Chapter 34 part 9

Kong Bi didn’t pay attention to Qi Cong. She touched her chin and said, “Even if I ran over myself, I might be late. Shouldn’t we install a networked loudspeaker? When the time comes, directly using the loudspeaker to mediate might also be able to stop it.”

Qi Cong said, “I think this kind of pain from not following discipline should be punished with extra training!”

Kong Bi said, “……What you said also makes sense.”

Qi Cong: “???” Wasn’t I just joking?

Kong Bi stepped forward and called Wang Tianba back, then picked up Huajiao and brought it over. Then, holding them, she demonstrated how to pick up the feathers and put them into the nearby sack.

Actually, Kong Bi could have just said this, but to avoid being too shocking, Kong Bi first performed the demonstration.

She clapped her hands and said, “Clean up the mess you made yourselves. I’ll come over to check tonight.”

As Kong Bi spoke, she also waved her hand to shoo away the other green peacocks, telling them not to come over to help, and then she left.

Wang Tianba stood there, squinting at the feathers on the ground.

Although her vision was better, Wang Tianba was still used to checking things close to her. Although both Huajiao and Wang Tianba’s claws could be used to catch prey, it was difficult to catch small things like feathers. She could only rely on her beak to pick up the feathers, which was very inefficient.

Wang Tianba was not stupid. After working for a while, she raised her claws to sweep the feathers together, then opened her mouth to bite a handful and threw them into the sack. Looking back, she saw Huajiao still picking them up one by one, and she couldn’t help but flap her wings and laugh.

“Gugugugugu——”

Huajiao clenched her claws and glared at Wang Tianba. Wang Tianba shook her feathers without caring, lowered her head and bit another handful back, and looked at her proudly.

After staring at Wang Tianba for a long time, Huajiao seemed to be thinking about something, and immediately opened her wings and flapped them, letting the feathers that Wang Tianba had finally accumulated fly into the air.

Huajiao got in and bit the feathers gracefully, biting them one by one like dancing, and glanced sideways at Wang Tianba and let out a muffled sneer.

“Goo-woo!”

Wang Tianba was instantly furious and kicked Huajiao down with one claw.

“Doo-hoo!”

Huajiao immediately refused to be outdone, flipping Wang Tianba, who was sitting on it, over. With lightning speed, it opened its beak… and bit the feather it had just dropped.

Wang Tianba snorted coldly, “You think I can’t do that?”

It lifted its foot, kicking up a spray of mud and sand towards Huajiao. Its claws snatched several feathers in the air, immediately filling the gaps between its talons completely. It hopped and skipped towards the sack.

“Heh heh, didn’t expect that, did you? This lady can walk on one claw!”

Huajiao wore a disdainful expression, “Walking so ugly, tsk!”

…

Qi Cong held his phone with a conflicted expression. Were they fighting? But although the tense atmosphere was perfectly set, they didn’t seem to be actually hitting each other. So, should he call the director over or not?

Kong Bi stopped paying attention after assigning tasks to the two little demons. For monsters, this level of harm wasn’t anything significant, otherwise the game wouldn’t be indifferent. Most small monsters were very self-centered, and only a few were docile, so daily friction was normal as long as it didn’t exceed a certain limit.

Of course, this time they did go a bit too far. How could they pluck feathers? It takes a long time for them to grow back, definitely not something that can be fixed in a day or two.

Back in the director’s office, Kong Bi found that Gao Liang had already sent over the management system on the computer. Kong Bi downloaded it and tested it out.

Being able to produce a finished product so quickly meant the system naturally referenced other management systems. Kong Bi tried it out, compiled a list of areas she felt needed improvement, and sent it to Gao Liang. Then, she stared blankly at the computer.

As the director, slacking off in the office was Kong Bi’s last bit of stubbornness.

After the staff arrived, she really didn’t have much to do, especially since she had even delegated the feeding work to others.

Maybe? Go check on the construction progress?

And give the designer some more requests?

“Chirp chirp!”

Just as she was pondering, Kong Bi heard birdsong coming from outside the window. She turned her head and saw a tree sparrow perched in front of her.

“What’s wrong?” Kong Bi recognized it as one of the two birds that had previously led her to Wang Tianba.

“Chirp chirp!” The tree sparrow hopped on the windowsill.

“You want me to go with you?” Kong Bi couldn’t help but feel curious. She went to the window, and seeing this, the tree sparrow immediately flew outside.

Kong Bi flipped herself off the windowsill and followed.

Li Da, who was just planning to come find Kong Bi, looked at the door not far away with a puzzled expression. After thinking for a moment, he silently followed.

The tree sparrow didn’t rush headlong; it occasionally looked back at Kong Bi. It quickly led Kong Bi to the base of a tree.

“Squeak squeak!”

Under the not-so-dense foliage, a small mouse was struggling to crawl forward. Trailing behind it was the other tree sparrow, diligently pecking at the mouse’s tail. But despite its efforts, it was being dragged along by the mouse. Fortunately, the little mouse wasn’t very strong, and every time it rested, the tree sparrow would pull it back.

Kong Bi: “……?”

“Chirp chirp!”

The tree sparrow flew over to help, and together with the other one, they grabbed the little mouse. Then, struggling, they flew up and brought the mouse in front of Kong Bi.

Kong Bi: ???

“Chirp chirp!”

The tree sparrow holding the little mouse by the scruff of its neck chirped. Without its effort, the other tree sparrow immediately fell down with the mouse, flapped its wings to fly back up, opened its beak to scold the other sparrow, and then lowered its head to grab the little mouse’s tail again.

Seeing this, the first tree sparrow flew over to help again.

Kong Bi understood what they were saying, but she didn’t understand why they were giving her the little mouse. She looked confused and asked, “Why are you giving me this?”

The two tree sparrows vigorously flapped their wings, pushing the little mouse towards Kong Bi. After hesitating for a moment, Kong Bi reached out, pinched the little mouse’s head, twisted it, and then picked it up by its tail.

“It, eat!”

“Bite! Bad!”

Compared to Huajiao and the others, the non-spiritually-enlightened tree sparrows couldn’t express themselves very well. After listening for a long time, Kong Bi finally understood: they were saying that this mouse was sharpening its teeth on the zoo benches. They had seen it, so they caught it to claim credit.

Kong Bi let out an “uh,” wondering how long these two tree sparrows, far more intelligent than their peers, had been secretly observing the zoo before deciding to come forward. Could it be because they saw Boss Coal bring mice to pay for massages?

“Well… thanks? Want some to eat?” Kong Bi patted her pockets and pulled out an egg she had snuck from the cafeteria to have as a snack.

“Chirp chirp!”

The two tree sparrows exchanged joyful glances and happily pounced on the egg.

Kong Bi blinked. She didn’t know what they understood. Maybe they wanted spiritual spring water? But it seemed that they were not opposed to other food.

“Meow!”

The Coal Boss who found Kong Bi by following her smell was heartbroken.

This life is unbearable!

Kong Bi turned her head to look at the Coal Boss and threw the little mouse over. She didn’t need this thing. The Coal Boss could eat it himself or give it to Chuchu. The tree sparrow glanced at the Coal Boss and turned away. Although the big brother’s method is very useful, I’m sorry, big brother, your position is ours!

The Coal Boss stared at the little mouse with deep hatred.

Kong Bi had no way of knowing what the Coal Boss was thinking. She put the egg down and couldn’t wait to go back and wash her hands. Although the tree sparrows were actually quite cute, with black ‘rouge’ markings by their cheeks, this gift was truly too much to handle.

Li Da suddenly popped out from somewhere and couldn’t help but exclaim: “Director, you must be a druid, right?”

Kong Bi shook her hands, feeling a bit uncomfortable, and casually replied, “In China, it’s called a Beast Tamer.”

Li Da said, “Druid sounds more fitting.”

Kong Bi glanced at her sideways, “Well, I think Demon King sounds even more fitting.”

…

After going back and thoroughly washing her hands with alcohol-based hand sanitizer, Kong Bi finally felt a bit more comfortable. Wild mice carry several times more germs than lab mice, and they aren’t as plump and tasty as field mice, so she didn’t like them.

Glancing at the recent bills, Kong Bi mentally went over the accounts. She had been at Peacock Mountain for almost a month and had spent nearly a million yuan, mainly on renovations and various equipment. The road repair approval had come through. Since there were also villages nearby, the road was going to be repaired anyway, so the government would bear 70% of the cost. The village also needed to contribute funds, so the expenses allocated to Kong Bi weren’t too much, at least not as exaggerated as tens of millions, and were still within her financial capacity.

Otherwise, Kong Bi had planned to postpone the road repair. If absolutely necessary, she could take advantage of the night to dig up some soil from the mountain and fill in the potholes, using her demonic power to compact it. Cars could still drive on it. After all, there were ways to manage even when poor. If she did that, Kong Bi believed she could roughly level the road in about a month of effort. However, although it wouldn’t completely revert to its previous state after rain, dirt roads couldn’t compare to cement roads, and their lifespan was limited.

After finishing the calculations, Kong Bi felt that she hadn’t reached rock bottom yet, but the constant outflow without any income was giving her a headache.

Should she rent a few animals from other zoos to open the zoo first? Always waiting for monsters to show up was too much of a gamble.

Sighing, Kong Bi didn’t dwell on it. When it was time for dinner, she first went to check the peacock enclosure for feathers. There were none left, and the sacks had been taken away. These feathers wouldn’t be thrown in the trash. After disinfection, they would be put in the warehouse. Kong Bi felt she could use them to make some merchandise to sell.

There was braised pork for dinner, which made Kong Bi feel better. As the peaceful day at the zoo passed, Kong Bi returned to the dormitory to sleep.

Because her dormitory was near the peacock enclosure, the construction workers hadn’t gotten around to demolishing it yet, planning to tear it down when they demolished the peacock enclosure. So, Kong Bi was still living there for the time being.

The moonlight was as soft as water.

The green peacocks perched on branches, fast asleep. Wang Tianba, who had lost quite a few feathers, also had no interest in going out at night and was slept in the pit she dug herself.

Apart from the night patrol security guards, the zoo was peaceful.

Until a roar shattered the silence.

“ROAR—!”