Chapter 33.2

Mu Ling let out a sigh of relief and thanked Colonel Song, “You’ve really gone to so much trouble these past few days, running up and down the mountain every day.”

Colonel Song quickly waved his hand, “It’s nothing at all. I’m happy to see Pimi getting better each day. Besides, it’s my honor to be able to help you all.”

After thanking Colonel Song one more time, Mu Ling turned her attention to Wei Li.

Wei Li spoke up, “Most of the supermarket products are already on the shelves. Some items with shorter shelf lives will be delivered in a few days, but everything should be fully stocked by the 14th. For the restaurant, we’ve ordered all the ingredients to arrive on the afternoon of the 16th. Now we just need to hire staff.”

Mu Ling nodded, “For the second round of hiring, I’ve scheduled it for Monday. I’ll make sure all positions are filled then. For training, Brother Wei, I’d like you to lead that. And as for Brother Xiang…”

Mu Ling turned to Xiang Bie, “I’d like your help in planning the land use. I want to build an animal dormitory in the service area.”

Xiang Bie was taken aback, as were the others who looked at Mu Ling in confusion, clearly not understanding what an “animal dormitory” meant.

Mu Ling explained, “As everyone saw earlier, our infirmary is already quite crowded. However, not all animals staying there are sick or injured. Lightning and Qingjiao are both healthy, but Lightning refuses to go back up the mountain and has nowhere else to stay, so it has to live in the infirmary. Qingjiao needs to stay with the little wolf and can’t leave either. So I want to build a temporary animal dormitory to house the animals that don’t need isolation, while keeping the infirmary reserved for critically ill animals that need to be isolated.”

Wei Li didn’t quite understand, “What do you mean by ‘critically ill’?”

Mu Ling clarified that animals like Moonlight and Pimi would be considered critically ill, while the brown deer, Qilin, and little wolf were only minor cases.

Wei Li frowned, “But building a house in just a few days isn’t realistic.”

Mu Ling nodded, “Actually, I can’t afford to build a proper house either. So I was thinking we could first plan out the space, and I’ll order a capsule house.”

At the mention of a capsule house, Wei Li understood. A capsule house was a kind of portable wilderness tent with an outer skin made of liquid metal material that, when expanded, could be bulletproof and protect against wild animals. The largest capsule houses on the market were usually only about ten square meters. If the director wanted one custom-made, it would likely cost quite a bit.

Mu Ling was well aware of the expense. Besides, a capsule house was just a tent-like structure without proper brick walls, so it wouldn’t naturally maintain temperature. She would need to install air circulation machines, air conditioners, and other equipment inside—adding even more expense.

“Actually, building an animal dormitory isn’t just about alleviating pressure from the infirmary,” Mu Ling continued. “I want to make it like a glass greenhouse capsule house where visitors can observe the animals through the glass. Animals like our Qilin, Lightning, Qingjiao, and the little wolf could live in these capsule houses for visitors to see. Of course, considering that animals probably won’t like being watched and might get scared or stressed, I’ll use two-way glass—visitors outside can see the animals inside, but the animals can’t see the visitors. This way, they won’t be disturbed while we still achieve our exhibition goals. After all, most people who come to our zoo are fans of Qilin and the others, and they definitely want to see them in person.”

Xiang Bie pondered for a moment before nodding, “That could work.”

Encouraged, Mu Ling straightened her back and continued, “Later, when Qilin and the others no longer want to stay down here and return to the mountains, we can regularly bring other animals down to stay in the dormitory. We’ll rotate different animals on duty each day, making sure visitors can see our animals as soon as they enter the zoo. This will break our curse of making it difficult to see animals at Bi Ke Zoo.”

Seeing Mu Ling speak so passionately, Xiang Bie nodded again in approval.

Mu Ling was pleased and looked at the others, “What do you all think?”

Wei Li nodded enthusiastically, “I think it’s great. The infirmary is indeed too crowded now. In the past, our veterinarians could only treat ordinary animals and had no contact with retired war beasts. But actually, many retired war beasts aren’t in good health. If more need to come down the mountain for treatment in the future, we can’t have them without proper enclosures.”

Lin Xuan said, “I’ll follow whatever the director decides.”

Zhao Fang gave a solemn “Mm” of agreement.

Li Yan nodded with a smile.

Colonel Song suddenly laughed and asked Mu Ling, “Director Mu, you’re the boss here. Whatever you say goes. Why are you asking for their opinions?”

Mu Ling was taken aback, feeling embarrassed. She scratched her face sheepishly and said, “I just didn’t want everyone to think I was wasting money…”

After all, with such limited funds, they had to spend carefully. But buying a capsule house was indeed a major expense—at least fifty or sixty thousand star coins—and with additional equipment, it would approach seventy or eighty thousand.

Colonel Song said firmly, “Even if you waste it, it’s your own money. If you say it’s fine, then it’s fine.”

Mu Ling quickly waved her hands, “No, no, no, it’s not my money, it’s the zoo’s money. We have to spend it wisely.”

Seeing how reserved Mu Ling still was, Colonel Song couldn’t help but want to teach her how to establish authority. Having reached the position of colonel with many soldiers under him, he knew that if he didn’t know how to balance kindness and strictness, how to be a qualified leader, he wouldn’t be able to keep those unruly soldiers in line.

After the short meeting ended, Colonel Song went to find Mu Ling, saying he wanted to give her a private lesson on how to be a leader.

Mu Ling readily agreed on the spot; but before they could start the formal lesson, early the next morning, Colonel Song was called back to the army.

“Didn’t you say Pimi is now willing to eat and take medicine? Then why aren’t you back yet? Higher-ups have issued orders, hurry back for assembly!”

So early the next morning, Colonel Song took one last tearful look at Pimi before leaving.

After Colonel Song left, Zhao Fang became the one to accompany the protective fence technicians up the mountain that day. Although Zhao Fang was missing one eye, it didn’t affect his shooting accuracy at all, making him more than qualified as a bodyguard. However, since Zhao Fang didn’t know the way, Xiang Bie drove him up.

Wei Li continued organizing the supermarket with Lin Xuan and Li Yan. Seeing that Brother Xiang hadn’t returned, Mu Ling decided to inspect the empty land around the service area herself, looking for suitable spots for the capsule house. She hadn’t been looking long when suddenly someone called out to her from a distance.

“Director! Director!”

Mu Ling turned to look and saw it was Brother Wei. She called back loudly, “What’s wrong?”

Wei Li pointed towards the veterinary station, “Moonlight is awake!”

Mu Ling was startled and quickly ran back.

When she reached Wei Li’s side, he looked very anxious and explained as they walked, “I was just at the supermarket when I suddenly heard howling from the veterinary station—bear roars, wolf howls, leopard growls, tiger roars—everything! When I went in to check, it was absolute chaos in there!”

Mu Ling had been too far away planning the capsule house location to hear anything, but now as they got closer, she could hear it too.

Good grief, was this a hospital ward or a marketplace? The noise was incredibly intense!

Lin Xuan and Li Yan waited at the entrance of the veterinary station until they saw Mu Ling enter before following her inside.

Having raised war beasts before, they understood that when war beasts become extremely agitated, those iron cages might not be able to hold them. They didn’t want to rashly enter and provoke them further.

Mu Ling quickly walked into the ward area. As soon as she entered, she saw Qilin standing proudly in its cage, glaring fiercely with a twisted expression at the Silver Snow bear two cages away.

At the same time, Pimi, separated from Qilin by one cage, was trembling on shaky legs but had managed to stand up, letting out weak roars at the Silver Snow bear next to it. If you ignored the pink-blue diaper on Pimi’s bottom and just looked at its black fur and majestic features, it still looked quite imposing.

Looking to the other side, Lightning was also roaring angrily at the Silver Snow bear. Its upper body was lowered, its sleek and agile form coiled in an attack posture, as if without the layers of iron cages restraining it, it would charge over and take a bite out of the Silver Snow bear’s neck.

Qingjiao next to Lightning was equally fierce, even using its claws to heavily scratch at the bars, making them clang loudly. The wolf cub sharing the ward with Qingjiao had long since huddled under its mother’s belly, but it was clearly on its mother’s side. Occasionally, it would poke its head out and give a childish “Awoo” at the Silver Snow bear, acting as moral support, before quickly retreating back under its mother’s belly.

In the entire ward area, if there was anyone not making noise, it was the brown deer at the bottom of the food chain.

The brown deer was curled up in the farthest corner of ward B4, directly opposite the Silver Snow bear and to the left of Qingjiao. It didn’t dare make a sound, just quietly bundling itself into a corner, face against the wall, in a humble posture of “You can’t see me, you can’t see me, nobody can see me.”

Mu Ling: “…”

Mu Ling pressed her forehead hard, finally having to turn her gaze to the Silver Snow

bear that had united the entire ward against it.

Bears can stand upright, and now this Silver Snow bear was standing, gripping the thin bars with both paws, shaking them while indiscriminately attacking each of its neighbors.

Mu Ling: “…”

What kind of situation was this? A toxic Silver Snow bear challenging the entire server 1v5?

Mu Ling felt both gratified and helpless looking at the scene. She was gratified that Moonlight had such abundant energy, showing that the brief coma hadn’t caused too much damage to its body.

She was helpless because, well, whose child starts cursing as soon as they wake up?

Mu Ling had to ask Wei Li, “So why exactly are they fighting?”

Wei Li grimly opened his light brain and showed Mu Ling a clip of the ward’s surveillance footage. In the video, after the Silver Snow bear woke up, it started making a huge fuss in the ward. At first, no one paid attention to it, but then it knocked over its food bowl, kicked over its water bowl, and started banging its head against the wall.

When Mu Ling saw the Silver Snow bear banging its head against the wall, her expression immediately changed.

At the same time, Qilin in the video also reacted. Qilin suddenly stood up and started roaring at the Silver Snow bear.

Then all the animals started roaring at the Silver Snow bear.

The Silver Snow bear was stunned by the roaring. It seemed to sense a challenge and threat, so it changed from self-harm to roaring back at them, getting louder and more frenzied, as if it had gone berserk from the argument.

Mu Ling watched with furrowed brows, but inwardly she couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Thank goodness for Qilin.

Thank goodness Qilin noticed.

Indeed, her Qilin was truly a very gentle, very gentle little tiger.

And so were Lightning and Qingjiao, and even Pimi. Pimi was already half-dead itself, yet it still stood up to stop another animal from self-harming.

Mu Ling’s eyes suddenly felt a bit sore. She sniffled and said to Wei, “Brother Wei, please get me a sedative. I guess Moonlight’s neural damage value must be over 90 now. Its condition is too severe.”