On the night the news report was released, Chu Tingwu did not rest. The night of Sang City felt so familiar that, even from a distance, Chu Tingwu could almost hear the sound of the waves.
She must have really improved in various aspects, especially when compared to a year ago.
A year had passed, but the night of the city had not changed much.
During the day, Chu Tingwu had taken Diandian through a shortcut. By night, the red-footed falcon, having rested enough, seemed to sense something and crouched nervously at the cage door, chirping softly.
If they traveled through the night, they might catch up with the advance team.
A young bird that had left just a few hours later needed so many days to catch up with the migrating flock.
But it was finally going to make it.
Since the estimated position was not far off, Chu Tingwu's car was ahead when another vehicle arrived to pick up Professor Mi and his team at the airport.
Perhaps at first, they thought the success rate of this mission was extremely low and its significance unclear. It seemed as if the bird was chasing humans, but it also seemed as if the migratory birds needed human help.
After all, a red-footed falcon like Diandian, without adult birds to guide it, faced the biggest problem of not knowing the route. And no machine had ever successfully "guided" a migration.
Now, a real person had done it.
What was Chu Tingwu's magic? While in the car, Professor Mi thought about it. He recalled the young girl's performance with cats, wild wolves, and other animals, and could only conclude: Some people are just naturally gifted, destined to be "friends" with animals.
They had come to gather firsthand information.
A young bird rejoining its flock after falling behind before migration had indeed happened in real life, but it was usually the result of coincidence and had never been artificially intervened. So, humans often couldn't predict it, and there wasn’t detailed information, not even video footage, mostly just textual descriptions and inferences.
This made Professor Mi feel somewhat embarrassed—as if Chu Tingwu had done all the hard work, and the rest of them were just enjoying the fruits of her labor at a celebration.
But when they started hiking up the mountain, Professor Mi was uncertain.
The main flock of red-footed falcons was currently in Sang City, but within two hours, before dawn, they would take off.
So Chu Tingwu had to return Diandian to the flock within two hours. The young bird hadn’t slept, but it looked quite energized. The group had initially worried that the bird might fly off directly and the drone wouldn’t capture everything, or that it wouldn’t be able to find the migrating group. But upon arrival, they realized that Diandian, though spirited, hadn’t flown away at all. It just huddled beside Chu Tingwu’s neck, urging her to speed up.
However, the resting place of the migratory flock was extremely inconvenient for humans.
Professor Mi was confident he had prepared himself for the hike.
But he hadn’t prepared himself to climb the mountain so quickly.
Among highly educated, elderly individuals, he was relatively fit, and his fellow travelers were no weaklings. But there was still a "slight" gap between their fitness levels and that of a physically strong teenager comparable to a professional athlete.
When Professor Mi sat down, he glanced at the live stream. Chu Tingwu was already standing at the edge of a cliff.
After today, the red-footed falcons would cross the sea. They were currently resting on the cliffs. As a precaution, Chu Tingwu had prepared gliding equipment.
She kindly opened the live stream at this moment, both for her fellow workers and for her fans. Some night owls entered the room and pointed at the shadows on the screen.
[Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many red-footed falcons. One just flew past!]
[Uh, that’s a seagull.]
[Haha, there are a lot of seagulls in Sang City. Feeding seagulls is quite famous there. I wonder if the red-footed falcons will get into a fight... Speaking of which, is that one in the bottom right corner?]
Chu Tingwu: "That’s also a seagull."
The red-footed falcons and seagulls had indeed fought, but since their diets overlapped little, they managed to coexist somewhat peacefully. The main flock of red-footed falcons was now resting below the cliff.
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Chu Tingwu could feel her scent fading. She calmly walked along the edge of the cliff, the surroundings pitch black, and she didn’t ask the drone to provide light.
Although the drone’s sound was minimal, red-footed falcons, being small birds, were sensitive to noise. So, the drone later stopped on a rock opposite the cliff, serving as a fixed multi-angle shot. Chu Tingwu continued the live stream using VR equipment.
Viewers who had directly climbed into the VR experience warehouse in the middle of the night watched the live stream for a while and sent some confused bullet comments:
[Uh, does Chu Tingwu not have footsteps?]
The realism of VR was strong, so some details in the live stream could be directly observed. Even though this fan was more feeling than fact, she felt Chu Tingwu’s footsteps were too light, making her feel as if she had become a ghost.
Maybe she was a ghost?
Chu Tingwu’s presence was only that of the wind that couldn’t penetrate her. The wind brushed past, and she seemed like a moving stone.
Diandian, perched on her shoulder, moved to her head and chirped into the wind, snapping the viewers back to reality.
Chu Tingwu gently took the little red-footed falcon from her head, knelt at the edge of the cliff, and tried to throw it out to let it return to the flock—after all, they were so close, and 99 steps were already complete.
But the red-footed falcon's claws clung tightly to Chu Tingwu’s fingers.
[What’s wrong with Diandian?]
[Maybe it’s a bit scared?]
[Can birds not recognize their own kind?]
[Most birds can recognize their own kind, even specific individuals, but our research on red-footed falcons isn’t enough... So maybe Diandian’s behavior is just unique to it.]
In researching a whole species, both the characteristics of the group and the personality tendencies of individuals must be considered.
For example, maybe Diandian was just shy.
Chu Tingwu also saw it: Diandian was actually timid.
This young bird, although it had spent less time with Chu Tingwu than with its own kind, had grown accustomed to Chu Tingwu’s pheromones during this migrating period and had developed a sense of dependence.
Just like transferring to a new class and wanting a friend to accompany you into the classroom, especially since, in Diandian’s perception, "friends" were also in this class.
Chu Tingwu murmured softly: "You’re not transferring... You’re going back."
She loosened her hand, pressed against the rocks at the edge of the cliff, and in the next second, she was already on the rock face.
Some fans "Whoa" were startled, but others felt nostalgic:
[Don’t worry, Master Chu has climbed here before, back when VR live streaming hadn’t even come out yet.]
[Right, right! Back then, someone even called the police, and Chu was taken to the police station for a lecture. At that time, there was a newspaper report, and I went out of my way to get a copy, treating it like a limited edition of Chu’s merchandise!]
[Uh, this peripheral... Strictly speaking, it could be considered Chu’s.]
How couldn’t it be? It was a limited edition with a date!
Someone else realized—
[Wait, you guys are fake fans! The locations are different, actually. And back then, wasn’t it climbing from bottom to top? Anyone who’s practiced, which is harder?]
[Speaking of practice, everyone got the location wrong, the directions are off. The difficulty needs specific analysis, but for me, both are very hard. The most important thing about free climbing is preparing in advance by observing the climbing route. Before, when climbing from bottom to top, even though it was at night, there was at least a chance to observe the route. But now, climbing from top to bottom, purely relying on blind climbing, the angle is still inclined... I can’t figure out what the streamer is relying on to decide where to step.]
If Chu Tingwu were to reply, she might say:
"Relying on the system."
Of course, intuition was useful, but she wasn’t that formalistic. With the system capable of scanning the surrounding environment and providing a three-dimensional map, why force herself to rely solely on her own judgment instead of using the map for reference?
As she stepped down, approaching all the red-footed falcons around her, her scent became even fainter, almost blending in with the rocks and plants.
Sitting on her shoulder, Diandian hesitated, repeatedly lowering its head and chirping. Eventually, Chu Tingwu grabbed the neckline of her shirt and gave a gentle shake.
The scarlet rain falcon took flight.
It circled around Chu Tingwu without getting too close or landing again.
The surrounding scarlet rain falcons seemed to have been awakened. A few flew out, as if on patrol, and eventually, when they returned, Diandian followed them.
The audience felt a bit wistful.
Chu Tingwu still dangled from the cliff, but after glancing downward, she began to climb slowly upward.
The viewers seemed to be expecting something more dramatic, something grander, or perhaps a scene where the animals showed deep human emotions, reluctant to part. So, they chattered away in the comment section, much noisier than the birds.
Perhaps what disappointed them was that when Diandian flew back in, in a blink, they couldn't recognize which one was the special little bird among the many.
Chu Tingwu smiled. "But isn't that a good thing?"
She glanced down once more. This time, the audience wasn't too afraid of this perspective; instead, they were quite eager for her to say something more. Just as Chu Tingwu was about to speak, she suddenly paused.
Turning her head, she closed her eyes and pressed her face against the cliff wall. Instantly, the sea breeze and the sound of her heartbeat reached her ears, followed by the distant rumbling.
In that moment, she restrained all her senses, feeling only the silence and the faintest white light that she could see even with her eyes closed, along with the heat that came with it.
The next second, she opened her eyes.
The bottom of the cliff was still illuminated by flares, as bright as daylight, followed by a chaotic, noisy sound. The scarlet rain falcons were almost all awakened, flapping their wings in panic. Some flew erratically, while others seemed about to plummet into the sea at any moment.
The system explained quickly:
"Two minors, their actions have been captured on surveillance... I've found their information, they purchased the materials online, they've been watching your broadcast and following the news... It seems to be family issues, wanting to make a big splash as a form of revenge..."
It was rare for Chu Tingwu not to hear any "anger" in the system's voice, only a kind of indifferent calm.
Just a few seconds earlier, these two minors from Sang City had thrown flares toward the cliff using a clumsy method. Luckily, they had underestimated the amount and distance, so they didn't actually hit anything, but it seriously disturbed the resting scarlet rain falcons.
Their purpose seemed to be to attract attention or to exact revenge on their family or society—but none of that mattered anymore, because the damage had already been done.
Also, because Chu Tingwu had heard the calls among the scarlet rain falcons as they prepared to set out.
They had decided to abandon their rest, and the lead bird circled once before flapping its wings and flying out.
The scarlet rain falcons were leaving Sang City ahead of schedule.
But aside from a few birds that had rallied, the others were in panic, much like the fans in the live broadcast.
Chu Tingwu suddenly let out a chirp.
Then came a longer whistle. With the aid of long and short whistle tones, her voice pierced through the sea breeze at that moment, overpowering the cries of the birds. She abandoned the three-point rock climbing method, and experienced viewers noticed that only her feet seemed to be holding her to the rock wall.
But the cliff face was concave, and Chu Tingwu was practically hanging upside down!
Had the flares fogged the host's mind?
The next second, Chu Tingwu spread her arms and leapt downward. A simple yet delicate glider unfolded behind her.
She caught up with the lead bird, and the following flock fell into formation behind her.