He gazed thoughtfully at several birds in the distance. They were hopping and chirping merrily on the branches, completely unaffected by the "magnetic field disruption."
’Perhaps the key to the problem isn’t the ’field’ itself, but the way life interacts with the ’field’?’
He muttered this to himself, but his voice was too low, drowned out by the discussions of the others.
They spent the next day much the same way: stopping periodically to take notes and conduct research.
That evening, guided by Uncle Cai, the team made camp on another suitable leeward slope.
As usual, the evening was a flurry of note-taking and discussion.
Yang Qi, Uncle Cai, and Jiang Kai gathered together again, chatting about the day’s findings and their plans for tomorrow.
As night deepened, silence once again enveloped the mountain forest, broken only by the crackle of the campfire and the occasional chirp of an insect.
Suddenly—
"Hoo-hoo-hooo—Hoo-hoo-hooo—"
A low, distinctive call came from a large tree not far from the camp.
The sound was very close and seemed somewhat tentative.
"Woof woof~"
Leopard, who had been lying down, immediately lifted his head and barked twice toward the large tree.
’Master, it’s that big bird from last time.’
Bai Wan noticed as well and let out a bark.
Something stirred in Yang Qi’s heart, and he looked up.
By the light of the campfire and the moon, he saw a huge, round-headed owl perched on a horizontal branch of a tall pine tree.
It was the very same lead Eagle Owl he had encountered and "hired" when he entered the mountains to search for the missing doctoral student from the Agricultural University.
At the time, Yang Qi had used Vitality Nutrient Cream as payment, asking this Eagle Owl to gather several other types of owls from the area to form a "Night Owl Army." They spread out to help with the search at night, ultimately succeeding in locating the target.
Afterward, Yang Qi kept his promise and fed Vitality Nutrient Cream to the owls that had participated in the search.
He never expected to run into it again on this research trip into the mountains!
’And from the way it’s tilting its head and staring right at me, did it come looking for me on purpose?’
"Hoo-hoo-hooo—Hoo-hoo-hooo—"
The unique, low, and rhythmic call came again from the pine tree outside the camp.
The Eagle Owl’s large, round eyes reflected the faint glow of the campfire in the darkness, staring unblinkingly at Yang Qi.
"An owl? Why is so much happening today?" a graduate student muttered.
Leopard continued to bark in that direction.
’Master, it seems to be looking at you.’
Woof~
’It’s definitely looking at Master.’
Bai Wan chimed in.
Yang Qi’s mind raced.
’This Eagle Owl is intelligent. We had a good collaboration last time. For it to seek me out now and make a call that’s clearly an attempt to communicate... this can’t be a simple coincidence or a friendly greeting.’
He immediately stood up and said quietly to Uncle Cai and Jiang Kai.
"I’m going to go check it out. Something might be up."
He then walked toward the pine tree, stepping out of the firelight’s range.
"Xiao Yang, be careful," Jiang Kai called out from behind him.
"Okay."
Yang Qi replied, his figure quickly disappearing into the shadows beneath the tree.
He stopped about seven or eight meters from the pine tree, looked up at the Eagle Owl on the branch, and used his "Basic Spirit Communication Technique" to ask softly.
"Hello, are you looking for me?"
The Eagle Owl tilted its head and let out a few quick gurgles from its throat.
’Nice-smelling Two-legged Beast, do you remember me?’
’There’s a ’long-horned deer’ over there in a lot of pain.’
’Can’t give birth to its young... it’s going to die...’
’It gave me food before... it’s a good ’deer’...’
’Can you help it?’
The information was simple, but Yang Qi understood.
A deer was having a difficult birth, and its situation was critical.
The Eagle Owl had perhaps received a "favor" from that deer in the past. Now, finding it on the verge of death, the owl thought of Yang Qi, who had previously displayed miraculous abilities and given them "tasty things" to eat. So, it had flown here specifically to ask for help.
Yang Qi was touched by the Eagle Owl’s intelligence and loyalty.
"Where is it? Is it far? Take me there," Yang Qi responded immediately.
The Eagle Owl flapped its wings, took off from the tree, and circled twice at a low altitude. It then flew off in a certain direction, deeper into the mountain forest. After flying for some distance, it landed on another tree and looked back at Yang Qi, as if waiting for him.
Clearly, it wasn’t close, and he would need the owl to lead the way.
After a moment’s thought, Yang Qi returned to the camp.
"What is it? What’s the situation?" Jiang Kai and Uncle Cai asked hurriedly.
"There might be a deer in trouble over there. It’s having a difficult birth, and the situation doesn’t look good," Yang Qi explained briefly. "I’m going to see if I can help."
"A deer? A difficult birth?"
Jiang Kai was taken aback. "This... are you sure you can handle it? In the middle of the night..."
"That owl has helped before. It knows me. It came to find me specifically because it knows I can help. Don’t worry. I’ll take Bai Wan and Leopard with me. We’ll be fine."
Yang Qi’s tone was firm. "And if it’s a protected species, saving it would be a good thing."
As he spoke, he was already calling Bai Wan and Leopard over.
"An owl came to you for help?"
Professor Zhou, who had been standing nearby and overheard their conversation, walked over with a look of astonishment and disbelief. "Advisor Yang, are you saying that the Eagle Owl flew here specifically to tell you a deer was having a difficult birth and to ask for your help? You... you can communicate with it?"
His voice was slightly raised in shock, attracting the attention of several other experts and students nearby, who all turned to look with curiosity and scrutiny.
Senior Engineer Li also walked over and said with a frown.
"An owl delivering a message? That sounds too far-fetched. Advisor Yang, are you sure you didn’t misunderstand something? Or maybe it’s just a coincidence?"
Yang Qi knew it would be difficult to explain with conventional logic, and he had no intention of going into detail.
"Professor Zhou, Engineer Li, some things are hard to explain. But that Eagle Owl was definitely behaving abnormally. And the animals in this mountain forest are sometimes smarter and more cooperative than we imagine."
Yang Qi said calmly, not directly answering the question about communication. "I’m going to check it out now. If it’s true, I can save a life."
"Bai Wan, Leopard, let’s go!"