My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

Chapter 405: Chapter 267: A Subtle Fragrance Wafts

Typically, a giant panda has one or two cubs at a time, and on rare occasions, can even have three. But triplets are extremely uncommon.

In the wild, if a mother has twins, she will only raise the stronger of the two, ensuring at least one cub survives.

Although Yuanyuan and the other pandas were nominally wild, they were really only ”semi-wild.” Both the team of experts and the people of Li Family Village would do everything in their power to ensure the three cubs grew up healthy and strong.

This was especially true for Li Xiang.

’Mhm, these aren’t just Tuantuan and Yuanyuan’s babies. They’re my babies, too.’

They were still just embryos, so it was impossible to detect their Extraordinary potential.

But Li Xiang had a gut feeling that at least one of the three cubs was bound to have Extraordinary potential.

’After all, for the embryos to implant so quickly... it just goes to show how exceptionally talented those little swimmers are.’

Pandas have a hard time reproducing for a couple of reasons. Besides their low libido and general lack of enthusiasm for the act, it’s also because the embryos often fail to implant. They just drift around in the uterus, and if it takes too long, they can just... croak before they get the chance.

The crowd on-site erupted in cheers, and the atmosphere in several livestream rooms was just as electric.

Yao Yao had started a livestream too. When Li Xiang’s fans heard the news, they were overjoyed for him.

”Congratulations from the people of Guangdong Province!”

”Congratulations from the people of Gan Province!”

...

Tons of people spammed gifts, expressing their delight.

He Zhixiang, the coffee merchant from Yunnan Province, came online and sent a barrage of ”Big Rocket” gifts.

Xu Xuan and Zhang Youyou came online, each sending ”Carnival” gifts.

”Top Aunt” and Luo Feifei logged on one after another, flooding the screen with gifts. Top Aunt, in particular—perhaps because she had a special fondness for panda cubs—sent the most gifts this time, even surpassing Luo Feifei and solidifying her well-deserved number-one spot.

On Li Xiang’s behalf, Yao Yao thanked all the fans in the livestream.

”Top Aunt” secretly sent Li Xiang a private message: ”Long time no see. Have you missed your Little Aunt? Come on, call me ’Little Aunt’ a few times so I can hear it.”

In a luxurious villa in Suzhou, the dazzlingly beautiful, self-proclaimed ”Prettiest Girl in the Universe” let out a cackle.

The experts were also incredibly surprised. ”We’ve never confirmed a pregnancy this quickly before. All we can say is that Tuantuan is highly capable and exceptionally gifted.”

The implication was that Tuantuan was incredible for knocking up Yuanyuan so fast.

”If all pandas could get pregnant this quickly, their population would probably boom. Village Chief Li, would you mind letting Tuantuan go on a bit of a... tour?”

Li Xiang replied awkwardly, ”Uh, we’d have to ask Tuantuan what he thinks, wouldn’t we?” ’The expert team wants to turn Tuantuan into a stud panda, solely responsible for breeding,’ he realized.

’Besides, Tuantuan is already sentient and has three ’wives’ here. He might not be willing to go off and... bless other female pandas.’

Meanwhile, Tuantuan, who wasn’t far off, had naturally heard the good news as well. His hefty body reared up on its hind legs, and he pounded furiously on his thick chest, his face a mask of pride, as if declaring to the entire world, ”Haha! I, Tuantuan, am going to be a dad! And I made three cubs in one go!”

The chat in every livestream on site exploded. Traffic surged in wave after wave, and the streamers earned a fortune off the hype. Having gotten a taste of the profits, they all decided they would have to come back often—every single day.

「A few hours later」

The scene of Tuantuan beating his chest, under the hashtag #PandaKingsPride, shot to the top of the trending list.

The expert team didn’t take the pregnant Yuanyuan away. Instead, they let her continue to roam freely on the mountain behind Li Family Village, as they were in the middle of a ”rewilding” program.

Giant pandas have a limited ability to migrate, and different populations have no way to connect with each other. Obstacles like mountains, human activity, highways, and railways make interaction even more difficult. As time goes on, these small, isolated populations face a significant risk of extinction.

No interaction means no genetic exchange, which leads to a lack of genetic diversity—a crucial element for the survival of any population.

It’s the same for humans. Why does Li Xiang need to protect a hundred thousand people? Wouldn’t it be fine if just he, or maybe a few thousand people, survived? No, because with too few people, genetic diversity plummets. Eventually, it would all lead to inbreeding and, very quickly, extinction.

For the experts at the giant panda conservation and research center, breeding pandas—particularly ensuring the health and viability of the offspring—was one major challenge. Another was figuring out how to promote genetic exchange between captive and wild populations to better preserve the species’ genetic diversity.

They generally used two methods to achieve this. The first is ”wild introduction”: during mating season, a captive female is taken to a conservation area to attract wild males for mating. The second is ”rewilding”: starting from the mother’s pregnancy, the pandas live in a large, semi-wild enclosure. This allows the cubs to learn self-sufficiency after birth. Then, at around two years of age, they are released back into the wild.

Simply put, the training for release into the wild is a long process that starts even before the mother panda gets pregnant. The method employed is having the Female Beast raise the cub herself.

Since the rewilding training takes place in a ”semi-wild” environment with food supplemented by humans, the mother panda is able to raise all her cubs, even in the rare case of triplets. There would be no abandonment.

’When the time comes, if the expert team wants to transfer the panda cubs, I don’t mind,’ Li Xiang thought. ’If any of them have Extraordinary potential, practice the Breathing Technique, and become sentient, they’ll definitely come running back on their own. And if they don’t, then being released into the wild to contribute to the giant panda’s genetic diversity is a good thing, too.’