Super Zoo

Zhu Chenggui, who had not dared to join the conversation earlier, mustered his courage and asked cautiously, "Mr. Zhou, about the five thousand yuan we agreed on beforehand... hehe..."

"What's the rush? I asked you to gather information; can you confirm it now?" Zhou Jin stared at Zhu Chenggui, his face dark as he asked in return, "You can't be sure, can you? Turns out I still need to send people to investigate. So why should I pay you now? Just wait patiently. If it turns out your guess is correct, then we'll talk."

Zhou Jin wasn't intentionally planning to renege on paying Zhu Chenggui. Although his finances were tight at the moment, five thousand yuan wasn't a large sum for him, and he could afford it. The reason he wasn't paying now was to keep Zhu Chenggui on the hook; firstly, in case there was something in the future he needed Zhu Chenggui to do; and secondly, to prevent Zhu Chenggui from telling Suming the truth after getting paid. So before Suming was taken down, he wouldn't pay up.

However, Zhu Chenggui couldn't help but have other thoughts upon hearing this. He was just an ordinary farmer and didn't have as many schemes as Zhou Jin. He felt that Zhou Jin was being evasive, using him and then going back on his word.

"Geez, look at this mess. I've played the villain and haven't even made any money," Zhu Chenggui lamented. But he was helpless; Zhou Jin was powerful and wealthy. Even if Zhou Jin denied him the payment, what could he do about it?

For the better part of the day, the bald man had been on tenterhooks. As dusk approached and time passed by, his nervousness grew, with his heart pounding relentlessly.

"Stay calm, stay calm. You have to stay calm!" The bald man continually reassured himself with positive self-talk. It was just a small zoo, just stealing a few fish, not a person. What was the big deal?

Even if he were caught, what would be the worst outcome? At most, he would be accused of trespassing, pay for a ticket, a fine, and reimburse the price of the fish. That would settle it.

"It's going to be fine. Just relax, relax!" The bald man took a deep breath and, following the relaxation poses taught on a TV yoga program, he did several to calm himself down.

Hey, it really worked!

Once he calmed down, the bald man even began to reflect. The past few times, he had failed because of his carelessness, getting stung by wasps, chased by dogs, and ending up with a torn up behind from broken glass on a wall. So this time, he resolved to be well-prepared!

He found a thick coat with a hood and put on a face mask, wrapping himself up snugly, ready for any wasps. Just to be safe, he also stuffed a can of mosquito repellent spray into the coat pocket.

This spray could be used on wasps, but more importantly, it could act as a makeshift flamethrower. Mosquito repellent usually contains alcohol, which, when sprayed towards a lighter, creates a flame-thrower effect.

Besides that, he strapped an electric stun stick to his waist. Should he encounter a dog again, he'll use the stun stick to zap it unconscious!

After some thought, he still didn't feel secure enough and filled his coat pockets with all kinds of small tools for survival and escape, such as a Swiss army knife, a thin wire for picking locks, emergency Yunnan Baiyao... he even packed a large chunk of compressed biscuits...

Once he had done all this, the clock on the wall showed half-past eleven, and outside, it had grown completely dark. The bald man was in luck; the sky tonight was starless and moonless, pitch-black—perfect for mischief!

"Huff huff!" The bald man took a deep breath and said to Zhou Jin, who was absorbed in playing online Landlord, "Mr. Zhou, I'm heading out!"

He expressed himself with the gravitas of a martyr facing the end, hoping to receive some words of encouragement from Zhou Jin. However, Zhou Jin had just landed a good hand as the Landlord and was concentrating on his cards; without looking up, he waved his hand dismissively, "Go early and come back early. Don't screw up again..."

"Damn!" The bald man cursed in his heart, then turned around, flung open his trench coat, and strode into the night. If it weren't for the mood-destroying mask he wore, he might have had the air of a certain underworld hero at that moment.

Taking a large detour, he first climbed up the other side of Shuijun Lake's back mountain, trudging through the nearly pathless mountain for over an hour, until nearly two in the morning, he finally arrived at the foot of the mountain on the other side.

Because the lake is right at the foot of the mountain, there is no surrounding wall within a range of one or two hundred meters. Once you reach the foot of the mountain, you are by the lakeside. Through the swaying shadows of trees, the distant Shuijun Lake appeared extremely tranquil in the night, ripples like fish scales spread across the water surface, extending into the distance.

The bald man cautiously scanned the surroundings. The dim woods were silent, showing no signs of anything unusual, and the most feared hornets were nowhere to be seen. So he quickly took advantage of the darkness, jogging softly on the moist and muddy ground until he reached the lake.

Everything was normal! The bald man's heart was half-eased. It seemed that today's operation should be a great success!

He then took out something that resembled a walking stick from his coat, extended it into the water, and pressed a button on the back.

This was a small fish lure device that emitted a sound wave to attract nearby fish. Although essentially a high-end toy—not guaranteed to draw fish and certainly not suitable for large-scale fishing—if one only needed a few fish as samples, the difficulty was not great.

Dududu... The fish lure device made a faint sound. As the light on it blinked, ripples began to appear on the lake's surface. Judging from the waves, a big creature was swimming towards them.

The bald man was pleased, keeping a poker face as he waited by the lake. When the creature was about to reach the shore, the bald man, wearing rubber shoes, leapt into the water and grabbed hold of the big fish!

"Huh? What's this?" The bald man was stunned, feeling something hard, cool, and slightly prickly in his grip.

Immediately following that, a surge of intense pain shot through the back of his hand. The water's surface became stained with a patch of blood, as the bald man's hand was viciously bitten by something!

"Oh my god..." The pain brought tears to his eyes. He scrambled and rolled back onto the shore, and with the aid of his flashlight, he saw that a chunk of flesh from the back of his hand was bitten off, the blood oozing out.

But right now, he couldn't care less about the pain; he was more terrified. What on earth was that mysterious creature in the pitch-black water!

Slowly, a fierce head emerged from the water, its cold gaze fixed on the bald man.

"An alligator, damn it, how could there be an alligator here... Oh no, wait, what is this thing!"

The creature in the water resembled an alligator, but when most of its body emerged, the bald man suddenly remembered—it was the giant alligator turtle owned by Suming, which had once been featured on TV and was said to have acted as a 'lifeguard' in Shuijun Lake.

The alligator turtle had grown so huge, it was now nearly as big as a round table top. It looked like a small hill floating on the water, exuding an intense sense of oppression. Moreover, with its ferocious appearance, being stared at by an alligator turtle from a close distance was even scarier than encountering an alligator.

In fact, that was true. A giant alligator turtle of such size, once it became aggressive, could be even more dangerous than an alligator.

"Lucky I got to shore in time!" The bald man was relieved, but then he paused: Wait a minute, this creature is amphibious, it could also chase me onto land!

*********

PS: I've used up all the highlights for this week, more to come next week~~