An Animal-Person Caretaker in the Apocalypse

Three months after the polluted black rain fell, a mutation spread across the entire planet.

Some called it evolution, others called it regression. Some claimed that God had abandoned humanity, combining the fruit of humans and beasts on the World Tree into one.

Humans gradually lost their intelligence and grew wings, claws, and tails. Meanwhile, animals grew human hands and feet, gained human intelligence, and began speaking, gradually taking over human society.

Bai Ran, the first to discover all this, was just an ordinary zookeeper.

That day, she carried a chicken to feed the black panther she had raised since it was a cub.

Through the bars of its cage, the panther pinned down the chicken's head and bit through its neck. Blood on its jaws, it remained perfectly polite and elegant.

It said, "Thank you."

*

Bai Ran had loved small animals since childhood. After graduating, she got a job at the H City Zoo. Unfortunately, the zoo's unscrupulous owner embezzled the food budget, while the employees slacked off and did as little as possible. All the animals were starving, gaunt and barely alive.

Bai Ran paid out of her own pocket to give them extra meals. She did the work of ten people all by herself for several years, until she was completely broke and could barely pay off her Huabei bill.

She decided to work one last month, then quit.

Until...

White fur began growing on her body (?!)

After that, wherever she went, the animals from the zoo followed. Every animal in the zoo was strong and clever, and they spoke so sweetly. She used to feed them all, but now they fed her.

Bai Ran lost her job at a young age.

But...

Being cared for by beastfolk in her old age isn't so bad.

1. A cozy post-apocalyptic wasteland story. Society collapses before being rebuilt, but there's not much fighting. There's plenty of eating and drinking, though.

2. Animals evolve but don't become completely human, and humans regress but don't become completely beastlike. In the end, everyone is an equal beastfolk.

Theme: Humans and animals should live in harmony.