"Traces of wild animals found on the island?"
"And a worker was bitten by a snake?"
"Okay, I understand. You two, pause the construction for now. We'll discuss everything after I arrive."
Hearing the voice on the other end of the phone, Yang Lin's mood immediately shifted.
The Dolphin Island project had only begun a couple of days ago. To boost tourism in Guixi, the Guixi authorities had invested far more financial and human resources than Yang Lin had imagined. Their goal was to complete the project before the Golden Week holiday next year.
He hadn't expected, however, to discover signs of a large number of wild animals on such a deserted island.
Of course, that wasn't the main point. The crucial issue was the presence of a large number of venomous snakes on Dolphin Island.
If the snake problem wasn't resolved, it would be a disaster once tourists started visiting.
With this thought, Yang Lin immediately made preparations to depart for Dolphin Island.
As soon as dawn broke the next day, he drove himself to the port in Gangcheng City.
After a three-hour boat ride, he successfully landed on Dolphin Island.
As soon as he approached Dolphin Island, the "Kunbao Bao" and schools of dolphins living in the waters surrounding the island seemed to sense his arrival and swam towards the island's vicinity.
Seeing this, Yang Lin was startled and quickly used his Ocean Heart ability to send them back.
If these large creatures had rushed over, how many would have been stranded?
Just as he finished interacting with the marine creatures, a group of construction representatives wearing hard hats emerged from the temporary buildings on the island's outskirts.
As soon as they met, a man wearing a white hard hat enthusiastically greeted him.
"Director Yang, we've finally waited for you. If you hadn't come any sooner, we would have had to keep waiting."
Hearing this, Yang Lin couldn't help but show a hint of surprise.
"It can't be that serious, can it?"
In his opinion, even the discovery of wild animal traces and venomous snakes would at most affect the construction progress.
They could just work around them.
To Yang Lin's remark, the man let out a bitter smile.
"At first, we also thought it wasn't serious. But then we found that as soon as we started the machinery, wild animals would come out."
"What's more, some of these animals are unfamiliar to us, and we don't dare to capture or harm them carelessly."
"After all, we know that the stranger they look, the faster they're judged, and the uglier they look, the longer they're imprisoned."
"And then there are the snakes. I strongly suspect that this entire island is a nest for snakes. It's only the second day, and five workers have already been bitten."
As the man spoke, Yang Lin's brow furrowed.
If the situation was truly as the construction team described, the development plan for Dolphin Island might need to be revised.
With this in mind, he immediately looked towards the barren island before him.
Calling it a barren island, this island's area was by no means smaller than the area where Xihong Zoo was located.
Looking around, the entire island, apart from the sandy and rocky areas along the perimeter, was covered in forests and rocks, retaining its most primitive terrain.
As he observed, Yang Lin's eyes lit up.
"It seems this place is indeed quite suitable for animals to live."
After saying this, he walked directly towards the island's interior.
However, after just a couple of steps, the man from before quickly stopped him.
"Director Yang, you can't just go in. It's full of snakes in there. What if you get bitten..."
Before he could finish speaking, Yang Lin smiled faintly.
"It's fine, they won't bite me."
"You all wait here. I'll take a look at what's going on inside and come out."
With that, he ignored the dissuasion of the people present and stepped into the jungle.
As soon as he entered the jungle, Yang Lin felt the sunlight overhead dim.
Combined with the rustling sounds from the dense forest nearby, any ordinary person would have been frightened.
However, Yang Lin calmly activated his Animal Exploration Radar.
The next second, various sized light dots appeared on the radar.
Looking at these numerous light dots, even Yang Lin, who was prepared, was startled.
"Good heavens, so many animals live here? It's like a nature reserve."
While exclaiming, he casually tapped on one of the light dots to view its information.
[Viper (Healthy) 8 months Indifferent]
With just a glance, Yang Lin broke out in a cold sweat.
Following the direction of the light dot, he discovered that on a large tree less than 5 meters to his left, a green figure was quietly observing him.
If he hadn't been paying attention, he might have mistaken it for a vine or something similar.
However, he soon realized that the appearance of this viper seemed to be just the beginning.
As he tapped on more light dots, various snake species he had only seen on television or the internet appeared on the radar screen.
Banded krait, Chinese krait, hundred-pace viper, Chinese cobra, Chinese pit viper, Chinese moccasin, Chinese mountain pit viper, Chinese tree viper, Chinese rat snake, and so on, common and rare snake species could be found in this small stretch of forest.
There were perhaps nearly a hundred species.
If Yang Lin didn't have his natural affinity with animals, he wouldn't have been able to take even five steps.
"My goodness, is this a snake island?"
Casually using a branch to nudge a Golden Ring Snake blocking his path aside, Yang Lin was already feeling somewhat numb.
Then, a strong doubt arose in his mind.
"Why are there so many snakes here? Have they always been here, or is there some other reason that caused them to migrate here?"
Just as this question occurred to him, a black shadow suddenly darted out from the jungle not far ahead.
Before Yang Lin could react, a long, slender figure immediately shot out from behind the black shadow.
Seeing this slender figure, Yang Lin froze in place, and a drop of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
It took him several seconds to finally regain his senses.
"Was that a python just now?"
Although he had only caught a glimpse, the thick, scaled body, nearly the size of a bowl, was seared into his mind and refused to fade.
To confirm he hadn't misseen, he quickly opened the exploration radar again.
Soon, he found two rapidly moving light dots nearby.
Tapping on the two light dots, two pieces of information appeared before him.
[Giant Rat (Minor Injury) 2 years Panicked]
[Green Anaconda (Healthy) 5 years Indifferent]
The moment he saw this information, Yang Lin was once again dumbfounded.
He had thought the large snake he had just seen was already outrageous.
Now, he was being told that the animal running ahead, the size of a small dog, was a rat.
"What is so magical about this island?"
For a moment, Yang Lin's mind was filled with questions.