Chapter 7: Sharing the Glory!
The system's construction functionality was much like the ones in games, allowing one to freely modify terrain, build facilities, plant trees, and more on the sandbox.
Fang Ye's heart began to race with excitement, "Awesome!"
Doesn't that mean he could immediately make his dream zoo a reality?
But after a closer look, Fang Ye tugged at the corners of his mouth, realizing that he had thought too far ahead!
While the system's functions were handy, it didn't mean he could remodel the zoo any way he wished, as there were certain limitations!
All the building and modifying functions required spending green leaf coins, which were emblazoned on a clean white background with a refreshing green leaf—within the game, green leaf coins were the currency of online mode, earned through animal conservation, and purchased animals couldn't be resold to cleverly avoid the controversies that might arise from the trade of animals.
During construction, the more extravagant the changes made, the greater the exponential growth in the consumption of green leaf coins.
For example, to change a concrete ground into a flat lawn would only cost 10 green leaf coins.
But to transform that lawn into a small pond would take 100 green leaf coins.
To morph it into a towering cliff with cascading waterfalls might cost one million green leaf coins!
Of course, no sane person would do such a thing.
Creating a hillock could still be explained as land-filling, but creating cliffs and waterfalls out of nowhere, that's just ridiculous, right?
Soon, the police would come to shut down the zoo.
At the start of any construction game, there is always some initial capital, and Planet Zoo's system was no exception.
Start-up construction funds, 10,000 green leaf coins, sweet!
Let's build a tiger exhibit first!
A tiger exhibit, 10×20, is that too shabby? Can a tiger move freely in it? Will it feel at ease?
It has to be at least 50×50, right?
Even though Linhai Zoo presently had only one tiger, Fang Ye had no intention of building to the standard of just one tiger.
After all, he had the system! He needed to look further into the future, be a bit more visionary.
While the zoo was at its most desolate, he could boldly shape it as he pleased, as it would become troublesome to change things later when there were more visitors.
50×50 was already quite a modest demand!
If the conditions allowed, Fang Ye would want to build a 100×100 one.
Cough cough, that's a bit of an exaggeration.
50×50 was the size he felt that the tigers could live comfortably and the visitors could enjoy the view.
"Hmm, cover all this area with grass, one square meter of grass for one green leaf coin, that's almost free, then add a pond, plant a circle of trees... Oh my Luo Tianyi, the cost of this exhibit is much more expensive than it is in the game..."
Fang Ye browsed through the building list, roughly estimating the funds needed to build an exhibit, his brows moved, his expression shifting between happiness and concern.
After a long calculation, he concluded that while 10,000 green leaf coins would be more than enough for a small exhibit, it was far from sufficient for a large tiger exhibit!
In the construction menu, the cheapest items were natural environmental decorations like lawns, trees, stones, etc.!
An adult tree, common ones like willow or pine, only cost 10 green leaf coins, while even rarer specimens like ginkgo may cost up to 200 green leaf coins.
If you had to buy them with money, the tree itself plus the transplantation costs could amount to thousands or even tens of thousands!
Man-made facilities were the main consumers of green leaf coins; a segment of metal woven fence, 1 meter wide and 5 meters high, cost 200 green leaf coins, the same price for a brick wall of the same dimensions, whereas a glass curtain wall, 1 meter wide and 3 meters high, cost 500 green leaf coins.
Considering an exhibit size of 50×50, just encircling it with a brick wall and metal fence would cost 40,000 green leaf coins, 2,500 green leaf coins for the lawn.
Adding a roof, glass curtain wall, benches for visitors, informational signs, and other miscellaneous items would cost at least 60,000 to 70,000 green leaf coins.
Of course, the exhibit area also includes the visitor viewing and the animal keeper operational areas, it's not like the whole 50×50 is dedicated to the animal activity space.
"Maybe I should compromise and build something smaller first?"
This idea had barely surfaced in his mind when Fang Ye ruthlessly suppressed it.
Bigger is better!
He furrowed his brow deep in thought, and suddenly remembered, "Right! Isn't there a milestone too?"
By reaching stage goals such as collecting various types of animals and building different habitats, one could earn green leaf coin rewards!
Fang Ye quickly opened the milestone interface, and, sure enough, he saw a series of rewards waiting to be claimed!
Collected animals in the zoo:
Amur tiger, reward 20,000 (tiger species) + 15,000 (Amur tiger subspecies) green leaf coins
Gray wolf, reward 2,000 (wolf species) + 500 (gray wolf subspecies) green leaf coins
Macaque, reward 15,000 (monkey species) + 8,000 (macaque subspecies) + 500 (for a population size greater than 10) green leaf coins
Blue peafowl, reward 500 (blue peafowl species, no subspecies) green leaf coins
...
The rewards correspond to the degree to which the animals are cherished.
The reward for the species is only given once, for example, if you collect another golden hair monkey, you will only receive the reward for the golden hair monkey subspecies, and another is the population size reward.
Tigers are precious endangered species, and all tiger species are national first-class protected wild animals, so the rewards are naturally generous.
As for why the reward for blue peafowl is that low... Maybe some people think, aren't peafowls quite rare?
What's rare is the green peafowl!
The breeding technology for blue peafowl is mature, and they are classified as least concern, even sold on Taobao.
With a large population and good commercial appeal, they are a common sight in many zoos.
There are also milestone rewards for building exhibits, but none can be claimed at the moment.
The exhibits recognized by the system must meet a series of requirements: space size, protective facilities, animal welfare, and accompanying science education facilities!
In short, with the animals in Linhai Zoo and the startup funds for beginners, the total is 90,000 green leaf coins.
That's enough for Fang Ye to build the first official tiger exhibit, and the extra green leaf coins can even temporarily improve the living conditions for other animals.
"How should I replan the zoo area..."
Fang Ye rested his face in his hand, his gaze thoughtful, the pen in his hand turning slowly.
...
Speaking of Lan Li.
Today, when she returned to the dormitory, she was still in a state of bewildered shock.
Her mind was preoccupied, filled with the image of Jiaojiao lying on the director's legs.
The mighty and imposing Amur tiger!
The "petite" human.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she couldn't have imagined such a scene.
"Right! I should post these pictures on Moments!"
Excited, Lan Li opened WeChat, selected a few well-shot photos, and marked them.
Send!
Ding-dong, ding-dong.
Just seconds after sending, someone responded with an emoji with eyes wide and snot dropping from shock!
It vividly expressed their amazement.
"Holy shit, who is this? So awesome?"
"Such a big guts, not afraid of being eaten by the tiger!"
"Probably the tiger's animal keeper, otherwise, he wouldn't dare to get so close."
"Shocked, my cat has this expression when it's petted too much!?"
"Awesome, eye-opening!"
In a short while, there were more than ten comments. She occasionally posted a selfie, but her Moments were never this lively.
"Where was this taken?"
"Linhai Zoo! Right here at my place!"
The young girl's eyebrows lifted in proud reply.
She basked in the reflected glory!