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Shi Wen interrupted his wishful thinking, "Yes, we don't have meerkats native to this area, so this could be an invasive species event. Brother Zhou, you might have to work overtime."

Zhou Hongzhong sighed painfully, "Working overtime on the first day of the Lunar New Year? Looks like there's bound to be a lot of overtime this year. Send me your location, I'll bring some people over to check it out later."

Shi Wen, "No problem, I'll send it to you on WeChat."

Zhou Hongzhong explained, "I'm currently on vacation with my family, and it will take some time for me to get back."

Shi Wen, "I understand. Happy New Year, Brother Zhou!"

Zhou Hongzhong: "Happy New Year to you all too. Thanks to you, our team's year-end bonus increased by 30%, otherwise I wouldn't have come out to have fun. I just didn't expect to run into trouble again on the first day of the Lunar New Year."

Shi Wen laughed and said, "We only ran into trouble because we were out having fun. It's okay to run into trouble; your bonuses might even reach a new high this year."

Zhou Hongzhong immediately replied, "I hope it's as you say."

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, Shi Wen hung up the phone.

Zhu Ji, holding his skis, asked, "So, what's the situation now? Should we wait here for them to arrive?"

Shi Wen his hand. "No need, just play however you want. They'll see us when they get here."

The little snow leopard looked at the meerkat burrow, eager to try and pull out two more meerkats.

The White Tiger was also standing nearby, looking very eager to make a move.

At this moment, the two little guys, who don't usually get along, surprisingly acted in unison.

Shi Wen commanded Cong Zai, "Cong Zai, you're the older brother, take them to play. Don't cause any more trouble for these meerkats; we might need to study them later."

Cong Zai: "Meow."

With Cong Zai around, the little ones dared not misbehave anymore.

Shi Wen looked at Yan Kexing, "Shall we go over too? It's a rare opportunity to have some fun; let's leave work-related matters to the professionals."

Yan Kexing put his phone back in his pocket. "Okay."

They went to play in the snow, each leading a team of kids, and had a race to see which team could slide down the mountain the fastest.

The original plan was for each of the three of them to lead a team, but the little ones didn't want to follow behind Zhu Ji.

Zhu Ji scolded them for being disloyal. They ate meat together when it was time to eat, but when it came to playing, they didn't choose him.

Le Wa blinked, looking quite guilty. After hesitating for a while, she ultimately didn't choose Zhu Ji.

Zhu Ji was even more depressed.

So the two of them took a group of kids skating, including Laibao and Shi Suo.

When Zhou Hongzhong arrived with his men, their play had already reached a fever pitch.

Zhou Hongzhong and the others rubbed their eyes in disbelief as they watched a large brown cow slide down the snow.

They were quite worldly-wise, but this was the first time they had ever seen a brown ox sitting and playing in such a strange posture.

Putting aside the brown oxen, the horses' postures were also quite strange.

Zhou Hongzhong's tone was complicated. "You guys are playing something new."

Shi Wen assumed he meant "having a lot of fun" and nodded, "Yeah, it was really fun. Are you looking for meerkats? We'll take you there."

Zhou Hongzhong: "What if we rush over now and they get away?"

Shi Wen, "Probably not. They might be scared and hide in their holes. Besides, it's okay if they run away. I have so many cats and dogs here; I can catch them again in time."

Shi Wen hearing this, the snow leopard cub sharpened its claws, trying to rush out.

Shi Wen put an arm around it, saying, "Don't be impulsive, we don't need you right now."

Yan Kexing: "Let's take a look at this meerkat we caught earlier."

Shi Wen slapped his forehead. "Oh right, we caught a meerkat earlier."

Yan Kexing took the meerkat out of the car.

After examining it, Zhou Hongzhong said, "It really is a meerkat. Which subspecies is this? It doesn't seem quite like the meerkats I remember."

Yan Kexing: "It's hard to say. It might have evolved into a new subspecies native to our area."

Zhou Hongzhong was dumbfounded. "No way?"

Yan Kexing: "Why not? If they were really brought to this place secretly by humans, it wouldn't be surprising if they evolved new subspecies in a place with different terrain, climate, and food, wouldn't it?"

The process of species evolution is not difficult; for example, new species can often be discovered on certain small islands.

When the same species moves to different islands, they usually evolve to resemble the species that is more adapted to the different living environments and food sources of that island.

Zhou Hongzhong: "If that's the case, then it's truly a major discovery."

Yan Kexing nodded. "As our ecosystem recovers and the number of plants and animals increases, the number of species we can accommodate will also rise. Some of these may be species returning, while others may be invasive species."

If a place has a suitable ecology, but the corresponding species for that niche are vacant, then new species will inevitably come to occupy that niche.

Although meerkats do not occupy a blank ecological niche here, the environment must have provided them with ample living space; otherwise, they could not have survived and multiplied here.

Zhou Hongzhong: "I understand. Let's check on those meerkats first, and then report it."

Yan Kexing nodded.

Shi Wen them leading the group of meerkats to see this.

The meerkats huddled in their burrow, too afraid to move. Shi Wen personally taking action, he simply directed the little guys to swiftly capture the meerkats.

There were nine meerkats in total, the same number Shi Wen guessed.

After being captured, these meerkats stared with their big, round eyes wide open, not daring to utter a sound, remaining as quiet as quails.

Shi Wen looked at these little ones and almost couldn't bear to look at them anymore.

Having discovered such a species, Zhou Hongzhong and his team had plenty to do and weren't in the mood to stay and Shi Wen.

After catching the meerkats, Zhou Hongzhong and his men quickly left.