I raise furry animals and fly them to my motherland.

Chapter 248 Snow Pigeon's Aunt's House

As the wind outside the cave subsided, the Snow Wolf King strode nimbly to Xu Ying, its silver-gray fur still adorned with unmelted snowflakes.

It lowered its head and gently nuzzled Xu Ying's hand, a hint of tenderness flashing in its golden eyes: [Station Chief Xu, the snowstorm has subsided; we can set off now.]
The four followed the brown bear that was leading the way, leaving a trail of footprints of varying depths in the snow.

The brown bear's broad back acted like a moving wall, shielding Xu Ying and his companions from the cold wind along the way.

When Xu Ying arrived at the steep snow cliff, he couldn't help but gasp – the cliff face was almost vertical, and a crooked snow pine tree could be vaguely seen in the white snow mist.

"That's it!" The brown bear pointed in the direction with its paw.

Chen Su had already deftly removed his backpack and taken out the drone equipment.

He knelt on one knee on the snow, his slender fingers moving nimbly across the control panel with practiced ease.

The drone emitted a low hum, its propellers swirling up fine snowflakes as it slowly descended towards the bottom of the snow cliff.

Xu Ying stood beside him, the two of them watching the live feed on the monitor side by side.

"Sister Brown Bear said to veer a little more to the left..."

Xu Ying gently reminded him, and Chen Su nodded slightly, his fingers lightly moving the control lever.

The drone's camera slowly turned, and the entire view of the snow-capped cliff gradually became clear on the screen—

On the steep snow cliff, a crooked pine tree grows tenaciously in the crevice of the rock.

On its branches hangs a human silhouette—a figure completely enveloped in ice and snow, like a cruel ice sculpture.

Xu Ying covered her mouth; it was the first time she had ever seen a close-up of a corpse, and it was truly horrifying.

The body was tightly wrapped around the tree trunk, as if it was seeking support in its last moments.

The thick layer of ice covered his entire body, and only the outline of his dark mountaineering clothes could be vaguely discerned.

The ice crystals refracted an eerie light under the sunlight, freezing the corpse and the tree trunk into one, indistinguishable from each other.

Ji Xuehui squatted down behind the two of them: "Let's zoom in on their faces."

As the camera zooms in, a distorted face can be vaguely seen beneath the ice—eyes wide open, mouth slightly agape, as if screaming silently.

Ice and snow filled his face, forming a semi-transparent mask of death.

The helicopter circled around to the side and captured an even more horrifying scene: a broken trekking pole was stuck in the back of the body, its metal tip gleaming coldly in the ice.

The surrounding ice surface had an unnatural dark red color, as if it had been soaked in blood and then refrozen.

"Facial features cannot be identified."

Chen Su calmly reported, "We need to break the ice to confirm their identities."

"The location of the body is really troublesome, and breaking the ice is not easy either."

Ji Xuehui sighed: "Unless we send a helicopter, but the snow and wind conditions are hard to predict right now. I'm afraid the snow and wind will intensify after the helicopter arrives, threatening the safety of the crew."

Just as the group was at a loss facing the cliff, the sound of flapping wings broke the silence.

[Station Chief Xu, what are you looking at in front of my aunt's house?]
Three plump snow pigeons landed on a nearby rock, their fluffy belly feathers trembling gently with their breath, looking just like three moving glutinous rice balls.

Xu Ying's eyes lit up, and she squatted down to look them in the eye: "Hello, 'Aunt's House'?"

[It's that cedar tree!] The lead snow pigeon tilted its head.

Xu Ying immediately understood; snow pigeons always nested on cliffs in snow-capped mountains. "My aunt is so unlucky," the second snow pigeon interjected, "She went visiting and came back to find a two-legged creature had crushed her nest!"

"That's right!" the third snow pigeon flapped its wings. "People and trees alike are frozen solid, leaving Auntie homeless! She can only rely on our help."
[With our many pigeons, we have plenty of strength; we've already built a new home for my aunt nearby.]
The three snow pigeons chattered away, one after another, like a group of comedians performing a crosstalk routine.

Xu Ying couldn't help but chuckle, but quickly caught the key information: "Wait, you said 'took his bag'? Is that bag still there?"

"Of course we're here!" Snow Dove proudly puffed out her chest. "We've turned our bag into a new nest, it's so warm!"
Xu Ying immediately took off her cashmere scarf: "How about I trade this for that bag? This one is warmer."

The snow pigeons huddled together and rubbed against the scarf. "Wow! It's even more comfortable than down!" they whispered among themselves. "We'll go ask Auntie right now!"
"and many more!"

Xu Ying hurriedly called out to them, "Could you do me another favor? See if that two-legged creature has anything else on it, like," she gestured, "the small cards or pouches in its pockets?"

"Leave it to us!" the snow pigeons replied in unison, flapping their wings and flying toward the cliff.

The few minutes of waiting felt exceptionally long.

Guan Lin, the male police officer accompanying Ji Xuehui, couldn't help but ask Xu Ying, "Station Chief Xu, do you think the fanny packs these pigeons brought up will be covered in bird droppings?"

Xu Ying shook her head and explained to him in a serious tone, "Birds will try to avoid defecating in their nests. It's their instinct, just like humans won't urinate or defecate on their beds."

"However, like human chicks, baby birds are not able to take care of themselves and will defecate in the nest, while their parents will clean up their droppings."

Finally, the three snow pigeons returned with two items in their beaks—a laminated mountain guide's pass and a waist bag that smelled of pigeon droppings.

Xu Ying felt a bit embarrassed.

The lead snow pigeon tilted its head sheepishly, its little claws tucking together awkwardly: "I'm so sorry, Station Master Xu, my aunt has been having diarrhea lately and accidentally got her bag dirty."
Xu Ying quickly explained to Guan Lin, "It said its aunt has had diarrhea these past few days."

The other three all burst out laughing.

Chen Su carefully took the ID card while wearing gloves. The ID card clearly read "Luo Zhiqiang," and the man in the photo had a simple and honest smile.

Inside the waist bag were a cell phone frozen solid and a pack of unopened energy gels.

"It's Luo Zhiqiang."

Chen Su's voice tightened, "It seems we've found the fourth missing person."

Ji Xuehui took the work permit, her eyes sharp: "The body was fixed to a tree, there were external injuries on its back, and now these have been found. It can be basically confirmed that it was murder."

Xu Ying frowned: "All four people are dead. Has the murderer already escaped? But all the investigations show that only the four of them went up the mountain."

"unless……"

Chen Su slowly revealed a chilling possibility: "The murderer is among those three kneeling corpses."

A cold wind howled past, and everyone shivered.

Xu Ying stared at the frozen phone: "Can this phone be restored?"

Guan Lin, a technician, took the phone. "It needs to be taken to the technical department for repair, but the chances are slim."

Ji Xuehui boosted morale: "It's alright, finding the fourth body is already a great success."

"Once the helicopter is available, we can break the ice on this fourth body, perform an autopsy, and based on the clues from the murder weapon, we might be able to identify the killer."

Upon hearing Ji Xuehui's words, Xu Ying glanced at her phone. She had gone up the mountain at 9:45 in the morning, and it was now 5:30 in the afternoon.

There are only thirty-odd hours left until the scheduled premiere of "Rules of Survival in the Desert".

I don't know if we can identify the murderer in these thirty-odd hours.