Free Web NovelChapter 53: Chapter 53: The Truth About Zoos
The text records archived, Bai Wu had also found several textual clues in the span of six hours.
All the written records were scattered in every corner of this gigantic animal sanctuary.
They buried a secret that the giant dog had been searching for seven hundred years.
Under the influence of Grudge Parasitism, the content inside was starkly different from what Bai Wu had seen before.
The clues were heavy with resentment; under the vision of Grudge Parasitism, Bai Wu didn’t even need to look at them directly to see the twisted scenery from afar.
Cain had made disciples, those who had tragic pasts, but does the absurdity of apocalypse really need deliberate sculpting?
However, to gain the approval of the giant dog, one must know the reason for its Evil Fallen Transformation.
Driven by curiosity, he opened the first one.
What appeared before Bai Wu’s eyes was no longer a memory log left by Cain, but a series of images.
...
...
The content of the first set of images was in color.
The apocalypse had not yet come, and the periphery of the city was somewhat chaotic, but those living inside the city were still unaware of the changes the world would undergo in the following years.
The zoo was the same, located on the outskirts of the city, yet untouched by Evil Fallen disturbances.
From the textual information he had previously gathered, Bai Wu learned that the protagonist of this segment was a zookeeper and veterinarian named Lou Xiaoping.
He had a girlfriend named Xianxiang, but she never really liked Lou Xiaoping’s job—mainly because it involved a lot of work for little pay.
They often argued, but the so-called arguments were mostly one-sided complaints from the girlfriend.
In the latter half of the images, the woman named Xianxiang appeared to be unable to find a job, and her brother, who had just graduated, was also jobless and had to rely on Lou Xiaoping to find work at the zoo for them.
One was tasked with clerical records, the other with gatekeeping.
Even though the end times had not yet arrived, the number of people willing to stay at the zoo was steadily decreasing. Under extreme staff shortage and with Lou Xiaoping’s guarantee, the siblings moved in.
The last part of the first set of images showed Lou Xiaoping helping a zebra give birth; he had named every animal in the zoo.
The zebra was named Sharon, and the baby zebra Hope. In the final frame, Lou Xiaoping wore a radiant smile.
He was a very handsome and sunny young man, holding Hope as if there was still hope in the world.
This segment of video ended quickly.
Bai Wu still had many unclear aspects about the zoo’s past.
"The dog? If the Guardian of the Doomsday Fragment is a dog, why have I not seen it from start to finish?"
He opened the second record.
It was still a series of images, playing in his memory to the rhythm of drastic changes.
But this time, the whole world seemed to be shrouded in grey.
Lou Xiaoping’s days were not going well, his girlfriend loathed the animals. Her brother, Li He, seemed to have designs on these animals.
During the years they dated, he had doted on his girlfriend, never letting her do dirty or tiring work, nor had he ever spoken harshly to her.
But when he found out that Xianxiang’s brother Li He was planning to sell the zoo’s young animals, for the first time, he lost his temper and berated the siblings.
Elsewhere in the world, one tower had disappeared, while another had risen.
It was said that some very powerful people had already gone to that tower, and some claimed that the appearance of monsters on the city’s outskirts heralded the coming of the end of the world.
The High Tower that appeared later was to be the Ark for human survival.
But there were no animals in High Tower, and it wasn’t sealed off yet; people could still contact those most powerful in the world through certain channels.
These animals can all fetch a good price. Not just the living, but the dead too. Antler velvet, rhinocerous horns, tiger teeth, cheetah fur—this place is brimming with treasures.
The chance to break free from poverty is right in front of us, it seems like everyone in the entire zoo was persuaded by Li Xianxiang and her brother.
Only Lou Xiaoping, who still diligently drove his car every day to patrol the whole savannah, ignored the dangers and checked on the health of the animals.
And with the funds from above becoming increasingly scarce, he did all he could to prevent some of the animals from going hungry.
Monsters outside the city were increasing, and within it, white-collars were striking, chaos reigning in the streets.
But people still believed that everything would return to order.
Beings of society restrained by laws for a lifetime were still afraid of the net of justice.
Society maintained a fragile balance between chaos and collapse.
Just like the zoo. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Lou Xiaoping’s stance was firm; these animals’ lives were also lives, and if anyone tried to steal or hunt them, if any animal went missing, he would report it to the authorities immediately.
The final image was a hurried glance of an elk running.
...
The second act of the footage ended.
"Still no sight of the dog."
Bai Wu stroked his chin, his intuition telling him that this Lou Xiaoping must be the owner of the giant canine.
But what role did the dog play here?
In the zoo, the animals were still animals, but the people may no longer be humans.
Lou Xiaoping tried his best to protect these animals. But compared to the desires of the people in this zoo, his resistance seemed pitiful and laughable.
Bai Wu continued to watch the next segment of footage.
If the second segment still had colors, albeit draped in dimness,
then the third segment had turned completely black and white.
Lou Xiaoping was locked up, like those animals, confined within a dark room.
Every day, different people would bring Lou Xiaoping food.
People also knew that locking him up like this wouldn’t last, as the room reeked from his excrement.
Each time Li Xianxiang and her brother delivered food, they threw it in like feeding a dog before hurriedly walking away.
They had made a good amount of money recently and had entirely forgotten who it was that brought them to the zoo.
Lou Xiaoping at first cursed these people for not following the rules.
Late on, he lost his energy; often people would forget to bring food, causing Lou Xiaoping’s health to decline.
In the pitch-dark room with no ventilation, he rapidly fell ill.
He felt as if he were about to die.
In the darkness, this kind-hearted, fragile human issued a collapse-like wail.
He was worried about those animals.
Sometimes when Liu brought food, he would talk about how much money they had made, the chaos in the city, and how nobody cared about anything in the zoo.
Under the panic created by the monsters outside the city, no one cared about what happened in the zoo—neither for the animals nor the people. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
The upper echelons hadn’t allocated funds for a week, and these animals would soon face a food shortage; they were about to die.
"They’re going to die anyway, what’s so bad about making some money off them before they do? You guard these beasts, but do they recognize you?"
Bai Wu had originally thought that at the end of the video, Lou Xiaoping would also be locked up in the room.
But in the final scene, Lou Xiaoping had already arrived on the grassland.
The sky was no longer black and white, but had turned to color. Lou Xiaoping lay on the grassland, facing the sky, motionless.
The third segment of the video ended.
"There are currently two known types of human Evil Fallen Transformation: extreme hatred and injection of Evil Fallen blood."
Bai Wu speculated that if Lou Xiaoping had suffered such inhuman treatment, and was suddenly released from that room, it was probably because he had already undergone Evil Fallen Transformation.
He must have killed those people.
But after watching the fourth segment of the video... Bai Wu realized he was wrong.
...
...
The fourth segment of the video was still in black and white tones.
Lou Xiaoping was locked up for a full two months. In that foul-smelling room, his body began to rot, green pox grew out of his skin, and yellow pus covered half of his face.
He was like a piece of cheese left out in the humid rainy season for an entire week. His body was reaching its limit, he was about to die in there.
It was as if he had resonated with the zoo.
As Lou Xiaoping’s condition worsened day by day, the animals in the zoo also began to mutate.
More and more animals suddenly changed, their mechanized bodies all seemed absurd and bizarre.
This scene scared everyone, Liu, the siblings Li Xianxiang, and all the staff of the zoo, they didn’t know what to do.
Too long without food. Too long without seeing that familiar person.
The animals also began to grow restless.
As this restlessness accumulated to a certain degree, the animals turned Evil Fallen before the humans did.
But no matter how they mutated, no matter how terrifying and horrifying these animals looked —
It seemed they were still confined to the inside of the iron net, just like before.
They showed an exceptionally fierce desire to attack, but the high iron net, which seemed to have mutated along with the animals, held firm no matter how they charged and roared, unable to be breached.
Greed makes one ignorant, and the ignorant are fearless.
The group of people at the zoo, after discovering that the animals couldn’t break through the iron net, did not leave. Some animals had not mutated and in their eyes, these were all money.
Li Xianxiang’s brother thought the things happening in the zoo were too incredible, so he took a photo and uploaded it to the internet.
This action finally brought relief to Lou Xiaoping who had been locked in the dark room for two months.
All those involved in the theft and trafficking of zoo animals cursed Li He as a foolish partner.
The photo caused a huge sensation online, attracting a vast number of visitors to the long-deserted zoo.
If people continued to come to the zoo, if these steel beasts kept drawing attention, the secret of Lou Xiaoping would sooner or later be discovered.
"It’s causing too much trouble, it must be dealt with, Lou Xiaoping must die."
After some discussion, they decided to get rid of Lou Xiaoping.
How to deal with him?
How can a person disappear without a trace, leaving no evidence behind?
Finally, the last of the video came.
Lou Xiaoping collapsed in the grassland frequented by carnivores, the scent of flesh and blood continuously attracted those animals he had once fed.
His body was tossed into the inner side of the iron net. What awaited him was an unbearable shredding.
First the soles of his feet, followed by his knees, then his elbows, collarbones, neck, the sound of bones breaking, the sound of flesh being torn and chewed—in this rather quiet footage, the noises seemed exceptionally harsh.
Lou Xiaoping still remembered, the male lion was named Flame, the lioness named Elsa. Next to Flame and Elsa, there were several lions, both young and old.
When they were small, he had held them and even took a photo with them, which had made him a bit of an internet celebrity for a short while.
He wept tears of blood, and at this moment, the entire footage too, turned a deep crimson.
Just as his body was being ripped apart, the images in the footage were also tearing apart.
How utterly desperate.
The people he loved, along with colleagues and friends, had betrayed him for their own gain. They had imprisoned him for a full two months.
The animals he had once cared for, in the end, had eaten him out of hunger.
But perhaps at that time, they just didn’t recognize Lou Xiaoping? Because he was no longer the young man with the bright smile from a few months ago.
Bai Wu had thought the video would end here, but he suddenly discovered—the footage began to shake violently.
Gunshots and screams came from outside the iron net.
"Damn it, how is it still alive! It’s been bitten until only its head is left!"
"Shoot it, shoot it dead! Kill it!"
The sound of shotguns kept coming, and in the last scene of the footage, Bai Wu saw twisted human faces and a dense cluster of gun barrels.
At that moment, he had an epiphany!
This poor foolish dog had been by its master’s side all along! The footage he saw... indeed described the tragic story of the pitiable Lou Xiaoping.
But the perspective came from the dog.
When the fawn was born, it sat next to its master, Lou Xiaoping, watching his bright smile.
When Lou Xiaoping was locked in the dark room, it was locked up alongside him.
Even when Lou Xiaoping died, it was thrown in with him.
Although there was no sound in the footage, perhaps the dog had been barking all along.
Bai Wu finally understood.
Now he realized why those people said it was too noisy and that they had to get rid of Lou Xiaoping.
It turns out... they were referring to the dog at first, and the human later on.
After all, how could Lou Xiaoping make a fuss when he was so weak?
From beginning to end, it had accompanied Lou Xiaoping,
In the dog’s final field of vision, humans were monsters covered in gun barrels, which is why its own body was also riddled with gun barrels...
"Everything is in order now. It seems the last segment of the footage... should be a clue that can make this dog accept me. Perhaps it’s to find the skeletons of those people?"
Bai Wu initially thought he had found the truth.
This was a dog seeking vengeance for its master, filled with hatred for the animals that had eaten its master and the humans who had plotted against him.
But when he opened the fifth scene, he was completely stunned.
The content of the fifth scene was very simple, so simple that it could be summed up in a single sentence—
Lou Xiaoping had committed suicide, dying in that dark room.
(Today’s release is equivalent to three Chapters, and it indeed feels wrong to split it, so, ahem, I shamelessly ask for your votes again~)
