Ning Fei studied the chick in his hand. This chick was rather big. It was screeching shrilly with its beak and also looked hungry.
I’ve seen all the species in the village. What species is this? thought Ning Fei quietly to himself.
“Its beak is light brown, and the sides are pale gray. Its eyes are yellowish, and the toes are dark yellow. Its claws are also black. It should be a falcon,” Ning Fei examined the chick closely as he murmured to himself.
If it was indeed a falcon, then Ning Fei couldn’t help but be impressed with the cuckoo’s guts.
The falcon was at the top of the bird food chain. It could fly extremely well and possessed excellent eyesight.
Falcons held a very important position in the ecology of nature. To humans, most types of falcons had the excellent image of being powerful, brave, and bold. Thus, many countries had chosen a type of falcon as their national bird.
Such a wonderful creature had been bullied by the cuckoo chick.
In reality, such situations were common.
A recent popular online video had even been circulating. It was about a cuckoo that had been laying its egg in the nest of a peregrine falcon. The falcon mother seized the cuckoo’s neck and began to pluck off its feathers. The cuckoo could only wail in agony.
This cuckoo really had guts.
Ning Fei held the chick in front of the screen as he said, “Viewers, this should be a falcon, but I’m not too sure of the species.
“I intend to adopt it.” Ning Fei really liked this bird very much and was excited to rear it.
Ning Fei had particularly liked two types of animals. The first was mammals like dogs, cats, and tiger and lion cubs. The second group was birds.
“Dear viewers, perhaps this magical tree had worked its powers. I’ve now saved a baby falcon. The survival rate of a chick is very low, so I will direct all my efforts and attention to saving this chick.
“A falcon’s nature is similar to that of an eagle. It tends to attack and peck people. So if you don’t have the experience of rearing such birds, please don’t attempt to nurture these ferocious birds. If you really like birds, you can try a parrot, crested myna, or bulbul.”
After Ning Fei had explained patiently, he strode briskly back to the temple.
The viewers all exclaimed and gasped.
‘Oh dear lord. Is that a falcon? I heard that it’s the king of the birds!’
‘The host is such a kind-hearted man. He is saving this falcon chick!’
‘Is this for show? How could there be such a coincidence?’
‘How could it be fake? You have seen the tree. Would you be able to climb it?’
‘This chick seems to be a gyrfalcon. It would tend to be more ferocious by nature.’ Someone with the name of “Wildlife Lover” expressed his opinion.
Other than that, the rest of the comments were all clamoring for Ning Fei to smash the cuckoo.
‘Host, put the little falcon back, and kill that cuckoo instead. I’ll send you a rocket!’
‘Yeah! Throw that cuckoo to death or to the ground!’
On his way back, Ning Fei glanced at the screen. He noticed that many of the viewers had asked him to return the chick and to kill that cuckoo chick.
Ning Fei had no idea how he should explain.
The method that the cuckoo had used to lay its egg was indeed incorrigible, but to smash and kill that cuckoo chick was also a horrible and excessive act.
Besides, a cuckoo had behaved in that way due to its nature and genes. Wanting to kill the cuckoo chick was due to the biased emotions of an individual, and that, certainly, went against the respect for nature that Ning Fei believed in.
In addition, the magical tree was really too high. There was no way he could climb to the top. Even if he did so, it would be too dangerous.
“Dear viewers, sorry. I can’t kill the cuckoo chick. All I can do is to save this little falcon and set it free,” Ning Fei replied calmly.
Quite a number of viewers threatened to cancel their subscription as a result, and almost 10,000 of his viewers left instantly.
In reality, most of the viewers were pretending to leave as they wanted to threaten and coerce Ning Fei into killing the cuckoo chick. They were planning to return quickly. However, Ning Fei wouldn’t betray his own principles for the sake of benefits.
On his journey back to the temple, he was racking his brains on ways he could help the little falcon.
“From now on, your name shall be Little Falcon.” Ning Fei first made a simple nest using cardboard. He then taped the sides and added some cotton to the base. Finally, he placed some dried leaves and grass inside.
He looked at the popularity statistics on the system. His popularity points had reached 16,000, and he could use 4,000 points.
Ning Fei didn’t even contemplate before he made the decision to use the popularity points on the Silver lucky draw. He was hoping that he could obtain some tools to save Little Falcon’s life.
Alas, luck wasn’t on his side. Twice he had won vegetable seeds, and for the remaining attempts, he won a packet of fertilizer and a magical band-aid.
“In that case, I can only rely on myself.” Ning Fei shook his head as he sighed to himself.
A chick’s survival rate wasn’t high, and the most pressing issue right now was to find food to feed the chick.
“Viewers, I need to think of ways to save this chick. When I caught it in mid-air earlier on, it sustained some injuries. Furthermore, it has just been born and is really weak right now. It doesn’t have much strength left,” Ning Fei spoke to his viewers.
The viewers gazed at the chick and realized that Ning Fei was right. That chick did look unhealthy.
‘Host, please save it!’
‘Host, you’re so kind. But the chick looks like it’s about to die…’
‘Host, press on!’
‘A good man would lead a blessed life!’
The rest of the viewers were all rooting for Ning Fei.
Ning Fei quickly researched about feeding chicks. Then he scurried to a tree outside of the temple to catch some worms before he put the worms in front of the falcon.
Actually, Ning Fei had a slight fear of insects. He instinctively loathed them.
But for the sake of the chick, he couldn’t care less.
Little Falcon noticed the food and opened its beak excitedly. It chirped shrilly as it swallowed a worm. In no time at all, Little Falcon ate up all the worms before turning quiet. It tilted its head as it surveyed Ning Fei.
Ning Fei exhaled a sigh of relief at the sight of Little Falcon looking much better.
At least, it was still alive. The chick had a stronger will to live than he had imagined.
He had seen people selling little chicks for five yuan. Many children bought a chick and brought it back home, but the chicks would refuse to eat anything, and most died the next day.
Ning Fei was worried that Little Falcon might end up dying too, so he knew that he couldn’t keep catching worms for Little Falcon to eat every day.
“Ding! System has detected Host’s needs. Currently offering the skill of bird taming in exchange for Host fulfilling a mission. Would you like to accept?”
Ning Fei’s brain rang with the System’s voice.
“Skill of bird taming?”
Surprise and delight flickered in his eyes.
What luck was this?
Ning Fei instantly activated it.
“Host has chosen to activate mission.”
“Mission’s summary. In 24 hours, you have to achieve 200,000 viewers. Be reminded that any form of cheating will result in the failure of the mission.”
“Reward for the mission is the skill of bird taming.”
“The skill of bird taming entails training and techniques. At the same time, the bird will be more receptive towards Host.”
Ning Fei couldn’t help but knit his eyebrows when he heard the mission.
He had to hit 200,000 viewers…
His current viewership was at an estimated 120,000. It shouldn’t be that hard to hit 200,000, but to do it within 24 hours was a challenge due to time constraints. If he wanted to increase his popularity in such a short period, he needed some sort of event to happen.
Ning Fei glanced at the skills he had obtained and could only use the ultimate skill of cutting.
At the thought of that, he had an idea.
