Super Zoo

The person on the fish's back was wearing a diving helmet, making it hard to see their face, but Mr. Song still recognized them right away, exclaiming in alarm, "Suming!"

Hearing Mr. Song's cry, the person on the fish's back took off their helmet with one hand, revealing a grinning face – who else could it be but Suming!

As soon as Suming emerged from the water, he saw a large crowd of people gathered on the boat, staring at him open-mouthed. He was momentarily stunned, but quickly understood what had happened – these people must have thought he was in trouble.

Without further ado, he removed his helmet and rode the big fish in a wide circle on the water's surface, waving to the people on several boats around him and calling out loudly, "I'm fine, how about you all!"

The enthusiastic greeting was met with no response!

Everyone on the three nearby boats was leaning forward, their eyes glued to Suming and the large fish beneath him, their mouths agape and jaws nearly dropping, disbelief written all over their faces!

The large green fish under Suming's crotch was at least one and a half meters long, who knows how old it was. After it emerged from the water, it thrashed about frantically, shaking its head and darting around in the water – clearly trying to rid itself of the pesky guy on its back!

What was strange was that no matter how the fish darted about, Suming sat steadily on its back, and every time the fish tended to sink or sped up so fast that he might lose his balance, Suming would forcefully 'wave his hand' and then, astonishingly, the large green fish would obediently swim in the direction of Suming's wave.

After Suming had ridden the large green fish around in the water for several circles, the onlookers realized that he was holding a thick and long water weed in his hand, the end of which passed through the gills of the green fish like 'reins', steering the fish.

The water churned in waves as the green fish swam with Suming on its back, laughing heartily, sometimes even letting out 'giddy up' calls, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Mr. Song, Professor Chu, and Wang Jian She, the elder of Wang Hao's family, each stood at the bow of their boats, exchanging glances. All three of them rubbed their eyes as if to make sure they weren't seeing things.

After 'riding' the green fish for a while, Suming eventually slowed down beside the boat, saluted the people on board in an awkward manner, and loudly reported, "Reporting to the leaders, I have determined that the dark shadow was not a finless porpoise but this large green fish. I have subdued it, please give instructions!"

Only then did the three leaders fully come to their senses. Mr. Song waved at Suming with a cry-laugh expression, leaning over the side of the boat, and shouted, "Alright, alright, if you've had your fun, come back on board. We have serious business to attend to!"

Professor Chu also laughed and, using the slang of the younger internet crowd, said, "Su, better rein in your 'Divine Skill', it's not easy for the green fish to grow this big. Don't kill it!"

Wang Jianguo gave a long sigh of relief, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders and plopping down onto a chair at the bow of the boat.

Whether the fish lived or died wasn't his concern. Even if all the fish in the reservoir died, he would still be a leader as long as the people were safe – that was the real stroke of luck!

While the leaders each had their own thoughts, the younger folks had already taken out their cell phones and were snapping away at Suming riding the fish.

Two girls from the Agricultural Science Institute, excited and shouting, aimed their phones at Suming. He struck a victorious pose for the camera with a laugh and then turned back to say, "Reporting to the leaders, I've just detected some other large fish in the lake, which will definitely interfere with our search! I suggest that if we find any fish larger than one meter, we should capture and detain them right away!"

This was indeed a problem. If every time the sonar detected a large fish people had to go down to investigate, not only was it unsafe, but it was also a waste of time and could lead to duplicate efforts.

"Chu, Song, what do you think?" Wang Jian She turned on the walkie-talkie on the boat and asked.

"It's feasible, we have the fishing net and trawlers ready, but where do we put such a big fish when we get it out of the water?" Professor Chu spoke through the walkie-talkie.

Mr. Song and Suming were the closest, with Suming now astride the fish, leaning against the side of his boat. Hearing Suming's 'suggestion', Mr. Song laughed, pointed his finger at Suming in a mock gesture, and then responded into the walkie-talkie, "Let's place it in our zoo. Su is in charge of Shuijun Lake, and the water quality there is pretty good. It's more than adequate for raising these fish!"

If it were any other time, it definitely wouldn't be allowed to transfer fish from a reservoir to a private pond, but due to the urgency of finding the river dolphins, such concerns were overlooked. Besides, the victim Zhou Jin was still lying in the hospital, with no one to object, so the three leaders quickly reached an agreement. Mr. Song made a call to Mr. Dong of the Security Department, asking him to bring a small truck to transport the fish.

Mr. Dong soon arrived at the lake with the truck, sticking half his body out of the cab, and shouted across the water, "Hey Su, what kind of acrobatics are you performing? When did you learn to float on water with Divine Skill!"

From his distant vantage point, Mr. Dong could only see Suming seemingly floating on the surface, until Suming rode the fish to the shore. The big blue fish stranded in the shallows revealed the truth, startling Mr. Dong so much he almost hit the gas and drove into the water.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Everyone on the boat also came ashore and surrounded Suming and the big fish, bombarding him with questions. Liang Shi and his group of graduate students looked at Suming with a newfound respect, realizing why the zoo had sent him. He truly had skills.

Not to mention, encountering such a huge fish underwater, not only did Suming manage to safely escape, but he also subdued it. Such quick-wittedness, calm bravery, and clever adaptability were not something ordinary people possessed.

The bald man saw Suming from afar, surrounded like the moon by stars by various leaders and government officials, and couldn't help swallowing his saliva, thinking regretfully, "Of all people I had to offend, it had to be him!"

To add insult to injury, from a distance Wang Jianguo patted Suming's shoulder affectionately—a sight that made the bald man wish he could slap himself!

The big blue fish wasn't taken away immediately; first, it was weighed. It was a whopping 184 pounds, measuring up to one and a half meters long!

Wang Jian She called the bald man over, looking strictly businesslike, and said, "Let's make this clear, Su, this fish was found in someone's contracted area, so you can't just take it for free. You need to pay the market price for the fish! How much is a pound for a blue fish now...…"

Such a large fish was a rare find and its value couldn't be measured simply by weight. The bald man looked between Wang Jian She and Suming. After hesitating for a moment, he clenched his teeth, mustered a smile, and said, "Hehe, dear leaders, for wholesale blue fish, the price is six yuan per pound..."

"I'll pay ten yuan, I absolutely won't let you suffer a loss!" Suming declared emphatically, slapping his chest as if he refused to take advantage of anyone.

In the end, the huge fish was bought for less than two thousand yuan. It seemed fair, but it was practically a steal!

After this small episode, Mr. Dong escorted the truck and delivered the big blue fish back to Shuijun Lake, and everyone resumed their search for the river dolphins.

The search wasn't going very well, though. As the day turned into night and three boats had circled the entire reservoir, not a single dolphin was found. Instead, they caught four big fish over one meter long—two carps, and one blue and one grass fish respectively.

These big fish were naturally 'bought' by Suming at 'market price' and all were released into Shuijun Lake.

Thus, the first day of the search effort concluded. Wang Jian She took some government officials back to the city, while Professor Chu, Mr. Song, and others stayed overnight in tents by the lake.

Suming once again became an internet sensation as a video of him riding the fish posted by a female student from the Agricultural Science Academy went viral on Youku Video. In just a few hours, the views rocketed to the top of the homepage and were spotlighted by Youku's official rolling display!

The Youku editor even gave the video an extravagant title: "The Man Standing on the Azure Waves—The Fish Knight."