Super Zoo

```

Suming first went to the Wolf Pen and brought out Huiya. With the year over, Huiya had obviously gained weight, its mouth chubby with flesh, looking like those overfed pets that don't exercise. Suming pinched the flesh on its cheeks and pulled them to the sides, which could be stretched into a fan shape.

"You need to lose weight," Suming said with a somewhat disappointed tone, having spent half of the last year energetically turning this creature into a wild Grey Wolf, only for it to gain a ring of fat after one holiday season, almost turning into a little pig.

He then went to the storage room and checked the various fruits bought for the Monkey King to make wine with, amounting to over a ton, all stored there.

Suming didn't know what kinds of fruits the Monkey King would need for winemaking, so he simply bought a large variety of what was available, letting the Monkey King choose later. Different fruits combined would create different flavors, maybe resulting in several types of wine with different tastes.

He had just left the storage room and hadn't walked far when his phone rang. Picking it up, he saw it was Hou from Monkey Mountain calling.

"Hello, Hou, what's up?"

"Boss, something's not right in the back mountain, can you come and take a look?" Suming was now in charge of all the animals in the park, meaning he was the direct superior of all the keepers from his job responsibility standpoint. On the other end of the call, Hou sounded nervous, and in the background, the cries of animals howling 'owk owk' could be heard.

"Is that the White-browed Gibbons crying over there? Why do they sound so miserable?" Suming recognized the 'owk owk' sounds, the White-browed Gibbon area was right next to Monkey Mountain, also managed by Hou.

"Yes, yes, yes, come quick, they are rebelling!" Hou's voice changed in urgency.

White-browed Gibbons rebelling? Suming was taken aback. What rebellion was this all about? Were these gibbons planning to overthrow humanity to rule over Yangchuan City Zoo and lock humans in cages?

Hou was an experienced keeper, capable of handling the usual small incidents, but now even he sounded so stressed; it seemed the situation might indeed be tricky. Suming said he'd be right there, hung up the phone, flagged down one of the zoo's electric sightseeing cars, jumped into the passenger seat, and headed straight for Monkey Mountain.

In the latter half of last year, as Suming's business boomed and the zoo saw an increase in visitors and economic benefits, Mr. Song decided to purchase five second-hand sightseeing cars for shuttling guests around the zoo. These open-air electric cars had four rows each and could seat up to twelve people, with a top speed of less than 40 kilometers per hour, perfect for a leisurely sightseeing experience around the park.

"Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, itchy eggs..." The sound of children's songs came from the loudspeakers of the sightseeing car, and colorful lights flickered on its roof, giving a festive and somewhat silly air to the ride.

"Grey Wolf... Mom, look at the Grey Wolf..." A child passing by the sightseeing car pointed excitedly at Huiya, who was squatting in the back, and started shouting.

They hadn't gone far when Pleasant Goat's song was overpowered by a barrage of primate screeches, howls of 'owk... owk...' coming from the direction of Monkey Mountain.

"Mr. Su, do you think those gibbons are in heat? They've been howling continuously since Chinese New Year, and it's gotten even worse in the past few days, never stopping from morning until night—it's enough to kill a person!" The security guard driving the car frowned as he spoke. The gibbons' calls were quite piercing and once they started, they could be heard throughout much of the zoo. Plus, these animals were incredibly resilient, able to call for hours on end without needing a sip of water or a rest when they first arrived at the zoo.
Discover more stories at empire

Suming wasn't sure what the issue was; the mating season for the gibbons was usually around May or June, so what were they doing getting all worked up in the dead of winter?

The sightseeing car wound its way along the zoo's narrow roads, and soon they arrived near Monkey Mountain, where from a distance, one could see a crowd of visitors gathered, pointing and talking about the mountain from afar.

"Excuse me, excuse me!" Suming said as he led Huiya through the crowd.

```

Hou had approached from a distance and, seeing Suming, let out a long sigh of relief, pulling him towards the opposite side of Monkey Mountain, "Mr. Su, you're finally here, I was about to die of anxiety, take a look quickly!"

Opposite Monkey Mountain, there was a huge rectangular iron cage, about a dozen meters long and over four meters high, with a few connected trees planted inside.

This was the home of the White-browed Gibbon, which actually looked more like a smaller-sized gorilla with extremely long arms, no tail, and their most distinctive feature being their pair of snow-white eyebrows—hence their name.

The White-browed Gibbon is a class-I national protected animal, with fewer than 500 remaining in the wild, making them one of the more 'precious' animals in the zoo. Suming glanced into the cage and immediately understood why Hou was so agitated.

Inside the cage, several of the seven White-browed Gibbons were swinging their long arms on the branch closest to the outside of the cage, swinging their bodies as if on a swing, fiercely kicking against the iron cage with their large feet. Of course, the cage wasn't something they could kick open, but with seven gibbons taking turns at it, the cage shook violently.

If it was just kicking the cage that would be one thing, but two larger gibbons simply jumped onto the cage, using their heads to ram against it, baring their teeth and opening their mouths to bite the iron bars.

"I heard things started getting weird before the New Year?" Suming asked.

Hou anxiously responded, "Exactly, during the New Year, it was a bit better, they just called out and that's it. These past two days, they've intensified their attacks on the cage!"

Suming realized then that this wasn't a rebellion, it was an escape attempt!

The cages in the zoo were extremely sturdy. With only their sharp teeth and large feet, these gibbons were doomed to fail. The problem was, at this rate, the gibbons could very well bash themselves to death!

Decent, class-I national protected animals were ramming themselves to death in Yangchuan City Zoo, right under the keepers' noses? If this news were to get out, it could cause a huge uproar; the outside world would definitely think the zoo was mistreating its animals.

Actually, these gibbons were treated much better than the monkeys on Monkey Mountain. Not only did they have fresh fruit, but they were also occasionally given live sparrows and the like to eat.

"Use the tranquilizer, if one dose won't do it, give them two doses!" Suming said.

"We tried that, it was useless, they went crazy again as soon as they woke up," Hou stated gloomily.

With a light snap, one of the gibbons had broken half a tooth, its mouth full of blood, wailing in pain with an "owk..." and fell from the cage to the ground. But after rolling over a couple of times and getting back on its feet, it leapt onto the cage again, continuing to chew on the bars with its remaining half tooth.

"Wow..." The scene was a bit gory, and a burst of exclamations rose from the gathering crowd. A dad, seizing the teachable moment, educated his chubby son: "See? If you continue to steal sweets, your teeth will end up as brittle as the gibbon's..."

Suming's eyelids twitched as he watched, wondering what grievances these gibbons had suffered, what level of distress to become so frenzied?

Discreetly releasing a few strands of spiritual power, he made slight communication with the gibbons, and to his astonishment, found that they held no grudge against the keeper Hou, nor were they dissatisfied with the tourists or their diet. Their anger was, astonishingly, all directed at the group of monkeys on nearby Monkey Mountain.