Chapter 7

Because the green peacock has a strong sense of territory, the cameras in some places can only be installed by Kong Bi herself. Seeing this, Hua Jiao immediately took the opportunity to get close. Kong Bi casually ruffled its head before installing the camera.

Many animals seem to be happy with the behavior of scratching their chins and touching their heads, even the green peacock. Kong Bi guessed that this might be because it is difficult to touch the neck and head when they comb their hair, so they like it.

However, unlike the way cats and dogs squint their eyes when they feel comfortable, these green peacocks will briefly fall asleep directly in Kong Bi’s hands when they feel comfortable. A few, such as Hua Jiao, will express their emotions by singing loudly, which can be said to be social terrorists.^[1]“社交恐怖分子” (shè jiāo kǒng bù fèn zǐ) is a Chinese internet slang term that translates roughly to “social terrorist” or “socially awkward … Continue reading

After installing all the surveillance cameras, Kong Bi no longer participated in the group’s discussions. She made an excuse and slipped away, avoiding being asked questions she couldn’t answer.

Before finding the reason for the abnormality of the green peacock, it was obvious that the probability of everyone leaving was also very small. After all, they were not tourists who would leave after watching the green peacock, so they had to prepare a place to rest in advance. Fortunately, the water, electricity and network of the zoo were unobstructed, and the dormitory was ready, so it was not a trouble for Kong Bi.

After finishing the work, another day passed unknowingly. Kong Bi returned to the dormitory and was in the mood to pick up the phone. Only then did she notice that the message bar suddenly became 99+.

Kong Bi is a person with a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder. She immediately clicks away any red dots in her message bar, and she’s the type who’d grind endlessly in games to get all the achievements. Therefore, Kong Bi never plays online games, especially massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). After all, with a large number of players, some achievements that only a few can obtain become very difficult, even impossible with money, which would be enough to depress her for days.

She frowned and opened the message bar, first clicking on the ‘Beware of Scams Family Group’ that she had pinned, which contained a message from her mother @ing her.

【Baby, is it you in this video? 】

Kong Bi took a look. The video was of Huājiāo dancing and chirping around her. From an outsider’s perspective, the scene was indescribably dreamy and beautiful, giving the illusion of being in a fairy tale world.

After a brief thought, Kong Bi guessed that it must be related to the group of people who followed the forest ranger. After all, as long as they didn’t cause any serious consequences, such as wasting police resources, people who sneaked in like this would at most receive criticism and education, or at worst, a fine. Detention was rare. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that they would post the videos they took online to show off after they went back.

Fortunately, the number of reposts and comments wasn’t very high, only a few hundred. If her mother wasn’t a heavy user of short video platforms, she might not have come across it.

However… Kong Bi exited and glanced at other messages, all asking about this incident. The platforms varied, but most were from short video platforms and animal observation websites. It was clear that the other party had posted on many platforms, or that marketing accounts had seen the traffic and reposted it.

Kong Bi couldn’t help but curl her toes in embarrassment. This was truly a social death moment. As someone with absolutely no dance experience, even with her inherited memories, her movements were still a bit stiff. However, thanks to the magical effects of post-production, filters, slow motion, and music, the scene looked incredibly beautiful. Moreover, she was surrounded by peacocks, creatures rarely seen in everyday life, so it’s no wonder the video had a considerable number of shares.

But it was clearly impossible to become a sensation from this. Kong Bi tried her best to ignore the awkward feeling of having her embarrassing Chunibyo diary exposed to the public, and comforted herself that this might not be a bad thing.

After all, Peacock Mountain Zoo was in such a remote location that it would be difficult to attract visitors without building a reputation. In fact, if no one came after the opening, Kong Bi might have resorted to the desperate measure of having the monster perform for money.

But the problem is that this is too early. After all, there is no zoo with only one kind of animal, so this traffic will only be wasted.

But can we also post videos online to whet other people’s appetite first?

Kong Bi has never been an internet celebrity, but in this day and age, the saying ‘good wine needs no bush’ no longer applies. Compared to real-world promotion, online promotion seems to be lower cost and more effective. She secretly kept this in mind and decided to install cameras on herself in the future to capture more footage. This way, even if her skills weren’t great, she should be able to create something watchable.

Because she wasn’t sure which videos were posted by the original uploader, Kong Bi had to check the comment sections of the most viewed videos on each platform. After all, if the other person had also posted the address, Kong Bi would have a real headache.

There have been cases of animals that accidentally became internet celebrities being poisoned afterward. Green peacocks are a Class I protected species in China, so it shouldn’t come to that, but what if someone tried to steal them? She didn’t have to worry about Huājiāo, but she couldn’t say the same for the other green peacocks.

Fortunately, Kong Bi didn’t see the original poster commenting. There were only netizens discussing it among themselves.

“Everyone knows videos can’t be photoshopped, so this is real.”

 “So beautiful! Why do these peacocks look different from the ones I saw in the zoo?”

“Malicious marketing! Just wait, in a few days you’ll see news of her joining platform XX.”

“So ethereal! Is this a fairy descending to dance?”

…

Kong Bi couldn’t help but like some of the comments before leaving, put down her phone and got busy again.

Maybe there were too many people coming to the zoo today, or maybe the black cats were too vigilant and didn’t want to get involved. Kong Bi didn’t see them coming all day today, and the cat food she prepared was wasted, which made her a little regretful.

After having dinner with everyone in the cafeteria, Kong Bi logged into the game and took a look. The ownership of the green peacocks in the game had been settled, but in reality, the experts were still studying them. This made her somewhat anxious. Although the green peacocks could directly play rogue and fly back no matter how far they ran, raising a Class I protected animal in reality required completing all the procedures and obtaining the necessary permits to do so legally. Otherwise, she always felt uneasy.

“My king! My king!”

Kong Bi had just laid down on her bed when the window started banging loudly. Turning her head, she saw that it was Huājiāo pecking at the window with its beak. She quickly went over and opened the window: “What’s wrong?”

Huajiao: “My king, we should go to bed now.”

“Aren’t they roosting…” Kong Bi paused, suddenly remembering that green peacocks need to be led by their leader before they go to sleep. She scratched her head and patted Huājiāo with an expression of trust, “I’ll entrust this important task to you!”

Huājiāo stood by the window, dejected: “My King, I already told them, but they don’t believe me.”

Having lived in a zoo before, Huājiāo naturally remembered that the demon king had also assigned this task to its subordinates, but they were all stubborn and wouldn’t believe it without a ‘personal demonstration’.

Kong Bi recalled the inherited memory. A safe place to sleep is a focus of attention that cannot be ignored by a tribe. Therefore, appointing other demons to do this job also requires a sense of ritual, which has been engraved in the genes.

She had no choice but to look around and confirm that no camera would capture her. Then she transformed and flew to the peacock pile.

The green peacocks were sleeping on the trees. Kong Bi found a tall tree and flew up to it. Then she landed on a lower branch and walked around, indicating that it was safe for the peacocks on the ground to sleep.

After doing all this, she flew down again and asked HuaJiao to repeat what she had done. She kicked the green peacocks that were still on the ground one by one.

Two male peacocks landed next to HuaJiao, leaving the higher branches to other female peacocks. Only the white peacock and the female peacock squeezed together aggrievedly, and the long tail feathers pressed the branches a little bent.

In typical peacock flocks, this task is usually carried out by male peacocks. They have the responsibility of protecting the flock, so they choose to perch on branches closer to the ground. This is partly because their tails limit their ability to fly higher, and partly because they will be the first to die if danger arises, giving the flock ample time to escape.

Huājiāo flapped its wings quickly:

“One, two, three! Ready… sing!”

“Doo kuang—”

Green peacocks are a species full of ritual. As a species that has produced more than one great demon, they sing the glorious deeds of their ancestors before going to sleep. Then, in the song, they arrange the members who will be on guard tonight. After the song ends, they will enter sleep peacefully. The peacocks responsible for vigilance will make loud calls after sensing danger, waking the other peacocks.

However, in Kong Bi’s ears, except for the little demon Huajiao who sang correctly, the other green peacocks were just howling according to their instincts, and the calls they made were completely meaningless, either “My feathers are so beautiful” or “Is it time for dinner?” “Can I go to bed?” and so on.

Of course, this is just Kong Bi’s own translation, but they really mean this. Kong Bi flapped her wings and flew away, thinking that it was a good thing that this kind of work could be handed over to others, otherwise it would be too embarrassing for her to do it.

After the procedure, the green peacocks finally fell asleep peacefully. Kong Bi also turned back into a human, ran to the bathroom, washed her feet, and went to bed. Although her feet were clean, she always had the illusion that they were not clean if she didn’t wash them.