DSMC Chapter 97.1

The black panther wasn’t easy to find. The fact that it was locked up here confirmed his connection to Dr. Zhou. He must have followed him on his own. Given Dr. Zhou’s lean build, there was no way he could have carried a black panther.

The black panther really did have human consciousness, didn’t he? He knew how to help Yan Jiyun search for a phone signal, and he knew how to hide in different locations.

Yesterday, helping him find a signal was essentially helping Dr. Peng. And helping Dr. Peng meant standing against Dr. Zhou. Why would the black panther do that? Did he have some purpose?

Yan Jiyun walked up to the cage and asked Dr. Zhou, “Why did you lock him up? Isn’t he your brother?”

Dr. Zhou sighed. “It’s my brother’s consciousness projected into his mind. Sometimes he’s my brother, but sometimes he might not be. He hasn’t completely received the human consciousness.”

Yan Jiyun said, “So that means it still retains his animal instincts. The human consciousness hasn’t fully projected onto them.”

Dr. Zhou nodded. “Yes. He reacts when he sees me and has never attacked me. He can understand what I say. That’s my brother. When he was at the zoo, he would never let strangers get close.”

Yan Jiyun knew Dr. Zhou wasn’t lying. The black panther he had interacted with was indeed like that, very intelligent and good at hiding.

Yan Jiyun thought that when he carried the phone yesterday, he was helping him, not Dr. Peng. Or maybe he only vaguely remembered the function of a phone, just a blurred impression. And when Dr. Peng was about to wake up, he disappeared.

The black panther had deliberately avoided Dr. Peng.

Dr. Zhou added regretfully, “But I’ve never seen him get so close to a zookeeper before. You’re the first. I trust his instincts. They wouldn’t be wrong. You’re someone who can be trusted.”

Yan Jiyun opened the cage and reached out to stroke the black panther’s neck. “Dr. Zhou, how do you determine whether the human consciousness has successfully projected onto the animal?”

Dr. Zhou stared at the hand petting the panther. “If the projection succeeds, their initial intelligence is roughly that of a seven- or eight-year-old child. Dogs need training to understand human language, but they don’t. They can understand most vocabulary. At the same time, they retain the instincts of their species. Since their base form is still an animal, those instincts won’t change.”

In other words, they only had a somewhat blurred human consciousness, not a human soul. Two consciousnesses in one body: human awareness combined with the animal’s own instincts, forming a new consciousness.

The black panther stepped out of the cage. He stood up and pressed his large paw against Yan Jiyun’s back. Yan Jiyun crouched down, and the panther lightly patted his head before he squeezed his thick paw.

He was extremely envious. If only his own hands were that thick and powerful… he could claw anyone he wanted to death, ah.

Watching their interaction, Dr. Zhou felt a wave of envy, his eyes even growing moist. He also wanted his brother to press a paw against his head.

Yan Jiyun roughly understood now. He had uncovered all the secrets hidden in this zoo. All that remained was to rescue these people.

He asked Dr. Zhou, “How can we save them?”

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“Yeah, how do they save them? I thought about it carefully. Mimi found the real main storyline, and the system released three main missions in a row. Does that mean once he finishes the last one, the instance ends?”

“So the black panther is actually Dr. Zhou’s older brother. Such a satisfying twist! I’ve seen the big secret. Honestly, it feels like I’m watching a completely different instance!”

“It’s a 5 day instance, and in less than 2 days he’s already uncovered the truth. What’s left to play? Of course it’ll just end.”

“You’re overestimating this player. He just stumbled into it. Main Mission 3 was to rescue the black panther and the others, but the black panther is bound to its original body, remember? When the gorilla Tata died, his original body would die too. And have you thought about why the lab was built inside the zoo?”

“Why?”

“Because the original body and the animal consciousness can’t be too far apart. If they exceed a certain distance, the original body will die, unless the consciousness returns.”

“But the consciousness can’t return, right? They were already dying or in vegetative states.”

“Exactly. So even though this player has made it here, he can’t complete the mission. The situation is completely against them. There are only two people and one panther.”

But Yan Jiyun didn’t think so. Dr. Zhou couldn’t possibly be without a backup plan.

The fact that the entire zoo was fitted with anesthetic spray systems meant he had thought further ahead than anyone else.

Knowing the situation was urgent, Dr. Zhou opened a computer screen in front of Yan Jiyun, displaying surveillance footage of various areas on Basement Level 2.

Dr. Peng, the old professor, and the angry researchers — most people were now under Dr. Peng’s control. Aside from the researchers who had to stay behind to monitor patients, the rest had been “sent out.” Dr. Peng was enjoying the feeling of directing others, occasionally exchanging a few words with the old professor.

Dr. Zhou pointed to a remote control nearby. “As long as I press the red button, the ventilation ducts will close, and then anesthetic gas will start spraying. The dosage isn’t large, after all, it was originally meant to sedate uncontrollable large animals. But it only lasts 15 minutes. We don’t have enough manpower to transfer all the patients and animals within 15 minutes.”

Yan Jiyun suggested, “What if we just take Orange, the wolf alpha and his family, Caesar, Xixi, the brown bear. Wouldn’t that be enough?”

Dr. Zhou pointed to several young researchers on the screen. “They can help us. But there’s one more thing you must remember: the patients and their animal consciousness forms can’t be separated by too much distance. The most critical problem right now is that I don’t know where their animal forms are.”

Yan Jiyun finally understood why the medical zone had been built at the very center of the zoo.

He proposed, “How about this. I’ll go outside to find Orange and the others. You and your team move the patients. We’ll agree on a time and meet at a specific location. It’s almost dark, so we can act immediately.”

“Do you have a map of the zoo?” Yan Jiyun asked.

Dr. Zhou shook his head. “No, but I can draw one for you.”

He found a sheet of paper and sketched out the zoo’s layout.

East, south, west, and north gates. Each gate is clearly labeled with the corresponding animal zones.

“We’ll need vehicles too,” Yan Jiyun said. “You’ll need several to transport people, right?”

Dr. Zhou nodded. “Yes. We’ve always kept backup vehicles. They’re parked at the exit.”

After confirming the time and meeting point, Yan Jiyun asked, “After we leave the zoo, where will you take them?”

Dr. Zhou breathed a sigh of relief and said, “I bought a zoo that was on the verge of bankruptcy last year, and I will send them there to retire.”

Yan Jiyun didn’t ask any further. Although there were still 3 days left before the instance ended, he knew that as long as he got the black panther and the others out of the zoo, it would no longer have anything to do with him.

The zoo’s crisis had always existed. A group of “unusual animals” that didn’t belong was itself a hidden danger. This was the zoo’s greatest crisis.

This instance was different from the previous ones. The ending seemed predetermined. If the mission failed, all the patients and “unusual animals” would be exposed. If the mission succeeded, they still wouldn’t escape their current state, they would simply be moved to another zoo and continue surviving in hiding.

No matter which choice it was, he didn’t like either ending.

“Rescue the unusual animals” but could Dr. Zhou’s method really solve the current crisis?

“Do you have any other ideas?” Dr. Zhou asked when he saw Yan Jiyun fall silent.

Yan Jiyun pointed at the black panther lying on the ground. “I want to take your brother with me to find Orange and the others. His nose is sharper.”

Dr. Zhou refused immediately. “No. I finally brought my brother back. I don’t want anything unpredictable happening midway. He’s my brother, not an animal!”

Yan Jiyun didn’t want to argue with an NPC. “How about asking for his opinion?”

Dr. Zhou looked at the black panther swishing its tail. He knew exactly what it meant when the tail tapped the ground. He crouched in front of it. “Ge, do you want to help Jiang You?”

Yan Jiyun thought Dr. Zhou was surprisingly reasonable. He was actually willing to ask the black panther’s opinion.

The black panther couldn’t speak, but it answered through body language. It stood up and moved to Yan Jiyun’s side.

No wonder it was the experimental subject Professor Fang cared about the most. It truly understood human speech.

Dr. Zhou sighed and could only agree. “Fine. But you must be careful. If something feels wrong, hide. Or move into the range of my surveillance cameras, and I’ll release another round of anesthetic spray. I’ll also have Xiao Xi and the others keep Peng Yu and Professor Fang occupied, make them stay on Basement Level 2. You need to rescue the other animals within half an hour. Remember, the anesthetic only lasts fifteen minutes. After that, they’ll all wake up.”

Yan Jiyun nodded. “Alright. I’ll try to get them out within half an hour.”

Dr. Zhou handed him the map he had drawn earlier. “The places marked in red are areas covered by my cameras. After rescuing Orange and the others, give me a signal at one of those spots.”

Yan Jiyun left via the stairway he had come from, the black panther beside him. Dr. Zhou followed them to the exit, worry written all over his face.

When the door closed, Yan Jiyun noticed the black panther glance back, looking at the resolute figure walking away.

Yan Jiyun patted the back of its neck. “I forgot to ask Dr. Zhou what your name is.”

The black panther simply lifted its head and looked at him.

Yan Jiyun understood. “Then I’ll keep calling you Soy Sauce.”

Black panther: “……”