Super Zoo

"Look, I'll have the pufferfish perform a few tricks for you."

Seeing someone interested, the fish seller immediately showed off his attentiveness and bent a piece of iron wire about forty to fifty centimeters long, poking the back of a pufferfish twice with it.

The pufferfish that was poked suddenly stopped moving and made a 'gurgling' sound, as if someone was holding back anger.

Right afterwards, its belly started to inflate like a balloon.

Only then could one clearly see that the pufferfish actually had fins, but they were very small. On either side of its balloon-like body, two disproportionately tiny fins flapped comically.

In the blink of an eye, the pufferfish's body ballooned to several times its size, becoming round and plump like a ball, with two little eyes popping out atop the 'ball,' staring at these humans. Its skin was covered with a layer of short, sharp spines, reminiscent of the inflatable rubber toys often seen in tourist spot gift shops.

The pufferfish is also called 'angry fish,' because it gets 'all puffed up' when touched by someone, which is actually a form of self-protection for the pufferfish. When in danger, it rapidly inhales air to bloat its body into a ball shape, increasing its size to make it difficult for predators to bite into.

After inflating, the pufferfish probably realized it was not out of danger yet and began to play dead, bellied up with its big stomach puffed out like a drowned corpse swollen with water, floating at the top of the tank.

This fellow took cuteness to the extreme, eliciting a round of laughter from the spectators. A child stretched out a finger, wanting to poke the belly of the pufferfish.

"Be careful!" Suming quickly grabbed the child, saying seriously, "Watch out or you might get your finger bitten off!"

"Uncle is lying!" The child didn't believe it at all. How could such a cute little fish bite people?

It wasn't just the child who was skeptical. The surrounding tourists and the child's parents didn't quite believe it either. However, they knew pufferfish were poisonous and didn't want their child to take the risk of touching it. So they nodded and smiled at Suming, then scared the child by saying, "Pufferfish are fierce, even fiercer than big tigers!"

"Hmph, just trying to scare me!" The child snorted defiantly.

Everyone laughed except the fish seller, who pointed at Suming and said, "This boss is an expert; pufferfish really bite people!"

While speaking, he inserted the broken wire into the water and shook it twice near the mouth of the pufferfish that was playing dead.

What a versatile, plump pufferfish it was!

Without hesitation, it would play dead and turn on the charm in dangerous situations, but given the slightest chance, it would launch a fierce counterattack. The pufferfish, previously feigning death, suddenly opened its mouth, revealing a set of neat and delicately vicious teeth. Snap! It bit the number 6 iron wire clean in two!

"Fun, isn't it? This guy's got some seriously sharp teeth!" the fish seller said proudly as he shook the broken half of the iron wire in front of everyone, showing the smooth break.

A collective gasp of shock.

"My god, isn't this a piranha..."

"What would happen if it got a bite of you?"

"Lucky I didn't buy one..."

The faces of the parents who had come close to having their child bitten turned pale, secretly relieved that they were lucky. It had been a close call! If it weren't for this young man stepping in, who knows what might have happened. The child who almost got bitten stood stunned for a moment before bursting into tears.

In fact, the pufferfish's temperament is relatively docile. It's more of a 'you don't bother me, I don't bother you, if you do bother me, I'll try to endure it until I absolutely can't' kind of thing. As implied by the nickname 'angry fish,' most of the time when bullied, pufferfish just keep to themselves and seethe, without showing the strong aggression of a carnivorous fish.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Suming winked at the child. "Uncle will have the pufferfish perform another fun trick for you."

While speaking, he pulled a big handful of seaweed from beneath the tank and tossed it into the tank.

The child's face, like the weather in June, changed at a moment's notice. The promise of more fun had stopped the crying, and, with tear stains still on the face, the child boldly moved closer to the tank, craning the neck to see. The two parents, holding the child's hand, were also a bit curious.

A performance? Are the fish going to eat the seaweed?

No sooner had the seaweed touched the water, not quite fully submerged, than a dozen pufferfish from all directions swam over. They opened their mouths to bite onto the strands of seaweed but didn't bite through or swallow them. Instead, they continued searching for other pieces of seaweed. Before long, a large clump of seaweed was collected by the pufferfish, each with one or two to as many as seven or eight strands in their mouths.

"Uncle, what are they doing?" the child asked curiously.

Nangong Huang, like the child, stared wide-eyed alongside. Among the crowd, only Su Meng looked at the pufferfish with no hint of curiosity, only a full appetite.

"They're delivering flowers for the girls!" Suming said with a cheeky grin, pointing into the tank.

Fat guys can be romantic too. After the aquatic plants fell into the water, only about half of the pufferfish went to collect them; the other half seemed indifferent. Those that had gathered the aquatic plants swam over to the indifferent pufferfish, shaking their heads and waggling their tails as if to offer a courtship gift, fish to fish.

Some animals court with personal allure, like peacocks; some with force, like tigers and lions; but pufferfish, they play it romantic—giving flowers... Oh, I mean, giving aquatic plants. The ones fighting over the plants earlier were all male pufferfish.

Perhaps due to the scarcity of the plants, most of the female pufferfish, like little princesses full of pride, scorned the males' advances.

Only one male, who had collected seven or eight strands of the plants, won the heart of a beauty—a smaller female pufferfish gently approached and took the plants from his mouth.

"Mom, look, they're kissing!" A child pointed at the pufferfish and shouted excitedly, "How shameless!"

...

Pufferfish, though delicious and fun to watch, are ultimately toxic. Most visitors were just ordinary people driven by curiosity; after watching for a while, they gradually dispersed, leaving only Suming and a few others by the now quiet storefront.

After seeing these pufferfish, Suming was determined to buy and raise them in his reservoir.

It is well known that pufferfish are tasty and have high economic value, and they are quite cute too. Beyond that, there are many benefits unknown to ordinary people.

The most valuable is their toxin. To call it priceless may be an exaggeration, but it is certainly a 'treasure of exorbitant price.' The toxin has many uses; when made into a strong painkiller, it can have miraculous effects in alleviating pain for cancer patients, and is tens of thousands of times more potent than cocaine at relieving pain. When processed into medicine, it can effectively treat many skin diseases... and there's a very important function: treating impotence!

For a man who suffers from such problems, curing this condition would be priceless, and any amount of money would seem worth it.

Therefore, the international price for pufferfish toxin can reach over 50,000 US Dollars per gram, and for high purity, even as much as 200,000 US Dollars per gram—and still, there is more demand than supply!

Additionally, the powder refined from pufferfish skin can act as a hemostatic, their roe can treat sores, their liver can treat burns, and their blood has detoxifying properties... In short, every part of a pufferfish is a treasure!

There are two difficulties in artificial cultivation of pufferfish: the first is technology. Due to certain special factors, few in the country possess the expertise to cultivate pufferfish, but with Liang Shi and his group of agricultural experts under Suming, there is no issue with technology;

The second is the disposition of the pufferfish. These little creatures have a very strong temperament and, once captured by humans, can sometimes literally die of rage in a short span if not careful. Even the experts at the agricultural academy can't fully explain why, which limits the scale of pufferfish cultivation... This can be resolved with spiritual power communication.

"Interested, boss?" The fishmonger observed Suming and asked.

"How much for the whole lot?" Suming gestured at the tank.

Fishermen can be both genuine and savvy, especially those who run businesses in tourist areas and are experienced in dealing with visitors. Seeing that Suming was indeed interested in buying, the fishmonger immediately pointed at the tank with pride, "I'll have you know, I'm the only one in the whole county who specializes in selling pufferfish..."

Just tell me the price," Suming interrupted him with a chuckle, knowing full well what the fishmonger was about to boast about next—either how difficult the pufferfish were to catch or how good the quality of his catch was.

"How much do you want?" asked the fishmonger.

Suming pointed at the tanks in front of him, "I'll take everything you've got."

The fishmonger, rubbing his hands together with glee, replied, "I've got several more tanks in the back. In total, there's about one thousand and one hundred pounds. I'll round it down to one thousand pounds for you! Per pound... um..."

After thinking for a moment, the fishmonger then smiled generously and said, "Here's what we'll do, pufferfish are rare, and you can't find them on the market. I'll give you a discount since you're buying in bulk—let's say 120 Yuan per pound!"

By that calculation, the deal would come to over one hundred thousand Yuan. That sounds like a lot, but these fishermen work hard all year long, and it's not guaranteed they'll make such big sales, even once. There are still various costs to deduct.

In fact, the average annual income from fishing for the fishermen in Huayin County doesn't even reach twenty thousand Yuan. Their earnings are certainly not high, barely enough for living expenses.

Despite this, Suming just shook his head and smiled, said nothing, and stood up to leave.

"Hey, boss, where are you going? We agreed on the fish." The fishmonger became anxious and stood up to shout after him.

Suming turned around and smiled, "Uncle, you're not giving me a discount because I'm buying a lot, but because you think I'm young and can be easily overcharged, aren't you?"

Taken aback, the fishmonger chuckled awkwardly and rubbed his hands, "How can you say that? The price is negotiable. If you think it's too expensive, you could just make a counteroffer. Why leave in such a hurry?"

After that, he came over to pull Suming back, politely saying, "Come on in, sit down at my place. We can have some tea and discuss the price."

Only then did Suming smile and turn to follow the fishmonger inside, with Su Meng and Nangong Huang trailing behind. Fishermen may lead a tough life, but making money still requires honesty. Suming did not want to be taken for a fool, paying a high price for fish, only to be laughed at behind his back as a naive spender.