Gangsters, Gangsters

"...On the 28th, at 14:00, our city's Lingyou Zoo welcomed Chuguo, a male Asian elephant who has traveled a long way. Ten-year-old Chuguo was born in Siam Country. He is pure white, a symbol of auspiciousness, and was gifted to Wuliang Temple by the abbot of Siam Country's Golden Buddha Temple during his visit to our country three years ago. To provide Chuguo with a better and more professional living environment, after much investigation, Reverend Jishan, the abbot of Wuliang Temple, has entrusted Chuguo to the care of Lingyou Zoo." A reporter from the City TV Station was recording a stand-up at the entrance of Lingyou Zoo.

At the same time, several national and provincial media outlets were also inside Lingyou Zoo, reporting. Some media were even filming the elephant enclosure, "The elephant house covers an area of one thousand square meters and is divided into two parts. The enclosure is equipped with facilities such as ventilation pipes, hot water pipes, and heated floors. The ceiling provides excellent natural light, and this steel door leads to the exercise yard..."

When the large truck carrying the white elephant arrived, all the media surged forward to film Chuguo.

The elephant trainer from Wuliang Temple led the white elephant down from the truck and into the exercise yard. Zoo Director Duan Jiaze and Abbot Reverend Jishan were also by their side. Duan Jiaze was holding a bamboo shoot. Seeing that the white elephant was a little nervous from the long journey and the new environment, he stepped forward and offered it the bamboo shoot.

Chuguo curled its trunk, took the bamboo shoot, and placed it in its mouth.

Chuguo was completely white, including its nails. Its eyes were reddish-brown, it stood nearly three meters tall, and it had two long tusks. After eating the bamboo shoot from Duan Jiaze, Chuguo's attitude improved greatly, and Duan Jiaze even went forward to pat its head.

The scene of Chuguo docilely allowing Duan Jiaze to stroke it was captured by the media, as if to prove that Lingyou Zoo was indeed a suitable place to raise Asian elephants.

Reverend Jishan and Duan Jiaze also gave separate interviews. One expressed great trust in Lingyou Zoo, feeling that it was very professional and that the white elephant would receive better care here. The other promised not to betray that trust and to ensure the white elephant lived a very happy life.

The citizens of Donghai City were very enthusiastic. The local TV station had already run a preliminary report announcing the event, and many citizens came to watch today. However, since Chuguo had just arrived at Lingyou Zoo, it needed to rest for two days before its exhibit would be opened. This didn't dampen the citizens' enthusiasm; they had been taking photos and videos nonstop since Chuguo got off the truck.

After all, this Asian elephant was surrounded by halos and legends. People couldn't help but imagine many stories, viewing it with an air of mystery. This type was the most popular.

The City Zoo did have Asian elephants, but they were just ordinary ones. How could they compare to this one, which was a gift from a foreign religious group and carried a special meaning? Rarity makes things precious, after all. Not only were many citizens watching today, but there would surely be even more visitors after the exhibit officially opened.

......

After the outsiders had dispersed, inside the elephant house, Xiao Su carefully fed the elephant a bamboo shoot, stroking it with one hand. She said, "So this white elephant is named Chuguo, huh. The name's pretty cute."

"What's so cute about it? It seems to be some kind of Buddhist term," Duan Jiaze said casually.

Xiao Su asked curiously, "By the way, Zoo Director, how on earth did you convince the monks to entrust such a valuable animal to our zoo?"

Your connections are too strong. Selling joint tickets with a Daoist temple, and now having monks entrust a foreign national treasure-level animal.

Not only that, dozens of monks are about to come work here, Duan Jiaze said mysteriously, "You'll know when you're supposed to know."

Xiao Su's mind instantly filled with all sorts of scenarios, and the way she looked at Duan Jiaze became even more reverent.

Chuguo finished the bamboo shoot, blinked its large eyes, and took a step closer to Duan Jiaze. It actually nudged him a few times with its trunk, as if it were acting spoiled, revealing its wish: it wanted more bamboo shoots.

Duan Jiaze rubbed Chuguo's trunk. This white elephant's initial intelligence seemed to be quite high. He wondered if it was because it had lived in a Buddhist temple in the cultivation world for a long time that it had gained some spiritual awareness, to the point it could even tell who was in charge of giving it bamboo shoots.

The trainer hired by Wuliang Temple had spent two years with it and had developed a deep bond. After arriving, he kept asking if Chuguo would be made to perform. Chuguo had no performance experience; it didn't have to do anything at the temple, and the trainer had only done simple daily training with it in the past. He hoped the zoo would be lenient.

When the trainer learned that Lingyou Zoo didn't have animal performances, he found it incredible. But after finding out more, he realized this had always been their style. The natural behaviors of the existing animals were enough to attract many people.

From this perspective, this white elephant was quite suited for this place.

"That's enough for now. You can't eat too much; you've had your portion," Duan Jiaze said to Chuguo. With the System's help, he knew the exact portion size for each animal.

Chuguo lifted its trunk and let out a cry, as if complaining.

......

Donghai City Mall. Forty-two bald men, aged from their early twenties to thirty-four, walked out uniformly dressed in dark long-sleeved T-shirts and jeans. Their shiny heads were extremely eye-catching.

Passersby couldn't help but discuss in low voices:

"Why are there so many bald guys?"

"What kind of people are these..."

"They don't look like soldiers, they're not even in formation."

"My god, you can't tell?" someone whispered. "Look at them, all bald, young and strong, and buying clothes together. They must have just been released from prison."

"..."

These most promising monks, from major temples all over the country, had met up in Donghai City, bought casual clothes at the mall to change out of their monastic robes, and then took a bus together to Lingyou Zoo.

They were all Buddhist practitioners, so at least on the surface, they were quite modest and peaceful.

"Big brother, please."

"Little brother, you sit here."

"All you big brothers go on up, I'll buy the tickets."

A group of bald men, deferring to each other and calling each other 'big brother' and 'little brother,' instantly crowded the bus. The other passengers eyed them, speculating if they were from some gang.

No one really thought of them as monks. Firstly, Donghai City had no temples, and monks rarely appeared except for the religious exchange forum last time. Secondly, what kind of monk would use a term as gangster-like as "Big Brother"? Thirdly, because these monks also did manual labor in addition to their daily studies, they were the best from their temples. Also considering they were coming to be volunteers, none of them were in poor shape.

Putting aside their faces, just by their titles, physiques, and hairstyles, they were indeed suspicious!

The bus arrived at Lingyou Zoo. The monks got off and told the girl at the ticket booth that they were the new volunteers.

Xu Wen knew that long-term volunteers were arriving today, but she didn't know they would all be bald! They all seemed to know each other, which made her stare blankly for a moment. "W-wait a moment, I'll report to the director."

Among this group of monks, three were from Wuliang Temple. The eldest was a disciple of Reverend Jishan, with the dharma name Fa Bing and the secular name Su Xiang. At Lingyou Zoo, they not only had to take off their monastic robes but also completely conceal their identities as monks, addressing each other by their secular names.

This was why they had been calling each other "Big Brother" and "Little Brother" on the bus. They should have been calling each other "Senior Brother" and "Junior Brother," but they changed it for the sake of concealment.

Xu Wen watched them as she picked up the phone to call Duan Jiaze. "Zoo Director, um... the volunteers are here, but they... they all seem to be..."

"Bald? If so, then that's them. Let them in. I'm in the office building," Duan Jiaze said.

Forty-two bald men in similar clothes marched grandly into the zoo. Under the watchful eyes of the tourists, they arrived at the ugly, two-story small white building, where Duan Jiaze was already waiting on the ground floor.

The forty-two men were all from different temples. Su Xiang, feeling a sense of superiority for being from Wuliang Temple, stepped forward first to report to Duan Jiaze, "Director Duan, I am Su Xiang from Wuliang Temple. All forty-two of us volunteers have arrived."

"Alright." Duan Jiaze smiled at him and said, "The coming year will be a lot of hard work for everyone. I'm Duan Jiaze, the director of Lingyou Zoo. I believe your masters have already taught you the basic rules here, so I won't waste words. Next, I'll take you to your accommodations to drop off your luggage. We can talk on the way."

Many of these men were even older than Duan Jiaze, but they were all very respectful towards him. They had naturally been instructed to have a good attitude upon arriving here, especially towards the Zoo Director, as this could be one of the keys to obtaining more opportunities.

Duan Jiaze had rented a bus to take everyone to the village. "In a bit, everyone register what kind of transportation you'll need for work, like bicycles, motorcycles, etc. After you buy them, your units can reimburse you."

There was still some distance from here to the village. If they walked, the daily commute would take too long. However, each of them had an entire temple supporting them, so they didn't care about these expenses for their 'advanced studies.'

On the bus, some people naturally and subtly tried to get closer to Duan Jiaze.

And so, Duan Jiaze 'unintentionally' learned that a certain someone had actually become a monk after graduating from a top university with a major in business, and could be consulted on related matters; a certain someone had trained at New Oriental and could help with cooking; a certain someone's family were all veterinarians, and he could even fill in as a vet...

"You graduated from a Buddhist academy? What courses do you have at your Buddhist academy?" Duan Jiaze chatted happily with them, getting to know their skills, which would make it easier to manage and assign tasks later on.

A junior brother from Du'e Temple, only about twenty-four or twenty-five, had a talent for cultivation but was really not good with people.

He watched as one senior brother after another struck up a conversation with Duan Jiaze. Thinking about how he had grown up in the temple, hadn't gone to university, had no family, and possessed no special skills, he said in a moment of panic, "Zoo Director, I, I've practiced external martial arts since I was a child. If there's ever a need for a fight, just let me handle it!"

Duan Jiaze: "..."

Duan Jiaze: "Little Master, we're a legitimate zoo."

'If there's trouble, we call the police. If all else fails, we still have dogs in the zoo. You guys, just standing there, you already scared the girl at the ticket booth. You really want to start a fight?'

Seeing the little master's distressed look, Duan Jiaze comforted him, "Don't be discouraged. If a tourist causes trouble, we might still have a use for you. By the way, what's your name?"

The young monk said shyly, "My name is Guang Ming."

Duan Jiaze: "What about your secular name?"

The young monk shook his head. "I'm an orphan. I don't have a secular name. This is also the name on my ID card. My master told me to pick one for myself, but I haven't thought of one yet..."

"Ah..." Duan Jiaze felt a bit awkward and said, "It's okay, it doesn't matter if you think of one or not. There's no need to specially pick a name. We'll just call you Xiao Ming."

Xiao Ming glanced at Duan Jiaze gratefully. "Thank you, Zoo Director."

"What's there to thank me for? Let's go." Duan Jiaze saw that the bus had arrived and led everyone off.

Duan Jiaze let them choose their own roommates. Each house would only accommodate about four or five people. Having traveled all this way together, they had some understanding of each other, and some even had affinities or dislikes based on their home temples. Therefore, Duan Jiaze didn't assign rooms, but let them form groups on their own.

As expected, these monks all knew what to do. They formed their own teams and returned after a short time.

Incidentally, they had another strict requirement for living here: they were absolutely forbidden from proselytizing to the villagers, even if these villagers might not believe in any religion, including Daoism. Even though no one from Lingyou Zoo would be constantly watching them for this, they would be watching each other.

After they finished putting away their luggage, Duan Jiaze brought them back to Lingyou Zoo to register their information.

Huang Qi also handed over a schedule, which had a division of duties for everyone. "This is temporary. It will be adjusted later based on everyone's performance at work. Some positions are also rotational."

Duan Jiaze added, "We will adopt a primary and secondary shift system. You'll be in teams of two, taking turns on the primary shift, which requires you to be at your post at all times. The secondary shift can move about freely, but must return to their post when needed."

This so-called free activity meant they were free to go cultivate.

Lingyou Zoo was originally short-staffed and had to hire temporary workers every weekend. Now with the arrival of this group, their ranks were instantly filled. From now on, they wouldn't need to hire extra help for holidays or weekends; they even had a surplus of staff.

The monks had no objections. They already knew what they needed to do before coming and silently took note of their duties.

......

Duan Jiaze opened his phone. He had already claimed the reward for the previous mission, and the construction team for the Aquarium was on its way. Now, he was actually a little excited for the new mission, wanting to know what it would be. So, as soon as he had settled the forty-two monks, he opened his phone again to see if a mission had been issued.

A new mission had indeed been issued. He tapped to open it:

Mission Description: Please complete the following two objectives within six months. One, introduce over 50 species and 2000 individuals of marine fish and animals, as well as over 40 species and 1000 individuals of freshwater ornamental fish, and open the Aquarium; Two, become one of the city's landmark attractions. This objective is achieved by gaining the approval of Donghai City's citizens. Current approval rating: (52/100).

Mission Reward: A six-month supply of advanced feed for all animals in the zoo; Animal Healing Spell (Single Target / 5 uses per day); One five-story popular science education centre covering an area of 15 mu.

Duan Jiaze let out a breath, slowly composing himself.

The mission objectives had increased. The first one was not unexpected for Duan Jiaze. To prepare for this, Duan Jiaze had actually already been planning to adjust ticket prices to obtain more funds.

Previously, Lingyou's ticket price was twenty yuan. Now that the area had expanded and many new animals had been introduced, an adjustment was reasonable. He was preparing to adjust it to around thirty yuan. The current number of visitors had increased several times and had reached an average of over five hundred people per day, with a peak of around four thousand people over the two-day weekend.

Once the Aquarium opens in the future, it will definitely have its own separate admission fee.

Actually, the revenue from the visitor service center was also quite substantial, as many visiting tourists would buy water and snacks.

If these current profits weren't enough, Duan Jiaze had also thought of a plan: he could use the new building to get another loan from the bank. This time he could borrow more, as his repayment ability had greatly improved.

As for the second mission objective, Duan Jiaze didn't think it was too difficult. After all, their initial approval rating was already over half, which was certainly due to the various promotions since the zoo's opening.

Now, most citizens of Donghai City, at least those in the urban area, knew about Lingyou Zoo, whether they had been there or not. At this rate, completing it within the time limit wouldn't be a problem.

Duan Jiaze had even thought that if this mission had an upgraded version, such as gaining provincial or even national recognition, it wouldn't be a problem, because they were already preparing for it.

—Those free advertisements and online promotional activities were all laying a solid foundation.

Therefore, Duan Jiaze didn't feel particularly stressed this time and was confident he could complete it.

As for the rewards, the animals in the zoo were currently in good condition thanks to the advanced feed. They only contacted a veterinarian for external injuries, which were rare. Therefore, they only had a cooperating veterinary hospital, not a permanently employed vet.

Although Duan Jiaze was already preparing to hire one from out of town—Donghai City didn't have many talents in this field—having this healing spell was still very good. And the popular science education centre could also attract more schools and students. Overall, the rewards were satisfying.

......

That evening, Duan Jiaze walked into the break room with his head held high and chest puffed out. The others found it strange. Today was supposed to be the day for a new mission; why wasn't the Zoo Director all dejected?

Yousu: "Zoo Director, what mission was issued today?"

Duan Jiaze took out his phone and read it to them.

Hearing the numbers, Yousu laughed, "The Zoo Director has really grown. He's not even crying over this."

Luya said with a faint smile, "He just likes raising fish. He's happy to raise so many, what's there to cry about?"

Not a single fish in Lingyou's Aquarium had died since they were bought. When it came to raising fish, Duan Jiaze couldn't be more confident. Although he had never raised so many fish before, raising any number was still raising them.

Duan Jiaze chuckled. "Mainly, I was thinking, worst-case scenario, I can just go to the Donghai sea next door and catch some fish."

Everyone: "..."

Xiao Qing whispered, "It's hard to learn good things, but easy to be led astray..."

Just then, Duan Jiaze's phone screen lit up. He opened it to see a push notification from the Hope Project's app:

Dispatched Animals: 2; Status: In transit.

......

The next day, villagers living nearby and citizens who came early in the morning to climb Cape Mountain were fortunate enough to witness such a scene:

A large bus drove up from a distance and stopped at the entrance of Lingyou Zoo. More than forty young, able-bodied, bald men filed out from inside, all wearing uniform clothing. They had come early in the morning and entered the zoo without even buying tickets. It was very suspicious; they didn't look like tourists at all.

An enthusiastic old man remembered recent news reports about certain 'social figures' demanding 'protection money.' Seeing these suspected ex-convicts enter with a murderous aura (just kidding) from afar, he worriedly took out his phone and dialed the number for the police station.