The reason Happy escaped the wolf enclosure was infuriatingly simple.
The zookeeper in charge of the enclosure had been careless. After feeding time, he hadn't fully latched the inner gate, merely leaving it ajar.
Happy was naturally lively and active and had a habit of rubbing its body against the gate. This time, by a stroke of luck, it managed to push the unsecured gate open just enough to create a gap it could slip through.
"Luckily, Old Bao from the Leopard House next door happened to be feeding the animals and saw Happy strolling out from a distance. He rushed over and locked all the other gates to the wolf enclosure."
A security team member who knew what had happened explained in a low voice to Yang Qi, still shaken.
"If he hadn't, it probably wouldn't have been just Happy that got out!"
"That's just..." Yang Qi shook his head.
At least Happy was good-natured.
If it had been a more aggressive wolf, it might have hurt someone right after getting out.
...
On the way back to the wolf enclosure with Happy on a leash, Yang Qi saw the zookeeper who had caused this huge mess: Ma Jun.
He was a man in his thirties, wearing a clean uniform but exuding a slacker-like air. At this moment, however, his face was deathly pale. His head hung so low it nearly touched his chest, and he remained silent in the face of Jiang Kai's furious tirade.
"Ma Jun! How many times have I stressed the importance of safety to you? How many times! Do my words just go in one ear and out the other?" Jiang Kai's hands were trembling with anger.
Huang Zhongmu's face was ashen. He didn't say much, just tossed out a single cold sentence.
"Ma Jun, wait for me in my office."
With that, he turned and left.
Yang Qi safely returned Happy to the wolf enclosure, confirmed the gate was locked, then said goodbye to Mei Ying before leaving.
Back in Gao Zhenyue's car.
Gao Zhenyue asked impatiently, "So? Did you catch the wolf? Did anything bad happen?"
"We caught it. It was just a scare," Yang Qi said, fastening his seatbelt and letting out a long sigh of relief.
Hearing this, Gao Zhenyue perked up and joked, "Your Zoo is really something else. Your first day on the job is this exciting? Letting a wolf out for a morning run? Was that wolf reincarnated from a husky or something? It doesn't act like a wolf at all."
Yang Qi couldn't help but laugh. "You're actually right. Its name is 'Happy'."
"Happy? Seriously? HAHAHAHA!"
Gao Zhenyue froze for a second, then burst into joyous laughter. "That name is perfect! No way, when Old Ye and the squad leader get here tomorrow, I have to bring them to meet this 'Husky Wolf'! Hahaha..."
As they laughed and chatted, the car entered the quiet employee residential area.
Following Yang Qi's directions, the car finally came to a steady stop in front of a two-story, white-walled, gray-tiled villa with its own private courtyard, nestled at the foot of a mountain.
Yang Qi got out of the car first, carrying Xiaojiu. He took out his keys, unlocked the courtyard's picket gate, and then went to open the front door of the house.
Gao Zhenyue, who had followed him out to help carry things, felt his jaw drop. He stared, dumbfounded, at the small building, which was as exquisite as a bed and breakfast. "Brother... Brother Qi," he stammered in shock, "this... this is your dorm?"
"Yeah," Yang Qi replied over his shoulder as he opened the door.
"You live here alone?" Gao Zhenyue's voice went up an octave.
"Looks like it," Yang Qi said with a nod.
"Holy shit!!"
Gao Zhenyue let out a strange cry, hurried around the car, and got right in Yang Qi's face. He lowered his voice, his expression screaming, 'You've definitely got connections.'
"Brother Qi, fess up. Do you have a relative in upper management at the Zoo? A detached villa like this, and they give it to a new temp worker? With this kind of treatment... are you really a temp?"
"Get outta here."
Yang Qi pushed his friend's face away and calmly replied, "What are you thinking? This is because I have outstanding abilities, the leadership cares about me, and they made a special exception. Ever heard of 'special talent'?"
"For real?" Disbelief was written all over Gao Zhenyue's face.
He put down the package in his hands, forgetting all about moving things, and immediately whipped out his phone. He started snapping photos of the villa's picket-fenced yard and its white-walled, gray-tiled exterior. CLICK! CLICK!
Then he rushed inside and took pictures of the spacious living room, the clean kitchen, and even ran upstairs and downstairs to photograph every single room and the front and back yards before dumping them all into the "Liudong Study Group" WeChat group.
Sure enough, the group chat instantly exploded.
[Ye Haibing: ??? WTF! This is a dorm? Are you sure this isn't some vacation rental?! [Shocked]]
[Qian Yu: This place is way too nice! I'm so jealous! [Envious]]
[Song Wan: !!! I'm definitely coming tomorrow! Yang Qi, you better be ready to host! [Furious]]
[Gao Zhenyue: @All Did you see that? This is the kind of treatment Brother Qi gets! Everyone, come soak up some of this immortal aura tomorrow!]
Watching the chat instantly fill up with exclamations of amazement and clamors to visit the next day, Gao Zhenyue smugly put away his phone and gave Yang Qi a knowing wink.
Yang Qi smiled.
After the commotion died down, Gao Zhenyue helped move the last of the things inside, then said his goodbyes and left.
Yang Qi offered to treat him to lunch as a thank you, but Gao Zhenyue turned him down.
"Alright, no need to be so polite with me. Wait until everyone gets here tomorrow, then you can treat us all at once."
"For today, just focus on unpacking and getting familiar with your 'mansion'!"
Yang Qi had no choice but to see him out, watching the electric car disappear down the tree-lined road.
Then, he returned to the now-quiet house. Instead of rushing to unpack the luggage scattered across the floor, a thought struck him, and he called up the system interface.
After helping out a few times, his accumulated contribution points had just reached 200. He could do a lottery draw!
Two draws, in fact.
Immediately, Yang Qi rubbed his hands together and recited inwardly, 'Begin the draw!'
[Congratulations, Host. You have received a prize: Low-Grade Spirit Rice (five pounds)]
[Description: Rice that contains a faint amount of Spiritual Qi. Long-term consumption can slightly improve one's constitution and nourish qi and blood.]
'This is good stuff!'
Yang Qi's eyes lit up. This was practically a Foundation Establishment Grain tailor-made for a newbie cultivator like him!
'However...'
"I don't have a rice cooker. I'll have to buy one," Yang Qi muttered, making a mental note of the item he needed to get.
'Another draw!'
[Congratulations, Host. You have received a prize: Strengthening Pill]
[Description: Strengthens the body and slightly accelerates wound healing.]
'Strengthens the body and accelerates wound healing?'
Yang Qi's gaze immediately fell on Xiaojiu, who was curiously exploring its new home.
The injury on its leg had been treated, but it was still far from fully healed.
Without hesitation, he took out the brown, longan-sized pill that gave off a faint medicinal aroma and carefully broke it in half with his hands.
He swallowed one half himself and crushed the other, mixing it with a little water before feeding it to Xiaojiu.
Just a few seconds after the pill went down, Yang Qi felt a gentle warmth spread from his stomach to his limbs. His whole body grew slightly hot, and a fine layer of sweat beaded on his skin, as if he'd just had an invigorating workout. The resulting feeling of total-body comfort and abundant energy was something he hadn't experienced for months.
Meanwhile, Xiaojiu was having a similar reaction. Steam rose from its fur, and it began to meow anxiously, but its cries quickly turned into contented purrs.
[So comfortable...]
[It doesn't hurt anymore]
[Thank you]
Prompted by this, Yang Qi carefully unwrapped the bandage on its leg.
Sure enough, the wound, which should have taken several days to heal, was already completely closed, leaving behind only a small patch of pink, new skin.
'This effect...'
'It's incredible!'