"He froze to death."
The team's doctor had examined Lv Xing's body and concluded,
"Froze to death? But the hole on his back..." Old Du was a bit puzzled, "And the wound on his chest."
"Neither are fatal, and look at the new flesh budding around this hole; it's rapidly healing itself." The doctor used the tip of a dagger to lift the new pink flesh strands at the edge of the blood hole, marveling at it.
"Mutation?" Old Du asked in surprise, but then shook his head, "No, it's just the effect of the Strange Story."
Mutation?
Yu Liang keenly sensed a crucial element. He had not yet had the chance to ask Old Du about mutation. So mutations could grant some kind of supernatural ability?
"Yes, his body was very cold, far below the ambient temperature." Wu Yong continued, "Something instantly sucked away his heat, that's why he felt so hot."
Old Du muttered to himself, "Some kind of invisible monster?"
"Yes, let's get out of here first." Wu Yong looked into the depths of the fog with a hint of concern in his gaze. He could feel the fog getting thicker; visibility was around five meters before, but now it was only about two or three meters.
Such poor visibility meant they could easily fail to notice if someone in the team quietly disappeared. The road ahead might get even tougher.
"I'll walk in the middle; you all follow behind me and stay close." Thus, Wu Yong promptly made a decision. He was clever enough not to ask Yu Liang and Xiao Zhize to follow him but ordered two of his team members to stay behind, leaving them no choice.
The group set off again, moving much faster than before. Experienced tourists who had encountered extensive Strange Stories knew well—once there was a casualty within a Strange Story, its effects would accelerate.
And now, they didn't even know what this eerie situation was, only that it was closely related to the sudden drop in temperature and the pervasive fog.
"All the Strange Stories in this zoo are based on animal allegories; do you guys have any ideas?" Old Du's figure flickered in the fog ahead, and his voice followed, "If we can guess its prototype, it might be easier."
"Bird Species section, cold." Yu Liang quickly stated two keywords, then provided his own answer, "The story of the Cold-calling birds."
"Cold-calling birds? What kind of bird is that?" Old Du seemed unfamiliar with this term and asked.
"It's not an actual bird, but one that cries out the cold; it's a story from a textbook. The Cold-calling bird was lazy about building its nest in autumn and froze to death in winter," Xiao Zhize explained concisely.
"So, it's already 'winter,' and the Cold-calling bird is looking for a nest using human bodies as nests?" Old Du instantly grasped the key point.
Wu Yong nodded, "That should be it."
Old Du paused, thoughtful, "In that case, building it a warm nest might work."
He looked at a bird cage outside the railing where his gaze fell. Almost immediately, he set down his backpack and pulled out a telescopic pole.
Honestly, Yu Liang believed this Strange Story's prototype was indeed the Cold-calling bird, but he didn't think building a nest was an effective solution.
The purpose of a Strange Story wasn't to find a resolution but to create eeriness and fear.
Yet, as everyone was at a loss, Old Du had already started taking action.
"Xiao Zhize, climb over the railing. I'll detach the bird cage, then you help hold it. Wu Yong, keep watch," Old Du commanded, leaning over the railing to try hooking the cage hanging in mid-air.
"Got it," Wu Yong responded without hesitation, but he didn't look around. His gaze lingered on Old Du, who seemed to be precariously balanced on the middle of the railing, his center of gravity just within.
He glanced outside the railing—it wasn't a cliff but just a small hill, so a fall wouldn't cause any harm. Shaking his head with regret, he turned to keep watch.
"Got it!" Xiao Zhize successfully received the bird cage as he climbed outside the railing and handed it to Old Du before climbing back in.
The cage was wrapped in a thick layer of warm black cloth, which puzzled Yu Liang, as he hadn't seen such cold-protection bird cages in previous parts of the route.
Old Du lifted the black cloth, opened the cage, and peered inside. There was an unidentifiable black bird inside. He grabbed the bird, casually tossed it aside, and then took out a cloth and a...
A heat pack?
Yu Liang recognized the item, thinking to himself how prepared Old Du indeed was for anything.
Wait, a black bird?
He suddenly realized something, looking down for the black bird and just managed to see it crash into a tree, apparently breaking its left wing. It struggled to move using its right wing.
Turning back to Old Du, he saw Old Du unpacking the heat pack, placing it on the cloth, then rolling up the cloth into a nest-shape, and stuffing it into the cage, quickly forming a makeshift nest.
He lifted it, feeling its weight, satisfied.
The same bird?
Yu Liang vividly remembered, the black bird that landed behind Lv Xing also had an injured left wing.
A bird cage covered with a warm cloth, the cold fog, the captured black bird with an injured wing—becoming the Cold-calling bird seemed quite plausible.
But why would Old Du dismantle your bird cage and break your wings, what does Lv Xing have to do with it?
Something seemed off in his mind.
It did not attack Old Du, not because it was afraid of him, but because it could only attack Old Du after Lv Xing had died.
The timeline of the Cold-calling birds and Old Du was causally linked; if Old Du was killed first, no one would have removed the birdcage to create the Cold-calling birds, which meant that the solution to the story was not about creating a warm nest to wait for the arrival of the Cold-calling birds.
"Xiao Zhize, help me out, take down another birdcage," Yu Liang quickly picked up the bird from the ground and shouted at Xiao Zhize.
"Ah? Okay." Xiao Zhize immediately agreed and climbed over the railing again, while Yu Liang picked up the telescopic pole and imitated Old Du to hook down another birdcage.
Old Du glanced at him, said nothing, and just threw a hand warmer from his backpack.
"No need." Yu Liang caught the hand warmer, shook his head, and then pocketed it.
Well, he just did not need it for the moment, but it might be useful later. Old Du probably thought he was going to make another nest to reduce the chances of the Cold-calling birds attacking.
Yu Liang placed the bird with broken wings into the newly removed cage, then slightly lifted the black cloth to look inside.
Now there were two black birds in the cage, one injured and huddled in a corner, while the other covered it with its wings, watching Yu Liang alertly and shrilly chirping twice.
"What are you doing?" Wu Yong approached, curious about what Yu Liang was doing.
Yu Liang, carrying the birdcage, walked towards a nearby vending machine, casually responding, "I used to raise birds, I can't bear to see it freeze to death."
"Is that so..." Wu Yong nodded. Instinctively feeling something was off, as anyone who had experienced the weirdness of the Zoo would not have such saintly mercy, but he could not fault Yu Liang's explanation.
The vending machine sold only one item, red animal feed, costing 20 visitor points without any size variation.
"If you need to feed, please purchase animal feed. One pack of animal feed can satisfy any animal, but each animal can only be fed once in a short period of time. Violators bear the consequences," read a notice on the screen.
It was getting more and more absurd. All animals, regardless of their diet or amount of food, could be satisfied with one portion of feed?
Was this feed a prop from Doraemon?
But since the vending machine said so, Yu Liang could only follow. He bought two packs of feed, which did not look large, about the size of a bucket of instant noodles, but compared to the tiny body of the black bird, it was equivalent to a person eating an entire cow.
He unsealed the two packs, revealing red granules inside, the size of rice grains with a soft but tough texture.
Wait.
Suddenly, Yu Liang found he could not take his eyes off the feed at the mouth of the bag. He stared intently at the red granules inside, saliva secreting crazily, an uncontrollable hunger emerging from the depths of his mind.
Hungry.
So hungry.
April 14, 2023, 1:32:24 AM, I am so hungry.
He involuntarily opened his mouth, saliva seemingly pooling and spilling over, splashing onto the ground and leaving a splattered graphic.
No, he can't eat, he is not an animal.
He can't eat, eating would lead to death.
The word "death" that emerged in his thoughts suddenly magnified, occupying all of Yu Liang's mind, snapping him back to sanity; he quickly brought his hand to his mouth, biting hard on the flesh from his thumb to the base of his palm, while his other hand stuffed the two unsealed packs of feed into the birdcage and then shut the door.
Fear surged within him. Yu Liang did not know what would have happened if he had really eaten the feed, but suspected it would not have been good.
Facing the red feed, he almost lost all rationality, his mind flooded with the most primal instinct to eat.
He bowed deeply, raised his eyes to where Old Du was, seeing the other people gathered around Old Du and not paying much attention to Yu Liang, who was overwhelmed with a saintly mercy as a newbie.
Then Yu Liang took out a piece of paper from his pocket, wiped away the saliva stains around his mouth, and then walked towards the group and shouted at Xiao Zhize, "Xiao Zhize, help me again, hang the birdcage back."
"Okay." Xiao Zhize nodded and enthusiastically came forward to help Yu Liang. "I'll stand outside the railing to support the birdcage, and you use the pole to hang it up."
Wu Yong looked coldly at these two newbies in Old Du's team with disdain.
Two newbies, both so saintly, without Old Du's protection, they wouldn't survive a day. What exactly did Old Du expect from them? To be scapegoats when it mattered? But with Old Du's strength, couldn't he have any kind of scapegoat he wanted? Why must he choose these two?
"All done." After taking care of the two black birds, Yu Liang breathed a sigh of relief. According to his expectation, he had changed the fate of the Cold-calling birds; they would not freeze to death and turn into a strange story, nor would they harbor resentment and return to the past seeking revenge.
"Let's go then." Old Du did not stop the actions of Yu Liang and the others, just waiting for them to sort things out before picking up the warm birdcage and preparing to leave.
As the group slowly walked away, a noise came from the birdcage outside the railing; one black bird easily broke the cage latch with its beak and pushed the door up from below, sticking its head out from the warming black cloth. Its gaze was deep, as if it could penetrate the thick fog and land on Yu Liang.
It gazed at his retreating figure for a long time until a deathly pallor emerged in its eyes, until its body completely stiffened.
It froze to death.
Then it slid from the door of the cage, its body drifting like a fallen leaf, shattering into ice crystals on the hillside.
"Snap." The sound of the cage door closing was clear and distinct, the other black bird inside looking over, tilting its head.
[Subline Strange Story triggered—I'm a collector]
[Badge collection completed: Cold-calling birds (Dead)]
[Note: one of the park's theme events, collect any four badges to get a reward at Sweetheart House.]