At four in the morning, the sky was still dark, and with the rainy weather, Yang Lin could only vaguely see a few white figures flitting about by the lake.
He was almost scared to death on the spot.
Just at this moment, one of the white figures was slowly heading towards the lake and soon descended into the water.
"Did I provoke something unclean?"
At this moment, Yang Lin unconsciously held his breath, and in the next second, a long cry suddenly came from not far away.
Upon hearing this cry, Yang Lin was first stunned, then reacted.
He was too familiar with this sound; if he remembered correctly, when he was young and went back to his grandfather's hometown, he had been chased by this thing.
He would never forget this sound.
Unconsciously, he looked towards the white figures by the lake.
But at the same time, a hint of doubt arose in his heart.
To resolve this doubt, he quickly walked towards the artificial lake.
By the time he got closer, he could clearly see the full form of the white figures.
They were clearly six large white geese, covered in white feathers and plump in physique.
Unlike ordinary domestic geese, these six large geese exuded a touch of nobility.
"So these aren't village tyrants, they're swans?"
With this doubt, Yang Lin quickly activated the exploration radar, and instantly six light spots appeared beside him.
He casually clicked on one, and a line of information appeared before him.
[Swan (Healthy) 2 Years Old Friendly]
"They really are swans. How did swans end up here in the middle of the night?"
"Could it be that they encountered cold air during their southern migration last night and couldn't fly, so they found a place to take shelter?"
After thinking for a long time, Yang Lin could only come up with this conclusion.
After all, such situations were not uncommon; migratory birds occasionally fell behind during their journeys.
Didn't fairy tales also mention a swan being raised as a duck?
Just as Yang Lin marveled at animals coming to him on their own, the six swans took turns entering the water.
At first, Yang Lin didn't know what they were trying to do until he saw one of the swans snatch a small koi from the lake and swallow it down in a few bites.
"Damn it! Stop eating!"
"You can't eat this!"
Before he could finish speaking, the other swans, following suit, each grabbed a koi and ate it.
At this moment, Yang Lin felt as if he saw a line of red numbers float up from the surface of the lake.
-6
The original 678 had become 672.
This was an unprecedented reduction in personnel since the establishment of Xihong Zoo.
And at this very moment, one swan seemed not to have had enough and ate another one.
-1
"Alright, now you can't leave."
Looking at the plump white geese on the lake, Yang Lin turned and took some feed, usually used for feeding the two black swans, from a nearby work shed and sprinkled it on the shore.
The next second, the white swans, as if sensing the aroma of food, swam to the shore.
Watching these white swans greedily eating the feed, Yang Lin turned and walked into another small house located by the lake.
He opened the door of the small house, and two even larger black swans appeared before him.
These were precisely the two he had "borrowed" from the city zoo earlier.
Since arriving at Xihong Zoo, these two black swans had not entered the water a single day, spending their time showing affection by the shore and tricking tourists into feeding them.
But the problem was, they were both male, which Yang Lin knew, but the tourists didn't.
After a month, they had each gained several pounds, and now it was finally time to use them.
"Big Black, Little Black, I have a task for you two."
"See those white swans over there? Find a way to keep them here."
"It's time to show your charm. Go."
As soon as he finished speaking, the two black swans also saw the six white swans playing by the lake.
Immediately, they waddled over, their plump bodies swaying.
"Little ones, I bet you can't resist us."
Perhaps it was because black swans were indeed rare among swans, or perhaps it was because of the unique temperament of the two black swans, which differed from wild swans, they immediately captivated the six white swans.
Before long, they were frolicking in the artificial lake.
As he watched, Yang Lin couldn't help but ponder a question.
"What would a black swan and a white swan produce? A white-and-black or a gray swan?"
Unable to figure it out, Yang Lin decided not to think about it.
Looking at the light rain that was continuously falling from the sky, and after confirming that all the animals were safe, Yang Lin returned to his small cabin.
Before long, he fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up again, it was already morning.
The first thing he did upon waking was look out the window.
Seeing that it was still drizzling as it had been in the early morning, a worried expression involuntarily appeared on his face.
"Why is the weather still like this? I hope it doesn't last too long, or the animals will get skin diseases."
"Especially the felines. If they get ringworm, they'll lose their fur."
Thinking of this, Yang Lin recalled a time when Hua Dajie had become a bald tiger because of feline ringworm.
During that period, some tourists had reported them for animal abuse because of this.
It had taken them a long time to finally clear things up.
Just as he was thinking this, a commotion once again erupted from within the park.
Judging by the noise, there seemed to be quite a few tourists.
This was somewhat unexpected for him.
He had thought that on a day like today, the number of tourists wouldn't be too high.
After all, with the significant drop in temperature and the rainy weather, staying at home was the best option.
"Could it be because of those swans?"
"That shouldn't be the case, swans can be seen anywhere, can't they?"
With a hint of confusion, Yang Lin casually put on a single-layer garment and walked out of his room.
Not long after he stepped out, crowds of tourists wearing colorful raincoats and holding umbrellas were gathered around the lake.
Occasionally, bursts of applause would erupt.
This made Yang Lin even more curious.
"They just joined and they're already putting on a show? So promising?"
In his opinion, the only thing that could make tourists so excited was the animals putting on a new performance.
However, when Yang Lin witnessed the scene that followed, his expression contorted instantly.
On the banks of the vast artificial lake, six white and two black swans, a total of eight, stood neatly.
From time to time, they would peck at fish food from an automatic feeder and feed it to the koi in the water.
And the koi, they accepted it all.
In this way, the swans fed, and the koi ate, making the entire water surface lively.
At this moment, the once proud swans seemed to have found a new joy in their lives.