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Chapter 8: Recruiting a Sidekick
A soft gulp echoed in the stillness.
Gu Lang froze in place, his body locked in a painful posture from the moment he’d risen. Sweat trickled down, stinging every open cut on his skin, a strange tingling sensation crawling over him like ants. If not for his arm holding him up, he might have collapsed back to the ground.
Swallowing hard, he fought against the numbness and pain seeping through him. Yet, the harder he fought it, the more unbearable it became.
In the livestream, viewers could see the leopard, Rosette, and Wang Ping in front of the camera, though Gu Lang, who was across from them, was not visible. With the two animals remaining still, the chat filled with a whirlwind of anxious comments, as people speculated on what would happen next. Some had even begun to pray silently for Gu Lang’s safety.
Meanwhile, Wang Ping was contemplating how to enlist Gu Lang's help for his own objective. The fact that he was here at all, inhabiting the body of a honey badger, likely meant his original body was done for. But what about his teammates? Had they survived? Were they injured? These were questions he couldn’t bear to think too deeply about.
Therefore, he had to go to the destination of their mission once again to find out what happened.
Writing wasn’t an option for communication. Not only was he limited to gestures, but showing such intelligence might lead to him being treated as a lab specimen—even if it was outside of China. After all, “animals shouldn’t behave like this,” as the saying went.
Finally, an idea struck Wang Ping. He turned and darted back to the vehicle, emerging a moment later with another pack of jerky.
Rosette saw the food in his grasp and nudged her head toward it, but Wang Ping batted her away with a firm paw.
With a flick, he tossed the packet of jerky in front of Gu Lang.
Gu Lang blinked, bewildered. What did this mean? Did it want him to open it? Or was this… a gift?
He stared in confusion, trying to read the badger’s intentions. Was this some kind of test? What if he misinterpreted and did the wrong thing? Would he be punished?
The livestream chat buzzed with excitement.
“What’s the Buzz-Cut Bro doing?”
“Is he asking Gu Lang to open it for him?”
“The leopard’s just sitting there like a housecat, lol.”
“Don’t get too cozy; one wrong move and Gu Lang’s toast.”
“Can anyone tell how injured Gu Lang is?”
Seeing Gu Lang hesitate, Wang Ping tapped the hood impatiently with his paw and pointed at the jerky.
"Here goes nothing," Gu Lang thought, teeth gritted, his hand shaking as he picked up the package. His palms were slick with sweat, making the package hard to grip, and he struggled to open it for a few seconds, to no avail.
Oh my god, seriously? Don’t let it be this bad! For a brief moment, he wanted to cry.
"Ummm, kind of useless, huh..." Wang Ping shot him a look of mild exasperation and bounded back to the car, startling Gu Lang, and increasing the urge to relieve within him.
He returned a moment later with the bootleg tiger-tooth knife clenched in his teeth. He had originally tried to carry it in his paw but couldn’t get a good grip, so he had to resort to holding it in his mouth. He tossed it casually at Gu Lang’s feet, then perched himself on the car’s hood.
Gu Lang stared at the knife, his lips twitching. The badger had to be either exceptionally confident or entirely dismissive of his strength if he thought handing him a weapon was safe.
After the ambush that morning, Wang Ping had come to appreciate the sheer power of large carnivores up close. For someone as green as Gu Lang, even fully armed, Rosette could handle him single-handedly.
For a few seconds, Gu Lang hesitated between using the knife to defend himself or simply cutting open the packaging with it. But he eventually decided to go with the latter.
The metallic gleam of the knife as he unsheathed it made Rosette uneasy, and she let out a low growl at Gu Lang. Startled, Gu Lang flinched, losing his grip, and the knife fell to the ground.
Wang Ping patted Rosette, calming her out of her attack stance, and then turned to fix his gaze on Gu Lang.
Viewers in the livestream were shocked. Although they couldn’t see Gu Lang, they’d clearly seen Rosette ready to pounce just moments before. Now, seeing Wang Ping standing tall, patting Rosette’s head as the leopard lowered her head submissively and allowed him to rest his hand on her, they were utterly baffled.
“This is unbelievable!”
“Has this leopard been tamed?!”
“This can’t be a wild animal situation anymore. That leopard’s practically a house cat!”
“A honey badger protecting a human? Have I entered an alternate universe?”
If Wang Ping had realized that everything he was doing was being broadcast live, he might’ve dealt with Gu Lang differently. No amount of precautions could’ve prepared him for a human casually livestreaming on the African savanna.
Finally, Gu Lang gathered the nerve to pick up the knife and slice the jerky packet open. Shakily, he stood up, holding the jerky out to Wang Ping, hoping to appease him. He had figured it out—of the pair across from him, Wang Ping was clearly the one in charge.
With a slight twitch of his whiskers, Wang Ping pushed the jerky back toward Gu Lang, then pointed at Rosette.
What does that mean? Gu Lang was once again completely confused.
"Unbelievable—how can he be this clueless!" In his frustration, Wang Ping forgot about his current animal form and casually grabbed a piece of beef jerky from Gu Lang’s hand, holding it up to Rosette's mouth.
Rosette’s scarlet tongue flicked out, and she opened her jaws wide, chomping down with her back teeth, slobbering all over Wang Ping’s paw.
Gu Lang’s eyes went wide. As he saw Wang Ping pointed at him, then at Rosette again, his hand began to shake.
Could it really be what he was thinking? No… it couldn’t be… right?
Gu Lang seemed to be in "vibration mode," trembling as he pulled out another piece of beef jerky under Wang Ping’s watchful gaze, then, still shaking, extended it toward Rosette.
Rosette lowered her head to sniff, then opened her mouth to take the jerky. Her barbed tongue brushed against Gu Lang's hand, nearly making him scream in shock.
Satisfied, Wang Ping gave a slight nod, then patted Rosette’s head before turning back to Gu Lang and gesturing at him to continue.
Gu Lang: "..." Can’t you just give me a break already?
The honey badger in front of him had completely shattered Gu Lang’s perception of animals. From now on, if anyone ever told him that honey badgers would fight any wild beasts when they meet, Gu Lang would definitely spit in their face. Who’s ever seen a honey badger walking a leopard like it's a dog?
And this one, clearly, wasn’t satisfied with just walking a leopard—it had finally started going after humans!
The viewers in the livestream were dumbfounded, watching as a trembling hand reached toward the top of the leopard’s head on the screen.
"It’s over, it’s over."
"This streamer is asking for death."
"Did he knock his brain loose just now?"
"Such guts, daring to mess with a leopard."
"That's it, he’s beyond saving now."
"Teasing someone’s pet in front of its owner, the honey badger is probably pissed."
"Why does it look like the streamer’s hand is shaking so badly?"
"If you were the one to touch it, you’d be shaking too!"
"The streamer’s gone crazy."
Rosette clearly wasn’t happy with Gu Lang’s actions. It let out a low growl and bared its teeth at the outstretched hand. Gu Lang was startled and quickly pulled his hand back, flashing a smile that looked worse than crying at Wang Ping.
You see, it's not that I don't want to touch it, it's that it won't let me.
Wang Ping quickly calmed Rosette, then signaled for Gu Lang to continue.
In terms of understanding, Gu Lang was actually quicker to grasp Wang Ping’s intentions than Rosette.
"Sigh!" Gu Lang pouted, sighed, and resignedly closed his eyes. He quickly reached out and rubbed Rosette's head.
Rosette shook her head irritably, but ultimately didn’t make any further aggressive moves. Probably thanks to the beef jerky.
What Wang Ping wanted was to alleviate Gu Lang's fear first, so he wouldn’t react too harshly, especially since Wang Ping still hoped Gu Lang could drive. However, Wang Ping had overlooked how high his expectations were.
If it were an ordinary person, they would have already collapsed from fear and couldn’t even stand, let alone having time to try to figure out what a honey badger wanted from them. Just this alone showed that Gu Lang’s mental fortitude was not as simple as Wang Ping had assumed.
Aftering patting Rosette, Wang Ping turned back to the car. He climbed into the back seat and patted the empty spot next to him.
Rosette looked back for a moment, then crawled through the gap in the front of the car and jumped onto the seat beside Wang Ping.
Gu Lang stood frozen in front of the car, utterly confused: What’s going on here? Is this some kind of carjacking by a honey badger and his leopard sidekick?
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