<h4>Chapter 103: Panda on Strike II</h4>


    Five dayster, Adide Zoo.


    Four employees ced the special container on the ground before opening up the door.


    Chalk crawled out of the box and surveyed his surroundings confoundedly.


    His originally vast and natural park had be a 60 square feet room.


    On the other side of the full ss panel were crowds of people, but Chalk paid no attention to them.


    His attention had been lured by a bunch of stacked bamboos in front of him. Starving, he pounced on them and started munching.


    The tourists all over the world started snapping photos with their phones.


    Looking at all those people of different skin color, Chalk muttered in fear, “F*ck, wait. Do they really think I’m Fatty? So I am now really in Ustaria something? But I didn’t learn anything that Fatty did! What do I do? Will there be a problem...”


    Someone from the many people taking photographs of him forgot to turn off the sh on their device.


    Chalk jumped in shock. He looked up and made eye contact with the crowd.


    Seeing Chalk’s weird expression, the other humans pointed toward the forgetful man.


    The adult panda’s words echoed in Chalk’s mind: act like a panda.


    Chalk lowered his head and continued eating his shoots as if nothing had happened.


    The tourists, too, went back to snapping photos.


    When Chalk was full from his meal, he gathered the remaining bamboos andid on top of it to take a nap.


    Some timeter, he opened his eyes. The tourists were gone and there was only a man in blue sweeping the floor.


    “He’s a staff and he will close up soon. You really can sleep, can’t you? Just like the previous panda,” a strange voice said.


    Chalk looked toward the source of the voice and spotted a palm-sized frog on the ground.


    “Who are you?” Chalk asked, puzzled.


    “I’m your messenger. Name’s 63. That’s my serial number. I’m a rain frog, in charge of sending messages throughout the zoo. We’ll be partners from now on,” 63 told him.


    “Wait. Why 63?” Chalk questioned.


    “You have much to learn. What did they teach you over there? There are 120 animal rooms in Adide Zoo, and your unit is 63. The one beside yours, 62, is for the Japanese leopard cats. Remember this to help with themunication,” 63 advised.


    “What do I do now then?”


    “Wow. You really have a lot to learn. We meet our king, of course. He’lle over when this staff leaves.”


    “So we just wait?”


    The staff put his broom away and brought a pail out before shutting the door behind him.


    “Alright, any minute now.” 63 smiled.


    The metal door within the room shook a little noisily.


    Shortly after, a crisp sound was heard and the door slowly opened up.


    An anteater had used its tongue as a key to unlock the door and the kangaroo that raised it let it down after.


    A ko crawled in, followed by three kangaroos, while the anteater stood guard.


    The kangaroos were full of muscles. They must be the ko’s bodyguards, Chalk figured.


    One of them pulled a sloth that was clinging to him down onto the ground.


    The sloth sprawled on the ground to form a chair.


    The ko sat down and grabbed a bamboo shoot from the ground. He plucked the leaves and put it in his mouth.


    Another kangaroo searched in his pouch and fished out a crown made from tree vines before putting it on the ko’s head.


    “Hi, young one. Your food’s really strange. A little hard.”


    63 jumped onto Chalk’s head. “Greetings, King. This is the new panda.”


    “My name’s Chalk. I’m two years old,” Chalk introduced, flustered.


    “Name’s unimportant. I’m the king of this zoo. I know you’re here to investigate and solve the rat problem. We know you’re not to be med, of course, so we will work together. The ko at your side is my youngest son, by the way. I treat this matter seriously, so first, I’d like to introduce you to our scientist,” the ko king said before pping his hands.


    A big mouth entered Chalk’s vision. It was a typus.


    “Professor is good enough,” the typus said humbly.


    “The humans will usually keep you here for five years before sending you back. We wille up with strategies to fix the rat problem before that. You’ll have to discuss this matter with Professor. I believe you’d be a good giant panda so this is an honorary medal.”


    A kangaroo reached into his pouch for an exquisite shield badge made from grass.


    The king took it before approaching Chalk.


    63 jumped a few times on Chalk’s head. “On your knees. Lower. He’s going to crown you so don’t be rude.”


    Chalk lowered his body and the ko tied the badge to his chest. “You’re officially a horseman. It’s a supreme glory, but just remember to take it off during the day. Alright, I’ll continue my patrol. Chat with him, Professor.”


    The king took his crown off and a kangaroo slipped it in his pouch while another kept the king in his.


    Thest kangaroo grabbed the sloth.


    They left one by one, leaving behind only the typus and the guarding anteater.


    63 muttered, “Horseman? Looks like the king’s really concerned about this.”


    The typusughed. “How about we let you rest today and we’ll discuss the matter tomorrow? I’m 38, in case you need me urgently.”


    Chalk nodded.


    The typusughed before exiting.


    The anteater spoke quietly, “I’m the locksmith, call me 93. I’m going to lock this ce up now! Contact me if you need to go out at night.”


    63 replied, “Got it.”


    The door closed and the typus raised the anteater up to lock the gate.


    After a short silence, Chalk asked, “This rat invasion... what’s going on?”


    “Aren’t you an expert in this area? Why don’t you know?” 63 shot back.


    “I... I just want to hear your opinions,” Chalk answered, thinking about how he was going to y his role well.