"Oh!?"
"What did the python bite?"
"No way! Where would a python come from in Chang'an?"
After hearing the dorm supervisor auntie's angry shout, Ansheng, the whole fox, was first stunned, then snapped back to reality.
Ansheng had seen pythons before. In a past life, he even got into a tussle with a python in the village over two cakes called Lao Banzhang.
Those creatures like warm, humid climates and usually only appear in the Dian and Gui areas. In a past life, there was a time when Big Leaf Pu-erh Milk Tea got popular, and Ansheng's company sent a team there to negotiate procurement in preparation to make flavored tea for beverage companies.
Ansheng had quite a few PvP encounters with pythons because the most reasonably priced Pu-erh tea is made from arbor leaves, known for its strong and potent flavor, also known as Golden Leaf.
While sweeping leaves in the tea areas, it's quite common to run into capricious pythons, with hooked fangs in their bites, always making Ansheng shudder, fearing that beast might someday sink its teeth into his crotch.
Unexpectedly, the thing he worried about in his previous life ended up happening in this life.
"Just how hot and damp must his crotch be to attract a python to nest there? Isn't he afraid of fungus?"
Even though he was puzzled about why a python would be in Chang'an City where it shouldn't be distributed, Ansheng quickly hid his goatskin aviator jacket and saddle bag inside the dorm supervisor auntie's room.
The dorm supervisor auntie was startled when she saw this, her face turning dark as she looked at the fox who acted as if she were familiar with him.
While Ansheng was busy hiding things, the students in the dorm started running out, combing their hair while heading in the direction of the School of Animal Science, eager to see the commotion.
Xinxing Agricultural Science College, when first established, included both undergraduate and intern programs from freshman to senior year together.
But because Animal Science students often ate the Agriculture students' assignments, or Agriculture students' assignments poisoned the Animal Science students', it often led to students from these two colleges engaging in PvPs based on dormitory units.
Even though reforms took place and the previous seniors graduated,
the professors and deans did not graduate.
The upper beam is crooked, and the lower beam is warped; even with different campus systems implemented today, the two colleges still don't get along.
Today, the School of Animal Science faces difficulties.
The College of Agriculture's teachers and students came specially to mock them.
"Boohoo! Boohoo!"
Ansheng saw Ah Qing stumbling out in whole-body pajamas, and promptly called out to her.
"Um... it's Xiaolan! Morning."
Seeing the little fox in front of the dorm supervisor's room, Ah Qing paused and greeted the dorm supervisor auntie, picking the little fox up in her arms and petting it fondly.
Then, as if a thought struck her, Ah Qing spoke to the dorm supervisor auntie: "Um... Xiaolan is actually a stray pet, severely lacking in virtue. People feed the fox but never adopt it. I don't have a pet."
Ah Qing's expression was serious, not joking, yet Mo Yiqing and others naturally petted the fox.
The dorm supervisor auntie gave a quick glance but didn't speak, though her expression was peculiar. "Whether you have a pet or not, speak with your counselor, it's not my business. Hurry to the School of Animal Science, I've heard it's quite intense..."
It's not unusual for the School of Animal Science to come to the College of Agriculture asking Yu Xueqing to negotiate when situations arise.
After all,...
Ah Qing's talent in animal affinity even makes the other college dean want to take her as a pupil, not in the typical graduate student-teacher relationship but as a disciple heir.
Ah Qing's graduation from her fifth-year internship was the time when the School of Animal Science's chief and branch deans led their graduate students in a high-intensity PvP.
No one could be ignorant of Spirit Beasts,
but can the deans really be unaware?
With Ah Qing's earnest involvement, they wouldn't need to worry about being beaten by Spirit Beasts on the path of Spirit Beast research.
...
"What's happening again?"
Passing through the metal gate, Ah Qing encountered anxious and waiting School of Animal Science counselors, and with a perplexed expression, she asked them aloud.
"The python from the lab escaped and bit someone in the student dormitory."
"Because the position is too unusual, we dare not go and pull the python off. You talk to the snake, get it to release the hostage first, and then everything can be negotiated."
The counselor, familiar with Ah Qing, wasted no time on pleasantries, immediately informing Ah Qing of the situation in the dormitory, urging her to go and persuade the stubborn snake to release the hostage.
Though the python wasn't large, its biting spot was just too unusual, and forcibly pulling it away would certainly tear the wound, escalating the seriousness of the incident.
When Ah Qing arrived at the dormitory, the ambulance had just arrived shortly before.
"Tut... pull away!"
"My brother has followed me so many years, and I haven't had the means to let him enjoy life. Just amputate! Sir, cut my thigh, just don't harm my brother..."
The student bitten by the python didn't feel much pain, just seemed anxious mixed with some logical reasoning, soliciting help from the counselor.
"Woo woo woo... he truly hasn't enjoyed life, so don't hurt him, he's just a child."
"Calm down your emotions..." the female counselor only slightly older than the student said soothingly:
"Medical science is very advanced now. We can salvage him and fix it back up; the doctor is just outside. Besides, we've already called for Ah Qing; it's alright..."
"We will do our best to save you, hold still, don't move and agitate the python."
"Ah Qing's coming?"
The student bitten by the python paused, swallowing his sobbing appearance back, bracing himself against fear while putting on a determined, composed demeanor, speaking in a deep voice:
"Don't worry, Old Chen!"
"A mere python cannot hurt me at all. Even if a Golden Leopard rides me, it's nothing!"
Knowing Ah Qing was coming, naturally, Mo Yiqing, who shared the dorm with her, would likely come to watch the show too.
Through four years of college life, he barely read any serious books yet never missed a Campus Flower poll in the campus network.
In front of Mo Yiqing, the rich woman, not to mention a python, even if bitten by Bai Suzhen, he'd have to act tough.
"Here comes Ah Qing, make way!" Called the counselors outside the hallway, dispersing the students watching.
Ah Qing entered the male dormitory and saw a student in shorts, leaning against a wardrobe with a deeply furrowed brow staring at the python biting him.
While his three roommates were dressed to the nines as if preparing to attend a wedding banquet.
"Are you alright, student?"
Seeing the spectacle in the room, Ah Qing was taken aback, instinctively asking the student bitten by the python.
"It can't harm me at all; it's stuck,"
the student said with a relaxed face.
"......"
Though Ah Qing didn't quite understand his meaning, she instinctually felt like the student might be making cheeky remarks. Yet, she paid no mind to those matters and crouched down, patting the tip of the python's tail and spoke:
"Hey! You're being naughty! No food for you."
"Hiss hiss hiss—"
The python suddenly had some images flash through its mind, momentarily dazed, emitting indistinct hissing sounds.
"I am a good snake..."
"But I can't loosen my grip."
"Antelope Boss said fat cats are untrustworthy; can't blame him for being ruthless."
"I can't loosen my grip...."
The python responded to Ah Qing in a muddled manner, and Ansheng on Ah Qing's shoulder was puzzled, Antelope Boss?
Who is that!
Isn't this school Fat Cat's territory? Where did another boss come from?