Super Zoo

"Su Meng, move to the back!" Su Ming snapped his fingers at Su Meng, and after Su Meng climbed to the back to sit with the wolfhound brothers, he opened the door and Nangong Yan ducked in, still holding a pair of high heels.

"That's your cousin, right? Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Nangong Yan, your cousin's classmate." Nangong Yan was seeing Su Meng for the first time, and she greeted him politely.

The two wolfhounds were way too familiar with Nangong Yan to need an introduction; upon seeing her, they happily squatted on the back seat, sticking out their tongues and panting heavily at her.

Not being used to interacting with others, Su Meng didn't know how to respond to Nangong Yan's greeting. However, as someone who had lived in the wild, he was very good at imitating, so he turned to look at the wolfhounds, scratched his head, and mimicking them, squatted in the backseat and stuck out his tongue, panting at Nangong Yan.

Nangong Yan was startled and asked Su Ming in a low voice, "Is there something wrong with your cousin here..." while saying this, she pointed to her temple.

"Don't you dare insult our hometown's unique way of greeting!" Su Ming said with dead seriousness.

Nangong Yan's mouth twitched a couple of times, but she was used to Su Ming's often erratic behavior. She snorted, then casually pulled out the seatbelt and buckled up, before magically producing a small makeup kit. She opened the car's vanity mirror, started to touch up her makeup without even turning her head, and said, "What exactly happened, tell me about it."

Su Ming glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and said with resignation, "No need to put on makeup, it's an undercover investigation!"

"What do you know, who told you that you can't wear makeup on an undercover assignment? Besides, putting on makeup is in a woman's nature, and since it's undercover, I'll just do a natural look... Ah, why am I even explaining this to you, you wouldn't understand, just tell me, what's happening?"

Women seemed to have an innate gift for makeup; Nangong Yan chatted while looking into the small mirror, her hand moving swiftly over her face. Using things like makeup remover pads, she quickly wiped off her original makeup, then went on a frenzy of application that resulted in what she called a 'natural look,' which did seem quite natural.

"Be careful not to poke your eye out!" Su Ming said as he watched her draw on the eyeline with a sharply pointed eyebrow pencil while sitting in the car. He couldn't help but be a bit afraid and reminded her, before briefly explaining the situation to her.

"Oh, I know, I know, last time when those people were rescuing these dogs, our station had colleagues who went to report on it! It caused quite a stir back then. They blocked the dog delivery truck on the highway, determined to take the dogs with them. The driver delivering the dogs even drew a knife; in the end, the police arrived, found out that the batch of dogs lacked quarantine certificates, and confiscated them all. The news caused quite a debate online after it was reported... Hey, how do I look in my makeup?"

As Nangong Yan was talking, she turned her head and looked at Su Ming with a beaming smile. Su Ming was taken aback by her sudden change of topic and after staring at her face for a few moments, he said, "Not bad, pretty, it looks a lot like you."

"How come this doesn't sound like anything nice?" Nangong Yan snapped her makeup case shut, shoved it into her purse, and then pointed at the truck ahead: "Is that the truck?"

"Yeah, let's see where exactly they're taking the dogs!" Su Ming said.

"Alright, you drive, I'll start filming..."

Nangong Yan had already pulled out a handheld camcorder and began filming the truck ahead, speaking slowly: "This is Yangchuan City TV Station, I'm the reporter Nangong Yan, and right now we are conducting an undercover program. According to information provided by our source, these two trucks in front of us are carrying several dozen dogs rescued by animal lovers two months ago. However, after just two months at the rescue station, these dogs were once again secretly loaded onto these two trucks with unknown destinations, which is really quite suspicious... Now we'll interview our source, sitting right next to me, Su Ming..."

"Dammit, don't film me..." Before Su Ming could finish, Nangong Yan mischievously gave him a shot on camera, playfully adding: "This face must be very familiar to our viewers, as it's none other than Yangchuan City's model worker, holder of a Guinness World Record, a legendary figure at the zoo, always dedicated to animal protection, Mr. Su! Mr. Su, could you briefly tell us how you came across this issue?"

That wicked girl, filming me even though I said not to! Su Ming pinched Nangong Yan's thigh hard where the camera couldn't see, causing her to grimace in pain. Only then did he cough artificially at the camera and say, "First, let me correct you, the Guinness record holder is my pet axolotl, not me. This is what happened..."

"Alright, we can now see that the trucks carrying the dogs have entered Jiangjin City District. Oh, it seems that the provincial capital is even more congested than our Yangchuan City. While we're stuck here, let's continue our interview with Mr. Su. Mr. Su, what's your opinion on animal lovers rescuing dogs? Opinions are divided on the internet; some netizens believe that dogs are man's best friend and should not be treated the same as pigs and sheep, and they highly support the actions of animal lovers; while others argue that animal lovers are not qualified to enforce the law, and that law is the baseline for morality. They say that in breaking the law to talk about morality, they are acting irrationally. So, what do you think?"

"I don't really have an opinion," said Su Ming, gripping the steering wheel and facing forward. He couldn't care less to get involved in these pointless debates. He thought he might as well sleep than waste time squabbling, so he shrugged his shoulders, looked ahead with an expressionless face, and continued, "I think that for a driver, the most important job is to focus on the road, to be responsible for their own life and the lives of others, rather than chatting while driving. Don't you think? Pretty girl?"

"Tsk, not cooperative at all! This segment should be cut!" Nangong Yan scorned him with a glare, then temporarily turned off her camera to save the battery.

The provincial capital was indeed jam-packed; it wasn't even six o'clock when they entered the city, and it wasn't until nine-thirty at night that they finally crossed the district and stopped in front of a large group of buildings on the outskirts, at the big iron gate.

Su Ming and their vehicle were parked far back, at the edge of the forest.

"Huh? Why is it this place? What are they doing bringing dogs here?" Nangong Yan stared at the big sign over the gate, puzzled.

"Let's follow them and find out! Su Meng, you stay here with the dogs, Nangong, you're with me on the truck!"