I have a wildlife zoo

New life is always a joy.

The gestation period of an African lion is about 100 days, which means that in two months, there will be little lion cubs born.

"Pregnant? That's wonderful!" Lan Li exclaimed with a surprised and delighted expression!

"Yes, she should be!"

As Fang Ye spoke, he used the Eye of Observation to scan Qiuqiu again.

The lions were not very far away, with Qiuqiu likewise lying lazily on the ground, flicking her tail, showing no signs of pregnancy.

A hint of disappointment flashed through Fang Ye's mind, but then he considered another possibility.

It wasn't that Qiuqiu wasn't pregnant, but rather that the signs were not obvious enough for the first layer of the Eye of Observation to detect.

He didn't want to activate the second layer, lest it disturb Qiuqiu.

He instructed Li, "Keep an eye on her, and allocate more food in the coming days."

Li, having noticed Yueyue's unusual behavior, vaguely guessed she might be pregnant.

Excited yet feeling an increased sense of responsibility, he nodded and agreed, "Of course! I'll take good care of the lions."

Managing an animal's pregnancy is a complex affair.

First, you have to provide more food to ensure the lioness has enough nutrition.

You also need to have the lioness exercise a little to prevent excessive weight gain, complicating delivery.

To ensure a smooth birth, the lioness must be separated from the male lion a month before giving birth, to provide her with a peaceful environment for delivery.

After the cubs are born, disturbances must be minimized; humans should avoid appearing in front of the lions to prevent the lioness from getting anxious and possibly abandoning or even harming the cubs.

There were many other animals that had recently mated: macaques, ring-tailed lemurs, the rescued wild boar Black Whirlwind and Maymay, and the parrots were also falling in love, with December approaching, marking the mating season for wolves.

It looked like there was going to be a busy time ahead.

...

In the afternoon,

Fang Ye sat at his desk flipping through books, considering what enrichment to provide for the pregnant lioness.

Usually, he preferred to read outside in the annex, surrounded by green plants and vegetables, inhaling the fragrance of the soil and enjoying the breeze – much more comfortable than staying indoors.

However, it was a little cold today due to the changing temperature, so he stayed inside.

As he turned a page, he suddenly paused.

A system prompt appeared in his mind: "Ding! An anomaly has been detected during construction!"

"An anomaly?"

This was his first time encountering such a prompt. Could they have dug up some sort of grave?

Fang Ye's imagination ran wild, and without delay, he opened the sand table interface, with a virtual sandbox materializing in front of him.

The bird pavilion with its dome resembling an animal globe, the reptiles and amphibians exhibit looking like a big tortoise, visitors tiny as ants...

Near the under-construction cherry blossom forest, there was an eye-catching, flashing red circle, undoubtedly marking the zone of anomaly set by the system.

With a thought, the area instantly magnified before his eyes.

Then, he saw a hole that had been dug up, with water bubbling out and wisps of white steam...

"Holy crap!"

Fang Ye's eyes widened in shock – what was this? Had they dug up a hot spring?

He couldn't help but exclaim "Holy crap" again!

A flash of insight crossed his mind as he recalled an incident from months ago.

When he had rescued an Asian forest tortoise at the market, Meng Shi asked him about the tortoise while they were in the car.

Talking about the distribution of the Asian forest tortoise, he too was puzzled because these animals are usually found in tropical environments of Southeast Asia, and there might only be some distribution at the borders within the country.

Although Linhai did not have a winter, the temperature was still a bit cold starting in November. By the time of the Light Snow season, the temperature would drop significantly – enough to kill a tropical Asian forest tortoise within a few months before it could warm up again.

He had speculated back then that maybe someone had been raising it secretly and released it in the mountains to avoid being caught.

Now, reconsidering the matter, could it be that the Asian forest tortoise had found a hot spring, which allowed it to survive the winter?

There are mainly two causes of hot springs: one is due to the actions of magma within the earth's crust or volcanic eruptions. The heat from the magma, which has not cooled underground, continually releases a large amount of heat – such a spring is called a sulfur spring.

One kind involves surface water seeping and circulating until it encounters geothermal heat surging up.

Generally found at the junctures of tectonic plates, geological fault zones, and volcanic areas—these geothermal-rich places are where hot springs can form.

In the southeastern coastal areas, as a plate boundary region, there are many big and small hot springs; it's quite normal for Linhai to have hot springs.

But having hot springs appear in a zoo, that's truly a delightful surprise!

Fang Ye was ecstatic after the initial shock—it was like someone had brought a pillow just as he was about to nod off.

Right next to the cherry blossom forest where they planned to build a hotel, isn't this directly setting up a hot spring hotel?

Bathing in a hot spring on a snowy day, don't even mention how cozy that is.

No snow? There's a snowmaking machine, after all.

When spring comes, comfortably soaking in the warm spring water, with every cell of your body relaxed and massaged, and watching the beautiful cherry blossom petals fluttering down around you.

If you were to add a tasty beverage to that, then it would be even more comfortable.

Even better, once the zoo's organic farm kicks off, one might pair it with a cup of homemade organic rice wine or fruit wine, sipping leisurely, observing the misty steam, and entering a slightly tipsy state of mind—simply the ultimate indulgence.

They could even divert some of the hot springs for the Japanese macaques; after all, they're famous for their unique behavior of bathing in hot springs in snowy weather back home.

Lost in his joyous fantasies, Fang Ye couldn't help but chuckle with a "hehehe"!

No no no! I have to see it for myself!

He couldn't wait any longer, leaping up and sprinting toward the cherry blossom forest.

Lan Li watched Fang Ye's retreating figure, puzzled.

Why was the director so excited and in such a hurry? What was he off to do?

He hadn't even bothered to greet her.

...

At the dug-up pit site!

Fang Ye arrived at the scene, and the sight of water bubbling up made him laugh uncontrollably; he dipped his fingers into the water.

Quietly feeling the temperature.

"Hey, not bad, it's a bit hot, but still tolerable!"

Probably around thirty to forty degrees Celsius.

Then he scooped up some water and washed his face with the hot spring water.

Whether it was a placebo effect or not, he felt quite comfortable, and after washing up, he was feeling refreshed and content.

"Hehehe!"
Stay tuned to My Virtual Library Empire

Fang Ye let out a silly, contented laugh; anyway, the construction site was off-limits to outsiders, so no one else could see him.

...

Back home, Lan Li curiously asked, "Director, what's up? You rushed out so suddenly."

"Haha, you'd never guess what happened!"

Fang Ye was in good spirits, smiling and saying, "We've discovered a hot spring in our zoo! Today really is my lucky day, a double celebration."

"A hot spring!?"

Lan Li's eyes widened in amazement as well.

Then, thinking of something, she got excited, "Can hot springs beautify your skin? I've heard that soaking in hot springs often can make you prettier."

Fang Ye pinched Lan Li's smooth cheek, chuckling, "You're already very pretty, do you still need to bathe in hot springs? But soaking does indeed have health benefits."

Lan Li said, "Of course a girl would hope to become even prettier!"

Fang Ye replied with a smirk, "Since you like it, once the hot spring pool is ready, why don't we go soak together?"

Blushing a little, Lan Li gave him a light punch, "You must be thinking of something perverted!"

She felt that the director's desires had been growing stronger lately—in the morning, they had almost gotten overly affectionate, and living under the same roof was proving to be somewhat dangerous...

Such a big pig's trotter, claiming that moving in would be no different from the dorm!

Fang Ye blinked innocently, "What? I'm just talking about a regular hot spring soak..."