Super Zoo

Not only was Suming puzzled, the poachers by the pond were clearly also a bit confused. The buyer offered such a high price, could it be just for this Chinese Giant Salamander?

He, the boss, had a thought and raised his head to loudly ask, "Mr. Qian, what else is behind the waterfall?"

Mr. Qian pointed at the waterfall and shouted back, "Boss, something's not right. There's a really big karst cave back here, with quite a few holes in the cave walls. It took me half a day to find this salamander and drive it out!"

Startled by this, He looked at the other poachers and commanded loudly, "Mr. Qian, lead the way. Da Xiong, you two, take the equipment and follow me in for a look. Yangzi, you two stay outside."

"Alrighty!" The two poachers guarding the pond shook their rifles in their hands.

He hesitated for a moment before adding to them, "Stay sharp, this is a big deal we have here. If anyone comes, take them out directly, and make sure not to let any word out!"

After that, He and the other two poachers shouldered their equipment, jumped onto a small inflatable raft, and followed Mr. Qian back into the cave behind the waterfall.

Four of the six men had left, taking most of the guns and equipment with them, leaving only two poachers behind. Suming's mind stirred slightly; now was the perfect opportunity to rescue the Diamond Parrots and the other animals!

The two men first put the giant salamander into a large cage, then whispered to each other for a while. One, with a pistol tucked away, sat in the center of the camp, guarding the equipment and the prey;

While the other, with a rifle slung over his back, ran into the woods near the camp, climbed a tree, and hid in the shade of the leaves, establishing two guard positions: one visible, one hidden.

From this tiny detail, it was evident that this was a very experienced group of poachers, who might have even received military training.

This setup of visible and hidden guard posts was extremely cunning. If someone accidentally wandered deep into the mountains and came upon the camp, seeing only one person, they would certainly approach for directions or help. Then the hidden guard in the tree would open fire first, while the visible guard in the camp would take advantage of the confusion to draw his pistol and act, ensuring that none of the intruders would escape.

Even if they encountered police or paramilitary forces, the poachers wouldn't get caught all at once; the hidden guard could launch a surprise attack, or fire a warning shot to alert the fellows in the cave.

Suming lay on the opposite side of the river, observing both sentries with clear vision, and almost couldn't help but laugh out loud.

If these two had just stayed together, guarding the campsite by the water with their guns, it would have been more difficult to get to them, but they had cleverly separated, digging their own graves. Well, they could hardly blame me for that.

Just a few minutes later, the hidden sentry in the forest suddenly let out a loud "ow" and the branches around him shook violently.

The visible sentry in the camp instinctively reached into his chest, grabbing the pistol grip, shifted his body to take cover behind a large cage, peeking out with half his head, and shouted towards the direction of the hidden sentry, "Yangzi, what happened?"

"Nothing, dammit, got stung by a wasp, hell, these wasps are so venomous, it's killing me!"

The branches trembled as the hidden poacher Yangzi showed his head behind the treetop, telling the visible sentry, "Bring me some insect repellent!"

"Why do all these weird things always happen to you! Dammit, why didn't the wasp sting me?"

The visible sentry climbed up from behind the cage, rummaged through the equipment for a while, and walked into the woods with a bottle of insect repellent, casually handing it to the hidden sentry in the tree, while still advising, "That stuff has a strong smell, don't use too much."

"I know, stop nagging," the hidden sentinel in the tree took the potion and smeared it on his exposed skin.

Ming Shao walked back to the camp leisurely.

Before long, another scream came from the area where the sentinel was positioned.

"Didn't he apply the potion? How did he get bitten again?" Ming Shao was taken aback and shouted toward the sentinel's location, "Stop crying wolf, a few hornets won't kill you. Endure it and be careful not to get discovered."

Apparently, the sentinel was also worried about being discovered and didn't make another sound, but the branches around him shook a few times as if to protest.

Ming Shao glanced over and muttered, "Damn! Everyone's so eager to split the money, but when it comes to doing some work, it's like pulling teeth!"

After speaking, seeing no more movement from the sentinel, he took out a can of beef, pried it open with a knife, and started eating.

At this time, a poacher named 'Yangzi' sat rigidly on a branch not far away, with a steel-grey complexion, his rifle hanging on his chest, and both hands hanging by his side, unable to move a muscle, let alone a finger. Terror filled his wide-open eyes, and his breathing grew faster and weaker.

On his wrists and neck, there were two tiny holes each, oozing dark beads of blood.

Two silver ring snakes slowly slithered across his body, winding up to the treetops along his neck.

The venom of the silver ring snakes was fierce, ranking in the top five among their kind. A bite would be unquestionably fatal without immediate treatment. Read latest stories on mvl

Even so, ordinary silver ring snake bites would not result in instant death; the victim usually had enough time to call for help.

But these two snakes caught by Haidong Qing and controlled by Suming injected all their venom into Yangzi in one go, several times the normal dose.

Besides, a bite from the silver ring snake isn't particularly painful; the victim would feel like they've been stung by something—often less painful than a hornet—taking several minutes before the nervous and respiratory systems began to numb.

Yangzi, leaning against the tree, initially thought it was a hornet sting when he was bitten by the snakes. He didn't pay much attention at first. By the time he realized something was wrong and tried to call for help, the poison had taken effect, paralyzing his nervous system, and he couldn't even scream. It took all his strength to shake the branches twice, hoping to catch the attention of his companion Ming Shao, who dismissed it as a hornet sting too and didn't take it seriously.

Yangzi was still alive but indistinguishable from a dead man. He couldn't speak or move, feeling the numbness spread throughout his body as he helplessly watched himself slip closer to death.

From the opposite grove, Suming gauged that the hidden sentinel wouldn't survive much longer. He surveyed the terrain, noting that the camp where Ming Shao was stationed was located on a clearing between the pool of water and the woods, surrounded by rounded pebbles on the ground, completely bare with no concealment. From any direction, it would be challenging to guarantee that the enemy could be eliminated before they could fire a warning shot.

He thought for a moment, tore several pieces from his own clothing, smeared some mud on his face, and then nonchalantly stood up and walked out of the forest.

"Who's there?" As soon as Suming appeared, Ming Shao spotted him and asked cautiously from a distance.

"Brother, a few of us classmates came to the mountain for fun and got lost!"

Seeing someone, Suming immediately put on an excited and relieved expression, rushed out of the woods, crossed the stream, and ran towards the camp, completely unguarded and looking naive and inexperienced.