Chapter 12: The Fifth-Tier Nest Adventure-The System Arrived Two Years Early, and I Became a God!(Writing a book is truly difficult.)

After finishing the call, Shen He casually tossed the phone back inside and thoughtfully closed the car door. As the saying goes, if you’re going to help someone, see it through to the end. As a decent person, he never slacked off, and he never neglected the details.

Having done all this, he hailed a cab by the roadside and asked the driver to take him for a spin around the area.

He still had thirty percent left to complete his daily task number two. Now, all the locations relied on trigger points to light up; so far he’d unlocked Qingsong Elderly Home and the Yunding Building. The rest, he had no idea where to find. So he had no choice but to use the most cumbersome method to try to fill in the remaining thirty percent.

It was all up to luck.

He just had to see if he could randomly trigger another lair or nest or something of the sort.

In the car, Shen He couldn’t help but grumble inwardly. What a lousy game—there wasn’t even an auto-pathfinding map. This was really pushing it.

The taxi began circling the main roads around his rental apartment as the center. The driver had never had such a bizarre fare before—meter running, just driving aimlessly through the city. He figured that by the time this ride was done, the tip alone might be enough for him to book the number eighty-eight technician for extra time tonight.

They drove for about half an hour.

Suddenly, words flashed before Shen He’s eyes, and a glimmer of delight appeared in his gaze. He patted the seat in front. “Master, please stop by the roadside ahead.”

The driver immediately responded, expertly pulling over and watching as Shen He paid and got out. Glancing at his phone to see the payment, the driver couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed he couldn’t afford number eighty-eight after all—only number eighteen. The number wasn’t much, but the weight certainly was.

…

Shen He walked for a few minutes, stopping in front of Qingshan Zoo.

[Warning! Warning! You are approaching a Tier Five Exotic Beast Nest. For your own safety, leave immediately!]

He glanced at the small words floating before his eyes and couldn’t help but click his tongue. He hadn’t expected this place to become so formidable in the era of spiritual revival—a Tier Five Exotic Beast Nest! He wondered if it had formed quickly with the first wave of spiritual energy, or had developed to this point over the past two years.

A place like Yunding Building had provided him with fifty-five percent completion for task two. If he explored this area, wouldn’t he easily exceed the requirement?

Shen He turned and headed for the ticket window, bought himself a ticket, and entered the zoo after passing through the gate.

This zoo was rather comprehensive—outer and inner plazas, special tour routes, panda house, waterfowl lake, orangutan pavilion, and countless other attractions. The grounds were vast, even boasting Lion and Tiger Mountain and Bear Mountain.

Following the signs, Shen He made his way deeper inside. Every time he passed an animal habitat, the word “warning” would flash before his eyes. If it wasn’t Tier Three, it was Tier Four. The endless barrage of warnings soon left him numb.

But there was good news: the completion percentage for his daily task number two was climbing rapidly. After just three habitats, the task was done.

[Ding! Congratulations, player: you have conducted a preliminary exploration of the surrounding region.]

[Regional map unlocked.]

[Daily task number two completed.]

[Reward issued.]

[…]

As lines of text appeared before his eyes, Shen He felt a strange itch in his head… as if his brain were growing. No, it was the “danger sense” from daily task number two.

After a while, Shen He sat on a bench by the path, exhaling deeply. Thankfully, the reaction this time wasn’t too intense; otherwise, if all the zoo’s visitors had watched him go crazy, he might have needed to start a new life on another planet.

He stretched his limbs, then checked the feedback from his body. It didn’t seem any different from before. He reckoned this “danger sense” was like a Peter Parker tingle—only triggered in the face of real threat.

Seizing the chance, he glanced at the newly unlocked regional map. With a single thought, a miniature map appeared before him, centered on his position, covering a radius of one kilometer. Densely packed icons marked every area containing exotic beasts of Tier Three or above, with the largest labeled as the Tier Five Exotic Beast Nest.

It seemed that even this regional map only displayed places like nests, lairs, or creatures at Tier Three and above. Why didn’t it show anything below Tier Three? Was it discriminating against the weak?

Shen He curled his lips. Still, it wasn’t bad—this regional map had been a surprise. For all its faults, the game still knew how to keep things interesting. So wicked, yet so lovable.

With daily task number two completed, Shen He joined the crowd and began wandering through the zoo. Yet every so often, warnings continued to flash before his eyes.

Watching those future mutated beasts, now quietly staying in their enclosures and putting on a show for visitors, Shen He couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Not long after, he noticed a gathering of people up ahead.

In the tiger enclosure, about two meters away, the zoo had arranged a special viewing tunnel for the visitors. Inside the tunnel, a tiger was patrolling back and forth. Shen He stood at the back of the crowd, watching the warning and the words “Tier Four Tiger King” flash before him, and paused to observe for a while.

But in the next moment, he sensed something off—a faint, nagging danger sense. It wasn’t very strong.

Shen He quietly withdrew to the edge of the crowd, positioning everyone in front of him. Only then did the sense of danger completely vanish.

Just as Shen He was puzzling over this, the tiger in the tunnel suddenly spun around. Its hind legs swept toward the visitors—and with a sharp hiss, a great spray of tiger urine burst forth.

A little boy perched on his father’s shoulders at the edge of the tunnel bore the brunt, taking seventy percent of the spray full in the face.

The crowd erupted in chaos, while those at the back roared with laughter. Shen He could clearly see the boy, wiping his face as a stream of yellow liquid dripped down. It made Shen He shudder with revulsion.

Danger sense—mission accomplished.

Rubbing his arms, Shen He quickly followed the flow of people onward. Since he was already here, he might as well finish his tour—at the very least, he wasn't going to waste the price of his ticket.

Later, as he passed the orangutan enclosure, his danger sense kicked in again. Instinctively, he ducked. With a wet slap, a lump of dung splattered across the face of a young woman standing beside him. She immediately doubled over, retching on the spot.

It was truly a sight to break the heart and assault the nose.

Just what kind of filthy creature would the future Tier Four Orangutan King become? Bullying a young girl, no less.

This zoo was truly cursed.

At this point, Shen He lost all desire to continue. This place was just too bizarre—so be it if the ticket money was wasted!

He left the zoo, caught a ride at the pickup spot, and headed back to the urban village where he rented his room.

In the car, his phone kept chiming with notifications. Shen He glanced at it—it was the company group chat he hadn’t gotten around to leaving, messages popping up nonstop, many of them directly tagging him.

What was going on? Was someone handing out red envelopes?