Super Zoo

Suming and Su Meng were waiting in the hotel for news from Er Gouzi, but as the night wore on, Er Gouzi still hadn't returned, and Suming was getting sleepy. Dressed and in a daze, he dozed off on the small hotel's bed.

In the middle of his sleep, he heard some noise at the door. Suming jolted awake and, using the light seeping in from the corridor, saw something like a business card slipped through the crack of the door. He picked it up and saw it was printed with a picture of a vixen, categories like college girls, office workers, married young women, and a contact number starting with 139…

"Damn…" Suming rubbed his eyes and continued to curl up on the bed.

He was in and out of sleep until the sky started to brighten, and he was almost completely asleep when he felt something on his face, tickling him. His instinct was to slap it away.

Luckily, he held back. Er Gouzi had come back at some point, flying in through the window and now lying on his cheek. If he had actually slapped, Er Gouzi would have been unintentionally killed by one of his own…

"Don't lie on my face next time..." Suming got up and rubbed his face, then communicated with Er Gouzi using his spiritual power. Er Gouzi wasn't particularly intelligent and was not very clear in his expression, but it seemed that not long after it had returned, a car had arrived at the shelter. Mr. Lin had moved some dogs onto the car, which stayed for a while before leaving.

"Damn, these two wouldn't be secretly selling dogs, would they? That's way too bold!" Suming was shocked. To put it bluntly, that was guarding and stealing, like a bank vault guard sneaking out the gold to sell. Of course, the value of dogs and gold was different, but the nature of the actions was the same, both being severe illegal activities.

It's true that appearances can be deceiving; Mr. Lin seemed so honest and yet could do such a thing behind the scenes!

The question was, who had they sold those dogs to? If the dogs ended up in various restaurants, that would be quite a spectacle. Such a story, once reported, would certainly be sensational: compassionate citizens, poor injured dogs, and an animal shelter secretly selling them – every aspect was highly newsworthy.

"Did you remember the license plate number?" Suming asked.

Er Gouzi buzzed and buzzed, unable to articulate clearly. Eventually, after struggling, it flew around aimlessly in the air, darting around like it was drunk, and Suming had no clue what it meant.

"Oh, I get it!" Suming said, an epiphany hitting him as he watched Er Gouzi flittering in front of him, "Fly it one more time!"

So Er Gouzi twisted its body and flew chaotically in front of Suming again. This time, however, Suming figured out what it meant: the creature couldn't articulate human license plate numbers clearly but had memorized the 'pattern' of the license plate. It was trying to draw the license plate number with its flight path.

Suming recorded Er Gouzi's flight trajectory and finally got a license plate number. It appeared to be from the provincial capital, Jiangjin City.

"That's not right!" Suming slapped his forehead. A license plate number was of no use on its own—with so many cars on the road, where was he to find this particular one? It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Unexpectedly, after Suming recorded the license plate number, Er Gouzi buzzed out of the window and circled outside before zooming off into the distance with a buzz.

Suming stuck his head out from the window and gazed outside, only to see Er Gouzi soaring across the road in the distance. This was the entrance to the county town, lined with small motels, eateries, and such, providing rest and refreshments to passersby. Early in the morning, many people were having breakfast by the roadside, where a variety of vehicles were also parked. Er Gouzi had just stopped on top of a large cargo truck.

Suming's eyes lit up, the license plate of this truck was the one that Er Gouzi had sketched!

"Su Meng, let's go!" Suming hurriedly went downstairs to settle the bill at the front desk, then casually walked up to the rear of the truck as if he was just passing by. The back of the truck was concealed with tarps, making it impossible to see what was being transported from the outside. Seizing the moment when no one was paying attention, Suming swiftly peeked inside through a gap in the tarps.

Sure enough, it was full of dogs!

"Nicely done!" he praised Er Gouzi briefly, then Suming, with Su Meng and two wolf dogs, got into the Wrangler parked not far from the big truck and waited.

After a wait of about twenty minutes, a middle-aged man emerged from a breakfast shop, boarded the truck, started the engine, and drove off unsteadily into the distance. Suming also started up the Wrangler and followed behind at a leisurely pace, curious to see where the truck would eventually 'unload' its cargo.

Soon, both vehicles had left the county town behind and gotten onto a provincial road. After following for more than an hour, the large truck turned off the provincial road and onto the highway leading to Jiangjin City.

Taking advantage of the force of the news media was a tactic Suming often employed. To stir up attention, help from the media was indispensable. As he followed, he made a call to Nangong Yan.

"Hello, Nangong, I've got some dynamite news. Are you in on it? It's too complicated to explain over the phone. If you're in, come to the provincial capital as fast as you can. Call me when you get here!" He didn't elaborate on the phone, just hung up after a few brief words, and then continued the pursuit.

It must be said that the perks of working for a TV station are quite good, or perhaps because Nangong Yan had covered several valuable news stories recently, her status at the station had improved significantly. As soon as the station's leadership heard that it was a call from Suming, with the promise of explosive news, they immediately let Nangong Yan take a news van and head straight for Jiangjin.

The big truck was moving relatively slowly on the highway, cruising at only about 80 kilometers per hour. Suming was in no rush, just driving slowly behind. Consequently, Nangong Yan's vehicle, which had left later, caught up just as they were nearing the Jiangjin toll station. The two vehicles entered the station one after the other.

At the toll station, Nangong spotted Suming's very distinctive Wrangler immediately and called him from the news van at the back, "What's this huge news about? You didn't elaborate on the call, making me rush out here all flustered—I've been touching up my makeup the whole way!"

Suming sat in his car and laughed: "Big sis, you're casting flirtatious glances to a blind man this time. No matter how good your makeup is, it's useless. We might have to conduct an undercover investigation!"

"Ah? But I've brought a whole team with me, and another vehicle…" Nangong Yan said, feeling flustered in the van behind.

"Cut the chatter, hurry up, get in my car, just bring a simple camcorder or something like that."

The door of the business van flung open with a clatter, and Nangong Yan, in her high heels, jumped out of the van and hopped over to the Wrangler in front, knocking on the window.