Animal Detective

The sun was setting.

Inside the enclosure, Doniya held a curry comb, grooming Hong Gu’er.

Hong Gu’er kept his head down, munching on grass. He occasionally looked up, a hint of dissatisfaction in his eyes: ’Stop brushing the same spot over and over.’

Doniya, looking lost and dejected, repeated the brushing motion mechanically.

Not far away, her parents were pouring feed into a manger. Her mother saw her daughter’s listless actions, sighed softly, and nudged Emuqi, who was beside her.

"Emuqi, look. The life has gone right out of your daughter."

Emuqi glanced up, then looked away, completely unconcerned.

Just then, on a distant grassy slope, two police dogs—one black, one blue-gray—chased each other past.

Doniya whipped her head around to look, her eyes widening.

It was Tianxiong, and... Tian Kui!

Doniya blinked hard, almost thinking she was hallucinating.

’Didn’t Tian Kui already leave with Shen Xin?’

At that moment, from the direction of the distant camp, a large white bird shot into the sky, soaring away with a whistle.

Teddy!

Doniya’s heart leaped. She vaulted onto Hong Gu’er’s back and hurried off.

In an instant, she had reached the camp.

Rounding the container housing, Doniya immediately spotted Shen Xin standing with Lakshen at the office entrance, both looking up at the sky.

Reining her horse to a sharp halt, Doniya quickly dismounted and rushed into the camp.

"You... How are you back?" Doniya’s face was a picture of disbelief, an emotion erupting inside her like a volcano.

"Ugh, don’t even ask!"

Shen Xin looked speechless and frustrated. "You have no idea. I made it all the way to Anjing, but Teddy started acting up. He was acting like he was going to die. What could I do? I had to come back."

He had Teddy here and Yuexiao in Nanjiang. Shen Xin was at his wit’s end.

Doniya hummed in acknowledgment, then bit her lip and asked, "So... are you still leaving?"

Shen Xin replied as if it were obvious, "Of course. I have to leave eventually."

As soon as he said it, he slapped his forehead, remembering something.

’I was so focused on flying back, I completely forgot to tell Ding Yuwei.’

He had mentioned in the group chat yesterday that he would be back today, and Ding Yuwei had even said she’d drive to the airport to pick him up.

Given the time, she had probably been waiting at the airport for two or three hours already.

Shen Xin cursed inwardly and quickly started a video call with Ding Yuwei.

The call connected. She was in her car.

Shen Xin asked cautiously, "Are you on your way back from the airport?"

Ding Yuwei shot him a quick glare and complained, "If you weren’t coming back, you could have at least said something."

Shen Xin quickly apologized and explained the reason.

"I couldn’t help it. I was already in Anjing, waiting to board, when things went south over here."

’The way Teddy was acting, it felt like he really would have smashed his head against the cage until he died.’

Ding Yuwei glanced sideways at the camera, a half-smile on her face. "What happened? Been out collecting hearts again?"

"Hey, what kind of talk is that!"

Shen Xin raised an eyebrow. ’What a thing to say. It’s a bird, not a person.’

A few steps away, Doniya overheard and was suddenly flustered.

Shen Xin didn’t notice and continued explaining the situation to Ding Yuwei.

For now, the only thing to do was figure out a way to get Teddy settled first.

"Alright, just be careful. We’re fine over here. Yang Zeran is doing a great job leading," Ding Yuwei teased at the end.

Shen Xin wasn’t bothered at all. "That’s because I have a good eye for talent," he said.

After a few more words, he finally hung up.

Of course, he still had to call his family.

Once he was done with that, Shen Xin quickly contacted Teacher Chen.

When he heard that Teddy had started acting like he was going to die the moment Shen Xin left, Chen Wanbin on the other end of the line was struck silent.

He remarked wistfully, "I knew that some animals, like gorillas or dolphins, can form deep bonds with humans, but a Hunting Falcon?"

He smacked his lips and trailed off.

He had never imagined a Hunting Falcon could be so intelligent and form such a profound connection with a human.

Shen Xin fell silent as well.

’That’s right, dolphins do that too.’

Shen Xin brought up his idea again: to find a mate for Teddy.

Chen Wanbin sighed again, saying it wasn’t that easy.

It was the same old problem. At this time of year, the Hunting Falcons on the steppe had already paired up and were about to start laying and incubating eggs.

Where were they supposed to find a female bird?

"If we were talking about gyrfalcons, there might be some hope. Their breeding season is just starting in May."

"And we discovered through genetic testing that Teddy does have some gyrfalcon genes. It’s probably like I speculated before—he’s the result of an accidental cross between a Hunting Falcon and a gyrfalcon."

"But the problem is, gyrfalcons are migratory birds. Right now, they’ve flown near the Arctic to breed. There’s no way for us to get there."

The more he spoke, the slimmer the hope became.

The thing was, Chen Wanbin hadn’t expected the situation to be this severe—that Teddy would act like he was going to die the moment Shen Xin left.

He told Shen Xin not to worry. He would contact the observation stations in the neighboring leagues to see if there were any lone female Hunting Falcons.

Not just the leagues west of Suihar, but also Anxi Province in the northwest. There are Hunting Falcons distributed across the plateau there too.

"Teacher Chen, thank you for going to all this trouble." Shen Xin expressed his gratitude and ended the video call.

Doniya sat down across from Shen Xin, her eyes fixed on him.

After a moment’s hesitation, Doniya asked, "Can’t you just take him with you?"

Shen Xin waved his hands dismissively. "Don’t say things like that. He’s a Class I protected species. You can’t just take one away. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to raise him back in Nanjiang."

’The city rats probably aren’t as fat and tasty as the ones on the steppe.’

’And then there are the other birds.’

’These days, even a common sparrow in the city is a protected animal, which makes them quite rare.’

’Plus, Nanjiang is full of common birds. If Teddy went there, it would be like a max-level player returning to the starter village.’

’If he started hunting birds everywhere, it would be a huge problem.’

’Of course, with my Affinity level, I could probably train him to only eat the food I provide, but it would still be a huge inconvenience.’

Just as he was thinking this, Teddy returned from a hunt and immediately presented his catch to Shen Xin.

That night, Teddy seemed to have learned his lesson. He refused to go into the cage no matter what, and only fell asleep after stubbornly perching at the head of Shen Xin’s bed.

He was afraid that if he so much as blinked, Shen Xin would disappear again without a word.

The next day, Shen Xin drove to Chen Wanbin’s ecological observation station.

Doniya rushed over early in the morning, insisting on going with him.

Shen Xin let her come along. When they met Chen Wanbin and the others, he just shook his head, saying that he had consulted a bunch of people and several observation stations, but none had any records of lone female Hunting Falcons.

At this point in the season, the paired-up falcons were all busy being lovey-dovey.

Those that had failed to find a mate had already given up hope and started hunting to prepare for next year’s breeding season.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Shen Xin was completely out of ideas.

Chen Wanbin was skeptical. "A bird acts purely on biological instinct," he said. "Can it really be willing to die for a human?"

He decided to run a test.

First, they would hide Teddy, and then Shen Xin would leave.

They would test Teddy’s tolerance limit.

Once he started acting up, they’d see how long he could keep it up.

In his view, so what if the bird threw a tantrum? It was like weaning a child; it wasn’t as if it would actually starve itself to death.

He felt that as long as they got past this initial phase, everything would be fine.

Shen Xin had actually considered trying to lower the Affinity level, but after he had disappeared yesterday, the level stubbornly hadn’t dropped upon his return.

So that approach probably wouldn’t be easy either.

And so, Shen Xin drove away.

But just over an hour later, a frantic Chen Wanbin called him, telling him to come back immediately.

He said they couldn’t control Teddy. He was pecking frantically at the cage and Chen Wanbin was afraid he’d injure his beak.

If his beak got injured, he’d be done for.

Shen Xin had to quickly get on a video call with them to calm him down.

When Shen Xin rushed back, he saw Teddy immediately leap onto his shoulder and repeatedly nuzzle his cheek. Chen Wanbin let out a long sigh, completely out of ideas.

Then, he had the same thought as Huang Mingjie: if nothing else worked, Shen Xin should just stay and study animals with him.

"Teacher Chen, let’s not joke around."

Shen Xin was rather speechless.

Chen Wanbin scratched his thinning hair, then gritted his teeth. "In that case, just take him back with you for now."

Shen Xin was taken aback. ’He’s joking again.’

"I’m serious." Chen Wanbin, however, looked completely earnest as he explained his analysis to Shen Xin. "Look, I think he simply sees you as his mate."

"During the breeding season, his duty is to protect his mate. It’s his instinct."

"If you try to forcibly separate from him now, he won’t be able to accept it. So why not just wait until after the breeding season?"

"You see, their breeding season is from April to June. It’ll be over in less than two months."

"Once the breeding season is over, he might just leave on his own. If you take care of him for these two months, I don’t think it will be a big problem."

A Hunting Falcon can’t survive for long in a Southern city, but for just two months, Chen Wanbin felt it wouldn’t be an issue.

Even if he had to be kept in a cage.

"Is... is that really okay?" Shen Xin looked at Teddy, then added, "The main thing is, what if I can’t take proper care of him? And what about the permits?"

This was a Class I protected species; it was no joke.

The more Chen Wanbin thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. "I’ll figure out the permits," he said. "It shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll just file it under conservation research."

"As for his daily care, we’ll stay in close contact. If you’re careful, I think it should be fine."

Otherwise, if Shen Xin left and Teddy really did starve himself to death, it would be a terrible outcome.

There are only one or two thousand Hunting Falcons in the entire country; every single one is a precious treasure.

Not to mention such a rare genetic mutant, which is of great significance for the conservation of both Hunting Falcon and gyrfalcon populations.

Shen Xin looked at Teddy on his shoulder.

"What do you say? Are you willing to come with me?"

Teddy tilted his head, staring intently at Shen Xin.

[Willing]

He might as well have said, "Wherever you go, I will go."