Future Pet Shop

"How long did that take?" Shen Yibin had only glanced at his watch when he went in and didn't have a precise time, so he asked one of the staff members waiting outside.

"Just a moment, sir. It looks like there's a problem with the system. We're checking it now!" The staff member, sweating profusely, was huddled in front of a computer, talking nonstop with the employee who managed the maze. Shen Yibin could vaguely overhear phrases like, "How could he have possibly done it that fast?" and "The timer must be broken."

After a good while of this, just as Shen Yibin was about to lose his patience, the argument over there finally stopped. The staff member who had been with Shen Yibin walked over and said in a tone of disbelief, "Mr. Shen, you completed the entire maze in only twenty-one minutes and eight seconds! That's... that's incredible!" The maze was enormous; even if someone chose the correct path every single time, it would still take about twenty minutes to walk through. That's why they had been so conflicted just now.

"Congratulations on breaking the record, Mr. Shen! I'll have someone bring the prize over right away." After speaking, the staff member took out his phone to make a call. 'The previous hesitation was just professional diligence,' he thought. 'Now that it's confirmed, we can use this to get a wave of publicity for the park. It doesn't matter that Hah'Er won't do endorsements for others. News reports should be fine, right?'

"No rush," Shen Yibin said. "Let me ask you something. Can this maze be adjusted? Can you increase the difficulty?" 'If I can change the routes in the little maze at home, this one should be no problem, right?' Shen Yibin felt like Carmen hadn't had its fill of fun yet. 'Why not let it try again? Let's see if it can do it again.'

"Yes, you can. You just tried the beginner difficulty. The record for that is thirty-two minutes and fifteen seconds. We also have intermediate and advanced difficulties. The records are forty-three minutes and twenty-one seconds, and one hour, eight minutes, and seven seconds, respectively. The prizes for each are different, too. If you'd like to try, I'll have them make the adjustments right away." 'If we're going to make this a news story, we might as well make it a big one,' the staff member thought, readily agreeing. He was already wondering if he should call the reporters now.

"Okay, let's try the intermediate difficulty first!" There were no other visitors in the maze at the moment. At Shen Yibin's request, the staff immediately began the adjustments. With a series of GRINDING and CREAKING sounds, the entrance to the maze reopened. "Mr. Shen, you can go in now." This time, the staff member was fully prepared; he had even downloaded a special timer app onto his phone and hit 'start' the moment Shen Yibin stepped inside.

"Whoa, they really ramped up the difficulty!" Once inside, Shen Yibin saw that there were far more forks in the path than before, making it much harder to find the one correct route. But Carmen showed no hesitation whatsoever. Just like before, it let out an excited BARK and shot forward decisively, nearly pulling Shen Yibin off his feet again.

"Hmph! Hmph!" This time, without any prompting from Shen Yibin, Hah'Er automatically followed. It's a little-known fact that on flat ground, a panda can outrun an Olympic sprinter. In no time, it had left Shen Yibin in the dust, charging ahead just half a step behind Carmen.

"Twenty-four minutes and thirty-eight seconds!" the staff member called out the moment they burst out of the maze again. This time, the numbers on the computer system and his phone's timer were nearly identical.

"That can't be right. The difficulty was so much higher this time, so how did his time barely increase?" The employee in charge of the maze was baffled. The previous record for intermediate was over ten minutes longer than the beginner record, yet Shen Yibin had only taken an extra three minutes. It was completely disproportionate.

How could he know that to Carmen, there was no difference between the beginner and intermediate difficulties? The only reason it took longer was that the intermediate route was more winding, making the total distance a little longer. Those extra three-odd minutes were spent covering that distance. The confusing forks and dead ends meant to trick people hadn't troubled Carmen in the slightest.

"Mr. Shen, would you like to try the advanced difficulty?" This time, the staff member extended the invitation before Shen Yibin could even ask. He was eager to see what kind of record Shen Yibin could set on the hardest level.

"Uh, alright then. Just make the adjustments quickly. I have to get back and cook soon." After the last two runs, Shen Yibin's own interest in the maze had waned. But he glanced at his watch—he still had an hour before he needed to head back for lunch, and Carmen still looked incredibly eager. 'Might as well let it play one more time,' he decided.

So once again, the maze let out a series of GRINDING and CREAKING sounds. This time, the noise lasted much longer than before. About ten minutes later, the entrance to the maze opened for Shen Yibin once more.

He entered the maze. This time, the number of forks had more than doubled from the intermediate level. Just standing at the entrance and looking at them was enough to make one's head spin. But Carmen was its usual self, dragging Shen Yibin forward without a shred of hesitation. It weaved through the maze and, in no time at all, burst out of the exit.

"Twenty-five minutes and twenty-one seconds! That's... incredible! The time barely changed at all!" The staff member saw the result and was at a loss for words. 'Were the mechanisms inside even working? Did he just run in a straight line and come right back out?' In fact, he wasn't far from the truth. That was pretty much exactly what Carmen had done.

"Mr. Shen, this is the prize we prepared for you!" The staff member was speechless. He obediently brought out the prepared prize, which happened to be a plush panda nearly two meters tall. Hah'Er happily rushed over, but unfortunately, he was so small he couldn't even reach the doll's waist. In the end, with the help of the staff, they managed to stuff it into Shen Yibin's car.

"Thank you for all your trouble..." After thanking the staff, Shen Yibin drove to the plaza to pick up Sakai Kaori and Egg, and they all returned to the pet store together.

Sakai Kaori was very curious when she saw the plush doll. After hearing about Carmen's glorious achievements, the young woman was so surprised her jaw dropped. "Wow, Carmen is really that incredible?!"

"Yep. We're here, let's get out." Shen Yibin parked the car and helped Hah'Er by opening the passenger-side door. Hah'Er jumped right down. Shen Yibin was about to go around to the back to open the door for Carmen, but the impatient animal tried to jump between the driver and passenger seats to get out through the front.

However, its old bad habit kicked in again: it got stuck right between the two front seats.