Super Zoo

Chapter 467 Too Naive

Young people like Nangong Huang had a sense of justice in their bones. Although he could not be said to have a passion for animals, the animals he used to see at the Yangchuan City Zoo were all healthy, lively, and adorable. Upon seeing the scene before him, he was instantly furious, and he drew the Colt Pistol from his waist, shouting at the zoo owner, "You old geezer, you're too cruel, why are you torturing them?"

The zoo owner, terrified, hurriedly ducked backward, looking at Adnan with a puzzled face.@@@@

Adnan was communicating with the man in Arabic, while Ludmila pressed down Nangong Huang's gun and said expressionlessly, "This place has been out of business for half a year, the fact that he has not eaten these animals is already quite noble."

The zoo owner's words were translated; he said despondently, "This lion was the last animal I bought, and at that time it weighed 210 kilograms, but now it probably weighs less than a hundred kilograms..."

He looked up at Suming, "Rich sir, these animals are all that's left of my property, if you're willing, take them away, at least that would give my children something to eat."

He pointed to a small domed house not far away. Behind the window of the little house, the faces of several children appeared, their eyes wide with terror, staring over here.

"Of course, my boss is here to buy animals, but there are many zoos in Baghdad, and your animals are almost dead. If we buy them, we might lose money." Adnan had fully immersed himself in the role, and in referring to Suming, he switched to "my boss," performing his duty in haggling over the price for Suming.

Ludmila, hearing Adnan's words, furrowed her brows with disgust, turned her head towards Suming, and her lips moved, but she said nothing—she was just a bodyguard, after all.

"You should know that if my boss doesn't buy them, it wouldn't take a week before these animals will starve to death or be taken by soldiers for food..." Adnan continued to drive the owner's price down as the owner, with a pained expression, tried to explain something to Adnan laboriously.

Ludmila snorted and muttered to herself, "Americans, Brits, Huaxia people, Russians, the whole world wants to carve up Iraq's oil, but nobody cares about the life and death of these ordinary people. This is the damned politics, the filthiest thing in the world!"

Suming knew her words were actually meant for him, he smiled, shaking his head, "Miss Ludmila, aren't you being a bit too sensitive? Such words don't seem to fit coming from a mercenary whose duty is to kill."

"I am a mercenary, but I am a human being first," Ludmila replied coldly. "And I must correct you on one point; a mercenary's duty is not to kill, but to protect."

After speaking, he too strode onto the off-road vehicle.

"Naive?" It was the first time Ludmila had heard someone describe her with that word. In her culture, naive was a completely complimentary term, but why did both men have that odd smile?

"Look at how old you are, still naive! You are truly naive!" Nangong Huang passed by her with a look of disdain.

...

In the half afternoon that followed, Suming and his party visited three more private zoos in Baghdad City Area and its vicinity. The situation in these three was similar to the first; most animals were underfed and the zoos were struggling to continue operating.

There are many private zoos in the Middle East, not because the Arabian people have a sense of protecting animals; quite the contrary, in the doctrines of most Arabian religions, animals are considered lower beings. But the Middle East happens to have many wealthy people who like to keep fierce animals for amusement, so during peacetime, animal trade is common in the Middle East, indirectly giving rise to a large number of private zoos.

They settled on eighty-five various animals, including giraffes, ostriches, a group of platypuses, and a rather cute bunch of mongoose, a creature that looks quite like a pangolin and loves eating snakes, especially poisonous ones.

A little koala clung to Suming, using hands and feet alike; it was a freebie. Originally, it was a personal pet of a zoo owner, who, after selling the animals, planned to take the money and leave Iraq, so he just gave this little one to Suming.

"Boss, our next stop is Baghdad National Zoo," Adnan informed.

Baghdad National Zoo was Suming's main goal for this trip. In comparison to those small private zoos, Baghdad Zoo had a completely different class of animals in both quantity and variety, with rare animals such as hippos, elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, and pythons all available for purchase.

No sooner had the armed off-road vehicle entered the Baghdad Zoo than they saw in the park area, twenty or thirty soldiers dressed in government military uniforms, aiming their guns at a few zoo workers and loudly reprimanding them.

"Damn it, they want to take the zoo's rhinos!" Ludmila said with a grave expression.