Chapter 153 - 109: The Black Bear Spirit Stole the Kasaya and the White Dragon Horse

Chapter 153: Chapter 109: The Black Bear Spirit Stole the Kasaya and the White Dragon Horse

"Boss Zhang, what’s wrong?" Zhao Han asked, a little confused when he saw Zhang Lin suddenly space out.

"Director Zhao, something interesting just occurred to me," Zhang Lin said evasively, without explaining further.

Just as Zhao Han’s curiosity was piqued and he was about to ask, his phone rang.

He answered immediately upon seeing the caller ID.

A moment later, however, he grew furious. "Isn’t this ridiculous? Who told them to tack on a service fee? I’m on my way now."

He hung up and looked at Zhang Lin. He seemed to want to say something but found it difficult to bring up. In the end, he just excused himself, saying something had come up.

’Something must have gone wrong,’ Zhang Lin thought, not pressing the issue.

And he was right. Zhao Han’s frantic rush was indeed because of an issue at another tourist attraction.

His tourism bureau had long ago made a deal with Li Yuan Farm: any ticket sold by the farm came with a free pass for You City’s other attractions. This allowed Li Yuan Farm’s visitors to explore these other spots as they pleased.

As it turned out, many tourists took advantage of the offer, bringing a steady stream of visitors to You City’s various attractions.

More accurately, after a visitor was counted at Li Yuan Farm, they would then be counted again at other attractions. It was a way to kill two birds with one stone—or rather, count one tourist multiple times.

Whether they got in for free or how they got there was irrelevant. All that mattered was how you framed it in the report.

After all, in the You City Tourism Bureau’s report to the higher-ups in Ming City, one tourist visiting three locations was counted as three separate visitors.

Of course, the increased foot traffic was good for every attraction. Even without earning from admission fees, the other sites devised different ways to charge for things, encouraging tourists to willingly open their wallets.

But unfortunately, some people are just dense.

It was one thing that the botanical garden in the You City North District Affiliated Town couldn’t think of any other ways to make money. But no, they had to go and cook up a damn "service fee." Even visitors with valid tickets were forced to pay it just to enter the park.

Anyone with half a brain could see it was just an admission fee in disguise, right?

’If it weren’t for the free tickets from Li Yuan Farm, not a single soul would visit this crappy place. We go through the trouble of taking a taxi all the way out here, and you pull this stunt? You’ve completely ruined our mood. Who would put up with this?’

Even though most people aren’t short on ten or twenty yuan, it’s infuriating. This was never about the money.

Zhao Han nearly had an aneurysm when he took that call.

If this wasn’t handled properly and it hit the news, his entire tourism bureau would be utterly humiliated in front of Boss Zhang.

The problem was, the attraction was under the town’s jurisdiction, and the person in charge had to be one of their own town government officials.

He couldn’t help but think of the Secretary’s support for Kailin Investment and their plan to "bake a bigger cake together."

This kind of bullshit really is everywhere.

Zhang Lin, oblivious to all this, waited until Zhao Han had left. Then, he turned his attention to the game interface in his mind, opened the procurement market, and just as he’d suspected, saw the option for the Black Bear Spirit.

Special Little Black Bear (Quality 1): This is a special black bear that likes to wear a kasaya. It seems drawn to the glittering, golden pattern of the kasaya. It also enjoys ice skating and the feeling of flying. Price: 1,000,000 each (Limit one!)

Zhang Lin gasped at the one-million price tag. After paying the 20 million to Kailin Investment, his balance—even after factoring in today’s profits from the farm—was less than three million. This single little black bear would cost a full million.

’On the black market, a little black bear only costs a few thousand yuan,’ he mused. ’Of course, I’m just saying. I wouldn’t recommend actually buying one. That particular purchase comes with a complimentary pair of silver bracelets—a "return on investment" so high you’d never be able to handle it.’

Still, he knew that with system-provided items, the higher the price, the greater the value. He’d never lose out on a purchase.

So, since the game system had made it available, he had to buy this Little Black Bear no matter what.

Black bears are ferocious wild animals, with a body length that can reach 120–189 centimeters and a tail shorter than 12 centimeters. A little black bear capable of walking upright would probably stand about 60–80 centimeters tall, the size of a young child.

Normally, the sale and ownership of black bears were illegal.

Only professional facilities, like zoos, could legally house them after going through the proper procedures and obtaining the necessary certificates.

However, based on past experience, Zhang Lin was certain that if he bought the bear, all the related paperwork would be taken care of. For instance, when he’d constructed buildings before, the game had simply provided him with the necessary construction permits and licenses.

With that in mind, Zhang Lin hurried out of the office, hopped on his scooter, and headed for the steel building on the other side of the property. It was a safer place to materialize items purchased from the game system.

A short while later, he came to a wall separating the two areas. The red bricks were freshly laid and hadn’t been plastered with cement yet, giving it a rough-hewn look.

They had started building the wall around the core area some time ago, and a decent section was already complete. However, walling off the entire planned 165-acre core zone would still take a very long time.

Of course, they had left a gate to allow passage between the two sides.

After all, the employees recruited through the game lived in the core area and needed to get to their jobs at the farm.

Zhang Lin passed through the gate in the wall and entered the core area. Soon, he heard the sound of a horse neighing and saw Bailong calling out to him from a distance.

He immediately went over to Bailong and stroked its head.

Bailong, in turn, obediently nuzzled its head against him. The affectionate gesture sparked a pang of guilt in Zhang Lin. He had been neglecting the horse lately. Aside from telling Liu De to arrange for its feeding, he hadn’t taken the time to ride it at all.