Chapter 36: The Eve of Opening and the Volunteers

The park was far from quiet.

Now and then, the roars of wild beasts echoed through the night.

Qiao Mian sat cross-legged on the ground, deep in thought about his own affairs.

He had long since grown accustomed to these roars. As the master of the park, no matter how fierce the beasts, they behaved as docile as housecats before him.

“Safety first,” Qiao Mian reminded himself.

Even if he were to feed all five hundred of the first visitors to the dinosaurs, he himself would not be in any danger. But such an act would cast a tremendous shadow over the future of the park.

The Rabbit Nation valued human life above all else.

Moreover, the eyes of the entire world had turned to this place.

“No order, no rules; I must establish a set of regulations for these visitors,” Qiao Mian mused.

In truth, the protective shields that separated the dangerous Dinosaur Park and the Serpent House meant that these people couldn’t get in, and it was unlikely for any serious danger to occur.

But he was reluctant to seal off those areas entirely.

To do so would strip the Fantasy Park of much of its wonder.

“I need to arrange a staff training session—make sure they absolutely never harm the visitors,” Qiao Mian thought. “Especially Kong and the Rampage Rex, those two maniacs!”

“And then there’s the Little Dragon Lady. She’s bound to attract a swarm of admirers, and if annoyed, she could probably flatten two otakus with a single punch.”

“I must make it explicit in the guest rules: harassing staff is grounds for permanent blacklisting.”

“But these first five hundred aren’t likely to do anything so foolish. Their attention will be on whether they can steal a dinosaur egg, a fallen scale, or a claw… maybe even the Little Dragon Lady’s martial arts.”

“Should I let them in?”

Qiao Mian lay down, gazing up at the galaxy above.

“The whole point of the park is to serve the visitors,” he pondered. “Perhaps I should give them a real chance to experience everything firsthand.”

“But…”

“There should be an extra charge!”

Springing to his feet, Qiao Mian made up his mind.

…

The following two weeks were a blur of preparations for the park’s opening.

First came staff training.

He found a comprehensive amusement park employee training PowerPoint online, trimmed and tailored it, and called a meeting with his ten staff members.

In less than half an hour, he’d covered what he believed were the essentials, then opened the floor for questions.

The Transformers immediately fired off a barrage of inquiries.

For example—

What if visitors start touching us? Are we allowed to hit them?

What if someone urinates in a vehicle? Can we cut off their hands?

If a guest spits on the ground, can we make them eat it?

…

As the questions piled up, even the Rampage Rex and the Ugly Vulture began howling with excitement.

What was meant to be a simple training session stretched into a three-day debate.

Not that it was pointless; many issues Qiao Mian had never considered were brought to light and resolved.

However, amid all these discussions, Qiao Mian discovered a more pressing problem: he was short-staffed.

Kong was in charge of the gates and couldn’t leave his post.

The Little Dragon Lady and Granny Sun oversaw the fitness plaza and likewise couldn’t be spared.

Ugly Vulture, who managed the arena, could at best find time to spar with a few visitors.

That left only five Transformers to watch over five hundred people.

He was especially reluctant to grant the guests access to Zero’s permissions.

Should he actually follow Optimus Prime’s suggestion and hire another batch of Autobots?

Qiao Mian dismissed the idea as soon as it occurred. He could consider it after the park stabilized, but for now it was out of the question.

It was easy to invite such “gods” in, but much harder to send them away.

The park’s employment system didn’t allow him to hire temps, and the Autobots’ salaries were exorbitant.

If something went wrong during the trial run and the government ended up shutting the place down, he wouldn’t even be able to pay the staff.

That would mean “game over.”

He’d be finished.

Zero had never spelled out the punishment for failure, but even without thinking too hard, Qiao Mian knew it wouldn’t be pleasant.

The psychological blow alone might be enough to drive him to despair.

He swallowed his pride and sought help.

Dialing the satellite phone Wang Lang had left him, he made the call.

…

Wang Lang was in a military conference room, attending a video meeting.

Besides himself, several high-ranking officials and experts from the Central Committee were present.

The meeting was chaired by a deputy minister.

As Wang Lang listened quietly, someone knocked at the door.

His phone was brought in.

“What’s going on?” Wang Lang whispered.

He glanced at the video feed; the deputy minister had stopped speaking and was looking his way.

“It’s Mr. Qiao on the line,” said one of the central officials.

Wang Lang realized the explanation was not for him, but for those on the other end of the video call.

He took the phone at once.

“Put it on speaker!” someone called.

Wang Lang obediently complied, curiosity and nerves mingling.

Since getting the satellite phone, Mr. Qiao hadn’t contacted him at all—why the sudden call now?

Could it be that the early allocation of the five hundred slots had angered him?

But the experts had concluded that since Mr. Qiao hadn’t objected when the news was leaked, he had tacitly agreed.

He hoped the experts weren’t leading him astray.

“Hello, Mr. Qiao?” Wang Lang answered cautiously.

“Mr. Wang, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you,” came Qiao Mian’s voice.

“Please, just call me Old Wang,” Wang Lang replied quickly. “Whatever you need, say the word.”

“The park is about to open,” Qiao Mian said sheepishly, “and I could use some help maintaining order…”

The word “volunteers” was on the tip of his tongue, but Qiao Mian simply couldn’t bring himself to say it.

He felt deeply embarrassed.

Wang Lang paused in surprise.

Help with maintaining order?

Did he want manpower?

His anxiety evaporated, replaced by delight.

He glanced up and saw a caption flash across the screen; reading it aloud, he said, “So you’d like us to assign people to help keep order inside?”

“That’s about right,” Qiao Mian replied, “but…”

But what?

Would these people have to be taken from the existing one hundred slots?

Wang Lang’s heart raced.

The list for those slots had already been finalized; if more were carved out for security, all previous arrangements would be ruined.

Qiao Mian steeled himself. “I was hoping to find a batch of volunteers.”

“Volunteers?”

Seeing the subtitle, Wang Lang responded immediately, “That’s no problem at all! How many do you need?”

“How about a hundred?” Qiao Mian suggested.

“No problem, I’ll make the arrangements,” Wang Lang said. “Any requirements?”

“As long as they can help visitors and answer questions, that’s enough,” Qiao Mian replied.

“Will these people need prior training?”

“If possible, send them over a week early and I’ll arrange their training here.”

“Understood,” said Wang Lang.

“It won’t be entirely thankless,” Qiao Mian added. “During the afternoons, I can have the Little Dragon Lady and Granny Sun give them some martial arts instruction.”

“I’ll thank you on their behalf,” Wang Lang said.

“No need,” Qiao Mian replied. “They’re helping me, after all.”

After a few more pleasantries, they hung up.

On Wang Lang’s end, the room was filled with elation.

They’d thought the number of slots allocated was a bit much, but now it meant an extra hundred, and with higher permissions than ordinary visitors—of course they were delighted.

Qiao Mian leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.

He knew well this was a win-win.

Yet, after all his boasting before, asking for free help now felt undeniably shameful.

…