Super Zoo

Suming brooded in his room all night.

There were solutions, of course. This affair, in essence, wasn't some earth-shattering scandal. Calling it illegal seemed a bit much, but it wasn't exactly legal either—it was a borderline case.

The crux of the matter was moral judgment.

The law is a yardstick, a benchmark, but no one ever said morality played that role. Morality is different for everyone, depending on their stance or status; sometimes it's just hot air. So with this issue, the key lay in how it was 'expressed.' Different narratives could lead to different outcomes. Depending on the direction of the narrative, the results could be totally different.

The next morning, Suming called Mr. Song, "Director, here's what I think. Since it's already a done deal, there's not much point in assigning blame. And if we're being strict, nobody's really responsible, except for that student who embezzled animal **********. Their responsibility isn't that great either. If we blew the lid off this, in the end, it would be the little guys, Lin and Lin, who'd take the fall."

"I've talked to Wang about this, and he basically agrees with you. Changping County is under Jiangjin City, and even though Jiangjin City doesn't get along too well with our Yangchuan City, we're still colleagues. They've got their difficulties, and while our original intention was to help rescue the animals, if this were to be reported, it could just complicate things for the other side's work," Mr. Song explained.

"We can't just let this slide, right?" Suming said with a sly laughter.

"Wang said he'll discuss the matter with the relevant departments in Jiangjin City. The batch of dogs was their responsibility, and now that we're taking them in, a little bloodletting is definitely in order!"

"Exactly, boss, you get me!" Suming laughed heartily.

"I knew you were the sort to feather your own nest!" Mr. Song laughed as well and then shifted to a more serious tone, "So, what exactly are you planning to do with those dogs? The zoo doesn't have enough space to keep them if you bring them back."

"Here's what I'm thinking..." Suming shared his thoughts in detail with Mr. Song.

That very afternoon, Wang Jian She spoke with the officials in charge from Jiangjin City over the phone and sent them the video material that Suming had obtained. After that, both sides held meetings and, after discussions that went on into the night, they finally arranged everything that needed to be done afterward.

Nangong Yan also received direct instructions from the head of the TV station on how to handle the follow-up news coverage.

The news content remained the same, but the angle of the reporting changed significantly.

"This approach seems fine, but won't some people accuse us of muddling right and wrong?" Nangong Yan asked Suming, somewhat puzzled.

"What is right, and what is wrong?" Suming rolled his dark eyes, "Do we have to offend everyone in the world to be right? Sister, you can't always think you're the sole sober man in a world full of drunks. With this approach, we solve the problem and maximize benefits. What's wrong with that? If we had just bluntly exposed the truth as initially intended, it might have felt satisfying, but beyond letting off steam, it would have been completely ineffective. Insisting on exposing the truth would ultimately be unhelpful, and it might even disrupt the work between the two regions, leading to social instability. Who would benefit from that? The ordinary, honest people would still be the losers. Besides, our report tells the truth as it is, without any fabrication."

"Why does everything seem so reasonable when it comes out of your mouth?" Nangong Yan remarked.

"That's because it's inherently reasonable!" Suming laughed heartily.

"Alright then, I'm off to prepare the news draft!"

"Mr. Lin, these dogs will need to stay a bit longer, but certainly not for too much time—I've got the next steps planned out. Just one thing: do not sell them again," Suming warned Mr. Lin before leaving.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't dare. But you'd better hurry; I can't afford to keep them for long. And you said you'd find vets for the dogs, to treat them, to disinfect them. Where will all that money come from?"

"No worries. If we're out of money, we'll just ask Chairman Peng for it!" Suming patted Peng Lin's shoulder, "Little Peng, you've made tens of thousands over your college years, haven't you? It's time to give a little back to society."

Peng Lin felt like dying. How long had he been the student council president? Less than a year. And managing the lab—for just a year as well. All in all, even with the embezzled euthanasia drug funds, it didn't amount to four thousand. Where would this so-called tens of thousands come from?

But Suming had warned him. If Peng didn't bleed a little for this, the video showing him embezzling funds for animal euthanasia would find its way to the internet, and then not only would he lose the student council presidency, he wouldn't even be able to keep his student status and would be waiting to be expelled.

Having no choice, Peng Lin had to cut his losses. He coughed up not only the few thousand he embezzled but also sold off a bunch of his possessions, including his laptop and an iPhone 6, to scrape together twenty thousand yuan. He handed it to Mr. Lin as reimbursement for various expenses incurred by the rescue station during that period.

After everything was settled, Suming drove back to the zoo.

A few days later, media outlets from both Jiangjin City and Yangchuan City reported the story almost simultaneously.

Three months before, a kind-hearted individual rescued a batch of dogs without quarantine certificates and temporarily placed them in the Changping County Rescue Station. Although the shelter lacked funds, Mr. Lin spared no expense, managing just enough to keep most of the dogs alive, waiting for people to adopt them.

But months went by with no one willing to adopt. With no other options, the shelter initiated a collaboration with the Jiangjin City Medical University, donating some of the weaker dogs for medical experiments. In return, the university funded the shelter to ensure humane treatment for both the remaining shelter dogs and those used in experiments.

To accompany the news, there were photos of the dogs in the shelter and images of the lab. At least from the pictures, the dogs seemed to be doing quite well.

Even though it was an act borne out of necessity, the news still sparked a heated debate.

Some people thought this was a suitable solution, alleviating the nation's burden while providing medical institutions with suitable test subjects. For these dogs, it was considered a contribution to humanity and certainly better than waiting to die in the shelter.

Others felt this solution was too inhumane. The dogs had been saved originally to live, but now they were ending up dead anyway, which begged the question of why they were rescued in the first place.

Yet, the most intense discussion centered on the dog lovers themselves.

After rescuing these dogs, why not take full responsibility to the end?