Super Zoo-Chapter 784 - 763 Tourists Kidnapped
With the selection of the two male leads confirmed, the entire movie immediately escalated in style, at least it seemed very high-grade. Both actors were once dominant in Hollywood, renowned worldwide as A-list male stars. Even before the production of the Warcraft movie had begun, news of their collaboration had spread through various channels, causing quite a stir around the world.
Players of the World of Warcraft game around the globe, movie enthusiasts, fans of these two actors, along with industry peers, were all anticipating what kind of Warcraft movie would be produced by this investor, who had yet to make a name for themselves on the world stage.
Initial location scouting for the movie took place in Romania and Ireland, many of which were sites previously used for The Lord of the Rings series and the currently popular Game of Thrones.
Among them, one location had a connection to Suming.
In the film, the great mage Medivh's residence, Karazhan, is a castle, with its location set in an old castle in the mountains of Romania.
The last time in Xiangjiang, the castle that Suming won from Princess Eugene of England just happened to be in the same mountain range as the filming location, though not close in a straight line. Due to the sparse population in the mountains, they could still be considered 'neighbors.'
In fact, it wasn't too much of a coincidence, as Romania was a place of frequent warfare in ancient Europe, especially the Carpathian Mountains where the castle is located. Due to the terrain, it often became a focal point of conflict between warring parties. Over the centuries, many castles have been built in the mountains, with a number of them preserved to this day.
The famous vampire Count Dracula's prototype, Duke Vlad's castle, is located in this mountain range, not far from another famous vampire, Mrs. Bathory's castle. The Hoia Forest in the mountains is also known as the Bermuda Triangle of Romania, often experiencing supernatural activities and inexplicable phenomena.
A place with an ancient history and mysterious legends is an all too fitting choice for the setting of a fantasy movie. The reason Princess Eugene was willing to pawn the castle to Suming was precisely this. The location was remote, rundown, and quite eerie, keeping it meant nothing but continuously pouring money into it.
Suming opened his computer to check the recent work schedule. There were no particularly important things coming up.
"Hey, what are you up to?," he asked after dialing Nangong Yan's phone.
There was quite a commotion on Nangong Yan's side, seemingly in a factory with the roar of machines. She spoke loudly, "I'm at the printing plant. The next issue of the internal magazine is changing drafts, and I'm here to check on it momentarily..."
"Oh, you shouldn't bother with those trifles, it's pretty exhausting," Suming chuckled. "Let's go to Romania together next week for a vacation."
"Ah? Wait a second, I'll find a quieter place to talk," Nangong Yan said as the machine noises gradually faded, suggesting she had left the factory, and she asked curiously, "Why on earth would you suddenly want to go to Romania?"
"It's getting cold, and that place is near the Black Sea, with a suitable climate. It's perfect for a vacation," Suming laughed. "Oh, and I have a castle over there."
"Ah? A castle? Keep dreaming. Um, okay, I'll handle the stuff here. You book the tickets."
Nangong Yan didn't take the castle matter seriously. In the eyes of most people, a castle isn't something you can just buy for a few million dollars. Besides, without a certain status, wealthy Europeans wouldn't sell you one anyway.
Suming's current financial strength and social standing seemed far from qualifying.
Suming didn't offer any explanation, simply said ok, and hung up. He then called the head of the office, Mrs. Tong, to have her book plane tickets to Romania online.
Right after instructing her, someone knocked on the door hastily. Suming looked up and said, "Come in." A young man in his twenties entered, wearing a vest emblazoned with 'Taoyuan Tourism.'
It was Zhang from Taoyuan Travel Company, sweating profusely despite the cold weather.
"What's the matter?" Suming asked with curiosity.
Zhang was too worried to exchange pleasantries and said with a pained expression, "Boss, there's been an incident at the sanctuary."
Suming frowned slightly. What could possibly go wrong with the sanctuary? And even if there was an issue, it should be Yang Tao's responsibility to deal with it; why report directly to him?
The Orgrimmar Sanctuary has now been officially renamed the Taoyuan Sanctuary. This was an inevitable move, as a sanctuary in Huaxia simply couldn't keep being called 'Orgrimmar', which just sounded inappropriate.
The name Taoyuan Sanctuary was promptly approved upon submission and received unanimous praise from experts, officials, and the public.
It's a name filled with the traditional character of Huaxia.
After the renaming, the Yangchuan City Publicity Department collaborated with the Taoyuan Group, investing significant efforts into promotion, with the Taoyuan Travel Agency specifically responsible for hosting and opening up a new tourist route.
The tone that Suming had initially set was still upheld: the number and frequency of tourists must be controlled within a certain limit, and due to the overwhelming number of people signing up, a lottery system had to be used.
"A tourist has been detained, and President Yang is handling the situation on-site. Both media and government officials have shown up. You'd better go take a look," said Zhang, the tour guide, with a gloomy face, as if he had seen a ghost.
Suming was taken aback. What did 'detained' mean? Who detained them and how?
Detaining tourists was not a trivial matter. It might be a common occurrence in other travel companies, but not for Taoyuan. The reason Taoyuan had been able to prosper was largely thanks to its impeccable reputation, an intangible treasure.
"Where is Yang Tao?" Suming asked.
"President Yang is on-site, coordinating and directing the situation." freewebnσvel.cѳm
"Coordinating and directing? It wasn't him who detained them?" Suming asked.
"No, no, you'll understand once you see for yourself, it was the animals who detained them!" the guide replied, frustrated.
"Animals detaining tourists? Let's go, take me to the scene," Suming said, frowning and swiftly getting up to leave the office.
The Taoyuan Sanctuary was still some distance from the zoo. Suming immediately called Tony and, taking the Hummingbird helicopter, rushed to the sanctuary with the tour guide.
It was on the way that he roughly learned what had happened.
It was indeed an animal that had detained them. That morning at eight, a group of tourists had entered the sanctuary in a specially designated sightseeing vehicle and arrived at Orgrimmar City—now supposed to be called 'Taoyuan Ancient City'.
According to the rules, after entering the sanctuary, aside from a few designated open areas, such as the cabins at Lure Village, all other areas were off-limits for free movement to avoid disturbing the animals.
However, tourists could participate in group activities, and the travel company had organized many interesting ones.
For instance, under the leadership of a group of spear-wielding armor-clad baboons, visitors could tour the walls of Taoyuan Ancient City, assist in brushing a crocodile's teeth to clear out the meat stuck between them, with a guide by their side, and join pandas and elk in searching for wild bamboo shoots in the rear mountains...
In short, the activities were diverse and even unheard of; no one would find them dull. However, participants had to be accompanied by relevant personnel or animals and could not wander off at will.
This policy differed from the three Taoyuan peaks in the rear mountains. Demonic Realm and the other two Taoyuans were artificial attractions, presenting no danger and no disturbance to animals, intended both to protect the wildlife and the people.
In today's group of tourists, for some reason, two people strayed from the party. After the guide searched for a long while, they were eventually found in a large tree hollow with a host of fierce animals surrounding them, adamantly preventing other humans from approaching.
And that's how they were detained.
