By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 261 "Adorable Bird"! Even a slingshot can hit anywhere! [Two-in-one!]

Although there was a tent, this was still outdoors.

This primeval forest is home to many wild animals, mainly aggressive species such as black bears, wild boars, and Tibetan bears, so Li Younan naturally brought a hunting knife with him before coming here.

He brought two hunting knives for his own use, so Li Younan had extremely high standards for them, making them much better than the hunting knives the program crew in Canada had given him before.

Both are made of M390 powder steel. Anyone who frequently engages in combat knows that powder steel is a truly high-end metallurgical product.

Using powder metallurgy technology, the alloy has a uniform composition and fine carbide distribution, resulting in excellent sharpness retention, strong corrosion resistance and wear resistance, and excellent toughness.

These two knives, one is a long knife and the other is a short knife.

Li Younan used his longsword to cut some branches nearby and made a simple defensive fortification around the tent—a crisscrossing wooden fence with sharp spikes, which would still be quite lethal to non-feline animals.

Although Li Younan was very efficient, it was already evening when he finished.

Throughout the process, Liu Li naturally stayed by Li Younan's side, doing some simple tasks, such as moving wooden branches.

It's clear that Liu Li has no fear of the wild; on the contrary, her eyes are full of longing for a solitary life in the wilderness. In her opinion, the experience of building a shelter by hand is extremely interesting.

However, it's a bit of a shame that the kind of rammed earth house with a raised beam frame that Li Younan built in Canada can't be made here. Since it's just for a one-day stay, Li Younan naturally can't put in too much effort.

After setting up the makeshift shelter, it was time to finally rest.

Although the altitude here is not considered very high in the snowy area, it is still 3 meters.

In mid-April, when the sun has completely disappeared, the weather can still be a bit chilly.

Once the light source is gone, the forest is plunged into true darkness.

Li Younan was already used to such darkness, after all, he had lived on the shores of Lake Chilco in Canada for so long.

In contrast, that place is still a foreign land, and the loneliness brought by darkness would only be stronger, so it doesn't really matter if it's a bit dark here, especially since Liu Li is right next to me.

Once the two-person tent is set up, the space inside is about the size of a large bed, but you can't stand up; you can only sit.

Inside the tent, there were two backpacks in the corner, and a small camping lamp hung on the top of the tent. The pale yellow light added a touch of warmth to the tent, making it quite cozy overall.

You can hear the wind whistling outside.

Liu Li huddled in the corner, silently tidied her sleeping bag, and then crawled inside.

After taking off the windproof jacket, there was still a down jacket underneath, and the sleeping bag provided physical separation, so even though we were in the same tent, it didn't feel particularly awkward.

Li Younan slept very well, but he didn't plan to go to sleep right away. Instead, he took out all the electronic devices and checked them.

Because this place is sparsely populated, there is no telecommunications signal coverage, and mobile phones have no signal at all.

However, for Li Younan, making contact with the outside world was not a difficult thing.

On the one hand, it can use the satellite phone function built into Huawei phones in open spaces. On the other hand, it also has a handheld radio. Although the handheld radio only has a power of 5 watts, it is not difficult for a radio master like Li Younan to use satellites in the sky as relays to make contact with the outside world.

In contrast to Li Younan, who had something to do, Liu Li, who clearly had nothing to do, showed no intention of sleeping.

After checking the equipment, Li Younan turned his attention to Liu Li and saw her staring at him with her eyes wide open, huddled in her sleeping bag, motionless.

"Why aren't you sleeping yet?"

Liu Li said, "I can't sleep."

"If you don't go to bed early, you won't have the energy to climb the mountain tomorrow. Today is just an appetizer."

"I really can't sleep."

Liu Li thought for a moment, then crawled out of her sleeping bag, sat up, and took out her phone. "Otherwise, I'll study for a while."

She was holding her phone, and after scrolling through it a couple of times, she remembered something and asked Li Younan, "With my current educational background, well, I haven't even finished high school yet, can I still go to university? I mean a regular university, not a part-time or online university... I don't need that certificate."

"Of course you can. You can also take the college entrance examination as a young adult from the general public, as long as you are under 25 years old."

"As long as you register, you just need to take the national unified college entrance examination at the designated time."

"After the college entrance examination results are released, students fill out their college applications based on their scores and the enrollment plan. However, there are some restrictions on the application process, but these are limited to military academies, police academies, or publicly funded teacher training programs, which restrict current year graduates from applying."

After a pause, Li Younan said, "Actually, it's just taking the college entrance examination normally... just with a different identity."

A glimmer of hope ignited in Liu Li's eyes: "Li Younan, how difficult is it to get into your university?"

"Well, my university..."

"I won't pass the exam?"

"That's not what I meant... At Jiaotong University, engineering majors are more prominent, especially disciplines like Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Energy Engineering, which are among the leading in the country... These majors aren't very suitable for girls. Of course, there are other majors as well, but compared to those, the cost-effectiveness isn't as high..."

"I want to go to the place where you spent four years."

Before Li Younan could finish speaking, Liu Li suddenly said something out of the blue.

There was a brief moment of silence inside the tent.

Li Younan lowered his head and smiled softly: "I see... alright then."

"Okay, there's no internet right now, so it's not convenient to study. I'm going to sleep."

"Okay, I'll turn off the lights then."

Li Younan turned off the camping light, plunging the tent into complete darkness.

……

She's the female version of Zoro, cleaving through the head-mounted crest launched by evil Tiga with a single sword strike; victory is within reach.

However, at that moment, pitch-black octopus tentacles suddenly sprouted from all around and wrapped around her limbs.

She panicked and before she could call for help, a tentacle suddenly gripped her neck, while another tentacle covered her mouth.

A feeling of suffocation suddenly enveloped her.

Just then, a hand suddenly grabbed the tentacle near her mouth and pulled it away. She could see clearly that it was Li Younan.

"There's no time to explain. I have a book called 'The Buddha's Palm' here. You can use it to save the world." Li Younan said this and then turned and ran away.

The surrounding scenery then changed, transforming into a pitch-black street scene.

Liu Li woke up groggily.

What kind of crazy dreams are these...

Suddenly, I was startled.

Because when she immediately reached out to the side, she only felt an empty sleeping bag; Li Younan was no longer inside.

A sudden panic gripped her, but she forced herself to suppress her fear and turned on her camping light.

As expected, Li Younan was not in the tent.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down: She must have just gone out to use the restroom, right?

Thinking this, she held her breath and listened carefully to the sounds outside.

Fortunately, footsteps soon came from outside.

She called softly, "Li Younan, is that you?"

"Well, it's me."

Li Younan responded from outside.

Liu Li immediately felt relieved; she was really scared if it weren't for Li Younan.

"what are you doing?"

"It can't be explained in just a few words."

"Then I want to come out and take a look too."

"It's a bit cold, so put on your windbreaker and don't catch a cold."

Liu Li obediently put on her down jacket and windbreaker before slowly crawling out of the tent.

Outside, it was dark, the forest was pitch black, there were no stars in the sky, it was truly pitch black.

Fortunately, Li Younan had a headlamp with him, and he was squatting not far from the tent.

Liu Li went closer and saw what Li Younan was squatting down looking at, her expression slightly stunned: "Huh? It's so cute!"

Li Younan shook his head and said irritably, "This thing is dangerous. Don't be fooled by its cute appearance. Theoretically speaking, it can prey on all birds, as well as any mammal or reptile smaller than itself. It can even bully humans, especially girls."

"But it's so cute."

"Are you listening to me?"

"I heard you." Liu Li stared wide-eyed at the thing in front of Li Younan, but still didn't go closer. "Is it injured?"

"Yes, it's probably a broken wing. If left untreated, it'll most likely die here."

"Then let's take care of it."

Li Younan stroked his chin: "Hmm, let's talk about it tomorrow."

……

Li Younan worked through the night to make a small cage out of wooden branches and temporarily locked up the little creature he had found that evening.

This is to protect it, because if it were allowed to leave, wild animals would take its life in this primeval forest in no time.

The next morning, when Liu Li woke up, Li Younan was already up.

She stretched and yawned, then suddenly remembered what she had seen last night, and felt a little dazed: Had she been dreaming last night?

She quickly got dressed and crawled out of the tent.

She was stunned once again by the scene before her.

Li Younan had somehow acquired a snake, torn it in two, and hung one half on the wooden fence while the other half was in the mouth of the little creature from the previous night.

That was... an owl?

Liu Li squatted down next to Li Younan. It was too dark last night, so she couldn't see very clearly. Now, looking at the owl, she thought it was even cuter—a round head, big eyes, and it looked adorable and silly.

Moreover, it was very nervous when facing Li Younan, but when Li Younan fed it snake meat, it ate it with relish, as if it were chewing spicy strips.

Suddenly realizing something, Liu Li's eyes widened: "Where did this snake come from?"

"We need to find a way to get this owl some food. Its wing is injured and it can't fly. It probably hasn't eaten for a while."

"Did you hunt and catch this snake?"

Li Younan shook his head calmly: "Don't say that in public..."

He sighed softly, "Snakes are also protected animals, so... this snake was caught by the owl itself, understand?"

"oh oh……"

After the owl ate half of the snake, it seemed to have lowered its guard against Li Younan and then looked longingly at the other half of the snake meat.

As Li Younan cut the snake into several pieces and fed them to the owls, he explained to Liu Li, "This species of owl is scientifically called the Eurasian Eagle Owl, and it is the largest of all owls."

"When it comes to adulthood, its wingspan can reach nearly two meters. To be precise, among all birds of prey, this thing is among the largest. You know the American bald eagle, right? It's not even this big! This is a real bird of prey."

"At the same time, this creature is highly intelligent, ranking among the top in intelligence of all birds." "Is it seriously injured?"

Li Younan nodded: "It's quite serious. I've already fixed it in place."

Liu Li then noticed that the owl's wings were clipped.

However, this owl doesn't look particularly big.

Li Younan added, "This owl is probably less than three months old. It has just finished its chick stage and is now in the sub-adult stage. You can see that its feathers are relatively light in color, and the color of its iris is not fully developed yet; it is still yellow. It is not very good at hunting yet."

"So what should we do now?"

Li Younan thought for a moment: "If this little thing is left here, it will definitely die. Let's take it with us for now."

Liu Li immediately became excited: "That's exactly what I think!"

She hesitated for a moment, then asked, "May I touch it?"

"It's best not to. It's not familiar with us yet, and touching it rashly might cause it to have a stress reaction. Although this thing is not fully grown yet, don't be fooled by its cute appearance."

"Then why doesn't it peck at you?"

Li Younan chuckled softly and glanced casually at the owl.

The little creature instinctively sensed the aura of a top predator and its fur stood on end in fear.

Li Younan smiled, and that imposing aura seemed to vanish instantly.

The owl dared not look Li Younan in the eye and lowered its head to eat the snake meat.

……

"Could we make this little owl a pet? It reminds me of Harry Potter the moment I see it."

“Legally speaking, it’s not allowed. Keeping these eagle owls requires very complicated procedures, which are generally not something an individual can do.”

"But I think you're not an ordinary person."

Li Younan looked at Liu Li with amusement: "Do you really want to keep it?"

"I think it's cute."

"This thing is a real bird of prey, and it's not allowed in ordinary cities, so it will cause a lot of trouble."

Is there really no way to do it?

Li Younan remained silent.

By this time, the owl had eaten the whole snake and was no longer hungry; its mood had also calmed down considerably.

Perhaps it sensed that Li Younan wouldn't harm it, or perhaps it was because this creature had only recently left its chick stage and lacked experience, its hunting skills were rough, and it wasn't very wary of other animals. In short, it hadn't learned its lesson yet.

At this moment, Li Younan made a simple small cage out of wood and hung it on the side of his backpack.

The little owl's claws can grip the bottom bar of the cage firmly, so it's quite quiet inside.

To be honest, the best way to deal with such a protected animal in China is to call the relevant authorities and have professional staff take the owl away.

However, with no signal at the moment, Li Younan couldn't possibly use a satellite phone to contact the police station or public security bureau outside, and ask those staff to go through all the trouble of sending police officers into the forest to find them for an owl. That would be an absolutely stupid thing to do.

Therefore, Li Younan's idea is to bring the little owl along for the time being.

If an ordinary person were in this situation, it would be very difficult to take good care of the little owl.

But Li Younan was different.

With their extensive animal knowledge and almost superhuman survival skills, finding enough food for an owl is quite easy.

In this primeval forest, all kinds of mice, squirrels, rabbits, and snakes are widely distributed... especially squirrels, you can see one almost every few dozen meters.

In situations like these, one can exploit loopholes in the law.

For example, if you kill a squirrel and it gets eaten by an owl, who can say that the squirrel killed itself and that the owl caught it?
Anyway, no one saw it.

Now that the owl has left the chick stage, it doesn't need to be fed many times a day. A piece of meat the size of a squirrel is enough to provide it with energy for the whole day.

My appetite will be a little bigger when I become an adult, but it won't be drastically different from what I have now.

In terms of size, the eagle owl at this stage is not much smaller than when it is an adult.

However, Liu Li was still very curious about how Li Younan hunted, because Li Younan did not bring the hunting bow with him on this trip, especially the snake in the morning. How did he catch it?
She was still puzzled at the time, but Liu Li soon found out.

They were still unable to leave the forest that day, but by the afternoon they had reached the edge of the forest, and the glacier was just ahead.

It was time to rest again, so we simply left the forest and came to the boundary between the glacier and the forest.

The area has become visibly desolate, but the view has also become more open.

At the edge of her vision, the glacier was already close at hand, and Liu Li even had an urge to go and see it.

After setting up camp, Li Younan took Liu Li to hunt for the owls.

At this moment, Li Younan pulled out a... slingshot from his person.

Liu Li stared wide-eyed at the slingshot: "You used this to shoot the snake?"

Li Younan nodded.

In fact, this was also a hidden ability of his archery skills that he discovered a while ago: he could use a slingshot to hit any target within a distance of several tens of meters.

When I stayed at my grandfather's house for a while, there were a lot of rats in the countryside, which was quite annoying.

However, Li Younan couldn't very well use a bow and arrow to shoot rats in a high-profile manner. Later, he came across a video on Bilibili of a guy playing with a slingshot. The guy's skill with the slingshot was astonishing; he could hit the target almost every time he aimed.

Li Younan found it interesting, so he bought one for himself. He originally thought he would just try it out and practice, since he had archery skills and might be able to get the hang of it quickly. But once he started practicing, things got really interesting – he raised his hand and pulled back, and by feeling, he shot the steel ball out, which landed right where he was looking.

Judging from the results, his accuracy was no worse than that of the guy with the slingshot. In fact, the other guy's video was edited, but Li Younan really achieved the terrifying precision of hitting exactly where he looked!
This discovery made Li Younan extremely excited.

He did not acquire any slingshot skills; clearly, the ability to use a slingshot was a byproduct of his bow and arrow skills.

Thinking about it, it seems quite reasonable; playing with slingshots and playing with bows and arrows have something in common in some ways.

It's worth noting that slingshots are much more convenient to carry than bows and arrows, and the steel balls required for slingshots are also cheaper and easier to carry than arrows. If all else fails, you can pick up pebbles from the ground.

Therefore, Li Younan brought a professional, powerful slingshot and a whole bag of hundreds of steel balls with him on this trip.

This slingshot has an effective range of over 150 meters. With 8mm diameter steel balls, it can easily penetrate iron sheets and break tree branches. If it hits an animal's vital organs, it can easily cause fractures and internal organ damage, making it as lethal as a weapon.

In a sense... it's comparable to a pistol!
The snake that appeared this morning was obtained by Li Younan using this slingshot to blow its head off.

When it came time to find food for the owl, Li Younan didn't bring the owl with him, but instead left it in the tent at the campsite.

During the day, owls don't have very good eyesight and can even be bullied by sparrows. However, owls are extremely vengeful animals. If you don't kill them during the day, they will wipe out your entire family at night.

However, owls are also extremely grateful animals. As long as they regard you as one of their own kind, they will behave very gently and adorably.

A person abroad rescued a eagle owl, raised it for two months, and then released it back into the wild. The eagle owl then began a four-year-long act of gratitude.

Almost every day, the couple would receive a rat-snake caught by this eagle owl...

If they see that the man is indifferent to the snakes and rats they've caught, they might even considerately feed them directly to his mouth...

Liu Li followed Li Younan and did not leave the camp far, searching at the edge of the forest.

Originally, Li Younan hadn't planned to bring Liu Li along, since the hunting scene was rather bloody, but Liu Li insisted on coming, so Li Youran didn't stop her.

With his exceptional hunting skills, Li Younan quickly discovered the squirrel's tracks.

Squirrels move incredibly fast, disappearing in the blink of an eye; it's almost impossible to keep up with their movements.

Liu Li only felt a blur before her eyes as a small object darted past, and the next moment, the patch of grass twitched slightly.

Looking at Li Younan again, he was still in the posture of launching the slingshot.

Liu Li asked blankly, "Did you hit it?"

Li Younan nodded: "Let's go take a look."

Walking to the patch of grass, I parted the dead leaves and branches, and sure enough, there was a squirrel with its head smashed open, its brains spilling out, and its body still twitching.

Upon seeing this, Liu Li's expression immediately turned rather unpleasant.

Li Younan laughed heartily, "I already told you not to come along... You're terrible at it and love to play games."

Quickly wrap the squirrel's carcass in the trash bag you have with you.

Liu Li's expression improved slightly at this point.

However, in reality, Li Younan would not want to hunt squirrels if he had other options.

Although the eagle owl is the natural enemy of all rodents, it doesn't particularly like to eat squirrels.

It's not that squirrels don't suit his taste, but rather that squirrels would willingly and without any sense of being forced to offer their nests to the eagle owl.

In a sense, squirrels are the landlords of eagle owls.

Because eagle owls have a natural instinct to repay kindness and avenge wrongs, they rarely prey on squirrels.

However, there's not much of a choice right now, so we can only take the squirrel back with us.

That night, perhaps because of the scene where Li Younan used a slingshot to shoot squirrels, which was too bloody, Liu Li even lost her appetite, unlike Liu Li who also had no appetite.

The owl, however, ate with relish. It probably hadn't yet received any favors from the squirrel, so it ate without any guilt.

It's clear that this little guy hasn't had such a hearty meal in a long time.

After eating the fresh rat meat, it stayed quietly in its cage.

As night fell, they became even more active, making a few "coo coo coo" sounds.

Liu Li looked at the owl and said, "Li Younan, why don't we give it a name?"

Li Younan paused for a moment.

Actually, he was reluctant to name the owl, because if he did, the creature would develop a real emotional connection with him, and the separation would be even more painful.

Seeing Liu Li's expectant expression, Li Younan nodded: "You name it."

"Should I name it? Let me think... I've got it, it looks round and chubby, let's call it Tuan Tuan."

Li Younan shrugged: "Either is fine."

Liu Li squatted down in front of the owl and said earnestly, "Tuantuan, from now on you'll be called Tuantuan, okay?"

The owl tilted its head, one eye closed and the other open, and cooed twice.

The eagle owl's call is deep, loud, and penetrating.

Hearing this sound, Li Younan smiled: "Although it probably doesn't understand what you mean, it shouldn't be too hostile towards us. If it's a reaction or a warning, it will squawk or hiss."

The next day was the day we could actually reach the glacier.

Li Younan and Liu Li had packed their things and were preparing to leave.

Suddenly, Liu Li gently nudged Li Younan: "Hey, Li Younan, look over there, is that a person?"

Li Younan looked up and saw that there really was a person, slowly walking down from the direction of the glacier.

Ok?
(End of this chapter)