Super Zoo

"Wild boars are coming down from the mountains! Wild boars are coming down from the mountains!"

"Everyone be careful!"

It started with just a few people shouting, running around on the streets. Since it was dinner time, most town folks were at home, but soon the whole of Sun Town was abuzz. Burly men rushed out of their homes, holding flashlights, leading dogs, carrying poles and other farming tools, heading towards the mountains in the back.

"Wild boars?" Suming almost burst out laughing. He just felt a bit bland in the mouth, craving some game to spice up his meal, and here was some being delivered right to his door?

If it had been any other animal, even something like a venomous snake or a crocodile, Suming might have taken it in stride, perhaps even taken it under his wing if things went well. But it just had to be wild boars that caused him immense psychological trauma from a young age!

That year, his father had just passed away, and Suming was still a young boy. Seeing his mother struggle to support them by working two jobs in the county, he wanted to lighten her burden. So, he spent half a month clearing nearly an acre of sloping land for farming.

For a little kid who found even carrying a hoe strenuous, to manage to cultivate an acre of land was incredibly hard. His mother cried secretly when she found out. Later, she taught him farming hands-on. That small acre of land held not only Suming's sweat but also many of his fond memories.

Just when he was about to harvest the crops, one afternoon, two wild boars appeared before him. In front of him, they ravaged that acre of land, turning it upside down, ruining everything!

Suming charged at them, biting and hitting, but how could he overpower wild boars? He was knocked down on the spot and got trampled over several rounds, a punching bag for the boars. Luckily, the wild boars weren't big, only about thirty or forty pounds each. His uncle arrived just in time with others and saved his life.

Ever since then, Suming had an itching urge for revenge whenever he saw wild boars. Even the ones kept in the zoo, he didn't care much for.

In Suming's eyes, if tigers were sovereigns, wolves were swordsmen, and crocodiles were assassins, then wild boars were nothing but tyrants, bullies who preyed on the good people!

It wasn't just Suming – there wasn't a household in the town that didn't hate wild boars. These creatures were devastating to crops, not only eating them but also turning whole fields topsy-turvy. Wherever they went, they trampled all the crops in the vicinity to death. One wild boar could easily destroy a large patch of field in a single night.

"Uncle Gu, what happened, where did the wild boars come from? Did anyone get hurt?" Mrs. Su was also alarmed and came out, stopping Uncle Gu as he passed by.

Uncle Gu holding a hoe more than a meter long, said in a rush, "Trouble at Gu's place, no time to explain. Suming, don't just stand there, come with Uncle Gu and help!"

"Sure thing!" Suming agreed without a second thought, ready to go with Su Meng.

The men of the small town all felt a duty to protect their homes. Mrs. Su didn't stop him but handed Suming a hoe from behind the door saying, "Take this with you, you two be careful!"

"Got it, Mom, just lock the door and stay safe at home," Suming took the hoe and rushed off with Uncle Gu, following the crowd towards the direction of the farmland up in the mountains.

While running, Uncle Gu kept shouting to both sides, "Wild boars are coming, all the men from the houses come out to help; women stay at home, lock everything up tight. Watch out for wild boars coming into the town and hurting people!"

More and more people were running towards the fields, continuously joined by others—a good few dozens. Almost all of the town's grown men were there, along with about a dozen dogs.

The stray dog Huang also joined the pack. Its rear end had been mysteriously sore all night on New Year's Eve, but today, being the first day of the New Year, it had scavenged lots of good food from different households and was full of energy.

Despite the large number of people and the dogs, everyone heading out to fight the wild boars looked tense.

Wild boars are an entirely different creature from domestic pigs. Domestic pigs are docile and lazy, with bodies full of fat; wild boars are aggressive and fierce, their bodies packed with powerful tendons, immensely strong, with tough, thick hides. They often wallow in the mud, creating a protective shell on their already rough skin. Their short tusks are as sharp as blades and formidable weapons as well.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Even tigers sometimes hunt wild boars, but truthfully, a 300-pound wild boar can often knock a tiger to death, while a tiger's fangs and claws often struggle against a boar.

A wild boar is like a toned-down version of a rhino. If you come across several frenzied wild boars at once, even tigers, lions, and bears would give way. There's an old saying in the mountains: 'Courage for hunting tigers, a board for hunting boars.' And by 'board,' they mean a coffin plank.

Tigers might be fierce, but deep down, they fear humans. Boars, on the other hand, are fearless. Even a newborn wild piglet will attack humans on sight when not the least bit hungry, making hunting wild boars dangerously life-threatening.

On the way, Suming only learned the details from Uncle Gu.

Gu had vegetable greenhouses on the hillside, planning to sell the produce next year for his son Bao Xian's marriage betrothal. He cherished the crops like treasures, inspecting them every day, just fearing wild animals might spoil them.

Especially in winter, when the mountain animals were short on food, Gu simply set up a shelter in the field and stayed overnight on the mountain with his dog.

Today, Auntie Three went to his house to discuss a marriage proposal, and Mr. Gu was so pleased that he drank a few extra cups and took a nap at home. Once the effects of the alcohol had worn off and he returned to the mountain, he saw more than a dozen large and small silhouettes in the fields that looked like wild boars, tearing the greenhouses to shreds.

It wasn't just Mr. Gu's greenhouses that were destroyed; Widow Auntie Three's lettuce and cauliflower, and Mr. Cheng's cabbages and radishes, all suffered damage as well.

Mr. Gu was petrified on the spot. If it were just one or two small wild boars, he might have been able to chase them away, but with so many wild boars, which could become aggressive while feeding, he feared for his life. So he rushed down the mountain to Sun Town to report the news, which led to the scene we just witnessed.

"Eh, Second Uncle, I remember that every winter, the town used to give out guns to the farmers to hunt wild boars," Suming said curiously.

"It's all because of some national regulation, a conservation law, which says that wild boars are protected animals. Starting this year, we're not allowed to hunt them anymore!" Second Uncle said indignantly. "Damn it, people have nothing to eat, yet they protect pigs!"

Suming chuckled at his words. Ironically, wild boars are such formidable creatures, able to fight, reproduce, and with exceptional abilities to adapt to their environment. A group of wild boars together almost has no natural predators, not even tigers can do much to them.

Yet when confronted with humans, they were almost driven to extinction in just two or three decades, eventually becoming a nationally protected species.

As Suming ran, he sent out a stream of spiritual power into the Haidong Qing soaring above in the sky. His gaze focused, looking toward the distant fields, he saw indeed a number of large and small silhouettes scattered across the hillside.

In one of the central fields, several greenhouses had been so thoroughly wrecked they were beyond recognition, with their sparse remains scattered about, and the plants inside completely ravaged. Nearby fields had also suffered heavily, with cabbages, radishes, and cauliflower dug up from the ground and trampled beyond recognition.

Seven or eight small wild boars, as if injected with adrenaline, were butting their heads and charging around the fields like bulldozers, seemingly unsure whether they were playing or doing something else.

"My goodness, the second eldest boar has come out!"

Suming was almost startled into exclaiming when he saw that largest of the wild boars, especially the biggest one.

Small wild boars were still bearable, being roughly the size of dogs.

But there were four adult wild boars, each of a frightening size, with the largest one weighing at least six or seven hundred pounds! From Haidong Qing's point of view, it looked like Zhu Bajie from "Journey to the West" had revealed his true form!

You should know that wild boars grow very slowly. A domestic pig easily grows a couple hundred pounds in a year, but wild boars take two to three years to reach that size. Suming had never even heard of a wild boar that weighed six or seven hundred pounds; such a large wild boar was as rare as a Northeast tiger and would only appear in the deep untouched forests.

The other three adult wild boars were also extremely large, likely around three to four hundred pounds each. Normally, a two hundred pound wild boar would be considered big.

While talking, it wasn't long before a large group of villagers emerged and reached the fields on the hillside.

The families who had suffered losses had been waiting halfway up the hill. They hadn't dared try to drive away the wild boars by themselves before the rest of the townspeople had arrived. Seeing people coming, Widow Auntie Three sat down with a thud on the ground, beating her chest and crying loudly, "What are we going to do, I rely on this little bit of land as a widow to get by, how will we manage next year?"

Her work as a matchmaker and pulling barges was just a 'hobby' for a little extra money. Her real source of income was still farming.

"Aba, aba... ah, ah, ahh... aba..." Mr. Chen, unable to speak, pounded his chest and stomped his feet frantically, gesticulating wildly with his hands, his eyes red with anxiety. He was a single man and a mute, relying on the crops to save some money for living.

Mr. Gu squatted on the ground with a dry tobacco pipe, sighing, "Why did I have to drink those extra cups? If I had come just two hours earlier, I could have saved some of the harvest... Ah, it's all because of my gluttonous mouth..." As he spoke, he began to slap his own face.

Gu Baoxian squatted nearby, trying to console him, "Dad, don't be like this, who could have expected these wild boars to come out during the holidays..."

"Ah, what about the money for your engagement? And your little brother has to go to school next year... What's going to happen now?" Mr. Gu was so upset he was close to crying.

"Dad rest assured, I won't get engaged, I'll go out to work and earn money, no matter what, I have to support my little brother's education!" Gu Baoxian said with determination.

It might seem like a long time had passed, but in fact, it was just a matter of a few sentences. Second Uncle had considerable authority in the town. Holding a hoe, he directed the villagers, "Quick, quick, quick, surround them, don't let these damned beasts escape!"

About dozens of people rushed forward, surrounding the large swath of fields like a metal barrel, with dozens of flashlights shining chaotically into the fields and at least ten dogs barking furiously.

Such a formidable lineup had already startled the wild boars in the field. The large and small wild boars stopped their feeding and turned to face the surrounding crowd, wheezing loudly, ready to go berserk at any moment.

"Don't surround them, spread out!" Suming suddenly shouted.