Qian Nuo was stunned before catching on.
“Wen Jie, are you coming to work here? That means I’ll be your colleague! Hehe, that’s awesome.”
“Not yet.”
Wen Youning continued coaxing the monkey in her arms.
“You need to go home, and so do I.”
The little golden monkey rested its paw on her shoulder, unwilling to move.
The zookeeper came out with food and blew a whistle. ‘Beep ’
“Meal time!”
Usually, the monkeys would swarm at the sound.
But today, they stayed put on the platform.
Well, not entirely motionless.
Some were being pushed off the platform and had to struggle back up.
The zookeeper: “???”
Not excited for food?
Typically, golden monkeys didn’t eat much from visitors.
The shyer ones wouldn’t come forward at all, relying solely on their scheduled meals.
But today… what was going on?
The confused zookeeper walked closer.
The golden monkeys sat in neat rows, their fluffy golden heads facing him like a class of students attentively listening to a lecture.
“Why are they ignoring me?” He sighed, feeling left out.
“Xiao Zhi, why are you in a visitor’s arms?” The zookeeper placed his hands on his hips.
“Come on, I brought lots of your favorite bananas.”
The little golden monkey didn’t budge.
Xiao Zhi is a different monkey.
I’m Manman.
……
“You must have mistaken it.
This is Manman.”
Wen Youning gently nudged the little one’s back.
“Go on, eat your banana.”
She had chosen apples because the bananas on display didn’t look great.
It wasn’t intentional bananas were just hard to store.
Either they were unripe and astringent, or they ripened too fast.
Even in a zoo, it was difficult to get the timing just right.
The zookeeper hesitated but then instinctively handed over a banana when the monkey reached for it.
Manman carefully peeled it, then held it up to Wen Youning’s mouth. “Ooh!”
It’s delicious!
Manman likes eating it.
It’s all for you!
The zookeeper’s eyebrow twitched.
“I’ve fed you for so long… and you never did this for me.”
Wen Youning took a bite and broke the banana in half.
“That’s enough for me.
The rest is for you.”
Manman smiled and took a slow, contented bite.
“Ooh…”
So tasty.
“Alright, go home now.”
Wen Youning coaxed the monkey down.
It obediently joined the others.
Manman stood out among the group because, true to its nam
e, it moved half a beat slower than the other little monkeys.
Wen Youning stretched her arms, feeling oddly unbalanced after being free of clinging monkeys.
If golden monkeys weren’t a protected species, they’d make excellent pets.
She had carried them for so long, yet not a single strand of fur was left on her!
A truly miraculous, non-shedding animal.
Chen Feng finished his apple and said, “You guys go to the crocodile pool.
I have a meeting.”
“A meeting? That busy? Internal affairs of Bear Ridge?” Qian Nuo hadn’t received any notice.
Chen Feng nodded. They needed to discuss how to repair the door a black bear had smashed.
Wen Youning handed the remaining apples to him.
“Take these to the bears.”
“Got it.”
“Let’s go. I’ll guide you to the crocodile pool it’s tricky to find.”
Qian Nuo grinned.
“We got tons of complaints about it before.”
The crocodile pool and Monkey Hill once held the record for the most visitor complaints.
“So the director moved it to the back.
It keeps out accidental visitors and helps with security.”
And just like that, the complaints significantly decreased.
Chen Feng stepped into the Xiongling area and casually wiped the entrance sign with his sleeve.
He originally planned to go straight back to the lounge and prepare the PPT for the upcoming meeting in advance.
But before that, he went to the bear-watching platform he had to feed the bears their apples first.
He didn’t dare to get as close to the black bears as Wen Youning did.
So, he could only feed them from a distance.
“Hey! Riyue!” Chen Feng shook the apple in his hand.
“Come on, catch it!”
As the black bear looked up, Chen Feng tossed the apple toward it.
However, Riyue merely glanced at it.
Being woken up from its nap, the bear had no interest in a post-nap snack.
It licked its lips, turned over, and continued sleeping with its back to the zookeeper who disturbed its sweet bear dreams.
‘Not interested.’
‘The bear doesn’t eat it.’
Chen Feng: “……”
When Wen Youning threw fish, you weren’t like this at all.
She didn’t even give you time to prepare.
I remind you, and your response is to turn your back on me?
Chen Feng looked at the other bears.
Alright, they all had their own sleeping postures, and not a single one bothered to lift its head.
So, you’re all against me now?
“This is from Wen Youning.
She asked me to bring it for you guys.
Are you really not eating?” Chen Feng called out one last time.
“If you don’t eat it, I will.”
The black bear’s nose twitched, belatedly catching a familiar scent.
It suddenly sat up and leaned closer to the apple that had fallen on the haystack.
“Ugh!” The black bear grabbed the apple and took a big bite.
Then, it looked up at the human lingering nearby and let out a roar.
‘Put it down for the bear!’
‘It all belongs to the bear!’
‘The bear loves apples the most!’
“Haha, you finally reacted?” Chen Feng was still in a rush.
Otherwise, he would’ve stayed to tease it a bit longer.
He poured the rest of the apples in, knowing that the haystack would cushion them so they wouldn’t break.
“You guys enjoy.”
Bears had apples in every meal, so it wasn’t a rare treat for them.
Leaving the apples for the bears to share among themselves, Chen Feng made a phone call and hurried to the lounge.
“Alright, alright, I know.
Yeah, I’m preparing it…”
Walking along the path toward the crocodile pool, the surroundings became noticeably quieter.
The crocodile pool was near the water, with a lot of moisture in the air.
The trees along the path provided shade, making the environment feel much cooler than outside.
“This area only gets crowded when the crocodile show is about to start,” Qian Nuo said while checking the schedule.
“I think the show is almost over now.”
The crocodile show had a public schedule that allowed visitors to plan their day.
They could decide which enclosures to visit first and even take a break in the air-conditioned theater while watching a performance.
“If that thief really passed by the crocodile pool, he got lucky.
Why didn’t the crocodiles just eat him?” Qian Nuo muttered through gritted teeth, clearly furious at the thief.
“Waaah!”
“So cool!”
Excited cheers came from the show area.
It seemed like the performance had reached its climax.
“Can we livestream inside?” Wen Youning asked before entering.
After all, the crocodile show was a paid event.
“Of course.”
Qian Nuo answered without hesitation.
“Our director is watching your livestream too.
If you don’t stream, I’ll have to.”
The crocodile show wasn’t a one-time event.
If people saw it online, they might be interested in experiencing it in person.
It actually helped the zoo’s revenue.
Besides, thanks to Wen Youning’s livestream, their zoo
which used to have plenty of spare tickets
had, for the first time, completely sold out all seven days of the week.
That was a huge amount of revenue.
Why would the zoo mind livestreaming a show?
Their director had a broad vision.
“By the way, did you report the missing goose eggs to the police?” Wen Youning suddenly remembered.
She had been too focused on gathering clues from the animals.
Qian Nuo snapped her fingers.
“Of course! Those were swan goose eggs.
I reported it as soon as I got back.”
Ideally, they should have reported it the moment they found out the eggs were missing.
But at the time, an expert had visited and claimed the breeding attempt had failed, so there shouldn’t have been any eggs.
She also had no surveillance footage or solid proof that the swan goose had actually laid eggs and that they were stolen.
It would have sounded ridiculous to accuse someone based on blurry figures in the security footage alone.
The police needed evidence.
And a report required justification.
She couldn’t just call the police with nothing but words and expect them to investigate.
That would be wishful thinking.
But later, when they found an egg in the bear enclosure, it proved that the swan goose had indeed laid eggs and that someone had taken them.
That gave them a valid reason to report the case.
As soon as Qian Nuo secured the egg, she wasted no time calling the police.
Their director also received news from the police and was now rushing back.
Everyone was taking the missing eggs very seriously.
“The police should be here soon.
I have a colleague waiting over there,” Qian Nuo said, shaking her walkie-talkie.
“If they need to ask me anything, they’ll contact me.”
Most of the basics could be handled by her colleague.
Qian Nuo still preferred to search with Wen Youning.
This case is getting serious! Thief, are you watching? You didn’t cover your tracks perfectly! Return the eggs now!
Yeah! If you return them intact, you still have a chance.
With today’s technology, you can’t escape.
…
The livestream viewers were on edge, especially after learning that the recovered egg still had a chance of hatching.
Naturally, they were even more worried about the missing ones.
“Let’s go inside first,” Qian Nuo lowered her voice so they wouldn’t disturb the visitors.
She led Wen Youning upstairs.
“We need to wait for the zookeeper to finish performing and take us to the back pool.”
The second floor was off-limits to visitors.
It was mainly used for moving equipment.
Several rooms housed crocodiles, but only temporarily for performances.
After the show, they were returned to the main pool.
It wasn’t that the view was bad it was actually better than the first floor.
But they didn’t open it to the public to prevent accidents.
Some people were reckless enough to jump in and wrestle crocodiles.
There had been cases like that in other zoos, forcing them to shut down for renovations.
If someone jumped in, even if the crocodile didn’t want to eat them, it might snap its jaw out of reflex.
Then, both the person and the crocodile would be in trouble.
So, to avoid such incidents, they simply kept the area closed.
Right now, with the performance underway, the second floor was completely empty.
Qian Nuo lifted a curtain.
“Should we ask a crocodile here first?
Most of them are in the main pool, and I’m afraid their thoughts will be too mixed for you to hear clearly.”
“Yeah.”
Wen Youning agreed.
If all the crocodiles were in the same pool at night, they must have seen the same thing.
She stepped inside.
The first thing she saw was a massive tank stretching across the entire room.
The water covered about half of the crocodile’s body.
Hearing movement, the crocodile’s eyes shifted slightly, but it remained still.
“Hello?” Wen Youning kept her distance.
“Does the crocodile exhibit sell food for feeding?”
She hadn’t seen any stalls like the ones near the golden monkeys.
“Yeah. I’ll go buy some,” Qian Nuo suddenly remembered.
“You can’t just ask them for information without offering something in return.”
With that, she hurried downstairs.
Wen Youning dimmed the tank’s lights a little.
Then, she turned them off completely.
The crocodile closed its eyes briefly, seeming to adjust.
Then, it slowly reopened them.
‘You… hello…’
Wen Youning raised an eyebrow.
This crocodile seemed young, but its thoughts sounded odd.
“Hello. Have you seen anyone suspicious lately?
Someone who smelled like birds?”