Chapter 14

Main Story 14: Looks Good

“Eh… wait a second.” Lin Qianyu suddenly remembered something and turned back.

Barrage: 【!!! The streamer still cares about us!】

Then, the livestream camera fully captured Lin Qianyu circling around the cabin, walking straight toward the backpack without even glancing sideways.

【……】

Spoke too soon.

When Lin Qianyu picked up the backpack, she emptied it out while muttering, “Will this be enough to hold them? I should at least catch seven or eight… hmm, it’s a bit too small.”

As she spoke, Lin Qianyu clicked her tongue and hesitantly turned her head slowly toward the tent where the director was, muttering, “It’s a bit too small.”

Bang

Hearing this murmuring, the tent immediately responded.

A figure could be seen dashing to the front of the flap in a single bound, fumbling to yank the zipper fully shut, tightening the flap with a pull.

They even pushed quite a few things over to block the door.

Lin Qianyu blinked, “Don’t panic, I’ll just bring a plastic bag too and that’ll be enough.”

She conveniently picked up the plastic bag brought by the Red-tailed Lanner, making good use of everything.

【Hahahaha how can they not panic, the director is scared to death.】

【The director comes back from a walk and sees there’s nothing left but grass at the base.】

【Don’t do sneaky moves next time, just rush in and snatch things. Don’t give him time to prepare! Grab and run!】

While the barrage was still offering suggestions, Lin Qianyu slung her packed gear over her shoulder, “Let’s go.”

She tossed the plastic bag into the backpack, freeing up her hands, and called to the Red-tailed Lanner.

The Red-tailed Lanner circled overhead. Because of the tree cover, Lin Qianyu could only vaguely see its shadow flickering on the ground.

Flying at a speed of up to 400 km/h, the Red-tailed Lanner hovered slowly nearby.

As Lin Qianyu once again brushed past the livestream equipment stuck in the ground, the fans in the livestream room didn’t even have time to mock the director anymore and were all urging Lin Qianyu to look down.

But Lin Qianyu’s attention was entirely on her surroundings, not noticing the barrage at all.

The Red-tailed Lanner soared upward, let out a long cry midair, then dove down swiftly, its belly brushing past the treetop, and together with Lin Qianyu, they dashed into the distance.She ran past the flat terrain and stepped onto the winding, rugged mountain path.

Lin Qianyu had run all the way up. She let out a breath, stepped over a fallen tree trunk blocking the path, and walked on the blanket of fallen leaves, with the sound of wind in her ears.

Unknowingly, sweat formed on her forehead. Despite her frail body, Lin Qianyu showed no signs of fatigue after such intense exertion—on the contrary, she felt a loose, relaxed comfort, and even her breathing was filled with the fragrance of nature.

The Red-tailed Lanner kept flying ahead, and Lin Qianyu simply followed it.

Bursting out of the forest, she stopped at an open mountain platform.

“Hoo…” Lin Qianyu was still catching her breath, casually wiped the sweat from her jaw with the back of her hand. “Do you usually hunt around here?”

“Chirp!”

With no tall trees above to provide shade, the heat from the sun felt as though it could melt a person.

The Red-tailed Lanner suddenly dived down toward Lin Qianyu and landed steadily on her shoulder, flapping its wings and stopping at a bit of distance before settling.

Caught off guard, Lin Qianyu’s whole shoulder tilted to the left. Quick to react, she grabbed onto a nearby rock and just managed to steady herself.

It was far from as light as it looked.

When Lin Qianyu looked to her left, all she could see were the Red-tailed Lanner’s feathers inches away. Further up, the fine down beneath the feathers quivered gently in the breeze.

At that moment, the Red-tailed Lanner also lowered its head to look at her.

The instant their eyes met, Lin Qianyu’s eyes curved into a smile. She reached out and gently smoothed the feathers with her fingertips.

The Red-tailed Lanner didn’t quite understand what was going on. It shuffled a few steps to the right, its claws clenching her shoulder, even creasing her thin clothes. As if realizing something, it loosened its claws and pressed down lightly, trying to smooth out the wrinkles it had made.

Lin Qianyu didn’t mind any of that. In her view, the fact that her shoulder wasn’t scratched at all was proof the Red-tailed Lanner had excellent control.

Otherwise, with its combat ability, a single claw swipe could’ve torn halfway through her shoulder.

“Alright! Then let’s pick.” She tapped the Red-tailed Lanner’s claw and shifted her gaze, dramatically sweeping her arm toward the rainforest ahead. “In there—what do you want to eat? You name it, I’ll catch it for you.”

The Red-tailed Lanner’s eyes moved, then it tilted its head while looking at the human’s sparkling eyes and slowly leaned in to peck away a leaf that had unknowingly fallen into Lin Qianyu’s hair.

“How about we go hunting together?” Lin Qianyu raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. She didn’t plan to keep basking in it. Off in the distance, she saw a group of chickens gathering. “Let’s compete—see who catches the first prey!”

“Chirp!”

The moment it heard the word hunting, the Red-tailed Lanner leapt from her shoulder and spread its wings, gliding downward.

“Hey!? I haven’t even said go yet!” Lin Qianyu rolled up her sleeves and immediately gave chase. “Wait for me!”

This time, Lin Qianyu didn’t sneak up, didn’t use pebbles. She charged straight for the flock of chickens in a full-on assault.Hunting with her own hands was a kind of joy, too.

As expected, Lin Qianyu and the Red-tailed Lanner charged straight into the flock of chickens. Even the meat chickens, usually dull to their surroundings, sensed that something was wrong.

In an instant, the sounds of squawking and frantic wing-flapping filled the air, and some panicked chickens even ran headfirst into trees and passed out cold.

Who knew if they were still breathing.

The Red-tailed Lanner didn’t even land. It accurately snatched a chicken mid-air and soared back up.

Lin Qianyu cut in from the side and swiftly grabbed a live chicken. “Got it.” She didn’t get greedy—caught one and left. Then she turned back to collect the few that had knocked themselves out and were likely already dead.

Counting the one the Red-tailed Lanner had, they brought back nine chickens from that trip.

The live chickens were tied up with willow twigs and tossed to the side. Lin Qianyu sat on the grass, leaning back on both hands. “This should be enough for you to eat.”

The chicken the Red-tailed Lanner carried was already dead. It dropped it onto the pile and approached Lin Qianyu with a confused look in its eyes.

Was she hurt?

It tilted its head and nudged her, circling as if inspecting her.

Lin Qianyu reached out and gave its head a good rub. “Not hurt, I’m just sitting for a bit.”

Hearing that, the Red-tailed Lanner finally relaxed and flopped onto her legs.

It really looked like it was taking a break with her.

Lin Qianyu was exhausted, but her mood was sky-high. “This kind of free and carefree feeling is just amazing.”

No restraints, doing as she pleased.

“What do you all think? Being out here in the forest like this…” Lin Qianyu ran her fingers through the Red-tailed Lanner’s feathers while chatting with the livestream audience.

However…

The livestream chat wasn’t nearly as happy as Lin Qianyu.

It’s basic etiquette to face the camera when talking to fans.

But after turning around, Lin Qianyu froze: “???”

After a brief silence, she finally realized something was missing behind her. She shot upright with a start. “Where’s my livestream equipment?!”

The viewers—who could hear but not see anything—immediately flooded the chat with crying emojis.

【Wuuu wuuu wuuu… You finally realized you didn’t bring us along.】【It’s been a whole day, a WHOLE DAY AHHHH.】

Lin Qianyu slapped her forehead. “If I lost it, will I have to pay for it?”

Viewers: 【……】

Can’t go on like this.

The livestream equipment had self-positioning and tracking—looked pretty high-tech.

Lin Qianyu didn’t even know how much she was getting paid for this variety show, or if there was enough money in her account. If the director made her pay for it, she might not even be able to afford it.

The worst part was, she didn’t even know where she’d dropped it. She ran all the way here—could it be the device was just flying too slowly?

Lin Qianyu tapped her smartwatch and called out to the livestream viewers for help. “Do you all remember where I dropped the equipment?”

【You didn’t even bring it out of base.】

【It’s still at base +1】

Since it was at base, Lin Qianyu breathed a sigh of relief and lay back without a care. “As long as I didn’t lose it.”

She twirled the tip of the Red-tailed Lanner’s feather between her fingers and explained, “I’m up in the mountains now. Ran pretty far. I’ll look for the equipment when I head down later and stream for you all again.”

The viewers were understanding.

And then they all started spamming the “report” button.

They did spam it, but no one actually reported her.

Lin Qianyu laughed and tried to make peace with the fans. “Okay, okay, I’ll definitely remember to bring it next time. I heard there are wild boars around here—next time I’ll take you to see one.”

【Wild Boar: You promised... just to look.】

【Hahahaha don’t worry, it’s illegal to eat wild boar in China. But... the streamer seems to be overseas? Eh? Wild Boar bro, maybe don’t get too comfortable.】

Lin Qianyu plucked a blade of grass and twirled it in her hand, shrugging. She wasn’t particularly interested in wild boars, but if the Red-tailed Lanner wanted to eat one, catching and cooking one wouldn’t be hard.

The blade of grass brushed against the Red-tailed Lanner’s beak, and it opened its mouth and bit down.

“This isn’t edible,” Lin Qianyu scratched its chin with her curled finger. “Let go. I’ll try to find some cogongrass-like stuff next time.”

Carnivores occasionally nibble on plants to balance their nutrition.

Cogongrass-like plants were one of the Red-tailed Lanner’s favorites, but Lin Qianyu hadn’t seen any in this area.

Usually, where such plants grow is where Red-tailed Lanners build their nests—maybe they grow on even higher ground.Before getting the director's permission, that area couldn’t be accessed freely.

Lin Qianyu plucked two small flowers and tied them together with grass, layering the strands until they formed a circular shape.

Just two flowers felt a bit plain, so she added a few more, along with leaves of varying shapes—it ended up looking quite unique.

The Red-tailed Lanner's head followed Lin Qianyu’s hand movements, spinning up and down in circles. Watching it made her dizzy, so she plopped the flower crown onto its head.

Maybe it had never worn something like this before—instinctively, the Red-tailed Lanner shrank its neck. The little flower crown wobbled on its head as if it were about to fall off, and it quickly held still, making the flowers tremble slightly.

Seeing how carefully it behaved, Lin Qianyu smiled and adjusted the flower crown for it. “Looks good.”

The Red-tailed Lanner lifted its head, clearly pleased. “Chirp!”

Bang

From below the rocky mountain path came a dull thudding sound, immediately making Lin Qianyu tense up.

The Red-tailed Lanner also sprang upright from her lap, vigilantly staring downhill.

“Roar—!”

The low growl of a beast rang out. At the same time, the Red-tailed Lanner spread its wings and shielded Lin Qianyu behind it. The sudden movement made the little flower crown fall off its head, but it caught it in its beak without blinking, eyes locked on the distance.

Lin Qianyu sat up and peeked out from behind the Red-tailed Lanner’s outstretched wings, hesitating as she asked, “Was that… a bear?”