Chapter 8: Only Fire Can Relieve Worries

After cleaning himself up, Ji Wuxiu got up. His body felt a hundred times heavier after his fur got wet. He instinctively shook himself, tossing the water off, and felt much better afterward.

The sun was bright, so Ji Wuxiu lay down on a large, clean stone to dry his fur. Once his belly dried and became fluffy, he lazily turned over to sun his back, his fur looking like a little vest, swaying in the wind.

Before long, Ji Wuxiu felt a wave of drowsiness and drifted off into a nap.

He had no idea how long he had slept, but when he woke up, a cool breeze brushed past him. He shivered and opened his eyes, only to find that it was no longer midday but had turned into evening.

Ji Wuxiu quickly climbed down and took a few sips of water from the river.

At this moment, a particularly fat fish jumped from the water, swishing its tail before quickly sinking back into the depths.

Only the splash was left, shimmering in the sunlight, reflecting all the colors of the rainbow.

Ji Wuxiu touched his chin, his eyes gleaming.

Well, how could he have forgotten about the fish?!

But… there was no fire…

Ji Wuxiu’s fiery spark in his eyes faded, and with the setting sun casting a long shadow, he walked away dejectedly. His round figure looked unexpectedly heavy.

That night, Ji Wuxiu sat on a tree branch, trying to remember how to start a fire without a lighter or magnifying glass.

Starting a fire by rubbing wood together? That was out of the question.

Although he was a panda with nimble movements, he still couldn’t match human dexterity with their fingers.

Ji Wuxiu couldn’t help but regret not studying harder before; now, the time had come, and he realized how little he knew.

Surrounded by so many food options, he couldn’t even begin.

Sighing heavily in his heart, Ji Wuxiu turned to the system for help, “System, do you have any tools that could start a fire?”

The system, somewhat indifferent, understood that the host was poor, but it still did its job and opened the store, switching to the page with fire-related tools. It introduced, “The first is a fire-type ability, which can easily ignite with just a spark, worth 9 cute value points. The second is a level 2 fire-type ability, which can instantly shoot out a fireball that normal water cannot extinguish, worth 98 cute value points.”

Ji Wuxiu quickly interrupted, “Stop, stop, stop! Why is it all abilities? Don’t you have anything else?”

【Ding! Of course, there’s more. Look here.】 The screen changed again, and the system continued, “This is an even more advanced fire-type ability than the previous one, it’s…”

“System, you don’t understand what I mean.” Ji Wuxiu interrupted again, “I’m talking about regular fire-starting tools, like a lighter on Earth.”

The system fell silent for a moment before responding, 【Ding! This system is a cute value upgrade system, not a general goods system. It can only exchange cute value for things that can make someone stronger.】

Ji Wuxiu: “Oh.”

He had overthought it.

The system seemed to feel underestimated and couldn’t help but pull up another interface, saying, 【In addition to upgrades and strengthening, this system also offers various professional skills that can be exchanged.】

Ji Wuxiu finally lifted his eyelids, carefully looking at the interface. “Hmm? Is this blacksmithing?”

The system quickly responded, 【That’s right. You can exchange cute value for this. It only costs 998 cute value points, and you can take the blacksmithing skill home. You can even upgrade it with more cute points!】

Listening to the system’s sales pitch, Ji Wuxiu finally realized how powerful his system really was. He quickly flipped through the system’s items and was amazed to find not only a wide range of skills, but also the fact that they could be bought and given to others.

Fire-type, water-type… all it took was purchasing one, and a person with no abilities could suddenly become strong.

The first thought that came to Ji Wuxiu’s mind was himself.

If he bought those abilities, wouldn’t he be on top of the world?

Just the thought of it made him a little excited.

However, it had already been two days since he came here.

He hadn’t earned a single cute value point yet. If this continued, it wouldn’t work.

With a strong sense of urgency, Ji Wuxiu quickly became anxious and realized that he needed to find other creatures to sell his cuteness to.

After finalizing his plan, Ji Wuxiu decided to sleep. After all, the system said that sleeping was also part of being cute, and as a panda, it would earn him some points.

After a good night’s sleep, Ji Wuxiu climbed down the tree, striding forward confidently, looking for his next target to charm.

At this moment, a pure white and innocent-looking rabbit hopped by. Ji Wuxiu immediately leaped forward, catching the rabbit in his arms. He couldn’t help but think to himself how lucky he was, almost letting the rabbit escape.

The rabbit, who had been out for a bite of grass: “???”

After a moment, the rabbit realized it had been caught and might even be eaten. It began struggling desperately, its back legs kicking furiously at Ji Wuxiu’s stomach, nearly knocking the wind out of him.

Ji Wuxiu hurriedly controlled the rabbit, using his paw to gently comfort it, trying to calm its anxiety.

But the more he stroked it, the more the rabbit trembled, its red eyes full of fear.

Seeing it wasn’t working, Ji Wuxiu reluctantly placed the rabbit on the ground. The moment its feet touched the earth, it darted off like the wind, leaving only an afterimage.

Ji Wuxiu sighed helplessly, bracing himself to continue searching for his next target.

At this moment, he heard rustling in the bushes, as if some creature was inside.

Ji Wuxiu’s eyes brightened, and he quickly skipped over, eagerly parting the grass with his paws, only to make eye contact with the head of a leopard for three seconds.

The same familiar color.

The same familiar gaze.

And the same familiar scene.

Ji Wuxiu’s face immediately drooped, feeling particularly displeased as he pushed the black panther aside and sulkily sat down.

The black panther was also a bit frustrated. It had deliberately run far to avoid this ugly creature, but no matter what, it couldn’t understand why it had run into it again.

Ji Wuxiu tapped the black panther with his paw and let out a few meaningful “mm-mm” sounds.

“Why are you so free every day? I see you wherever I go.”

If the black panther could speak, it would probably say the same thing.

Ji Wuxiu sighed, got up, and continued looking for the next creature.

The black panther stared at the retreating figure, unexpectedly showing a rare expression of lingering fear.

Finally, it didn’t have to hear that ugly creature’s calls anymore.

Ji Wuxiu walked a large circle around the area, but the more he walked, the more confused he became.

Why were there no large creatures here?

Of course, he completely ignored the smaller creatures, because although they had weak combat abilities, their escape skills were top-notch. Often, before Ji Wuxiu could even reach them, they had already sensed the danger and quickly fled.

This was why Ji Wuxiu focused on larger creatures.

But the problem was… there were no large creatures here at all, not even the slightest trace of activity.

Strange!

This was simply too strange.

Ji Wuxiu propped his chin up and fell into deep thought.

The system, which had been silent, seemed unable to watch any longer and reminded him again, saying: 【Forest animals each have their own set of rules. Every powerful creature marks its territory.】

Ji Wuxiu was taken aback, chewing over the system’s words repeatedly. Then he suddenly realized and slapped the grass, “Could this be the black panther’s territory?”

【Yes.】

If that was the case, then all the inconsistencies suddenly made sense.

This area was marked as the black panther’s territory, so no large creatures would be present unless they were stronger than the panther and would ignore its territorial warnings.

In that case, it seemed that he was considered a large creature as well.

No wonder when the panther first saw him, its first reaction was to attack.

Thinking about how he had been wandering in the territory of another adult large creature and hadn’t been killed by the panther seemed like a miracle.

Ji Wuxiu’s opinion of the panther improved considerably, and he even felt a tiny bit guilty.

After all, according to the forest’s rules, as an outsider, he had been eating, drinking, and even bullying others in someone else’s territory.

It was truly excessive.

Ji Wuxiu decided that next time he saw the panther, he definitely wouldn’t bully it anymore.

For now, Ji Wuxiu wasn’t in a hurry to find a large creature. He decided to eat, drink, and sleep at his leisure, planning to leave this territory the next day and explore further.

The next day, Ji Wuxiu woke up, drank water by the river, washed his paws, and leisurely stole some food from the hedgehog. Then he took a stroll to the place where the strawberries grew, ate his fill, and after he was satisfied, he patted his paws and went to find the black panther to say goodbye.

After all, he had been a guest in its territory for so long, so it was only polite to say goodbye.

However, after searching for a long time, Ji Wuxiu still couldn’t find any trace of the black panther.