DSMC Chapter 84.2

If they kept running together, the lion would definitely keep chasing them. But from Yan Jiyun’s observation, the lion seemed to be playing more, or teasing what it considered its prey.

Realizing he was the prey made Yan Jiyun feel even worse.

He of course had no way to train a lion. After all, he wasn’t a real zookeeper. So he chose to run in another direction.

Because this was the Aviary Grand View, there were many trees around. It wasn’t an area lions were familiar with. They lived on the plains, and their zoo’s enrichment habitat was also arranged according to that kind of terrain. In the forest now, it wouldn’t be easy for it to pounce on Yan Jiyun!

Yan Jiyun knew that in a human body, it would be hard to avoid a lion’s pursuit.

Yan Jiyun, who had drilled into the woods, caught the lion’s attention. It leapt and charged toward him, seeming extremely excited.

With Uncle Man as a cautionary example, Yan Jiyun suspected that these animals might have been drugged by someone. Could it have been drug administered continuously for two months?

Those capable of doing this were most likely staff inside the zoo. Either someone who had a grudge against the zoo’s management, or someone with some special purpose.

“Roar!”

Hearing Caesar’s roar getting closer and closer, Yan Jiyun hid behind a tree to prevent the lion from pouncing on him.

While Caesar was observing him, he was also observing Caesar; one man and one lion probing each other.

Caesar seemed to know that Yan Jiyun was different from other keepers. He showed neither fear nor panic, so his pursuit was not overly aggressive.

Yan Jiyun observed Caesar’s size. He was an adult lion, not a cub. If Yan Jiyun climbed a tree, it could also climb, but its agility would certainly be inferior to a leopard’s.

However, Yan Jiyun was currently in human form and was not very good at climbing either. He would probably be slow. Relying on running was definitely impossible. It would only consume his stamina, while the lion would not be affected at all.

Dr. Peng had already run far away after listening to his advice. Apart from the flapping of flamingo wings, there were no other sounds of small animals’ footsteps around.

Yan Jiyun hid his body behind the tree trunk. Now the only way to avoid the lion was to use the experience card.

From his angle, he could clearly see that the one standing opposite was probably a male lion, very large in size, with an extremely long body and a big, round head. The mane on its head was dense and thick. It looked like a very well-raised lion. As a human, he even wanted to reach out and pet it!

Yan Jiyun felt quite regretful that he was now the prey it wanted to catch.

He hid behind the tree, concealed his figure, and then used his Human Form Time Card.

Caesar sensed that some small animal had appeared and suddenly rushed toward Yan Jiyun’s direction. Yan Jiyun directly climbed up the tree in front of him, whose branches grew relatively high, and his black figure successfully hid in the darkness.

However, he was now in the zoo. Apart from birds and other animals with dull senses of smell, any animal with a good sense of smell could sniff out his location.

Turning into a cat was also a last resort for him. He could not outrun a lion, but he could climb trees faster than it. The lion in front of him was large enough that its tree-climbing ability would definitely not match a cat’s. If he lured the lion up the tree, he could quickly climb down and escape. The lion’s speed climbing down would certainly not be faster than his; by the time it got down, he would already be out of the range where the lion could find him.

Yan Jiyun climbed up two sections of branches and deliberately lured the lion to climb the tree.

The lion jumped up and clung to the trunk, but it was very smart and did not climb up immediately. Instead, it jumped back to the ground, circled the base of the tree twice, and then rammed the trunk with its body, making the branches sway back and forth.

Yan Jiyun’s provocation did not take effect. He stayed on the tree, clutching the branch tightly with his claws. No matter how much it shook the tree, it was useless. He simply would not go down.

“Roar!”

Caesar started to get a bit irritable. Dr. Peng had just said that Caesar had the worst temper among all the lions.

It wanted to use its roar to force the little thing on the tree down, but it was useless. Yan Jiyun did not move, did not make a sound, and did not go down, competing with it in patience and emotional stability.

After confirming that Caesar would not climb the tree to catch him, Yan Jiyun became even more certain that this lion was not a player. If it were a player, they would definitely not be so obsessed with chasing zookeepers and veterinarians. Caesar clearly recognized the veterinarian and chased after him upon seeing him, probably thinking of settling old grudges. But in the end he was lured away by the fake zookeeper, allowing the veterinarian to escape disaster.

“Roar!”

Caesar continued ramming the tree. Although it did not know why the two-legged creature suddenly disappeared and turned into a small black thing, that did not prevent it from being furious.

Yan Jiyun continued to lie there. With the tree being shaken like this by Caesar, it was actually quite comfortable, and he even had time to think about other things.

After work hours, all players would no longer be bound by the rules. Since the lion could run out of its zone, other animals could too, and this should also include players. That meant that currently, all animals in the entire zoo could run freely, and players could also move freely to search for clues.

No wonder those two zookeepers always hoped he would not survive the night. After the irritable animals ran out, they might attack the zookeepers. With animals like flamingos attacking indiscriminately, one could not expect the animals to maintain a friendly attitude toward keepers as usual.

Just as he was thinking about what missions other players might receive, Yan Jiyun suddenly heard a pa sound from under the tree.

The tree he was lying on was not very thick, and it was not very old, but he had never thought it would be this fragile!

Although Caesar had a bad temper, he was smart. Seeing the tree tilt downward, he continued to ram it with his powerful body, almost scaring Yan Jiyun to death.

Damn it—he had just wanted to lure it to climb the tree, but this tree was really disappointing. Once it fell, it would be equivalent to delivering food straight to Caesar.

Yan Jiyun looked around to see if there were other trees he could continue climbing.

“Pa!”

The tree, shaken incessantly by the impacts, bent its little waist once again. Yan Jiyun felt his heart was about to jump out. Caesar was truly fierce.

He had to think of a way immediately, or else his fate would be to be pounced on and bitten to death by a lion. Then he would be just like the small snakes Jiang Meiying had flattened. He did not want to become a pancake cat!

Caesar continued to ram the tree. It knew that once the tree fell, the little thing on top would come down as well.

The tree had already tilted to sixty degrees. If it rammed it one more time, Yan Jiyun would be forced to fall to the ground from the tree.

Yan Jiyun suddenly made an attacking gesture on the tree, baring his teeth at Caesar. He lowered his body, gripping the branch tightly with his hind legs to prevent himself from falling!

Caesar’s body paused for a moment. It seemed not to expect that the hidden prey would dare to challenge it. It also lowered its body and let out a low growl upward.

Caesar did not continue ramming the tree, and Yan Jiyun’s body stopped shaking as well. At this moment, he suddenly turned around, jumped in place, and leaped toward the tree branches opposite him!

Seeing this, Caesar froze for a moment, then leapt and rushed over there as well. It had just been waiting for the little thing on the tree to fall, but now it was trying to escape.

Yan Jiyun calculated the distance and, with a narrow escape, managed to grab the end of the branch, but now he was also at risk of falling!

Caesar looked at the black cat whose forelimbs were hooked onto the branch and whose body was swaying. It jumped up and tried to hook it with its huge claws, but the height was too great and its big claws could not reach. So it continued with its previous method and rammed the tree that Yan Jiyun was clinging to.

Yan Jiyun almost wanted to kick this lion unconscious.

Why was it so smart?!

Did this zoo select animals according to IQ when admitting them?!

Fortunately, Yan Jiyun had been trained very comprehensively by his pooper scooper. He quickly climbed toward the trunk. It did not matter if he could not stand steadily. He could rely on his forelimbs to climb over firmly. Caesar should not be able to knock this tree down immediately.

And Yan Jiyun had already planned his route. Next to this tree, there was another tree whose branches were close by. He could jump over again in the same way.

As he was preparing to jump to the next tree, Caesar was still ramming the tree!

However, Caesar was quite cunning. Although it was ramming the tree, it kept staring at Yan Jiyun the whole time, never taking its eyes off him. In other words, he had not escaped Caesar’s surveillance.

Why would this troublesome lion refuse to let him go? Could it be because a lion’s life was rather boring?

Yan Jiyun no longer wasted energy baring his teeth at Caesar. Instead, he found a suitable angle and jumped to the opposite tree. Even though the trunk was shaking, it did not affect his takeoff. His pooper scooper had trained him to run on water balls that were swaying, and his speed back then was not slow at all. Caesar’s shaking was even weaker than that of the water balls.

This time, the distance between the two trees was a bit long, and Yan Jiyun also did some mental preparation. He should be able to successfully jump onto the opposite branch.

A run-up, then takeoff!

Just as he made his final step on the end of the branch, Caesar knocked down the second tree he was taking off from.

Yan Jiyun’s foot slipped into empty air. After taking off, he was still one cat-fist’s distance away from the tree he wanted to grab. He only caught the leaves!

‘Fucking hell–!!’ 

His body fell straight down, first crashing into the branches below. Because he was falling too fast, he had no chance to grab onto anything; the descent was too rapid.

Fortunately, there were two thin branches that buffered him a little. He had no time to panic and instinctively twisted his body in midair. In the end, all four limbs landed steadily on the ground. It was entirely due to instinctive reaction!

After landing, he immediately drilled into the bushes.

How could Caesar let such a good opportunity pass? But it might not have expected the black cat to run so fast. It was a step slow to react, then chased after him.

It excitedly pounced into the low shrubs. The prey had finally been shaken down by it, giving it a great sense of achievement!

As for Yan Jiyun, he could only keep running. Even if he died of exhaustion, he had to run. A lion’s hearing and sense of smell were no different from his; in front of a lion, he was basically running naked, with nothing to block the lion’s pursuit.

Being a zookeeper was hard, but being a cat was even harder!

Yan Jiyun ran like crazy, with Caesar chasing leisurely behind him. He jumped over many flower beds, and Caesar trampled just as many flowers, showing no intention of letting him go.

Until Yan Jiyun was cornered against a wall. It was the high wall of the zoo. He tried to climb it, but damn it, the wall was even smoother than the rocks of the monkey zone, and his claws could not grip it at all.

He was done for! Caesar had already caught up!

Yan Jiyun did not make any more attacking gestures at Caesar, nor did he provoke it, but he was ready to leave at any moment!

Caesar, who had chased up, slowed his pace. He did not pounce on Yan Jiyun immediately, but stopped on the ground about five meters away from him, exactly the distance from which it could reach Yan Jiyun with a leap. It lowered its hind legs, ready to pounce on the little black cat at any time.

Yan Jiyun’s whole body tensed up. In desperation, he sent out a distress signal to the other felines around him.

“Meow~”

“Meow~”

“Meow~”

Caesar paused. It hesitated whether to bite the little black cat to death immediately, and then observed for a few more seconds. Suddenly, its hind legs exerted force and it fiercely pounced toward Yan Jiyun, who had nowhere left to escape!