Super Zoo-Chapter 660 - 651: The Third Leg?

The little crested ibis, having eaten and drunk its fill, and Suming having ascertained what had recently happened in Qinling, both parties had gotten what they wanted. Waving goodbye to the little crested ibis, Suming set off with Su Meng towards the direction of the animal army.

Imitating the gesture, the little crested ibis waved its wings at Suming and then, wading through the water with uneven steps, it followed wobbly from behind, like a duckling following its mother duck.

"Didn't we already say goodbye? Don't follow me," Suming warned it, "If you follow me, I'll take you to the zoo."

The little crested ibis, not showing whether it understood or not, nodded vigorously, still foolishly following behind Suming.

After a moment, Suming realized that this little fellow probably saw him as a long-term meal ticket.

Following him meant there was fish to eat.

"You're really not stupid," Suming laughed, "then let's go together. Su Meng, you carry it."

The little crested ibis was too slow to keep up with the two of them, so Su Meng carried it to prevent it from falling behind.

It was like a little duckling, lifted effortlessly into Su Meng's hands. They hadn't walked far when Su Meng grabbed Suming.

"Haha..." He held the crested ibis out with both hands, as if he had discovered something very important.

"What's up?" Suming was slightly taken aback. It was just a crested ibis, nothing to make such a fuss about. Could it be that even Su Meng had learned to shirk duties, finding even carrying the tiny crested ibis bothersome?

With one large hand supporting the crested ibis, Su Meng used the other to flip it over, belly up, exposing its fluffy underbelly. Then, he sifted through the down between its legs.

A straight, stiff little thing was exposed.

"Holy shit, it's hard?!" Suming was shocked. This little rascal... getting hard from eating fish!

But he quickly realized he was wrong; that thing wasn't the crested ibis's little willy.

"What is this?" Suming was a bit curious, touching it with his hand. It was hard, with bones inside—it looked like some sort of disease, bone hyperplasia?

But at the top of this little thing, several small protrusions had grown, looking like an underdeveloped little paw...

Could it be a leg? Suming suddenly realized that these tiny protrusions were shaped exactly like the crested ibis's two legs, just scaled down several times!

A crested ibis with three legs? Suming scratched the little crested ibis's red, fuzzy cheek, asking it, puzzled.

The little crested ibis seemed just as baffled, as if it had always been this unique, not understanding why itself.

That's something I didn't understand. I'd never heard of a three-legged crested ibis; the entire animal kingdom rarely had three-legged creatures. As the saying goes, it's hard to find a three-legged toad, but two-legged people are everywhere—that's what it means. Having three legs doesn't fit physiological structure; it's hard to maintain balance.

The only three-legged creature I'd ever seen was the Overlord Turtle. Even though there's a magical legend about it—cutting off one of its legs to get out of military service—legends are still just legends. Suming figured that it was likely the Overlord Turtle had one of its legs bitten off by a fierce animal when it was young, which resulted in its three legs.

What's with this little guy then? Born with three legs?

The little crested ibis cooed, seeming to find the belly-up position uncomfortable; it flipped over, pressing the third leg beneath its body.

"Never mind that, keep moving forward," Suming thought for a moment but couldn't come up with an explanation. He simply let it be, sparing himself the headache. Three legs meant three legs; the world was vast and full of wonders, with some things beyond current scientific understanding. Perhaps it was a kind of Crested Ibis that had yet to be discovered, or maybe not an ibis at all, but some bird with three legs that resembled an ibis.

Since ancient times there were legends of a three-legged bird, a son of the Emperor of Heaven, representing light and flame, a divine bird known as the Three-legged Golden Crow.

It was this creature that Hou Yi was said to have shot at.

Huaxia's legends spoke of four mythical beasts, the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Xuanwu, and Vermilion Bird, with the Vermilion Bird associated with fire, slightly connected to the Three-legged Golden Crow. But in terms of biological hierarchy, the Three-legged Golden Crow was likely of higher status—after all, it had heavenly lineage, the Emperor's own child, belonging to the leadership class, while the four mythical beasts were merely wild entities granted amnesty.

It's rumored that Daoist Lu Ya, the mysterious troublemaker from the "Investiture of the Gods," was in fact the surviving Three-legged Golden Crow that Hou Yi failed to shoot down.

Tales such as these were just for amusement, and Suming did not take them too seriously. It could be that the ibis had grown a third leg or some strange mutation had occurred, like those giant bats which, after coming into contact with the spiritual power in the underground caves, turned into vampires.

The mysteries of nature need not be overly scrutinized. The Earth had been around for 4.6 billion years, and with the current level of human technology, maybe not even one percent of its mysteries had been unraveled. Though humans ruled the Earth, their understanding of it wasn't as profound as they might imagine.

...

In a location relatively opposite to where Suming was, about a dozen kilometers away, Park Jeong-ui and five outdoor experts had also entered the Qinling, embarking deeper into the mountains.

In the mountains, the forty-something Park Jeong-ui shed his urban white-collar image. Dressed in camo gear and heavy-duty military boots, carrying over twenty kilograms of equipment and supplies without any sign of strain, he even seemed more comfortable with the mountainous terrain than the other seasoned poachers.

While camping, the group brought out a map of the Qinling Region.

"Mr. Park, according to our data, this area should be home to a large group of Mountain Elves. They're highly aggressive, and it's best if we can avoid them," one of the poachers marked a small circle on the map.

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Although Mountain Elves were peculiar in appearance, they weren't exactly rare creatures and lacked significant economic value. Unless one captured the entire group of several hundred to sell them wholesale, it clearly wasn't something the meager few present could manage.

Even if one could drug their food and water sources and incapacitate the Mountain Elves, it would still be impossible for them to smuggle hundreds of them out of the country.

For poachers entering the mountains, the most troublesome encounters were with these valueless yet highly ferocious communal animals. They posed a danger and wasted ammunition; a little carelessness could mean not only failing to make a profit but also losing one's life.

"What's the latitude and longitude here?" Park Jeong-ui asked.

The man who had spoken earlier used a ruler to make a few marks on the map and called out two numbers.

Hearing the coordinates of the Mountain Elves' location, Park Jeong-ui's heart leapt; this position was very close to where his ancestor had encountered a mysterious event with Japanese soldiers.

"If we take a detour," Park Jeong-ui traced a curved line on the map and spoke with a grave tone, "there are slopes on both sides nearly 60 degrees in inclination, extremely difficult to pass through, which would greatly slow down our pace."

The others, who Park Jeong-ui had paid to assist him, of course looked to him for leadership. Seeing his stance, they said little else, quietly began preparing their gear, taking out firearms from their backpacks, inspecting them, and loading ammunition.

Though Mountain Elves were fierce, they were no match for human firearms and had no choice but to flee. A single adult Mountain Elf could be easily taken down with two or three bullets within ten meters. Though no one in the group could claim to be a sharpshooter, they were all certainly skilled with firearms. The six of them together didn't fear the group of Mountain Elves.

Since they were smuggled into the country, they mostly carried light weapons such as small-caliber pistols. The exception was a man with a scarred face who carried a homemade, underground-factory shotgun that could fire two rounds consecutively. It used steel pellets that dispersed over a ten-meter range upon firing.