Dragon Country's Blue Star, West Rainbow Zoo in Ningnan City.
Looking at the half-dead animals before him, Yang Lin's face was full of despair.
He was, after all, a top graduate from a prestigious 211 university and should have had a bright future ahead of him.
But fate had other plans. His unreliable parents had unexpectedly dumped this zoo, inherited from his grandfather, into his hands.
Meanwhile, they had run off to enjoy their retirement abroad.
If it were a normal zoo, that would have been fine - it would at least earn more money than a regular job.
But the problem was that nothing in this zoo was normal, from the facilities to the animals.
The park's facilities were older than he was, and the animals were all rescues from circuses by his father and grandfather.
A toothless lion, a hairless tiger, a one-eyed bear, a leopard with a missing paw.
A chimpanzee with severe hemorrhoids, a gibbon with depression, and some ordinary animals you could see anywhere - pigs, cows, sheep, and a golden retriever.
With a zoo like this, it was impossible to attract visitors, let alone make a profit.
If it weren't for Yang's father's strict orders before leaving the country, Yang Lin would have seriously considered releasing all these animals back into the wild.
"Looks like I'll have to trick some out-of-town tourists online to make some money from ticket sales, otherwise we won't have enough to eat tomorrow," he sighed as he opened his TikTok live stream.
As soon as the live stream started, a few random viewers were pushed in by the system.
Seeing people enter the live room, Yang Lin immediately began his enthusiastic promotion.
"New babies, look here! West Rainbow Zoo is having a big year-end giveaway!"
"One ticket plus a snack package for you, plus an animal food package, all for just 49.9 yuan!"
"Here you can take photos with the majestic Siberian tiger, play with the lovable pirate bear, and enjoy unlimited access to the entire park with no time restrictions."
"Buy now and you might randomly receive an animal-themed souvenir!"
As soon as he finished his pitch, a viewer posted a comment.
"49.9 yuan, that's so cheap! I'm actually going to Ningnan for travel this week, might as well grab a ticket."
"Yeah, sounds pretty good."
But before Yang Lin could get excited, another comment appeared.
"Don't fall for it, everyone! I went to this West Rainbow Zoo last year, it's a total scam. The place is old and rundown."
"There are hardly any animals, and they had a stray dog tied up claiming it was a prairie wolf. The gorilla was a balding chimpanzee that ignored everyone."
"The worst was the tiger - without a sign, I would've thought it was someone's skinny dog."
With this comment, the two viewers who were considering buying tickets immediately abandoned the idea.
"Damn, I almost fell for the host's trick. Thanks, bro."
"Thank you, scam-buster, you saved my wallet."
Seeing these two comments, Yang Lin was immediately filled with rage. He was so close to scamming two suckers, and it was suddenly ruined. How could he not be angry?
"Kicking a cripple's good leg, are we? I'll remember your name, you dare ruin my plans."
As he spoke, he clicked into the profile of the user named "Kick a cripple's good leg".
But the next second, he felt all his anger dissipate, because this person's likes list was so risqué that if he had less self-control, he might not have been able to look away.
It took him a good while before he reluctantly closed his phone, a look of lingering desire on his face.
"No, no, I can't keep slacking off like this. If I keep this up, there won't be enough money to feed these animals tomorrow."
"I need to film a video to attract some traffic."
With that, he walked towards the park area.
After walking less than ten meters, an enclosed area appeared before him.
Inside this area, a balding chimpanzee sat with its back turned to him.
"Awei, turn your face this way. I want to film a video of you. Once we're done, we'll have bananas to eat."
Awei was the name of this adult chimpanzee. Yang Lin had no idea what his grandfather was thinking when he gave all these animals human names.
The full name of this chimpanzee in front of him was actually Li Wei.
Li Wei either didn't hear Yang Lin's call or was deliberately ignoring him, as he didn't turn around even after Yang Lin called several times.
Left with no choice, Yang Lin turned to the gibbon next door, Li Qiang.
As a gibbon suffering from depression, Li Qiang's attitude was no better than Li Wei's.
Seeing that not a single animal was willing to cooperate with his video shoot, Yang Lin felt utterly hopeless.
However, at that very moment, a system prompt suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Ding! Talent Cultivation System activated."
"Initializing skill binding."
"Skill One: Beast Language Mastery. Learn this skill to communicate seamlessly with all animals in the world."
"Skill Two: Talent Insight. Learn this skill to freely perceive animals' hidden talents."
"Skill Three: Talent Point Distribution. Learn this skill to activate animals' hidden talents through point allocation."
"As this is the host's first time binding to the system, a free Talent Gift Pack is provided, containing three basic talents. Additionally, three talent points are gifted."
...
Listening to the system prompt in his mind, Yang Lin was stunned for a moment before suddenly realizing what was happening.
"Holy crap, a cheat code!"
"No, it's a golden finger!"
Deeply influenced by internet culture, he immediately recognized that this was his life's golden opportunity.
With a hint of excitement, he quickly found the so-called system in his mind.
After some investigation, he quickly understood how to use the system.
In simple terms, it was about cultivating animals by allocating points to awaken their various hidden talents.
The talent points needed for allocation could only be obtained through tasks, apart from those gifted by the system.
Of course, he could also purchase them from the system's talent store.
But after glancing at the prices, he immediately abandoned the idea of buying.
At the same time, the system prompt sounded again.
"Ding! Please quickly select three animals to awaken their talents. Upon completion of the task, you will receive one talent point."
Hearing this task prompt, Yang Lin immediately understood that this was the beginner's mission.
Without hesitation, he turned to look at the chimpanzee Li Wei, who was sitting there doing who-knows-what.
He was very curious about what hidden talents this balding old chimpanzee might have.
With a touch of curiosity, he cast a beam of insight towards Li Wei.
The next second, a detailed list appeared before him.
"Talent One: Tool Crafting (Golden Talent) Requires 5 talent points to activate."
"Talent Two: Super Brain (Golden Talent) Requires 5 talent points to activate."
"Talent Three: Throwing Mastery (Green Talent) Requires 1 talent point to activate."
"Talent Four: ?"
"Talent Five: ?"
...
Looking at the list of talents before him, Yang Lin didn't even think twice before selecting Throwing Mastery.
There was no other reason; it was simply because this was the only talent he could afford to activate.
And just as he finished allocating the point, an inexplicable change suddenly occurred in the chimpanzee Li Wei's body.
Li Wei, who had been facing away from Yang Lin, suddenly turned around.