Chapter 373: Animals

The discovery of the open iron cage changed the situation in an instant. The zoo, once just strange but at least safe, was now fraught with peril.

At this point, Zhang Wenda had no time to worry about the monkeys. His priority was to save himself. Just as he was weaving his way through the paths in search of a safe spot, he rounded a bend on a gravel trail and the thick stench of blood suddenly assaulted his senses.

The feeling of being targeted by something made his entire body go numb.

Just then, a voice suddenly called out from overhead, “Danger! Danger! Hide in the bushes! Hide in the bushes!”

Zhang Wenda instinctively dove into the neatly trimmed bushes at the side of the path. The moment he did, a shadow suddenly fell over him.

The ground began to tremble faintly. Peeking through a gap in the bushes, Zhang Wenda saw a moving wall smeared with blood. As the wall began to move slowly along with the tremors, Zhang Wenda finally saw it clearly. It wasn’t a wall—it was an elephant.

It was an elephant with large patches of blood on its gray body. It still looked like an elephant, but its trunk—now more than twice its normal thickness—was another matter entirely.

The inside of its trunk was lined with sharp teeth, like a lamprey’s mouth. It was viciously sucking on a scrawny, mangy monkey, draining it until almost nothing was left but a sheet of monkey skin.

The atmosphere was so oppressive it was nearly suffocating. Time seemed to stand still, each passing second stretching into an eternity.

After what felt like an eternity, the tremors faded, and the “wall” outside the bushes finally moved on. Zhang Wenda now understood what had escaped from the cage. It was the elephant.

Once he was sure the coast was clear, Zhang Wenda let out a long sigh of relief and poked his head out of the bushes.

He looked up at the sky and finally found the source of the earlier warning. It was a Macaw Parrot, about fifty centimeters tall. Its emerald-green feathers were exceptionally vibrant and beautiful.

It was perched on a branch, tilting its head as it looked down at him, as if it recognized him.

Seeing the parrot and recalling its earlier warning, a thought struck Zhang Wenda. He asked tentatively, “Silly… Jinfeng?”

‘It seems like he’s the only one in this place who would know me.’

The parrot spread its wings and flapped them hard, letting out a few harsh squawks before speaking. “You’re the silly one! You’re the silly one!”

Hearing this, Zhang Wenda breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Alright, I’ve finally found someone I know.’

‘I just never expected that this silly guy would be an animal in the zoo, not a person.’

Now that he knew the elephant was on the loose, Zhang Wenda had lost all desire to explore the zoo. “Hey, Jinfeng, how do we get out of here and go back to our own world?”

‘You have to save your own skin before you can even think about fighting enemies. My life is on the line every second I’m in here. What enemies could I possibly fight?’

‘Besides, everything happened too fast. I need to get back and sort all of this out.’

‘And since the monkeys representing the Big Circle have all scattered, it’s probably safe for me to head back now.’

After hearing Zhang Wenda’s question, the Macaw Parrot on the branch suddenly took flight, heading southeast along a gravel path. Zhang Wenda scrambled out of the bushes and quickly ran after it.

Along the way, Zhang Wenda ran into some of the monkeys that had escaped from Monkey Mountain. They didn’t attack him. Instead, they ran to the gates of various animal enclosures and began fiddling with the locks with their nimble fingers.

“Are you crazy?! If you let all those animals out, you’ll be in trouble too!”

Zhang Wenda finally understood who had let the elephant out. ‘This bunch of monkeys is trying to use the zoo’s other animals to get me.’

In response to Zhang Wenda’s warning, the monkeys didn’t stop their work. They simply bared their teeth at him while continuing to pick the locks.

They seemed to be afraid of Zhang Wenda, though, and didn’t dare approach him. Some even reached behind them, pulled out handfuls of yellow feces, and started flinging it at him.

However, other than disgusting Zhang Wenda, the attack was completely useless.

‘If all of this is a reflection of reality,’ Zhang Wenda wondered, ‘then what in the world is this crap supposed to represent?’

Seeing the Macaw Parrot flying off into the distance, Zhang Wenda decided he couldn’t waste any more time on the monkeys and quickened his pace to catch up. ‘No matter what else happens, I have to get out of this place first.’

After several twists and turns along the gravel path, Jinfeng led Zhang Wenda to the parrot aviary.

There weren’t many parrots inside the aviary. There was only one, a rainbow-colored parrot perched on a tree stump. It was enormous, as big as a house, and it was the first thing Zhang Wenda saw when he entered.

The entire aviary was enclosed by a massive metal cage, presumably to keep the parrots from flying away.

“The exit is in here?” Zhang Wenda asked as he stepped inside hesitantly. The smell was foul, thick with the stench of livestock.

As he drew closer, Zhang Wenda noticed more details. The giant parrot looked ancient. Its beak was cracked, and its feathers were incredibly dull.

After circling in the air a few times, Jinfeng landed beside the giant parrot and nuzzled its head affectionately against the larger bird.

After looking around the enclosure, Zhang Wenda looked up at the two parrots. “Jinfeng, where’s the door? The way out? Are you messing with me?”

Hearing Zhang Wenda’s shout, the giant parrot finally moved. It lowered its head and opened its beak.

On its massive tongue, which was as thick as a car tire and half-severed, lay a few small wooden sticks.

Zhang Wenda recognized the small wooden sticks. They were from the “Solid Happiness” lollipops made by the Little Black Cat.

Zhang Wenda finally understood. He now knew who Jinfeng had gotten the painkillers for, and who his so-called “imaginary friend” really was.

“Seriously? Where am I supposed to find ‘Solid Happiness’ for you right now? You think I can just magically conjure it up?”

Zhang Wenda reached into his pocket to empty it. CLATTER. Three worn-out crayons fell from his pocket onto the ground.

The crayons were red, blue, and yellow—identical to the three crayons Tricolor had placed in his hand the moment he became 03.

Though he didn’t know what they were, instinct told Zhang Wenda they were very important to him. He quickly bent down, picked up the crayons, and stuffed them back into his pocket. “Not these. These are mine.”

The giant parrot made no other move, only nodding silently. It slowly lifted a folded wing, revealing to Zhang Wenda the mangled, bloody flesh of its side.

It had suffered some unknown, horrific injury; its body was almost completely hollowed out, and what few organs remained looked severely damaged.

“I know, I know you’re suffering. I know you need something for the pain. Jinfeng told me all about it. We’re good friends, you know, him and I.”

Zhang Wenda glanced behind him and saw that the aviary gate was open. He quickly ran over and shut it to prevent any of the animals roaming outside from getting in.

He turned back and continued, “But I really don’t have any ‘Solid Happiness’ on me right now. How about this? You have Jinfeng lead me out of here, and once I’m out, I’ll provide you with a steady supply.”

The large parrot nodded and looked toward Jinfeng. Jinfeng immediately took flight with a squawk.

“So where exactly is the exit to this zoo?” Zhang Wenda asked.

“SQUAWK~~ SQUAWK~~ Aquarium! SQUAWK~ Aquarium~!”