"Ding! A temporary mission has been triggered. Please help the host retrieve all invasive alien animals within Port City."
"For each animal retrieved, talent points will be awarded based on its rarity."
Upon hearing the system prompt, Yang Lin didn't think much of it at first.
After all, the probability of triggering missions was quite high in the current situation.
However, he soon noticed something amiss in the system's requirements.
"All invasive alien animals? Not just the ones that just escaped?"
Realizing this, Yang Lin suddenly felt that the mission's difficulty had increased slightly.
From the system's implication, it seemed that besides the young lizards that had just escaped, there were many other alien animals that had found their way into Port City through various channels.
These channels included intentional release and pets escaping.
Upon realizing this, Yang Lin immediately turned his gaze to the police official beside him.
"Captain Gao, I think I might be able to help with this matter."
Captain Gao Jin, the leader of the anti-smuggling team, who was frantically racking his brains, first froze upon hearing Yang Lin's words. Then, his eyes lit up with excitement.
"That's right, I almost forgot we have a great expert here."
"If Director Yang is willing to help, those escaped live animals should be recovered very quickly."
After saying this, he quickly shouted to the surrounding team members:
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and take these people back, and then arrange for someone to follow Director Yang to find those escaped lizards."
As soon as he finished speaking, the members of the anti-smuggling team began to act.
At the same time, the onlookers who were watching the commotion began to disperse as the people left.
Before long, the news of Yang Lin appearing at the pier and taking a friendly photo with the police officers was uploaded online.
However, Yang Lin was no longer in the mood to bother with these things at the moment.
After getting into the anti-smuggling team's police car, he immediately activated the animal exploration radar.
The next second, a large number of light spots representing different animals appeared in his vision.
Excluding some cats and dogs, he quickly found more than a dozen of the young lizards that had just escaped.
At first, the anti-smuggling police officers were very excited to see Yang Lin recover most of the live lizards so quickly.
But soon, they couldn't laugh anymore.
Half an hour later, the number of live lizards retrieved by Yang Lin reached 40.
An hour later, the number of live lizards retrieved by Yang Lin directly exceeded one hundred. And this time, it was no longer limited to young ones; some of the plains monitor lizards living in the sewers had grown to over a meter long.
It was clear that they were old residents of this city.
Only 30 small ones had escaped, yet more than a hundred were recovered. This situation directly stunned the anti-smuggling police.
It was like a few days ago when 30 squirrels escaped from a zoo, and 38 were caught the next day.
"Director Yang, why don't we stop looking? We've already found all the escaped ones."
Inside the police car, a young police officer looked at the various lizards in the back seat that had no more room to be placed, his expression close to tears.
"That won't do. These are likely from previous escapes. Letting them breed and thrive in the city is a terrifying prospect."
"You wouldn't want a lizard to crawl out of the toilet when you go to the restroom in the future, would you?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Lin's eyes lit up again.
"Turn that way. I think there might be some unexpectedly lost alien animals in that pond."
Although the young police officer driving was a bit scared, he still drove the car to an artificial lake located next to a residential area.
After the car stopped, Yang Lin was the first to get out of the car.
The police officers in the other police cars behind him also took out nets and other items, preparing to start fishing.
After hundreds of precise, targeted retrievals, they had already developed unconditional trust in Yang Lin.
However, this time Yang Lin waved his hand at them.
"No need for these, they won't fit."
"Won't fit? Director Yang, are the lizards this time very large?"
An anti-smuggling police officer holding a flashlight and a net asked with a puzzled expression.
But this time, Yang Lin didn't answer him. Instead, he rolled up his sleeves and walked towards the lake.
As he reached the lake, a piece of driftwood floated by.
Perhaps because of the commotion, this scene quickly attracted the attention of nearby residents.
"Isn't that Director Yang? What is he fishing for over there?"
"It seems like he's catching those escaped animals."
"This is just an artificial lake, what animals could be here? I walk here every day and haven't found anything."
...
However, before the onlookers could finish speaking, Yang Lin's right hand had already reached into the lake water.
The next second, to everyone's stunned expression, he pulled a large lizard, nearly two meters long, out of the lake.
The anti-smuggling police officers who were closer almost cursed out loud.
"Holy crap! This is...!"
They couldn't help but think that the largest adult plains monitor lizard they had seen was only about 1.25 meters, which was like a child compared to the one in front of them.
However, after the shock, they found that something was not quite right.
Because the big fellow that Yang Lin brought to shore, apart from bearing a slight resemblance to a monitor lizard at first glance, had a color and appearance that were not typical of a monitor lizard.
After some identification, they suddenly opened their mouths wide.
"Director Yang, this is an alligator, not a lizard!"
"Did I say it was a lizard?" Yang Lin replied as he tied the mouth of the alligator beneath him with a zip tie.
"This is a Siamese crocodile that hasn't fully matured. It was likely kept as a pet and then abandoned."
"After a few more months, when it's fully adult, its length could reach 4 meters."
"It's also possible that it was sold by unscrupulous pet dealers as an African dwarf crocodile."
Upon hearing the figure of 4 meters, those who were already shocked felt a chill run down their spines.
If such a large creature were to live in an artificial lake in the city center and attack humans, even a normal adult would not be able to withstand it. Death rolls were not a joke.
"How could anyone keep such a crocodile as a pet? What were they thinking?"
"Exactly. It was a pet when it was young, but who knows who would be the pet when it grows up."
"Fortunately, Director Yang is here. If Director Yang hadn't discovered it, our entire city would have faced a giant crocodile crisis in a few months."
"Are there any more? There aren't any other crocodiles here, are there? They always film it like this in crocodile horror movies I've watched, a male and a female, and a nest of unhatched crocodile eggs."
"Are you planning to film the second and third installments?"
As everyone expressed their fear, Yang Lin made another astonishing move.
Having just come ashore, he suddenly turned around and walked back into the artificial lake.