After Leaving the Spotlight, I Went to Save the Animal World

1 Jiang Shi was a wildlife rescue worker in his previous life. He spent his entire life trying to save wild animals and stop poaching. After accidentally dying at the hands of poachers, he woke up to find he had transmigrated into the body of a notorious, barely-known celebrity in the entertainment industry, someone so insignificant even a thirty-eighth-tier star could walk all over him. Jiang Shi looked at the stream of comments under his Weibo post telling him to get out of showbiz, then at the little bird outside the window speaking human language. This was all a bit surreal. Unsure of himself, he asked, “What are you saying?” The bird flapped its wings. “I said, you’re so pitiful. I just heard those two next door discussing how to send you to someone else’s bed… Ah!!! How can you understand me?! Mom, there’s a monster here!” The bird flew away in a wobbly zigzag. Jiang Shi remembered that his manager’s office was next door, and promptly started packing his things. “See ya!” After discovering that the ability to understand animal speech was the golden finger that came with his transmigration, Jiang Shi decisively joined a rare-animal rescue center and became a proud wildlife conservation worker. From then on, he could be found everywhere, from lofty mountains and vast seas to snowy peaks and plateaus, from Antarctica to the Arctic, and in all kinds of places untouched by people. At Wolong Snow Mountain, he rescued a newborn giant panda that had been abandoned. In the Qinling Mountains, he chatted with the former king of the golden snub-nosed monkeys, who had lost a power struggle and decided to lie flat for the rest of his monkey life. In the vast ocean, he rescued a blue whale trapped in a net. On the plateau, he counted stars with a family of Tibetan foxes… 2 Jiang Shi was going to appear on a livestream variety show where the guests worked as zookeepers. The other guests included a minor celebrity who had smeared him, a low-tier actress who had spread sexual rumors about him, and a young director who had publicly criticized him as having ulterior motives… Jiang Shi: … This wasn’t a livestream. It was clearly a trap laid for him! When the broadcast began, the other guests’ fans spread the word and arrived to hurl abuse, telling him not to drag their idols down while hoping Jiang Shi would embarrass himself again and become a laughingstock across the internet. But it didn’t take long for everyone to notice that Jiang Shi was always the one who completed the tasks best. The animals tormented the other guests until they could barely take it, but whenever Jiang Shi appeared, every animal behaved itself. An eight-meter python cuddled up to him. The most temperamental lion curled up in his arms and begged for affection. A tiger that had just been rescued even let Jiang Shi stroke its tail while it ate… The country’s first national rare wildlife rescue center issued a public statement in support of its director: “All the false claims online about our center director, @JiangShiNotTheRiver, will be subject to legal action. We have already reported the matter to the police and submitted evidence. Please govern yourselves accordingly.” Everyone else: ???? When did he pass the civil service exam?! Before long, entertainment-industry fans realized that Jiang Shi, the obscure eighteenth-tier celebrity, had disappeared. In his place was Jiang Shi, appearing on television stations across the country, being courted by major wildlife conservation bases, hailed as a national young talent, invited by CCTV to serve as a “Wildlife Conservation Ambassador,” and even appearing at the country’s highest halls as a representative of nature. Between humanity and nature, he was the translator for the natural world. (Image saved, reported. Don’t steal the idea.) Reader’s guide: The protagonist has an incredibly powerful golden finger, and all animals love him. Everything serves the plot. Most information on animals and wildlife conservation was found online; anything I couldn’t find is made up, so please don’t treat it as reality. There is a lot of creative license. If something bothers you, please click the X and drop the novel without telling me. Let’s all enjoy ourselves. Hope you enjoy reading. Coming soon: Transformed into an Animal at the Audition, now in progress 1 In his previous life, Song He was an undercover narcotics officer embedded among criminals. At the very end of his life, he managed to hold the criminals off long enough for his comrades to arrest them, but he himself perished in a sea of flames. He thought his final journey would be beneath a flag, carried to the martyrs’ cemetery. Instead, when he opened his eyes again, he had transmigrated into an eighteen-year-old idol with the same name, competing on a televised talent show. The bad news: it was a live talent show, and he was about to go onstage and perform. The good news: he had been bound to a System, which told him there was a benefit for agreeing to the bond and that it could help him through his current predicament. Just then, the mentor called him onstage, and he tried to focus on two things at once. As he stood at the center of the stage, he heard the System declare emphatically: 【I can turn you into an animal right here onstage!】 The mentor asked, “Song He, what special skill are you going to show us this time?” Song He answered at the same time: “Turning into an animal?” The mentor and audience: “Huh?” The next second, a calico cat appeared out of thin air in the middle of the stage. Everyone in the studio sprang to their feet. “What just jumped down there?!” The livestream audience: “! Such advanced effects! What an unusual skill! What an incredible director!” The director… stared blankly at the calico cat. A few seconds later, his eyes widened in shock. He turned to his assistant and asked, “Do I look like a director who can afford effects like that?” 2 The System was so unreliable that Song He hadn’t wanted to agree to it at first. But… After successfully identifying the culprit in a poisoning case, Song He was taken to the police station to assist with the investigation. At the entrance, he passed a familiar face, and froze. It was his older brother, who had died in the line of duty years ago. But why was he here now?! 【System announcement: Song Luo’s undercover identity is about to be discovered. Save Song Luo’s life to receive a huge amount of life points.】 Song Luo was his older brother’s name. Song He suddenly understood. His brother had only faked his death back then to go undercover. Later came… The Red-Light District case in the entertainment industry, the kidnapping case on a variety show, the murders on a horror film set… Everyone gradually realized that whenever Song He was around, all kinds of bizarre cases seemed to crop up. Yet every time, he managed to identify the criminal with perfect accuracy and bring them to justice. One day, a marketing account posted in astonishment: “Why is Song He following all these official police department accounts from around the country?!” His fans flocked to investigate, and made another discovery. “That vendor behind Song He in the shot where he sets up a stall on his new variety show is an undercover cop, right?!” “! Did you watch Song He’s new movie? The person firing a gun in it was an actual SWAT officer!” “Wait, no… The person who checks in on Song He’s Weibo every day seems to be the head of the criminal investigation team at the Public Security Department…” As time went on, his fans were alarmed to discover that Song He had attracted the attention of countless official agencies. 3 A variety show called Uncover the Truth came into being, with Song He as a regular guest. At first, everyone thought it was just an ordinary mystery-solving show, until one day someone posted: “Holy crap! Song He’s new show is based on real cases!” The post caused an uproar. Only then did everyone realize that the show actually solved cases on the spot, and every case was a real, long-unsolved crime! Another day, an account with a yellow verification badge couldn’t help posting: “Have none of you noticed? The people appearing with Song He are a retired criminal profiler from the Public Security Department, a retired head of its criminal investigation team… And most importantly, the show’s technical advisor is the provincial Public Security Department, and its supervisor is the TV station director!” Netizens: “!!” “Holy crap!” P.S. The novel and its setting are fictional. Please don’t treat them as reality. Everyone sees things differently. If you don’t like it or think there’s a problem, please click the X. Readers are welcome to guess the clues to the cases. Some real cases were used as references. If that bothers you, please click the X. Screenshots have been uploaded to Weibo. Don’t steal the idea. Theme: Protect wildlife and save the ecological environment.