Chapter 70: Panda & Husky
Who’s speaking?
Upon hearing the voice, Li Changsheng and all his avatars simultaneously turned their gaze toward the doorway.
There, two figures appeared—one large, one small.
The large one was rotund like a bear, plump and imposing, with a round head and a short tail, its fur starkly black and white. Following close behind was a husky, which seemed perfectly ordinary—just like the ones from his previous life.
With its black-and-white fur, tongue lolling, and a pair of intelligent blue eyes, the husky surveyed everything around it with curiosity.
Wait, a panda and a husky?
Li Changsheng pressed a hand to his forehead. As expected, his avatars were all rather peculiar beings.
The two parties stared at each other, wide-eyed.
Li Changsheng and his avatars shared a faint sense of mutual awareness, as did the avatars among themselves. After all, they were all fragments of the same person, and facing each other felt much like talking to oneself in the mirror.
In other words, they were all one and the same—no need to stand on ceremony!
So Li Changsheng was the first to speak, his eyes landing on the panda.
Though it was a panda, this avatar was much larger and more formidable than the so-called “national treasures” of the zoos in his past life. Even crawling, it was over two meters tall; if it stood upright, it would easily reach four meters, standing toe-to-toe with the tank Li Changsheng had once defeated.
But the panda was clearly in poor shape, its fur marred by obvious wounds, and one eye appeared swollen as if it had been struck—one large, one small. Only the indomitable light in its gaze remained, refusing to admit defeat.
It reminded him of Li Xiao-T from the past—a fighter through and through. Likely, it had been fleeing for its life as well.
The husky, by contrast, behaved very normally—bounding around the room, tail wagging, scrutinizing everyone from top to bottom.
Li Changsheng was long accustomed to the bizarre nature of his avatars and paid the husky little mind. Instead, he addressed the panda, “What happened to you—who beat you up?”
“A gorilla. Just because it’s bigger than me…” The panda avatar looked thoroughly disgruntled.
“If you couldn’t win, why didn’t you just run?”
“Run? Against that thing? As if! It’s only a few years older than me.”
“……”
At that moment, the husky stopped prancing and came to stand before Li Changsheng, a hint of grievance in its eyes. “Main body, help me—I was trapped in a place of utter darkness.”
It had been the one crying for help earlier.
Li Changsheng’s brow furrowed at the husky’s words. He needed to know more.
“Sit down, and tell me everything slowly.”
With a brief exchange, Li Changsheng gradually pieced together the situation of his two new avatars.
Both of them had come from the same world.
But they weren’t together.
The panda had ended up on a secluded island, isolated from the world—a place with a giant gorilla reminiscent of King Kong, along with tyrannosaurs, triceratops, and other prehistoric creatures. There were even wild tribesmen.
Through discussion and the panda’s account, the avatars concluded unanimously: the panda was most likely on Skull Island from the movie “King Kong.”
This deduction was based on the fact that King Kong was worshipped by the islanders and accepted their sacrifices. The panda had gotten into a fight with King Kong precisely because of this—after all, even a panda avatar couldn’t accept the act of eating humans.
The husky, on the other hand, was in a much stranger predicament. It was trapped in total darkness, with no way out in any direction.
No wonder, then, that it had gone wild with excitement upon arrival. Clearly, it had been stifled for too long.
Setting aside the panda and its troubles for now, Li Changsheng turned his attention to the husky, now sprawled atop the table.
There had to be something mysterious about this unusual husky.
“Li Xiao-Ha, can you tell me more? Like, who imprisoned you? What’s around you?”
“I don’t know,” Li Xiao-Ha shook his head.
Li Changsheng rolled his eyes. “Well, what do you know, then?”
“Nothing. Just a little black room. Enough talk—just open a portal and get me out of there already!” The husky was growing impatient.
“It’s not that easy. To open a portal, I need to inscribe a rune for it. Is there anything there I can use as a medium for magical inscription?”
“No.”
“How long have you been there?”
“I don’t know—probably slept seventy or eighty days.”
“One more question: is there oxygen where you are? What does it smell like?”
The husky fell silent for a moment. “I’m not sure. There’s some kind of gas, and I’m breathing just fine. Why are you asking all this?”
Li Changsheng snorted, “You don’t eat or drink, and yet you’re perfectly fine. Don’t you think that’s odd? Since you can’t die, just stay there for now.”
“No! If I suddenly die tomorrow, that wouldn’t be good for anyone, would it? Think about it: we’re all avatars, and if each of us is formed from a different body part, then what happens when we merge again? If a part is missing, main body, do you really want to end up a eunuch?!”
Damn, there was some logic to that.
Li Changsheng froze, then drew in a sharp breath. He had to be rescued.
But who should go?
He glanced at Li Xiao-G.
Li Xiao-G stifled a yawn. “Why are you looking at me? Don’t you know how my species reproduces?”
Right, the G-creature was self-replicating.
Next, he looked at Li Xiao-T.
Li Xiao-T took a drag on his cigar and flexed his newly installed golden arm—clearly unbothered. A eunuch? Please—he was a robot.
Before Li Changsheng could land his gaze on Li Xiao-Xu, that one had simply floated away—literally. As if to say, “Didn’t see that coming, did you? I’m made of void matter.”
Finally, Li Changsheng looked to Li Xiao-Xiong.
Li Xiao-Xiong was lost in thought, that same stubborn determination on his face—clearly plotting how to regain his honor from King Kong.
Li Xiao-Ha seemed to sense something and wailed, “Are you even human? You’d let your own self die without lifting a finger—boo hoo hoo—!”
Whap!
Li Changsheng slapped him to silence the outburst, then tossed him a phone. “Fine. Here, play with this.”
“I don’t want it! Main body, save me!” Li Xiao-Ha grabbed the phone and lay at Li Changsheng’s feet, wagging his tail.
Li Changsheng’s cheek twitched. This Li Xiao-Ha was truly shameless.
Irritated by the pitiful spectacle, Li Changsheng finally relented. “Alright, I’ll go. Li Xiao-Xiong, find something on your island that I can use to carve a magical rune. I’ll visit your world first and then figure out a way to rescue Li Xiao-Ha.”
“Oh, and I’ll extract you as well. If I recall correctly, a fleet will soon arrive at Skull Island, and in the story, King Kong was eventually subdued and taken away.”
Li Xiao-Xiong, still distracted, muttered, “No need. I’ll have King Kong eating dirt in a few days.”
Li Changsheng snorted. “Really? Planning to enjoy the view from the Empire State Building? Or do you want to get shot at by fighter planes? Maybe taken to a zoo for public display?”
“Er, got it, I’ll get right to it!”
…
Stepping out of the spatial dimension, Li Changsheng felt his head spinning.
But when an avatar is in trouble, he couldn’t just stand by.
Shaking his head, he got up, washed up, and went to inform Amy and the others.
Then he set off alone for the city.
There, a bank awaited him.
It was the very place where he conducted his magical experiments.