At the same time, Caroline felt a blast of wind shoot out from the panda's claw and slice straight toward them. This panda has wind-type ability. Wind was one of the two energy colors she still didn't have. Caroline's heart pounded. When she looked at the mutant panda, she seemed like someone who had just found something super valuable. But she let out a tiny sigh. Her storage space could only absorb energy colors from dead creatures. Only the mobile base's wall could pull a little energy from living ones. Her storage space couldn't do that. Not yet. Killing a pregnant animal that was protected by the country—a treasure watched by the military—felt like an impossible choice. Earlier, the army hadn't cared whether mutant animals lived or died. It was the apocalypse, after all. But now the army had recovered a bit, and the higher-ups were talking about biodiversity, long-term survival, and everything like that. So protecting rare animals had become one of the missions they were pushing. These thoughts passed through her mind fast. As soon as the panda attacked, Caroline reacted. Right after the panda lunged at Alger, Caroline opened her hand, took out a boiled bamboo shoot from her storage space, and shoved it right into the mutant panda's paw. The panda, which had been baring her teeth at Alger only a second before, suddenly froze. She twitched her nose twice, shocked, sniffing the shoot like it was the most important thing ever. Three seconds later, the panda lifted the bamboo shoot into her mouth and started chewing hard like she hadn't eaten in years. Crunch, crunch—the loud chewing echoed through the pen. The panda's eyes softened, turned soft and greedy. It chewed with full focus, as if everything else in the world had disappeared. Everyone knows pandas were big eaters.Caroline had fresh bamboo shoots in her storage space, but she couldn't explain why she had pre-apocalypse, non-mutant ones. So she used boiled shoots instead. Boiled shoots can last for a year or more if you store them right. Caroline looked at Alger. "Why is this panda so angry at you? What did you do?" Alger had just changed his clothes, and now the panda's wind blades had already cut new holes in them. He rubbed his nose, looking nervous. "I just ... carved carrots to look like bamboo shoots and tricked her into eating them. I even added some tech stuff so she couldn't smell the difference. I didn't hurt her, really! The animal expert said those carrots are mutant too—mutant pandas can eat them. You know how it is. Our base doesn't have anything rare like real bamboo shoots." When Caroline heard that, she was lost for words. No wonder this panda held a grudge. She didn't like carrots either. If someone dressed up carrots as her favorite snack and made her eat them, she would explode, too. "Caroline, it's not just about feeding the panda or calming her down. We need a little blood sample for research. But she's pregnant, and we don't dare touch her. We won't even use any sleep drugs. We were hoping you had some idea. All those mutant animals around you listen to you. And this panda was brought here for you to check on first. After you're done, we'll take a bit of blood, some fur, and send her back. Our base is small. We can't keep a big creature here!" Alger lifted both hands, looking helpless. By now, the panda had finished the boiled shoot and was staring right at Caroline with her blue-colored eyes, as if saying she wanted more. As soon as Alger stopped talking, the panda seemed annoyed again. She lifted her paw and sent another wind blade flying at him. Alger moved fast and light, dodging without trouble, but his clothes tore again. He looked even more worn out—like, seriously, we can't even talk now? Pregnant moms are scary. Caroline rubbed her chin for a moment, then told Alger, "Go get a doctor. Whatever samples you need, take them soon. I still have three more packs of boiled shoots." Alger brightened up and rushed off to call the others. Caroline added a message, telling him to collect a set for her too. She wanted to test if there was some way to let her storage space take in cyan energy without hurting the panda. Maybe she could use panda blood, fur—maybe even panda poop. She could hide them in Farm One or throw them into the JunkEater to see what would happen.