Super Zoo

Suming's small bag was filled with many red, pointy plants.

Every farmer in Sun Town feared wild boars, except for one household.

Because what they grew were hot peppers!

There was one time wild boars came down the mountain to ravage the crops, and a few clueless ones rushed into their chili field. After a fierce munching... there was no "after." Those boars took a few bites of the peppers and cried all the way home…

Ironically, Suming happened to be someone who loved spicy food. In his school days, he was too poor to afford dishes in the cafeteria, often eating his rice just with dried chili peppers.

Suming transferred his soul-attaching ability to his second senior brother, who first glared ferociously at Suming before seeing him pull out a bright red chili pepper to stuff into his mouth.

"Eating dry hot peppers in this freezing weather is so exhilarating!" Suming chewed on a handful of dried chilies as though they were snacks, and even waved at Su Meng, "You want some? So fragrant!"

He even prepared a tube of spicy strips, in case the peppers didn't do the trick. But it looked like he wouldn't need the spicy strips after all. Just as Suming took a bite, the second senior brother below suddenly stood frozen in place as if hit by a paralysis spell.

The next second, second senior brother let out a pig-slaughter-like howl, rushing toward a nearby pond with Su Meng on his back, and dove in, gulping down water.

The burning sensation came from Suming's mouth, not from the second senior brother itself, so drinking more water was pointless.

The only effect was that it made Suming feel as if he was drinking water too.

Having eaten so many hot peppers, Suming also felt a bit thirsty, but with the sensation of drinking, he suddenly felt refreshed all over, grabbing more chili peppers to stuff into his mouth while mumbling indistinctly that it would be nice to have a little drink.

Huffing and puffing... second senior brother drank a belly full of water, but the spiciness in his mouth intensified, until he could no longer drink and struggled to crawl onto the shore.

Tears fell in big drops from the corners of second senior brother's eyes.

"Spicy?" Suming asked.

Second senior brother nodded vigorously, gasping for air with his mouth wide open.

"Can we talk now?" Suming asked again.

Second senior brother nodded his head again with force.

...

After second senior brother became submissive, the rest of the wild boars surrendered with little effort. Only the one that weighed nearly four hundred pounds, just slightly smaller than second senior brother, probably the second-in-command in the boar hierarchy, was still a bit resistant, wanting to have a showdown with Suming.

It turned out that the second-in-command was no match for the leader! With just a few peppers, Mr. Second fell in line completely.

"Look at you guys, there are so many delicacies in the mountains: Lingzhi mushrooms, spring water, willow herb shoots, zhe mashis, and even poisonous snakes. The mountains offer an endless feast; why must you go and cause trouble in people's crops?"

After the beatdown came the ideological education. They needed the hard approach, but also the soft touch. It's like educating a child; when they make a mistake, they must be punished, but after the punishment, a lesson needs to be taught.

Suming sat on the back of second senior brother, talking to a group of wild boars of various sizes.

Haidong Qing settled on the head of Mr. Second like a black crow, embodying the saying "a crow perched on a pig's back…"

The wild boars breathed heavily, honest enough not to attack again, but from the looks of it, they didn't seem to realize their mistake.

"That's true, in your eyes, crops are plants, food for you as well! But stealing crops comes with risking your lives; is it really necessary?"

In the beginning, Suming thought that the mountains were devoid of food, which was why these creatures came down to forage. But it seemed there was plenty to eat and drink on the mountain. In the short time he'd been here, he'd seen second senior brother devour a large snake and a Lingzhi mushroom, and the other wild boars had found plenty to eat and drink as well.

Under these circumstances, why would they still take the risk to come down the mountain? Animal instinct should keep them away from humans, unless it was…

"Huffing... huff... huff…" second senior brother gestured with his mouth toward the distance.

"Huh? You don't live here?" Suming asked.

Piggy No. 2 stepped out of the ranks, sheepishly lifted its hind leg, revealing its undercarriage.

"Are you bored or what? I'm asking you a serious question, and you show me your balls, what's that supposed to mean?" Suming felt baffled, could Piggy No. 2 possibly be trying to seduce him with its 'beauty'?

But with one glance, he saw that between Piggy No. 2's legs, there was only one testicle left, lonely suspended there... The other had been bitten off by something.

"Oh my goodness, that must hurt so much!" Suming and Su Meng, both male animals, instinctively clenched their legs together, but couldn't help the shivery feeling in between.

In the future, one really mustn't speak or think carelessly!

Just that day he'd been talking about childbirth, experiencing it firsthand; he was also wondering how much pain measured in whatever unit a smashed testicle would be... and lo and behold, today he encountered a smashed one.

Brother Two, on the side, used his simple logic to roughly explain the situation to Suming.

Suming got goosebumps listening, because it was too gruesome! It was so brutal that one couldn't help but burst into laughter, yet one felt embarrassed to laugh.

Because Piggy No. 2's testicle wasn't bitten off by someone else, but by Brother Two! It turned out that one day, Piggy No. 2 was bitten by a poisonous snake in that area, and to save his comrade, Brother Two bravely bit where the snake had bitten, a true hero shedding a testicle, and bit off the poisoned one from Piggy No. 2!

"Alright, alright, let's stop talking about this…," if they continued, Suming feared he would have nightmares in the future.

Overall, the situation was like this: the wild boar herd's original habitat was a very nice place, with plenty of good food and drink, things like Lingzhi mushrooms and mountain springs, but it was occupied by a group of poisonous snakes.

Although wild boars are natural predators of snakes, if there are too many snakes, the wild boars can't do anything except flee in a panic.

This group of wild boars was temporarily homeless, so they wandered everywhere, settling wherever they ended up, and they ventured into human territory.

"Should I help you, or not? You know, I'm not fond of wild boars," Suming pondered, stroking his chin.

…

When Suming left Sun Town, it was probably a little before one in the afternoon, telling his mom he'd go out and play for a while. Who would have known that his outing would last until eight or nine in the evening without him having returned.

"Would you believe this kid, grown so big and still making people worry. His car isn't gone, where could he be?" Mrs. Su was really getting anxious. The countryside around the village isn't as safe as the city, especially at night. Not to mention the threat of various wild animals, even getting lost could lead to big trouble!

Mr. Wu, the town chief, was also at home and tried to reassure her: "Hey, a young man going into the mountains isn't a big deal."

Suming went to the mountains, and since there's no cell phone signal out there, he left his phone at home. Mrs. Su nodded while flipping through the phone, coming across Mr. Song's number.

In the days after Suming came back, he talked a lot about Mr. Song. Knowing that her son had a good relationship with this leader, Mrs. Su couldn't resist and made a call to Mr. Song, wary of leaving a bad impression on the leader, so she didn't directly mention Suming's 'disappearance.' Instead, she delicately inquired if the zoo had assigned any tasks to Su Min that required going up the mountains.

Mr. Song, hearing this, guessed most of it right away and laughed, saying, "Is that kid missing again?"

"Yes, that's right, he went into the mountains, and we can't find him!" Hearing Mr. Song speaking the truth, Mrs. Su didn't hide it.

But she still paused a moment, wondering why he said 'again.'

"Hey, don't worry, Mrs. Su. Suming is not doing this for the first time. He frequently plays disappearing acts around here. Rest assured, as far as I know, there's nothing in the wild he can't handle. Maybe when he comes back, he'll bring some surprises with him," Mr. Song said on the phone.

"What surprises? Coming back safe and sound is the biggest surprise," said Mrs. Su after a few words of pleasantries, feeling a bit more at ease and hanging up the phone.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Mr. Wu continued to console: "Auntie, don't be too anxious. If he doesn't return by the end of the night, tomorrow at dawn, I'll have people go up the mountains to search."

…

PS: Tragic...