fu Li: ...

Was he the kind of yao cultivator who would be jealous of a child’s snacks?

Fu Li finished the bag of chips a short while later. He took a few sips of cola. “You went to buy the snacks because I wanted to eat them.”

“No,” Zhuang Qing turned his head away. Sunlight shone onto his ears, causing them to appear slightly transparent with a hint of pink.

“I just went to scout out the path and saw that there was a kiosk selling these things, so I bought some along the way,” Zhuang Qing scoffed. “How could I specially buy all these? Stop this wishful thinking.”

“Oh,” Fu Li continued to drink cola with a wide smile on his face. Why were Zhuang Qing’s ears turning increasingly red?

She Weilong ended the afternoon shooting with much difficulty. He took advantage of the afternoon rest time to disguise himself and seek out Zhuang Qing and Fu Li, who were sitting on the rest chairs and snacking.

“Dragon Lord, Fu Li daojun, please listen to my explanation!” She Weilong strode over to the two people. “This is all a misunderstanding.”

Fu Li looked blankly at She Weilong. Was this snake not very right in the head?

Zhuang Qing fished out a napkin and stuffed it into Fu Li’s hands for him to wipe his mouth. Then, he looked at She Weilong with a cold face. “Speak.”

With one glance at Zhuang Qing’s expression, She Weilong knew for certain that the Dragon Lord was aware of his conversation with the black python. He hurriedly responded in a low voice, “This is a misunderstanding. I don’t know that black python at all, nor did I agree to his conditions. I’m a pure snake who definitely won’t step onto the wrong path.”

“En,” Seeing that Fu Li had wiped his mouth clean, Zhuang Qing threw the snack bag and empty drink bottles into the rubbish bin. After sitting back down on the chair, he raised his chin. “Continue.”

“I suspect the zoo’s black python has antisocial snake disorder. He even wanted to tempt me with a cultivation method to kill a security guard from Affinity Moon Hotel,” She Weilong didn’t hesitate to betray his snake senior. In any case, they weren’t of the same breed, so he defended himself guiltlessly, “But a snake like me naturally rejected him without the slightest hesitation. Cultivation can be done slowly, but illegal acts like murder cannot be done.”

“I might be the security guard he wanted to kill,” Fu Li blinked innocently. “I was the one who captured him and sent him to the forestry bureau.”

At this instant, She Weilong felt like he might have made the most correct decision he would ever make throughout his entire life as a yao.