The few people who appeared on the screen were the very villagers who had been hired as temporary keepers at Lingyou Zoo before Xiao Su and Liu Bin arrived.

Before Duan Jiaze took over the zoo, they often skimped on the animal feed due to a lack of supervision. They ate the meat themselves and fed the vegetables, hay, and other things to their own chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep. It could be said that they directly caused the animals, already in poor conditions, to become even more miserable.

Duan Jiaze remembered that they had asked him about hiring. He had politely refused because of their past offenses, and later, after hiring Xiao Su and Liu Bin, he had dismissed them directly. Now it seemed they held a grudge and had actually come to poison the animals at night.

Duan Jiaze hadn't expected such people to exist. He was furious and roared, "I'll make them!! Pay the price!!"

Luya asked excitedly, "What are you going to do?"

Duan Jiaze: "Uh, call the police?"

Luya: "..."

He should have known. Since Duan Jiaze had already mentioned a society ruled by law, what other answer could he possibly give?

Duan Jiaze expressed that human society's problems should be solved by human methods. So, he went to report it to the police. The police came to take a look and even took him to the station to file a report.

Luya overheard Xiao Su and Liu Bin discussing that there were no surveillance cameras here and no evidence, so the Zoo Director's trip would likely be fruitless.

It was unknown if those people would come again, since none of the animals were harmed and they hadn't achieved their goal. But one can't guard against a thief for a thousand days; this was a real headache.

When Duan Jiaze returned, he didn't seem dejected at all. He was even holding a stack of papers.

Xiao Su: "What's this, Zoo Director?"

"The police officer was very nice. I told him the only suspects were those villagers, and he said he would investigate." Duan Jiaze waved the papers in his hand. "He also introduced me to a comrade from the Cape Sub-district. The sub-district official was concerned about my situation, gave me these, and asked our zoo to cooperate with their civilized city campaign..."

The papers in his hand turned out to be promotional posters. Although the location was rather remote, Lingyou Zoo was still under the jurisdiction of a sub-district, not a township. The village where those villagers lived seemed to be in the township.

Duan Jiaze: "Let's put them up together. Cooperate with the campaign and be a civilized zoo."

Everyone: "..."

Inexplicably, Duan Jiaze had gone off-topic.

After Xiao Su and Liu Bin went to put up the posters, Luya felt that Duan Jiaze's approach was too weak. He decided to uphold his own dignity.

Duan Jiaze broke out in a sweat and said, "Don't be hasty. After the investigation, if the situation is confirmed, they can be fined and detained."

"Detention is nothing. You think I don't know? The place they detain people is bigger than my office!" Luya, already feeling he had lost face over this matter, became even more furious at the mention of detention.

Duan Jiaze: "..."

Duan Jiaze said with a guilty conscience, "It'll be better once we've upgraded... The main thing is, the rules of the Human Realm are different from your Immortal Realm. You can't just go around taking people's heads."

"Even if I don't kill them, I have ways to make them deeply regret their mistake," Luya said grimly. "Otherwise, if people find out, where will I put my face?"

'Face?' Duan Jiaze thought. 'That doesn't exist. You're already an animal here at our place...'

......

Huilong Village. Sun Qinglong, Wang Shengbin, and Liu Ming were sitting in a courtyard, discussing.

"That little bastard actually dared to call the police."

"He got lucky. Nothing died. What a waste of my family's poison."

"Heh... if they really detain me, just wait till I get out. See how my brother will make trouble for him, make it so he can't even keep that zoo open."

The few of them spoke smugly for a bit, then agreed to play mahjong that night. Wang Shengbin and Liu Ming left first.

Sun Qinglong fed the pig, complaining as he did, "Damn it, this pig stinks so much... I'll just slaughter it tomorrow."

These pigs were given as part of the township's poverty alleviation program, but having them here, he found raising them troublesome and wasn't happy about it at all.

Seeing that it was still early, Sun Qinglong went inside, planning to get some good rest before his big mahjong battle that night.

Sun Qinglong rolled over and fell into a deep sleep. Suddenly, his heart pounded and he felt short of breath. At the same time, he felt breath on his neck. Thinking it was his dog, he brushed his neck and, feeling very uneasy, opened his eyes and turned his head.

A furry lion's face appeared before his eyes. Its cavernous mouth opened, "Roar—"

A foul smell assaulted his face, its sharp teeth gleaming.

"Ah! Ah!!" Sun Qinglong was scared out of his wits. He kicked his feet and scrambled backward, unable to figure out why a lion would be in his house. Could it be that the damned Lingyou Zoo hadn't locked its gates properly and let the lion escape?

But why did this lion come to his house?!

The lion lowered its body, poised to strike.

Sun Qinglong's legs turned to noodles. The distance was too short; he didn't even have the courage to get up and run. Tears and snot streamed down his face, and losing control, he wet himself.

The pungent smell of urine spread, and the lion roared again.

"No, don't! Spare me! Spare me!" Sun Qinglong remembered that yesterday, when they had snuck into the zoo to poison the animals, he was the one who had poisoned the lion. In the past, he had been the one who fed the lion the most, or rather, the one who skimped on the lion's rations the most. At this moment, it was clearly revenge.

Sun Qinglong had never been afraid of the lion when it was in its cage. Besides, back then, the lion's roars were listless, less spirited than his own dog's. Only now, face to face with the lion's terror, did he understand just how chilling a large carnivore was when it hunted!

However, the lion didn't listen to Sun Qinglong's pleas at all. It leaped onto the bed, pinned down Sun Qinglong's body with one paw, opened its mouth, and Sun Qinglong's head entered that cavernous maw.

"Ugh!" Sun Qinglong's vision went black, and he fainted from fright.

At that moment, the lion had completely enclosed his head in its mouth.

Three seconds later, the lion opened its mouth and spat out Sun Qinglong's head, which was now covered in its saliva. Then, the lion turned its head aside, revealing a very human-like expression of "disgust."

......

As the days passed, Duan Jiaze was still trying hard to recruit staff. This was the last condition for completing his task.

One day during lunch, Duan Jiaze received a call from the sub-district official. After listening for a few moments, a surprised expression appeared on his face. "Really? Of course... Okay, thank you then."

After hanging up, Duan Jiaze said in disbelief, "Just now, someone from Cape Sub-district told me a reporter wants to come and interview our zoo!"

A while ago, he had even told Xiao Su that he planned to spend money on promotion after opening. Who would have thought someone would take the initiative to come to them? And they were contacting him through the sub-district office.

Xiao Su and Liu Bin were very excited. "Who cares why, this is a great thing!"

"Yeah, they've already given my contact information to the reporter. They should be calling me soon." Duan Jiaze didn't even have the appetite to eat anymore. "Oh my, how should I introduce the zoo? I'm not mentally prepared at all."

Just as Duan Jiaze was speaking, a call from an unknown number really came in. Duan Jiaze quickly answered it.

On the other end of the line was a young woman. She introduced herself as a reporter from the City TV Station and hoped to schedule a time to come for an interview.

Duan Jiaze couldn't help but ask why they wanted to interview him. He hadn't contacted any media, nor did he have any connections in that area.

The female reporter laughingly told Duan Jiaze that it was because an interesting GIF, rumored to be from Lingyou Zoo, had been widely circulating on local social media recently and had generated a good response.

Since Lingyou Zoo hadn't opened yet after its name change, few people knew about it. Some even thought it was the City Zoo. Many people were asking for the address, especially women, children, and parents, who found the GIF not only funny but also thought the interaction between the birds and the child was very interesting.

The few people who did find out the address came by only to find it wasn't open and left disappointed.

After the reporter investigated, she found that the operator was surprisingly a young man. All things considered, it fit the theme of their channel quite well, so she decided to come for an interview. Because the GIF was circulating online, they would also invite reporters from local online media.

Only then did Duan Jiaze realize it was all thanks to Xiao Su. This was a fantastic promotional opportunity. However, his side hadn't been renovated yet, and the conditions were too basic. The resulting footage might end up driving customers away instead.

The reporter, however, wanted to release the news as soon as possible while the topic was still hot; otherwise, it would lose much of its news value.

Duan Jiaze could only ask her to wait a little longer if possible, promising he would complete the renovations as soon as possible. Only then did the reporter agree, telling him to contact her as soon as he was done.

Duan Jiaze put down his phone and explained the situation. "Xiao Su, you've performed a great service this time! The Zoo Director will add an extra dish to your meal!"

"Thank you, Zoo Director!" Xiao Su said. "Should we put up a notice outside? Didn't they say people have been coming? We didn't even know, and no one told them when we'll be opening."

Duan Jiaze nodded repeatedly. That was his mistake; he should have posted the opening date outside. He had mainly assumed the zoo had no popularity and that no one would come looking for it, so he had focused on other preparations.

Xiao Su recalled what Duan Jiaze said on the phone. "Right, Zoo Director, are we going to renovate? When?"

"Mm... Soon, very soon." Duan Jiaze thought, 'I really need to hire someone soon.'