Chapter 259

Ahhh!

Ahhhh!

A rough, shrill biubiu scream shot forth, and in an instant it tore through layers of clouds and mist.

Above the rolling clouds bathed in sunset, a fluffy white big tiger appeared and disappeared, a scene that would only appear in fairy tales or movies, yet it unfolded in reality.

The tiger's pure white fur rolled like waves; as the distance closed, one would discover that this divine steed tiger still had a passenger on its back——

Ling Yue rode on Jun Jun's back, enjoying the unrestrained wind mixed with fresh sea breeze blowing onto her face.

On one side was the terrified black-backed albatross Snowflake, craning its neck and crying out, the bitter sea wind buffeting its back feathers, the whole bird stretched to its limit, the feathers on its face about to be blown away.

"Ahhh, slow down!!! I'm going to faint from flying!"

"Right now, Snowflake the albatross regretted so much its intestines were almost turning green; it, which had always prided itself on its flying ability, never imagined that one day it would actually be afraid of flying!"

"A huge cloud loomed ahead!"

"The albatross's eyes nearly popped out as it shouted, 'Speeding! This is speeding, you'll be fined!'"

"It didn't even know what it was saying anymore."

"Ling Yue heard this, startled, raised her hand and made a hand seal; after the transparent barrier fell, the clamorous wind was abruptly halted, and that cotton-candy-like cloud went 'pfft' and instantly dispersed."

"As for the black-backed albatross, it was now lying on the tiger's back, head drooping, feeling dizzy: 'Save, save me! Bird kidnappers!'"

"Ugh! Too fast! Too fast! The bird can't take it!"

Ling Yue: "……"

Jun Jun: "……"

Although the black-backed albatross couldn't bear the flight, there's no doubt that flying is indeed fast.

However, after just a few dozen minutes, Ling Yue caught sight of an island through the misty sea fog entwined with clouds.

Ling Yue patted the albatross's head, pointed into the distance, and said: "Quick, look—is that where you live?"

Deep blue pure sea water embraced the verdant land, its shape resembling a five-pointed star, with green unevenly covering it.

The albatross shook its head, looked down dazedly, and instantly perked up: "That's my home!"

During the albatross's breeding season, they generally seek out a sea island far from land, to reproduce in uninhabited places.

Snowflake the black-backed albatross was overcome with excitement, instinctively flapping its wings; after the pain came, it had no choice but to calm down, muttering: "That's where my wife is, Sea Star Island!"

"Hurry up and land, I want to bring food for my chicks!"

"Honey, I'm back!"

Even though its face was covered in a layer of feathers, one could tell from its sparkling eyes and lively expression just how happy it was now.

It almost stretched its neck, looking downward.

At this moment, Snowflake the albatross was no longer noisy; instead, it held its head high in anticipation, staring intently at the island. It couldn't even wait for Jun Jun to land, and after learning that its injuries had partially healed, it had Ling Yue undo the bandages, spread its wide black wings, and begin gliding flight.

It wanted to seek a mate in its finest appearance.

The albatross's big triangular webbed feet went 'jiojio, deng deng deng' as it ran, stepping on the soft, plush ground; almost as soon as it landed, it sprinted quickly in one direction.

It carried the big squid that Ling Yue had given it, running at breakneck speed, flapping its wings as it ran, and softly calling: "Honey, I'm back!"

"I brought you a big fish! Delicious big fish!"

Its big webbed feet pattered on the ground, its waddling resembling that of a domesticated duck on land.

Seeing this, Ling Yue couldn't help but laugh; Jun Jun beside her had already taken human form, saying: "Truly, eager to return home."

Ling Yue took his hand: "Let's go together and have a look."

This is an uninhabited island that still retains its primordial appearance; tall trees loom faintly in the distance, there are also somewhat low shrubs, and the most abundant bird species is the albatross.

Albatrosses spend most of their lives drifting at sea; only during breeding season do they flock to a sea island in droves to raise the next generation here.

It is obvious that this is a gathering place for albatross colonies.

"Ahhh, humans! Everyone, be on guard!"

"What? Humans!"

"Flap-flap——splash-splash——"

As Ling Yue looked on, a single albatross suddenly shot up into the sky, and the albatrosses that had been circling nearby also gathered, pairs of black eyes staring at her with curiosity and tension.

"They're really humans! How did they end up here?"

Ling Yue heard the albatrosses' rustling discussion, continued forward, when suddenly an albatross came running up and shouted at her: "Stop! Stop quickly!"

The pair of huge wings opened, emitting a crisp flapping sound; Ling Yue stopped a step ahead of it, then lowered her gaze to see a large white bird egg lying in the shrubbery.

The albatross that had come running back cried: "Ahhh! Just a little bit more!"

Still shaken, it flapped its wings, stared at Ling Yue, eyes accusatory.

Ling Yue rubbed her nose: "Sorry, I didn't notice just now."

She had almost forgotten that albatrosses' nesting habits vary: some like seaside scenery, seeking vast skies and oceans, build their nests on coastal cliffs; some prioritize efficiency, laying their eggs directly on bare flat ground; and others construct volcano-shaped nests, incubating their chicks inside.

The one before her was obviously the lazy type, trying to save effort.

More albatrosses stood nearby watching, as if at a show; many albatross mothers in their nests couldn't help but poke their heads out, their black eyes glimmering with novel light.

"They really are humans."

Ling Yue: "⊙▽⊙"

She hadn't walked long before she found Snowflake.

It wasn't because she was observing carefully; it was simply that Snowflake's movements were too conspicuous——

Snowflake was in front of a volcano-shaped nest, and Ling Yue felt it looked more like a big bowl.

Inside the nest was another female albatross, guarding the nest; from her graceful posture one could tell she was a very beautiful black-backed albatross.

Snowflake the black-backed albatross spread its long, narrow wings, like an elegant dancer, circling the other black-backed albatross as it danced gracefully, occasionally letting out a few loud calls to show off its beautiful wings.

It gently lowered its head toward its mate, as if wanting to nuzzle.

This whole routine is exactly the albatross courtship dance Ling Yue once saw in a documentary; besides that, they dance again every time they meet. Even if they are an old married couple, they dance when they meet again. According to research Ling Yue previously saw, this strengthens their relationship.

However, another black-backed albatross seemed somewhat resistant to it; when it tried to get close and nuzzle, it turned its head aside, and Snowflake lunged at nothing.

"Snowflake, calm down." The albatross mother drew her wings together and said somewhat aloofly.

The black-backed albatross Snowflake froze, tilted its head, and looked at its suddenly aloof spouse; the large squid it had been tightly clutching in its beak suddenly went "pop" and fell to the ground.

"Honey, what's wrong? Are you angry?" It felt uneasy and guilty, having been away from home for so long; a bird spouse raising chicks alone must be very difficult.

Its albatross mate never responded; more accurately, it seemed indifferent, lowering its head and spreading its narrow wings on its own, and from the dry, warm feathers suddenly emerged a fluffy albatross chick, with a long black beak and black eyes, its whole body pure white, like a cute doll displayed in a shop window.

The fluffy white albatross chick chirped: "Mom~ Mom~ I'm so hungry~"

"Tummy hungry~"

Upon hearing that, Snowflake instantly became excited: "Baby, Daddy has food here!"

It excitedly flapped its chest, having stored plenty of food during this time, and as it spoke it opened its beak wide.

This is also how albatrosses feed their young.

During the chick's growth period it needs a large amount of rich food, and during this time the albatross parents take turns feeding it.

They store the squid, shrimp, and other food they catch along the way in their crop, then after returning to the nest they regurgitate it to feed the chicks. Even if the flight distance is long, there's no need to worry, because the food is digested into a protein-rich concentrated oil, which is passed beak to beak to feed the chicks.

With such abundant feeding, an albatross chick needs only five months to grow to nearly the same size as its parents and learn to ride the wind and waves.

The albatross mother completely ignored it, affectionately lowering her head to nuzzle the chick, regurgitating food from her beak; the white little chick ate with soft chirps, leaning softly against her mother.

When it looked at Snowflake the albatross again, its eyes held yet another unfamiliar emotion.

But Snowflake was very excited; it pushed the large squid toward its wife, edging close to her furtively: "Honey, calm down, this is the large squid I specially brought for you, you've worked hard, honey."

Albatrosses can maintain a seventy‑year marriage naturally because they possess exceptional traits, one of which is being considerate of their partner.

It said this while stretching its neck, wanting to nuzzle its wife, but the albatross mother once again rejected its advance; its attitude was unprecedentedly firm, so much so that even Ling Yue off to the side could see it.

Ling Yue couldn't help but frown.

At that moment, the sky suddenly rang with the clear sound of wings flapping.

Looking in the direction of the sun, Ling Yue saw the albatross mother, who had constantly faced her mate with a demeanor as indifferent as a chrysanthemum, suddenly spring to her feet; a shadow fell, and Snowflake's body instantly tensed.

"Dear, you've finally come back."

The returning albatross lowered its head, extended its neck forward, and gently flapped its beautiful wings, beginning a neck‑twining dance with the albatross mother; even the little albatross chick nearby began to chirp along.

Its attitude toward the new bird and Snowflake was completely different—one heavenly, the other earthly.

Snowflake trembled as it watched its mate and another bird be so affectionate, and the whole bird froze.

It even forgot to separate them, staring blankly as they drew close, its own chick leaning against them, feeling like an ugly, superfluous third wheel.

"Nini, who is it?" After a moment, it finally managed to put its thoughts into words.

Immediately, it flew into a rage and attacked that unfamiliar albatross—its wife and children now belonged to another bird; no one could tolerate that!

Just as it, overcome with grief and indignation, was about to strike, a furious shout called a halt.

"Nini, that is, its mate—the albatross mother—quickly blocked the new bird, saying: "Haven't you caused enough trouble? Grab your large squid and get out of here at once!""

Since albatrosses favor squid as food, the fact that it could so decisively refuse shows it truly has no feeling left for Snowflake.

Snowflake could not accept this and let out a painful wail: "Nini, what on earth happened? Why are you protecting him? I'm your mate!"

The albatross Nini gave it a deep look, and that single glance made Snowflake shudder violently; in the eyes of its former intimate companion, there was not a trace of affection, only an indifference as vast and boundless as the ocean.

Nini flapped her wings, sighed, and earnestly told it: "Actually, even from the very beginning, I wanted to tell you—we're over."

"I don't even know how to say it, but anyway we're over."

Snowflake's anguish deepened as it pressed its mate for an answer: "Why? What did I do wrong that you want to leave me? We still have our child—I am the father."π_π

Their conversation made Ling Yue recall her youth, when the drama *My Fair Princess* was rerun every summer vacation; although it was later taken off the air after a certain female actress ran into trouble, there's no denying that it shaped the childhood memories of generations.

Getting back to the point, upon hearing its question, a flicker of bewilderment crossed Nini's eyes, and her demeanor grew ever more gloomy: "Why?"

"Because I'm tired."

"Look at your current state—you're injured, you're dirty, and you've lost all appeal to me."

"You missed our agreed‑upon time; if it weren't for that bird, I and the child would have starved to death, and I want to rely on another bird."

Hearing that reply, Snowflake could scarcely believe its own ears; yet right in front of it, the two birds snuggled together, their affectionate pose almost drawing out threads.

Those words dealt it a devastating blow; it never imagined its mate would suddenly abandon it, leaving it dispirited and letting its head droop.

Seeing it like this, its former mate Nini couldn't help but recall what had come before.

It had promised Snowflake it would return no later than three days hence, for this was a short trip; but it never imagined that, while it lingered alone guarding the chick, its mate would seem swallowed by the vast ocean, and even after the appointed time had passed, there was still no sign of it.

The chick in the nest could not leave its mother; it stubbornly stayed in place, and as hunger gnawed at its belly, its mind began to replay memories of the past like a revolving lantern.

As food grew harder to find, travel times lengthened, and day after day they endured hunger and deprivation, all these factors piled together—even the albatross, famed for its fidelity, could no longer bear it.

Thus, it took a new mate.

The clamorous wind swept over the weeds, and the swaying grass stems drooped low on all sides.

Snowflake gazed at its wife, now another's mate, no longer feeling the former excitement; at last it looked helplessly at Ling Yue and said, "I don't know why it left me."

It murmured softly: "You humans say we albatrosses are the most faithful seabirds, so why was I abandoned?"

Hearing that, Ling Yue couldn't help but start; she looked at the ashen‑hued, nearly desperate Snowflake albatross and sensed that it harbored a death wish.

Ling Yue sighed, seeing that reconciliation was hopeless, and could only comfort it: "According to our human scientists' 2021 data, the albatross divorce rate has risen from 1% to 8%; for various reasons they often don't even know why they divorce, simply blaming their partners."

As she spoke, Ling Yue couldn't help but frown; the birds don't understand, but humans have figured it out: because of global warming, rising seas, and pollution, albatrosses are forced to fly farther to find food, and ultimately the root cause is still humanity.

Take plastic, for example: the film crew captured that, besides hard squid beaks and fish bones, the chicks' regurgitated matter contains a large amount of plastic products; being able to vomit them up is a stroke of luck from the goddess of fortune, but there are even more cases where albatross parents mistake plastic for food, feed it to their young, and the chicks die as a result.

Thinking of this, Ling Yue's expression grew ever graver.

Snowflake the albatross didn't think about all that; it was startled by what Ling Yue had said—are there really that many divorces among its kind?

Thinking of Nini and the chick, it still couldn't help bursting into tears.

Beside them, Nini and its new mate looked on and couldn't help offering a few soft words of comfort.

Snowflower glanced at them and cried even louder.

The good thing is that it finally gave up on dying, and before Ling Yue left, it chose to build a nest beside them.

Ling Yue: "……"

Snowflower: "If it's the wife, no, if Ni Ni has any needs, I can also help bring the chicks."

As Ling Yue left, she saw it tucking its wings, opening its beak wide, waiting beside them to feed the chicks.

Seeing how pitiful it looked, Ling Yue swallowed the words she wanted to say back down, and couldn't help but say softly: "It's already so pitiful; better not tell it the truth."

Jun Jun, upon hearing that, couldn't help but ask her: "What truth?"

Ling Yue glanced at Ni Ni's new mate, that elegant black-backed albatross: "Ni Ni's newly found mate is a female."

Albatrosses cannot distinguish males from females, because their appearance is almost identical; some even only realize after courtship that the partner is a male albatross.

For humans, the method is much simpler. Albatrosses dance with each other; the female and male steps differ slightly—for example, stretching the neck backward and placing the head on the back is a movement unique to male albatrosses.

Just now, Ling Yue, without relying on the system, discovered through the dance that the albatross was female; Ni Ni should know, but Snowflower does not.

If she were to tell Snowflower the truth……

Ling Yue imagined that scene and couldn't help but cover her forehead—

The albatross Snowflower stood on the cliff's edge, overcome with grief: "My wife would rather snuggle with a female than be with me, wuu wuu wuu…… I can't go on living!"

"I'll jump into the sea to feed the tiger sharks!"

Ling Yue: -_-#

Speaking of this, Ling Yue glanced at the task list where a task lay idle, and suddenly wondered: if only half completed, would they still give the task reward?

By the time she thought of that, she had already returned to the Princess Ship and was resting in the room prepared for her by the captain.

Warm light showered down; Ling Yue shook her head, dispelling those thoughts, the albatross matter settled, and she still needed to find someone.

Suddenly, her heart jumped, as if sensing something; Ling Yue decided not to rest, opened her computer, and prepared to go live to kill time.

To her surprise, the number of viewers surging in was far more than she had expected.

Originally, according to Ling Yue's estimate, a large portion of people should have been watching the all-day live stream of Ya Ya and Mei Xiang's family.

【Ahhh the streamer went live! I have to tell my buddies!】

【Is this the streamer who saves the poor panda? Finally got the live broadcast!】

Amid the cheers, countless tips were mixed in, and Ling Yue realized that many of these people were there to thank her, with a portion of netizens in the comment section telling her Ya Ya's current condition.

【Ya Ya is doing much better now; it and Mei Xiang have become good friends, and Xiao Qiji especially likes this aunt!】

【Ya Ya and company, in just a few days they'll be able to return home…… wuu wuu wuu, the more I say the sorer my eyes get, I haven't cried, but Ya Ya really had it rough……】

Ling Yue: "……"

Actually, her eyes were a bit sore too.

【If it weren't for the streamer, it would still take at least a few months! Plus the Xiao Qiji family of giant pandas—they won't be back until the end of the year QAQ】

【I'm different—I'm thrilled! Streamer, you don't know, seeing those Americans act all timid and not dare to fart in front of their own countrymen feels amazing! (o≧▽≦)o！】

【I heard that the animal association and those black-hearted zoos are getting their comeuppance! Surely it's our streamer's doing?】

【Cough cough cough, better not say that, or the livestream might get taken down……】

【Exactly! It's all karma, and it has nothing to do with our streamer. Whistle. JPG】

Ling Yue: Well said, don't say it again next time.

She gave a light cough, changed the topic, and said: "Today we continue the free raffle; it might not last long, so let's get started without further ado."

【Yay! o(≧▽≦)o！】

The livestream's netizens, upon hearing her words, were extremely energized; a few minutes later, the results came out.

Ling Yue smiled slightly: "Welcome, Bu Bu's owner; may I ask what you'd like to consult?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a notification popped up that Bu Bu's owner had tipped a hundred bright pearls—worth 100,000.

Although it couldn't compare to the previous hundred-million-yuan rotation bombardment, it was enough to surprise the netizens a little.

Ling Yue hadn't even seen Bu Bu's owner yet when their voice came through: "Wow, are you really the streamer? Did I just connect with the streamer?"

"I really like you, Yueyue Streamer—I'm your loyal fan!"

The lively, pleasant voice sounded like wind chimes under the eaves, trembling slightly, and Bu Bu's owner finally revealed their true appearance.

Even more striking than her reaction were the livestream's netizens, as beautiful roses filled the screen, with Bu Bu's owner standing amid that sea of blossoms.

【Wow, what a pretty lady!】

【I want to shout it out, Miss is so beautiful!】

Bu Bu's owner almost cried, wiped their tears, and choked out: "Really quite a coincidence, Yueyue Streamer—I never expected to be drawn today; this must be a blessing from heaven!"

She clasped her hands, pure white gauze draping down, her lovely face breaking into a happy smile, like a white lily swaying in the wind。：，，.