The small signs from the factory hadn't been installed yet. To save money at the time, Duan Jiaze had only paid to have the large sign installed. The factory had included nails for free, so he took the remaining pile of small signs and nailed them up himself everywhere.

All the original signs bearing the words "Cape Zoo" were replaced with new ones.

Some of the signs were in high places, so Duan Jiaze had to use a stepladder to get to them. Climbing up and down was quite the workout, and he was breathing heavily by the time he finished.

Duan Jiaze eagerly opened the Ling Xiao Hope Project app. Just as he expected, his first task was now marked as "Completed," and a small pouch icon was flashing.

Duan Jiaze tapped the small pouch, and a message appeared:

Congratulations on completing the mission. You can now claim your reward! Claim now?

Below the yes/no options, there was a "View Reward" button, which revealed a more detailed explanation when tapped.

It also specified the feeding plan, detailing how much of what kind of food each animal in the zoo should receive daily. It also noted special treatment for animals that were sick, pregnant, or in similar conditions. For example, the lion would get different types of meat each day, mainly beef or pork, supplemented with chicken and duck.

This food would be automatically delivered to the warehouse every morning. There was a field to designate which location would serve as the receiving warehouse.

This was actually a tutorial. Since this was the optimal feeding list calculated by the system, even if there were no rewards in the future, Duan Jiaze could still follow the example now that he knew the ingredients and quantities. It was indeed a piece of knowledge he, as a zoo director with no staff, desperately needed.

After selecting the warehouse, Duan Jiaze clicked to claim the reward. A table appeared below, matching animals with various numbers.

Duan Jiaze ran to the warehouse and saw that several buckets had appeared out of thin air. They were numbered and labeled "Lion No. 1," "Peacock No. 1 & 2," and so on, and they were filled with food. Upon comparison, he found that these numbers matched the ones in the table, which could then be used to correspond to specific individual animals.

The main point was, Duan Jiaze even saw a bucket for Luya! It was labeled "Three-legged Golden Crow No. 1"!

'I doubt you could find a No. 2,' Duan Jiaze thought.

What does a Three-legged Golden Crow eat?

According to the feeding plan calculated by the app system, today, Luya could eat the beef and cabbage in the bucket!

The temporary workers responsible for feeding hadn't arrived yet, so Duan Jiaze carried Luya's bucket out.

Luya was standing outside. The moment he saw the bucket in Duan Jiaze's hand and the words "Three-legged Golden Crow No. 1" on it, he bristled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on and exploded, "How outrageous! Don't even think that this venerable one will eat this!!"

"You're not eating?" Duan Jiaze was actually a little gleeful. The quality of this beef looked pretty good. For the past few days, he had been buying takeout boxes from the restaurant near the park, and they tasted mediocre and were expensive.

If Luya wasn't going to eat it, Duan Jiaze decided to cook it for himself. The cookware and seasonings in the kitchen here were all in good condition. When he was in school, Duan Jiaze often cooked with his roommates in their dorm, so he was considered the dorm's head chef.

Luya was particularly angry, as if he had suffered a great humiliation. "I'm not eating!"

Duan Jiaze: "Won't you get hungry if you don't eat?"

Luya said aloofly, "I have long since abstained from eating."

There was such a perk to be had? Hearing that he didn't need to eat, Duan Jiaze happily carried the bucket to the kitchen, sliced the beef, cut the cabbage stalks into strips, and stir-fried a simple, home-style dish.

He didn't know where this beef and cabbage came from, but even though Duan Jiaze had just stir-fried it casually, it was exceptionally fragrant. He didn't have any rice, so he planned to go to the restaurant in Cape Park to get a bowl. Grabbing a bowl, he ran out, drooling.

Five minutes later, Duan Jiaze returned with a bowl of rice. He could smell the aroma of the beef even from outside the kitchen. He couldn't wait to eat.

The moment he stepped into the kitchen, Duan Jiaze saw Luya in front of the stove, shoveling beef into his mouth.

Luya: "..."

Duan Jiaze: "..."

Luya: "..."

Duan Jiaze looked at Luya, exasperated: What happened to 'Don't even think that I'll eat this'? What happened to 'great humiliation'? What happened to 'abstained from eating'?

He looked at the dish on the plate and couldn't help but say, "...How is there only half left?"

He was only gone for five minutes!

A suspicious blush appeared on Luya's face, and he seemed to be getting angry out of embarrassment. "This was meant for me in the first place! Are you trying to steal my feed?!"

Duan Jiaze: = =||

Duan Jiaze: "No, I was just going to ask... would you like some rice..."

Luya's phoenix-like eyes were still glaring. "...Yes."

...

The domineering and incomparably handsome Daoist Lord Luya, standing in the kitchen holding a plate of stir-fried beef and cabbage with rice, eating with relish—the scene was so mundane that it made Duan Jiaze stare in a daze.

More importantly, it looked like Luya had no intention of leaving any for him...

Duan Jiaze's stomach rumbled, but Luya acted as if he hadn't heard a thing.

Duan Jiaze shamelessly called out to Luya, his tone much sweeter, "Daoist Lord, can I have a taste of the beef?"

"No." Luya looked up and said coldly, "This is my food for the day. If I share it with you, won't I not have enough to eat?"

With his cultivation level, he had long since abstained from eating. But seeing the long-missed sights and smells of the mortal world today held a special kind of allure.

This really ticked Duan Jiaze off: Why don't you just die from stinginess? Is a Three-legged Golden Crow's cultivation level inversely proportional to its magnanimity? The higher the cultivation, the narrower the mind?

Duan Jiaze said resentfully, "Fine, then you can cook for yourself tomorrow!" Looking at this Three-legged Golden Crow, forget cooking; it'd be impressive if he could even mix feed.

Luya said angrily, "You dare threaten this venerable one."

His presence was truly astonishing. As Luya spoke, clusters of flames appeared out of thin air beside him. The temperature in the kitchen shot up, and even the air seemed to distort. It was very intimidating.

So, who was threatening whom?

Duan Jiaze retorted in his mind. Feeling protected by his status as the Zoo Director, he was not the least bit afraid of Luya's intimidating presence. "I wouldn't dare. I just won't have the strength to feed anyone if I don't eat enough."

Luya glared at Duan Jiaze, his face full of displeasure, but the flames gradually died down.

Seeing him soften, Duan Jiaze quickly scurried over, washed a spoon, and scooped some beef from Luya's plate.

Although Luya watched Duan Jiaze's hand with a very dark aura, he didn't actually stop him.

Duan Jiaze was truly stunned by the flavor of the beef. He didn't think his cooking skills were anything earth-shattering, and the preparation was simple and home-style, but the taste... it was rich, savory, tender, and chewy. Even the cabbage was exceptionally fragrant and sweet. Compared to the takeout he'd been eating for the past few days, it was like heaven and earth. Duan Jiaze was so moved he was on the verge of tears.

Duan Jiaze: "Why is this so delicious... Where did this beef and cabbage come from? Can I buy it online?"

If it wasn't too expensive, he wanted to buy some to treat himself.

Luya said gloatingly, "You can't buy it. This isn't from the Human Realm."

The Human Realm has long been separated, and its spiritual energy has become increasingly thin. By now, it's pathetically scarce.

But these ingredients are all from the Immortal Realm, which is rich in spiritual energy. Although they aren't any special varieties, growing in that kind of environment naturally makes them countless times better than those from the Human Realm.

Hearing this, Duan Jiaze was filled with regret. He thought, what's the point of being a human? I'm not even as well-off as the animals, and I'm supposed to be the Zoo Director.

Luya, however, was staring intently at Duan Jiaze, reminding him, "That's about enough."

Duan Jiaze took one more bite and reluctantly put down his spoon.

...

After learning how precious the ingredients were, Duan Jiaze's heart ached, especially since he couldn't eat them himself. At the same time, he began to take it more seriously. When the few hired villagers came to work, he brought out the feed bucket by bucket and then watched them like a hawk.

The temporary keepers found it strange. After all, just by looking, they couldn't tell how good this meat and these vegetables were. They might have even thought it wasn't as good as the vegetables they grew themselves.

But the effect on the animals was very obvious.

The lion, which had been well-fed for the past few days, showed great enthusiasm for the new food—or rather, every animal showed great enthusiasm, but it was most apparent in the big cat due to its size.

Duan Jiaze supervised the villagers as they carried the buckets. When they were still fifty meters away, the lion got up and began to pace restlessly by the enclosure bars, staring intently in their direction. It was practically drooling.

When they got closer, the lion pressed its head against the bars. Every time a villager moved slightly, its body would move along with them.

The villagers' feeding method was very crude. They would just use long tongs to clamp the meat and shove it through the bars, and they wouldn't clean up afterward, so the enclosure used to be very dirty. Now that Duan Jiaze required timely cleaning, it was much better, although the feeding method hadn't changed for the time being.

Once the villager put the beef inside, the lion pounced on it almost immediately. It buried its head and ate even more ferociously than the first time it had a full meal after starving for so long. It even made "ah-woo, ah-woo" sounds from its throat, making Duan Jiaze a little worried it might choke.

The villager also chuckled, "Heh, why is it so hungry today?"

The other animals were the same. Seeing this, the villagers secretly thought that the new boss must have improved the food quality. No wonder he was guarding it so closely. In the past, they had ganged up to pocket the procurement funds and skim off the feed.

Duan Jiaze watched the villagers finish one round of feeding. As they began to clean, he went back to the lion enclosure. He happened to see the lion, having finished its meal, wiping its mouth and licking its paws, not letting a single scrap go to waste.

Duan Jiaze could completely understand this behavior because the meat was indeed delicious.

Moreover, he had a feeling that after eating the meat, the lion's spirit had improved, to the point where it could even be described as radiant. He didn't know if it was real or just a psychological effect from knowing the meat's extraordinary origins.