Working in a Zoo with Beast Taming System

He Ling quickly explained, "I remembered your Bai Wan is incredible at tracking, so I called you. Could you bring him over to the visitor services center? We need help finding a child."

’A child is missing?’

Yang Qi’s expression turned serious, and he immediately replied, "No problem, Minister He. I’ll bring Bai Wan over right away."

He hung up and stood up immediately.

In the backyard, Bai Wan was playing with Hu Zi and Leopard in the sun.

Yang Qi called out.

"Bai Wan, we have a mission. Hu Zi, Leopard, you two watch the house."

Hearing this, Bai Wan’s ears perked up, and he trotted over to Yang Qi’s side.

Hu Zi and Leopard also stopped playing, letting out low barks to show they understood.

"Let’s go, Bai Wan."

Yang Qi took Bai Wan outside and got on his electric scooter.

Bai Wan expertly sat on the floorboard.

Yang Qi started the scooter, and the man and his dog quickly sped toward the visitor services center near the Zoo’s main entrance.

When they arrived at the services center, He Ling was already at the door, looking around anxiously.

Seeing Yang Qi, she immediately came over to greet him.

"Xiao Yang, you’re here. Quickly, this way."

She thanked him repeatedly as she led him inside.

Inside the services center, a woman in her thirties with red-rimmed eyes and an anxious expression was pacing restlessly. When she saw Yang Qi and Bai Wan at his side, hope ignited in her eyes.

"Ms. Zhou, this is Yang Qi from our Zoo. His animal training skills are incredible. This is Bai Wan. Don’t be fooled by his breed—he’s a Chinese rural dog, but he’s helped the police crack cases before and was even given the title ’Honorary Police Dog’." He Ling quickly explained.

"Mr. Yang, I’m begging you, please help me! Help me find my son!"

Ms. Zhou practically lunged forward, her voice trembling and choked with tears. "I just went to the bathroom! I told him to wait for me for a moment, but when I came out, he was gone! He’s only six years old! What if he ran into some awful person... I... I..."

"Ms. Zhou, please try to calm down. Tell us what happened, slowly. We’ll do everything we can to help."

Yang Qi quickly tried to comfort her while looking at He Ling. "Minister He, what are the specifics?"

He Ling, who was a bit calmer, recounted the events clearly.

"Around eight this morning, Ms. Zhou brought her son, Xiao Bu, to the Zoo to play. At about 9:10 AM, Ms. Zhou went to a public restroom and told Xiao Bu to wait for her right outside, specifically telling him not to run off."

"But less than five minutes later, when Ms. Zhou came out, the child was gone. She immediately found one of our security guards, who searched the area around the restroom but couldn’t find him."

"We immediately checked the surveillance footage. We saw that after Ms. Zhou went into the restroom, Xiao Bu played by himself for a little while. Then, he saw a few other children run by and followed them toward the small plaza near the main gate."

"At the plaza, he saw a young couple with a balloon and cotton candy. He seemed interested and followed them all the way... all the way out the Zoo’s main gate!"

"He left the Zoo?" Yang Qi was stunned to hear this.

He had assumed the boy was just lost somewhere in a corner of the Zoo, not that he had already run outside.

Now that he was out, the search area and difficulty had just expanded enormously.

"Yes, he left the Zoo."

He Ling also sounded helpless. "The surveillance footage clearly shows him following the couple out the main gate and then heading east along the sidewalk outside."

"We’ve already reported it to the police; officers from the nearby station are on their way. But you know how it is outside—heavy foot traffic, lots of side streets. It takes time to search manually and review public surveillance footage."

"That’s why I thought of Bai Wan. I wanted to see if we could use scent tracking to lock onto a direction and narrow down the search area more quickly."

Ms. Zhou, standing to the side, nodded repeatedly, looking at Yang Qi and Bai Wan with a pleading expression.

"No problem."

After listening, Yang Qi nodded. "Ms. Zhou, do you have any of your son’s clothes? Preferably something he wore today that hasn’t been washed. The scent will be strongest on that."

"Yes, yes, I do!"

Ms. Zhou immediately pulled a brightly colored, thin children’s jacket from the diaper bag she was carrying. She handed it over anxiously, saying, "This is the jacket he wore this morning. He got hot later and took it off, so I stuffed it in my bag. It hasn’t been washed!"

"Perfect."

Yang Qi took the small, cartoon-printed jacket. He could smell the lingering scent of the child and a faint whiff of snacks on it.

He crouched down, held the jacket to Bai Wan’s nose, and used the Basic Spirit Communication Technique. "Here, Bai Wan. Take a good sniff. Memorize this scent."

"WOOF!"

’Okay.’

Bai Wan let out a low bark, his expression focused and serious.

He lowered his head, his nostrils flaring rapidly as he carefully sniffed the scent on the jacket, his eyes narrowed slightly.

A few seconds later, he lifted his head and looked at Yang Qi, his gaze firm.

’I’ve memorized it.’

"Good boy."

Yang Qi patted Bai Wan’s head, then stood up and said to He Ling and Ms. Zhou, "Minister He, Ms. Zhou, Bai Wan and I will head out now. Minister He, please stay in contact with the police and sync our progress with them. Ms. Zhou, would you like to wait for news here, or come with us?"

"I’ll go with you!"

Ms. Zhou said without hesitation. Though her face was pale, her eyes were filled with determination.

"Alright, let’s go then. Bai Wan, move out!"

At Yang Qi’s command, he held the leash and followed Bai Wan, leading the way out of the visitor services center.

Ms. Zhou followed right behind them.

Bai Wan kept his head low, nose to the ground, carefully discerning the faint trail of Xiao Bu’s scent lingering in the air and on the pavement.

He first walked slowly in the direction shown on the surveillance footage, then made a beeline for the Zoo’s main gate.

Just as they reached the gate, a police car drove in.

"Huh? Advisor Yang?"