Azathoth stood face to face with a black panther. The panther stared at him for a while, then lowered its head and licked his calf with its tongue.
“…”
The zoo staff thought he was frightened and hurriedly said, "It won't bite. We have professional training methods. Visitors don't have to worry about their personal safety."
The leopard raised its chin and looked at the humans around it with contempt, then walked to the shade of the tree with an elegant cat-like step and lay there motionless.
A small exclamation came from beside Azathoth. Wendy, wearing a pink wig, was holding a marshmallow bigger than her head and couldn't help but say, "It's so cute!"
Hugo sighed and walked to the rest area to sit down. "I think my joints need some lubrication." He showed no interest in the animals. He looked down at his elbows and stretched them a few times. "I feel like the parts have been a little worn these past few days."
Erica followed him like a little tail and asked, "Is it because you are too busy with work?"
Hugo immediately looked up and looked around: "Shh, no one is hiring child laborers, I'm just making some small toys recently."
He pulled a small frog from the pocket of his tracksuit and, while no one was looking, squatted down and placed it on the ground. The moment its hind legs touched the soil, the lifelike creature sprang to life, its bulging black and white eyes swiveling, and with its cheeks puffed out, it dove back into the grass.
A drowsy snake coiled on the stone platform quickly got up and took a look. After a while, it seemed to think that this thing was not edible and lay back lazily.
Erica's eyes widened.
"Do you want to see more?" Seeing her stunned look, Hugo immediately became proud and said eagerly.
"What kind?"
Hugo cleared his throat and snapped his fingers. A few seconds later, a man in a traditional black suit came out, placed his hand on his chest, and bowed to Hugo. "Young Master."
Erica: “…”
Hugo, I didn't expect you to be this kind of Hugo.
The man, bent almost 90 degrees, attracted the attention of many passersby. Erica heard many families with children pointing and whispering. She suppressed the urge to turn away and asked, "Is he... is he human?"
A mischievous glint flashed in Hugo's eyes. The 'person' standing next to him kept his posture, turned his head ninety degrees, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "I am not human, Miss Erica."
"I decided to call him Williams." The black-haired, red-eyed android controlled Williams' head to turn back and said happily.
**
"Shit." Gresham cursed suddenly after adjusting his glasses to telescopic mode. "Is this guy a circus member?"
The Beta young man standing next to him shuddered when he heard this. He was not wearing glasses and was holding a bunch of strange professional equipment in his hands. "What's wrong?"
Gresham glanced at him and asked, "Do you often go to horror movies?"
“…I can’t even watch 2D horror movies.”
Gresham laughed mischievously. "I knew you wouldn't even go to a slightly exciting magic show, Bertie."
Bertie blushed and awkwardly changed the subject: "We should be pretty close to Wendy Sullivan."
"Who would have thought she'd be running to the zoo on the weekend?"
"The Capital Zoo is very popular, especially after the revamped business model," Bertie said seriously. "Surveys show that over 70% of people aged 10 to 20 come here every month on average to experience the pristine jungle life."
"Yeah, I'm uncomfortable staying in the city, so I have to go out to a place full of bird shit and horse manure to make myself uncomfortable." Gresham said as he took two steps forward, walked around a tree that was so big that four or five adults could hug it, and continued searching among the crowd. "Can't you pinpoint the location of those things in your hands?"
"Well, no," said Bertie. "There are too many people here, and the springtails haven't been domesticated enough yet. When they find new prey, they refuse to continue chasing their old favorites."
"Hmph, you're just fickle. We'll just have to search slowly... But the Capital Zoo is so huge, how long will it take for just the two of us to finish searching?"
"All drones have been dispatched, and they're conducting a blanket search as planned. I'll quickly review the footage to identify suspects. The zoo does have ticket purchase records, but Wendy couldn't have gotten in legally, so there's no point in looking for her name." Bertie said with a shaky voice, "It might take some time, but the confidentiality agreement means we can't block the zoo's entrances and exits, so the key is to keep a low profile and not alert the suspects."
They were in an artificially created simulated natural ecological environment, with a primeval forest like a tropical rainforest behind them. Two steps forward, what came into view was an endless vast plain, and in the distance they could see the hazy snow-capped mountains.
There is a small path in the middle of the rainforest that is easy to walk on, but most people will not follow the rules. Although the zoo officials do not recommend that they explore unfamiliar environments without the accompaniment of professionals, people who are keen on seeking death since ancient times will not listen to orders.
Of course, Gresham and Bertie's behavior in the forest path was another matter. They were not tourists and it was inconvenient for them to be seen.
"Oh, I see someone I know," Gresham said suddenly. He forgot his position for a moment and straightened up, but ended up bumping his head on a branch above him. He hissed in pain, "It's the little girl from Ford Hill's house, Anne's friend. The child next to her might be her classmate?"
Previously, his attention had been on the man with the unique neck-twisting skill, who was suspected to be the butler. He only noticed Hugo after observing him for a while and said, "Should I ask Anne to remind her friends to avoid interacting with those uneducated and dissolute young masters in the capital?"
Bertie flipped through the video without looking up: "It has nothing to do with us."
"Yes," Gresham said, "but I get angry when I see this young master who only knows how to talk big and deceive Omegas."
"...Have you ever been cuckolded?"
"I was smart enough to discover the Alpha's despicable nature."
“But your boyfriend ran off with her anyway,” Bertie muttered. “Pathetic.”
"Shit," Gresham said clearly.
He raised his thick, tanned fingers to push his glasses, then changed the angle somewhat uncomfortably, and this time he noticed more people.
"A family of three? Absolutely. And the man in the black cloak is angry. His boyfriend is quite good-looking, but unfortunately he's swarming around him like a bee, trying to cheer him up. That's absolutely not okay, Bertie. When you're in a relationship, you have to stick to your principles. It's important to know who's right and who's wrong. Even if your partner is furious, you can't bend your back and become a bootlicker..."
Bertie interrupted him and said, "I think I know how you fell out of love, Gresham. And could you please look after someone your own age?"
"I'm watching," Gresham said. "The child with this sweet couple is about Wendy's age."
"What do male and female look like?"
"It could be a man... or a woman. I can't see clearly. It's hard to tell with her clothes. She has short pink hair. Oh my god, it must be dyed. But my ex-boyfriend said that pink makes darker skin look more obvious, and it turns out it's true."
"Of course it's true, although looks are more important... No," Bod hit himself. "You said the child had dark skin? How dark?"
Gresham took off his glasses and put them on Bertie's head with his bear-like hands. "I never can tell the shade of foundation apart, dear partner."
Bod squinted for a moment.
"I think we could try observing for a while," he said hesitantly. "Or maybe I'll continue looking through the footage while you go say hello and chat?"
"But Erica met me. I sent her back and told her I was from the Vatican," Gresham said. "It would be awkward to show up again. Why don't you go? I'll watch the video."
"Alas," Bertie said with a worried look on his face. "Don't touch the power button, or you'll have to restart from the beginning. Contact me on your mobile phone if anything happens."
After saying that, he walked out of the jungle with his long and thin legs.
**
"Hello."
Igor was talking in a low voice with Azathoth when he suddenly heard a greeting from the tourist next to him.
He looked up and saw that it was a young Beta with freckles and straw-like blond hair, who looked like he hadn't even graduated from college yet.
"Hello," Igor said politely but not enthusiastically. "What's going on?"
"What I want to say," the young man stammered, pointing to a small light blue flower in Azathoth's hand, "is that this flower, uh, is usually a companion plant to the Agava snake. It's highly poisonous. If you want to leave this area or take it out of the zoo, you may not be able to do so and you may be fined."
Igor was a little surprised: "Thank you. But we picked it up nearby. It had been picked by someone else, and my boyfriend was about to put it back."
At least Gresham was right about that; they were indeed a couple, Bod thought to himself. His eyes fell on the man who, even when visiting the zoo, was wrapped up tightly. The man said nothing, not even looking at Bod.
Gresham was right again, the man was probably sulking.
"That's good," Bertie said quickly. "My name is Bertie Abraham, and I'm a graduate student at the Polytechnic University of Colillo in the capital."
Igor looked back at Azathoth again, and then he said, "Bradley."
Bertie acted a little nervous because of Azathoth's indifference, which didn't require any acting because his face and neck had already turned red because of this strange act of chatting up. Then he looked down at the girl with pink hair holding a marshmallow.
Wendy, who happened to be wearing a punk-style jacket, tight pants, and semi-circular sunglasses, also turned her head to look at him.
The color of her lip gloss today is also pink.
Bertie felt his heart flutter.
Gresham got at least one thing wrong today.
He thought that although pink made people look darker, it also depended on who it was applied on.
"Who are you?" Wendy, who looked very formidable, asked cautiously, "What do you want from my brother?"
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