Chapter 132

Chapter 132 – The little snow leopard blinked its beautiful eyes. "Awoo!"

【What... the hell?】

【Damn, this is like a whole bunch of dumplings coming ashore. They're all here.】

【I can't even imagine what the emperor penguin colony looks like now.】

【The adult emperor penguins must be losing their minds.】

Losing one little penguin might not cause much of a stir—sometimes even the adult penguin in charge of caring for it might be out hunting and not notice right away that the chick has wandered off.

Just like that first chick that came over to the fishing net buffet—it wasn’t until it returned that the adult penguin realized it had gone missing.

But now, with this many chicks all gathered here, just how many baby emperor penguins are in that colony?

Lin Qianyu had a feeling that the other chicks all followed because one little penguin led the way.

Watching the endless stream of chicks climbing out of the ice hole, Lin Qianyu rubbed her chin and said, “On the bright side, at least the one leading them is very charismatic.”

The little penguin showed not the slightest fear, chatting excitedly with its companions.

Having met a human who could talk, fish well, and even slay giant fish, the little penguin had endless things to say.

Lin Qianyu chopped the axe into the big fish to hold it in place and adjusted the edge of her gloves. “Talk while you eat.”

Penguin chicks didn’t eat much, so the fish on the ground were more than enough.

The unfamiliar chicks were still shy, all damp and huddled together like they were keeping warm.

The little penguin at Lin Qianyu’s side hadn’t stopped talking since it got here, and now it was so busy chatting that it couldn’t even eat. Meanwhile, the other chicks nervously began nibbling on fish.

At this age, they couldn’t hunt on their own. How much they ate depended on how much food the adult emperor penguins brought back—there was never such a thing as more fish than they could eat.

At the moment, if the chicks laid down, they’d practically be buried by the fish.

Lin Qianyu switched the livestream equipment to handheld and aimed the camera at the cluster of chicks. “Look how happily they’re eating.”

If the adult emperor penguins were here, they’d probably still hesitate even at the sight of so much food. But the chicks didn’t have such strong guard instincts.

Some of them weren’t even bigger than the fish they were trying to eat—opening their beaks wide and attempting to swallow whole fish.

The little penguin didn’t eat and hadn’t stopped chirping. It kept talking even as the others ate.

Lin Qianyu’s eyes curved in amusement. “This little chatterbox.”

She hadn’t called out any names, but the little penguin suddenly lifted its head as if it knew she was talking about it. Tilting its head and stretching its neck, it looked at her. “Ah!”

Lin Qianyu picked up a small fish and held it out. “Really not going to eat any more?”

The little penguin dodged the fish and rubbed its head against her hand.

With gloves on, Lin Qianyu couldn’t feel it clearly. Seeing it refuse the fish, she tossed it back onto the pile and patted the penguin’s head. “You brought them here—do your parents know?”

The little penguin, who had been busy rubbing against her hand, suddenly froze. Its beak was still poking the button on her glove. It blinked. “Ah…”

Let’s not talk about that...

“Ah!” The little penguin picked up the small fish and held it up to Lin Qianyu’s mouth.Eat fish!

A swift and clean topic change.

Lin Qianyu wore a mask and goggles, covering most of her face, so that fish obviously couldn’t be fed to her mouth.

As the little penguin leaned in, she reached out and picked it up. “Just watch—if your dad catches you this time, there’s no one… no penguin to cover for you.”

Earlier, at least a few other emperor penguins helped mediate the situation. But now that so many chicks were missing, it would be a miracle if the adult emperor penguins didn’t chase it down and smack it around.

The little penguin lay belly-down on Lin Qianyu, its hind flippers dangling in the air.

After hearing her words, the little penguin gave a kick, like it was treading water, then after a while struggled to flip over and looked up at her with pleading eyes. “Ah…”

Lin Qianyu rubbed the little penguin’s head and said helplessly, “This isn’t something I can step in on.”

The little penguin gave a soft nasal “yip” and casually waved its flipper.

“Planning to take them back later?” Lin Qianyu absentmindedly stroked its back. “Well, alright, as long as it’s before the parents notice.”

Though who knew if the emperor penguins would be so oblivious they wouldn’t even realize half their chicks were missing for thirty minutes.

Now that it had a plan, the little penguin lay there calmly.

——“Ah!”

Just as its flippers settled, it heard an emperor penguin’s call in the distance. It immediately lifted its head, glanced quickly in that direction, and then turned its face away, burying it into Lin Qianyu’s chest.

Plugging its ears to steal a bell.

As long as I can’t see it, nothing’s happening.

The emperor penguin calls drew closer, their shrill cries continuous and sharp, mixed faintly with the answering calls of other adult penguins.

In the distance, a whole troop of emperor penguins surged forward, their hind flippers paddling furiously. If one tripped, it simply slid forward on its belly, then sprang back up to keep running.

Hearing their parents, the chicks eating fish were completely unaware of the approaching danger.

“Ah!” A well-fed chick leaned against Lin Qianyu, plopping down on the ground with a splat, still smiling happily at the oncoming penguins.

【Silly kids, what are you waiting for—run!】

【First time I’ve seen a penguin stampede. This many emperor penguins feels like a whole army charging in.】

【I knew there was no way the emperor penguins were that slow to react. The chicks have been gone forever and they still hadn’t noticed—I was about to go offer a bounty in another streamer’s chat to snitch. Luckily they arrived in time. Saved me some money.】

【You’re evil, man.】

Already frantic from losing their chicks, the emperor penguins were stunned to see how close the chicks were to Lin Qianyu—some were even touching the human. A few emperor penguins immediately let out startled cries.

In an instant, the entire area was filled with emperor penguin cries. Lin Qianyu felt like she was surrounded, her ears ringing from the noise.

There was no time to be cautious anymore. The adult penguins charged straight for their chicks, grabbed them, and ran.

Some chicks were snatched up with unfinished fish still in their beaks, dangling as their parents carried them off, their eyes wide and full of innocent confusion.

After getting to a relatively safe spot, the adult penguins put the chicks down—then bent their heads—

And beat them!

“Ah ah ah—?!”“Ah!”

The scene instantly descended into chaos.

The penguin cries drew the attention of a nearby group of sunbathing spotted seals.

Though spotted seals didn’t have the same intimidating presence as leopard seals, they were still above penguins in the food chain.

Usually, it was the spotted seals who had to chase after penguins. Now, with so many penguins charging in their direction—

The whole group of spotted seals was momentarily stunned.

But when they spotted Lin Qianyu at the center of the commotion from afar, they slowly stopped advancing.

An adult emperor penguin stood in front of Lin Qianyu. “Ah!”

The little penguin shivered, didn’t lift its head, and pretended not to hear.

“Ah?”

The adult emperor penguin was anxious to grab its chick, but with Lin Qianyu standing there, it didn’t dare open its beak rashly and just paced back and forth.

Every time it called, the little penguin trembled but stubbornly refused to look up.

The adult emperor penguin locked eyes with Lin Qianyu.

She thought for a moment and said, “…Calm down first.”

The adult emperor penguin squinted slightly, didn’t lean forward again【Just now when the penguin group made way, they were more synchronized than when we did military drills, hahaha!】

The penguin group came fast and left fast, basically running the whole way.

The trampled snow on the ground was a messy patch, with quite a few claw marks mixed in.

A little spotted seal slowly slid out from the seal group. Noticing Lin Qianyu still staring in the direction the penguins had left, it called out, “Ah?”

Eat?

It slapped the ground with its short flippers at its sides, let out a very spirited cry, then dashed off without hesitation in the direction the penguins had gone.

“Eh?” Lin Qianyu, worried about the little penguin, was about to get up when a gray blur caught the corner of her eye. She quickly reached out and scooped up the halfway-charging little seal. “No no, I don’t eat penguins.”

Besides, the little spotted seal was just a cub, and there were so many adult emperor penguins. Right now, the penguins’ attention was all on their chicks.

If the little seal charged in trying to grab a chick, it would definitely get chased down by the adult penguins.

“Ah!” The little seal patted Lin Qianyu’s hand with its short flippers.

Tasty!

There had never been penguins at Lin Qianyu’s place, so the little seal must have tasted them while with the seal group.

“Fish is tasty too.” Lin Qianyu rubbed the little seal. She had originally wanted to check on the little penguin and talk it through, but with a seal—penguins' natural predator—around, she couldn’t very well take it over there. So she had to distract the little seal first. “Why are you the only one back? Where’s Xuetuan and the others?”

The little seal wagged its tail, looked back at her, and called, “Ah!”

That direction pointed to the sanctuary.

An arctic wolf carrying a bharal led the way. The arctic fox and little snow leopard slowly passed through the seal group. The wolf pack had spread out; looking closely, they had fluffed up and wrapped around something, protecting it safely in the middle.

Lin Qianyu put down the little seal and smiled. “They really did go catch a bharal.”

The little snow leopard had been talking about bharal constantly back home.

She didn’t expect that on the very first day out, it brought one back.

“Awoo!” The little snow leopard ran over in a few steps, expertly burrowed into Lin Qianyu’s arms, curled itself up quickly, lifted its head to lick her chin, and rubbed its ears affectionately against her.

Maybe because it was still a cub, the little snow leopard’s cry was slightly tender. Plus, the purring sound it unconsciously made while acting cute made the whole leopard seem extra soft and cuddly.

Lin Qianyu took off her gloves and tucked her hands into the snow leopard’s fur. “Hungry? There’s some grilled fish over there.”

Strictly speaking, it was fish covered in spices—everything except chili powder.

With food that had too much seasoning, the little snow leopard still didn’t like spicy things.

“Awoo…” The little snow leopard wrapped its paws around Lin Qianyu’s wrist. Seeing her hand wouldn’t fit, it simply lay down and tucked half her arm under its belly to warm her up.

Lin Qianyu gently stroked its fur with her fingertips and asked, “Why didn’t Xuetuan come back with you?”

The little snow leopard blinked its beautiful eyes. “Awoo!”

Saving someone!

Author's note: Good night, sleep early, love you all.