Super Zoo

"What, the fishing nets are broken? Impossible!"

When Zhou Jin heard from the bald man that the fishing nets were broken, his first reaction was that it was impossible.

As a professional breeder, he obviously knew how crucial the nets for enclosing fish fry were. If even the nets were torn, there would be no profits, only losses.

Having farmed in Huating Lake for many years, he knew the lake's conditions - there could be some shrimp and crabs, and occasionally bigger fish would come to steal food. Therefore, before releasing the fry, he had invested a great deal of money and effort to buy top-quality fishing nets.

Although the fishing net lines were not thick, their tenacity was extremely strong, interwoven layers upon layers. As soon as fish or shrimp approached the nets, they would get entangled and couldn't escape, eventually getting trapped by the net and dying.

According to the quality of the nets he purchased, not to mention ordinary fish and shrimp, even if a small Yangtze alligator appeared, it wouldn't possibly break through the nets, likely ending up entangled and waiting to die.

"Mr. Zhou, could I possibly utter lies with my eyes wide open? If you go down and see for yourself, you'll know!" the bald man said.

"I'll go take a look!" Without another word, Zhou Jin put on his diving suit and dived into the lake, swimming towards the direction the bald man had pointed out.

After more than ten minutes, ripples spread across the water's surface as Zhou Jin emerged, quickly swimming back to shore, striding up the bank, taking off his helmet, revealing a face colder than the lake water itself.

The bald man indeed hadn't lied. In the water on one side of the net, there were five big holes, each about the size of a foot basin. With holes that large, not just fry, but even fully grown fish could easily escape.

Judging from the waterlogged edges around the tears, these holes must have been there for at least seven or eight days. That length of time was enough for all the fry to have escaped!

Zhou Jin was a sullen person, rarely smiling, but the bald man who had followed him for several years had never seen him looking as terrible as he did then. The bald man, somewhat afraid, swallowed his saliva and mustered the courage to say, "Mr. Zhou..."

"Shut up!" Fire seemed ready to burst from Zhou Jin's eyes, yet his tone was frigidly cold, like ice chunks, as he gritted his teeth and asked the bald man word by word, "Don't you stand guard here all day? Someone made such a big hole in the net and you're telling me you didn't know?"

"Could it be the work of a ferocious fish rather than a human? Maybe it's not man-made?"

The bald man couldn't comprehend. The net was located several tens of meters away from the shore and was in deep waters too. Besides, the nets were very sturdy. If it was sabotage, the culprit would have either had to row a boat over the nets or wear a diving suit, not to mention having the right tools. It was definitely impossible for this to happen under their watch.

"If there was only one hole, that could be possible. But five holes, all about the same size and in a row? You're telling me this is the work of fish? Did the fish become spirits?"

Furthermore, Zhou Jin had carefully checked around the large holes; there were no remnants of fish scales on the nearby nets. If a large fish had broken through, it couldn't have left no trace at all.

Besides, if it really was a big fish that had collided with or bitten the net, it would have certainly caused a great commotion. Only humans could have quietly damaged the fishing net.

Hearing Zhou Jin say this, the bald man muttered, "It's hard to say, those hornets the other time..."

Zhou Jin slapped him across the face, causing the bald man to stumble and angrily said, "How dare you bring up that damn hornet bullshit to me? How many times have I told you to keep an eye on the fish? I pay you to prevent these issues! Damn it, you're always going on about hornets, and now under your watch, someone has stolen over a million yuan worth of my fry. What do you have to say for yourself?"

After being slapped by Zhou Jin, the bald man's mind seemed to clear, his eyes lighting up with doubt as he said, "But, Mr. Zhou, I just remembered hearing that the Naval Lake Zoo has started raising fish too."

"There's such a thing? Go check it out, what kind of fish the zoo is raising and how many," Zhou Jin said.

Raising fish in Shuijun Lake was no secret at all; it was easy enough to find out. A thug interjected, "There's a post on the Yangchuan forum from a tourist who fed the fish at the zoo, complete with pictures. From what I saw in the photos, there are loads of fish, and they are all small. At the time, I even thought, isn't this competing with our business? We should teach them a lesson..."

"Take me to see it!"

A group of people returned to the lakeside villa, went online, opened the forum, and found the post.

Zhou Jin's eyes were sharp; he immediately noticed that the fish in the photos were all fingerlings. The young man who had once come to him asking for advice on fish farming was standing on the lakeside with a broad grin, feeding the fish with two wolfhounds at his side.

"Damn, that's Hei and Erhei!" The bald man exclaimed as he pointed at the two wolfhounds.

Zhou Jin's face grew stern as he checked the time the post was made, which coincided with shortly after he had stocked his fingerlings.

All the signs were just too coincidental!

"Mr. Zhou, it's definitely that kid Suming who's messing with us! I'll take a couple of guys over to deal with him!" The bald man erupted in anger.

After all, Zhou Jin was an old hand in this game, having seen plenty of the world. After an initial burst of rage, he quickly calmed down and, frowning, considered for a moment, then said, "There are two things to do now: get over there and handle them. First, the fish farm at the reservoir can't be left idle, order another batch of fingerlings immediately, and if we hurry, we can still catch the season; second, get Suming's number for me, I'll give him a call, have a chat."

"Have a chat?" The bald man paused, then said, "Mr. Zhou, if you ask me, we might as well just call the police. Isn't the deputy chief of the police station close to you? Lock him up, and it would still be up to you how to deal with him later."

"What about evidence? With no solid evidence in hand, how can the police arrest someone from the zoo?"

Zhou Jin hummed darkly, "Stealing my fish won't be so cheap. I'll have a good talk with him, make him spit out what he owes! If he doesn't see sense, I naturally have other ways."

The bald man, along with a few men, angrily made their way to the Naval Lake Zoo that same afternoon.

This group was all buzz cuts with dragons and phoenixes tattooed all over, their faces menacing, as if afraid others wouldn't realize they were thugs. Simply standing at the entrance of the zoo, they truly frightened many tourists into taking a detour.

However, intimidating ordinary folks was one thing, but the zoo was a state establishment; to let a few punks scare them would be a joke. Their actions, in fact, alerted the security department of the zoo. Dong, the head of security, led several young guards to block them at the entrance and didn't let them in.

Dong, capable of being the head of security, naturally had some solid connections—at least, he was on the same level as Zhou Jin, and he certainly didn't give any credence to the bald man's bluster.

In the end, it was Zhou Jin who made a call and obtained Suming's mobile number.

"Mr. Zhou, I'll speak plainly; if you have business, then talk business, but don't mess around. This young Su is someone our director values," Mr. Dong said calmly into the phone.

"Don't worry, Mr. Dong, it's just a bit of business I want to discuss with him. He raises fish, doesn't he? We could collaborate," Zhou Jin's voice could not be discerned for any wrongdoing over the phone, as though he truly had a cooperative project to discuss with Suming.

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