abcnovels
Chapter 157 - 154: Eve of Preparation
Chapter 157 - 154: Eve of Preparation
Chapter 157: Chapter 154: Eve of Preparation
Bi Fang stepped onto the grass, his glider resting quietly on the surface of the lake.
That would be his reliance for crossing Europe.
Big Beard Lenin, who was gazing by the lake, quickly noticed the two of them. He was wrapped in a hemp garment, his belly shaking as he walked briskly toward them and immediately gave Elvan a hug.
“Thank God I’ve waited so long for you, these geese are nearly frozen. If you hadn’t come sooner, I was really afraid they’d freeze to death here.”
Following that, Lenin extended his hand to Bi Fang, his tone full of admiration as if singing an aria.
“Mr. Fang, hello, at first I didn’t understand why Elvan insisted on finding you, but after I watched your live stream, my goodness, you’re a modern hero! A living legend! The geese are so lucky to have met you!”
Lenin bowed three times in quick succession, but he obviously didn’t speak Chinese, using halting English instead.
Luckily, the drone had an automatic translation function, displaying subtitles in the live stream.
But what nobody expected was that Bi Fang would actually respond in French, “It’s my fortune as well to be able to save this flock of geese.”
Elvan looked dumbfounded, “You speak French?”
“Is it so strange? You speak Chinese, why can’t I speak French?”
Did Bi Fang speak French?
Of course not, but he had a Language Proficiency Coupon!
Now, speaking French was almost the same as speaking Chinese for him.
Elvan had told him about Lenin’s situation, not very good at English.
A common malady among the French, they possess a strong spirit of French nationalism, generally disliking the United Kingdom and even English, to the point that the majority cannot speak good English, a circumstance that seems out of place in Europe.
Shuiyou:H-’°fl°;)^!
[Fuck, Old Fang even speaks French?]
[Awesome, plus awesome!]
[What a real studious guy, is there anything Old Fang can’t do? Mastering two foreign languages, French and English, isn’t this too cool? How about speaking some secret Tuvan?]
[What’s that country?…]
[Just made it up.]
Anyone who has attended school and learned English knows the pain of mastering a foreign language, but Bi Fang actually knows two!
Seeing Bi Fang communicate fluently with foreigners in French, all the Shuiyou were shedding tears of envy.
“It’s so good that you speak French,” Lenin was very happy, “we should act quickly, you need to familiarize the geese with you as soon as possible. Snow might fall in Lapland any moment now, and it will be even more difficult for the geese to fly.”
With that, Lenin took out two brown hemp cloaks from the car and asked both men to put them on.
Not only that, Bi Fang noticed a young man rushing out of the camper in a hurry.
The young man was just a head shorter than him, with brown hair and the look of being about fifteen or sixteen years old.
Etienne’s eyes lit up when he saw Bi Fang, and he hurried over with a mix of running and jumping.
Elvan scratched his head, “Uh, this is my son, Etienne, your fan.”
The young man rushed in front of Bi Fang, shouting excitedly.
“Hey! I know you, you’re the grave digger of prehistoric monsters! The wrestler of the tyrannical Black Bear! The hunter who devours wolf packs!”
Bi Fang, about to greet him, was taken aback and nearly reeled in awkwardness.
What on earth were these bizarre nicknames?
“You’re really awesome, especially your motto!” Etienne imitated Bi Fang’s tone, speaking gravely, “The beast can smell your fear, the more you fear, the more excited it gets. That’s so cool! It’s the most domineering phrase I’ve ever heard.”
“Can I get your autograph?”
Etienne waved a white card in his hand, passing over a marker pen.
Bi Fang scratched his eyebrow, took the pen and paper, and he occasionally watched anime, guessing this must be some sort of adolescent fantasy.
“Lord of the Black Flame,” “True Eye of the Evil King,” they all sounded weird, but perhaps that’s what young people liked.
Bi Fang wasn’t surprised to see Elvan’s son there either; if he himself had a father who planned to sail a glider across the entirety of Europe for bird migration, he would strut through school, and such a claim alone could make him a heartthrob until his legs wobbled.
What could be cooler than that?
After all, there would only be two of them flying, him and Elvan; it wasn’t a problem.
But now it was only November, did French students get a holiday this early?
Bi Fang took the brown linen robe, ready to put it on.
[All, what is this style?]
[Why wear a long robe? So ugly.]
[Damn, feels like some African tribal shaman]
The audience in front of the screen thought this outfit was terribly ugly and didn’t understand why Bi Fang would wear it.
“Because the White-fronted Goose is on the brink of extinction, not only because of environmental destruction but also because of the uncontrolled hunting and wanton killing by humans.”
Bi Fang found the opening of the robe and draped it over his body.
“So we can’t let the geese think we are humans; that way they’ll stay wary of other humans. By dressing like this, the geese will trust me. I guess that’s how Dr. Elvan dressed before the migratory birds were bom, right?”
“Exactly.” Elvan, now in his robe, nodded. “When geese are bom, they take the first person they see as their parent, a process called imprinting. To make them fear humans, I even carried out gunshot training with them; they have to flee when they see a human or hear a gunshot. We must not let them develop any fondness for humans.”
[I don’t know why, but suddenly I feel sad]
[Tearing up]
[To be honest, environmentalists are often maligned because there are too few who truly put in the work, those who only repeat the same messages become nothing but parrots.]
[That’s true, Old Fang is really awesome, he’s always mindful of environmental protection, and for just over a dozen geese, he flew 3,000 kilometers at a moment’s notice]
[But broadcasting this, is it okay? Won’t hunters also disguise themselves this way?]
Bi Fang shook his head: “Not really, birds recognize their kind through multiple factors, not just by donning a robe. Without Professor Elvan here, wearing the robe would be of no use. This is also why the professor must fly with me; without him, the geese would not follow.”
After everyone had put on their robes, they entered the RV, and only then did they get a clear view of the geese.
Around fifteen geese huddled together for warmth; among them, two black ones stood out conspicuously, being the Barnacle Geese.
“These two are Aga and Amu,” Etienne said excitedly, pointing to the two Barnacle Geese. “I witnessed their birth! All sticky and stinky, but they look much better now.”
“Nice names,” Bi Fang smiled.
“These geese have all been implanted with chips, vaccinated, and registered,” Lenin said as he stroked one of them. “Each one has a number.”
“Vaccinated?” Bi Fang wasn’t too familiar with the situation in Europe.
“Yes, each one must be vaccinated, otherwise, they can’t leave the Schengen Area,” Elvan said as he lifted a cage. “Now everything is done with technology; this is called progress.”
Lenin also came to help carry: “From a technological perspective, it’s progress, but it’s a regression ecologically.”
As Bi Fang joined in, he suddenly saw a photo inside the vehicle and picked it up, asking Lenin, “Is this you?”
“Yes,” Lenin adjusted his hat.
“You used to hunt?”
“Yes,” Lenin said as he carried a box, with Bi Fang following him. “We all hunted in the wetlands, fished too, we caught them to eat. The wetlands used to be beautiful, life was great, that’s when I started getting interested in birds. But then the developers wanted to drain the wetlands, and we opposed them.”
“You lost,” Bi Fang did not doubt.
“Clearly, afterward, I turned to studying birds,” Lenin said as he placed a wooden crate outside and opened it. A flock of geese squawked and ran out, but they didn’t take flight—the weather was too cold, and they huddled together.
Elvan handed Bi Fang a whistle: “This is what I made to mimic the call of the geese. You just have to run with us shortly, get the geese familiar with your presence quickly, let Etienne follow you first.”
Bi Fang nodded; with time running out, he couldn’t afford to dawdle. Led by Etienne and clutching the whistle, he began to run.
Upon hearing the whistle, the geese immediately began running after the two men; then, realizing they couldn’t keep up, they slowly began to flap their wings, but it was a struggle for them to fly.
The drone mixed among them, capturing the scene from above; the audience in the live stream was thrilled, many seeing living geese for the first time.
This was their maiden flight!
The first time is always precious.
Next to the RV, Lenin watched the geese trying to fly, a spontaneous smile on his face.
Elvan, on the other hand, kicked a stone away: “So annoying, how much longer? It’s been ten days already!”
“Don’t worry, Elvan, the permit should be coming through soon,” Lenin tried to offer some consolation.
“I saw the weather forecast, it’s going to snow heavily the day after tomorrow; no matter when the application is approved, we must take off before that.”
Lenin spread his hands in a helpless gesture: “Hey, don’t be like that, I’ve already promised Johnny, he’ll do it as fast as he can, maybe we’ll get news tomorrow.”
“Today is Sunday, they will only go to church to attend mass!”
Waiting for Bi Fang was just one of the reasons, but if the permit came through, they might have already started the migration with the geese.
All that effort made, how could they give up!