Hu Dawei stood in the breakroom of the small office building, meeting his future colleagues. He respectfully served Duan Jiaze tea and then stood attentively to one side, his mannerisms treating Duan Jiaze exactly like a landlord from the old society.

Xu Chenggong and the others looked at him with curiosity. Never mind that their relationship with Duan Jiaze was quite good, even in any other workplace, they had never seen someone serve a leader like this. At first glance, this person's values seemed quite incompatible with everyone else's.

Xu Wen, in particular, found him a little familiar. She had only caught a fleeting glimpse that day, and Hu Dawei had changed his clothes, so she couldn't be entirely sure if this was the person who had dodged the entrance fee. For the time being, she suppressed the doubt in her heart.

Duan Jiaze was also a bit embarrassed and gave a dry cough. "This is Hu Dawei, Old Hu... He's also a zookeeper, but he only works the night shift."

Everyone nodded in understanding, greeting Hu Dawei and introducing themselves.

A zoo should have staff on duty day and night, and many places even had three shifts, but they were just starting out with only a few zookeepers, making it impossible to schedule. The arrival of a night shift zookeeper was a reasonable development.

Although the animals at Lingyou Zoo—especially the dispatched animals—were highly capable of taking care of themselves... there were still some things that ordinary animals couldn't do.

Xu Chenggong was the oldest and had gradually gained some authority among the staff during this time. Everyone was willing to listen to this "big brother." At this moment, he naturally acted as their representative, gently asking Hu Dawei, "By the looks of it, I should be a bit older than you. I'll call you Dawei, then? Which city are you from? Your accent doesn't sound like you're a Donghai local."

Hu Dawei froze for a moment, then said slowly, "My home is deep in the mountains... I don't know what city it is. This is my first time coming out."

'My god, just how remote must his home be?'

Everyone thought.

It was true that there were still some people living in the mountains without electricity. Hu Dawei's home was so remote that he didn't even know which city he belonged to, and it was his first time leaving the mountains for work. No wonder his mannerisms seemed so old-fashioned... Did his village know that the Qing dynasty had already fallen?

Xu Chenggong felt he understood a little better and asked, "Do you have a place to live? Do you want to be my roommate? I live alone."

Hu Dawei quickly shook his head, "No, no, I don't need to."

Since Hu Dawei refused, Xu Chenggong naturally wouldn't force him.

Duan Jiaze, however, broke into a sweat. He noticed that Hu Dawei had said, "don't need to."

Just an hour earlier, before the employees came to work, the zoo's dispatched animals had held a meeting of the same significance in this very same place.

So, let's go back one hour—

Luya walked in, carrying a somewhat shriveled red fox, dropped it on the floor, and walked over to the sofa to sit down.

At this moment, Xiao Qing was leaning against Bai Suzhen, who was reading a book, and discussing the plot of the "Investiture of the Gods" adaptation with Yousu. Duan Jiaze, on the other hand, was chatting with Zhou Xintang on WeChat. After the little Daoist was stopped outside the zoo gates, Zhou Xintang hadn't dared to question it; his relationship with Duan Jiaze was a "liking-each-other's-posts friendship."

Duan Jiaze, however, took the initiative to explain things to him: a little demon had unintentionally trespassed and had been subdued by Layman Lu, but Layman Lu, being compassionate, hadn't killed it and had allowed it to stay in the zoo to cultivate.

This was indeed in line with Buddhist practices. Zhou Xintang expressed that if it could encourage the demon to be positive, it would be a good thing.

The red-furred fox, Hu Dawei, was lying on the floor, prostrate, not daring to get up.

After finishing his WeChat conversation, Duan Jiaze glanced at Hu Dawei and searched the encyclopedia. "Red fox, brown-red fur on its back, white belly, tail gland can release a foul odor... Hmm, is this his real species?"

Hu Dawei nodded obediently, looking at Duan Jiaze with his dark, docile eyes, appearing utterly harmless. No one would have guessed that he had attacked a person. Of course, that was because he had now been taught how to be a proper fox by Luya.

Yousu said languidly, "Zoo Director, how about we let him work inside the glass wall during the day, and outside the glass wall at night?"

In other words, he would be on display during the day, and at night, he would take care of his daytime colleagues.

What else could Duan Jiaze say? He should have known that with Yousu's style, keeping Hu Dawei would never be a simple matter. Look at this 24-hour, non-stop work schedule; if he weren't a demon, he would probably die. And all without a salary.

Hu Dawei had already figured out that although there were several powerful beings here, this ordinary member of the Human Race was the one who could make decisions. During his "training," Senior Lu had also strictly ordered him to obey the Zoo Director's commands.

Fox spirits were incredibly clever. Although Hu Dawei was one of the dumber ones among them, after he had caught his breath, his mind started working again. In his current situation, if he wanted to live a better life here, he had to please the Zoo Director.

Moreover, he had attacked the Zoo Director before, so he needed to be doubly complimentary.

Hu Dawei sidled up next to Duan Jiaze. If he were in his human form at this moment, his face would surely be plastered with a fawning smile. "Director, my lord, no matter how hard it is, I am willing to share your burdens and serve you. I have already learned the concept of a zoo. We foxes are the most clever. In the future, I can even give you ideas on how to swindle money from the Human Race."

After Hu Dawei finished speaking, he noticed that everyone from Duan Jiaze to Senior Lu, to the little girl and the big guy beside him, was wearing a strange smile. Even Bai Suzhen, who had been reading, looked up, a faint smile playing on her lips...

'Did I say something wrong?'

Hu Dawei was terrified.

No one explained it to Hu Dawei. He would naturally understand when he officially started his day shift and saw Yousu hike up her gauze skirt and climb into the glass enclosure to work.

—When it came to sharing the Zoo Director's burdens, it didn't matter if it was Hu Dawei or any other fox spirit in the Human Realm; they'd have to kneel before Yousu. How could it possibly be their turn?

More than three thousand years ago, that one had already shared the burdens of Goddess Nüwa!

......

Time returned to an hour later. Hu Dawei came to greet his "outside-the-wall" colleagues and also received his work ID badge.

As a laborer with no benefits and a prior record, he had to work twenty-four hours a day and was theoretically not allowed to leave the zoo. Since he only took human form at night, he didn't really need a work badge.

But just in case, he was given one. If something were to happen in the future, like running into the Daoists from Linshui Temple, he'd have proof of identity.

Xu Wen whispered to Xiao Su that she thought Hu Dawei was the person who had dodged the fare that day.

Xiao Su pulled up the photo Xu Wen had sent in the group chat and looked at it again. She thought the silhouette did look a bit similar and couldn't help asking, "Brother Hu, how did you get into Lingyou Zoo?"

The mere mention of this brought a wave of sorrow over Hu Dawei. He glanced aggrievedly at Duan Jiaze and said, "It's a long story!"

'What's with that glance at the Zoo Director? Could it be that he was caught dodging the fare and is now forced to work to pay it off?'

Xiao Su shivered. In her heart, she actually thought it was more likely that the Zoo Director had caught the fare-dodging Hu Dawei, and upon learning that he had just come from the mountains, took pity on him and let him stay to work.

In Xiao Su's heart, the Zoo Director was still very kind.

......

At that moment, it was time to start work. The night shift employee, Hu Dawei, had to go "rest," while the day shift animal, the red fox, had to report for duty.

Today was Friday, and the crowd was neither too large nor too small. Hu Dawei was placed in the enclosure opposite Yousu. There were a few of Yousu's loyal fans in the enclosure, either people who didn't have to work or happened to have the day off, who had come to see her.

Hu Dawei had been trained and naturally understood what being on display meant. He had even watched several episodes of "Animal World." Although everyone was there to see Yousu, Hu Dawei still dutifully put on his own performance.

One moment he was cupping his paws towards the visitors outside, the next he was running back and forth, wagging his large tail. Such a commotion actually managed to attract a little bit of attention from Yousu's fans.

"Why is this red fox so rowdy? Is it trying to court the Great Immortal?"

—Yousu's loyal fans all knew she was the white fox that went viral on Weibo, so they would also affectionately call her Great Immortal.

"Possibly. Our Great Immortal is so cute, it must be trying to get her attention. What a pity, the glass wall between them is like an insurmountable chasm, so tragic!"

"I won't allow our Great Immortal to marry a fox like this! Look, its fur is so messy!"

As the fans talked, they started to criticize Hu Dawei. Their final conclusion was that while this red fox was lively, its other qualities were too poor, making it unworthy of the Great Immortal. They even made a pact to go report this to the staff later, to absolutely prevent these two from being set up on a blind date.

Crossbreeding an Arctic fox and a red fox was absurd, especially when the two were such a mismatch.

Hu Dawei had never been an animal on display before, so he didn't know that being praised was the norm for the other animals in Lingyou Zoo. He was being looked down upon here, but he didn't dare to have any complaints. After all, not only did he not know the normal situation, but he also wouldn't dare to refute that he was unworthy of Yousu.

At noon, the zookeeper came to deliver the feed.

Hu Dawei had been starving for a while; Luya hadn't fed him for the past few days. After Hu Dawei was officially registered, the System had actually recorded him, so he had his own share of the feed.

Hu Dawei sniffed hard a few times. His mind, which had been muddled from his rumbling stomach, gradually cleared, and he felt something was off.

This meat, these vegetables, this whole portion of feed, why did it feel not quite right?

Hu Dawei shot over, almost burying his nose in the feed, and then became absolutely certain. This feed contained extremely rich spiritual energy!

Hu Dawei was so excited he was about to faint. The spiritual energy in this feed was far more potent than what he got from painstakingly absorbing the essence of the sun and moon. As a mountain demon, he was shocked. 'Do city demons all live like this?'

'Isn't the spiritual energy in the city supposed to be much thinner than in the mountains? Where on earth does this food with such an astonishing concentration come from?!'

Almost in tears, Hu Dawei polished off all the feed, even licking the feeding trough completely clean.

If at first, Hu Dawei had felt incredibly unlucky to have run into a powerful being, which then turned into a resolution to work hard and please the Zoo Director since he was lucky enough to keep his life...

Then now, he had only one thought: why didn't he come to Lingyou Zoo sooner? This wasn't enslavement, this was the life of an immortal!

......

On a certain day of a certain month, at six in the evening, the employees of Lingyou Zoo got off work one by one and closed the main gate.

Luya walked out of the aviary, his hands clasped behind his back, heading towards the small white building. From a distance, he saw Duan Jiaze and Hu Dawei squatting on the ground. In front of them was a basket containing four fluffy little mixed-breed puppies.

There were originally five puppies, but one had been adopted along the way, leaving four, which had just been delivered.

The four mixed-breed dogs had short white fur, but it wasn't pure white; it was mixed with faint shades of yellow, making it look somewhat mottled. They were chubby and squeezed into the same large basket, their eyes like grapes, round and moist, and they occasionally wiggled their short legs, trying to climb out.

At these moments, Hu Dawei would catch them. He said fawningly to Duan Jiaze, "Director, I can share a little bit of my feed with them. It can improve their constitution, and they'll definitely grow up to be big and majestic."

These four were not considered official zoo animals, so they didn't have their own feed. Although Hu Dawei cherished the spiritual energy-filled feed, he understood the importance of pleasing the Zoo Director even more, hence his suggestion.

Just as Duan Jiaze was about to speak, Luya roared from behind, "What are you two doing?"

The hem of Luya's clothes and the tips of his hair began to move without any wind, and the surrounding temperature started to rise. He looked like he was about to erupt—

The four puppies let out whimpers, and Hu Dawei immediately plopped onto the ground.

Duan Jiaze hugged the basket and said, "These are dogs Xu Chenggong is raising. Hu Dawei is helping him look after them at night."

The hem of his clothes and the tips of his hair slowly floated down, the temperature returned to normal, and Luya's expression softened. "Oh."

Duan Jiaze: "..."

'Holy crap, it actually worked! As long as I say someone else is raising them, Luya calms down!'

That day, Yousu had asked him about Luya's threat, and he had mentioned it.

Yousu had quickly figured out the crux of the matter. After all, the Zoo Director was Luya's zookeeper. When there were fewer people, it was one thing to help out here and there; that was just lending a hand irregularly, and at mealtimes, he still had to prioritize Luya.

Raising a dog himself was different. Could a Daoist Lord be ranked alongside a dog?!

So Yousu had suggested adopting them in an employee's name...

Duan Jiaze had been a little unsure, but he had just tried it, and it really worked!

Luya's hostility vanished completely. He even squatted down next to Duan Jiaze, picked up a puppy to examine it, and asked, "Do they have names?"

Hu Dawei, who was collapsed on the ground, couldn't stand being so close to Luya. He turned and scrambled away on all fours, weakly saying, "Director, I'm going to scoop poop for Huanhuan and Lele..."

Duan Jiaze watched Hu Dawei, who seemed to have forgotten how to walk and was still crawling toward the exhibition hall after a good distance, unable to stand up, "..."

At this moment, Luya and the puppy were face-to-face. The puppy was still too young, and after Luya retracted his aura, it fearlessly pawed at the Daoist Lord, its pink paw pads tapping on Luya's nose.

Duan Jiaze: "...No names."

Luya frowned, pushed the puppy's paw away, placed it back in the basket, and said unreasonably, "This one is Moli Hai, this one is Moli Shou, this one is Moli Qing, and this is Moli Hong."

Duan Jiaze: "...Did anyone ask you to name them? And aren't you plagiarizing? Aren't those the Four Heavenly Kings!"

The Four Heavenly Kings have been wronged so terribly. What kind of deep-seated hatred is this?

Luya looked at Duan Jiaze coldly.

Duan Jiaze lowered his head, hugged a puppy, and said, "Come here, Moli Hai, are you hungry..."

Author's Note:

You guys are trying to stir up trouble.

Comment from Lord Azheng:

Haha, you could actually just raise one dog, name it Harry, and then you could form a very stylish combo: Harry Luya.

Luya: ??