In the early morning, the nearby summit of Cape Mountain was shrouded in a thin mist, as if it were in the clouds.

The amusement rides in Cape Park, which was half on flat ground and half nestled against the mountain, also revealed a corner from between the trees. This park, built twenty years ago, had become a part of many Donghai City citizens' childhood memories and was rarely visited by tourists at this time.

Duan Jiaze, dragging a suitcase, stood in front of the park. He drew his gaze away from the Ferris wheel above, his eyes sliding past the yawning security guard uncle, and turned to the small, dilapidated Cape Zoo less than a hundred meters away. A complicated expression appeared on his handsome face.

Although they were both called "Cape," this zoo had absolutely no connection to Cape Park.

Duan Jiaze vaguely remembered that this zoo was built less than five years ago and was privately owned. It most likely took this name to ride on the popularity of Cape Park, just like how Beijing University and Beida Qingniao actually have no relationship.

The local media had reported on it a few times, but it seemed to be poorly managed, and there was no follow-up. The vast majority of people, like Duan Jiaze, had never been inside.

Now, seeing it in person, there wasn't a single staff member in sight, the sign was covered in dust, the main gate—which should really be called the 'not-so-big gate'—was rusted, the entrance was littered with dead branches and rotten leaves, and there were even cobwebs in the corners, further confirming the words 'poorly managed'.

Just as Duan Jiaze was thinking this, a screw on the sign came loose, and with a clang, it fell and smashed onto the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust and making the scene even more desolate.

Duan Jiaze: “...”

...

Actually, Duan Jiaze had only recently found out that he had a huge connection to this dilapidated zoo before him.

And the story had to begin from half a month ago—

It was graduation season. Duan Jiaze, who had just graduated from a second-rate university in the city with a degree in environmental engineering, had failed to get into graduate school, and with a tough job market, he was at a loss about finding a job.

Duan Jiaze had worked his way through university and was constantly short on cash. If he couldn't find a job soon, he would have to resort to manual labor to make a living.

At this time, a lawyer suddenly contacted Duan Jiaze to tell him that a distant relative of his had passed away and left behind a zoo, deciding to bequeath it to Duan Jiaze, whom he had met only as once an unknown number of years ago.

For Duan Jiaze, this was truly a stroke of luck, like a pie falling from the sky. After confirming it wasn't a scam and that he didn't have to pay a single cent, he happily arranged to meet the lawyer to sign the documents and inherit the zoo, so he could turn around and sell it.

—After all, he had no experience or passion for running a zoo, but if he sold it, the money he'd get would greatly ease his financial situation.

That day, at the law firm, after confirming the contents of the documents, Duan Jiaze signed his name on each one.

After signing, he flipped through them and suddenly found a strange, unfamiliar contract tucked inside. It had some clauses written on it, something about Party B voluntarily joining the 'Ling Xiao Hope Project,' Party B being responsible for placing employees dispatched by Party A to assist, and Party A helping Party B expand its scale, and so on.

“Lawyer Wang, what is this?” Duan Jiaze pulled out the contract, unable to recall how he could have missed this particular contract when he checked the documents earlier.

Lawyer Wang was puzzled. He took it and glanced at it, and was also taken aback. “I don't know either, this didn't come from my office... This, this format is wrong, and there's no official seal. It has no legal effect whatsoever.”

Out of professional instinct, Lawyer Wang added that last part.

“Strange, where did this come from?” Lawyer Wang also looked somewhat confused and took it out to ask his assistant who had printed the contract.

The assistant was also bewildered and said, “Did someone use our printer for this, and then I accidentally printed another copy and it got mixed in?”

He had practically racked his brains to come up with such a barely plausible explanation, but it still didn't explain how he, Lawyer Wang, and Duan Jiaze had all failed to notice its existence before. They could only assume everyone had suddenly become careless.

“Probably... I guess so,” Duan Jiaze could only say.

...

Duan Jiaze left the law firm, holding a business card in his hand. It was for an agent that Lawyer Wang had kindly recommended, who could help handle the sale of the zoo. He planned to contact them later.

The street was bustling with noise, but suddenly, Duan Jiaze heard a particularly clear voice, so clear it seemed to be coming from inside his own head.

【Hello, user. Would you like to download the ‘Ling Xiao Hope Project’ app?】

Duan Jiaze stumbled, nearly falling over.

Ling Xiao Hope Project? Wasn't that the phrase from the contract just now? But Lawyer Wang had already had his assistant toss that contract into the shredder.

Duan Jiaze looked around, but the other passersby didn't seem to have heard the voice. In broad daylight, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

'No way, is this something supernatural?'

Around noon, the streets were bustling, people were coming and going, and traffic flowed endlessly.

Yet Duan Jiaze stood dazedly amidst the crowd, unable to move, feeling a bit cold.

After about a minute, just as Duan Jiaze's heartbeat had gradually returned to normal, the voice rang out again, startling him once more.

【No response received. Now downloading by default—】

...Rogue app!

Duan Jiaze almost jumped up, cursing inwardly.

'What kind of black technology is this, and what the hell kind of app is it? It's not downloading into my brain, is it?'

Duan Jiaze waited nervously for a moment, but nothing new seemed to appear in his mind. A flash of inspiration struck him, and he took out his phone. Sure enough, a new app had actually appeared on it.

And it couldn't be deleted. Duan Jiaze tried.

The app's icon was an auspicious cloud on a light blue background, and its name was “Ling Xiao Hope Project”.

This technology was clearly beyond what any prank app could achieve, but Duan Jiaze still couldn't help but look around his surroundings. He found a flower bed, sat on its edge, and with a trembling hand, tapped open the app.

If the icon had retained some sense of aesthetics, then the app's interface was completely “leader-style.”

What is leader-style aesthetics?

It means the font has to be as large as possible, the colors have to clash as much as possible to be eye-catching—preferably red and yellow—and adding a border would make it even better.

But none of that was the main point. The main point was the content you saw at a glance.

The app's content was very simple, so simple it could be called crude. The user profile was already automatically logged in, displaying Duan Jiaze's real name. There were several categories like “My Profile,” “My Tasks,” and “Animal Management.”

Tapping on “My Profile” revealed the following content:

Name: Duan Jiaze (Zoo Director)

Gender: Male

Age: 23

Cape Zoo:

Area: 40 mu

Employees: 0

Popularity: 0

...

Before Duan Jiaze could look too closely, he scrolled down and saw an “About Us” section, which he tapped open to read.

“Introduction: The Ling Xiao Hope Project aims to support outstanding young entrepreneurs from the Three Realms and will provide various forms of support for free. This includes but is not limited to: dispatching employees on a regular basis, customizing business growth plans for the recipients, and issuing rewards after the recipient completes phased tasks. After a hundred years of development, the Ling Xiao Hope Project has become semi-automated, with the system automatically selecting and signing contracts with the best candidates and generating growth plans...”

Looking again, there was a section that seemed to be “Contract Services.” He tapped it open and saw two very important items inside.

“Contract Termination: Download the application form below, fill it out as instructed, and submit it to the Ling Xiao Hope Project office. The review period is seventy years.”

“Breach of Contract: Five Thunderbolts Strike.”

“Penalty: If a user accepts a task and fails to complete it by the deadline, they will be punished with one Palm Thunder. Accumulating more than three such penalties will be considered a breach of contract.”

'Five Thunderbolts Strike? Is it the Five Thunderbolts Strike I'm thinking of?!'

Duan Jiaze's vision went black, and he wished he could grab the designer and shout:

Hey, what kind of tyrannical system is this?! On what grounds do you get to pick me just because you say so? Who the fuck wanted your help to start a business?! Why is my contract termination review period seventy years, and why is the penalty for breach of contract Five Thunderbolts Strike?!

And how does that penalty for failing to complete a task on time sound so unscientific? Can you not die from being struck by Palm Thunder?

After a long while, Duan Jiaze finally calmed down, clutching his head and sighing. Any passersby who saw him would have sympathized, wondering if the young man had lost his wallet.

Sigh.

It seemed now that he wouldn't be able to sell the zoo anytime soon. He had tried; the business registered under his name couldn't be changed. The project's system seemed very rigid and had already bound him to it.

If Duan Jiaze sold the zoo and lost control of it, he wouldn't be able to do the tasks, and then he'd be struck by Palm Thunder... or he'd be judged as having breached the contract directly, followed by the Five Thunderbolts Strike... In any case, the outcome would be a dead end.

'Better to look on the bright side,' Duan Jiaze comforted himself. 'If I don't think about my original career goals, then this can be considered a heaven-sent golden finger!'

Seeing how this Hope Project was hyped up to the heavens and its abilities were so fantastical, according to the usual tropes, if he accepted the support and opened this zoo, business should boom, and his life would be a success from now on... right?