Super Zoo-Chapter 476 - 471 This is the Real Getting Shot While Lying Down
Suming said this, and immediately everyone’s attention shifted to the rhinos. Since the group had appeared, the two rhinos had not moved at all, lying still in the mud with their tails drooping behind them, not swatting flies as they would usually do.
"Darling, you haven’t lost your mind, have you?" Ludmila huffed. "It’s hot out, of course the rhinos aren’t moving. This way, they conserve their energy and avoid unnecessary exhaustion. Our Moran’s finest soldiers can even lie still in the mud for twenty-four hours..."
As she was speaking, two workers had already started to try to drive the rhinos away. They were making a huge racket at the edge of the pool—rhinos are actually quite timid and would run back to their ’cave,’ which is a corner of the pool with an animal stall, where a large iron cage awaited them—at the first sign of a scare.
Unexpectedly, even though the humans were annoyed by the noise, the two rhinos below remained unresponsive and motionless.
"Huh? What’s going on?" Zhao Yun wondered.
Suming took the koala that was pulling on Nangong Huang’s hair, cradled it in his arms like a godfather, rubbing its neck and squinting with a chuckle, "They’re dead. Adnan, go tell those soldiers that I still want the dead rhinos. As for the price, let’s just go by the price of pork, per pound."
Adnan mustered up his courage and relayed Suming’s words to the soldiers, who didn’t take it seriously at all. The leading officer even glared fiercely in their direction.
"Heh, if they don’t agree now, they won’t even be able to sell at pork prices later..." Suming wasn’t worried at all, tugging on the koala’s ears and arranging the little fellow into a ’big-character’ shape.
Koala: "..."
Seeing that driving the rhinos off with noise didn’t work, and under the urging of a group of big-headed soldiers, the workers of the Baghdad Zoo tried several methods, but the two rhinos remained motionless in the mud, unresponsive to all kinds of outside stimuli.
Just as Suming learned from Zhao Yun, the religions of the Middle East, including Islam and various other sects, consider ’dead objects’ as unclean. Some more extreme sects even believe that after death, the body is unclean and must go through fire or natural purification. If these two rhinos were indeed dead, they couldn’t possibly be used for worship. Unless the soldiers belonged to some cult that would use corpses for their rituals.
After over an hour of fussing, with the rhinos still showing no sign of movement, the leading officer completely lost his composure, raised his rifle, aimed briefly, and pulled the trigger.
With a crisp snap, a bullet skimmed past a rhino’s body and burrowed into the mud.
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Had it been a living creature, it definitely would have been startled.
But the rhinos stayed put, unflinchingly weathering the storm.
By this point, Ludmila was seventy to eighty percent convinced by Suming’s words and asked in confusion, "How did you know they were dead?"
"Nonsense, just look with your eyes. If they’re not moving, they’re dead," Suming said matter-of-factly.
Ludmila rolled her eyes in frustration. It was obvious; if the rhinos hadn’t moved for three to five days, anyone would know they were dead. But the thing was, they had just arrived at the concrete pool’s edge, and within less than five minutes, Suming was certain the two rhinos were dead. This was too strange!
At that moment, zoo technicians brought out two tranquilizer guns and, from beyond the concrete pool, injected several darts into the rhinos.
"They’re going to anesthetize the rhinos and then send in technicians to check their life signs with equipment to determine if they’re dead or alive," Zhao Yun said.
"I see," Suming nodded, a slight tension flaring up in his heart, hoping he had not misjudged.
After waiting for a moment to ensure that the tranquilizers had taken effect and that the rhinos would be unable to harm anyone even if they weren’t dead, two technicians with their equipment, accompanied or rather escorted by a squad of soldiers, entered the concrete pool from the keeper’s passage and approached the rhinos.
Whether it was because the rhinos were truly dead or because of the tranquilizers, the animals remained motionless even as the technicians connected the devices to their bodies.
"Beep beep beep beep..." The detection device emitted a faint sound, with graphs that only professionals could understand jumping up and down.
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The two technicians responsible for the testing frowned slightly and exchanged a look.
Rhinoceroses have the ability to "play dead," when faced with the harsh conditions of the wilderness, such as a lack of food and dried-up water sources. In such situations, they can enter a state of feigned death, lying inert in the mud for extended periods without moving, slowing their heart rate, and minimizing their bodily energy consumption.
In nature, many animals possess similar abilities, such as hibernation, which is an extreme manifestation. Of course, rhinoceroses do not hibernate, but they remain alert to any danger that might approach.
According to the instrument readings, these two rhinoceroses were not dead, they were currently in that state!
Because of the anesthesia, their life signs were much weaker than when they were "playing dead." Without specialized equipment, to the untrained eye, they would appear no different from dead.
These two technical personnel were filled with questions. Why had the two rhinos suddenly entered this state? Although food was scarce in the zoo, it wasn’t to the point of starving them; and even in such a state, rhinos are sensitive to external stimuli, so why was there no reaction to noise, gunfire, or even their approach?
It was almost as if they knew someone was going to take them away and had decided to play dead on their own accord!
Nevertheless, the two technicians quickly made a decision.
They both turned back and shook their heads at the leading officer before saying in Arabic, "Confirmed dead."
Watching this scene from beyond the concrete pool, Suming finally breathed a sigh of relief, his gamble had paid off!
He had communicated with the rhinoceroses beforehand using his spiritual power and told them to play dead. Even if rhinos lacked the ability to play dead, Suming would have made them stay still. He didn’t believe these soldiers had the knowledge to see through the ruse.
The only potential giveaway would be the zoo staff. If they used professional equipment to check, they would find the rhinos were still alive.
Suming’s bet was this: he was 80 percent sure that even if the staff found out, they would never tell the soldiers.
The rationale was simple: if he were in the zookeeper’s shoes at the Baghdad Zoo, he wouldn’t want these soldiers to take the rhinoceroses away. If it came down to it, he’d rather transfer them to another zoo for care than to let them become sacrificial offerings in religious rituals.
Only those truly engaged in animal conservation understood how precious these two rhinoceroses were!
Upon hearing the technicians’ verdict, the face of the officer in charge instantly turned as unsightly as if he had eaten excrement; trudging through the mud, he went over to one of the rhinoceroses, lay down beside it, and felt and listened to its body. But with the rhino’s thick skin and its will to feign death, especially after being hit by the tranquilizer dart, he couldn’t determine if it was dead or alive.
"Let’s go!" the officer ordered with a grim face and, waving his hand, signaled to his soldiers to leave.
Just when Suming sighed in relief, he saw the officer stop at the gate of the keeper’s passageway, then suddenly turn back and stride toward the rhinoceros.
Suming’s heart leaped again. What was this guy thinking?
The officer hesitated for a couple of seconds before suddenly pulling out his pistol and firing a shot into the thigh of one of the rhinoceroses.
The bullet created a small hole in the rhino’s thigh and blood gushed out, but the rhino remained motionless.
Finally giving up, the lead officer left the concrete pool with his men.
The discipline of these soldiers was somewhat better than Suming had anticipated; seeing that the rhinos were truly dead, they didn’t hold the bodies for ransom or saw off the rhino horns to sell for money. Under the leadership of their officer, a platoon of soldiers, without even casting a glance at Suming and his group, turned and jogged out of the zoo.
"Dammit, pulling such a trick! It’s a good thing I had enough spiritual power!" Suming cursed inwardly and quickly allocated some of his spiritual power to heal the rhino that had been shot.
Down below, the zoo staff was frantically trying to stop the bleeding when the rhino that was shot suddenly stood up with a "roar," then started running around the concrete pool crazily, bellowing out loud.
The rhino was immensely frustrated, which essentially meant it literally got "shot while lying down."
The other rhino also unsteadily got to its feet, shook the mud off its body, but after a few steps, it felt dizzy, its legs gave away, and it collapsed back into the mud with a splash.
