Super Zoo

Suming had no idea that he had gone viral on Youku. After a full day of work that left him exhausted, he naturally had no time to go online because of the evening meeting to plan the next day's search efforts.

Nangong Yan called after nine in the evening, right after the meeting, with the words, "You're done for, how could you not tell me about such explosive news!"

His words confused Suming, who later learned that he had become a fairly well-known 'internet celebrity.'

The "stepping on the blue waves" video on Youku accumulated over five hundred thousand views, with more than three hundred comments below.

Alongside the video were several popular web dramas; with its five hundred thousand views it may not seem like much compared to several million hits for other dramas, but it should be noted that the video had only been uploaded for a little over three hours, with no publicity behind it. It attracted attention purely on its own merits and made it to the homepage in a few short hours, alongside many web dramas that had been uploaded for months.

After browsing through the comments, one caught his attention; a netizen named 'Eats Fish Without Spitting Bones' mentioned that such a big carp could qualify for the Guinness World Records.

Suming had a moment of inspiration and quickly did a Baidu search.

If he really could set a world record, the appearance of the 'world's largest carp' in Shuijun Lake would definitely be a huge boon, both for the zoo and his own business!

Not to mention anything else, just by selling exhibition tickets, both the zoo and he could make a fortune!

However, the results were somewhat disappointing for Suming. The largest carp recorded to date was a fish caught in Jinling Reservoir in 2004, measuring 185 centimeters and weighing 106 kilograms.

The biggest ones caught today were only around 180 kilograms, slightly short of the world record.

In the comments following the video, some had found this record, but most netizens were not so much concerned with the size of the fish.

"So what if it's the world's first? It's just big, but who can ride it like the fish in the video?"

"That Guinness World Records fish has long been made into a specimen. Among the living carps, this one might actually be the biggest!"

A well-known user with the nickname 'Professor' humorously commented, "Who would have thought that a fish could steal a horse's job, this is outright choking the industry!"

This comment sparked even more discussion than the original post, as the 'Professor' was actually the screenwriter for a popular web drama from next door, 'Never Would Have Guessed.' Many netizens started egging on the 'Blue Wave Knight' to ride the fish and make a cameo in 'Never Would Have Guessed.'

Suming laughed at the comments; the netizens were really a rowdy bunch. What did this have to do with 'Never Would Have Guessed'? If he were to appear anywhere, it should be on a geography magazine, or some program about vicious big fish, or perhaps a wilderness survival show.

But what Suming never would have guessed was that Nangong Yan actually shared the video on YouTube, attracting a lot of attention from viewers abroad.

Before long, someone mentioned in the university group chat, "Su, when are you gonna take us to ride fish for fun?"

"Ride what fish? Can you even ride a fish?" someone replied, not everyone had seen the video.

An idea lit up in Suming's eyes – that was a great idea! Once the river dolphin issue was resolved, he could definitely try to develop a 'fish riding' experience. It was sure to be profitable!

...

n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The next day, as dawn broke, the investigation team continued their work, still divided into three groups, searching the reservoir for the injured river dolphin.

Boats slowly moved across the surface of the lake, with sonar detectors conducting a dragnet search.

As time ticked away, the river dolphin remained nowhere to be seen.

Professor Chu, Mr. Song, and the others looked increasingly grave— with the river dolphin suffering from serious injuries, the longer it took to find it, the greater the likelihood of its death.

"Song, do you think it's possible that the river dolphin is already dead, and that's why the sonar detector can't find it?"

From the other end of the communicator, Professor Chu asked with a heavy tone.

The search team had scoured the entire reservoir yesterday, and even today, they had systematically checked half the reservoir to no avail. Sonar detectors can only locate living creatures; if the river dolphin was already dead, no matter how hard they searched, it would be undetectable.

Mr. Song shared the same concern and, looking at Suming, asked, "Do you have any thoughts on this?"

Liang Shi, also in the group, shifted his gaze off the detector screen and onto Suming's face, eagerly anticipating some different insight from him.

"Is there a possibility…" Suming pondered for a moment before saying, "Maybe the river dolphin is hiding in some corner of the reservoir to heal its wounds, which is why the detector can't find it?"

"If that's the case, we'll have to rely on manual searching bit by bit. The workload for the search is too much!"

Liang Shi looked out over the vast expanse of water before him, voicing his worries, "There are just over a dozen of us; even if we all dive in to search, it would take at least two weeks to cover the entire reservoir. By that time, even if we find the river dolphin, it's almost certain to have died from its severe injuries!"

"We have no other choice but to count on luck now," Suming said, helplessly spreading his hands.

In fact, last night, he had returned to the zoo and had the creatures of Shuijun Lake open a new pathway, summoning a large number of his subordinates into Huating Reservoir to begin a net-style search underwater.

The underwater search was progressing no slower than the detector, and was even more precise in accuracy. If it weren't for the fact that aquatic animals are generally quite slow-witted, he would have had his shrimp soldiers and crab generals inquire about the river dolphin to each of their passing kin.

Having confirmed that the detector could only detect creatures larger than one meter, Suming no longer had any concerns and simply called the crocodile gar to help search in the reservoir.

The more capable a person is, the bigger their temper; genius comes hand in hand with madness, and the crocodile gar were no exception. Although their character was somewhat twisted, once tamed, their ability to work underwater was quite formidable, surpassing other fish species.

Hearing Suming speak this way, Mr. Song promptly decided and told Professor Chu, "Chu, we don't have any other choice now. We'll have to do our humanly best and leave the rest to fate; let the young fellows dive in and search!"

"We have no other choice! Ah, Song, let's just pray to heaven. If we can't find this river dolphin, in our lifetime, we may never again have the opportunity to witness a wild river dolphin," Professor Chu said with a hint of despondency.

Subsequently, all comrades under forty, including Suming, who had nearly "gone missing" yesterday, got into their diving suits one by one and plunged into the reservoir like arrows.

Shortly after Suming entered the water, he spotted two crocodile gar twisting their bodies in the water and drifting over to his side like seaweed!

"Have you found anything?" Suming asked.

The two crocodile gar wrapped around Suming's arms, seeming rather eager to please, one on the left and one on the right, making him look like an Arhat in a temple harnessing dragons. After entwining Suming's arms, they tilted their heads slowly in the water, both pointing diagonally in the same direction; then they exerted force simultaneously and pulled Suming, swimming forward with great effort.

"Huh? Where are you taking me?"

Suming felt a strong pulling force from both arms as the two crocodile gar dragged him, and with a whoosh, his body shot through the water.