Chapter 54: A Talent Like His

From Qiao Xi’s perspective, today was absolute, dreamlike perfection.

Being an on-site reporter for a trending event was already a stroke of immense luck. Whether the masked woman actually showed up or if rumors of supernatural abilities turned out to be true didn’t matter in the least; what mattered was that countless pairs of eyes would be watching her through the television broadcast. In the era of surging live-streaming and self-media, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

However, she hadn't expected the situation to take so many unexpected turns.

Although the masked woman arrived a bit early and did make a public appearance, she hardly behaved with the righteous grandeur portrayed in the promotional hype. Instead, she acted more like an internet celebrity desperate for clout. With heavy makeup plastered on her face, she stalled endlessly when it came to displaying any actual abilities, urging the bewildered onlookers to follow her social media account instead, which immediately drew a chorus of loud boos from the crowd.

Qiao Xi wasn't particularly surprised. Far too many people nowadays wanted to be famous, and the concept of superpowers was altogether too far-fetched. She found it hard to believe that everyone had a chance to awaken abilities, let alone the existence of a mysterious shadow organization pulling strings behind the scenes. Yet, the public simply adored conspiracy theories reminiscent of the modern Illuminati or the Rothschild family; any similar topic could easily spark massive discussions.

She had initially expected the event to culminate in a farcical, boring anti-climax, but a sudden exclamation of "Dinosaur!" jerked her out of her wandering thoughts.

Qiao Xi didn't even stop to process the meaning of the word before instinctively turning her head—and that single glance alone sent goosebumps crawling from the back of her neck straight down to her arms!

The zoo and the botanical garden were separated only by a low iron fence, and neither park featured any high-rise buildings, making any moving object taller than ten meters strikingly prominent.

She saw a dinosaur strolling leisurely through the botanical garden—or to be precise, the upper half of a dinosaur's neck and head!

Screams erupted in waves all around her, some filled with genuine terror, others with wild excitement.

Her colleague in charge of the camera fared no better. Confronted with a scene so surreal it felt like a hallucination, his mouth could only emit a series of short, breathless gasps, failing to form a single coherent sentence. Still, he hadn't forgotten his fundamental duty, keeping the heavy lens on his shoulder rigidly aimed at the dinosaur's head.

Seeing her colleague display such professional dedication, inspiration struck Qiao Xi. She immediately launched into her report, "Audience members, we have unexpectedly stumbled upon a bizarre creature right here at the scene! If I'm not mistaken, this is a Brachiosaurus, which lived during the Jurassic period some one hundred and fifty million years ago! Could it perhaps be a life-sized robotic model? But look at how naturally it moves; it bears no resemblance to anything mechanically driven. With this question in mind, let's go find out for ourselves!"

With that, she waved at the cameraman, not waiting to see if he understood her intent as she shoved her way through the surrounding crowd and sprinted toward the fence.

"Sister Xi, aren't we going to interview the masked woman anymore?" her assistant, Ai Xiaoya, asked in utter astonishment.

"What's the point of interviewing a fraud, especially with so many others waiting in line?" Qiao Xi replied without looking back. "Isn't a dinosaur much more interesting than her?"

How could she possibly let go of a blockbuster scoop like a supposedly extinct creature suddenly popping up in an ordinary botanical garden!

She couldn't even spare the time to follow regular procedure by exiting the zoo and entering the botanical garden through the proper gates.

Squeezing her way to the fence, Qiao Xi tore the hem of her skirt, firmly gripped the iron bars, and began climbing upward just like she used to climb trees in her childhood.

The posture was hardly graceful, and there was a high probability someone nearby was filming it, but it was unquestionably the fastest route into the adjacent park.

Her other two colleagues were left dumbfounded.

"How are we supposed to get across?"

"Zhou Yuanjun, are you a grown man and you can't even climb over this?" Qiao Xi retorted as she already swung her leg over the highest point. From this vantage point, she could clearly see the bumpy spine of the Brachiosaurus, further convincing her that it was a living creature, not some museum specimen or mechanical model.

"I'm carrying the camera!" Zhou Yuanjun protested in distress.

"Hand it to Xiaoya for safekeeping! You can connect straight to the broadcast station with your smartphone just as well, at worst the resolution will be a bit lower," she decided decisively.

"Alright then."

Just as the two of them scaled the fence, other onlookers began imitating their actions.

Clearly, whenever there was a spectacle to witness, people possessed an astonishing capacity for swift action.

Upon landing, Qiao Xi hurried past a landscaped flower bed and a row of greenhouses. Just as she stepped onto the pedestrian path, a massive, thick pillar of flesh stepped down right in front of her, scaring her so badly she sat down hard on the ground.

That was no ordinary pillar of flesh—it was unmistakably the hind leg of a dinosaur!

She tilted her head back, gazing up at the slowly moving colossal torso as if looking at a skyscraper, trembling with irrepressible excitement!

This was truly a living, breathing Brachiosaurus!

Every single step it took caused the earth to tremble slightly, crushing the gray bricks on the pedestrian path into a jumbled ruin, but who cared about that? A dinosaur was infinitely rarer than the giant pandas next door!

Signaling her cameraman to keep rolling, Qiao Xi reined in her slightly trembling voice and raised her microphone. "W-We have now entered the botanical garden. As you can see, the Brachiosaurus is less than an arm's length away from us—we could practically reach out and touch it. While it looks terrifying, it is inherently a gentle herbivorous dinosaur, so there's no need to worry excessively about safety."

"Good heavens, there isn't just one dinosaur! Following closely behind the Brachiosaurus are two Stegosaurs... They are also herbivores; while much smaller than the Brachiosaurus, their height easily exceeds four meters."

"And a Pterodactyl just flew overhead! I simply cannot believe my eyes. What kind of bizarre anomaly has occurred here to bring long-extinct prehistoric creatures back into the human world? I'm certain our viewers share the exact same questions, but regardless of the circumstances, I will continue bringing you the absolute first-hand updates from the frontline..."

Qiao Xi never imagined that the miscellaneous trivia she had crammed in the past would actually come in handy one day. She chattered on incessantly, her enthusiasm soaring higher and higher. This was infinitely more thrilling than the masked woman's pathetic publicity stunt!

"Sister Xi, watch out!" Zhou Yuanjun, who had been filming her the entire time, suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.

Qiao Xi was busy scanning a Pterodactyl perched in a tree overhead, and by the time she reacted, she realized she had walked right into the middle of a fork in the path. To make matters worse, another Brachiosaurus was stampeding toward the junction from the intersecting path. Clearly panicked, the creature was charging recklessly forward. By the time she spotted it, the distance between them was less than ten meters.

For a Brachiosaurus over twenty meters long, that distance vanished in the blink of an eye.

Qiao Xi scrambled backward in a desperate attempt to escape its charging path, but in her overwhelming panic, her feet tangled and she tripped over herself. As she fell to the ground, she watched in horror as the colossal behemoth loomed right over her, its mountain-like shadow completely engulfing her!

It was over.

Her heart plunged into an icy abyss.

If only she hadn't pushed herself so recklessly...

Right at that moment, a man's figure burst into her field of vision. He slammed heavily against the base of the Brachiosaurus's leg, simultaneously delivering two heavy palm strikes, as if attempting to drive the panicked creature away.

To an outsider, it probably looked like a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot—after all, a single leg of this dinosaur was taller than an adult human. Even a speeding truck might not have budged it, let alone bare fists and kicks, which were about as effective as a gentle tickle.

Yet, the unbelievable happened. The moment those two dull impacts landed, the Brachiosaurus let out a mournful whimper, and its thick pillar-like leg abruptly changed course, sliding right past Qiao Xi's side to land heavily on the paved stone path merely half a meter away from her! Had that step not been deflected, she would undoubtedly have been crushed to death.

"Are you alright? Can you walk?" The man hauled her to her feet with a single pull.

Although he was wearing sunglasses and a face mask, she felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

It felt as though she had heard that voice somewhere before.

Yet, unable to place where she might have heard it, she simply offered her thanks first, "I-I'm fine... th-thank you just now!"

"Don't mention it. Next time, don't stand so close." With that, the man turned and sprinted back toward the panicked Brachiosaurus, appearing to chase after it.

"Wow... Sister Xi, you scared the life out of me!" Zhou Yuanjun finally caught up to her. "I was just about ready to prep your funeral!"

"Prep your own big head!" Qiao Xi snapped, cuffing him over the head in annoyance. Even now, her legs were still shaking slightly. "You were useless when it came to saving me, and now you can't even say anything nice?"

"Hey, as long as you're safe," Zhou Yuanjun said, helping her sit down on a nearby bench. "Who was that guy just now? He was way too cool! I didn't even see where he came from—he just slammed into the dinosaur's leg with a loud thud, and managed to make a giant beast like that stumble. It's completely unbelievable!"

"Probably... a coincidence?" Qiao Xi murmured, watching the receding back of the dinosaur.

"I suppose so. After all, the weight difference was astronomical; maybe the dinosaur was just startled by his sheer aura. But still..." Zhou Yuanjun sighed wistfully. "If there really are people with special abilities in this world, they must be just like him."