Chapter 59
Chapter 59
[Orca: Family whales, I'm having barbecue!]
The jackal was just full and found a comfortable place to sunbathe.
Gong Xinming stood nearby, adding oil for half a day.
Realizing this, Gong Xinming took a deep breath, feeling like the scene in front of him was starting to blur. He murmured blankly, “I might have heatstroke.”
Lin Qianyu tried hard to suppress the upward curve of her mouth, thinking things were pretty much resolved. Just as she was about to turn and leave, Gong Xinming suddenly clutched his chest.
He broke down, almost crying out loud: “But it really looked like that pregnant dog I ran into last time I went back to my hometown. Even my grandpa said that meant it was about to give birth.”
So looking back now, the tongue sticking out was because it was overheated from the sun, and the rolling over was because the position was uncomfortable. In short—it had absolutely nothing to do with giving birth.
Gong Xinming didn’t even think about why there was no male around guarding during labor. He just thought this was a chance for him to get up close with a wild animal.
Who knew… it was a chance, just a very offbeat one.
The formula was right, the values could barely fit, but he didn’t read the question properly!
Thinking of how stupid he just looked, Gong Xinming really wanted to cover his face. Still doing variety shows? Might as well quit to save face.
No… whether he quits or not, he’s already lost face.
Lin Qianyu held back her laughter and suggested, “Then next time before you learn how to help animals give birth, first learn how to tell their gender. That way you won’t mess up again.”
Gong Xinming: “……”
I was this close to dying of embarrassment.
He looked at the jackal with a blank face, twitching at the corners of his mouth.
This whole thing left both Gong Xinming and the jackal extremely frustrated.
[Jackal: What are you looking at? You really thought I was gonna give birth?]
[Help, what kind of comedian is this guy—good intentions, but no brains. Look at under its back legs, it’s obviously not a tumor. How could he not tell?]
[Lol don’t even—seriously, I got fooled by Gong Xinming too at first. I really thought the jackal was having a hard labor, even @ the director. Is it too late to delete that now?]
After being stared at by Gong Xinming for so long, the jackal finally ran out of patience. It let out an annoyed bark at him, then dragged its chubby body and slowly waddled into the bushes.
Clearly, today’s chill sunbathing time was ruined by Gong Xinming.
Lin Qianyu explained, and Gong Xinming listened. The misunderstanding was cleared up, but Gong Xinming still stood there motionless.
The steppe wolves were still waiting. Lin Qianyu patted his shoulder and gave a word of comfort before walking off.
Gong Xinming, seething, lay flat on the ground. He glanced at the livestream—filled with “hahahaha”—and ironically, his popularity had doubled from this fiasco.
But this kind of popularity—he didn’t want it at all!
Gong Xinming was about to roll on the ground. He turned over and saw the jackal in the bushes—it hadn’t left. Their eyes met. Awkward.
...
“Little wolf?” Lin Qianyu walked back and happened to run into the little wolf carrying a rabbit in its mouth. “Caught another one?”
“Woo!” The steppe wolf raised its head proudly and handed the rabbit to Lin Qianyu like it was offering a treasure.“How about I roast a few for you later? Haven’t had barbecue in a while.” As she spoke, Lin Qianyu opened the bag on the zebra’s back to put the rabbit in.
But as soon as her hand moved, a rabbit immediately fell out from the edge of the bag.
She thought Little Wolf had placed it too shallow, so when she touched the edge, it fell out. But after picking up the rabbit and reopening the bag, she found it completely stuffed with rabbits.
It wasn’t that they were placed too shallow—the bag was simply packed full, and this one had been forcefully crammed in.
The bag on the other side was also completely full.
She knew steppe wolves were obsessed with hunting wild rabbits, but she didn’t expect that just while she went to say a few words to the others, both bags had been filled.
If the rabbits weren’t all hiding in their burrows by then, the steppe wolf was still itching to catch more.
“We’ll come back to catch more next time, give the rabbits a chance to grow their family.” Lin Qianyu rubbed the back of Little Wolf’s neck, then moved the rabbit-filled bags forward to the front, near the neck, so there’d still be space to sit behind.
She turned and reached out to the cheetah. “Here, give me the backpack.”
The two cheetah cubs inside the backpack poked their heads out. Fully awake now, they were curious about everything around them. Gathering what little strength they had, one of them leapt from the edge of the backpack—
The adult cheetah didn’t even lift its head. With one paw, it smacked the cub squarely on the forehead.
The cub didn’t even have time to cry out before being slapped back into the backpack.
After falling back in, the cub looked dazed, belly up, squirming for a long time but unable to turn itself over in the cramped space.
“Meow…” the little cheetah whimpered pitifully.
The adult cheetah reached a paw in and gave it another pat.
Then, without waiting for the cub to peek out again, the cheetah tried using its teeth to tug the zipper edge of the backpack, drawing it closed a bit before picking it up and handing it to Lin Qianyu.
“Good.” Lin Qianyu waited quietly for the cheetah to finish before moving. As she mounted the zebra, she mused, “Since you’re coming home with me, you should have your own name.”
Can’t keep calling it “cheetah” all the time.
“Ahem, cheetahs have black spots.” Lin Qianyu thought aloud. Dotdot was already the name of the young red-tailed hawk, and even though they’d likely never meet or appear together in front of her—
She still didn’t want to use the same name.
“Let’s go with Doudou.” Lin Qianyu snapped her fingers, liking the name—vivid and cute.
The livestream fans were disappointed.
【What? Not even naming it Lielie? And not even Baobao?! Baobao sounds like “baby,” it’s so sweet and adorable.】
【Strongly suspect Lin-jie isn’t using ‘Baobao’ because she already has too many babies.】
【Little Wolf Baby is looking at you right now.】
The cheetah’s ears twitched—clearly it had heard Lin Qianyu’s words.
“Let’s go, Little Wolf, Doudou. We’re going home.” Lin Qianyu secured the backpack with the cheetah cubs, then patted the zebra. “Chasing Wind, go!”
“Neigh——!”
The zebra bolted forward.
“Hey? Wait, don’t run so fast, take it slow!”
“Neigh!”Ran all the way home.
The steppe wolf and the cheetah followed at a steady distance.
Lin Qianyu had only eaten wild berries in the morning. Now that her cold symptoms had faded, her stomach started protesting with hunger pangs.
She took a bite of tuna first, then got to work preparing the game.
Lin Qianyu had seen all kinds of scenes before—now, even as she cut up rabbits and the scent of blood spread, she could still eat without flinching.
The bluefin tuna’s texture and flavor were still excellent even after sitting overnight.
She cleaned half the rabbits first to feed the fluffballs.
“Little Wolf… Dou Dou?”
Looking up, she saw the steppe wolf not far from her side, while the cheetah was carrying the cubs from the backpack into the half-built shelter.
In the cheetah’s instincts, hiding the cubs remained the safest choice.
After carrying in two, it turned and its tail brushed a baby bottle on the low table. It paused, picked it up with its mouth, and sniffed—catching a familiar scent.
As if confirming something, it put the bottle down again and moved closer to the little cheetah’s mouth to sniff.
—It was the same.
Lin Qianyu dragged over the sheep and began skinning it, calling out, “Dou Dou, come eat first.”
Although the pit for the shelter wasn’t deep compared to a person’s height, the cubs were tiny—small enough not to jump out of it. Plus, with Little Wolf nearby, no other predators dared approach.
The cheetah licked the corner of its mouth, turned, and leapt out of the shallow pit, walking over to Lin Qianyu.
It usually hunted wild rabbits as well. Large herbivores that moved in herds were hard to catch, and with luck, it might snatch a straggler when lions scattered the herd—but not every hunt came with that kind of good fortune.
So, rabbits—being small prey—appeared fairly often on a cheetah’s menu.
Split down the middle, only the fur and guts removed, the innards left inside still bloody—this was the first time the cheetah had eaten rabbit prepared this way.
Compared to eating them unprocessed, fur and all, this was obviously better.
The cheetah bit down on one end of the rabbit, chewing slowly. The bones cracked crisply under its jaws.
Lin Qianyu placed the skinned wool to the side. “Eat more, there’s plenty of rabbit. I’ll cut some lamb for you too, mix it all together.”
The two big eaters could easily finish off an entire sheep.
Lin Qianyu pulled out a leg of lamb to roast. The rabbits on the fire were just about done too.
She added a bit of salt and prepared a batch of rare roast rabbit for the fluffballs—simple, no seasoning.
She washed some Jiagu fruit for a side dish. There were no lemons, but she did have a kind of very sour wild fruit picked yesterday. She squeezed some of the juice onto the slices of roast lamb.
After tasting a piece of lamb with fruit juice, Lin Qianyu found the flavor quite good. The small amount of juice on the freshly cut hot roast lamb, mixed with the aroma of the meat, had almost no trace of the fruit’s natural tartness—it blended well with the greasy richness of the roast.
“Mm, delicious.” Lin Qianyu licked her lips, weighed the cleaver in her hand, and sliced off another piece.
The whole lamb leg was roasted over high heat—no need to cook it through. Normally, roasted lamb legs were eaten by slicing off pieces with a small knife as you go.
This way, the outer layer would be cooked and crispy while the inside stayed tender—no worries about the inner meat being undercooked.The grilled meat for Brazilian-style rice bowls is prepared in a way similar to roast lamb legs.
Lin Qianyu sliced off the outermost layer, then also cut into the half-raw part inside. The meat for the fluffballs didn’t need to be fully cooked—used to eating raw meat, they would actually find it strange if it was completely cooked and devoid of any blood.
After cutting meat for the fluffballs, the lamb leg had visibly shrunk by quite a bit.
“Lamb is really perfect for roasting.” Lin Qianyu flipped the lamb leg. Roasting lamb reduced its gamey taste to the minimum. It would be even better with some cumin and chili powder, but even with just salt, it still tasted great.
The lamb leg drizzled with wild fruit juice was tender, juicy, and had a nice charred aroma.
Without noticing, Lin Qianyu ate a little too much. In the end, the lamb leg was stripped down to just the bone.
The steppe wolf had long finished eating and was lying down at her feet.
The cheetah ate more slowly. Faced with unfamiliar food, it studied curiously and savored each bite, so its pace was naturally more relaxed.
Lin Qianyu held a warm cup of wild fruit tea. She glanced at the leftover half of the sour fruit and casually tossed it into the ostrich egg cup.
“If only I had some ice.” Though hot fruit tea was good too, cold fruit tea was an entirely different experience.
Blowing away the fruit pieces that floated and blocked the cup’s opening, Lin Qianyu mused, “I wonder if there’s any saltpeter here. If there were a saltpeter mine, that’d be great.”
【??? You're out here eating and drinking, and now you're thinking about making ice? This isn’t wilderness survival anymore—it’s a fast-forward to great inventor mode. Might as well build a plane and fly off the grassland island.】
【I’m dying. The storyline is getting pretty elaborate.】
【So… is there really no plan to mass-produce and sell Jiagu fruit? I looked online and barely found anything. That fruit looks seriously delicious.】
“This doesn’t seem to exist outside.” Lin Qianyu tapped the cup with her finger. “The yield here is high, but there’s nothing on the market—there must be some downside to cultivating it.”
Otherwise, a fruit tree with so many advantages would’ve already been planted widely by fruit farmers.
And since Jiagu fruit isn’t picky about seasons, it should be available everywhere on the market.
“If everyone’s interested, you can…” Lin Qianyu paused and bit into the Jiagu fruit, “come to the island and eat it.”
There weren’t that many Jiagu fruits on the island either. She had no idea where the elephants had found such fruit.
Lin Qianyu turned to look at the Jiagu fruit tree—some of its leaves had already started to wilt.
If the Jiagu tree could survive, then getting wild fruit in the future would be much easier. No need to search all over—just step outside and maybe find a pile of fully ripe fruit on the ground.
After being on Wilderness for so long, this was indeed her first time planting a fruit tree.
Speaking of planting, she wondered how the mushrooms she’d cultivated in the rainforest were doing now.
“Woo…”
Her thoughts drifting, the steppe wolf rubbed against her feet. Lin Qianyu reached out and placed her hand on its belly. Her fingers sank into the soft fur—its belly was round and full, clearly well-fed.
The cheetah had finished its meat, licked the leaves clean, and then lowered its head to groom itself.
This clean-loving big cat, aside from hunting and sleeping, probably spent most of its time licking its fur.
“Meow… meow.”
The little cheetah reached a paw up from the edge of the shallow pit, trying to climb out. Its whole body tensed, even its tail straining straight downward.
Aside from the fact that all its effort resulted in it hanging in the same spot, it actually looked pretty impressive.The cheetah heard the sound and stood at the edge of the shallow pit, lowering its head to look down.
“Meow!”
The moment it saw the cheetah, the little cheetah’s eyes lit up, and it eagerly stretched its paws upward, bouncing slightly.
The little cheetahs didn’t need to be fed every meal.
Seeing how hard they were trying to climb out, Lin Qianyu got up and cleaned another rabbit, cutting the meat into small pieces. She arranged three small plates, each piled high. Since the pieces were small, even when full, there wasn’t too much—she was worried they hadn’t digested the last meal yet and might overeat this time.
“Here, try this meat, see if it’s tasty.” Lin Qianyu placed the meat into the shallow pit.
As soon as they smelled the meat, the little cheetahs stopped climbing and followed the scent to the food. One immediately bit into a piece, chewed for a long time, then spit it out whole, paused, and then bit into another piece.
【There are two little cheetahs, so why are there three plates of meat?】
【Afraid it’s not enough?】
“No, this way they won’t fight.” Lin Qianyu pointed at the little cheetah on the right.
It had just swallowed a piece after chewing for a long time, then sniffed its own plate, turned, and started stealing from its sibling’s plate.
The little cheetah whose food got stolen paused, then turned and began eating from the third plate.
If there were only two plates, all that jostling would easily lead to a fight.
With three plates, if one gets stolen, just switch to another—nothing is more important than eating.
Lin Qianyu sat by the shallow pit, watching the cheetah cubs eat for a while, then asked, “Doudou, where did you find that flock of sheep? Point me the way.”
The cheetah froze for a moment. It looked up and met Lin Qianyu’s gaze, then realized she was talking to it—and remembered this new name.
It thought for a bit. “Woo-meow…”
An adult cheetah’s cry, rare as it was, really did sound like a bigger version of a housecat.
Lin Qianyu curled her lips in amusement and couldn’t resist giving it a pat, then withdrew her hand to observe the cheetah’s reaction.
Since it didn’t seem to mind, she gave it another stroke. “I’ll go look for sheep over there in a bit. You stay home and watch the cubs, okay?”
Lin Qianyu tilted her head and asked, “Little Wolf, when are you going hunting with the pack?”
“Woo—” “Now?” Lin Qianyu nodded. “Alright then, be careful.”
“Later I’ll put on a performance of bare-handed…” she paused, then added, “just with a kitchen knife—hunting sheep.”
Thinking back, since joining the show, she’d mostly caught small animals, barely any large prey.
In the rainforest, she could only rely on the animals released by the director. One wrong bite could’ve meant a life sentence back home.
Later on, the fluffballs did all the hunting—she didn’t need to do anything.
Even here on the grassland, it felt like she’d been fed the whole time.
Although most of the prey was cut up for the fluffballs to eat themselves, it was still being fed.
Today, she’d go catch a sheep with her own hands.Having made up her mind, Lin Qianyu got up and started preparing the things she planned to bring, chewing on a piece of wild fruit she picked from the kettle.
“I’ll take the tuna to the seaside later and roast it for the orca to try.” With the orca’s capabilities, bluefin tuna was probably something it was already tired of.
Trying a different preparation method—maybe the orca would like it.
Lin Qianyu picked up her backpack. Mid-sentence, she choked on the fruit juice. “Cough, cough!”
She swallowed the wild fruit whole, the sourness making her cough for quite a while.
The prairie wolf, who had already gone some distance, doubled back and ran up to Lin Qianyu, lifting its head nervously to look at her.
“I’m okay.” Lin Qianyu cleared her throat, though it still sounded a bit hoarse. “Just choked a little, don’t worry.”
The prairie wolf nuzzled her hand, its eyes unblinking as it stared at her.
Its bright, expressive eyes seemed to ask, “Are you really okay?”
“Really, I’m fine.” Lin Qianyu simply crouched down and kissed the fluffy little head, intentionally softening her voice. “Sounds a lot better like this, right?”
The prairie wolf brushed its muzzle against Lin Qianyu’s cheek, then rested its jaw on her shoulder and let out a soft “woo…”
“Alright, alright, I’m very healthy.” Lin Qianyu hugged the little wolf and coaxed gently, “Go take care of your things now. I need to head out soon too.”
Hearing that, the prairie wolf finally relaxed and left—but it walked slowly, frequently turning its head to look back.
It was as if, the moment Lin Qianyu coughed again, the prairie wolf would immediately rush back.
Lin Qianyu pinched a bit of skin on her neck between two fingers, noticing the little wolf still watching her. She even raised a hand to wave.
【Ahhh?! Oh my god, even the little wolf knows to stay by someone who’s sick. Meanwhile, when I had a cold, my boyfriend just told me to drink more hot water!】
【I’m furious. Girl, what are you waiting for? Dig a hole and keep him!】
【Awooo—Every day I’m amazed at how well-behaved and thoughtful the little wolf is. Way more mature than my brother.】
【Suddenly I really want to know what the little wolf would do if Lin-jie actually got sick. Remember that viral trend—‘pretend to faint and see how your dog reacts’? Can Lin-jie try that?】
…
Lin Qianyu took a sip of water to soothe her still-uncomfortable throat and noticed the comment. “No…”
Her voice faltered, as if she suddenly thought of something. She curved her eyes and didn’t answer directly, instead saying, “Whether I can try it or not—you should ask the director.”
Lin Qianyu pressed her lips together, unable to hide the upward curve of her mouth, and said mischievously, “I feel like the director probably won’t agree.”
Su Yuxing: 【Absolutely not! NO!!!】
Right after she spoke, the livestream director appeared and flatly refused on the record.
If something like that really happened, Su Yuxing could already picture the villa being surrounded by a pack of prairie wolves!
Especially now, with a cheetah added to the mix.
To some animals on the grasslands, cheetahs weren’t much of a threat—but to humans, they were both protected and extremely dangerous predators.
Surrounded by that many animals, how was he supposed to survive?
【Hahahahaha, Director: You guys are the worst audience I’ve ever had!】
【Alright, fine, play like this huh? Su-director’s gonna need 800 heart pills a day and still won’t survive it.】【The little wolf is so well-behaved, it definitely wouldn’t hurt you. At most, it’d just drag you for 800 meters at full speed. Director Su, relax.】
...
After Director Su Yuxing sent a string of exclamation marks, the discussion in the livestream chat reached its peak.
The speed of the scrolling comments noticeably slowed—not because there were fewer comments, but because the comment system had crashed, stuck looping the messages from just before it broke.
The screen was filled with repeated "hahaha"s of laughter, maxing out the off-camera entertainment value.
A little after 2 p.m., Lin Qianyu set out on time wearing a straw hat.
She left the cheetah at home to keep watch.
Riding a zebra, she went to the area where the sheep had appeared before.
Rather than wandering aimlessly on the grasslands, hoping to stumble upon the sheep by chance, it was better to head straight to where they had been seen. There would be traces left behind, more or less.
Footprints, or bushes nibbled along the way—following these signs would lead to the sheep.
Along the way, the sheep’s tracks were messy.
They had probably been grazing here when the cheetah startled them, causing them to panic and scatter. The ground was full of trampled branches and leaves.
Lin Qianyu said, “If we go a bit farther, we should be able to see the flock.”
The zebra’s senses were keener than a human’s. When it got here, it slowed down and glanced to the right—but only briefly before looking away.
From what Lin Qianyu had learned about Zhuifeng during this time, there were likely animals over there, but nothing threatening—at least not threatening enough for even a zebra to care.
If it were something truly dangerous, like a large elephant, Zhuifeng would’ve already been braying wildly while bolting and dragging her away.
After going a bit farther, Lin Qianyu heard the bleating of sheep and immediately jumped off the zebra’s back.
The zebra tilted its head, then took a few steps toward the direction of the flock, clearly wanting to help with the hunt.
Lin Qianyu raised an eyebrow. For some reason, seeing the zebra so eager to hunt didn’t feel strange to her at all.
Maybe the little muntjac at home, obsessed with hunting, had already made her immune to the idea of herbivores hunting things.
But hunting sheep while riding a zebra was actually quite inconvenient.
Lin Qianyu took a knife from her backpack and left the pack behind. “Watch my bag for me, I’ll go catch them myself.”
The zebra snorted and paced in place.
Perhaps in the zebra’s eyes, Lin Qianyu didn’t have the ability to hunt. But before it could insist on going with her, Lin Qianyu had already slipped into the bushes, gripping her kitchen knife.
It looked down at the backpack on the ground. Hesitated briefly. When it looked up again, Lin Qianyu had vanished.
A short distance away, the flock of sheep had scattered into small groups, grazing with their heads down. Their ears twitched occasionally as they scanned the surroundings, then lowered their heads to eat again.
They were eating fast. From Lin Qianyu’s current position, the grass already looked much shorter.
Even though she was facing a bunch of sheep with no combat ability, Lin Qianyu remained vigilant. Underestimating the opponent was taboo in any situation.
Especially since, with so many sheep panicking and running, even just getting stepped on could hurt quite a bit.
Lin Qianyu gripped the kitchen knife tightly. It didn’t feel quite right in her hand, so she switched to holding it with her palm braced against the back of the blade.【Whoa… this is making me so nervous.】
【I don’t know why, but I feel like she has a lot of hunting experience. But actually, I’ve only seen Lin-jie catch a native chicken.】
【Maybe because she’s too strong. If she can take down poachers, your subconscious just assumes hunting is easy for her.】
The chat was buzzing with discussion.
At this moment, Lin Qianyu had already chosen a sheep, but before charging out, she had to first confirm the surrounding area was safe.
To check whether... there were any other predators also eyeing the flock.
She slowed her breathing, gently pushed aside the brush in front of her, and dashed out while the sheep were still unaware.
A human’s sudden appearance didn’t cause the same panic as a predator leaping into the flock might have.
But the sudden approach still made the grazing sheep pause and turn to flee.
In an instant, Lin Qianyu was already half-mounted on the sheep’s back, then with one swift stroke, she slashed its throat.
To avoid a shallow cut that wouldn’t kill it instantly—where the sheep might keep running and be a hassle to chase down—she didn’t hold back at all.
Also, a trail of blood along the way could attract other predators and cause conflict.
So Lin Qianyu’s strike was forceful and clean. As the sheep collapsed to the ground, she grabbed its hind legs and dragged it back.
The zebra was still standing where she left it, visibly stunned by what it had just witnessed.
“?!!”
The clever zebra recalled that when it was once chased by a pack of wolves, this same human had done something similar.
The zebra shrank its neck.
Until now, its submission had all been out of fear of the grassland wolves—it didn’t dare resist because of their dominance.
But who would’ve thought that back then, it had nearly been taken down by Lin Qianyu herself—Zhuifeng backed away a little, then, as if recalling something, hurriedly trotted over to Lin Qianyu, volunteering to carry the load.
【Flattering!!!】
【This is the first time I’ve ever seen such blatant terror on a zebra’s face.】
【If Lin-jie had actually tried to hunt the zebra back then, Zhuifeng would've had its throat cut right then and there—anyone would be scared.】
【Zebra before: What can you do without the grassland wolf? Zebra now: Big sis big sis don’t move, leave it to me, I’m your most loyal little brother.】
...
A zebra pulling a 180 like that—definitely a rare sight.
Lin Qianyu noticed too.
The zebra even blocked her path, insisting on carrying the load on its back.
Lin Qianyu had no choice but to place the sheep on its back, saying, “We still have to carry it to the beach later—can you manage that?”
The zebra stomped its front hooves repeatedly, clearly urging her to get on too.
Lin Qianyu first picked up her backpack. “Alright, alright, let’s go.”She originally planned to have the zebra deliver the sheep to the beach first while she walked behind. On the way, she might be able to catch a few more small animals to roast for the orca.
But the zebra was clinging tightly to her, so she just got on first.
Counting it carefully, Lin Qianyu actually brought quite a lot of food.
From home, she brought rabbit and bluefin tuna—everything already cleaned. The tuna meat was wrapped in leaves, without bones or anything else.
A backpack full of food, plus this sheep, should be enough to fill the orca.
With that thought, Lin Qianyu didn’t get off midway and let the zebra carry her all the way to the beach.
Having often come to this sea area to forage for seafood, the zebra had gone back and forth delivering things so many times it couldn’t be more familiar with the route.
They soon arrived at the beach.
Lin Qianyu adjusted the livestream equipment to fly higher and let it autonomously head over the sea surface. For areas she couldn’t see, she could only rely on this to film and then ask the viewers in the chat, “Is the orca in the water?”
She opened the watch’s barrage feed. Many “No” messages floated by.
“Maybe it’s busy with something else?” Lin Qianyu set down the sheep. “I’ll roast the meat first—if I wait until the orca comes, it’ll be too late to start.”
The sheep, freshly slaughtered, was still warm while she skinned it.
A fire big enough for roasting a whole lamb also needed to be broader in size.
Lin Qianyu didn’t have any specialized tools for roasting a whole lamb, so she had to use many skewers of sticks and flip the entire thing manually.
Every time she flipped it was a big job, so to ensure even cooking, she could only make the fire larger and try to get every part evenly roasted.
As Lin Qianyu was busy placing the skewered lamb onto the fire and adjusting the sticks propped up on rocks, she suddenly heard a “yiiiing”—the tone dragging out, like a soft little animal acting cute.
Lin Qianyu looked toward the sea. As the orca appeared, the waves on the sea surface were pushed even farther out.
She bent her eyes in a smile. “You knew I was here?”
“Yiiiing—!” The orca called out while flipping in the water, its side fin slapping the surface before it quickly sank again.
Lin Qianyu said, “I’m making food for you. Not going in to play today.”
“Yiiing…” The orca’s voice lowered noticeably, as if a little disappointed.
Lin Qianyu added the rabbit to the fire on the side, and the bluefin tuna was also grilled just enough for the surface to change color—it could be eaten raw anyway.
“Next time, next time for sure.” Lin Qianyu didn’t want to catch a cold. She was already showing symptoms yesterday—if she swam again today, she’d definitely be burning up by night.
The orca quickly recovered its mood and splashed in the shallows.
Maybe because Lin Qianyu had said many times not to come ashore, the orca didn’t show any intent to rush onto land today.
It stayed in the sea, as close to her as it could get, flipping around to express its joy and excitement.
Seeing this, Lin Qianyu couldn’t help but think of how the orca swam alone in the sea.
But her body couldn’t take it—she couldn’t stay in the water with it all the time.
Thinking for a moment, Lin Qianyu asked, “Have you tried looking for your pod?”
If it could return to a pod, at least it would have other orcas to talk to, instead of staying alone in the water with no companion to chat or ease the boredom.The orca flipped over, belly facing up, and responded to Lin Qianyu’s question, “Yiiing…”
It couldn’t find them.
“You couldn’t find them?” Lin Qianyu poked the fire with a stick. “I’ll try to find someone to help you look.”
The rescue center had drones and likely kept a constant watch over the sea area around Grassland Island, since patrolling and surveillance were necessary to guard against hidden poachers.
Maybe the staff could monitor a wider range.
Thinking this, Lin Qianyu opened her watch, carefully considering how to briefly describe the situation with the orca.
Just as she typed the two characters for “orca,” before she could write more, Bai Zhao sent a message:
[There’s been no detection of an orca pod around the island. Expanding the search area requires an application—I’ve already submitted it. Once it’s approved and we confirm the pod’s location, I’ll let you know.]
In Lin Qianyu’s chat box, only “orca” had been typed when Bai Zhao already submitted the request.
[I’m watching your livestream right now,] Bai Zhao added.
Hearing what Lin Qianyu intended to do, he immediately pulled up his computer and started typing. Before her message even arrived, he had already written and submitted the application.
[How about that? My efficiency’s pretty good, right? Compared to…]
The livestream equipment caught the conversation. Everyone had witnessed the earlier rivalry between Bai Zhao and Pei Feng over recruiting her.
The chat couldn’t help teasing:
[@Pei Feng, not gonna come out and say something?]
[You think leaving out his name means Pei Feng won’t search for keywords?]
But Pei Feng seemed to be busy with other matters and wasn’t watching the stream.
A battle was silently avoided.
While they chatted, the food being roasted was about done.
Lin Qianyu pulled out the roast rabbit first to let it cool before feeding.
A rabbit this size—an orca could probably eat dozens in one bite.
Lin Qianyu decided to feed all the rabbits together.
But... how?
“Da Bai!” Lin Qianyu reached out, grabbed a handful of cooled roasted rabbit, and held it up.
“Yiiing—!” The orca understood and surfaced, sticking its head out to look at her.
“Catch it!” Worried the orca wouldn’t hear clearly, Lin Qianyu shouted loudly and flung the roast rabbit hard toward the sea as she spoke.
The orca dove under, disappearing for a moment, then leapt from the water and opened its mouth, catching the rabbit mid-air before it had a chance to scatter.
[?! So coordinated!]
[The orca rushed back to its pod just to say: “Family whales, I had barbecue!” Then hurried back to snuggle with Sister Lin.]
[And it was made and fed to you personally by the human who picked you up!]
[It looks so happy eating—sob sob. Maybe that upturned mouth doesn’t mean it’s smiling, but I feel like it is.]
At the zoo, keepers sometimes fed belugas in the water the same way.Lin Qianyu skillfully applied what she had just learned, copying the method to feed the orca.
The orca caught it steadily too. Since there was nothing to tie the roast rabbits together, Lin Qianyu could only stack the cooked rabbits if she wanted to feed them all in one go. Fortunately, they weren’t fully roasted, so they were still soft and flexible.
She barely managed to wrap them into something resembling a ball and tossed it out—right as it landed, it fell apart neatly into the orca’s mouth.
“Was it good?” Lin Qianyu washed her hands and took down the roast lamb.
“Yiiing—!”
Such a big mouthful, Lin Qianyu didn’t even see the orca chew. Its throat probably didn’t even register what it was before it slid straight into the stomach.
The orca graciously expressed its satisfaction, rolling and splashing waves across the sea surface.
Lin Qianyu then threw a large piece of bluefin tuna.
It was a full slab sliced from one side of the fish, shrunk a bit by the fire but still a hefty portion.
The orca caught it just as steadily, but after swallowing it, it seemed to pause for a moment, then slapped its tail hard against the water. “Yiiing!”
It recognized it?
Lin Qianyu was surprised that even after gulping it down whole, the orca could still tell it was bluefin tuna.
But the orca didn’t seem happy. That fish had been its gift to Lin Qianyu, and now she had thrown it back to it—it naturally wasn’t pleased.
“That fish was too big for me to finish. Help me out a little, won’t you?” Lin Qianyu took a bite directly from the remaining slab of tuna in front of the orca.
No neatly sliced sashimi—she just bit straight into the big piece.
[Dang… that one bite probably equals thousands of yuan.]
[I don’t even dare eat steamed buns that aggressively!]
Lin Qianyu was purely trying to comfort the orca. “See? I’m eating too. We’re eating together.”
The orca moved a little closer to shore, as if confirming whether she was really eating. Once it saw she had taken a bite, it rolled back toward where it had been playing before.
Feeding the whole roast lamb, on the other hand, became a real challenge.
Just tossing it out didn’t seem like a good idea.
Lin Qianyu carefully removed the skewers one by one, brushing her fingertips against the tips as she worked.
To be safe, she even sliced open the areas where the skewers had passed through, inspecting carefully to make sure no broken bits remained inside. Only after that did she cut the lamb into two halves.
Looking at the size, she gave it another cut down the middle.
The roasting had only seared the outer layer—inside, the meat was still dripping blood. Cooked like this, it was just right, and even the bones could be digested.
If it had been fully cooked, chewing up the bones might leave sharp edges that could scratch the esophagus.
With more cuts, the pieces grew smaller, but they were still much larger than the rabbits.
Lin Qianyu picked up a chunk and threw it toward the orca. “Da Bai! Try this!”
She tossed it low across the water. It was almost knocked down by a wave, but the orca reacted in time, snapped its jaws around it, shook its head, and childishly stirred up the wave that had almost hit its meat.
“Yiiing!”The orca really liked the roast lamb.
Even though the meat inside wasn’t fully cooked, just the unique charred aroma of roast lamb in the air was already incredibly tempting.
Every time Lin Qianyu tossed over a piece of food, she would wait a bit, making sure the orca had swallowed before throwing the next.
To prevent it from getting overeager—grabbing the next bite before finishing the last and accidentally choking—it would be a hassle.
She threw the final piece of roast lamb, and the orca leapt up and dove into the water with a graceful motion, as if giving a finale.
Lin Qianyu thought she saw the orca’s mouth move—maybe it was chewing?
“Do you like this kind of food?” Lin Qianyu walked to the shore, lifting the splashed seawater to wash her hands. “I’ll roast something else for you next time.”
It’s just that some animals—like prairie wolves—could be hunted, and wolf pups could eat them, but Lin Qianyu couldn’t personally catch them.
Even if “World Protection 1 eats World Protection 2” and no one cares, Lin Qianyu couldn’t be part of that.
The orca in the sea kept making soft “yiiing” sounds. It couldn’t come ashore, so it slapped its tail on the sea surface, stirring up waves that reached the shore and splashed onto Lin Qianyu’s wrist, as if greeting her.
Lin Qianyu splashed the waves back, pretending to push them toward the sea.
The orca noticed and let out a crisp chirping sound, like laughter.
It flipped over and raised its tail high again, slapping it down with force.
The water it sent flying splashed straight toward Lin Qianyu’s side, brushing past her but still landing a few drops on her shoulder.
Lin Qianyu didn’t mind and teased with a smile, “If you get me all wet, you’ll have to pay for my clothes.”
The next moment, the water landed—
Splash! “Aaaaahhh——?!!”
Author’s note: Good night, sleep early, love every one of you.