I have a wildlife zoo

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The striking emerald color, the exquisitely arranged scales, and the pure and ethereal demeanor instantly reminded Shi Xi of the Azure Dragon from mythological stories!

If the Azure Dragon did exist, it would probably look like this, right?

However, this snake was relatively small, only as thick as two or three fingers, slightly larger than a hog-nosed snake. If it were a bit bigger, it would have appeared even more majestic.

Lü Ye chuckled, "This one is a bush viper! It's also a very beautiful snake with remarkably vivid and variable colors. It's originally from the tropical rainforests of central and western Africa."

A teammate curiously asked, "Hey, why are its eyes white?"

Lü Ye explained, "Its eyes aren't usually like this. It's recently been molting, which is why you see this sort of blurry white layer over its eyes.

The eyes of snakes are always protected by a transparent, tough layer of keratin, which feels like touching glass balls. That's why snakes don't have eyelids, and they don't blink.

When they sleep, their pupils narrow down to a slit, making it seem like they are closing their eyes. The milky eyes occur during the process of shedding the skin around their eye area."

As they moved forward, they came across a large exhibition hall with an area of over a hundred square meters.

Inside, there was an assortment of bamboo and bushes, including some slender and short umbrella bamboo, as well as thicker bamboo poles, purely decorative after being cut.

The ground was planted with ferns, covered with dry yellow bamboo leaves and fallen leaves, interspersed with some stones.

In some places, the vegetation was dense, while in others, it was relatively sparse, uneven and scattered, creating a serene bamboo forest environment.

This exhibition hall was also painted with murals by Zhuang Xiaobai and his team—a deep and lush bamboo forest with a stream flowing through the middle, harmoniously integrated with the real bamboo environment in front.

Although the environment of the typical exhibition case was already quite good, it obviously couldn't compare to that of a large exhibition hall.

Shi Xi looked around the exhibition hall and didn't see any creatures for a long time, feeling puzzled.

Lü Ye seemed to notice her confusion and explained, "This exhibition hall houses a king cobra! It usually prefers to stay hidden among those bushes and doesn't come out to see people often."

Shi Xi exclaimed in amazement, "King cobra!"

The name itself sounded impressive.

A teammate asked, "The king cobra, is that the most powerful cobra?"

Lü Ye introduced, "The king cobra, also called 'KC' or 'over-the-mountain wind', is a fierce and agile venomous snake, one of the top ten venomous snakes in the country.

It belongs to the cobra family but is the sole member of its own king cobra genus.

It's the longest venomous snake in the world; the average adult can grow to 3 meters, and the record is 5.85 meters.

Why do we say the king cobra is fierce? Its Latin name means 'snake eater'—its prey is mainly other snakes, including venomous ones. It will even eat smaller members of its own species, and when hungry, it might also eat rats, lizards, birds, and such."

"Wow!"

Shi Xi and her teammates covered their mouths in shock.

This snake was incredibly fierce, eating its own kind.

Their gazes involuntarily turned towards the exhibition hall, longing to catch a glimpse of such a ferocious snake. Seeing their expressions, Lü Ye smiled and said, "It's not that easy to spot a king cobra. It probably only comes out for a few minutes or tens of minutes each day."

Shi Xi felt somewhat disappointed, "Ah, so you really need good luck to see it."

A teammate wondered, "If it only comes out for such a short time, why not remove the bushes and stones? Wouldn't that make it visible all the time?"

Lü Ye chuckled, "Animals feel pressure when they're being watched, too. Those bushes are arranged to provide shelter, allowing it some freedom of choice.

For animals that don't often emerge, we also have AR glasses. Just scan the QR code nearby, and you can watch a video of the animal's activity. Want to try it?"

Shi Xi was amazed, "That's so advanced!"

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After putting on the AR glasses and trying them out, the video was clearly shot in this exhibit environment. A king cobra with black scales that shone with a dark luster was cautiously looking out from the underbrush with its head raised and flicking its tongue.

Then its head gradually stretched out and lowered to the ground, and it slowly slithered out.

The black scales, possibly due to the backdrop of the bamboo forest, had a faint dark green sheen to them, with conspicuous white patterns running through them.

The muscle lines were exquisitely defined, and as it moved forward in sinuous waves, its head was kept raised, maintaining some distance from the ground.

It approached a withered sapling, and its head gradually rose, reaching a height of about one meter before climbing onto the tree.

Shi Xi looked on for a while, then returned the AR glasses.

Although she was not as scared of snakes as before and could even enjoy watching them with a sense of joy, this was only true for snakes that were pretty and cute!

Snakes like the naive-looking hog-nosed snake or the beautiful and delicate bush viper were to her liking, but the king cobra was not within her range of appreciation.@@novelbin@@

Moreover, the clarity of the AR glasses when watching videos was not even as good as that of a mobile phone. They just added a bit of atmosphere when standing in front of the exhibit.

Therefore, visitors who liked coming to the reptiles and amphibians exhibit preferred not to use the AR glasses and would visit repeatedly just to catch a glimpse of the king cobra in action.

However, for those visitors who only came occasionally and wanted to see the animals in action but didn't have the time to wait repeatedly, having these AR glasses allowed them to leave satisfied.

Under Lü Ye's guidance, they approached a display tank.

The bottom of the tank was covered with coarse granulated sand, sporadically dotted with umbrella bamboo leaves slender as grass, mounds built by termites, and leafless saplings, giving off a dry savannah vibe akin to that of Africa.

Inside was a snake that was a bright yellow all over, with some white patterns, and its eyes were a clear red.

Eyeing its length, it appeared to be over a meter long, with a slender head and tail and a waist as thick as an arm, quietly curled up beside the termite mound.

Shi Xi exclaimed in surprise, "What snake is this? It's pretty good-looking as well!"

"This is an albino ball python!"

"Albino?"

Lü Ye began to open the display tank as she explained, "Albinism here doesn't mean devoid of any pigments, but lacking melanin, which brings out the white and yellow colors, and sometimes a small amount of red or orange.

Because hog-nosed snakes and ball pythons are quite established in the pet trade, many attractive color morphs have been bred, like that hog-nosed snake we saw earlier that was also albino, characterized by its red eyes.

Uh, but pythons are protected animals in our country and are not allowed to be kept by private individuals.

Your reward for today is to clean this ball python's tank and to stroke the python. I won't be helping this time, you'll have to do it yourselves."

Shi Xi said cautiously, "Okay, I'll give it a try!"

She reached out her hand first, maintaining a distance, and greeted softly, "Hello?"

This ball python was also often used as an animal for projects, handled by visitors, so it was quite accustomed to it.

Sensing the unfamiliar scent, it was not afraid at all; instead, it flicked its tongue leisurely and approached.

Seeing this, Shi Xi relaxed a lot!

She then carefully picked up the ball python with both hands and draped it around her neck.

Chuckling to herself, she took a selfie with a selfie stick!

Visiting the reptiles and amphibians exhibit had not only changed her stereotypical view of snakes but also increased her knowledge significantly. Plus, she got to stroke a snake, which was indeed a nice reward!

Find adventures on My Virtual Library Empire

Looking at it this way, coming in last place in the bamboo-shooting competition wasn't so bad after all.