Chapter 60
Chapter 60
[Bonus Chapter from Nutrient Solution Votes]
“That really looked like a little spotted seal, didn’t it?”
The sudden voice from behind startled Lin Qianyu.
Did she accidentally hurt someone?
She quickly turned around, only catching a glimpse of a wet, furry tail disappearing. “That—” The furry creature that was hit didn’t linger and vanished into the distant bushes in just a few bounds.
She vaguely saw stripes extending from its back to its tail, resembling a tiger’s pattern.
But there shouldn’t be any tigers on Grassland Island.
【Huh? What was that? Why did it run so fast?】
【No idea... maybe a steppe wolf?】
【Watched the playback several times, still too blurry to tell.】
The livestream cameras were mainly focused on the sea, so this part hadn’t been the highlight.
It wasn’t until Lin Qianyu spoke that the livestream camera turned in her direction, so the footage that could be captured was naturally limited.
Many meticulous fans, curious about what exactly it was, kept rewinding the clip of that fleeting moment to watch it again and again.
Even so, no clear conclusion could be drawn.
“Eep!”
Just as Lin Qianyu was still pondering the direction that creature had gone, the orca in the sea gave another strong slap to the surface of the water.
This time, along with the crashing waves, a chubby, round-bodied, spotted creature was flung onto the beach, lying there in a panic, looking around.
It kept making a howling sound similar to “ao ao.”
The animal had a smooth, round head and large eyes—perhaps due to just emerging from the sea, its jet-black eyes were wet and shiny. Its snout was short and broad, with sparse spots on its body. When it rolled over, its belly could be seen to be milky white.
Lin Qianyu: “...?”
The little spotted seal immediately drew Lin Qianyu’s attention.
She was stunned for a moment, pointed at the seal on the ground, and looked up at the livestream camera. “That really looked like a little spotted seal, didn’t it?”
At such a close distance, she probably hadn’t seen wrong, but she was a bit dazed.
【6...】
【That’s a nationally protected Class II species.】
【As expected of the orca, the true king of the sea. You can tell just by its moves—first a bluefin tuna, now a little spotted seal. Its gift-giving is truly one of a kind.】
This little spotted seal was very timid.
After being washed ashore, it lay trembling on the edge of the beach where waves could still reach. It didn’t dare return to the sea, since there was an orca playing there. But it didn’t dare go further inland either, and timidly peeked at Lin Qianyu not far away.
When it noticed that Lin Qianyu was also looking at it, the chubby little seal shuddered and nervously raised its stubby front flippers to cover its eyes.
If I can’t see you, then you won’t notice me.Covering its ears and stealing the bell—yeah, it had learned that trick well.
“Eeeng——!” The orca had been slapping its tail on the water just now, seemingly for the purpose of flinging the little spotted seal ashore.
Now, however, it had stopped wagging its tail and was simply urging Lin Qianyu to hurry up and eat.
Lin Qianyu rested her chin on one hand and sighed softly. “I can’t eat this.”
Never mind the taste—seal meat is fatty and greasy. Even if it’s edible, it likely wouldn’t taste great.
Not to mention... this is a Class II nationally protected animal. The only one who could legally eat it would probably be the orca.
The orca tilted its head slightly in the water.
Lin Qianyu didn’t know how to explain the concept of national wildlife protection to the orca, but she still needed a reason that an orca could understand to convince it that she couldn’t eat the little spotted seal.
Under the orca’s curious gaze, Lin Qianyu said, “It’s... too small.”
She hesitantly said those three words, then reconsidered—it didn’t sound quite right.
What if the orca really thought she was refusing it because of its size and went to catch a bigger one?
Who knew where this little spotted seal had even come from? It was probably like the bluefin tuna—chased all the way over here.
“I don’t like eating this kind of thing,” Lin Qianyu changed her tune and nodded, satisfied with this new answer. “It doesn’t look tasty. Why don’t we let it go, okay?”
“Eeeng——” But... little spotted seals were part of an orca’s diet, after all, and this one had gone to great lengths to bring it over.
Lin Qianyu thought for a moment and added, “Or maybe you could eat it yourself?”
The little spotted seal, who had been covering its face with its stubby flippers, suddenly dropped its flippers and looked up, stunned.
Do you even hear yourself right now?!
【Hahaha, little spotted seal: You’re saying that out loud in front of me now, huh!】
【Sister Lin, this is really out of pocket. Go block its ears or something and just leave the rest to the orca.】
【Seal: Is no one going to speak up for me?!】
Lin Qianyu had just said it casually, but under the little spotted seal’s wronged and incredulous gaze, she gave a light cough and suddenly felt a bit guilty. “Dabai is probably full already. Why don’t I send this little spotted seal back instead?”
She seemed to be speaking to the livestream viewers, but also like she was negotiating with the orca.
Upon hearing this, the little spotted seal started nodding frantically. Afraid that Lin Qianyu might not see it clearly, it even sat up straight. “Aoo!”
Send me back!
The orca didn’t react much—once the gift was given, it was up to the humans to decide what to do with it.
Lin Qianyu rested her chin on one hand and lightly tapped her cheek. “I don’t even know how this little spotted seal got here in the first place. Maybe Dabai could help send it back?”
Hearing this, the little spotted seal quickly flopped back down on the sand and wriggled forward with surprising smoothness, retreating from the sea without looking back.
It clearly didn’t want to be sent back by the orca.
Lin Qianyu assumed the little spotted seal was afraid the orca would eat it, so she reassured it, “Don’t be scared, it won’t eat you.”
“Aah——” The little spotted seal rolled its eyes and dramatically collapsed onto the sand, refusing to go back down no matter what.Seeing this, Lin Qianyu became even more curious—just how had the orca managed to bring it all the way here?
But since she couldn’t have the orca send it back, the only option was to hand it over to the rescue center.
After a pause, Lin Qianyu said, “Bluefin tuna, little spotted seal—Dabai, you’re not going to bring me a polar bear next, are you? Or maybe a penguin?”
Do orcas eat penguins?
Seems like they do.
Judging from the last two “gifts” it brought over, one could more or less guess the direction this might go next.
Now that it knew it was temporarily safe, the little spotted seal simply lay on the beach sunbathing.
When it had just come out of the sea, its fur was soaked and clinging to its body, making it look like smooth leather. But after basking in the sun for a while and drying off, the fur puffed up.
It now looked even rounder than before, and the fluffy little seal was even more visually appealing.
While waiting for the rescue team to come pick up the seal, Lin Qianyu received a video from Bai Zhao.
It was a short edited clip, composed of several stitched-together scenes.
Bai Zhao’s caption read: [This is how the little spotted seal got here.]
Lin Qianyu: “?”
She tapped the video. The first thing that came into view was the vast, open sea.
This must have been captured by a drone during patrol.
After a moment, a little spotted seal was seen being pushed to the surface, with the orca’s silhouette looming faintly behind it.
The little spotted seal was swimming faster and faster ahead, and the orca was calmly following behind, neither fast nor slow, until they both dove underwater. At that point, the video cut to another scene.
Still underwater, the little seal could now no longer swim on its own and was being pushed along by the orca.
Judging from the seal’s occasionally visible expression, it had completely given up—like “fine, just eat me if you want”—absolutely refusing to swim even a bit.
It wasn’t clear how many drones had been sent out on patrol.
But judging from the changing serial numbers in the bottom right of the video, this compilation was pieced together from at least six different clips.
Bai Zhao: [I’ve noticed something strange—if the orca can travel this far just to bring a little spotted seal, with this kind of determination, it should have easily found its pod by now.]
Orcas can communicate with each other using special frequencies—even across some distance, they can call out and get a response while swimming.
Even Bai Zhao was puzzled—why hadn’t this orca found its pod yet?
Lin Qianyu thought for a moment and typed: [Maybe the pod and the prey weren’t in the same direction.]
If not that, she couldn’t really think of any other explanation.
Half swimming, half being pushed by the orca, the little spotted seal had exhausted itself. In such an unfamiliar place, it didn’t dare to wander. With the orca watching it closely, it finally managed to relax now that it was on land, and almost instantly fell asleep with its head tilted back.
By the time Bai Zhao arrived, the little spotted seal was comfortably sunbathing on its back, showing no signs of waking.
He parked the patrol vehicle to the side, placed a cage over it, and with a quick lift—only then did the little seal realize something was wrong. It didn’t even have time to open its eyes.
Bai Zhao gave the cage a shake and said, “This little seal’s got some weight to it.”The little spotted seal, personally delivered by the orca from far away, must be one of the best of its kind.
Bai Zhao still had patrol duties, so he didn’t linger. “I’ll just take this seal with me then.”
“Alright.” Lin Qianyu stood up and stretched lazily. “I should head back too.”
The shelter still didn’t have a proper roof—palm leaves were just a temporary fix.
Before leaving, Lin Qianyu looked around, grabbed a local chicken, and placed it at the spot where that animal had been splashed with seawater earlier.
A small compensation for the accidental injury caused by seawater.
After setting everything up, Lin Qianyu brushed the sand from her hands. “Dabai, I’m heading off now.”
“Eeeng!”
The orca flipped onto its back in the sea, waving its tail in a friendly farewell.
When Lin Qianyu returned to the shelter, the steppe wolf hadn’t come back yet.
At home, there was only a sleeping cheetah and two cubs running around, unable to climb out of the shallow pit.
Hearing the noise, the alert cheetah merely twitched its ears, not bothering to get up or give a warning—it had clearly recognized Lin Qianyu’s scent.
“Alright, time to work.” Lin Qianyu rolled up her sleeves, jumped into the shallow pit, gave the cheetah’s head a pat, then stepped onto the wooden bed she had built and stretched out her arms to measure distances by hand.
She planned to make the roof here slanted like the triangular roof of the bamboo hut in the rainforest.
But with building materials scarce, securing the wooden planks into a stable roof wasn’t easy.
Thankfully, when installing the wooden walls earlier, she had already carved grooves along the top.
The wood for the roof was thinner than that used for the walls. Lin Qianyu followed the grooves and carved notches at the corresponding spots on the roof beams to form matching slots.
After everything was ready, she stood on the bed inside the shelter, shouldered one end of the beam, and aligned it with the groove.
She tugged it up and down until it locked into place before letting go.
She repeated the process for the remaining beams.
All the moss collected earlier had already been used on the walls, so for the roof she could only fill the gaps with soil and mud.
“Just in time for the good sunlight now—this way it'll dry faster.” Lin Qianyu started by filling the gaps lightly. After a while in the sun, she poked the gaps with a stick to check if the mud inside had dried. Only once it dried would she continue adding more.
Filling it all in one go would make drying take much longer.
Filling in the gaps in several rounds like this was a bit more troublesome, but since less mud meant faster drying, it was worth it.
The cheetah had already woken up when Lin Qianyu placed the first beam. It raised its head, face seemingly expressionless, but its eyes were full of confusion.
In addition to the mud, Lin Qianyu had also prepared many small wooden sticks.
She wedged them into the mud-filled gaps at the appropriate spots.
“Doudou.” Lin Qianyu called out, pointing to the pile of small wooden sticks stored in the corner.
The cheetah glanced in the direction she pointed, slowly got up, grabbed most of the sticks in its mouth, then turned and leapt onto the wooden bed. Trying to make itself as small as possible, it found a spot in the corner of the bed, sat down, and looked up, offering her the bundle of sticks.
Lin Qianyu took the chance to rub the cheetah’s little round ears. “Thank you.”The markings on the cheetah’s face made it look particularly serious when it was silent and still. Even now, with its mouth full of wooden sticks, it looked as if it were attending an important decision-making meeting—its face utterly solemn.
But this very big cat with “don’t mess with me” written all over its face let Lin Qianyu rub and scritch its ears into all kinds of shapes without a hint of irritation.
It didn’t even let out a single grunt, as if it had no temper at all.
A total softie, completely at odds with its stern expression.
Behind it, the cheetah’s tail curled hesitantly around itself. The tip of the tail, resting on its paws, gave a tiny twitch.
Keeping perfectly still in its posture of holding out the sticks for Lin Qianyu, the cheetah didn’t move an inch—but its tail never stopped its little movements.
Now and then, it drew half circles behind it, swaying slightly. With one careless flick, the tail landed right on Lin Qianyu’s foot.
In that moment, the agile tail froze completely, not even the tip twitching.
The cheetah blinked slowly, and seeing that Lin Qianyu had no reaction, its tail stiffened for a bit before it tried to shift it slightly. But Lin Qianyu remained fully focused on building the shelter’s roof.
The cheetah looked at her for a moment, then lowered its head to stare at its own tail. Gently, it laid the tail across Lin Qianyu’s ankle, then slid it a little higher, lifting the tip to curl loosely around her calf.
Calling it a “curl” was an exaggeration—the movement was so light that it didn’t even wrinkle her pant leg.
After wrapping around once, the tail quickly loosened again. The cheetah adjusted its paws, puffed up its chest, and straightened its back slightly.
Behind it, the tail kept quietly working its way around Lin Qianyu’s calf.
At some point, the cheetah’s full attention had shifted to its own tail, repeating the motion again and again in a childlike way.
【Awooo! A cheetah that looks all serious but whose tail totally betrays its soft, mushy heart!】
【Aaaah I love its personality so much! Let me scritch it, I’m begging you. My best friend is about to undergo surgery to remove a vestigial organ, and her one wish beforehand is for me to get to pet a cheetah.】
【Sister Lin, you’re really my sister! It’s already like this and you still haven’t pinned it down and scritched it bald—what are you waiting for?!】
……
Even though she was busy filling gaps, Lin Qianyu had still noticed the cheetah’s little gestures.
The cheetah, still unaware, was completely focused on watching its own tail wrap and unwrap itself, the fluffy tail tightening and then relaxing again.
It cautiously looked up at Lin Qianyu, who shifted her gaze just in time, pretending to concentrate on smoothing the wall.
The cheetah shyly pulled its paws back a bit, then lowered its head again. Its tail, which had been dangling off the bed, lifted once more and curled back around Lin Qianyu’s calf.
As the final gap in the roof was filled with sticks and mud, there was still a lot of mud mixture left in the coconut shell bowl.
To make the mudwork look better, Lin Qianyu had wrapped several layers of leaves around her hand earlier, flattening the center of the leaf in her palm to use like a scraper.
The leaves weren’t torn yet, but they were now soaked in mud and no longer usable.
Lin Qianyu peeled off the leaves and rolled them up with the muddy side inward.
“There’s still wood left—let’s turn it into flooring,” she said, counting the unused logs. Once cut into planks, they’d be enough to fully cover the planned courtyard area too.
To make flooring, the wood needed to be as evenly thick as possible—otherwise, with uneven surfaces, it would be easy to trip over your own feet while walking.
Thinking about how best to cut them, Lin Qianyu gripped a kitchen knife and began by marking the top with a shallow cut, then followed the groove bit by bit downward. Once she got about a third of the way through, she turned the knife sideways to chop across.
If the planks were cut too long in one go, it would be hard to control the direction without proper tools, and the deeper she cut, the more likely the angle would drift.In the end, it was entirely possible for a single angled cut to ruin the whole plank.
To avoid wasting wood, Lin Qianyu preferred making the planks shorter and later piecing them together.
The cubs, hearing the loud thump-thump-thunk of wood being chopped, couldn’t help but tremble in sync. With every chop, they flinched. Even when they lifted their paws to walk, each step had to land with a little thunk before they could set their paws down.
The little cheetah’s eyes were wide and confused, clearly not understanding what it was even reacting to.
【Hahaha, this must be what perfect pitch looks like.】
【What a rhythm master—no editing needed, the beat’s already on point.】
【Sister Lin is chopping wood over there, and you two are matching the rhythm so well I’m crying from laughter.】
The adult cheetah jumped down and carried the two cubs—who might get in the way of Lin Qianyu laying the floor—over to the shallow pit they’d been trying to climb into for ages.
The moment they were freed from the pit that had trapped them half the day, the cubs visibly perked up and started running around excitedly, their fur all puffed out.
While smoothing the wood edges and scraping off any leftover splinters, Lin Qianyu reminded them, “Don’t run too far.”
Lively cubs had to be watched constantly—otherwise, you might look down for a second and when you looked back up, they'd be gone from sight.
“Awrr!” The little cheetah slapped its paw to the ground and let out a perfectly enunciated call.
Once the floorboards were installed, Lin Qianyu turned to retrieve the animal pelts the steppe wolf had given her earlier.
The old dry grass on the bed was taken out and replaced with fresh hay.
Sun-dried hay still carried a faint, pleasant scent.
She laid a layer of hay down first, then picked out the relatively intact larger pieces of animal pelt to spread on the bed.
The edges were tucked in with the hay, so roughly speaking, it was like wrapping up the hay in a soft bedding cover.
After smoothing out the edges, it looked a bit like a mattress wrapped in a bedsheet.
It looked neat for now, but once someone sat on it, the hay inside would puff up—there was no way it would keep its shape.
Lin Qianyu pressed down on it with her fingertips as she sat, flattening the hay a bit more.
“All done. It’s actually pretty soft to lie on.” She fluffed up the pillow she’d made by stacking animal pelts—cleaned with wild aloe and sun-dried for so long that they were spotless and free of any odor. It was just the right height and very soft.
Even though the steppe wolf slept beside her at night, the drop in temperature made sleeping without a blanket still feel a little uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the two sheep caught earlier today came in handy.
When she skinned them, Lin Qianyu had done her best to keep the hides whole, planning to wash and use them as blankets.
There were also some long, narrow strips of fur, seemingly torn or damaged. After cleaning and drying, Lin Qianyu couldn’t even tell what kind of animal they came from.
Too small to use for much, she rolled them up and used them as makeshift rope.
Twisting a strip of fur between her fingers, Lin Qianyu said, “I wasn’t sure how to install a door—guess this will do.”
Of course, hinges would be ideal, allowing the door to swing open and shut easily. But since there weren’t any, she used the animal fur as ropes, threading them through gaps in the outer edge of the wooden door and tying them to the wall.
Finally, she smeared mud over the connection points between the fur and the wall. As long as the door wasn’t opened too roughly, the fur ropes wouldn’t shift, and they’d hold up well.
The remaining pelts were all gradually laid out across the wooden floor of the courtyard.While laying them down, the edges of the pelts occasionally overlapped, completely covering the wooden floorboards—without leaving even the slightest gap exposed.
This way, once she got home, she could take off her shoes before entering the shallow pit, and the “carpet” would extend all the way from outside to the side of the bed indoors.
To make the shelter look more aesthetically pleasing and better blend into the surrounding environment, Lin Qianyu laid a good number of palm leaves on top.
“The old shelter doesn’t need to be torn down—just turn it into a small storage shed.” Lin Qianyu looked at the wooden shelter from a distance. On the vast grassland, it looked as if it had sprung up out of nowhere. Though it still stood out a bit, with the disguise of palm leaves, it blended in quite well.
Still, she needed to bring over some frequently used supplies.
Lin Qianyu didn’t have much—she’d only been here a few days. Aside from the materials provided by the production crew, all she had were a few wild fruits and such.
One trip would be enough to move everything.
Under the fruit tree, quite a few jiagu fruits had fallen. They hadn’t started rotting yet and still gave off a fresh fruity scent.
Lin Qianyu casually picked one up and inspected it—there were no visible injuries on the surface, but the spot where her fingers pressed in clearly had a dent.
It was probably caused by a jiagu fruit hitting the soft grass after falling, and then being struck by other falling fruits. The skin wasn’t broken, and the dent came purely from impact.
After working for half the day, Lin Qianyu was a bit thirsty. She peeled the fruit open and took small bites of the soft flesh inside.
Leaning against the jiagu tree, she noticed there were also many fallen leaves on the ground—probably a side effect from transplanting. “I think both of these trees are going to survive.”
Aside from the fallen leaves and slightly wilted foliage, their overall condition seemed decent.
After finishing the fruit, Lin Qianyu thought about picking two firmer ones to take back.
But just as she looked up, before she could even climb the tree, a red-footed falcon poked its head down through the branches, peeking at her.
Jiagu fruits were among the red-footed falcon’s favorite foods.
Also known as the Amur falcon, this species was skilled at hunting insects and other birds, and occasionally preyed on birds even larger than itself. Quail and small hawks were not safe from it.
This red-footed falcon had a grey-black head and neck, with reddish-brown back and sides. Judging by its appearance, it was most likely a fully grown adult.
Red-footed falcons were hot-tempered, aggressive birds that picked fights easily.
After eating too much meat, they sometimes craved jiagu fruit as a dietary change.
They usually built their nests high in tall trees, with jiagu fruit trees being a top choice. Occasionally, they even stole nests from magpies.
This one stared at Lin Qianyu with a fierce look in its eyes.
“This tree is mine,” Lin Qianyu reasoned with it. “The elephant gave it to me, and I planted it—so it’s mine.”
Very clear and logical.
The red-footed falcon tilted its head—it didn’t understand.
Lin Qianyu raised an eyebrow and teased with a smile, “If you want to build a nest here, you’ll have to pay protection fees. Otherwise, I’ll…”
Before she could finish, the red-footed falcon, apparently fed up with this noisy human, didn’t even bother trying to nest—or take any jiagu fruit—and flew away.
“Hey?” Lin Qianyu had raised a red-tailed steppe eagle before and rather enjoyed interacting with birds. So when she saw the red-footed falcon, she’d wanted to joke around and have some fun, but it flew off just as she started.
She quickly waved and shouted, “Don’t go! I don’t want protection fees!”However, the red-footed falcon flew off without so much as a backward glance. With the leaves and branches quickly concealing it, the bird vanished from Lin Qianyu’s sight in an instant.
【Hahaha, red-footed falcon: Not paying a single cent of protection fee, not happening!】
【Did it go call reinforcements? Are red-footed falcons social or solitary?】
【This bird is so amusing, I want to keep one.】
【Calm down. Even though red-footed falcons have a wide distribution and stable population, they’re still listed as a nationally protected species. Definitely not something you can raise at home.】
...
The cheetah seemed to notice what had happened and walked over, but there was nothing left to see. Its nose twitched as it sniffed the lingering scent of the recently departed animal.
“It was a red-footed falcon. It just flew away. There’s no danger,” Lin Qianyu said, patting the cheetah on the head. “I’m going to pick a few jiagu fruits. You head back first.”
Even though the wooden shelter was just a few steps away, she still felt more at ease keeping the little cheetah within sight.
Who knew when a hyena might suddenly dart out from some corner and snatch a cub?
The cheetah looked at her but didn’t leave right away. It stood there hesitantly, as if it wanted to approach her. Maybe it remembered how the grassland wolf would nuzzle her before leaving, so it took a step forward—but didn’t come close.
Lin Qianyu crouched down and called, “Doudou.”
As the cheetah turned its head, Lin Qianyu raised her arm and wrapped it around its neck, affectionately rubbing her cheek against the side of its face. “Good boy.”
She gave its furry head a couple of pats, then gently patted its back. “Go on.”
The cheetah stood there blankly, not quite catching up with Lin Qianyu’s pace. When it did react, its ears involuntarily pinned back against its head.
That made it look annoyed and like it didn’t enjoy what she just did—unless you ignored the tail tip standing stiff and trembling uncontrollably behind it.
Feline tails and felines themselves are sometimes two completely different creatures.
Sometimes, they even get startled by their own tails.
Still, tails often reflect an animal’s emotions.
Just like now—the cheetah’s steps were clearly lighter as it ran back.
【I don’t know if it’s just me, but it feels like Doudou has a progress bar on his head, and I’m watching Lin-jie gradually conquer him.】
【This is too cool! With how gentle and patient Lin-jie is with animals, who wouldn’t be tamed by her?】
【I would! Just send me over and let me be a guard at the gate of that courtyard!】
【That plan of yours is so loud I could hear it across the Pacific Ocean!】
Lin Qianyu climbed up the jiagu fruit tree and found a thick branch to sit on. It was heavy with ripe fruit, many of which were on the verge of falling.
There were so many fruits that the branch was already drooping under their weight.
To keep the branch from breaking before the fruits fell, Lin Qianyu started picking from the heaviest-loaded ones first.
Even without artificial pruning, this wild fruit tree had grown exceptionally well.
It was strange—some things just seemed to thrive in the wild, yet the moment they were moved to a lab or placed under expert care, they died at the slightest touch."Pick a bit more to send to the rescue station," Lin Qianyu said as she picked. "And also save a portion for the production team."
There were just too many jiagu fruits—and this was only from one tree, not even counting the smaller one next to it. Lin Qianyu couldn’t finish them all even if she ate three meals a day. It would be such a waste to let them fall and rot on the ground.
Picking more to share with everyone seemed best. As long as they weren’t guests on the show, eating them wouldn’t count as breaking the rules.
She used the empty bag from moving supplies earlier to carry the fruit. Picking a big batch at once meant she could climb the tree fewer times.
While she was focused on picking jiagu fruit, her watch suddenly popped up with a flurry of new bullet comments.
【Lin-jie! You’re trending!!!】
Aside from the exclamation marks, that copy-pasted message showed up the most.
Lin Qianyu bit into a jiagu fruit, puzzled. "Don’t I trend pretty often?"
She was so used to it by now that it didn’t even feel special anymore. But judging by the bullet comments, everyone seemed genuinely shocked.
"Was it because of the cheetah? Or the orca? Or the red-footed falcon?" she guessed which animal might be the cause.
But then an unfamiliar name popped up repeatedly in the comments: 【It’s the thylacine!】
Lin Qianyu: “???”
Huh?
What does this have to do with the thylacine?
Wasn’t that species already extinct?
The bullet comments were all talking at once, trying to explain. Most of them were so long she could barely read a single line before it was pushed away by the next.
Holding the jiagu fruit in her mouth, Lin Qianyu pulled up Weibo on her watch.
Sure enough, the #LinQianyuLiveStreamSpotsThylacine# tag was sitting at the top of the trending list.
Lin Qianyu: “……”
An extinct animal showed up in her livestream?
Judging by the level of discussion, she—who was supposedly the person involved—was apparently the last to find out about it.
Even she felt a little dazed now, completely unsure what was going on.
Clicking into the topic, the highest-engagement post was a simple question: "What is this animal that flashed by?"
It seemed to be a fan’s post. They had been watching Lin Qianyu’s stream and had taken a screenshot from the moment an animal at the beach was accidentally splashed by the orca, then uploaded it to Weibo asking for help identifying it.
Normally during the live broadcast, if an unfamiliar animal appeared, someone would screenshot it and post on Weibo, and knowledgeable fans watching the stream would help explain.
As a result, the variety show’s comment sections rarely had chaotic fan arguments. Most discussions were educational and science-focused. The learning atmosphere even boosted the show’s reputation.
But this time was different—because someone in the comments said: 【It looks like a thylacine.】
Even with the blurry image, the dog-like body, and the tiger-like stripes stretching from its back to its tail, it did indeed resemble the physical features of a thylacine.
The only animals with similar builds might be grassland wolves, jackals, or hyenas, but none of those have that kind of striping.
So despite sounding outrageous, the guess was just plausible enough to push the topic all the way to the top of the trending list.Passersby, upon seeing it, all commented that using a long-extinct animal as a gimmick—this variety show must really be at its end.
But after clicking in to watch the video, those who knew what they were looking at fell silent. Trembling, someone typed: 【Are we sure the video isn't a composite?】
Lin Qianyu hadn’t seen it clearly before, but now she slowed the video down, watching it frame by frame. When the creature’s upper body appeared, she hit pause.
Putting aside the fact that the thylacine was supposedly extinct—this animal… really did look like one.
“Could it be a particularly thin tiger?” Lin Qianyu wondered aloud. Normally, there wouldn’t be tigers on a grassland. But on a private island, what animals might exist depended on what the island owner had brought in.
Maybe it was a tiger that wasn’t good at hunting and had grown thin.
Since the video hadn’t captured the head, and the image was so blurry it looked pixelated, only the stripes could barely be made out.
Thinking of Da Ju far away in the rainforest, Lin Qianyu furrowed her brow again. “Could it really be…”
Could it actually be a thylacine?
There was no point in guessing blindly in this kind of situation.
Lin Qianyu exited Weibo directly and opened Feng Jingye’s livestream.
Apparently, many fans had the same thought as her.
If it really was a thylacine, why not just ask the island owner directly? The most reliable and fastest source—no one knew better than Feng Jingye what animals lived on his island.
An animal officially declared extinct reappearing in public view—that alone was enough to capture everyone’s attention.
Feng Jingye usually streamed pretty casually, not caring about rankings or viewer counts. But right now, more and more new users were pouring in, and the number of live viewers was skyrocketing.
Luckily, the director had prepared well when Lin Qianyu’s popularity had surged earlier, so Feng Jingye’s stream didn’t crash.
【Island Master aaaah! Is it true? Is it really a thylacine?!】
【It’s all over the internet! Even our department head is asking about it. Please give us a clear answer!】
【Say something already! We know you’re awake—just say something!】
…
Lying in a simple hammock, Feng Jingye showed little reaction to the sudden popularity spike in his livestream. After glancing at something, he paused and said, “Good afternoon.”
He casually picked up the straw hat lying nearby and gave it a wave. “You’re asking about the thylacine, right?”
Though phrased like a question, Feng Jingye spoke with certainty.
He sat up, leaned against a large tree, and adjusted the livestream equipment to eye level. “Strictly speaking, the world’s last thylacine died on September 7, 1936. Since then, the species has been extinct.”
Due to humans hunting them relentlessly, thylacines had already become rare in the wild by 1910.
Even when people realized the mistake and tried to protect them, it was already too late to save the species.
After that bit of science popularization, Feng Jingye continued, “So, what you saw wasn’t a thylacine.”
The comments section immediately erupted in wails.
【Even though I knew the chances were slim… sigh, I still feel so conflicted.】
【God knows how much I wish those animals declared extinct by humans were actually still surviving in some hidden corner of the world.】【So—what exactly was that animal? Don’t tell me it really was a starving tiger that couldn’t hunt and wasted away like that?】
Feng Jingye shook his head. “It’s a hybrid species that carries partial thylacine blood.”
The thylacine went extinct far too early—there was no way to save it.
You couldn’t say it was a thylacine, only that it was “thylacine-like.”
【?!!】
【Whoa—what the hell?!】
Upon hearing Feng Jingye’s words, all the viewers had only one thought: even if it’s not a pure thylacine, that’s still insanely cool!
No wonder it was mistaken for one.
This is basically the same as being a thylacine!
Once Feng Jingye gave this answer, the topic instantly shot to the top… and Weibo promptly crashed.
Lin Qianyu tried clicking, but the app wouldn’t respond at all. It took two or three taps to even get in, and once she did, it was just a blank screen.
Whether it was curious onlookers or wildlife conservation experts, everyone was paying close attention to the matter.
As a result, Weibo, which already had high daily traffic, saw a new surge in user registrations. Caught off guard, the staff tried to rescue the platform, but there was no system in place to help people smoothly access information about this thylacine-blooded descendant.
The first time Lin Qianyu failed to open it, she tried again, and a message popped up: 【Network is congested, please try again later.】
Now she really couldn’t get in.
Feng Jingye, on the other hand, seemed unfazed by the bombshell he had just casually dropped. “There are very few thylacine-like animals on the island. They’re highly resistant to artificial breeding—in fact, they’re resistant to humans. To avoid causing harm, I haven’t let staff intervene too much. I’ve let the thylacine-likes survive on their own.”
At that, Feng Jingye chuckled. “That thylacine-like one probably got drawn over by the smell of your barbecue.”
If people thought he was addressing the general stream at first, by now—although he didn’t name names—longtime viewers knew exactly who he was talking to.
Meanwhile, Lin Qianyu, also watching the stream: “……”
The thylacine-like creature had been secretly observing from the shadows… only to be splashed by a killer whale.
After Feng Jingye said this, criticism erupted online: 【That could be the last trace of thylacines on Earth! You’re being so casual with its care—what if it gets killed by another animal? That’s so irresponsible!】
【Did you skip out on basic education? If it weren’t for the island owner, you wouldn’t even know what a thylacine-like was. He spent money and effort to let them survive in a way they chose. Where do you get off judging him?】
【Exactly. You think locking them up and forcing them to reproduce is better?】
Besides, it’s already been said that thylacine-likes reject humans. How would they reproduce just because we want them to?
The grasslands weren’t some uncontrolled wilderness. Rescue station staff wouldn’t interfere too much, but if something serious happened, of course they’d help however they could.
Anyone with a clue could see how much Feng Jingye had done. The rational folks didn’t even wait—they just bombarded the critics with such fierce backlash that none of them dared speak again.
Feng Jingye had always done things his own way, unaffected by others’ opinions.
But when it came to the thylacine-likes, there wasn’t anyone else who could handle or even approach them. Lin Qianyu, though, had always been different.
Feng Jingye said, “If you’re interested, you can try approaching the thylacine-likes.”
Usually, thylacine-likes didn’t show up at all. They had the same habits as the thylacine, but were even smarter and quicker, deliberately avoiding places humans could observe. Even if accidentally encountered, they’d often bare their teeth from the shadows.Made no effort to hide its hostility toward humans.
But the thylacine-like animal in Lin Qianyu’s livestream only kept its distance.
After Lin Qianyu left, the rescue station’s camera even captured footage of the thylacine-like returning to take away the native chicken she had left behind.
Lin Qianyu froze. “Would this maybe…”
Her voice trailed off, and realizing Feng Jingye couldn’t hear her, she quickly typed in the bullet comments: 【Would this maybe be a bad idea?】
Guests entering another guest’s livestream only appeared as regular users.
With so many overlapping bullet comments, Lin Qianyu worried hers would be buried before Feng Jingye could see it. Just as she was about to send a private message, she heard Feng Jingye say, “It’s fine. Aren’t you interested in the thylacine-like?” he countered.
Before Lin Qianyu could type a reply, Feng Jingye had already pulled his straw hat down over his face, laced his hands behind his head, and lazily added, “Just do what you want. The island’s mine—who’s going to stop you?”
Lin Qianyu paused for a moment, then couldn’t help but smile slightly at his words. She typed back a quick “Okay,” then turned to the livestream camera and said, “Then I’ll prepare more roasted meat for the thylacine-like—try to build a better relationship between us.”
After all—
Food was always the best gift when trying to make friends with animals.
Author’s Note: [All information about the thylacine is sourced from the internet.]
More updates incoming~ Feed me those nutrients~