The Aquatic Animals' Service Motto

Li Yixiang, arm in arm with his wife and holding his daughter's hand, walked contentedly towards the touch pool.

The ten-meter-long manta ray had truly been an eye-opener for them. Nearly as long as a three-story building is tall, it gave off an immense sense of pressure. Coupled with its mischievous behavior, it certainly lived up to its 'devil ray' name.

When the manta ray swam to the side of the tunnel, Li Yixiang took a photo of it with his daughter. The contrast between the manta ray and the little girl was even more striking. Li Yixiang couldn't fit the entire manta ray in the frame from the front; he had to be at its side, quite far away.

Hearing they were going to the touch pool, Sisi asked, "Will there be pretty sea stars? Like Patrick Star."

Sisi loved sea stars. Every time she went to the beach, she would look for them, never tiring of it. But her standards were getting higher now; they had to be pretty and special.

Li Yixiang had watched the cartoon with Sisi too. He didn't think Patrick Star was pretty, but he still replied, "Of course."

Sisi asked, "Then can I hug Patrick Star?"

"No, you can't," Li Yixiang said. "Look, it's written here, you can't take the sea stars out of the pool, so of course you can't hug them."

Sisi pouted and said, "I want to hug it..."

Li Yixiang educated her, "Patrick Star will die if you do that, and you'll be caught by the uncle over there."

Li Yixiang could already see the touch pool. It was divided into several areas: some were platform-style, some were designed as wave pools, and there was also an artificial beach.

The platform-style touch pools had recesses with fine white sand at the bottom, decorated with stones, driftwood, and other ornaments. The marine creatures waited obediently inside for close contact with the visitors.

A staff member at the side lazily repeated the reminder: "Attention, children, please do not lift the cute little sea stars out of the water..."

Because a crowd had gathered in front, Li Yixiang couldn't see the sea stars either, but he heard some visitors complaining. He thought to himself: 'What's there to complain about? You can go to the market by the Donghai coast, buy one yourself, and grab it however you want. Can't you afford one for one yuan?'

Li Yixiang didn't pay close attention to their complaints and said to Sisi, "Come, Dad will carry you over to see. The sea stars are over there."

Li Yixiang, carrying his daughter, squeezed into a gap and saw a pale pink sea star with 11 arms lying on the fine sand in front of him. Its diameter was as long as an adult's arm.

Li Yixiang: "..."

He finally understood why those people were complaining. It turned out they weren't complaining about not being able to grab the sea star. They were griping, how could a child possibly pick this thing up? Even an adult might not be able to!

Cute "little" sea star? What part of it was little?

Looking left and right, he saw that all the sea stars in the touch pool were of larger species, at least fifty centimeters in diameter, and brilliantly colored. There are thousands of sea star species, and even in coastal Donghai City, the common ones were palm-sized, five-pointed sea stars.

This Aquarium was really unconventional. Although the largest sea stars can be over a meter, most aquariums would choose small-sized ones for their touch pools—and it was precisely because they were smaller that they were easily pocketed by visitors or injured by improper handling.

This one... this one was too conspicuous. Seriously, you'd probably be kicked out the moment you lifted one of its arms...

Lingyou Zoo was quite generous, putting out so many large sea stars. Usually, they would be kept in glass tanks; otherwise, wouldn't it be a huge loss if they were damaged by touch? Of course, thinking about it from another perspective, in Donghai City, you really needed such large sea stars to be attractive.

So it was no wonder Lingyou Zoo's management was so strict. With so many large sea stars, some with so many arms, unlike the usual five-armed ones, the cost must have been quite high!

Compared to her father's racing thoughts, Sisi was very excited, as if she had seen a giant doll. "I want to touch it, I want to touch it!"

One sea star was big enough for several children to touch at the same time. Sisi placed her little hand on one of the sea star's arms. It was completely different from touching a small sea star, which could be held in one hand. The large sea star's arm lifted slightly and then slowly placed itself on Sisi's hand.

This was even more different from the almost motionless small sea stars. Sisi giggled, pulled her hand back, and placed it on top of the arm again. The sea star once more moved its arm out and placed it on top of Sisi's hand, giving the illusion that it was playing with her.

While his daughter was looking at the sea star, with his wife watching over her, Li Yixiang wandered around nearby.

He discovered that from the Manta Ray to the sea stars, and then to the other creatures in the touch pool—sea urchins, sea anemones, sea turtles, and so on—most were larger than their average counterparts. The sea stars had the most exaggerated size difference.

—No wonder Lingyou Zoo dared to open an Aquarium by the sea. It turned out that besides the world's largest manta ray, they had simply made "big" their specialty.

Li Yixiang looked around with great interest and came to the artificial beach. He saw a little boy interacting with a sea turtle. The turtle wasn't shy at all and even swam in circles around the boy.

This was a green sea turtle with big, round eyes. Their body length is usually between ninety and one hundred and twenty centimeters, but the green sea turtle in front of him was a full one meter eighty, very robust.

In fact, it wasn't just the turtle; the small fish inside also liked to swarm around people's legs, but they weren't as eye-catching as this huge green sea turtle.

The little boy's face flushed with excitement, and he was too nervous to move. "Mom, it likes me!"

The little boy's mother was taking photos of him. "Honey, stand over here a little for the picture, this is a good angle."

The boy walked in the direction his mother indicated, only to find the turtle chasing after him. At first, the boy found it very interesting and even sped up, but he didn't expect the turtle to get faster too. He panicked a little.

The little boy ran onto the artificial beach, already running very fast, but the turtle also scrambled after him. Its paddle-like limbs moved rapidly, its body half out of the water, at an astonishing speed, its head thrusting forward repeatedly.

Due to its anatomy, a green sea turtle cannot fully retract its head into its shell, which made the action of it extending and retracting its head look even stranger.

A giant sea turtle running so fast and chasing so closely looked genuinely a bit scary.

The onlookers were in an uproar. Could this green sea turtle be about to attack the child?

"Waaah—" The little boy cried as he ran wildly, "Stop chasing me! Stop chasing me!"

......

"Actually, it's just being rather enthusiastic," Duan Jiaze explained to the reporter. "You see, after it caught up, it just gave the child a little nudge."

The little boy had taken a face-plant, lying on the soft sand and wiping his tears. The large sea turtle caught up, and aside from bumping against the boy, it did nothing else and didn't bite him.

The little boy's mother went from astonishment to bursting into laughter, and was now even using her phone to film her son's embarrassing moment.

Reporter: "..."

The reporter's mouth twitched. "Still, it's really big. Director Duan, are all the marine creatures here so large? Were they specially selected?"

She seemed to finally understand that what Director Duan had said before made some sense. At least this turtle was very lively and enthusiastic.

Duan Jiaze smiled. "You could say that."

The reporter felt that she could write more about this point; it was a special feature.

During this period, Lingyou Zoo's promotional focus was still on the world's largest Manta Ray. This was standard practice—using the most unique star animal to drive popularity. After all, although the other aquatic animals were large, they hadn't reached the level of being number one in the world like the Manta Ray.

As for whether they were specially selected?

The aquatic animals on duty here all had a certain degree of spiritual intelligence—not every aquatic animal that came to Lingyou Zoo had gained sentience, but it was often those who had hopes of taking human form, who were ambitious and yearned for the feed rewards, that would volunteer for the touch pool.

And since they had spiritual intelligence, it meant they had lived for many years, so they were naturally larger in size.

This point was actually a natural development, but Duan Jiaze was happy to see it happen.

Because quite a few aquatic animals applied for the touch pool, they had to work in shifts, rotating every three days. Outstanding performance earned extra rewards, which was why they were so enthusiastic, fully living up to their service motto: Enthusiastic, Meticulous, Patient.

This "outstanding performance," of course, was determined by their popularity with visitors. This was also why the green sea turtle was chasing the little boy just now. If it could talk, it would probably be shouting, "What are you running for! Come and like me! Come on!"

......

The reporter and the photographer took some more shots of visitors interacting with the aquatic animals and discovered that these creatures were quite photogenic. Not just in front of the reporter, but when visitors took photos with them, it was very easy to get some interesting pictures.

For example, the reporter saw a little girl pretending to kiss the large sea turtle. In the photo, she was very close to the turtle but not actually kissing it. The girl's lips were puckered, her eyes glancing sideways at the phone.

The funniest part was that the turtle's eyes also seemed to be staring at the camera. Its eyes were big and round, and its pupils were slanted over, which was very obvious. Its mouth was slightly open. This turtle seemed to be the same one that had chased the little boy earlier; it was particularly lively and interesting.

The reporter couldn't help but laugh and even made a point to ask the girl for the photo, planning to include it in the news report.

Duan Jiaze also asked for a copy of the photo for promotional use. In the future, the walls here would be decorated with interesting photos from past visitors.

......

Bai Haibo and Sun Ying also came to show their support today. Of course, as the secret external HR for Lingyou Zoo's Aquarium (aquatic animal division), Bai Haibo had another purpose: to check on the work situation today.

Duan Jiaze had just seen the reporter off when he saw Sun Ying enter the artificial beach, accompanied by Bai Haibo. He waved to them in greeting.

Sun Ying waved back. "I'm going to play for a bit!"

Sun Ying was having a great time, while Bai Haibo came out for a moment to talk with Duan Jiaze.

Duan Jiaze asked him, "How's it going? Haven't you confessed yet?"

Bai Haibo said with a pained expression, "Soon, don't rush me, it's really soon. I've already asked her to talk this weekend. But... she might think I'm going to propose."

Duan Jiaze froze for a moment, then laughed, "What did you say? Isn't that just asking for trouble?"

Sun Ying would be shyly thinking Bai Haibo was going to propose, but then he opens his mouth and says he's a Baiji Dolphin. How could she accept that kind of letdown?

Bai Haibo said resentfully, "How would I know how she interpreted it? I just asked her to meet at the place where we had our first date, hoping the familiar scene would stir her emotions. I also said she had to come, that it was very important."

No wonder Sun Ying misunderstood. Duan Jiaze didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Well, good luck to you. By the way, could you communicate with them and see if today's work has been going smoothly so far?"

"Them," of course, referred to the aquatic animals on duty here.

Duan Jiaze was quite concerned about his employees' feelings. The visitors were happy, but he didn't know what the animals were thinking. Although he sensed that the aquatic animals weren't uncomfortable in any way and their behavior seemed very enthusiastic, he didn't know their state of mind.

Bai Haibo glanced over and said nonchalantly, "It's going smoothly. That sea star over there is counting how many guests have touched it today and complaining that it's not as fast as the turtle, so it's losing out. Oh, and they all seem to be jealous of the turtle's agility, calling it cunning."

Duan Jiaze: "..."

Duan Jiaze had a complicated expression. 'Where there are people, there is drama.' He hadn't expected this saying to apply to aquatic animals as well. On second thought, it made sense. This was a workplace, after all.

......

At the end of the day, the visitors who came for the manta ray were satisfied, even pleasantly surprised. As for the visitors who came for the prize draw, whether they won a dish or not, they were all very pleased with the Aquarium.

Whether it was the high-end, magnificent decor and design, or the rich and interesting marine life, everything left a deep impression on them.

Besides the manta ray, many people especially liked the lively and cute green sea turtle, followed by the enthusiastic schools of small fish that would actively swarm over to peck-kiss your skin.

Visitor feedback was exceptionally good. It looked like the green sea turtle could be named "Model Aquatic Animal".

Xiao Su posted a series of highlights and behind-the-scenes moments from today's opening on Weibo.

Lingyou Zoo: *Confetti toss* The Lingyou Zoo Aquarium has grandly opened! The world's largest manta ray awaits you! [CryingFace] To get you to come to the Aquarium instead of the seaside, we're really trying our hardest...

Comments:

Is it really ten meters? Oh my god, the size difference between an adult and it is terrifying. I feel dizzy!

The GIF is hilarious, the manta ray moves and scares the kid to tears.

The freshwater exhibition area is designed so well! It's so beautiful, like a classical garden.

This is simply art. If there were no fish, I would have really thought it was a classical garden.

That green sea turtle is so cute wwww, it even circles around people.

The official account is killing me. It must be so hard to open by the seaside, having to compete with Donghai for business 23333.

Compete with Donghai for business, what the heck hahaha.

Can I just say the competition is going well? As a local who went to join the fun today, that turtle is seriously unbeatable, it runs faster than me.

Praise! I was lucky enough to win the first prize today, the new dish is super delicious! I've decided to go try my luck every weekend this month!

Hugging the commenter above to rub off some good luck!

......

The word-of-mouth at the beginning of its opening was quite good. For an Aquarium that opened in a small seaside city and wasn't particularly large in scale, to be able to win everyone's affection, to the point where many local citizens' focus wasn't even on Jiajia Restaurant's prize draw but on discussing their experience at the Aquarium at length, showed that they were quite successful.

Duan Jiaze felt greatly encouraged. It was probably because of the advertisements, and the fact that the Forestry Bureau had recently agreed to place the Bengal tiger at Lingyou Zoo, which inadvertently sent a message that Lingyou Zoo was very professional. The citizens' approval rating was rising faster than before.

It had now reached 91, just a few steps away from becoming a city-level landmark attraction. Completing the task within the deadline was not a problem at all.

......

Amidst such busy reception work, Duan Jiaze received a call from his university class monitor. He answered with a laugh, "Hello, what's up? Are you going back to your hometown again and need me to look after your cat?"

The class monitor's voice was a bit tired. He said, "Jiajia, do you know the Daoist priests from Linshui Temple?"

Duan Jiaze's heart skipped a beat. "Yes, I do. What's wrong?"

Class Monitor: "Can you introduce me to a reliable one?"

"I can," Duan Jiaze suddenly became serious, "but first tell me what's wrong. Why do you need to hire a Daoist priest? Did something happen to you?"

If it were anyone else, they might have laughed at the class monitor for being paranoid and superstitious, just like his colleagues did.

But Duan Jiaze didn't. This calmed the class monitor's heart a little. "You still remember Schrödinger, right? He's been so strange lately!"

Duan Jiaze was startled. "What's wrong with Schrödinger?" He had a bad feeling.

The class monitor said gloomily, "Schrödinger's strength has suddenly become enormous. He actually pushed my rental apartment's desktop TV onto the floor. And he suddenly stopped using the litter box and started using the toilet, and he even imitates me to turn on the computer. I tell other people, and they all think the cat is just very smart and imitating my actions, or even that I'm joking. If it were just that, it would be fine, but I really feel that there's something wrong with his eyes. Oh my god..."

His colleagues even called him ridiculous. A cat's vertical pupils might look dangerous at times, but how could they be as sinister as he described? He must be overthinking it. Some cat lovers were even very envious of the class monitor, asking him where he found such a smart cat.

Duan Jiaze also murmured, "Oh my god..."

What on earth did Teacher Kunpeng do to Schrödinger?

Class Monitor: "You think it's incredible too, right? I'm almost afraid to go home now. I've found a cafe to sit in."

Duan Jiaze said dryly, "So you don't want to keep him anymore?"

Class Monitor: "I don't dare to keep him! But I don't dare to throw him out either. What if that just provokes him? I just want to see if finding a Daoist priest will help. Jiajia, please help me. No one believes me except you."

"Class Monitor, don't be afraid. How about this, I'll come find you right away," Duan Jiaze comforted.

Before going to find the class monitor, Duan Jiaze first ran to find Kunpeng. Although Schrödinger only started acting strange some time after going home, he felt that Kunpeng had to be involved in this matter.

Last time, Kunpeng had been very reluctant to part with Schrödinger. He had asked Kunpeng if he wanted a cat, and Kunpeng had said no. Could it be that he only had eyes for Schrödinger and knew that Schrödinger would definitely return?

Duan Jiaze ran into Yousu on the way. Seeing him in such a hurry, Yousu casually asked what was wrong. He explained as they walked, and after listening, Yousu laughed and said, "Is there even a need to think? It must be a trick from that... Teacher Kunpeng. I'll go with you to find him."

It was good to have Yousu along. Duan Jiaze wasn't familiar with these operations involving cats turning into spirits.

Duan Jiaze knocked on Kunpeng's door. "Teacher Kunpeng, not long after my classmate took Schrödinger back, Schrödinger started acting a bit strange. Can you give me some advice?"

Duan Jiaze didn't say it directly, but hinted at it tactfully.

Yousu stood to the side with her arms crossed. Through the doorway, a loli and a shota looked at each other, a turbulent undercurrent passing between them.

Kunpeng said flatly, "It's not strange. It should be that he has stepped onto the path of cultivation."

'What path of cultivation? Isn't he just turning into a spirit?' Hearing him say this, Duan Jiaze felt his suspicions were confirmed. "So his current state is indeed related to you?"

Kunpeng suddenly sighed, but it looked very out of place coming from his current childlike form. "Among the fish I spat out before, there seems to have been a fish demon. I was careless for a moment, and Schrödinger ate it. It was a fortuitous encounter, and now he has actually managed to enter the Dao..."

He pondered for a moment and came to a conclusion: "It seems this cat is fated to be with me."

Duan Jiaze: "..."

Yousu reacted extremely quickly, saying with a grin from the side, "Teacher Kunpeng, just say you've taken a fancy to the cat. What's all this about being fated or not? Did you take Sage Zhunti's correspondence course?"

Kunpeng: ".........."