I have a wildlife zoo

Often before the sky even brightened, Old Zhang would take the battered van there to purchase fresh vegetables, fruit, and meat needed for the zoo. The only bus that stopped at the zoo, route 35, had its penultimate stop at the zoo, and its fifth-from-last at the Guanhu Farmers\' Market. The distance was quite close.

After some thought, he made a call to Meng Shi.

It was better to go earlier. The system said there was no danger to its life for 24 hours, but who knew who would buy it, and if its location changed it would be even more troublesome to find.

At this time, Meng Shi had a 30kg dumbbell in each hand. The heavy weights seemed as light as feathers in his hands, lifting up and down without his face turning red or his heartbeat accelerating, not even a slight hastening of his breath. For him, this weight was merely an appetizer.

The zoo\'s opening time was 8 a.m., and because it was located in the suburbs and didn\'t have many animals, there were originally no visitors coming so early. The animal keepers could leisurely sleep until 7 o\'clock, or even get up at 8 o\'clock.

But now, as the zoo gradually regained its popularity, some animal-loving visitors would indeed come at 8 a.m., so they had to get up earlier to clean the exhibition areas and feed the animals before the guests arrived.

Even though Meng Shi had come to the zoo, he still kept up his fitness routine, so he would get up a little earlier to exercise his muscles a bit.

He put down one dumbbell and picked up the phone with one hand, while still continuously lifting the other dumbbell, "Hello, Director."

"Are you up? I didn\'t wake you, did I?"

"No, I\'m exercising right now."

Fang Ye immediately understood. Judging by the calm voice, he was probably doing some morning calisthenics or something, "Okay, let\'s have a meal together later, then come with me to the farmers\' market."

"Oh, all right." Meng Shi didn\'t ask what for; it was nothing more than him being used as a manual labor tool. He hung up and continued his workout.

After Lan Li came to take over White Tiger, Fang Ye went to the cafeteria with Meng Shi for breakfast, then asked Old Zhang for the keys to the van and headed to the farmers\' market.

"By the way, Meng Shi, can you drive?" After getting into the car, Fang Ye yawned, "I\'d like to catch a quick nap."

"Director, the front seat is too small, I can\'t move freely, and I\'m afraid it would be dangerous if I drove."

Turning to look, Fang Ye was rendered speechless; sure enough, even in the vast space of the van\'s back seat, Meng Shi looked cramped, his head having to duck slightly.

"Never mind, I\'ll do it."

The distance of three stops was reached in no time!

Now it was 6:30 a.m., but the farmers\' market was already bustling. Cargo tricycles delivering vegetables were squeezing through the not-so-wide lanes, and elderly men and women with small carts and baskets were everywhere, picking and choosing at the stands, with sounds of bargaining, chopping meat, and squawking poultry all blending together, and the air was tinged with the stench of animals.

Anyone who has bought groceries knows that this time of the morning is when it\'s crowded because both the meat and vegetables are fresh and the variety is complete. Come later, and the prime goods and the best-looking ones will have been picked over, leaving only the less desirable choices.

Guanhu Farmers\' Market is roughly divided into three areas: a vegetable and fruit area, a meat area, and a seafood area.

The entrance area is the vegetable and fruit area. On the stands, one can see fresh bamboo shoots just dug up, their roots cut off with a sharp cleaver, still covered in soil, red, plump tomatoes stacked into triangular piles with a slight touch causing two from the edge to roll down. Fang Ye, quick-eyed and deft-handed, scooped them up just in time and tucked them back in place.

Meng Shi conscientiously said, "Director, I\'ll wait for you outside; just call me to carry things when you\'re done shopping."

"Ok!" Fang Ye gave a gesture.

The animals needing rescue were likely in the seafood or meat sections, probably not in the vegetables and fruits section. So, he headed straight for the seafood area.

Just entering the seafood area, he saw a young boss in rubber shoes grabbing a big carp and slamming it hard on the ground. With a smack, the fish was dazed and confused. He weighed it, and before it could react, it was skillfully gutted and descaled with dazzling knife work, then handed over to the old man beside him.

Fang Ye watched, salivating a bit. It seemed like it had been a while since he last ate fish. Should he buy a couple of fish to take back for Old Zhang to make some braised fish or something? Of course, if he were to buy fish, he\'d prefer sea fish, which have fewer bones.

Swallowing his saliva and shaking his head, no, you\'re not here to buy groceries, you\'re here to find protected animals! Focus on the task at hand.

There was no need to scrutinize each and every stall meticulously. A prompt would appear when he was within 20 meters of the animal, so he followed the crowd deeper into the market.

"But it wouldn\'t be a fish, right? The zoo doesn\'t have a specialized marine pavilion now, so it wouldn\'t be easy to keep fish."

Fang Ye muttered to himself.

If they didn\'t have the appropriate environment and just used a simple aquarium, that would be too degrading. This is a zoo, not a pet market.

However, after walking around, he hadn\'t heard the prompt, but he did see some lively crayfish waving their pincers non-stop at a stall, and he couldn\'t help but buy five pounds. Wouldn\'t it be wonderful to have spicy beer crayfish as a late-night snack?

After purchasing, he handed over the crayfish to Meng Shi and continued his search in the meat section.

The primary source of odor in the farmers\' market came from the meat section, where tightly coiled, fragrant pig intestines were laid out in metal trays, making Fang Ye instinctively wrinkle his nose and put on a pained expression as he passed by.

Although he rather liked eating intestines, especially stir-fried ones, he had to admit that the smell of fresh intestines really wasn\'t flattering.

"Cluck cluck cluck cluck!" The chickens and ducks in the cages were noisily cackling, and pigeons were cooing and flapping their wings.

After passing through the poultry section, Fang Ye was puzzled. Looking ahead, all he could see were butchered pigs, cows, sheep, and the like, with no live animals in sight. So where was the protected animal?

His gaze swept over to the market\'s back door, and Fang Ye unconsciously walked towards it.

Passing through the back door, a small alley lined with shops opened up – a whole new world.

In fact, the products sold here were the same as those in the larger market outside, but there were fewer casual shoppers in the back alley, and more were purchasing for restaurants, buying entire pigs and sheep, and boxes and boxes of seafood and vegetables.

Most of them had already been reserved in advance, and there was none of the noisy haggling from outside; they just checked the orders and carried them straight to the vehicles.

Even the zoo, when preparing feed for the animals, had long-term partnerships with several shops here.

"Boss, want to buy some pigs? Come, take a look at mine – they\'re fat and big, with all the health checks complete!" A bare-chested, greasy pig trader seemed to notice Fang Ye was a new face and warmly called out to him.

Fang Ye waved his hand, the smell here was truly awful, and if not necessary, he didn\'t want to speak.

"Ding! A protected animal has appeared within a 20-meter range!"

Having just walked a few steps into the alley, the system prompt appeared, and Fang Ye immediately perked up, speeding up his pace, finally finding it after such a long search!