Chapter 113

Chapter 113: The great auk tried hard to stretch its tiny wings, "Woo woo, woo!"

Angry as it was, it stubbornly refused to open its eyes.

Lin Qianyu sat down right there, propping her chin with one hand and musing, “Its wings are so short.”

“!!!”

The great auk’s wing twitched, its chest heaving so hard its belly looked like it was turning into a balloon.

“The color of its beak is kinda pale. Is it already fading at such a young age?”

“And its feathers… Do great auks even count as having feathers? They’re kind of like penguin fluff, but why is there a bald patch on its head? Is it balding?”

Lin Qianyu was so close that if she wanted, she could count the number of feathers on the great auk’s head.

“Also, it—”

“WOO WOO WOO WOO!” The great auk suddenly sprang up, slamming the ground in righteous fury and yelling angrily at her.

You're the round one! You're the fat one!

It struggled to stretch out its stubby wings, trying to point at its own beak, “Woo woo, woo!”

These wings are huge! Our great auk beaks are supposed to be this color! Totally natural! You're the one fading—your whole family's fading!

And about the back of my head—puffed up like a balloon, the great auk turned its back to Lin Qianyu, trying to show her that patch. Its wings couldn’t reach to point, so it just leaned its head back toward her, “Woo!”

Bald where?! It's all feathers! Thick and lush!

Finally, the great auk’s eyes blazed as it slammed its wings against the ground, “Woo, woo!”

Lin Qianyu tried to hold a straight face, but the moment she met the great auk’s eyes, she broke, “...Pffft hahahahaha!”

【Can’t understand it, but it sounds filthy.】

【Poor guy was just playing dead, now look how pissed our little round ball is.】

【If the great auk could read, it’d crawl into the chat and slap you.】

Seeing Lin Qianyu still laughing, the great auk got even madder. “WOO—?!”

Enraged under the polar bear's supervision, it let out one last furious squawk.

Lin Qianyu patted the polar bear and leaned against it. “Don’t be mad. Want me to catch some fish for you?”

She hadn’t even pulled out the fishing net she’d left in the ice hole to check if it had caught anything yet.

Atlantic herring and capelin—those were the great auk’s favorites.

The round-bellied great auk paused, lowered itself into a squat, and still looked very upset. “Woo woo!”

It gave off a vibe of “I won’t lower myself for a few measly fish, you won’t fool me that easily.”

It kept squawking and stomping its feet, “WOO!”

No!

The polar bear narrowed its eyes and slowly stepped forward.

The blustering great auk immediately shrank back its neck, its cries stalling—then swiftly switched tone:

“Woo—woo woo woo.”No way—that’s impossible. It’s settled then, give me fish.

The fluffed-up great auk, as if suddenly soothed, had all its fury instantly doused like water over flames. It wasn't just not angry anymore—if the polar bear weren’t standing there, it might have rushed over to snuggle up to Lin Qianyu.

The little chubby one had gone quiet.

The other great auk, the one that had chased all the way here, looked left and right, wanting to tug its friend, but paused and hesitantly looked at Lin Qianyu, “Woo?”

“I was the one talking,” Lin Qianyu smiled, eyes curved. “You’re only realizing that now?”

All its attention had been on its friend earlier, and it had been busy staying wary of the polar bear. Only now did this great auk realize it had understood human speech.

Great auk: “!!!”

Its eyes widened as it stared closely at Lin Qianyu.

It could see its own reflection on the water’s surface or in snow-free patches of ice. It knew what it looked like, and comparing Lin Qianyu’s face, it confirmed she wasn’t one of its kind.

Which made it even more confused.

Lin Qianyu stood up and said, “Come on, I’ll take you two to get some fish.”

A spotted seal and an arctic fox were dragging a fish bigger than themselves to the fire, where Lin Qianyu’s backpack was.

When Snowball had rushed to save the auk earlier, it had dropped the fish it was originally carrying. The arctic fox and the little spotted seal had hauled it back together.

The great auk was still stunned that a human could talk. Lin Qianyu walked ahead, and the auk couldn’t help but trot alongside, tilting its head to peer up at her.

Lin Qianyu said, “Let’s call you Little White, and the rounder one Little Black. Makes it easier to tell you apart.”

After all, it wouldn’t be great to just call one of them Fatty.

“Looks like the little snow leopard still doesn’t have a name,” Lin Qianyu rubbed the snow leopard’s head, fingers sliding down its back to its belly. “Let’s call you…”

She lifted the snow leopard into the air. Suspended without support, it didn’t struggle—its tail curled between its hind legs. “Aow!”

“I didn’t tell you to call out.” Lin Qianyu chuckled. Backlit, the snow leopard’s fluffy fur seemed to glow, each edge rimmed with pale gold.

The snow leopard blinked and tilted its head, “Woo?”

Lin Qianyu said, “How about Tangyuan?”

“Awoo!”

Lin Qianyu tucked the snow leopard back into her arms, “Then Tangyuan it is.”

【Nice! I love tangyuan. Bring this one over—I want to taste how sweet it is.】

【That little snow leopard's confused baby eyes… I have zero resistance.】

【Aaaah… never mind the names. The chubby one and the little seal are fighting!】

The spotted seal and the great auk were in a standoff.

Due to extinction, there's not much complete data—what’s confirmed is that great auks eat fish. Whether they eat spotted seals, no one knows.

But given the massive size difference between a great auk and a little seal, if they really fought, the seal would almost definitely lose.

However—

“Woo!”

The great auk, with one claw up like it was striking a pose, suddenly slipped on something and slammed flat onto the ground.Lin Qianyu: "..."

My bad, I overestimated you.

The great auk kicked its claws a bit, then lay down right where it had fallen, not moving.

Little White saw this and stopped paying attention to Lin Qianyu, trotting over to lie beside its companion.

Lin Qianyu curved her lips slightly and whispered, "Great auks seem kind of dumb."

The chubby one looked up.

Lin Qianyu cleared her throat softly, "But their hearing is really good."

The great auk ruffled its feathers, "Woo."

That’s true.

The furry one that went hunting brought back fish.

Lin Qianyu didn’t rush to check the net yet; besides a few small fish, the biggest one weighed two to three kilograms.

“Arctic char... Snowball, did you find fresh water?”

“Woo.” The polar bear’s fur was completely dry now, with no sign of having been wet.

Lin Qianyu put down the snow leopard, measured the arctic char with her axe, “Arctic char is basically the salmon of the Arctic. Its meat is white, not the orange-red like Norwegian salmon, but the taste is just as delicious.”

“Arctic char is easier for novice cooks to handle, doesn’t require high cooking skills, and can even be eaten raw.”

While speaking, Lin Qianyu roughly cut the arctic char. The raw fish bones weren’t as hard as cooked ones, and the furry animals used to eating fish didn’t need to scale it and could chew it raw without issue.

Great auks don’t hunt arctic char; at best, they might chase small young fish if lucky. But arctic char can grow over seventy centimeters, weighing up to four kilograms—tall enough to compete with great auks in height—so they can’t catch them.

Lin Qianyu divided the meat and poked at a thin slice, “The meat’s a bit tough. Here, you guys eat first.”

The arctic fox curled up beside Lin Qianyu, resting its chin on her leg, already half-asleep. It softly whimpered when it heard her voice but wasn’t ready to eat since it had already eaten during the hunt.

The polar bear got a large chunk of fish belly, holding it with its paws and chewing slowly, snacking bit by bit.

The little snow leopard had just eaten seal meat a while ago. Facing the arctic char, it only sniffed, then stepped on Lin Qianyu’s bent legs, adjusted its position, curled up, and blinked at the nearby arctic fox.

“Little Black, Little White? Not eating?” Lin Qianyu nudged the arctic char meat on the ground. When she sat down earlier, the snow around here was cleaned, and there was a layer of ice on the ground, so the fish meat placed directly on the ice wouldn’t touch dirt.

With a natural plate, there was no need to use leaves for extra padding—after all, there weren’t many trees on the mountain.

“Woo!” The chubby one objected strongly to the name, opening its mouth wide in protest.

Lin Qianyu aimed and used a bit of wrist strength to toss the fish meat directly into the great auk’s mouth.

“Woo...?”

The great auk’s call stopped abruptly, it clicked its beak—seeming to find it tasty—and decided to swallow the fish before speaking.

They don’t chew fish, swallowing small fish whole. The cut fish meat was about the size of a small fish, and the auk held it, adjusting its angle repeatedly, then tilted its head back and gulped it down.

No one knew how great auks tasted food, but judging by their looks, they seemed to quite like the arctic char.

Lin Qianyu cut two more pieces and placed them on top of the pile of meat.She also placed a piece by the fire, stroking the furry one in her arms, then scratched the arctic fox’s chin, looking around left and right without seeing anyone. She asked suspiciously, “Where did Mr. Feng go? Did any of you see him?”

【Just now when filming the great auks, I think I saw the island master nearby.】

【Looks like Snowball slipped away secretly to avoid running into the polar bear. Otherwise, it’d be another fierce battle.】

The great auks sunning on the ice hadn’t gathered yet because of the polar bear’s presence. Except for the two next to Lin Qianyu, the others were all in the sea, not surfacing.

The guests stood guard for a while after going down but saw no great auks appear. They guessed they probably wouldn’t see them again here anytime soon, so they returned to the mountain top together.

In front of Lin Qianyu’s fire, a lively group had gathered.

From cautious nibbling at first, the great auks later ate bite after bite.

Lin Qianyu also tried a bite of the grilled fish—the skin was crispy and charred, the cut fish meat sprinkled with seasoning, oily and tender. The thick texture felt less like eating fish and more like eating a firm meat jelly.

The universal barbecue seasoning formula: cumin and chili powder used well make the grilled food taste good.

Lin Qianyu pulled out the fish bones from the edge and said, “The taste is good. Next time, remove the big bones first; after cooking, they’re hard to peel off.”

Freshwater was hard to find. This freshwater source should be near the snow mountain. Earlier, at the shelter’s ice house, the polar bear had brought back many kinds of fish, mostly sea fish.

Since the polar bear had roamed the whole island long ago, it should be familiar with the terrain here as well.

Lin Qianyu ate the fish meat and leaned back against the polar bear. “Snowball, take me to the freshwater source, the place where you caught this fish.” She shook the grilled fish in her hand as she spoke.

The polar bear paused licking, lowered its head to lick Lin Qianyu but only touched her hat. It rested its chin on her shoulder, “Woo…”

Someone’s guarding it.

“Who’s guarding? Is it an animal?” Lin Qianyu analyzed from the polar bear’s words, “Is it another animal’s territory?”

The polar bear rubbed her cheek, giving a positive answer, “Ao!”

Freshwater resources are precious. Humans can melt snow for hot water, but other animals on the island rely on natural water sources.

It’s common for wild animals to mark water sources as their territory.

Lin Qianyu nodded, hearing this but wasn’t eager to go over. “What kind of animal?”

The polar bear paused, “Woo!”

A dog!

“Ah?” Lin Qianyu was surprised. “How would there be a dog on a polar island? One that ran away from the rescue station?”

Maybe when staff were assigned working dogs before, Snowball, who often lingered near the rescue station, noticed the dog.

But… dogs sent to the rescue station are all trained.

If a trained dog is running around outside, doesn’t the rescue station staff care?

Seeing Lin Qianyu’s doubtful expression, the polar bear blinked, tilted its head, the reflection of her filling its black eyes, “Ao wu!”

White!

Dog!

Author’s note: Woo woo woo, didn’t get through… fever. For the next few days, updates fixed at midnight. Taking a break, then daily updates resume. No breaks or leaves. If you see a leave notice, treat it as a bulletin.Good night, go to bed early, love you all.