Chapter 424 (1/2)

Duck Eggs

Compared to the other animals in the forest, this duck seemed to be friendly to humans. Sometimes, it flew far away doing goodness knows what but before sunset, it still returned to rest in the forest on the other side of the river. During the day it would continue moving around the river and in the forest. Since it was near the village, there were no dangerous predators nearby and it was relatively safe to the duck.

Once it grew more comfortable, it grew bolder and no longer had predictable routines.

According to the guy who often observed the duck, in the beginning, the duck had disappeared for more than half a day. The people at the foot of the hill were worried it wasn’t going to return but when they planned to report to Shao Xuan, they realised it was back with another bird. Then, they both left. When it returned, the duck had brought another companion.

Just like that, it would bring back one bird every one or two days. These were not all the same. Some had sharper beaks, some had rounder beaks, some had longer wings, some had shorter wings. Some had bright feathers, some had grey feathers. Some liked resting on the trees, some like resting in the bushes. Even if these birds had their differences, from the general characteristics, they were similar to the duck. Perhaps they were of the same family or shared an ancestor.

In the past, the tribesmen would hunt birds flying around this area. Of course they’d take food delivered to their doorstep! However, since the duck was the Elder’s, no one touched it. They did not touch the other birds either.

Right now, the common trend was counting ducks. When the people at the foot of the hill had some time, they would go check on the ducks in the river.

“Hey, how many are there today?” asked a warrior on patrol duty.

“Seventeen. It was fifteen yesterday,” said another warrior excitedly.

“I didn’t know the number of birds could increase like that!”

“What nonsense is that? That bird was brought here by Elder Shao Xuan. It’s impressive too, he brought one back and it became seventeen so quickly!” said another admiringly.

“But these birds don’t look like good food. They’re small and don’t have much flesh. They look like normal birds. Why does Elder want so many of them?” someone asked.

“He must have his reasons. Let’s not spend too much thinking about it, we just have to make sure no one disturbs them.”

“Shhh, time to turn here!” scolded the leader.

Compared to this fat duck, the rest were timider and very flighty around humans. The duck had come into contact with humans before so it took a shorter time to live in human territory. The rest were different. Whenever anyone approached the river, the ducks in the river would scream and fly away, returning only after many hours. Some only returned after a few days.

The hunting party had just returned. The flock of ducks were in the area, and with a cacophony of quacks, all the ducks on the river flew into the air, escaping in fear.

The hunters had just had a bountiful hunt. Someone wanted to shoot down a few so he took out his bow. Suddenly, the guy on patrol sprinted over and punched him.

The hunters were speechless. What happened when they left?

When the people on patrol told them, they all quickly kept their bows and arrows. However, the birds who were scared off weren’t going to return for a few days.

“Will they come back?” asked Duo Kang.

“Yes…. I think. But it’ll take a while. If the one belonging to Elder returns, most of them will come,” answered the leader of the patrol team hesitantly.