"The Panda Cub eats so much—it'll definitely grow up nice and round someday. (Funny)"
"Haha, even if this Panda Cub grows up nice and round, I'll still like it."
Before long, Panda Mother had finished building the little nest that belonged to her and her cub.
For wild animals, their nests did not need to be luxurious. As long as they kept out the rain and were warm enough to sleep in, that was sufficient.
"Hiss hiss~~"
Just then, Xiao Qing seemed to have discovered something and was flicking out her tongue.
Hearing the commotion, Lin Xuan saw a creature that looked like a snake lying among several fallen leaves.
Its entire body was a pale pinkish-white. Its head and tail looked identical, with no clearly narrower neck, while its eyes had degenerated into two tiny round dots.
The scales on its head were extremely fine and the same size as those on the rest of its body. At the tip of its tail was a very tiny pointed scale.
"What is that? Could it be a snake?"
"It does look a little like a snake, but it also looks like a giant earthworm."
"I remember finding a really thick earthworm while plowing our fields back home."
"This snake-like creature looks so cute!"
"Seriously, it's all pinkish-white. It might even make a pretty good pet."
"A pet? The person upstairs has some seriously weird tastes."
"Streamer, what kind of creature is that? Is it a snake?"
"Yes, it's a snake. It's called a Blind Snake."
"It's small and cylindrical, resembling an earthworm. It is the smallest known snake species in our country, with a total length of roughly 84 to 164 millimeters."
"Its head is small and semicircular, with no distinction between head and neck. Its snout is blunt and rounded, and its tail is very short with a blunt tip."
"The nasal scale is divided into front and rear halves by a groove, with the nostril between them. It has four upper labial scales; the first is the smallest, while the last is the largest."
"The differentiation between dorsal and ventral scales is not obvious. Its entire body is covered in round scales of uniform size, with twenty rows around the body."
"Its back may be yellowish-brown, brown, bluish-gray, blackish-brown, or brownish, while its belly is lighter. Its snout, vent, and tail tip are all mottled with white."
"And the Blind Snake we're seeing has a particularly lovely color."
"Also, Blind Snakes are nonvenomous."
"They only eat little insects, and they don't bite people."
"As for what that viewer above said, Blind Snakes really can be kept as pets, as long as you aren't afraid of snakes."
"So that's how it is."
Lin Xuan smiled faintly and gestured for Xiao Qing not to worry. Then he crouched beside the Blind Snake and held out his left hand.
Perhaps attracted by Lin Xuan's scent, the Blind Snake slowly and tentatively crawled onto his left hand.
Cradling its slender little body, Lin Xuan brought the camera closer.
"Blind Snakes have rather delicate, fragile skin. Even lightly pinching one can injure it, while grabbing it directly can frighten it as well, so the only option is to let it crawl onto your hand on its own."
"Also, Blind Snakes have long lifespans. Even if they go without food for a very long time, they won't die."
"It's very difficult to see little creatures like this under normal circumstances. They only come out to search for food after heavy rain."
"Usually, they can only stay in cold, damp crevices between rocks, or beneath dry and damp fallen leaves."
"So being able to see this Blind Snake today means we're quite lucky."
"Indeed, after a storm in the mountains and forests, you can see entirely different scenery."
"And today, we even got to see such a beautiful Blind Snake."
"Actually, molecular biology revealed the latest advances in the evolution of Blind Snakes long ago."
"After systematically analyzing more than three thousand snake species, researchers concluded that all modern snakes belong to two major lineages."
"One lineage consists of Blind Snakes, with more than three hundred species, though most of them have similar body shapes and lifestyles."
"The second lineage encompasses all other snake species, with more than two thousand three hundred species and a wide variety of lifestyles."
"They stated that the greatest characteristic of Blind Snakes was their degenerated vision."
"They live in extremely concealed environments and are often overlooked by researchers."
"Yet studying them is of crucial significance for understanding the origins, evolution, and geographic distribution of snakes."
"Blind Snakes can actively reduce their bodily metabolism to the lowest level and remain completely still to extend their survival time. That is an incredibly fascinating mechanism and well worth studying."
"Previously, foreign countries rarely agreed to give these rare little creatures to other nations in order to prevent the species from spreading. Even when they did, they only gave away males to prevent overseas breeding."
"But things are different now. Our country has Blind Snakes too. In the coming years, our related research is sure to make rapid progress!"
As he spoke, Lin Xuan looked at the Blind Snake on his left hand. Smiling faintly, he found a large mosquito on a leaf and brought it to the Blind Snake's mouth.
The Blind Snake, which had been completely still and looked tense just moments earlier, suddenly opened its mouth, seized the mosquito in one bite, and swallowed it.
"Wow, when it doesn't open its mouth, it looks like such a well-behaved little girl. But when food is brought to its mouth, it just swallows it in one gulp."
"Exactly. Still, I'm happy just seeing such a beautiful little creature."
After feeding the Blind Snake, Lin Xuan lowered his left hand to the ground so it could leave.
The Blind Snake wriggled its body, then slowly crawled down from Lin Xuan's left hand.
Watching the Blind Snake return to the fallen leaves, Lin Xuan smiled faintly. "All right, let's not disturb this cute little fellow anymore. Let it go back."
Not long after the Blind Snake left, Xiao Qing crawled over to Lin Xuan's left hand and rubbed her head against it.
"What's wrong, little one?"
Watching Xiao Qing rub her head against his left hand, Lin Xuan pursed his lips in a smile.
Then Xiao Qing actually imitated the Blind Snake from earlier and crawled straight onto his left hand.
She then lay there quietly.
???
"Is Xiao Qing jealous?"
"That Blind Snake was lying on the streamer's left hand like that just now, and after it left, Xiao Qing actually copied it."
"Could it be because the Blind Snake stayed on the streamer's hand for so long that Xiao Qing got unhappy? She wanted to stay on the streamer's hand for a while too?"
"Haha, Xiao Qing is so close to the streamer. It's perfectly normal for her to act cute once in a while, right?"
"Exactly. Xiao Qing is a girl, after all. The streamer is basically like Xiao Qing's father, so it's normal for a child to act cute in front of her father."
??
Seeing the comments calling him Xiao Qing's father, Lin Xuan did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Before you continue