Chapter 499 - 241: Worldly Karma, You Reap What You Sow

Chapter 499: Chapter 241: Worldly Karma, You Reap What You Sow

"Get outta here! You’re the one who should go to Siam for surgery. I just became a supervisor. My best days are ahead of me, I don’t want to have a premature... transition!"

He’d been promoted to supervisor of a small team last month for his outstanding performance on a project. The pay raise wasn’t much, but he’d finally escaped the endless overtime of a bottom-rung coder and was loving it.

"Speaking of which, that’s a real pain in the ass for me."

Gao Zhenyue wiped his mouth, his expression collapsing as he sighed. "Every one of you has either landed a cushy job, blown up online, or gotten promoted with a raise. And then there’s me, still a pathetic ride-share driver, out in all kinds of weather, just scraping by. Man, I’m such a loser."

"You’re only just now realizing this?"

Ye Haibing dropped the joking demeanor and put on a look of utter shock, his expression seeming to say, ’Did you have some kind of delusion about yourself?’

Gao Zhenyue: "..."

Song Wan and Qian Yu chuckled again.

Yang Qi laughed too, but his expression grew serious afterward. He looked at Gao Zhenyue and said, "Old Gao, your information is a bit out of date. I’m no longer with Donghua Zoo."

"Left?"

Gao Zhenyue was stunned, not quite processing it. "You quit? Weren’t things going well?"

The smiles vanished from the faces of Ye Haibing, Song Wan, and Qian Yu as they turned to Yang Qi with concern.

Qian Yu quickly asked, "What happened? Did you run into some trouble at work? Have you already quit? Or..."

"I didn’t quit."

Yang Qi shook his head. Without trying to build suspense, he gave them the answer. "It’s a transfer. Or, to be more accurate, I’ve left my position to help start a new enterprise. Have you heard of the Xianlai Wildlife World?"

"I have!"

Song Wan’s eyes lit up as she jumped in. "It’s that massive private zoo they’re building west of Donghua! The one Brother Pang, Pang Yunrui, is investing in. It’s huge—something like three or four thousand acres!"

"I was just thinking that once it’s finished, it’ll be one of the biggest wildlife parks in our province, maybe even in all of East China."

"Three or four thousand acres?"

Gao Zhenyue gasped. "That big? How much must that have cost?"

Ye Haibing was also stunned. He looked at Yang Qi, a mix of dawning realization and speculation on his face. "Brother Qi, you jumped ship to Xianlai? Brother Pang must have poached you. With your skills, he must be paying you a fortune. Are you the chief technical officer, or the vice director in charge of the animals?"

Yang Qi met their curious and expectant gazes, smiled, and said calmly, "The Director, actually."

"Oh, so the Director."

Ye Haibing nodded automatically, repeating the word to show he’d heard.

The next second—

"What?!"

Ye Haibing shot up from his chair, his eyes wide as saucers and his voice cracking. "You’re the Director? You’re telling me you’re the Director?! The Director of the three-or-four-thousand-acre Xianlai Zoo?!"

"Holy shit! Holy fucking shit!"

Gao Zhenyue also cried out, nearly sliding off his chair. He gripped the edge of the table, staring at Yang Qi as if he’d seen a ghost. "Brother Qi, you... you’re the director of a three-or-four-thousand-acre zoo? For real?!"

Song Wan and Qian Yu were dumbfounded, their mouths agape as they stared at Yang Qi, speechless.

They knew Yang Qi was amazing with animals and highly valued, but to jump directly from being a keeper at Donghua Zoo to the director of a private zoo spanning thousands of acres?

That was a huge leap!

Qian Yu had a quick mind. Once the shock wore off, she immediately began to analyze the situation. "Wait a minute... with your abilities, Yang Qi—being able to communicate with animals, your phenomenal training skills, not to mention being a special consultant for the municipal bureau..."

"From a professional standpoint, being a zoo director isn’t out of the question for you. In fact, it’s a perfect fit. It’s just... the position and the power that comes with it... isn’t that a little much to be given?"

Song Wan also snapped out of it, her shock giving way to delight.

She looked at Yang Qi, thrilled, and said energetically, "Yang Qi! Yang Qi! When is Xianlai’s grand opening? As soon as you have a date, you have to tell me! I’ll promote it for you for free! I’ll use all of my social media accounts for a comprehensive, multi-angle promotional blitz to build hype for Xianlai!"

"That’s right!"

Qian Yu’s eyes lit up as she chimed in, "Wanwan has ten million followers across all platforms now. Even though she’s in the pet vlogging space and there might be some audience overlap, her follower base is massive, her reach is huge, and plenty of her fans are interested in wildlife parks."

"If this promotional push is done right, it could save you an incredible amount of money and effort on marketing."

’It would be more than just saving a ton of money and effort; it would be a game-changer!’ Yang Qi thought.

In this day and age, when online traffic is king, a wholehearted endorsement from a top-tier pet blogger like Song Wan could be far more effective than spending millions on traditional advertising.

Moreover, this kind of word-of-mouth marketing, built on trust, would have an extremely high conversion rate.

"In that case, let me thank you in advance, Song Wan. I’ll owe you one," Yang Qi said, not bothering with false modesty and thanking her sincerely.

He knew Song Wan genuinely wanted to help and that it wasn’t in her nature to expect something in return.

"Don’t say that!"

Song Wan quickly waved her hands, her expression earnest. "Yang Qi, you helped me train Overlord for free, and I never even got to thank you properly. I’ve felt like I owed you a huge favor ever since. Now that I have a chance to help you, I finally feel a sense of relief. Otherwise, I’d just keep feeling indebted."

She spoke with such sincerity that Ye Haibing, Gao Zhenyue, and Qian Yu were all moved.

Back when Yang Qi helped train Overlord, who could have predicted how things would turn out?

Song Wan became a star, and now Yang Qi’s career had skyrocketed—he was the director of a zoo spanning thousands of acres.

Fate truly is a strange thing.

Yang Qi felt a similar wave of emotion.

Back when he had performed Spirit Awakening for Overlord and done some basic training to get him used to being filmed and understanding complex commands, Pang Yunrui hadn’t even approached him about establishing Xianlai.

He had done it purely as a favor for a fellow classmate.

Who would have thought that the small seed of goodwill he’d planted back then would now be quietly blossoming, perhaps even bearing bountiful fruit in the future.

The way karma worked in this world, every action and consequence, was truly a profound mystery.

"Alright, alright, let’s not just stand around talking, the food’s getting cold! Today is a day to congratulate Brother Qi... wait, no, Director Yang! Nobody’s going home sober tonight!"

Gao Zhenyue was the first to snap out of the complex mood, his loud shout shattering the sentimental atmosphere in the private room.

"That’s right, that’s right! Let’s eat! Congratulations to Brother Qi on his promotion to Director!"

Ye Haibing also came to his senses, quickly raising his glass.

"Congratulations, Director Yang!" Song Wan and Qian Yu also said, smiling as they raised their glasses.

Yang Qi smiled, picked up his drink, and clinked glasses with everyone.

...

The morning after their get-together, sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the villa at the Xianlai Zoo residence, spilling onto the polished floor.

Yang Qi was packing a simple duffel bag, preparing to go back to his hometown for the New Year.

He had changed into a lightweight, dark-colored windbreaker and a pair of hiking boots, dressed as if ready to head into the mountains at a moment’s notice.

This trip home wasn’t just to reunite with his grandmother; he also planned to scout things out in Hanxi Province.

Xiaojiu crouched on the sofa, elegantly licking its paws, its emerald-green eyes occasionally glancing at the busy Yang Qi.

Bai Wan, Hu Zi, and Leopard, on the other hand, were tearing around the living room, ecstatic at the prospect of "going out."

Liu Fu was camouflaged on the hood of Yang Qi’s windbreaker, practically invisible unless you looked very closely.

"Okay, settle down, everyone. Time to head out."

Yang Qi put a few changes of clothes into the inner compartment of his backpack, then zipped it up.

Just as he straightened up to call his Guardian Beasts to the door, his phone, lying on the coffee table, suddenly rang.

He walked over, picked it up, and saw the caller ID: Wang Anjiu.

Yang Qi answered the phone with a laugh. "Officer Wang, what made you think of me today?"

"Brother Qi, you’re holding out on me."

Wang Anjiu’s familiar voice came over the line, tinged with mock complaint but mostly amusement. "Such huge news—starting a new venture, becoming the director of a massive zoo like Xianlai—and you don’t even tell me so I can celebrate with you?"

"You’re exaggerating, Officer Wang," Yang Qi said humbly, then his tone shifted. "Did you need something? Is there another animal-related case you need help with?"

He knew Wang Anjiu’s personality; he wouldn’t call just to offer congratulations unless there was something else.

Sure enough, Wang Anjiu’s tone on the other end of the line turned serious. "Brother Qi, you guessed it. But this time, it’s not one of our cases here in Donghua. The police from another jurisdiction reached out, hoping to ask for your help."

’Police from another jurisdiction?’