Super Zoo

Seeing these two guys trussed up like sticky rice dumplings, Suming's heart skipped a beat, startled because the cave was quite dark, and suddenly turning his head to see two people looking at him, it was like encountering a ghost in a horror game; anyone would be startled.

However, it quickly dawned on him that these two unlucky fellows were most likely hostages. One didn't need a God's-eye view to figure that out – a mountain cave in the Middle East, masked gunmen, and bound Westerners; these elements combined made it obvious to anyone but a fool.

He hurriedly turned back to glance at the cave entrance again; the entrance was quite far from his current position, both masked gunmen were focused outside, and if there were a rescue, it would surely come from outside. They could never have imagined that a perfectly good cave used for collecting water would sprout a head.

But the spring's opening was too small; it was just enough for Suming's "head" to emerge, and there was no chance for his whole body to squeeze through.

After their initial shock, the black and white hostages softly whispered 'help' to Suming, their eyes filled with pleading.

Suming, after all, had passed his Level Four English exam; he might not understand entire sentences, but he could comprehend short phrases like 'help' and 'butterfly' in foreign tongues.

Although he didn't know the specific identities of the kidnappers and hostages, under such circumstances, there was no need to decide whom to help; do good people engage in kidnappings? Plus, based on what Suming had observed in Iraq over the past few days, although the legitimate Iraqi military might wear ethnic attire, they would never cover their faces.

IS? Suming leaned towards the cave entrance and mouthed the words silently, questioning the two hostages.

The two hostages nodded; the black female with thick lips said again, "Help! Please!" The male journalist spoke rapidly in English. Realizing Suming was completely lost, he quickly switched to a few simple words. Suming understood this time: United States, journalist, IS.

An American journalist kidnapped by IS.

Suming wanted to help the two, but the reality did not allow it; the spring was so small, he couldn't get out, and likewise, these two foreigners, who were even taller than him, couldn't come in through the spring. Even if they could squeeze into the spring, it was useless. If Suming had not misjudged the direction along the way, his current location and the pool where he had entered the water were separated by nearly half a mountain. Although the straight-line distance was not far, it was impossible for the two to hold their breath for nearly ten minutes and swim from underwater to the other side of the pool.
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If his spiritual power was at full, Suming could try calling the animals in the mountain; a few fierce beasts or venomous snakes might go unnoticed and could potentially take out the two guards. However, since he had used the water bear's energy storage ball, his spiritual power was depleted, nowhere near enough for a large-scale search of the mountain.

His current situation was somewhat similar to a whack-a-mole game; Suming himself was the mole poking its head from underground, cautiously observing the IS guards at the entrance, pondering how to rescue the two Westerners.

Before he could come up with a plan, a fierce burst of gunfire suddenly erupted outside the cave. Many people were shouting loudly in Arabic, and vaguely from above, he could hear the roar of a plane's engines swooping by.

It seemed that there were more than just these two guards outside; there was a large group of armed men.

Another group of guards came over; a few of them loudly exchanged words in Arabic for a while, then headed into the cave.

"Hold on! I will BE BACK!" Suming said to the two hostages in Chinglish, then ducked his head and returned underwater.

Facing so many terrorists, Suming had no effective plan. If he stuck his head out again, it would only serve as a target like a mole for shooting practice. Moreover, the energy storage ball of the tardigrade could only supply a limited amount of oxygen, so any more delays and whether he could make it back to the starting point was questionable.

When IS members entered, Suming had already retracted his head from the hole and was sneaking back the way he came. They didn't notice anything amiss. Approaching the two hostages, they didn't speak a word, and like venting their anger, they brutally struck them with the butts of their guns several times before bellowing fiercely, "*&^!@#!"

After that, they found the white male and kicked him a few times to let off steam, then turned around and went to chat with their companions.

The white reporter, with his head and face covered in blood, perked up his ears to listen to what the others were saying. Then, with an excited expression, he whispered to the black person, "Oh, God bless! A reconnaissance plane has flown by, there's a good chance that airborne troops are coming to rescue us! Nikki, we are saved!"

"Airborne troops? Could it be that Eastern man from before?" Nikki, the black woman, was slightly stunned. Airborne troops were expected, but why would they emerge from the ground?

"No, no, no, it seems like it was Russian... not the Eastern man... What on earth is that Eastern man doing?" The white reporter was also very puzzled.

The Eastern young man they encountered earlier didn't look like a soldier—randomly emerging from underground, who after being unable to speak English, seemed almost like a tourist snooping around, said a few incomprehensible things, and then turned and ran away, which was indeed confusing.

Could it be that he's not human at all, but some kind of humanoid aquatic life? Or had the two of them been imprisoned so long that they were hallucinating?

"Regardless, we're saved!" the white reporter said, grinning through the pain.

Yet, Nikki the black woman wasn't as optimistic as he was—the intricate intuition unique to women made her feel that something was off.

After being captured and transported to the mountainous area, she had seen a massive number of IS soldiers moving toward the mountains, enough for a small-scale local war. To guard just two hostages, such a significant force was unnecessary.

Before entering the mountains, in a quick flash seen from the car window, she thought she caught sight of two important IS figures ranked within the top ten heading in the direction of the mountains as well.

Large troops, important IS figures in person—if all this was just to guard hostages for ransom, the deployment was far too extravagant.

Moreover, they didn't even bother to take her phone at the beginning; it was only after entering the mountains that they seemed to remember and destroyed their phones. Though bound and unable to communicate with the outside world, the phones had tracking capabilities—the American Government could have located their approximate position using GPS.

The various doubts added up, and as an insider, Nikki seemed to sense a strong scent of conspiracy. Everything seemed much more complicated than a simple case of hostage-taking and rescue.

"Are you implying that IS is deliberately using us as bait?" Tom, the white man, said in astonishment.

"I hope I'm just being paranoid!" Nikki said.