Super Zoo

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"This mountain will inevitably be developed sooner or later; better to have it firmly in the zoo's hands than let someone else do it," Mr. Song said. "We don't need that much space just for releasing animals into the wild and wildlife conservation. But have you thought about what exactly you want to do with such a large piece of forest land? Setting up factories or building houses is definitely out of the question, as it can't affect the animals' habitat."

"I understand that, but as for what to do with it exactly, I haven't given it much thought yet. Maybe plant a load of cabbages when the time comes?"

Suming cracked a joke and then pointed at Shuijun Lake below: "The urgent task at hand is to deal with the fish in the lake first, it's almost the end of the year."

Time does fly. Wandering here, strolling there, and half a year has almost passed. As the weather gradually got colder, the fish-riding business on Shuijun Lake had already stopped. Several large fish had been transferred to the aquarium, where they enjoyed 'benefits' typically reserved for the nation's honoured retired cadres, along with the river dolphins and baby fish. Meanwhile, the boat-riding business was still ongoing, with the big and small cats coming every day to sell tickets. Stay tuned with empire

One of the cats seemed to have gotten its belly enlarged by who knows whom, lazing around all day. Suming simply gave it maternity leave—when the kittens were born and weaned, then it could come back to work. He wasn't short of money now.

He suspected that Hei was responsible, but it could also be another cat; the relationships among the felines had become very complex! After getting their fill, these animals became just like humans, all day long thinking about that sort of thing. Since hanging out with Suming, the previously stray cats had skipped ahead an entire human era, bounding into a communist paradise with their legs thrown up high, no worries about food and shelter, hence they seemed to lack other pursuits. Especially with their continually increasing intelligence, there seemed to be signs that a sort of 'palace intrigue' was unfolding.

The poor wolf dog brothers, both being male and related by blood, couldn't even get up to any mischief if they wanted to! But wait until that group of dogs arrived, those two scoundrels were probably going to be worn out.

Speaking of the fish in Shuijun Lake, they've been growing at an astonishing rate recently!

They say 'astonishing,' not 'delightful,' and for a reason. On the one hand, the growth rate of the fish was just too fast, surpassing common sense. The fish in Shuijun Lake had only been there for six months, and even with Hei's fish poop acting as fertilizer and Liang Shi's excellent care, there's no way they could've grown so much in just half a year. The average size now was that of fish that would normally be two years old!

This of course had to do with the Animal Friends! Suming found that different animals often had varying results when frequently interacting with the Animal Friends. Generally speaking, there were three categories of effects: size, constitution, including strength and agility, and intelligence.

For animals like cats and dogs, extended interaction mainly increased their intelligence, followed by constitution, with minimal change in size. Fish, on the other hand, primarily grew in size; for example, the bighead catfish, which grew from half a pound to over ten pounds in just six months.

Suming even wondered if the bighead could live for decades, it might just grow into a whale!

On the other hand, especially in recent times, the fish in Shuijun Lake seemed overactive. Fish are usually rather quiet when the weather is cold or very hot, dutifully lying low in their nests and not moving much. But lately, Shuijun Lake has been 'boiling with fish activity,' with fish of all sizes darting about as if their nests had exploded.

Liang Shi was taken aback at first, thinking it was either a lack of oxygen or some fish disease. He tested the oxygen content in the water, which turned out to be very OK, no issues at all. He then scooped up a few fish to check them, and they didn't look sick either.

"So what's going on?" Suming didn't understand either.

"I don't get it, I can only say the fish have too much energy!" Liang Shi scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed to say.

Was there such a thing? Suming was surprised. Even with an abundance of energy, there's a limit, right? Take humans, for example; they get excited for a few days over a joyful occasion, maybe act a bit crazy, and that's about it. But based on Liang Shi's words, it had been almost a month, and the fish in the lake were still in an extremely excited state.

That wasn't excitement; that was madness—exactly like Fan Jin getting his degree.

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Fortunately, this wasn't really a bad thing. Fish that are more active are less prone to disease and their flesh tends to be firmer. The only issue was their excessive appetite. Recently, the fish feed business alone couldn't satisfy these creatures, so we had no choice but to employ the zoo staff in full force, scattering feed by the river after work.

But fish being so lively all the time was ultimately not normal. Suming wouldn't dare sell them to the market without finding the cause. If people ended up getting sick from eating the fish, the trouble would be huge. Hundreds of tons of fish from Shuijun Lake could harm so many people. If things went south, within half a year, the people of Yangchuan City might all develop illnesses, and then this book could be rebranded as a post-apocalyptic zombie saga…

Thinking it over, could it be that bastard Zhou Jin had done something again, releasing some weird substance into the lake?

That possibility wasn't nonexistent, but it wasn't likely. The lake's defensive perimeter was lax on the outside but strict on the inside. The wolves and cats had been called back from guarding the river banks. However, with the dramatic increase in bee and horsefly populations in the back mountains, Queen Bee and Hu Hou had sent quite a few minions. Now, nearly every tree by the lake had one or two bees or horseflies on duty, so if there was any movement, it surely wouldn't escape my notice.

After thinking it through, there was only one possibility: the supernatural being Tai Sui! Recently, Shuixie Lake, where Tai Sui resided, had been connected to Shuijun Lake, with the waters mingling. Clearly, the water that Tai Sui soaked in had some special effects, which the savage and the giant baby fish could attest to.

Could it be that the water soaked by Tai Sui was causing the fish's excessive excitement?

As a result, Suming conducted an experiment specifically for this purpose. He netted several dozen fish of different types and placed them in the aquarium's tanks. A few days later, when he checked on them, those fish were indeed behaving normally! But once he returned them to Shuijun Lake, they started causing a commotion again.

Without a doubt, it was the water influenced by Tai Sui that was causing this!

"Su Meng, draw some water for me to drink," Suming called out to Su Meng, who was sprawled by Shuixie Lake, gulping down water.

Su Meng, this fellow, ever since following me back to the human world, was quite normal, except for not being able to speak and having extraordinary strength and appetite. In all other aspects, he was becoming more and more like an ordinary person. There was just one thing: he drank water from Shuixie Lake every day like an animal.

Suming sometimes drank a bit of the water Tai Sui had influenced, which indeed had the effect of invigorating the spirit, but it was always boiled first, and he didn't drink much. Now, he had to confirm that this kind of water indeed had no negative effects.

Soon, Su Meng returned with a large bucket of water, this time steeped with lake water. The water in the bucket seemed to contain some floating matter, looking like cotton fluff.

"Damn it, consider it a sacrifice for science!" Suming prepared a bunch of common medicines, set his mobile phone number to the emergency line 120, and then, with clenched teeth, hugged the bucket and gulped down the water furiously.

Same old recipe, same old taste! After chugging half a bucket, other than feeling a bloated stomach, everything else was normal. In fact, he felt clear-headed and spirited.

Then, Suming just sat in the chair, motionless.

"Little Su, what are you doing?" Mrs. Tong called out from a distance as she walked by the lakeside and saw Suming sitting alone on the platform by Shuixie Lake, zoning out.

"I'm waiting for diarrhea!" Suming waved his hand, looking like he wanted no one to bother him.