Super Zoo-Chapter 362 - 358: Have You Considered the Turtle’s Feelings?
The giant creature appeared, and the audience let out a gasp of astonishment in unison.
"My goodness! Where did they catch such a huge turtle?!"
Suming’s eyes went wide as he saw a giant, dark turtle on the stage.
The turtle was as large as half a round table, its black shell crisscrossed with the scars of years. Its two stout forelimbs were like little stone bollards, and a super-sized fringe that was at least half an inch thick hung around the shell, swaying slightly with its struggling movements, like a war robe flapping in a storm!
The fringe is the most delicious part of the turtle, made entirely of gelatinous skin. For such a giant turtle, just the fringe itself could probably make up a whole table’s worth of dishes.
The several thick legs were like stone bollards, brimming with explosive power, making one feel that if it weren’t tied up, it could even prop up the sky with its limbs.
The giant turtle was still alive, its body tightly bound with black soaking ropes. In order to prevent it from suddenly biting someone, its head, as large as a soccer ball, was also tightly wrapped several times with black tape. This was a necessary safety measure, as a bite from such a big turtle is no joke; it could snap off hands and feet, and a bite to the neck could be fatal on the spot!
The turtle was not at all afraid of people, its two little black eyes staring at the audience with menace. The huge body thrashed on the stand, and the shell’s contact with the metal caused a series of thudding sounds.
A turtle and a soft-shelled turtle, commonly called a terrapin, look similar, but they’re quite different.
A turtle has a hard shell, while a terrapin has a softer shell with a tasty fringe around it; a turtle’s shell has patterned segments, but a terrapin’s black shell has faint patterns, almost invisible; turtle meat is generally tough and not commonly eaten, while terrapin meat is delicious, a fine delicacy.
Turtles have a gentle and honest disposition, but terrapins are very aggressive.
Normally, turtles don’t bite people. If you poke a turtle with a stick or something, it will retract its head inside its shell, biting only when it’s extremely hungry or threatened.
Terrapins, however, are very aggressive. Even when not hungry, they instinctively bite any creature that enters their attack range and will not let go once they bite down.
If a terrapin bites you, you’re in big trouble. Either the terrapin chews off the flesh it has bitten, or you have to chop off its head. Especially, don’t struggle; the more you pull, the tighter it bites.
Alligator snapping turtles are also fierce, but overall, they still belong to the slow and honest turtle category. They’re like the ’good guys’ who just have a bit of a temper; terrapins, on the other hand, are outright ’thugs’.
"This looks like a Taihu Overlord Turtle! Could they be making ’Overlord’s Farewell’?" Nangong Huang muttered from the side.
Sure enough, the host was already introducing on stage, "This is an Overlord Turtle from Taihu. Today, Mr. Hong will bring us a secret dish from the Hong Family Cuisine, ’Overlord Shedding Its Shell!’ Please pay attention, this is a Three-legged Overlord Turtle..."
A three-footed turtle? The crowd below instantly exploded, everyone stretching their necks to see. The people sitting at the front tables even left their seats rudely and got closer to the turtle.
Hong Feifei smiled faintly, pressed one hand on the turtle’s shell, and pushed on one side of its body with the other hand, turning the turtle to face sideways.
To their surprise, the turtle had only one hind leg on one side, with nothing but empty space under the shell on the other side.
"That’s too cruel, they didn’t even spare the disabled!" Suming grimaced and took a breath of cold air, thinking that this Overlord Turtle was rather unlucky. Besides being born disabled, it had managed to live so large but still couldn’t escape ending up on the chopping board.
Nangong Huang, however, was as shocked as if he had seen a ghost, exclaiming in a low voice, "What disabled turtle, this is a mutant!"
"Mutant? Why don’t you say it’s an alien? Or simply say it’s an extraterrestrial turtle!" Suming rolled his eyes, thinking if I buy a turtle and cut off a leg, raise it for a few years until the wound heals, it would also look like this.
Nangong Huang stared at the three-legged Overlord Turtle on the stage and rapidly explained.
In ancient times, turtles and terrapins were not distinguished, and there was a general term for both called ’giant turtle.’ According to legend, Nüwa smelted five-colored stones to patch the sky and cut off the legs of a ’giant turtle’ to establish the four corners of the world, using the limbs of a giant terrapin or turtle as pillars to prop up the heavens.
When Nüwa did this, it was, of course, so that humans could thrive and survive, but it’s clear she did not consider how the terrapins felt. Minding their own business at home, basking and eating fish, suddenly, for so-called righteous reasons, they were getting limbs chopped off—who would want that?
When the great terrapins of the world learned of this, they were filled with dread, fearing that they might be chosen by Goddess Nüwa to be amputated and left with nothing but a... oh, just a terrapin head, turning into a ’terrapin stick.’
There was one giant terrapin from Yunmeng Marsh who was a natural mutant, as big as a mountain and one of the candidates for the four pillars. Seeing that the day for being mutilated was drawing near, this bold terrapin brother clenched his teeth and decided to chop off one of his hind legs himself. Better to lose one leg than all four.
The idea was, with so many giant terrapins in the world, surely Goddess Nüwa wouldn’t choose a disabled one? And besides, if it’s about columns to support heaven, surely only the original full set would be the best. If I’m left with only three legs, the fourth would have to come from another giant terrapin, which would be a substandard project...
Quickly, the word spread like wildfire. Many of the selected giant terrapins and turtles, following the example, unhesitatingly chopped off one of their legs. In no time at all, three-legged terrapins and limping turtles were everywhere.
In order to ensure that the celestial pillar’s legs had a ’matching’ set, Goddess Nüwa indeed did not choose these disabled creatures. Instead, she opted for a middle-aged turtle that took it upon itself to support the universe bravely. This plotline is mentioned in a children’s TV series called "Super Kid".
Of course, those giant turtles and tortoises that recoiled at adversity also received corresponding punishment. Goddess Nüwa wasn’t someone to be easily fooled. After the event, she gathered them and said, since you weren’t willing to exert yourself for the Party-State, and now have turned into disabled beings, life being inconvenient, from now on, just stop wandering about and stay put in one place.
Having said that, she slapped the earth, creating a pit, then led the waters of the Yangtze River into it, effectively imprisoning these disability-stricken turtles in this water-filled pit.
These disabled turtles and tortoises henceforth lived a loving life together, flapping about every day, and generation after generation survived and reproduced in this water-filled pit. Due to Goddess Nüwa’s punishment, all their descendants had only three legs.
This pit later came to be known as Taihu, and the three-legged turtles became a specialty of Taihu. Due to their scarcity, they weren’t as famous as the Three Treasures of Taihu: whitebait, white fish, and white shrimp, but in the eyes of true connoisseurs, they were exceptionally rare and sought-after culinary ingredients.
"You can really spin a tale!" Suming clapped and marveled, seeing just how good others were at making up stories. Aren’t tourist attractions just churned out like this?!
In the future, they should establish a Bullshitting Department in the zoo, solely responsible for making up stories, where the fox spirits all hail from Mount Qingqiu, and the llamas all come from the end of the mountain by the sea, where there is a joyful group of Smurfs...
Whether the Overlord Turtle was a mutation or had just been unlucky enough to lose a leg when it was young, that wasn’t important. Such a large wild turtle was extremely rare in the first place. Even without that layer of legendary color, its value would still overshadow all of today’s ingredients!
Hong Feifei held the giant turtle with one hand, which was not much smaller than her own body, and with the other hand, she chose a long and sharp tool from her toolkit. She was ready to slice off a complete piece of the turtle’s rim.
Peeling the rim off a live turtle to cook separately could retain 100% of the rim’s gelatinous flavor. Plus, the process of peeling itself showcased the chef’s knife skills. An expert could immediately tell the chef’s skill from the smoothness of the peeled rim. A top-notch chef could even peel off the rim in one go with a single cut.
The knife in Hong Feifei’s hand was special, frighteningly sharp. Without applying much force, half of the blade had already sunk into the thick rim and a surge of blood gushed from the incision. Pained, the Overlord Turtle convulsed, its body jerking forcefully as if it was trying to leap off the table.
If it had been an ordinary chef, they would have probably messed up and torn the rim by now.
But Hong Feifei was prepared. Her wrist moved with the turtle’s motion, giving a slight flick. She hardly used any strength at all and instead used the Overlord Turtle’s momentum to slash through a chunk of its rim.
She then moved as if dancing, her feet shifted, and in a blink, she repositioned herself on the other side of the gigantic turtle.
The audience heard a whoosh, and with a single scoop of her hand, Hong Feifei had lifted a strip of the rim over a meter long and several centimeters wider than a palm, dark and wide like a king oyster mushroom!
The applause was thunderous!
Hong Feifei casually tossed the rim into a basin to the side.
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Next, she supported the turtle’s underside with one hand and with a twist of her slender waist and a sharp cry, she forcefully flipped the turtle, looking as if she was about to slice it open.
Just then, the banquet hall’s doors were suddenly pushed open from outside.
Three people entered, with a tall woman leading the way. She wore a crisp suit and had her long hair tied back efficiently. She walked with her head held high and her chest out, exuding a powerful presence, unmistakably a formidable businesswoman. Two female assistants followed her.
While Hong Feifei was handling the tortoise, the attention of the entire hall was focused on the platform. Aside from the clapping earlier, it was mostly silent.
The three women wore high heels, which clicked loudly on the marble floor as they walked, immediately filling the entire banquet hall with their sound.
Many turned their heads towards the noise, including Suming.
At a glance, he recognized the leader—he had seen her before at the Yangchuan City Top Ten Young Entrepreneurs’ Award ceremony. It was Ding Jing, the big boss of Xiankelai Restaurant Company.
Upon entering, Ding Jing squinted her eyes slightly to adjust to the banquet hall’s lighting. Once she did, her gaze fell upon Hong Feifei, who was about to cut into the turtle on the platform, and her lips twitched with a snort.
With the main door directly opposite the center of the banquet hall, Hong Feifei saw Ding Jing as soon as she walked in.
The moment their eyes met, Hong Feifei, who had always appeared very steady, trembled slightly, and her hand clutching the knife involuntarily flickered. Find adventures on novelbuddy
That flicker led to a great mishap!
Her bespoke ’war knife’ was incredibly sharp, and the gleaming blade swished right over the ropes binding the Overlord Turtle.
