Super Zoo

Alayi was the eldest and most authoritative priest in the tribe, and in fact, he was the most powerful person throughout the tribe's three thousand miles.

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Every year, he would take a significant portion from the tribe's meager income and select outstanding young people to travel the world in search of the 'Apostle of the Fire God,' as described in the sacred scriptures.@@novelbin@@

In reality, Alayi himself knew better than anyone that searching for the Apostle of the Fire God was merely an 'excuse;' his true intent was to hope that these outstanding youths would come into greater contact with the outside world and bring back real knowledge to help the tribe grow and prosper—or, to put it another way, to save it from the brink of extinction.

Alayi never doubted the existence of the gods, nor did he doubt the existence of true apostles.

However, his understanding of the gods was much deeper than that of the most basic members of the tribe. In his view, the Apostle of the Fire God was not necessarily a person; any knowledge or ability that could help the tribe out of difficulty and spread the doctrine could collectively be considered the 'Apostle of the Fire God.'

God is omnipotent and unfathomable, but God will not abandon his people. God has left his thoughts in the obscured language of the holy Avesta; what priests need to do is to constantly study the scriptures and understand the true meaning of God's guidance.

When Basel said this, Alayi was slightly taken aback and asked curiously, "Explain in more detail."

Basel excitedly recounted his experience on the airplane, deliberately describing the scene where the young man from the East was unscathed after being ignited by flames. At that moment, Suming's clothes were all on fire; after he stripped, he indeed resembled the 'emerging from flames, burning away all impurity' described in the scriptures.

In the ancient doctrine of the Fire Worshiping Sect, hair and clothing were considered impure. However, in modern civilized society, it's impossible to go around bare and shave off all hair, so many followers of the Fire Worshiping Sect subconsciously ignored this point.

If Basel's words had fallen into the ears of someone from the civilized world without religious beliefs, they would probably take it as an amusing anecdote—at most wondering if Suming was an acrobat. That kind of trickery involving spitting fire and burning clothes on one's body has been quite sophisticated for hundreds of years already.

But Alayi and his tribe were, after all, still very backward and superstitious; the tribe had been worshiping the Fire God for thousands of years and had a natural reverence for fire. Alayi himself was the High Priest—in fact, if it came down to superstition and the firmness of faith, he surpassed any member of his tribe.

And now, the tribe was at a life-or-death crossroads! According to the scriptures, the messenger of the gods would appear at the most critical moment! All of this, coincidentally, matched up.

As for the man from the East... it was even more fitting. The Persian Empire and the Caliphate Dynasty had both made the Fire Worshiping Sect their state religion. Judging from the scriptures passed down from that time, it seems various expeditions eastward were somehow connected to the search for the true temple of the god Mazda.

A drowning man will clutch at a straw; how much more critical is it for a tribe on the verge of a great disaster? Psychologically, Alayi wished more than anyone else for a true Divine Envoy to appear and save them.

Therefore, Basel's words immediately stirred up great turmoil in Alayi's heart.

Despite being shaken, Alayi ultimately maintained the composure befitting a wise elder and raised his own question.

"But that was just a small flame; it might be a coincidence. Even if it's not, he has only passed the trial by fire. How would you explain the ice spring?"

"That's simple—we'll just capture him and throw him into the spring filled with ice. If he doesn't die, he's the real deal!" Basel's solution was simple and brutal; he could set himself on fire on a whim and was even less tender in his treatment of others.

"How could you do that! If he truly is the envoy of the gods, your actions would be nothing short of blasphemy!" Alayi scolded in a hushed tone, his eyebrows twitching twice in anger. Basel had many good qualities, but he was just too impulsive!

"What should we do, Alayi, please forgive my disrespect, but you've been unable to communicate with the gods for decades, is there really going to be a change in these last few months?" Basel said.

Alayi didn't feel disrespected, instead, he deeply agreed.

But his faith in the gods was deeper, and he firmly believed that the Fire God would not abandon his loyal followers. He took a deep breath and said, furrowing his brows, "You're right about one thing, we must find him! Do you know where he went?"

Basel shook his head, "I don't know, I was taken into the airport security room. However, I remember there were three of them, besides him, there was a middle-aged man and a young man. The man's name, in the Eastern pronunciation, was 'Sou Min'. They were heading to Baghdad."

"'Sou Min'?" Alayi muttered the name to himself, repeating the improperly pronounced name several times before he finally made up his mind, "After returning, immediately instruct the young men of our tribe to go to Baghdad in search of this man."

...

At this moment, Mr. 'Sou Min' was strolling in the large garden behind the hotel, wearing big flowered shorts and accompanied by Adra.

A bald head without eyebrows would attract quite a bit of 'attention' anywhere in the country, but here, there were too many odd characters around for anyone to notice.

Behind the Babylon Warwick Hotel was a huge garden with a large outdoor swimming pool. Given the heat, many Western women with explosive figures were frolicking in bikinis in the pool.

Suming lost interest after watching for a while. Western women are only good to look at from afar, not up close. The large pores all over their bodies are frightening, and their skin quality is not on the same level as that of Huaxia women. Once you're used to touching the skin of Huaxia girls, Western women feel like they have a layer of sandpaper on their bodies, and many also have a strange odor.

Except for Eastern European women. The only ones worth looking at were two Eastern European women. Due to the climate, these women had the explosive figures of Western women as well as the delicate skin of Eastern women. Moreover, they were passionate and took the initiative to blow a kiss to Suming across the pool.

Then Suming walked towards them, walked over... Under the astonished gaze of two tall blondes, he walked past them, further and further away, until he reached the fence at the edge of the garden.

On the grass inside the fence, there were several peacocks strolling around.

Unexpectedly, the hotel not only kept animals, but also kept a lot of them, almost rivaling a small circus, including the fuzzy platypuses that Adra mentioned, as well as peacocks, giant lizards, and even a hippopotamus!

The hippo lay in the large pool, listless, and did not move even when someone approached. Suming communicated with it using spiritual power for a while before the hippo 'ahhed' and opened its big mouth wide, revealing its yellow-tinged tombstone teeth, looking at Suming pitifully.

In its mouth, a tooth had broken off in the middle, leaving only half. It was blown off in the midst of war.

The hippo, without its tooth, was very unhappy, spending its days listlessly waiting to die. Though with its remaining half tooth, it could still easily kill a crocodile alive.

Next door were the platypuses, these creatures with duck-like bills and fuzzy bodies did not look as cute as they appeared, with sharp spurs on their heels capable of releasing a large amount of toxin in an instant, they were one of the killers in the wild, very dangerous.

There were many animals, and Suming wandered around for a long time before finally choosing one to replenish his storage sphere.