Super Zoo

People say that too many body lice and they'll stop breeding, but Suming felt like he was going to scratch himself to death.

It was summer now, and there were deadly amounts of mosquitoes in the dorm room at night, buzzing around his ears, utterly immune to mosquito coils.

Unable to bear the bites any longer, Suming climbed groggily out of bed, intending to light a couple more coils.

However, due to the darkness caused by a power outage, he didn't notice the stool underfoot, stumbled over it with a loud clatter, and fell forward.

Luckily, he reacted quickly and managed to grab the washstand shelf, but due to inertia, the piece of jade-green at his chest swung in mid-air and smacked against the iron shelf, shattering.

Suming was stunned, and instantly snapped back to clarity.

This piece of jade wasn't particularly valuable, but it held great significance for Suming. His father, who researched animals, had been killed years earlier in a fight with poachers to protect endangered species. This was the only heirloom his father had left behind, and it was said to have been in the Su Family for several generations.

Now, his father's only relic had shattered just like that!

Before Suming could even grieve, a bright light suddenly burst forth from the broken jade.

"What the hell!" Suming exclaimed, startled, and instinctively stepped back. But no one was faster than light, and in an instant, the bright light surged into Suming's forehead.

In the blink of an eye, darkness prevailed again, and the two pieces of broken jade lay quietly on the ground, as if nothing had happened.

"Could I be seeing things?"

Suming touched his head, his face, and gave himself a full-body pat-down, even checking his privates a few times. After about fifteen minutes, he confirmed he was unharmed.

"How strange! Could I really have been seeing things?"

Suming's heart was in turmoil, but there had definitely been a flash of light just now.

Just then, a mosquito buzzed past his ear, and Suming slapped at it, smack after smack. Despite mosquitoes not being very fast flyers, they weren't so easily hit either – instead of the mosquito, he ended up reddening his own neck and face.

Suming had been feeling frustrated these past few days, and with the added sleep deprivation and the breaking of his father's relic, he was already at the end of his patience. Irritated by the mosquito's buzzing, he suddenly yelled in the direction of the buzz, "Scram!"

Buzz, buzz, buzz... buzz, buzz... buzz...

The mosquito, as if it understood him, actually started to fly away.

"Huh? What's going on?"

As a biology student, Suming knew about mosquito behavior – such primitive creatures didn't understand 'fear' and wouldn't be scared off by humans; they'd keep circling as long as they were hungry.

If it were just that one mosquito flying away, it could have been a coincidence.

Compulsively, Suming pretended the mosquitoes were suitable conversationalists and yelled at the 'mosquitoes' buzzing around the room, "All of you, get out!"

Through the moonlight filtering in through the window, he saw that the mosquitoes in the dorm room seemed to receive some kind of order, flying out the window in small groups.

Occasionally, a few would fly past him, buzzing around as if trying to bite Suming.

But as soon as Suming growled at them angrily, those mosquitoes staggered off away.

"Holy crap, can I communicate with mosquitoes?!" Suming was astounded.

...

Suming didn't sleep at all that whole night!

At first, he was 'fighting' the mosquitoes, but soon there were none left in the room; they had all flown away.

After a while, he began to miss them and whispered out the window, calling them back – probably too softly or too far away, it had no effect.

Not giving up, Suming sneaked out of the dorm building and into the woods to find mosquitoes.

On the way, he encountered several stray cats and dogs and had a sudden inspiration to try communicating with them...

...

Suming was pleasantly surprised to confirm that he indeed seemed to have a special ability.

It wasn't just mosquitoes – he could communicate with all kinds of animals!

Of course, animals were not intelligent enough to chat with him like humans, nor did they have language.

However, when he focused, he could make animals understand his intentions, and likewise, he could sense the animals' feelings and even control them to some extent.

The lower the intelligence of the animal, the easier they were to control.

For instance, he had 'scared away' a few mosquitoes simply by shouting loudly the day before.

When wandering around the campus at night, he encountered several stray cats that hissed at him. Suming could feel evident hostility, but once he emitted his goodwill, the strays calmed down.

Late, he tried his ability on other animals, like birds and house cats, and it worked just the same!

In conclusion, Suming had already confirmed a few things.

First, he could communicate simply with animals;

Second, after emitting goodwill, most animals were relatively friendly;

Third, he could control some animals, but the higher the level of the animal, the more difficult it was to control. Generally, he still had to rely on "communication" to resolve issues.

Currently, the ones he could fully control were only little creatures like mosquitoes and flies. There was also a limit to their number—for instance, with mosquitoes, he could control about a dozen at a time, and with flies, only four or five, and it had to be within a certain distance.

And because animals themselves were not highly intelligent, he couldn't make them perform overly complex actions.

"It must have been that beam of light that gave me this power!" Suming was now certain of it.

Although this ability hadn't brought him any concrete benefits just yet, Suming was nonetheless excited; it was like having a superpower!

Despite not having slept all night, he felt surprisingly refreshed and even came up with a name for his ability: 'Animal Friend'.

Since he could communicate with animals and sense their emotions, Suming found he had become more compassionate than before, turning into someone who loved animals.

People always feel spirited when they're happy, and with this turn of events, the anxiety Suming felt about work had somewhat dissipated. He went to the cafeteria for lunch at noon and, after eating, felt leisurely enough to pack a few boxed lunches to feed some stray cats by the roadside.

A significantly more robust black cat swayed its head and pushed aside several kittens, vying to monopolize the boxed lunch.

"Don't snatch, get in line, let the little cats and mother cats eat first!" Suming gave the big black cat a push.

"Meow!" The big black cat arched its back and raised its tail high, eyes fixed on Suming.

"What are you looking at? Ever heard of respecting the elderly and being courteous to ladies?" Suming glared and raised his hand, pretending he was going to strike.

Hei was no fool; it probably knew that Suming was the boss here and that they would all go hungry if they offended him. After locking eyes with Suming for a second or two, Hei's tail drooped listlessly, and it moved aside, looking defeated.

Seven or eight stray cats, under Suming's command, neatly lined up in three rows, with the little cats and mother cats in the front, and the boastful male cats at the back, each taking their turn to eat.

Groups of students passing by the cafeteria curiously pointed and talked as they witnessed this scene. Several girls, their faces brimming with tenderness, even boldly approached to pet the kittens.

"Wow, such cute kittens!"

"Don't disturb the animals while they're eating," Suming said with a smile.

"They're so well-behaved today; they usually run away immediately when they see us. Sometimes they even hiss at us! Why do they listen to you so well?" a girl asked curiously.

Why, because I'm a superhero with the power of 'Animal Friend'!

Of course, he couldn't say that. Smiling faintly, Suming replied, "Actually, these stray cats are very timid. They act fierce because they're afraid that humans will hurt them. The key is to make them feel your goodwill."

Suming was right; even without 'Animal Friend', animals like cats and dogs could get along very well with humans if they felt close enough to a person.

"Can I hold it?" a girl asked nervously, pointing at a little cat that had just finished eating.

"Of course, you can. Just be gentle, especially avoid rubbing its belly since it has just eaten."

As Suming spoke, he sent a friendly signal to the kitten, letting it know that the girl meant no harm.

After the girl picked up the kitten, it obediently lay in her arms, and, acting spoiled, it burrowed playfully into the plentiful curves of her chest, making the girl laugh uncontrollably.

"You lecherous little tomcat!" Suming was consumed with jealousy.

In the distance, Nangong Yan also emerged from the cafeteria, followed by a rather handsome male student from the Chinese department.

"Nangong, it's my treat today. Just say what you feel like eating, don't be shy…" The male student followed eagerly behind her, his expression full of joy and his tone somewhat sycophantic. He couldn't believe that the esteemed beauty of their department had actually asked him out for a meal; his heart was about to burst with happiness.

Nangong Yan hummed noncommittally and looked up, suddenly catching sight of Suming and a group of girls feeding the cats.

Her eyes widened with astonishment.

"You've got some nerve, Suming. And here I was wondering why you couldn't find a job—you've been spending all your effort on picking up girls! You've got this lady all worked up!"

"Nangong, there's a new Japanese restaurant on the pedestrian street. It's very authentic. Or, we could try the French foie gras next door…" The male student behind her hadn't noticed the change in Nangong Yan's expression and kept on prattling.

"Buzz off!" Nangong Yan snapped back irritably, glaring fiercely at the male student and spoke through clenched teeth, "Traitor!"

With that, she stormed off without looking back, leaving the guy standing there, completely bewildered.

"How does eating foie gras make me a traitor? Is it because of the Japanese food?" The poor fellow was utterly confused and had no idea what he did wrong.

Suming, however, was unaware of the incident that had unfolded with Nangong Yan; he was checking text messages on his phone.

Good fortune comes in waves and cannot be stopped. He opened his messages to find that he had received two interview invitations at the same time.

One was from a pharmaceutical company of considerable scale, perfectly aligned with Suming's field of expertise.

The other was from a local zoo. After broadening his horizons the previous day, Suming had sent out resumes to even vaguely related positions, including the zoo.

He had only applied out of desperation, a shot in the dark, never expecting the zoo to actually respond.