Chapter 172: New Animals

With a thought, Naia pulled the humans out, making them appear in empty space.

Everyone gasped as they emerged. Everyone was confused and disoriented. They looked around, at the empty field, some with bare soil, and then they wondered what dream they had just entered.

“WHAT!”

“What happened?”

“I swear I was inside a building a second ago!”

“Where are we?”

“Did the earthquake disintegrate everything?!”

Naia rubbed her nose, feeling awkward. She then looked at Linlin and gave her a look. Linlin blinked for a moment before nodding, understanding the assignment immediately.

Her eyes immediately reddened, and she merged with the confused crowd.

“Wuwuwu! It’s so odd! I fell unconscious suddenly and the next thing I know, we’re in this place! Where are we? Where are we? Can someone tell me?”

Hans was much more wooden, but no one noticed his bad acting. “I saw it! Someone threw a sleeping bomb…”

Though terrifying, it was at least an explanation. “So we were made unconscious…”

“I’m terrified.”

“Are there still bad guys around?”

“What did they want?” another asked. He looked at his very expensive watch to see if it had been stolen, but it was still snug on his wrist.

This confirmed that they weren’t taken to be stolen from. However, what he noticed was the time.

He happened to have looked at the time shortly before the anomaly happened. It had only been a few minutes since then.

“Were we really moved?” he asked out loud, though the others didn’t hear him, nor did they suspect anything. They were too afraid, scared that they were really kidnapped and their fates could only depend on others.

“How far are we from the zoo?”

The people were still very confused.

“Only the government can do something like this!” One of the guests said, some people whispering conspiracy theories about the Illuminati or something.

Somehow, it also softened the confusion in Watch-Guy’s head.

Linlin and Hans continued to steer the conversation in the desired direction. “But… we’re all still fine and safe. My wallet is intact. Maybe…the zoo might’ve been dangerous, so we were taken away!”

“But why didn’t they take us?”

“They…probably believed we could handle it!”

At this, many optimistic people felt a little proud.

Linlin and Hans: “…”

Wow, so easy?

Naia moved the parking lot a few hundred meters away and even distributed the cars all over the place. It would be weird to keep them as she found them. Of course, she placed them where there were actual pathways.

She cleared her throat and emerged from the forest. “I found cars! They’re all over the place and around us!”

“What?”

“Really?”

She then mentioned she saw a few cars spread out near the roads. “I hope our car is there!” she said. At her signal, most of the people rushed to the roads as well, hoping to find their cars. Even if they didn’t, they’d have to figure out how to activate the abandoned cars.

The place was cleared, and Naia’s party finally breathed out a sigh of relief as no one else remained in the area.

Well, except for one.

They saw one big guy with a perpetually silly expression on his face going around. He was wearing a zookeeper uniform, though his gait was far from graceful.

At this time, he had a worried expression on his face, yelling at the forest. He went around and went deeper, not caring whether he’d encounter a wild animal.

“Big Bear? Big bear!?”

“Mayaa??”

“Mister Black??”

“Cuckooo? Where are yoouuu!!”

“Please answer me!!”

His eyes were red with tears, his pinched voice cracking in worry.

They could see with his childish way of speaking that he had an unconventional mind. Seeing him genuinely look for the animals without care for his own safety was endearing, and it made them feel sorry for him.

“What are you looking for?” Naia asked, voice gentle.

She remembered him as the only zookeeper who was inside the cages, comforting the terrified animals.

“My friends…they all disappeared,” he said, voice cracking in fear. His voice was naturally low, but it was childishly squeezed, creating an auditory dissonance.

“Maybe someone saved them already?”

“Eh?”

She nodded, her tone gentle like comforting a child. “Yes. I’ve seen them taken somewhere else.”

“They are safe?”

“Hmn,” Naia said. The confidence in her eyes made the simple-minded lad feel a bit more peaceful.

“What is your name?”

“Marthie…”

“You work here?”

“Hmn…”

“Where are your parents?” she asked. “I can tell you where to go.”

“Nono. Parents don’t want Marthie,” he said. “Marthie likes animals.”

They could surmise that he was abandoned due to his condition, finding solace in animals instead.

This also gave them a better impression of the zoo’s administration as they allowed such a person to work for them.

This was until they found out later that this hardworking bloke was actually working for free, paid only with some food and a small bed space.

Regardless, it was clear where this one’s heart and will were, so Naia could rest assured in recruiting him.

“Well, then, let me take you to them,” she said. “But…I need you to take charge of taking care of all of them, okay?”

The zoo had a wide variety of animals, and even some rarer ones had several pairs. For example, the giraffes and rhinos in the Savannah Zone had seven and four pairs, respectively.

There were two lion prides, scores of meerkats, elephants, zebras, ostriches, and so on.

The Eastern forest zone had several red pandas, two pairs of pandas, tigers, siamangs, et cetera.

These were just two of the several zones. So far, the damaged areas were indeed open, but it didn’t seem like a lot of animals had escaped. They must’ve felt the outside to be no less dangerous. This was a relief, since the more animals remained, the safer they were.

Further, Animals immediately became friendly to her upon entering the space, especially after she had formally awakened in this world. So even if the gates were opened, she didn’t worry about them attacking her people.

Speaking of her people, the little children were already at the entrance of this zoo when Naia and Kael came in. They even had their dog, Rice, along with Big C the rooster, and a few other pets following after them.

They turned to Marthie, who looked visibly excited at the sight of the familiar gate.

“Welcome home, Marthie.”

Will resume after one of the other ongoing stories end~ Thanks!