Chapter 130

Chapter 130 “Excuse me—whose little penguin is this that you dropped?”

“Ah!” The praised little penguin was obviously happier, deliberately walking to the edge of the ice hole where the stuck fish was still trying to bite it.

The little penguin hesitated for a moment, then when the fish suddenly lunged up and fell back, it stepped forward and pecked its head.

With a loud “thud,” the peck was quite strong.

The fish stuck in the ice hole couldn’t even turn around, only making small up-and-down movements. Each time it moved, it got stuck even tighter, but it still didn’t give up trying to eat the penguin.

Wild fish don’t have fixed diets—they eat whatever, from plankton and seaweed to small fish.

Large fish especially will eat anything they can fit in their mouths.

Judging by the size of the fish’s head alone, it could easily swallow the little penguin whole. In the sea, some less intelligent fish might mistake a swimming little penguin for a fish.

The little penguin teased from the side, dodging every time the big fish opened its mouth, then teasingly approaching again, causing the big fish to open its mouth repeatedly trying to bite.

“Ah!” The little penguin seemed very happy playing bait, its calls noticeably more joyful.

“Haha…” Hearing the meaning behind its words, Lin Qianyu couldn’t help but laugh and said, “You know these big fish like you the most, so why don’t you hurry and hide? You might actually get bitten.”

“Ah???”

“Okay, okay, clearly a deliberate bait to lure the enemy in.”

“Big fish: Who understands? The penguin I’m chasing is playing Sun Tzu’s Art of War on me.”

“Aww, this gray fluffy little thing is so fun and cheeky, poking your tail.”

It felt like the little penguin had been chased by big fish before.

It even knew to actively attract them, running onto the ice surface and using the ice hole to trap the fish—this method of shifting from sea to shore to escape the big fish’s chase was very familiar to the little penguin.

The big fish was stuck and couldn’t escape anyway. The little penguin pecked it a few times to scare it, then happily ran over to Lin Qianyu.

Their bodies were very agile underwater, but on land, whether running or walking, they looked clumsy. Plus, the little penguin’s round shape now made it look like a little gas cylinder when running.

The little penguin shook its feathers; the sun was bright today, so after standing on the shore for a while, the water on its feathers was almost dried.

Far away, spotted seals also came ashore one after another, lying down in their usual spot to enjoy the first warm sunbath after continuous snowy days.

Maybe being fearless like a newborn calf, the little penguin noticed the spotted seals far away but didn’t react much, just glanced once, paying more attention to Lin Qianyu.

“Be careful not to run into the seal group,” Lin Qianyu said, sitting by the fire warming herself. “Spotted seals will eat penguins.”

Adult penguins can become food for spotted seals, let alone such a tiny chick, which would be eaten as a snack.

“Ah…” The little penguin slowly moved closer. Compared to the distant seal group, it was more wary of the arctic wolf.

Although penguins are not on the arctic wolf’s menu, one bite could still kill the little penguin.

In matters of life and death, the little penguin was very cautious.

Fortunately, the arctic wolf had a good temperament and was gentle. Seeing a harmless little animal approach, it didn’t pay much attention, lowering its head to pick up the unfinished fish and continued gnawing.

The little penguin sat down not far off, its feathers covering its paws, looking more like a small round pillar squatting on the ground.

Seeing the arctic wolf not watching it, the little penguin slowly shortened the distance to Lin Qianyu’s fingertip.Lin Qianyu gave it the small fish caught in the fishing net. There were too many big fish, and the small fish got trapped inside, blocked by the big fish and couldn’t get out, so they were brought up together when the net was pulled in. “Not going back to the penguin group?”

The little penguin was already full, but facing fish delivered to its beak, it had no reason to refuse. It stretched its neck, tilted its head back to catch the fish, then casually pecked twice to adjust the angle, and swallowed with a ‘gulp.’

Faced with Lin Qianyu’s question, the little penguin was unusually less lively than before. “Ah…!”

Far. Tired.

Maybe it was too lazy to walk and wanted to rest first.

For an underage little penguin, being chased by big fish and then having to walk home was too hard in a short time.

Lin Qianyu nodded and asked, “Do you still remember which direction the penguin group is?”

If it only knew the water route, she wouldn’t be able to help.

Using professional diving equipment in the polar islands is extremely dangerous, not to mention she didn’t even have a wetsuit now.

“Ah!” Talking about this, the little penguin got excited, raised its wing and pointed to the right.

That was exactly the direction Lin Qianyu had been following the traces on the ice surface earlier.

Lin Qianyu said, “Alright, rest here for a bit. Once I’m done with everything, I’ll take you there.”

As for the fish in the ice hole...

She didn’t know how to get it out for the time being.

It was really stuck tight. Earlier it could move up and down, but now it couldn’t move at all.

“What kind of fish is this? Anyone know?” Lin Qianyu walked over and gestured with her hand—the fish’s mouth was almost wider than her hand with fingers spread.

[Don’t know… this fish feels even bigger than the bluefin tuna that Da Bai gave last time.]

[Looks fierce. Judging by its shape, it’s probably a deep-sea fish, growing long because of the poor light down there.]

[This fish’s tail could spin me like a top. Probably a distant relative of the arapaima.]

Feng Jingye: [It’s an Arctic redfin salmon, related to Arctic salmon, both in the salmon genus but with a large size difference. Its taste is similar to lamb, worth trying. The only thing to watch for is their aggressiveness—be careful not to get bitten.]

Not only fish with teeth bite—fish without teeth that suck with their mouths can be even scarier.

Although this fish can’t move now, its danger can’t be ignored.

This kind of fish is rare on the market.

The exposed part of the Arctic redfin salmon showed its eyes as big as a fist, never blinking, bulging and rotating; its upward-turned mouth opened and closed, seeming to simulate biting.

“Pretty fierce.” Lin Qianyu didn’t rush to fish it out. Such a big fish would definitely require enlarging the ice hole to get it out.

But she couldn’t open the ice hole and pull out the Arctic redfin salmon at the same time.

If there was even a small gap, the big fish would definitely dart away—it was hard to control a fish with most of its body still underwater.

Lin Qianyu left a front-facing shot of the Arctic redfin salmon for the livestream, then turned back to eat the grilled fish, leaving the big fish there.

She tore meat off the grilled fish’s back; the fish sprinkled with seasoning smelled very fragrant, the edges grilled crisp. “Fresh fish meat still tastes better.”

Fresh sea fish had a noticeably different texture compared to the fish collected before.The little penguin saw that Lin Qianyu just glanced at the fish and came back. It blinked its eyes repeatedly, as if it had an idea, then quickly ran over, circled behind, grabbed the fish’s head with its beak, and tried hard to pull it out.

But… the little penguin’s size was too different from the Arctic redfin salmon’s; pulling the fish out of the ice hole was beyond its strength.

The little penguin bit down with its beak and leaned its whole body backward, tilted but didn’t fall. For a moment, it seemed like the scene was frozen.

Lin Qianyu picked out a big bone from the grilled fish and glanced at the little penguin struggling with the big fish. “Be careful not to fall.”

Just as she finished speaking, the little penguin’s beak slipped off the big fish’s head. The backward-leaning posture left it no time to react. The moment its beak let go, the little penguin fell straight backward.

Plop — it hit the snow.

The snow cleared around the ice hole wasn’t very thick, barely cushioning the little penguin.

But after rolling once and getting up, the little penguin was covered with snow and a bit dazed. If its wings—evolved from front limbs—were long enough, by now it probably would have started rubbing the back of its head.

[Lin jie’s words are law.]

[Haha, its eyes are almost bigger than yours, yet it still tries to pull it out. Small body, big ambition.]

[I can’t imagine how happy I’d be keeping such a tiny creature in my home aquarium.]

[One poke on the head and it’d probably cry for a long time.]

…

The little penguin worked extra hard, pulling and tugging; the snow on the ground was trampled patchy, yet it still couldn’t pull the fish out.

It panted heavily, its belly full of fish meat rising and falling.

Lin Qianyu finished eating the fish, wiped her hands with snow, and said, “Stop playing, little one. Come here, I’ll take you home.”

She hadn’t seen penguins here before, probably because of the spotted seals—penguins usually avoided this area.

During the blizzard, spotted seals hadn’t come out to sunbathe, which gave the penguins a chance to roam, but as soon as the blizzard stopped, they left again.

Lin Qianyu put on her gloves. After being warmed by the fire for so long, they were hot inside. “Let’s go. You lead the way.”

“Ah!”

The little penguin got the order and immediately moved forward.

The Arctic wolf followed beside Lin Qianyu.

The wooden board with the fish and the backpack were temporarily left where they were; some fish hadn’t been processed yet, so there was still work to do when they returned.

…

“Have you ever seen a great auk?” Lin Qianyu asked while watching the little penguin’s back.

The little penguin looked up, eyes blank. “Ah?”

Apparently, it didn’t know.

“The great auk looks a lot like you. Maybe one day you’ll get to meet.” Lin Qianyu’s eyes curved into a smile. She wondered what it would be like if penguins met great auks—would they be curious why a strange animal looked just like themselves?

In the animal kingdom, there are no mirrors. Their understanding of their own appearance comes from the water’s surface. Since they already look very similar, a rough glance makes them look even more alike.

Lin Qianyu ruffled the little penguin’s head. “Come, I’ll carry you.”Crossing the cracked ice surface, they climbed the slope.

The little penguin struggled to walk even on flat ground, so naturally it couldn’t climb the slope.

The injured Arctic wolf, with its strong physique, moved over this terrain like it was flat ground—charging up without stumbling, able to stop anytime and look back.

Lin Qianyu held the little penguin in one arm and carried a wooden stick with the other, trying to walk where the Arctic wolf had stepped. “I think I hear penguin calls?”

They hadn’t gone far yet; looking back, they could still see the large pile of fish spread out on the ice, just at the base of the slope.

“Ah!” The little penguin clearly heard it too.

It was the voice of familiar companions. The little penguin eagerly responded, calling out “ah ah” nonstop, even though the companions weren’t directly speaking to it.

Lin Qianyu reached the top, thinking about how to slide down, but as soon as she peeked out, all the penguins below simultaneously lifted their heads. Instantly, countless pairs of eyes looked at her.

The penguin calls stopped.

“…”

At this rate, it might cause panic in the penguin group.

Lin Qianyu thought for a moment, picked up the little penguin in her arms, raised both hands to peek over the slope, and tilted her head, saying, “Um—excuse me, did any of you lose a child?”

Author’s note: [At this moment, an adult penguin just back from hunting let out a sharp explosive cry.]

Good night, sleep early, love to every one.