Super Zoo

"What on earth is this?" Suming looked at those lumps of flesh, feeling a bit queasy and unclear about what they actually were. He dared not just cook them up for his mom to eat.

They looked pretty disgusting, as if the pig was suffering from advanced gastric cancer.

He sniffed them and was surprised that there was no rotting smell as he had imagined. Instead, amid the scent of blood was a faint trace of fragrance.

Mom was playing mahjong and she glanced over, saying with a smile, "Go and stew it, it's something good."

Apparently, this had to do with the wild pig's diet.

The hard-haired, thick-skinned wild pig had a diverse diet: bamboo shoots, medicinal herbs, bird eggs, mushrooms; wild rabbits, mountain rats, venomous snakes, centipedes—at anything edible, they were not picky, and they particularly enjoyed eating snakes.

Because they ate plants containing various natural Chinese medicinal herbs, the wild pig's stomach was like being immersed in these herbs for a long time, offering high medicinal value and making them impervious to hundred poisons. This was very similar to the Diamond Parrot.

Just as the rooster is the natural enemy of centipedes, the wild pig is the bane of venomous snakes.

After swallowing venomous snakes, the snakes' fangs could bite into or 'hook onto' the inner wall of the wild pig's stomach. The wild pig's stomach would then grow granulation tissue over the wounds, becoming the 'lumps' Suming saw. Each snake eaten could create such a lump with a certain probability. The more lumps there were, the higher the medicinal value. They were excellent for preventing and treating rheumatism, stomach diseases, and the like.

There was even a saying that wild pigs that could grow these kinds of growths had mostly eaten Lingzhi mushrooms because Lingzhi have a decent detoxifying effect.

This claim was unverified, but there were quite a few wild Lingzhi in the mountains. Ordinary wild Lingzhi, like tree Ganoderma, weren't too valuable. It was entirely possible for a wild pig to encounter and eat them.

"One, two, three..." Suming counted, and this young wild pig's stomach actually had four lumps. Despite its small size, it seemed to have eaten quite a few venomous snakes in its short life.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Listening to Second Uncle and the others discussing, even for such a small pig stomach, if sold, it could fetch several thousand yuan. It was immediately effective for anyone suffering from rheumatism, leg pain, or stomach diseases.

All two wild pigs had been slaughtered. The other's stomach also had a lump, which was worth much less in comparison, but it was still a rare find.

"Money, money be damned, my mom's health is the most important. I'll stew one stomach first. Nobody leave, after the soup is ready in the morning, then you can all go home and sleep." The mountain air was damp, making it easy to get joint issues. Suming wasn't bothered about the few thousand yuan now. He chuckled, took the two stomachs to the kitchen in the back, found some yam and the like, and stewed them together in a big pot.

While the stew was simmering, he used his soul-attachment ability to contact Haidong Qing.

After leaving, that group of wild pigs had run quite a distance deep into the mountains, and Haidong Qing had been following them quietly from the sky. With Suming's current level of spiritual power, he was almost at his limit. He saw vaguely as his Second Senior Brother led a large group of his followers onwards into the mountain depths. Suming had no idea where they were headed.

As the spiritual connection was about to break due to the distance, Suming gave Haidong Qing a shout, "Keep on their trail!"

Haidong Qing flapped its wings in response, and suddenly it was like Suming was watching an old black and white television; the image grew increasingly blurred, large patches of static appeared, and the 'connection' completely broke off.

Spiritual power is still not strong enough! Suming thought. Once he got back to Yangchuan City, the first thing he would do was get the Monkey King and the others to brew the Monkey Wine as quickly as possible to continue enhancing his spiritual power.

"If my spiritual power were strong enough, couldn't I see the White House directly from Yangchuan City?" Suming thought with a bit of pride.

Putting it more exaggeratedly, in theory, as long as one's spiritual power is strong enough, one could even monitor every corner of the Earth!

Of course, that's just wishful thinking. Even with the help of Monkey Wine, there's no way my spiritual power could ever reach that level by the time I die.

The night passed without incident, and Cui Hua, the old rooster next door, began to crow 'wo wo wo', while the air grew cooler. The scent of pig stomach soup wafted from the kitchen, energizing the people in the main hall who had played mahjong all night and were now weary. At the whiff of the aroma, their spirits were instantly revived.

Auntie shuffled the cards while chuckling, "I've always said Suming wouldn't have trouble finding a partner. How many of these young guys nowadays can cook? Just look, Suming whips up a simple soup, and I'm practically drooling."

On one hand, Suming's cooking skills were indeed decent, and the ingredients this time were quite good; on the other hand, everyone was hungry after chasing wild boars and playing cards all night. The moment the delicious smell drifted out, it naturally enticed everyone's cravings.

"Let's stop playing and have some soup before we all head home," Mrs. Su pushed away the mahjong tiles and shouted toward the back kitchen, "Suming, serve the soup, and scoop some more stomach pieces. Steam some more buns on the stove while you're at it."

Suming had already steamed the buns and was about to serve the soup when the white cat mother surprisingly crawled out of her nest, tiptoed into the kitchen, stood up by the stove, and began to mewl impatiently, looking utterly eager.

"Meow meow meow…" The newborn kittens, hardly able to walk and their eyes not yet open, actually tumbled and crawled behind the opposite door curtain, peeping out and sniffing in this direction, some of them drooling.

"Ha ha, I nearly forgot about you. Right, you've just had babies, and you need to produce milk. Some stomach soup will be a good nourishment for you."

The stomach soup was white and thick like milk. Suming filled half a washbasin first and carried it to the next-door cat room. Upon entering, the big and small cats circled his legs. The kittens stumbled around, tumbling and getting up again like little weebles.

"Careful, it's hot, don't drink too fast, and stay out of the basin," he cautioned.

The small amount of soup in the basin wouldn't be enough to drown them, even if they fell in; they would just get a bit wet. After Suming had blown on it a few times, thinking the temperature should be about right, he set down the basin. The big and small cats immediately crowded around, sticking out their tongues and furiously lapping at the soup with a rapid 'slurp slurp' sound.

After sorting out the cat family, Suming then carried a basin as big as a bathtub full of soup to the front living room, stacking a dozen large bowls into a pile, "There are steamed buns on the back stove, help yourselves if you want any."

The sight of a big crowd eating breakfast together was quite grand. Each person held a large sea bowl full of stomach soup in one hand and a steaming hot baozi in the other. Some were perched on the fence, while others sat on chairs, surrounded by the sound of 'slurping' everywhere.

In no time at all, they had polished off a large pot of soup and more than twenty buns, with Suming and Su Meng also contentedly having their fill. After breakfast, the card game broke up and everyone went home to sleep.

"I'm going to sleep for a bit. After I wake up, I'll go look for that group of wild boars in the mountains," Suming yawned and said to Su Meng.

*****

PS: There will be another update tonight.