After saying goodbye to Francis, Caroline followed the soldiers to the first floor, where they kept the mutant animals. On the way, she listened as the soldiers told her that when Shane split the whole base in half, the livestock area got divided too. The split happened right across the mutant pig pens. While she and Francis were talking earlier, these five or six soldiers had been busy catching pigs. One soldier had even tried to tackle a mother pig. But the pig was so strong that when it jumped on her, she panicked and took off running—with it riding on her back all the way across the yard. "Caroline, we were laughing so hard. Then we realized we should stop chasing pigs and start chasing our teammate instead. We were scared he'd get hurt by that mutant pig. Thank goodness we got all of them back into the temporary pens." Caroline couldn't stop laughing. She could picture the whole scene in her head. They kept chatting until they reached the mutant panda enclosure. The mutant panda was lying down, and eight tiny pink cubs—still with their eyes closed—were crowded around her drinking milk. As soon as Caroline walked closer, the mother panda twitched her nose twice, then stood up. The eight cubs rolled right off her belly and fell onto the floor. The mother panda didn't care at all. She waddled straight to the front of the enclosure and stared at Caroline with her small, shiny eyes—like she was asking for food. She didn't even look at her own babies. She only cared about snacks. The soldiers turned pale. "These cubs are super fragile. I hope they're not hurt!" Caroline knew that too. She quickly pulled an apple from her storage space and handed it to the mother panda. The panda happily took the apple, munched on it, then waddled back to her spot. The weak, wobbly cubs, still blind, used all their strength to crawl back to her and continued drinking milk. Caroline leaned in and studied them. All eight newborns were still hairless and pink, so she couldn't tell which one inherited the mother's wind-type ability. She'd need to wait a couple more days for their fur to grow before she'd be able to see anything. But at least there was hope. She started thinking about how she'd get her storage space to absorb their energy later.Right then, she noticed the mother panda staring at her again—unblinking and focused, as though she had locked on the person who had food. Just as Caroline was unsure whether to feel sad or amused, the mother panda suddenly moved. She grabbed one of the cubs and held it out toward Caroline with her paw. Caroline froze. What is that supposed to mean? The soldiers saw her standing completely still, staring at the panda. And the panda stared back, also completely still, arm stretched out. For several long seconds, they didn't move at all. It looked like the world had stopped. But it wasn't a frozen picture. After a long moment, Caroline slowly stretched out her hands. The lazy panda pushed the cub forward a little more and gently dropped the tiny baby into her hands. And she wasn't done. After the first baby, the mother panda handed her a second. Then a third. Then a fourth... Caroline now held four blind, squeaking cubs in her arms. She didn't dare take any more, so she quickly backed away. The mother panda watched her, her tiny eyes full of disappointment—like she was saying, What? Are you scared already? At that moment, Caroline understood. The mother panda wanted her to help raise the cubs. Animals did that sometimes. A squirrel that got food from a family might bring its babies there after giving birth. Some stray cats or dogs would bring their humans to see their newborns. And if they were injured or couldn't care for their babies, they sometimes handed the babies over completely and expected humans to raise them. It didn't happen often, but it wasn't unheard of. This mutant mother panda clearly had an irregular diet every day. And she never got to eat the kind of food a panda was supposed to eat. She could survive on other things, sure—but who wouldn't want better food if they had the choice?