Super Zoo

Far from the ground, nearing thirty thousand feet, each time they traversed through the turbulent air currents, the animals in the cabin, believing they were trapped in cages...

Everyone was struck by an incredible thought: could dozens of animals really have been stolen in mid-air?!

They weren't dozens of cockroaches, ants, or fleas that someone could just pocket and walk away with, but rather dozens of large animals and predators. Who could stealthily steal these big fellas amidst the chaos of high-altitude turbulence from the sealed cabin?

Could it really be the work of some unknowable force?

But Mr. Sun's next words shattered everyone's unrealistic speculations.

"According to the flight data recorder information provided by the airline, there was no abnormality during the flight; no other abnormal aerial objects were detected along the flight path, and the aircraft body was intact. We can basically rule out the possibility of theft at high altitude. As for the speculations about a black hole... having worked on cases for many decades, I do not believe in such things. If that were the case, it would mean declaring this case unsolvable, so it's not within our consideration," he explained.

The leading city official nodded slightly, living up to his experience as a seasoned comrade. Mr. Sun's statement wasn't made in jest; rather, it was a firm resolve to assure everyone present of the determination to investigate thoroughly.

"Mr. Sun, let me interrupt you for a moment," Mr. He said with a chuckle, "Could there be... um... unreliable people on the plane?"

"Mr. He is right. Regarding that point, I've specially sent people to contact the airline. By tomorrow morning, the company should send over the personal details of all the passengers on this flight. However, according to the general pattern of this route, most are likely to be regular tourists and commuters, so collusion seems unlikely. Of course, this needs further investigation," Mr. Sun replied.

With Su's experience and expertise, although the specific information on flight personnel had not yet been sent back, the fact that he made such a public statement meant that, almost certainly, there was likely no issue with the passengers either.

This is truly a bizarre case. Everything was okay before boarding, during landing, and throughout the flight. So, where exactly did the problem occur?

"At the moment, there is only one loophole, please look here."

Mr. Sun's words immediately drew all eyes to the large screen. He pressed the remote control of the projector in his hand, and an image of the airport apron appeared on the screen.

This was an image captured from a far distance. In the picture, the large passenger aircraft was at least three to four hundred meters away from the camera's position, occupying only a small part of the center of the frame, and was very blurry. The aircraft's nose faced the direction of the shot.

"This is an image captured by the Yangchuan City airport around the apron. There are no cameras that continuously follow from the moment airport staff take charge of the animals, transport them into the airport using the ferry car, until the cargo door is closed. So if there were problems, they could only have happened during this segment."

"Have the relevant operational staff been checked?" the team leader inquired.

Mr. Sun nodded, "All of yesterday, our main focus was on investigating the related staff members. In each link, there were at least three people present who could vouch for each other. But as far as the current information goes, all other time periods have clear footage, only this segment is missing."

"Keep looking, check rigorously and in detail!" the team leader said firmly, hands pressing on the table, "Comrades, years of experience tell us that the places we are most likely to overlook are often where the problems arise. If the issue did arise during this step and the animals were taken from Yangchuan City, then no matter whose responsibility it is, we in Yangchuan City have the duty to ascertain the whereabouts of these animals."

The leader's gaze swept around the meeting room, finally resting on Suming's figure. He asked, "Mr. Su, investigating people and tracking down criminals—Mr. Sun is the expert; but when it comes to animals, you are the specialist. You are more familiar with the habits and characteristics of animals. Do you have any suggestions?"

So far, it seemed that almost all leads had been severed. The only potentially problematic area was still just a hypothesis formed by the process of elimination, without any solid evidence, making the investigation quite challenging.

Suming was invited to this meeting in hopes that he would assist with the investigation. At this point, everyone else could remain silent, but Mr. Sun, who was responsible for the investigation, and Suming, the 'expert', had a duty to offer their opinions and perspectives.

Suming was about to stand up, gripping the arm of his chair, when the city leader waved his hand, revealing the first smile of the meeting, "Stay seated, speak from there."

Suming nodded, sat back down, carefully considered his words, and began to speak slowly.

"Just now, the leaders analyzed the situation from the standpoint of the incident's location, or in other words, the crime scene. With today's technology, if we can locate the scene of the incident, we can follow the vine to find many clues..."

This was a summarizing piece of nonsense; everyone in the room quietly watched Suming, waiting for him to continue.

"As the leader said, the investigator, Mr. Sun, is an expert, and I, being often in contact with animals, am more familiar with them." Suming smiled, "I just suddenly thought, who exactly is the crime suspect? Hmm, is there a possibility that it wasn't criminals targeting these animals and stealing them, but that these animals..."

The gazes around him grew more and more astonished as Suming smiled and finished his sentence, "It was these animals that escaped on their own."

As soon as he finished speaking, the conference room immediately erupted into commotion, everyone whispered to each other, some looking at Suming with incredulous eyes.

Animals escaped on their own? Under the full 'supervision' of humans, from locked cages and sealed cargo holds, they stealthily escaped without anyone noticing?

Could they still be called animals? They were practically spirits!

"Please be quiet, everyone. We invited Mr. Su here in the hope that he would provide opinions from angles we may have overlooked and from his area of expertise."

The city leader raised his hand slightly to suppress the noise in the room and asked Suming, "Su, how did you come up with this idea? Please, analyze it for us. Just to be clear, regardless of whether you're right or wrong, we are now in a discussion phase, and any idea that could help solve the case is welcome."

"Alright."

Taking advantage of the brief disturbance just now, Suming had sorted out his thoughts and began to speak unhurriedly.

"First, the intelligence of animals is actually much higher than we think. A while ago, I shot a movie with animals playing the main roles. During the training process, the animals exhibited exceptional imitating abilities. Of course, not all animals can imitate, but in a group of animals, as long as one or two can mimic humans, it's possible for them to stage a 'jailbreak'. The pursuit of freedom is the third instinct of animals, just after eating and mating. If given the chance, they would undoubtedly choose to escape. Just now, Mr. Sun also mentioned that among the escaped animals were several gorillas and pandas, which are high-intelligence animals..."

"So, with so many animals escaping together, why weren't they discovered?" Sun asked.

"I don't know; it might be a coincidence, or perhaps these animals deliberately avoided humans," Suming replied. "But as I mentioned earlier, we should not underestimate animals. My hometown, Sun Town, is in the mountains, and there are many large animals in the surrounding mountains. Humans might have a hard time finding them if they are trying deliberately, because animals instinctively hide from people. Add in their extraordinary sense of smell, hearing, and sight, strictly speaking, animals have a much better ability to evade pursuit than humans."

Sun nodded, signifying his agreement.

"Second, in the slides Mr. Sun showed earlier, I saw many cages that were damaged and twisted, which looked to be damaged by brute force. If it were humans, they could have used tools to create more standardized holes. Among the missing animals are species like grizzly bears and pandas, which are powerful and have a strong biting ability."

"Yes, I remember that in ancient times, pandas were called 'metal-eating beasts'!" Sun's eyes lit up as he asked Suming, "Su, do modern pandas still retain this ability?"

"They do!" Suming nodded affirmatively, "Decades ago when there were more wild pandas, farmers in the mountains where pandas roamed used to bring iron tools into their homes before going to bed at night, fearing that pandas might sneak down from the mountains and damage the metal tools."

"The clue you provided is very valuable! I will immediately have someone check the cages for tooth marks!" Sun said.

In the stalemate where there were no leads, the sudden appearance of a clear clue energized everyone present. The team leader smiled once more, "Everyone, look, we really found the right expert to consult. It confirms the old saying, 'Stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade of this one.' Moreover, Su himself is a gem well known in our city. Ha ha, Su, you've just mentioned the first and second points; now let's hear the third point."

A bitter smile crossed Suming's lips, thinking, Leader, I had only thought of two points; I wasn't prepared to mention a third...

Fortunately, as someone who works in this field, he had a bit of quick wit and a good grasp of the industry. He said, "This third point is actually about some real-life examples. From what I know, animal escapes are not uncommon. In zoos abroad, it's frequent for animals with high intelligence to escape right under the noses of the keepers. I often see news online about 'ferocious animal attacks in a certain foreign city,' and while the focus is on the fact that wild animals appear in urban areas and cause harm, many originated from local zoos. Animal escapes do indeed happen. And... heh, speaking of pandas, these creatures are naturally restless. I'm in a zookeepers' group chat with colleagues from zoos all over the country, and recently, someone from Shu Zoo's panda breeding base shared a few short videos. They were all about pandas secretly trying to escape, and the methods they used were astonishing, smarter than humans even."

"Can you show them to me?" Sun asked.

The videos were right there in the group chat, and Suming quickly found them online.

As they watched, some people couldn't help but laugh.