Super Zoo

```

The skinny guy's name was 'Adnan,' another commonly used extra name in the video game, a local of Baghdad and a clerk at the tourism bureau, which translated to what Zhao Yun had described as a 'deputy section-level officer.'@@novelbin@@

Rank does weigh heavily on people, and when entering the tourism bureau, Suming had even bribed the two soldiers at the entrance with ten thousand Dinars. Adnan was exceedingly polite in front of their leaders but behaved arrogantly before the two soldiers. Upon seeing Adnan, the soldiers' faces immediately displayed obsequious smiles, and they brought over two small flags.

Adnan spoke a little Chinese and told Suming and the others to always place the small flags on their car windows, so then the local government army wouldn't hassle them.

Once again, they boarded the yellow cab with no air conditioning and arrived at their accommodation in Baghdad: the five-star Babylon Warwick Hotel.

The hotel was opulent and completely different in style from the nearby buildings. If one ignored the surrounding architecture, it felt like being in Dubai or Las Vegas. According to Adnan's introduction, the Babylon Warwick high had very high security standards, not only staffed with local police but also guarded by internationally renowned security firms. These so-called security personnel were actually mercenaries, highly equipped and tactically proficient, in some respects not at all inferior to United Nations peacekeeping forces. Moreover, once the fighting started, they didn't care whom they were up against except their employer, which made them particularly formidable. Therefore, wealthy foreigners coming to Baghdad mostly stayed there.

Inside and outside of the hotel, a single step felt like entering another world, stepping into the hotel transported them from a war-torn battlefield into an upscale, civilized society.

The hotel's rates were exorbitant by local standards, with a standard room costing just over a thousand Huaxia currency per day. However, Suming thought it quite affordable to have security guarantees, comprehensive living services, and even two swimming pools in a place like Iraq. He and Zhao Yun were not used to sleeping in the same room with other men, so they had initially booked three rooms, but they added another one temporarily due to Adnan's arrival.

When they got the gold-embossed room cards, Adnan's slightly proud expression along the way immediately disappeared, and he hurriedly waved his hands, overwhelmed by the gesture: "Mr... This is really too extravagant... I... I could stay at the small hotel opposite..."

"Alright, Adnan, I don't want to wake up the next day to find you've been blown up into a corpse... Or..." Suming chuckled: "Burned into a charred body."

Adnan heard in this a mocking reference to the incident on the plane, but far from being ashamed, he took it as a badge of honor and grinned, "To uphold the glory of God, faithful believers are never afraid to fight the infidels! I must say, you Easterners are truly generous. I've accompanied many tourists from other countries, but this is the first time I've had the chance to stay at the Babylon Warwick."

"Let the bellboy take our luggage up, and take us to the zoo first thing tomorrow morning," Suming said while taking out a jar of royal jelly from his travel bag. "But before that, Adnan, you can show me around this hotel. They should have some animals here too, right?"

"Of course! That's our special feature. Every slightly upscale hotel keeps some fierce animals and exotic birds. However, Mr. Su, you're not thinking of buying them, are you? Oh, that would surely cost a fortune. For example, for an adult tiger, if you go to the private zoo I recommend, I could help you bargain down to around three thousand US Dollars, but in the hotel, you might need seventy to eighty thousand US Dollars."

Suming certainly didn't intend to buy animals from the hotel. He had used one of his three energy storage spheres for the Tortoise Shell Divine Skill on the plane. In a place like Iraq, dangers could arise at any moment, and having an extra sphere meant additional safety at critical times. He wanted to select a practical skill from the hotel's animals to store afresh.

"Alright, sir, please follow me; as far as I know, this hotel has a group of very interesting platypuses."

...

Inside the detention cell at Baghdad International Airport, Basel was locked in a large cage, surrounded by several armed police officers and soldiers. Besides them, there was an old man. Enjoy exclusive content from My Virtual Library Empire

The old man had white hair and a face covered in deep wrinkles. He nodded to the lead soldier and handed over a package: "I'm very grateful for your care."

```

The soldier took the cloth bag and opened it; inside were stacks of very old, small denominations of Dinars. After counting them carefully, he said in a deep voice, "Alright, he can go now."

After the paperwork was handled briefly, the military police opened the cage. The old man gestured to two young men who had accompanied him, and they carried the injured Basel out of the airport and onto a run-down minibus.

Once they laid Basel's stretcher flat inside the vehicle, one of the young men took the driver's seat, started the ignition, and the rickety minibus began to head north towards Baghdad.

"My most respected High Priest, my dearest brother Alayi, I offer you the blessings of the Fire God. I knew that brothers of our tribe would surely come to rescue me..." Basel said to the old man.

"You were too impulsive. To get you out, the tribe spent half a million Dinars! That was the money originally intended for buying spices. Without enough spices, we simply cannot communicate with the Fire God..." the old man said, somewhat angrily.

However, Basel was a bit excited, propped himself up with one hand, and sat up straight on the stretcher, exclaiming, "High Priest Alayi, my brother, are you saying that you can receive the oracle from the Fire God?"

The old man's expression dimmed slightly as he shook his head. "No, even with the help of the spices, it has been decades since I have communicated with the Fire God."

"So what should we do!" Basel said, "The Islam Country to the west demands that our tribe provide them with young laborers, which is essentially slaves! The Kurds to the south ask us to support them and only then will they help us if we stop supporting the government forces. The government forces have always offered help only in words, their focus has always been on guarding against the Kurds, even more than against IS. Oh, and those United Nations 'we do not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries', damn it, if they do not interfere in the internal affairs, why did they come to our homeland!"

When Basel argued with the short-statured Adnan, he seemed tongue-tied, but when analyzing the surrounding situation, he spoke very insightfully.

"Enough, Basel, complaining about these is utterly pointless," said the old man.

Alayi held his hands to his chest and made a strange gesture, his tone mournful and sorrowful, "Has the true God truly abandoned our tribe? Must even the last of our few thousand people compromise with the devil just to have a chance to survive?"

"No, I would rather die in battle than compromise with the devil!" Basel swung his fist forcefully, pulling at the wound on his stomach, and winced in pain.

"But the true God has not given us guidance for many years. Although I hope this is a test from the true God, there is no time left. Now we need divine guidance more than ever," said Alayi helplessly.

"Alayi, have you forgotten the mission for which I went to the East..." Basel suddenly said.

"The scripture says that after nine thousand years a saint from the distant East will come. Purified in flames, living forever in icy springs, leading the people of the Fire Worshiping Sect to defeat the demons. But..."

Alayi gave a bitter smile, "Have you really found the saint?"

"I met someone. I can't be sure, but he is very much like the one from the legends!" Alayi's eyes gleamed.