Chapter 62

Chapter 62

[Bonus Chapter from Nutrient Solution Votes]

The cheetah carrying the livestream equipment was caught on the spot by Lin Qianyu.

It was also Lin Qianyu's first time seeing so many orcas appear at once.

Watching them move through the sea, getting closer and closer to shore, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was dangerous.

Especially as more orcas started trying to stand upright in the water—each one was knocked back by Dabai.

It really wore Dabai out.

Lin Qianyu shouted, “Dabai! I’m leaving now.”

“Eeeng—!” Dabai pressed down the orca next to him and managed to respond to Lin Qianyu in the midst of his chaos.

Her voice was mostly drowned out by the waves, so she cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone: “Remember not to come ashore, it’s too dangerous! Go further out into the deep sea.”

“Stay safe! I’ll come see you next time.”

[Earlier I felt bad for Dabai being all alone in the sea, hoping he’d find a pod. Now...]

[Dabai: I can’t finish fighting them, I really can’t.]

Night had already fallen.

After speaking to Dabai, Lin Qianyu turned to leave—but the prairie wolf had run off and hadn’t come back yet.

And who knew where the zebra had gone.

There were too many people earlier. The zebra had come up front to take a look, saw there wasn’t much excitement, and went off to gnaw at some shrubs. Now it was nowhere to be seen.

Lin Qianyu asked, “Did any of you see Chasewind?”

The camera of the livestream equipment had been pointed at the sea the whole time. Everyone was focused on watching the orcas fight—one flicking a tail, another throwing a punch. It was a real back-and-forth battle, and all attention was on that. No one noticed when the zebra disappeared.

Glancing at the live chat, Lin Qianyu had no choice but to wander around nearby and wait for Chasewind to come back on his own.

After all, at night, it’s much easier for an animal to find her than for her to find the animal.

Walking on the soft beach, Lin Qianyu noticed a shell buried under the sand.

It was quite an intact shell—maybe washed up by the waves, its meat eaten by seabirds, and the shell slowly buried by the sand.

Lin Qianyu picked it up and rinsed it in the seawater. “This shell has a bit of a pink tint, doesn’t it?”

Could also be the lighting from her watch. Either way, it looked pretty nice.

There wasn’t much else on the beach, but shells were definitely abundant.

Even at crowded tourist beaches, with some luck you could still find shells. And hardly anyone came here—so the shells were more than plenty.

Since she had to wait anyway, Lin Qianyu decided to keep herself busy. Moving around also helped keep the cold away.

She didn’t pay much attention to the color of the shells she picked up after that. As long as they looked mostly intact, she put them all together.

She would sort them later when she needed to use them.

The backpack Lin Qianyu had arrived with had been almost empty—without her noticing, it was now nearly full of shells.Walking along the beach, her footprints were occasionally washed away by incoming waves. Looking back, it seemed she had already walked quite a distance.

Lin Qianyu weighed her backpack and figured it could just about stand upright against a wall. “I’ll try making a wind chime when I get back.”

Shell wind chimes were a fairly common souvenir by the sea.

Just as she was saying that, Lin Qianyu heard a rustling sound coming from the nearby bushes, along with the distinctive clatter of zebra hooves striking the ground.

No idea what Chasewind was doing. In front of her was a large patch of bushes—not short ones either. Her vision was already limited in the dark, and now she couldn’t see a thing.

She crouched down and parted some of the brush from below.

She could vaguely make out the zebra with its head lowered, struggling with something.

It was biting down, trying to pull something stuck in the ground free.

“Mmm…” Still holding tight to the edge of the object, Chasewind stomped and yanked, trying to pull it up with the force of his stomping and upward jerks.

After all that effort, the ground around it seemed to sink a bit, but still nothing surfaced.

[Did Chasewind find some kind of treasure?]

[He’s pulling so hard, looks like he's using every ounce of strength he has.]

After pulling for so long with no success, Chasewind seemed to lose patience. He let go of the rope and stomped the ground where the object was buried.

After a couple scrapes with his hooves, he bit down again and gave it a fierce yank.

Zrraap!—the sound of the rope snapping rang out abruptly in the night.

Caught off guard by the sudden release, the zebra’s head flew back violently from the recoil.

Still holding the broken piece of rope in his mouth, he chewed it blankly a couple times.

Seeing this, Lin Qianyu couldn’t help but grow curious about what he had been trying to pull.

But the whole area was enclosed by thick brush. To get over there, she’d have to find the starting point and go around in a big loop.

Just as she was figuring out how to get in, Lin Qianyu sensed a small animal approaching from her side. “Little wolf…?”

She thought the prairie wolf had come back, but when she turned her head, what she saw in the dim night looked like the prairie wolf—but it wasn’t.

Thinking it was just another prairie wolf from the pack passing by, Lin Qianyu didn’t think much of it. But when she turned back to look at the zebra again, she suddenly froze.

She whipped her head around, her gaze trembling slightly.

She couldn’t make out the animal’s markings clearly at first, but once her watch’s light adjusted and shone directly on it, the faint beam revealed the tiger-like stripes in sharp detail.

This was by far the clearest image her watch light had ever illuminated.

It was a thylacine!

Lin Qianyu’s gaze locked on the thylacine. Its body was about a meter long, shoulder height roughly sixty centimeters. Its mouth was wide and split far back, revealing sharp canine teeth as it licked its nose.

Its tail was long and tapered, but unlike a feline’s, it was stiff and straight—it didn’t bend or flex.

Based on its appearance, behavior, and every visible detail, it matched the recorded descriptions of the thylacine exactly.

Except...Staring at the thylacine so close at hand, Lin Qianyu didn’t know how to react for a moment.

She had come tonight specifically for the thylacine—but now that she had found it, what was she supposed to do?

Caught off guard, she froze. In that moment, the thylacine lowered itself to the ground, looking a little shy, and scratched its ear with a paw.

Seeing Lin Qianyu still staring at it, the thylacine reached out and pushed her face away with its paw, manually redirecting her gaze.

[Is the camera glitching? Why does Little Wolf have so many black stripes on him?]

[Why is Linlin so quiet? Not saying a word.]

[Hahaha she’s been charmed by Little Wolf.]

[Wait a sec—sisters, that’s not a little wolf, is it?]

The livestream’s night vision made everything appear greenish, but as the camera zoomed in, viewers began to realize that the markings weren’t a camera error, nor were they branches conveniently laid across its body.

They were real. The thylacine’s own, natural stripes!

[Holy crap ahhh! It's really a living thylacine!]

With that comment, the livestream chat instantly flooded with overlapping “ahhhh”s and exclamation marks.

It was obvious how excited the fans in the stream were.

...

Everyone has to sleep eventually. The later it got, the fewer people were in the livestream.

Because of Lin Qianyu’s unique queueing system, many fans would leave the stream running even after she went offline, staying in the queue. Those lucky enough might wake up the next day with a spot and continue watching.

So when Lin Qianyu previously said she was heading back, most of the casual viewers who had come just to see the thylacine left the stream.

Now, most of the remaining viewers were hardcore fans who regularly watched Lin Qianyu’s livestreams—and they were all celebrating the thylacine’s appearance.

The thylacine’s extinction could be largely attributed to early British colonizers. “Attributed” is too soft a word—they wrongly believed thylacines were preying on livestock and implemented a bounty program targeting them. This led to mass killings. Add in the introduction of Australian wild dogs, which had overlapping diets and competed with thylacines—conflict was inevitable.

Their extinction wasn't a result of natural ecological balance. It was human interference by early British colonizers.

Many people felt a deep regret over the thylacine’s extinction.

But now, being able to witness a living thylacine—some fans couldn’t help but cheer out loud in excitement.

At the same time, the topic of the thylacine in Lin Qianyu’s stream once again shot up the trending charts.

Compared to the earlier blurry, censored footage, this shot was incredibly clear—even capturing the thylacine’s face head-on!

Crowds of viewers rushed in, only to find they had to queue. And there was no telling when their turn would come.

All they could do was browse Weibo, looking at screenshots and videos posted by fans—photos from every angle of the thylacine, thoroughly documented.

In no time, the discussion topic exploded in popularity.

“Thylacine,” Lin Qianyu said softly, “if you told me straight up this was a thylacine, I’d believe it.”

It looked exactly like the photos online!

The thylacine that had been sneaking around in daylight was now lying boldly beside Lin Qianyu, not trying to hide its presence at all.

It looked a little awkward, scratching its ear repeatedly with a paw. Then it rolled over, sneakily peeked at Lin Qianyu—only to see she was still staring.

Instantly, it slammed a paw onto the ground. “Mmm!”Lin Qianyu’s eyes curved as she met its playful little expression, her smile deepening under her gaze. “Hello, I’m a human.”

【? That’s a fresh way to introduce yourself.】

【Hello hello, my mom says I’m a pig, you can affectionately call me Brother Butt (pig).】

【Then I must be my ex-boyfriend’s dog.】

...

The thylacine tilted its head and shifted positions, curling its paws beneath itself.

“How did that pheasant taste? If you’ve got time, come find me—I’ll make roast chicken for you, how’s that?” Lin Qianyu sat cross-legged. “Or do you prefer roasted lamb?”

The scent that had lured the thylacine out earlier today was likely the roasted whole lamb.

Thylacines rarely interacted with humans and didn’t quite understand some of the terms humans used.

Judging from the thylacine’s confused gaze, Lin Qianyu clearly realized this and patiently explained, “I mean the stuff I gave to the orca earlier today—roasted lamb, roasted rabbit, and tuna.”

Roast rabbit and tuna had relatively mild smells during cooking; you could smell them up close, but the aroma didn’t carry far like the whole roast lamb.

The thylacine lifted its head slightly, responding to what Lin Qianyu had said.

“Alright, I’ll make it for you tomorrow,” Lin Qianyu readily agreed.

Then she lowered her voice, speaking quietly: “I feel like the thylacine has such a gentle temperament.”

It took the initiative to approach, showed no resistance, didn’t even bare its teeth.

It just didn’t speak much, a little listless, quietly lying there.

Looking at it, Lin Qianyu mused, “It really looks like a skinny little dog.”

The kind of stray dog that would get bullied while begging for food on the streets.

But that was just its appearance—after all, thylacines were still considered predators.

Also known as the Tasmanian tiger, thylacines could make a distinctive double bark like a hunting dog when hunting.

Lin Qianyu thought that once they got more familiar, she could observe how it hunted.

“Kh, kha-khkh…” The thylacine blinked its eyes and suddenly started coughing.

【Could it be sick?】

【Huh? Did it come to Sister Lin for help?】

【It’s not sick! Thylacines make a series of hoarse coughs when they’re anxious or excited. It’s normal behavior.】

Fans who knew about thylacines quickly explained in the chat.

The thylacine didn’t appear anxious now—maybe it was excited?

Normally, thylacines were pretty quiet, just like how it had been lying down earlier.

Lin Qianyu didn’t have any food on her—when she rummaged through her backpack, all she felt were seashells.

“Whinny—!”The zebra’s voice suddenly rang out.

The thylacine turned and ran without a word. It was clearly very familiar with the nearby terrain. Before Lin Qianyu could react, the thylacine had already vanished.

“Tomorrow—I… I’ll make roast chicken for you tomorrow.” Lin Qianyu looked around but couldn’t find any sign of the thylacine, so she simply shouted, “It’s a deal!”

Although there was still no response, Lin Qianyu felt the thylacine had probably heard her.

The zebra sprinted forward, leaping cleanly over a bush and landing steadily by Lin Qianyu’s side. Hearing her speak, the zebra looked at her in confusion.

“???”

Lin Qianyu reached up to stroke the zebra’s head. “All done? Did you dig something up?”

The zebra shook the rope held in its mouth. At the end of the rope was a box fully wrapped and secured.

It had probably been tied up with the rope before it was buried.

“What’s this…” Lin Qianyu took the box. It looked oddly familiar. “Isn’t this the treasure chest the production team prepared?”

At the start, when all the guests had enthusiastically set out on the treasure hunt, one chest after another was found.

Later, when only a few were left, everyone figured the rest were impossible to find and stopped wasting time on it, turning their attention to other things.

Previously, Lin Qianyu and Zhui Feng had found and dug up one of the boxes.

Maybe because fewer people had come this way, this one had been missed.

When the grassland wolf returned, Lin Qianyu was weighing the box in her hands.

She made a rough guess of the contents based on the supply list provided by the production team.

Grassland wolf: “Whine?”

She explained, “It’s treasure.”

“Let’s open it when we get back.” Lin Qianyu took the box and tied the rope to the zebra’s pack. “Let’s go.”

She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but the way back felt livelier than when she’d come.

As they retraced their steps, she vaguely saw a few figures.

They were heading toward the sea.

Maybe they were also going to look for the thylacine.

Now that the livestream had spread the news, other viewers curious about the thylacine were only increasing in number. Some of the guests who had just returned were getting restless again.

If the guests still hesitated because they were in the middle of filming a variety show,

the staff were much more straightforward. The production team didn’t require overtime, and Su Yuxing wasn’t the type of boss who exploited his workers.

As long as it didn’t affect the next day’s work, they could do whatever they wanted at night.

Lin Qianyu yawned—she was already getting sleepy. Lying on the zebra’s back, her eyes were almost shut. Even so, she still noticed Hang Sisi, red-faced and rushing over in a panic. “Sisi, you’re not resting yet?”

“I washed my face and was already in my sleeping bag asleep,” Hang Sisi was still a bit dazed. She’d clearly been forcibly woken mid-sleep and hadn’t figured out what was going on. Yu Lingyu had pulled her up and sprinted with her the whole way.

She’d only heard bits and pieces on the way over. Swaying a little, Hang Sisi said, “Sister Qianyu, the livestream comments are all saying you saw a thylacine.”“Mm.”

Hang Sisi sighed. “What a shame.”

Lin Qianyu thought she was talking about not seeing the thylacine.

But the next moment, Hang Sisi said helplessly, “I actually missed your livestream this episode!”

Absolutely unacceptable.

Lin Qianyu: “?”

Whenever Yu Lingyu got excited, she couldn’t sleep. Tonight was another night she stayed up watching the livestream, and when she saw the comments flooding in, she dragged Hang Sisi over without stopping.

But... it seemed they were still a bit late.

Their shelter was a bit far from here. Yu Lingyu said, “Sister Qianyu, aren’t you going back to take another look? Maybe the thylacine is still waiting for you.”

Lin Qianyu shook her head. “It’s probably gone home to sleep too. You two should rest early as well.”

As she spoke, Lin Qianyu couldn’t help but yawn again. “Let’s go, Zhuifeng.”

There was no need to tug the reins—just a word, and Zhuifeng obediently galloped off.

Yu Lingyu waved, watching Lin Qianyu’s figure disappear, then let out a long sigh. Her excitement for heading to the seaside also died down a bit.

“What’s wrong with you?” Hang Sisi asked, puzzled by her sudden mood change. “Why the sigh?”

“Sister Qianyu’s gone back. We won’t see the thylacine today.” Yu Lingyu was helpless. Even though she rushed over as fast as she could after hearing the news, she was still late. If only they’d come ten minutes earlier, she might’ve seen the thylacine with her own eyes.

Hang Sisi said, “All this running around isn’t going to cut it.”

The thylacine appeared for Lin Qianyu. If they kept wasting time on the road, even by the time the second episode ended, they might still not get to see it.

Yu Lingyu agreed completely. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. So… Sister Sisi! What do you think about setting up a shelter by the sea?”

Hang Sisi: “Huh?”

Shocked. Surprised.

If the spot wasn’t chosen carefully, then when the tide came in, opening the door would mean getting a wave delivered straight to your face.

Before Hang Sisi could refuse, Yu Lingyu was already excitedly breaking off palm leaves.

Soon, more people began gathering again on the beach.

Hang Sisi took a deep breath. Tonight was clearly going to be a sleepless night.

Everything had gone fairly smoothly since the start of the second episode’s livestream.

Aside from occasional verbal conflicts, compared to the first episode, there hadn’t been any physical altercations. You could barely call it a peaceful coexistence.

Only the orca’s tail slap had disrupted the production team’s calm.

Shi Jingyuan was indeed getting on in age, and his health wasn’t great. Plus, the orca didn’t hold back its strength—when it hit his head, he had to wear an oxygen mask that very night.

Things didn’t go well on the way back either. They ran into wild wolves blocking the road. Amid the chaos, Shi Jingyuan was bitten a few times, and by the time they brought him back, he was already unconscious.

He was sent by helicopter to a city hospital that very night.Su Yuxing went along and only returned after notifying Shi Jingyuan’s family. Since Shi Jingyuan wouldn’t recover anytime soon, how to handle the contract moving forward would have to wait until he woke up for a detailed discussion.

After a sleepless night, Su Yuxing dragged his exhausted self back to the villa on the island. Before he could even open the door to rest, the staff told him about the thylacine.

Su Yuxing, who missed the chance to see the thylacine: “……”

Utterly devastated.

In a hurry, Su Yuxing opened Lin Qianyu’s livestream—no thylacine, no Lin Qianyu, just a frantically running camera and the scenery flying by in reverse.

【Dou Dou, oh Dou Dou! Stop running! Auntie’s getting dizzy.】

【Cheetah: Good morning aunties, I’m Dou Dou. I’ll be taking over Lin Lin’s livestream today!】

【Who can relate—opened the livestream and got smacked in the face by a cheetah.】

……

Last night, Lin Qianyu hadn’t turned on her stream while sleeping—just a black screen.

Fans had cried out in protest, wailing “Wuwu” all over the screen.

Now that the wooden shelter was built, she could sleep in the wooden structure at night without worrying about being caught on camera.

So she simply went along with the audience’s wishes and left the streaming equipment outside.

She let it fly on its own, finding scenes to stream by itself.

But in the morning, when the cheetah went out to hunt, it immediately targeted the flying thing in the sky.

Even though fans spammed the comments until their fingers hurt, it didn’t stop the cheetah from lunging and biting.

—Lin Qianyu, the only one in the house who could understand the comments, was still asleep.

Maybe because the livestream device made faint noises while flying, and the cheetah, with its keen hearing, thought the noise might disturb Lin Qianyu’s sleep. So it brought the device along when it went hunting.

Since no subject had been set to follow last night—human or animal—the device had switched to free mode, and now even though the cheetah let go of it, it couldn’t fly back.

It could only keep following and filming the cheetah.

Lin Qianyu had no idea what was happening outside. Wrapped in her coat, she was sleeping soundly—until she got a message from Su Yuxing.

Su Yuxing: [Do you want to replace your livestream device with a new one?]

Lin Qianyu, drowsily squinting: [?]

She had no idea why he was suddenly asking that.

Su Yuxing: [If you don’t want a new one, go save it. The cheetah is about to tear it apart.]

Lin Qianyu: [!]

……

Ten minutes later.

The cheetah carrying the livestream device in its mouth was caught red-handed by Lin Qianyu.

The cheetah sat squatting on a rock behind her, looking down as she fiddled with the flying thing.“Good, it’s not broken.” The livestream device after its second upgrade was really of decent quality—back in the rainforest, even after being played with by a black bear, it hadn’t broken. Now too, not even a tooth mark was left.

Lin Qianyu leaned back, resting her head on the cheetah, and reached out to touch its paw. “Why were you up so early hunting today?”

The cheetah leaned in and rubbed against her, then lowered its head along her shoulder.

Its fluffy, soft fur pressed against her cheek. Lin Qianyu raised her arm and wrapped it around the cheetah’s head. “Good girl.”

A soft purring sound hummed in her ears.

The purring of a feline was deeply soothing—soft and full of affection.

Lin Qianyu grabbed the cheetah’s paw and waved it toward the livestream camera. “Look at the paw pads of an adult cheetah. They're a different color than a cub’s.”

With all the running and activity, naturally, they weren’t as pink and tender as a cub’s.

Lin Qianyu pinched the paw pads. She seemed to think of something and smiled with her eyes. Holding the fluffy paw, she used her fingertip to poke at the pads like dialing a phone number. “Beep, beep-beep, beep…”

Then she solemnly mimicked a hold tone and held the paw pad to her ear. “Hello? Is this Dou Dou? How about some antelope today? I saw some antelope and wildebeest on my way over.”

After speaking, she looked at the cheetah.

The cheetah blinked and said nothing.

Lin Qianyu held the paw up to the cheetah’s ear, and only then did Dou Dou open her mouth softly, “Miaoo~”

【?!!】

【Aaaaah this is way too cute! I’m melting.】

【I want to call with a paw pad too, I want to!】

Antelope and young wildebeest were both part of a cheetah’s diet.

Seeing the cheetah so cooperative, Lin Qianyu laughed so hard she nearly couldn’t stay upright leaning against her.

The cheetah moved a little, bent down and licked her cheek, then jumped down and ran off to hunt.

The cheetah cub poked its head out of the backpack just in time to see its mother’s retreating figure.

Lin Qianyu had been woken by a flood of messages from the director. She quickly washed up and, not bothering with anything else, stuffed the two cubs into her bag and rushed out to find Dou Dou.

Now…

She waved at the livestream camera. “Good morning, everyone. Let me share my new desktop ornament with you.”

As she spoke, she reached into her backpack and pulled out the cheetah cubs one by one.

Then placed them staggered front and back.

The cheetah cub sat on the rock, its tail swishing behind it.

Lin Qianyu reached out and brought the little tail around, wrapping it around the cub itself. She cleared her throat lightly and explained seriously, “Motorized ornament—very high-end.”

More than just high-end—it even blinked!

Lin Qianyu was still standing beside the rock. In the shot, the two cheetah cubs were looking around from atop the stone. “Desktop ornaments aren’t supposed to move.”

One of the cubs paused, then sat up straight—neatly and properly.The other one was a bit slower to react. It came to its senses in a daze, then sat upright in the same posture, just a little unsteady—wobbling as it toppled onto its brother.

After a pause, it smacked him with a paw.

The smacked cheetah cub remained emotionally steady, expressionless. It opened its mouth—and bit.

“Yow!”

Lin Qianyu hadn’t been paying attention, and the two had already tangled into a ball. The little fluffballs weren’t very strong, so even when they smacked each other it didn’t hurt—just roughhousing, nothing serious.

Still, Lin Qianyu reached out and stopped them, “No fighting, little ornaments. Desktop ornaments aren’t allowed to move.”

The cheetah cub flopped straight onto Lin Qianyu’s hand. Both of them did—one in front, one behind, rubbing their furry little heads against her palm and fingertips.

Cub fur was even softer than an adult cheetah’s—not that smooth, sleek texture, but like petting a plush toy. Even cuter than a plush toy.

Lin Qianyu pressed her fingers to their front paws, one on each side of their faces, then lowered her head and buried her nose into the fluffy little belly.

Burying your face in fluffy bellies—definitely one of the top joys of cat lovers.

The cubs were especially fun. Maybe it was because she’d fed them by hand before—they were very attached to Lin Qianyu.

Even when she messed around like this, they didn’t try to run away, and one even stretched its paws out as far as it could to hug her.

The other cheetah cub wobbled over too, brushing its muzzle against Lin Qianyu’s cheek—like giving her a kiss—before getting grabbed and having its belly sniffed too.

【Is this... is this HEAVEN?!】

【Stop it! You sniffing cheetahs like that is not good for me—my jealousy’s about to give me pink eye.】

【Why aren’t they fighting back? You’re cheetahs! Where’s your wild bloodline instincts?!】

【I don’t get it. If I so much as reach for my cat’s belly, she’ll shred my arm. Bury my face in her belly? That’s a death wish.】

...

While the morning temperature was still just right and the sun wasn’t yet too harsh...

Lin Qianyu lay on the rock with the cubs to soak up some sun. Once it got warmer, she tucked the cubs back into her backpack. “Time to go back for breakfast.”

“Mew!”

The grassland wolves and cheetah that had gone out hunting hadn’t come back yet.

Lin Qianyu prepped some milk powder for the cubs first. She didn’t rush to feed them—no need to mix it with cool water or stir it open. Just left it inside to cool naturally.

All the meat at home had been given to the orca yesterday, but there was still a bit of bluefin tuna left. She could cut a plate of meat close to the fish bones.

This fish wouldn’t last much longer anyway. Lin Qianyu simply trimmed off the remaining meat and stir-roasted it for eating.

The fire burned steadily.

Dragging over the unused wood, Lin Qianyu said, “Let’s make a fishing fence. If I don’t want to go out hunting in the morning, and there’s no meat at home, I can just grab a few fish to boil some fish soup.”

Otherwise, she'd have to rely on the old method of tricking fish into biting—something that depended on luck. If no fish came, she’d be stuck squatting there waiting.

A fence would make things much simpler.

She flipped the bluefin tuna on the grill, then bit off a piece of cooked fish and stood up to move more wood.The magpie, newly bandaged and with fresh medicine on its wing, peeked around curiously.

The cheetah cubs had been lying under the table where the milk bottles were placed. Now, seeing the magpie moving about, their attention was quickly drawn.

They squeezed over to sniff the magpie. Perhaps the smell of the medicinal herbs was too strong for them.

After sniffing, they opened their mouths and froze for a long time, stunned to the point of forgetting to pull their tongues back in.

The magpie had been looking at Lin Qianyu. When it turned around, it came face-to-face with the two cubs.

Though still young, the cubs were already larger than an adult magpie.

Luckily, the cheetah cubs didn’t show any aggression. Maybe they were so stunned by the strange smell that they walked around the magpie when heading out.

Magpie: “?”

Disgusted by me?

What’s the meaning of this!

The magpie flared up in anger and boldness: “Chirp chirp chirp——!” It spread its wings and began chasing the cheetah cubs, squawking furiously.

The cubs, overwhelmed by the smell of the herbs, howled and ran away, which only infuriated the magpie further.

【Hahaha how does the magpie even dare chase them? If even one cheetah cub turns around, it’s over for you.】

【Am I the only one curious about what those herbs actually smell like?】

...

This brutal chase finally ended with the magpie twisting its foot and having to pause the battle.

One wing couldn’t move, and one leg couldn’t move either.

Lin Qianyu came back dragging the wood and was shocked to see the magpie lying motionless. She clearly remembered placing it on the table before going out.

A glance at the stream’s comment feed told her everything that had just happened.

“Well, great. Now you really can rest and recover properly,” Lin Qianyu said, tapping the magpie’s thigh. It felt a bit tense—probably strained. “Can’t apply medicine to this. A good sleep should fix it.”

It was relying on a tough constitution now—healing on its own.

The magpie was at least good-tempered. If it had been a sparrow, which are known for their bad tempers, it might’ve died from sheer rage.

“Chirp!”

Lin Qianyu took the two cubs out to feed them.

She figured with two more feedings, they’d be able to drink on their own.

While eating her grilled tuna, Lin Qianyu said, “Maybe I’m just not used to raw food—this thoroughly cooked meat tastes better to me.”

Deep-sea fish like these, being pricier, are often better for sashimi to really taste the essence of the meat. But if soy sauce and wasabi were available, raw fish might barely be able to hold its own against her grilled version.

There wasn’t much fish to begin with, and it shrank after grilling, looking even less—but it was filling. Lin Qianyu felt a bit stuffed after finishing the plate.

After simply cleaning up her own breakfast...

Lin Qianyu patted the cubs to tell them to go play on their own, then turned and picked up the kitchen knife.She spent quite a while at the back before finally picking out a tree of just the right thickness and length.

The completed fish-blocking fence would be submerged in water, so the outer bark didn’t need to be stripped. However, since Lin Qianyu often needed to build fires and sometimes had to set aside time to collect kindling, she peeled the bark off first before shaping the wood.

As she cut and shaped the log, she first stripped off the bark, then located the right spots along the entire length. Using the tip of her kitchen knife, she twisted hard at those spots to leave deep marks.

She marked it from one end to the other.

After that, she started digging into those marked spots with the knife, carving out small pits about two or three centimeters deep.

Using the tip of the knife, she slowly scraped out the shavings bit by bit. The opening was narrow, and it couldn’t be dug too deep, so this was the best she could manage.

Once she had carved all the marked spots, Lin Qianyu clapped her hands, scattering a thin layer of wood shavings that had built up.

This was just the base of the fence. She picked up cylindrical wood pieces the size of firewood and began shaving them from the edges downward at an angle, stopping only when the tops were carved into sharp points.

She carved over a dozen of these pointed wooden stakes.

Constantly adjusting the sharpness, she tested the tips with her fingertip to make sure they were sharp enough.

This kind of work took the most time. Before she realized it, a big chunk of the day had been spent on it.

Once she installed the stakes into the base of the fence, Lin Qianyu twisted them into the slots as she said, “If making this seems like too much trouble, you could just chop a bunch of branches instead. As long as you put enough in and anchor them so they don’t float away, it’ll work too.”

There weren’t any nearby trees with dense enough branches to use directly. The Jia Gu fruit trees could be an option.

But those were fruit-bearing trees, and no one had pruned or thinned them out since they started growing, so they had grown quite tall. Lin Qianyu didn’t want to mess with them and preferred to let them grow naturally.

Besides, with the base set up here, they’d definitely be eating fish often in the future.

Branches wouldn’t last long—either swept away by water with all their leaves, or stripped bare by the current and left as naked sticks that wouldn’t stop any fish.

In short, for long-term fishing use, branches were not the best choice.

After installing the wooden fence, Lin Qianyu stood up, found a good grip among the spikes, lifted the fence horizontally with both hands, and carried it to the lakeside, where she slowly lowered it into the water.

Since the water source flowed, any fish moving downstream or upstream would pass through this area.

It would make catching them much easier later.

After setting it in place, Lin Qianyu left it alone, went back to change her clothes, and soaked the ones covered in wood shavings.

The sheepskin she had processed yesterday was already dry.

She picked it up and gave it a shake. “Let’s keep one for covering up, and I’ll use the other one to make clothes. How about that?”

She’d spun yarn from wool before. Though the method was rudimentary, it worked well enough.

With that experience, weaving something now wouldn’t be a problem at all.

There was no need to dye clothes for herself—whatever they looked like when finished, she’d wear them as-is.

Otherwise, with her constantly going in and out of water, and sometimes even swimming out to sea to play with the orca, two sets of clothes weren’t nearly enough to rotate.

【With Linlin’s skills, she could trade handmade clothes for supplies.】

【Right? Gong Xinming is already wrapping himself in a zebra-hide skirt, hahaha—tragic.】

【No choice. He went to look at a thylacine, and while he was out, a jackal stole his stuff and tore up his clothes. If he doesn’t wrap something around himself, the production crew will have to run around the stream adding censorship.】...

"This episode, the director doesn't allow material bartering." Lin Qianyu separated the wool, all of it already clean, saving her a step in processing. "I'll try it first and see if it works. The temperature is high here—hopefully it's not too hot to wear once it's done."

Still… if it's too hot to wear, she could keep it in the shelter and use it as sleepwear.

That way, with a set of pajamas as a buffer, the two outfits for going out could just barely be enough when rotated.

With that thought, Lin Qianyu started plucking wool faster and faster, soon gathering a messy pile of it.

The little cheetah circled the wool pile, then got bumped by its brother from behind. Off-balance, it fell straight into the heap of wool.

"Meow... aow!" Startled, its cry turned sharper.

"Careful." Lin Qianyu grabbed the little cheetah by the scruff and lifted it up.

"—Achoo!" The little one sneezed twice, eyes going all watery.

"Haha, look at you." Both pitiful and funny.

Lin Qianyu reached out to pick the wool off its head, wiped the strands from its face, then put the two little cheetahs back into the shallow pit.

She gathered the wool together and said, "You two play down there first. Come back up when I'm done cleaning."

The little cheetah squatted at the edge, looked up and obediently mewed, "Aow!"

There wasn't a big basin around, so Lin Qianyu used fresh coconut bowls to soak the wool separately. Just as she finished pouring the water, her watch vibrated twice.

Pei Feng messaged out of the blue:

【Are you busy?】

Lin Qianyu paused, not in a rush since she hadn’t even started spinning the yarn yet. She wiped her fingers with a towel and typed:

【Not busy, trying to make clothes. What's up?】

After she sent the message, there was no reply for a while.

The screen just showed "The other person is typing..." at the top, but no message ever came through. Eventually, it stopped—like he'd given up.

Instead of replying by text, Pei Feng directly sent a video call request.

The sudden ringtone made Lin Qianyu pause.

Normally, if Pei Feng wanted to find her, he could just go to the livestream. If he wanted to see how the grasslands were doing, it’d be clearer and easier there.

Besides, video calls through the watch were unstable—prone to blackouts.

The livestream gave a clearer, larger picture.

So calling like this, when the livestream was accessible, felt a bit unnecessary.

Why the sudden video call?

Even so, Lin Qianyu answered it, figuring Pei Feng must have something urgent—otherwise he wouldn’t be calling.

Once connected, she looked at him through the screen and asked suspiciously, "What's going on?"

Pei Feng’s hair was a bit messy, and his shirt collar looked like it had been yanked. He’d tried to put it back in place, but was still gripping the front of his shirt. One of the edge buttons had popped off, and the buttons lower down—covered by his hand—were already missing.

In the video feed, Pei Feng’s face was a bit pale. Once the call stabilized, he opened his mouth, “I—”

Before he could finish, a big tiger’s head shoved into the frame, completely blocking the camera and pushing Pei Feng aside.

“Roar!”Lin Qianyu was momentarily stunned. She hadn’t even processed the fact that a tiger had appeared in the video before a smile was already spreading across her face. “Da Ju.”

The black bear, who was a step too late to see Lin Qianyu, roared and pounced forward: “Aow!”

The leopard slipped through nimbly, swiping at the camera and revealing half its face: “Mrr!”

“Chirp!” came the ethereal cry of the red-tailed land eagle.

Amid the chaotic noise, the screen on the other side suddenly went black.

In the next moment, Pei Feng reappeared with the red-tailed land eagle perched on his head, its slightly hooked claw resting on his forehead. All around him were fierce beasts eyeing him intently.

And Pei Feng, standing in the center, looked just like a hostage held captive.

The moment Lin Qianyu's face appeared on the screen, all the animals’ gazes shifted to her.

Pei Feng’s lips trembled slightly as he said, “I—I just wanted them to see you.”

Lin Qianyu: “...?”

Sure you did.

Author’s note:

Pei Feng: I’m not being threatened. I volunteered to help.

【Thylacine-related content sourced from the internet.】

Please feed this chapter some nutrient solution for extra updates~