Chapter 17: “Woo… Woof!” The German Shepherd lowered its front legs and slapped down with a paw.(part 1)

The bubbles in the sparkling water don’t last long before popping one by one.

The German Shepherd, being close by, got hit directly.

Its head shrank back, noticing the largest bubble above.

Under the sunlight’s refraction, it shimmered with colors.

The puppy blinked and cautiously brought its nose closer.

Before it could sniff, the bubble popped with a ‘plop.’

The German Shepherd immediately stood at attention.

“Woof!”

It got hit!

“Whimper… woof!” The German Shepherd lowered its front legs and slapped the ground with a paw.

“Haha.”

Wen Youning reached over and rubbed its head.

“Why are you fighting with sparkling water?”

“Whimper!” The German Shepherd tilted its head up and nudged her palm with its nose.

‘I’m very powerful.’

“Keep it up, you’ll definitely defeat the sparkling water.”

Wen Youning picked up the fallen bottle.

“I’m leaving.

See you tomorrow.”

“Woof!”

…

The live stream at home was still running.

A little tabby cat was pacing back and forth in front of the camera.

The AI hadn’t flagged the stream as inactive, seemingly approving of the cat as a substitute host.

When Wen Youning returned, the little tabby cat was slamming the keyboard, making a ‘clack-clack’ sound.

The live chat screen was filled with random letters typed by the cat.

“What are you guys talking about?” Wen Youning picked up the cat, took her seat, and realized that her

solo stream had unknowingly turned into a co-stream.

Not just that, but it was a local co-stream.

“Hello?”

“Teacher Wen, you’re back!” A cheerful female voice came from the other side.

She had spent quite a bit of money to buy diamonds and move up the queue for the co-stream.

Originally, she thought she’d have to wait for Wen Youning to return before getting connected.

But halfway through, the cat jumped onto the desk and somehow approved the request.

Since Wen Youning hadn’t been back yet, the girl had blacked out her screen and went to do something else.

Hearing Wen Youning’s voice, she quickly reactivated her camera.

“Hello, Teacher Wen! I’m a zookeeper.”

She introduced herself right away.

She was still wearing the zoo’s staff uniform.

The camera panned around, capturing the arched sign of the aviary.

Behind the glass, an artificial landscape housed birds of various colors.

A cockatiel with its crest raised hopped closer.

‘Pointing that black thing at me again?’

‘What are you looking at?’

‘I’ll give you a scratch…’

It lifted one claw, seemingly ready to scratch through the glass.

This pale yellow and gray cockatiel had a fiery temper.

Wen Youning held back the curious tabby cat and praised the bird,

“You look beautiful.”

This cockatiel was well cared for.

The symmetrical blush on its cheeks and its clean, pristine feathers showed not a single stray strand.

Hearing the compliment, the cockatiel hesitated, lowered its claw, and chirped softly, “Chirp, chirp…”

It seemed curious as well.

Its eyes blinked rapidly.

‘Hoo, this human has taste.’

It hovered by the glass for a moment before suddenly flying away.

“Eh?” The girl was puzzled.

“Why did it leave? Did it say something?”

Before Wen Youning could answer, the cockatiel returned, carrying a small pale pink flower in its beak.

“Chirp,” it scratched at the thick glass, seemingly annoyed by the barrier.

“Xiao Huang wants to give you a flower!” The girl understood its intention and wailed,

“I’ve taken care of you for so long, and you’ve never given me one!

I compliment you all the time too!”

The cockatiel, flower in beak, hesitated for a moment.

“Chirp.”

‘Did I say I was talking to you?’

‘Ridiculous.’

‘Move aside.’

It shifted a little, as if worried the girl might come in and snatch the flower away.

The girl: “….”

Alright, alright.
So our bond is fading, huh?

Haha, this is the first time I’ve seen such obvious disdain on a bird’s face.

Poor girl, step aside for Teacher Wen. The bird is trying to give her a flower.

Sis, you didn’t have to roast her too.

…

“Did you request a co-stream because of this cockatiel?”

Wen Youning didn’t see anything wrong with the bird.

“It looks very healthy.”

“No, no, not it.”

The girl picked up her pace and started running forward.

“It’s the mute swans.

Our zoo has two of them.

They’re usually free-roaming in the little garden area.

Visitors can even buy food to interact with them.”

“But lately, the swans have become extremely aggressive.

Not only do they attack anyone who approaches the garden, but they even chase people passing by on their way to other areas.”

“And they’re getting thinner for some unknown reason.

They’re eating a lot, but they’re losing weight, and their feathers are becoming dull.”

As a zookeeper responsible for the aviary, she was quite familiar with the swans.

But even she got chased away when she approached them.

These once-docile swans had suddenly turned hostile, and she had no clue why.

She ran while explaining, turning a corner past the greenery.

The zookeeper spoke while running, rounding the greenery and stepping onto the stone path into the garden.

“We even invited experts to check them, but all the test results came back normal.

Animal behaviorists suggested the rising temperature might be making them irritable, so they told me to lower it further.”

“We spent a ton of money, but nothing worked.”

Adjusting the temperature had no effect at all.

She had stumbled upon the livestream and, seeing that Wen Youning had been vouched for by an ‘acting king,’ decided to spend her own money to co-stream.

She just wanted to know what was wrong with the swans.

The swans were hiding in the woods.

“Look, it’s these two.”

Two pure white mute swans floated quietly on the pond in the little garden.

They weren’t swimming, just drifting there, necks entwined, radiating an air of sorrow.

The girl lowered her voice as she approached,

“It’s near the end of the breeding season.

The experts think they might be in a bad mood because they failed to lay eggs.”

The swans were aggressive now.

If she disturbed them, they might flap their wings and attack her together.

Getting pecked would hurt.

“There used to be a lot of visitors here, but now… sigh.”

Visitor traffic affected food supply, and the zookeeper worried that if the zoo lost money, management might cut their food rations.

The swans were a couple.

Mute swans symbolized pure love, and many couples had come here to take pictures.

But once the swans started attacking people, the news spread online, and visitors stopped coming.

The zookeeper whispered,

“Can you hear their thoughts here?”

“I can.”

Wen Youning activated the background noise filtering function.

The slightly larger mute swan spread its wings and shook them.

‘Despicable humans.’

‘Thieves. A bunch of thieves.’

‘Come closer, and I’ll bite them to death.’

“Someone stole something from them,” Wen Youning tapped her desk lightly.

“Have you noticed anything missing?”

“Huh?” The zookeeper was confused.

“No, nothing’s missing.

This area only has artificial landscaping and the fish in the water.

How did it end up being about something stolen?

What could’ve been stolen?

The sudden shift in topic completely confused the zookeeper.

Check the surveillance footage. A place like that should have cameras, right?

They look so gloomy.

The first thing the zookeeper thought of was indeed to check the surveillance, but…

She sighed and said, “There’s no surveillance in the small garden.

Those two really value their privacy.

We tried setting up cameras in places they frequent, but right after the technician left, they rushed over and pecked the cameras.

They can fly and swim even high up or underwater cameras get torn down.

Eventually, we just gave up.”

Wen Youning thought for a moment and said,

“Turn on the speaker on your phone. What are their names?”

“Hm? Oh, okay.”

The zookeeper followed her instructions, realizing that Wen Youning wanted to speak to the swans.

She even raised her hand higher so the sound could carry.

“The male mute swan is named Diandian, and the female is Niannian.”

Wen Youning tapped the screen with her fingertip,

making a slight sound to attract the swans’ attention.

Sure enough, the moment the sound reached them,

both mute swans instantly raised their heads and glared in the direction of the sound.

Wen Youning gently said, “Niannian, Diandian.

Can we talk?

If something was stolen from you, you can tell me. I’ll help you find it, okay?”

The mute swans froze.

They looked at each other, briefly stunned, then Niannian suddenly spread her wings and took off.

Diandian followed right behind.

The zookeeper stayed hidden behind the foliage.

Even though the garden had air conditioning, she was still sweating buckets from the heat and didn’t dare stick her head out to look, having no idea what was happening outside.

Hearing the flapping of wings and the turbo-like whoosh of air sweeping over the water, she cautiously parted the leaves to peek through the gap and was met with a wall of white.

“???”

The zookeeper blinked in confusion and then looked up, locking eyes with the mute swans.

Oh no!

The moment they stared her down,

she instinctively raised her arms to shield her head.

She’d been attacked more than once.

Every time she fed them, she’d get pecked at least twice,

which is why she started wearing long sleeves while feeding them.

A single bite through short sleeves or shorts was deadly.

Bruises in all shades of blue and purple, and sometimes even bleeding.

But this time, she stood there in a defensive pose for a while, and the expected pain didn’t come.

“Woo—!”

Niannian and Diandian squeezed in front of her raised phone, letting out urgent, short cries from their throats.

‘A human stole our egg.’

“He snatched our fish.”

“We couldn’t fight back.”

“They’re all bad people.”

“All humans are bad.”

“Hurry and make the humans give our eggs back.”

…

The inner voices of the two mute swans almost overlapped,

clearly filled with grievances that no one could understand.

They could only digest their emotions themselves, but it was still hard to hide their heartbreak.

Wen Youning gently soothed them: “Don’t be afraid, I’m here.

How many eggs did you lose?”

“Oooh!”

“All of them!”

The keeper looked up in a daze what eggs? What was lost?

What?!!

The comment section was full of exclamation marks.

Weren’t they saying the breeding wasn’t going well?

How did eggs end up getting stolen?

So… they were breeding normally, but got mad because someone stole their eggs.

I get it now.

No wonder they bared their teeth at humans ;

the animals can’t tell people apart, they just know that it was humans who took the eggs.

What’s the point of your zoo if someone can steal swan eggs and you don’t even know?!

…

Mute swans, though common abroad, are rare domestically and have already been listed as a Class II protected species under the National Key Protected Wildlife List.

The egg thief has already broken the law.

The keeper finally gathered her thoughts,

“So, what you’re saying is… but that doesn’t make sense, I come to the little garden every day if they had laid eggs, I’d have noticed right away.”

Wen Youning found the situation suspicious.

A properly run zoo open to the public shouldn’t be making such a basic mistake.

“When did the eggs go missing?”

“Oooh!”

“Humans watched us, and after we laid the eggs, they drove us out.”

“Couldn’t drive them away. Egg thief.”

Wen Youning: “…?”

She couldn’t help but frown as she listened.

“You’re saying someone was watching you lay the eggs, then drove you out and took them?”

The mute swans nodded, turning back to look at the now-empty nest,

their posture somewhat dejected.

“Keeper, did you hear that?”

“I did!” The keeper was already stunned.

She spent almost all twenty-four hours in that little garden, except when feeding other birds or resting in the lounge.

For someone to steal the swan eggs without her noticing…

It was downright surreal.

A chill crept up her spine, and her heart pounded.

“Let’s check the surveillance in the other zones.

The thief would’ve left some kind of trace when leaving.

A swan nest has five to six eggs to take all of them at once, the target must’ve been quite conspicuous.”

Returning multiple times would’ve raised the keeper’s suspicion,

so if she noticed nothing at all, then it must’ve been a one-time theft of all the eggs.

“Okay! I’ll go apply for access from the director.”

The keeper turned to leave.

“Oooh!” The mute swans suddenly blocked her path.

The keeper stopped in her tracks, “Teacher Wen, what do they mean now?”

“They want you to leave your phone.”

Wen Youning rubbed her fingers, sensing that the two mute swans were in poor condition.

Losing their eggs was the main reason, but being in a long-term state of heightened stress seemed to have caused some psychological issues as well.

After pondering for a while, Wen Youning asked, “You’re from A City?”

The keeper: “Yes. One of only two wildlife zoos in the whole city.”

Wen Youning stood up and said,

“I’ll head over myself then.”

“Really?”

The keeper’s eyes widened suddenly if Wen Youning was willing to come in person and talk to the mute swans, it would definitely help in their recovery.

Wen Youning switched the livestream from her computer to her phone.

“Good kitty, I’m heading out for a bit. Watch the house, okay?”

“Meow!” The little tabby tugged at her wrist, wanting to go along.

Wen Youning patted the kitten on the head and said,

“You’re not suited for that place. I’ll take you somewhere fun next time.”

The Aviary Garden it was full of birds.

Never mind the protected species,

even if it was just a regular bird, she couldn’t afford it if the tabby pounced on one.

“Meow woo…”

The little tabby whined softly and patted her with its paw pads.

Wen Youning curled her fingers and scratched the kitten gently at the neck.

“I’ll bring you back some dried fish.”

It was about time to restock the house with new flavors of dried fish.

As she headed out, Wen Youning picked up her phone.

“Oh right, you…”

The scene behind the keeper had already changed to the monitoring room,

and she immediately responded, “I get it, I get it!”

She jabbed the screen wildly, and a flurry of digital gifts floated down like snowflakes.

“Is that enough appearance fee?”

If, in the beginning, the keeper had connected with the livestream on a whim,

after seeing how Wen Youning communicated with the mute swans,

she had complete faith in her skills, and wasn’t stingy with the gifts at all.

If anything happened to the mute swans under her care,

if they ended up depressed and died,

she wouldn’t be able to escape responsibility, and it wouldn’t just be about a pay deduction.

Wen Youning discovered the root of the issue was like saving a life.

The gifts came flooding in so quickly that Wen Youning didn’t even get a chance to speak.

“I was going to say, send me the park’s address.”

“Oh, right. The address.”

As the keeper spoke, she spent her entire balance on gifts and then privately sent Wen Youning a screenshot with the detailed address.

“This is the staff entrance.

Teacher Wen, I’ll come out to get you when you arrive no need to wait in line at the main gate.”

The wildlife park still drew a good crowd, and getting in required queuing and scanning tickets.

The Aviary Garden only looked deserted because of the mute swan incident.

The keeper sat in the monitoring room, pulling up all surveillance near the Aviary Garden,

slowing down the footage and going through it frame by frame.

Wen Youning temporarily set her livestream to a black screen as she left the house,

and only turned it back on after getting in a taxi.

The streamer even goes on field work?

Is she the flying blade of the pet world?

Did Teacher Wen decide to go because the mute swans’ situation is really serious?

“Yeah. There’s something wrong here.

Also, it’s been a while since the eggs went missing ; even if we find them perfectly intact, they probably can’t be hatched anymore.”

Wen Youning was thinking ahead , the aftermath of this would likely lead to more issues with the swans’ condition,

so it was better to go in person and comfort them.

To prepare them psychologically.

Swan eggs require very specific humidity and temperature to hatch.

There’s no way the thief could provide those conditions.

Ugh, the thief is such a scumbag.

Can’t even raise them, so why steal them?

Maybe they were trying to sell them?

On the black market or something.

…

Everyone watching could see how downcast the mute swan couple looked.

They were full of condemnation for the egg thief.

Wen Youning rested her chin in her hand and gazed out the window, lost in thought.

The wildlife park was far from the busy city center.

It took over an hour to reach it.

Luckily, they hadn’t hit rush hour.

Otherwise, it would’ve taken nearly four hours with traffic.

“Teacher Wen!” The keeper was still connected to the live stream.

When she saw familiar roads appear on screen, she hurried out to meet her.

She ended the stream and introduced herself,

“I’m the Aviary Garden’s keeper, Qian Nuo. Just call me Nuonuo.”

From inside the zoo’s tall walls came loud “Oooh oooh” cries.

Qian Nuo scratched her head awkwardly.

“Nian Nian and Dian Dian are calling. I’ll take you to them now.”

Qian Nuo said, “They knew you were coming and got really excited.

They’ve been trying to get out of the little garden all morning.

If I weren’t fast enough, I might’ve had to chase swans out into the open.”

The little garden was filled with trees.

The layered branches made it hard for them to fly high, but they still tried to squeeze through the small door to get out.