Super Zoo

Profiting from animals or even abusing them to satisfy tourists' curiosity and achieve a profit is all too common, and related news reports can often be seen: a certain zoo anesthetizes a tiger so that visitors can pay to take photos holding it... a certain attraction pulls out the fangs from venomous snakes for tourists to play with... a certain site deliberately skimps on animal food, leaving them weak and listless to elicit the sympathy of visitors...

Just a few days ago, news even broke that a temple abroad specializing in raising tigers was secretly selling tiger cubs for money.

As long as there is profit to be made, some will engage in any trade, let alone when the victims are those "who can't speak for themselves," and whether domestically or internationally, there are many who make a dishonest living off animals.

Therefore, after the zoo's martial arts tournament was announced, some voices of doubt appeared online, questioning whether the zoo's actions might constitute animal abuse.

Fortunately, due to the zoo's long-standing good reputation, which could even be regarded as a symbol of positive energy among Yangchuan City enterprises, and with Suming's personal reputation also being quite positive, although there were voices of doubt, there was no direct vitriol.

Most of the doubts were raised out of concern for the zoo's welfare, with the hope that the zoo could keep improving.

However, once such doubts arose, the zoo had to give a response.

"What great sisterhood!" When Suming heard Li Jingjing ask this question, he almost wanted to hold her and give her a kiss. After all, he had intentionally arranged for Li Jingjing to raise this question.

Li Jingjing was somewhat puzzled; why would her brother-in-law ask her to raise this question on her own? Wasn't this asking for trouble?

Suming had his reasons. If he directly answered netizens' doubts online, it would seem contrived and unconvincing. Now taking advantage of the live broadcast opportunity, having the host ask the question and answering it in front of the camera made everything fall into place naturally.

"Host, you've asked a very good question!" Suming said with a beaming smile, "My initial intention for letting animals 'fight' is not to attract visitors; attracting visitors is merely a secondary influence."

Suming gestured towards the distant cages and enclosures, "A professor from the Provincial Agricultural Science Institute once told me that keeping animals in captivity is a last resort. After a few generations, captive animals will completely lose the innate nature of their species and may even become a different species. These fully-equipped enclosures before us are just cages to the animals. In these cages, they lack neither food nor clothing; what they lack, precisely, is that bit of wildness found in wild animals.

Letting animals fight is to help them maintain their wildness as much as possible, hmm, this is somewhat similar to conducting military exercises during peacetime. Of course, the martial arts tournament cannot completely solve this issue, as we can't put them through the life-and-death trials faced by truly wild animals, but it's much better than letting all the animals languish in cages all day long. It also prepares them for eventual release into the wild..."

"Oh, I see, so through simple combat, their natural instincts are maintained," Li Jingjing nodded, "But since it's a zoo, safety must come first. Even with protective gear, can the animals ensure they won't get hurt during the fights?"@@novelbin@@

"Hehe, as everyone has seen, our cosplay costumes for the animals have been meticulously designed to offer effective protection. Of course, just talking about it probably isn't very convincing."

Suddenly, Suming flashed an odd smile and gestured to someone not too far off.

The camera panned over, and a person clad in an ancient panda outfit emerged, his plump belly protruding as he waddled, swaying with each step, even more reminiscent of Panda Yingying dressed up as a panda person than the one seen that day.

Especially with the protruding belly, he was almost identical to the panda people from the video games.

From beneath the drooping edges of the conical hat, a plump face was visible; it was Wang Hao.

Li Jingjing was surprised, and so were the viewers in front of the camera.

"Words alone are not proof; this brave soul in panda armor is the general manager of Tao Garden Entertainment. Next, he will don the same level of protective panda suit as he did that day and personally wrestle with a bear to demonstrate the safety of our gear. If even humans can be kept safe, there's no need to even mention animals..."

Wang Hao was filled with frustration. Yesterday, when Suming was picking someone at the zoo, he just happened to catch Suming's eye.

"Wang, you can't blame anyone else. Why do you have to be so fat? Out of the whole zoo, you're the one who most resembles a panda in size. Who else would we pick?" Suming said with righteous indignation, "Plus, you have plenty of performing experience... Forgot? Remember when the cruise boats first launched and there were safety doubts? Didn't you pretend to fall overboard and get saved by snapping turtles... Chill out, buddy, I assure you you'll be safe..."

So Wang Hao was coaxed and deceived into becoming the experiment's target, putting on a gigantic panda head in front of the camera.

A knife to the head if you stretch it, a knife if you don't, Wang Hao decided to go all out, wiggling his butt, holding a bamboo cane, and striding into Xiongshan through the keeper's entrance, standing on top of a rocky mound and bellowing skywards:

"Tribe, never enslaved!"

This cry startled the passing tourists nearby – what kind of scene was the zoo causing now?

Inside Xiongshan, two big black bears were locked in cages, their killing power too great to be unleashed. The little black bear was taking a bath in the pond, glanced up at the guy upon hearing the noise, didn't pay much attention to him, and continued bathing.

If you think about it, the Bear Man could barely be considered part of the tribe, so what was the point of this shout?

Li Jingjing couldn't help it; in front of the camera, she burst into laughter, then asked Suming with some concern, "Mr. Su, are you sure he'll be okay?"

"Relax!" What a joke; even without protective gear, Wang Hao wouldn't get hurt with Suming there.

Wang Hao wasn't one to lose his temper easily, but he'd gone all in. Not expecting Little Hei to ignore him, Wang got angry on the spot, flung his cape, pointed the bamboo cane at Little Hei not far away and roared: "Ahhh! Black bear fiend, come over here and fight to the death with your panda man grandpa!"

This time Little Hei seemed to understand and stood upright, bellowing twice, and rushed over to tumble into a scuffle with Panda Man Grandpa. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

Wang Hao, with his protective gear, took a few scratches from Little Hei without any issue and grew bolder. He started fighting back, embracing Little Hei and duking it out, both of them rolling around on the ground.

After more than five minutes of fighting, Wang couldn't hold out any longer and scrambled out through the keeper's entrance.

"How was it, how was it, are you hurt?!" Li Jingjing rushed up with the camera, interviewing Wang Hao.

Wang Hao's protective gear was torn in several places, but he was otherwise unharmed. He pulled off the headgear, his face flushed with excitement, "That was freaking exhilarating!"

"You're not hurt?" Li Jingjing persisted.

"Do you want me to strip naked for you to check?" Wang Hao glared at her, then, twisting his tail attached to his behind, strutted towards Suming, exclaiming excitedly, "I think we can start an entertainment project dedicated to fighting animals, it would definitely be a hit!"