Closer to Revealing My True Self
Chapter 184 - 153: National Duck_1

Chapter 184: Chapter 153: National Duck_1

Feng Yi stood there staring at the bird that had flown into the yard. Although unfamiliar with its species, his alert radar was already beeping insistently.

Just after he’d said how quiet it was around here, he’d been proven wrong.

Moreover, this situation... it felt eerily familiar, didn’t it?

On the other end of the line, Qian Feiyang hadn’t heard Feng Yi speak and asked, "What’s wrong? It sounds a bit strange. Has another bird flown into your house?"

"Yeah." Feng Yi continued to stare in that direction.

"Is it that famous kingfisher you mentioned earlier?"

"No, it’s not. I need to handle something else first, we’ll talk later when I’m free."

"Alright." Qian Feiyang wasn’t one to dawdle.

After finishing the call, Feng Yi looked over again.

Ding, who was guest-starring as a gardener in the yard, had heard the commotion and was already heading towards the koi pond.

Seeing Ding head over, Feng Yi didn’t rush downstairs to check but instead turned on the camera function of his phone and snapped several photos in burst mode.

The photos came out quite clear, the camera was powerful.

The bird that had landed in the koi pond, sensing Ding’s approach, fluttered its wings with a ruffling noise through the yard before taking off again and flying towards Cui Lake next door.

Feng Yi stood on the balcony, watching the bird land on the surface of Cui Lake.

Tourists on the lakeshore were enjoying the lakeside scenery when they exclaimed upon seeing the bird land. They talked excitedly with their companions, and some stepped onto the lake’s boardwalk with phones in hand, moving closer to where the bird was.

Then, Feng Yi saw the bird jet off across the surface of the lake as if it had installed turbochargers, darting a good distance away.

A certainty struck him – this bird was built for speed.

Even as the bird flew away, Feng Yi couldn’t relax, sensing more trouble was winging its way to him.

Turning his gaze away, Feng Yi opened the species identification app developed by the Conservation Bureau and chose a few of the photos he had just taken to identify.

The bird that landed in the koi pond was about half a meter long, with a black back and mostly white and grey body, adorned with some scale-like patterns. Its neck and head were dark green, and it sported a tuft of fluffy feathers on the back of its head that looked incredibly dramatic, like the hairstyle of someone who had been electrocuted.

Perhaps due to the good sunlight today, the shooting angle and timing had been particularly fortuitous, and the deep green feathers of the bird’s head and neck reflected an eye-blinding metallic sheen in the sunlight, especially the few feathers sticking out from the back of its head, which seemed exceptionally defiant in their vividness.

Feng Yi had never seen such a bird before.

As the icon for "Photo Identification in Progress" rotated, the identification program automatically zoomed in on parts of the bird’s patterned body for a second verification.

Then, several lines of highlighted text popped up:

[Scaly-sided Merganser]

[National First-Class Protected Wild Animal!]

[Records indicate that the Scaly-sided Merganser is rarely found overwintering in your current region. If spotted, please contact the local relevant authorities immediately. Phone number...]

A long list of different department numbers followed, along with multiple landline phone numbers for each department.

"Scaly-sided Merganser? A duck?"

Feng Yi’s eyes lingered on the words "National First-Class Protected Wild Animal" for a moment.

In the yard, Ding asked, "Boss, what was that bird that just flew through the yard?"

Feng Yi: "Life-Imprisonment Duck!"

The pruning shears in Ding’s hand nearly flew out of his grip.

"National... National first-class?"

"National first-class," Feng Yi nodded.

Ding felt relieved; fortunately, he hadn’t attempted to catch it. If he had applied too much force by accident, and something happened to the bird... or duck, no telling what kind of trouble that would bring!

"Next time I see it, I’ll call Bing directly; he has more experience," Ding said.

Feng Yi responded and flipped back to the photos on his phone, then clicked through to the link with more detailed information from the identification page:

[Not every Scaly-sided Merganser is a Scaly-sided Merganser from China]

He compared it with some of the characteristics in the photo.

A certainty struck him – this indeed was a Scaly-sided Merganser from China.

It had a sharper beak with a hook, ideal for catching fish.

The scaly patterns on the duck featured in the photos he’d captured were very distinct. These scale-like patterns are also considered one of the most distinctive characteristics of this species.

According to the information, this duck did not call frequently and was not particularly noisy.

In fact, even with only this single individual, it wouldn’t have much impact even if it did call; it wasn’t as if it was squatting permanently at his home.

But what if...?

What if it wasn’t the only one?

The Scaly-sided Mergansers migrate south for the winter from the north.

Feng Yi looked up into the sky.

As expected, the main flock was arriving fashionably late.

The leading duck had already caught a few fish; the rest were only just getting here.

Feng Yi estimated roughly twenty or thirty Scaly-sided Mergansers flying overhead and landing on the surface of Cui Lake.

Among this flock, some looked like the one that passed through earlier, just that their heads were blacker, not as green. Others had different colors, with light brown heads.

Feng Yi went back to the identification page he had checked earlier.

The one that took koi just now was male, so within this overwintering group, the ones with different colors could be female?

These particulars, however, were not of immediate concern.

Feng Yi sent a message directly to Wei Hong Xun, along with the photos he took earlier and screenshots of the identification page.

Although the identification page provided many department phone numbers, Feng Yi was acquainted with the people at the Conservation Bureau, so he sent the message to them, knowing they would deal with the situation efficiently.

As expected, it took less than 10 seconds for Wei Hong Xun to call him.

"Are you sure about these photos you took at your house just now? There was only one?" Wei Hong Xun asked excitedly.

"There was only one at first, but now there’s a group of about twenty or thirty, and they’ve flown to Cui Lake. Many tourists there have seen them. I’ll shoot a video for you."

With visitors playing on the shores, the flock that flew in moved away from the crowds, but with the powerful camera, Feng Yi could still capture them. The footage he captured was a bit blurry, but it was enough to see what needed to be seen.