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

Chapter 271 The Owl's Gift [Two-in-One!]

Drones were circling in the sky.

After leaving the highway and heading towards the mountains for a while, we arrived at the canyon.

At this moment, Liu Li did not follow, but stayed in the back with the police and professors.

Li Younan carried a walkie-talkie and some climbing equipment, and the conversations of the search team could be heard from time to time on the walkie-talkie.

However, not as many people came here to search as expected, since it has now been largely confirmed that the items were stolen by monkeys.

The police officers have other jobs, so naturally they won't continue to focus all their energy on this matter.

Moreover, from the police's perspective, the chances of successfully recovering the data are not that high.

For them, the form of this search was more important than the content.

Li Younan agreed to Professor Zhang's request.

Professor Zhang is a renowned engineer in China, and he has been involved in many key national projects. Although Professor Zhang did not disclose the contents of the document due to confidentiality reasons, Li Younan could roughly guess what it contained. After all, this is a prime location in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, where many important projects can be carried out.

As a Chinese person, Li Younan felt he couldn't stand idly by for this reason alone.

Of course, putting that reason aside, Li Younan also wanted to take on the challenge and see if he could find those mischievous monkeys.

After all...he has come.

Because there weren't many people searching the mountains, only about a dozen police officers, many of whom were novices, they were quite scattered.

In fact, Li Younan did not have much hope for the police. It was not that he looked down on the police, but because, in his opinion, even if they could roughly determine where the stolen briefcase was, it would probably be on a rock face that was difficult for ordinary people to reach. Ordinary police officers would not be able to get up there, and in this situation, they could not rely on drones. So, in the end, they would most likely have to get up there themselves.

Therefore, Li Younan assigned the other officers to conduct a thorough search of the accessible forest, since it was possible that the monkey might have carelessly left the stolen briefcase in some remote wilderness.

Of course, he wouldn't just search aimlessly across the mountains and fields. At this point, he already had a very clear and specific plan: first, he would use his knowledge of geology and animal behavior to make precise inferences.

This is a mountain ravine in a canyon. The further you go in, the steeper the mountains become. A tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo River flows through the area, and you can see more and more monkeys along the way.

Li Younan had long since broken away from the main group and was acting alone.

The first step is to establish a macro-level understanding. He doesn't just search aimlessly with his eyes, but interprets the behavioral traces left by the monkeys and the geographical clues provided by the environment.

Before arriving here, he had spent a long time observing the area with drones and binoculars, especially this cliff. Monkeys are highly intelligent wild animals, and they tend to follow fixed routes when climbing up and down cliffs, rather than doing so randomly.

At that moment, Losang Tashi's voice came through the walkie-talkie: "Teacher Li, how's the situation on your end?"

Li Younan responded, "It's pretty much what I guessed before."

“Macaque society is a typical form of social life. A large enough, resource-rich canyon forest can accommodate many monkey troop, and each troop has its own core territory.”

"Through previous investigations and observations, I discovered that there are three large monkey groups here, and the area near the restaurant by the national highway is a common area for these three monkey groups. Monkeys that move around in this common area come from different monkey groups."

At this point, Losang Tashi was completely impressed by Li Younan. The data that seemed impossible to recover was gradually being found thanks to Li Younan's extremely deep understanding of animal habits and his meticulous analysis.

Then Li Younan's tone turned slightly somber, and he said with some helplessness, "Originally, we could have narrowed down the area further, because different monkey groups tend to explore common areas at different times."

"However, I discovered that the three monkey troop groups here did not use this method, but instead occupied different flanks in the vicinity. In other words, all three monkey troop groups could potentially steal the data, so we need to investigate all three of them."

While it's called reconnaissance, what we actually need to do next is patient observation.

Li Younan has roughly determined the core territories of the three monkey groups. He will need to continue to stake out the area for a while to find the most common monkey trails used by the groups to go up and down the mountain.

Because these routes are typically rocky, fissure-filled, gentle slopes, or continuous rock edges, they are the paths with the least energy consumption, and briefcases are most likely to fall on these routes.

Only by further understanding these patterns can we proceed with the next step of the search.

It was already five or six kilometers from the highway. Li Younan stayed here for one or two hours, recording some important information.

After several hours of patient observation, he roughly identified several core areas of monkey social interaction.

It's important to know that monkey troop formations are not evenly distributed on cliffs; they have specific core platforms for resting, grooming, and playing.

Those platforms are spacious, sunny, and offer a good view, making them the most likely places for monkeys to play with their trophies for extended periods.

At the same time, Li Younan observed the traces of rainwater erosion on the rock wall. If the briefcase fell from a height, it was very likely that it would be carried to a specific area by the grooves and water flow on the rock wall.

The bottom, gentle slopes, or areas covered by vegetation of these collection ditches should be the focus of the search and investigation.

After recording this information, Li Younan instructed the police officers over the walkie-talkie to conduct a targeted search.

Thus, the search continued from early morning until late afternoon, and by nearly evening, all the officers were exhausted, yet they still hadn't found anything.

The sudden intrusion of these humans made the monkeys nervous, and they watched the human activities below warily from the cliff above.

But to be fair, a briefcase is a conspicuous item, not a particularly hard-to-find trinket.

Under Li Younan's guidance, the search area has been narrowed down to a very precise level.

At this moment, the police officers who participated in this search mission were actually somewhat complaining in their hearts while searching.

They have been working overtime for several days in a row for this matter. At present, although there is an expert to guide them, Li Younan looks too young, and everyone still has some doubts about what he will teach.

A police auxiliary officer named Xiao Zhang, who was following a police officer named Suolang Duncuo, couldn't help but complain, "Brother Suolang, how much longer are we going to have to go through this? There are so many mosquitoes."

As he spoke, he pulled up his trouser leg, saying, "I'm already 'wearing black stockings'."

Solang Duncuo looked down and saw that it was indeed true.

After wading through several mud puddles, Xiao Zhang's legs were covered in a layer of filth, making it look like he was wearing stockings.

Sonam Dondrup laughed heartily: "This is nothing! When I was in the criminal investigation team arresting fugitives, I stayed in the forest for five or six days, and when I came out, I was covered in a layer of 'black stockings'!"

"Solange, do you really think we can find it by searching like this?"

"We have to look for it even if we can't find it; that's our duty."

"Solange, what I mean is, let's rest here for a while, and then call it a day when it's time to go back. I don't think we'll be able to find it."

He had barely finished speaking when Sonam Dondrup tapped him on the head.

"The area they assigned us isn't very big, so just think of it as a walk. Do you think it's fun to stay in the police station all day? It's good to come out and change your mood."

Xiao Zhang, having failed to slack off, gave an embarrassed smile and said, "I... I was just joking."

Just then, Sonam Dondrup suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong, Solange?"

Sonam Dondrup's expression turned serious: "Look at that thing hanging on that tree over there, doesn't it look like a briefcase?"

Xiao Zhang was stunned for a moment, then looked up at a large tree in the distance, and sure enough, it was there.

"Huh? We found it! We really found it!"

……

When the news came over the walkie-talkie that the briefcase had been found, everyone cheered.

Before long, all the people involved in the search gathered under that tree.

Li Younan looked up at the briefcase on the tree, and then carefully observed the surrounding area. Not far from here was the rock wall where one of the monkey groups often went up and down to their habitat.

He silently considered some things in his mind, then looked at the briefcase on the tree and raised his eyebrows slightly.

However, the police officers were all immersed in the excitement of finally finding this thing, and for a moment, Li Younan couldn't bring himself to say what he was thinking.

At this moment, Sonam Dondrup, who was leading the team, quickly called his superiors to report that the briefcase had been found.

Not long after, Professor Zhang and his secretary arrived, their voices trembling slightly: "Thank you for your hard work, thank you for your hard work."

Sonam Dondrup then turned his gaze to Li Younan and said, "Teacher Li, you are truly amazing! We didn't believe you when you said you could find the briefcase around here, but you actually did."

At this moment, the policeman named Xiao Zhang blushed a little. After all, he had just been advising Suolang Duncuo to slack off. If Suolang Duncuo had listened to him, he would definitely not be able to find his briefcase now.

That would truly be a missed opportunity.

At that moment, he finally understood why others could become police officers while he was just an auxiliary police officer.

Everyone's eyes were on the tree; the next step was to climb up and retrieve the briefcase.

This is a large tree with a canopy reaching twenty or thirty meters high. The briefcase is hanging about ten meters up, and there are monkeys in the tree watching the people below with curiosity and vigilance.

The police force is naturally full of skilled tree climbers, and some auxiliary police officers volunteered to jump up and climb.

Seeing this, Li Younan naturally couldn't overstep his bounds and do it himself.

The young policeman climbed up with great effort, and just as he was about to get his briefcase, a monkey suddenly ran in front of him, baring its teeth at him, which startled him and almost made him fall.

Everyone below gasped in surprise.

Fortunately, there was no real danger. The young police officer, having regained his composure, bared his teeth at the monkey. Just then, the monkey seemed to realize that the officer's target was the briefcase. It nimbly moved in front of the briefcase and picked it up.

Everyone below gasped in surprise again, especially Professor Zhang, who was so anxious he jumped up and down.

The monkey picked up the briefcase and even startled the police officer by baring its teeth at him.

Police officers are human after all, and they can't move as nimbly in the trees as monkeys. One hand held onto the treetop to maintain his balance, while the other reached out to grab it, but he missed.

The monkey made "ah-uh" sounds, took two steps back while still holding the briefcase in its mouth.

Just then, the monkey suddenly jumped up, released its grip on the briefcase, and the briefcase fell from the top of the tree.

Then look at the monkey; it's vanished in a flash.

At this moment, they saw that Li Younan was holding a slingshot.

The charm of a slingshot is that you can adjust the force of the shot as needed.

Li Younan didn't use steel balls. Instead, he picked up a clod of mud from the ground and hit the monkey's buttocks with little force, enough to make the monkey feel pain without injuring it.

At this moment, the police officers quickly ran down and caught the briefcase, and Professor Zhang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Sonam Dondrup said admiringly, "Teacher Li, you're really good at using that slingshot."

Li Younan laughed heartily: "It's convenient to carry this thing when you're out and about."

At this moment, Professor Zhang couldn't wait to go to the policeman's side, but the smile on his face disappeared the next moment.

……

Briefcases aren't particularly sturdy, and they don't have anti-theft devices like combination locks; they're just the kind that can be opened with a zipper.

Monkeys, who frequently interact with humans, are quite adept at opening a briefcase.

At this point, the briefcase was not only opened, but also empty of everything inside.

According to Professor Zhang's description, the briefcase should contain a notebook, two pens, two relatively unimportant documents, and a USB drive.

The most important item was the USB drive; to be precise, it was a portable hard drive, larger than a regular USB drive. The briefcase had obvious bite marks and a broken zipper, clearly indicating that the monkey had removed everything from inside.

The excitement of finally finding something plunged back into despair.

Even though Sonam Dondrup was a very strong-willed person, he was somewhat helpless at this moment and said to Professor Zhang in a very serious tone, "Professor Zhang, I think we have to call it a day. It will get dark soon."

At this moment, Professor Zhang could only look to Li Younan for help. After all, it was Li Younan who had used his intelligence to lead the police officers to find the briefcase, so perhaps he had some other ideas.

Li Younan stroked his chin and said, "Now at least one thing is certain: the USB drive was indeed taken by the monkey. It's possible the monkey will keep it in its habitat, or it might just discard it like this briefcase. If it's the latter, further searching this area might be helpful, but if it's the former..."

Li Younan looked at the almost vertical canyon wall, nearly a hundred meters high, where monkeys could be seen from time to time. There were also dense branches on the mountainside, making the terrain very complex. He slowly said, "We'll only know once we climb up."

Upon hearing this, Professor Zhang immediately felt despair, and the other police officers' feelings also became somewhat complicated.

To be honest, at this point, everyone felt they had done their job perfectly, but what followed was beyond their capabilities.

Just kidding, who would dare to climb up a cliff face that's almost vertical?

Everyone has a family, and this isn't some extraordinary thing like protecting the country or saving lives. It's more like making up for someone else's mistake. Who would risk their life?

Even if we climb up there, we might not be able to find the USB drive.

Professor Zhang was well aware of this as well. Was there really no way to solve it?

Li Younan smiled and said, "I'll go up and try it tomorrow."

Professor Zhang quickly shook his head: "Professor Li, you have already done so much for us, we can't let you take this risk again. I, I'll think of another way."

Li Younan did not respond, but simply said, "It's already late today, let's talk about it tomorrow."

……

Li Younan's RV wasn't parked too far away, just in the open space next to the restaurant on the roadside.

After the police all left, Li Younan returned to the RV, where Liu Li was playing with Tuantuan.

Upon seeing Li Younan return, Liu Li asked, "Did you find that thing?"

Li Younan shook his head: "Not yet."

"Li Younan, I'm going to show you something!"

"what?"

"Watch this." Liu Li took a pen from the table and threw it on the floor next to her. "Tuantuan, pick it up for me."

Li Younan was somewhat surprised to see this.

Theoretically speaking, owls, as birds of prey, have very high intelligence, enough to enable them to complete some complex commands.

One of the simpler methods is fixed-point roosting and recall, such as getting an owl to fly from its perch to a designated location.

The videos showing the results of this training are also the easiest to find online. They often show a trainer wearing thick gloves, blowing a whistle, and an owl flying over and landing on his hand.

Of course, owls are quite heavy, which is quite strenuous for a cute girl.

The next basic training includes target tracking and simulated hunting, which also have systematic training methods. For example, dragging a fake animal involves training an owl to wrap meat in rabbit skin and drag it with an assistant to simulate the movement of prey. The owl then receives a reward after visually tracking and swooping down on the prey.

This training method can also be combined with drones. A considerable amount of research data from abroad shows that just two or three weeks of training can increase an owl's flight speed by more than 20% and significantly enhance its muscle endurance.

More advanced capabilities include multi-target recognition, long-distance flight with a load, and theoretically, owls could even act as messengers like carrier pigeons.

Harry Potter was right.

However, counterintuitively, commanding an owl to retrieve a specific item, which seems simple, is actually more difficult.

Unlike dogs, owls don't have a strong interest in things that humans randomly point to.

Training it to fetch a piece of meat is relatively easy, but training it to fetch something else is unlikely to work; it will probably ignore you.

Judging from Liu Li's posture, it seemed that she had succeeded many times today, so Li Younan looked over with some anticipation.

The pen fell to the floor and lay there quietly for a few seconds.

The owl didn't even glance at the pen; it just tilted its head and looked at Li Younan and Liu Li with a strange expression.

Gradually, Liu Li's expression froze. She picked up the pen and waved it in front of Tuantuan again: "Pen! Over there! Look carefully."

This time, Tuantuan was quite cooperative, her gaze lingering on the pen for a few seconds.

Liu Li then tossed the pen aside again.

Tuantuan kept her eyes straight ahead, completely unaffected by the pen, and even proudly raised her head when she looked at Li Younan.

Li Younan couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Liu Li stomped her foot: "This afternoon, I clearly told it to fetch something, and it obeyed!"

Seeing Li Younan laughing happily, Liu Li gave him a rocket headbutt.

Then she went over and patted Tuantuan's head. "It must be because Daddy came back that you're distracted, right? Let's ignore Daddy, he's naughty. Let's go play over there." With that, she picked up Tuantuan and strolled away.

Li Younan blinked, and suddenly his gaze fell on Tuan Tuan's wings. He said thoughtfully, "This little thing's wings should be almost healed by now."

Liu Li was immediately startled and turned around to say, "No, no, I think it needs to be cared for a little longer."

Li Younan had told her before that although Tuantuan could legally stay with them, it was, after all, a wild animal and belonged to nature.

If it's really well-done, you should still try to put it back in nature.

Liu Li felt that Tuantuan was not even half a year old yet, and after being raised by them for so long, it probably wouldn't even know how to hunt anymore. If they let it out, it would definitely be bullied by rats.

However, Li Younan knew very well that it was okay to joke about this, but if Tuantuan really wanted to fly away, it was impossible to keep it trapped in this small RV forever.

When Liu Li said this, Li Younan didn't say anything.

When they went to sleep that night, Li Younan still put Tuantuan's nest on the sunroof of the car. However, this time, Li Younan did not close Tuantuan's "home door" but left it wide open, the intention of which was self-evident.

He stroked Tuan Tuan's wings and sighed inwardly; it was indeed completely healed.

Liu Li was already in bed, muttering in the car, "Is it ready yet? Come to sleep."

Li Younan patted Tuan Tuan's head again, then ruffled its fur as usual. After a mischievous grin, he said in a voice only he could hear, "You're all better now. You're free."

After closing the sunroof, Li Younan returned to the car, saying irritably as he walked over, "So impatient? Aren't you afraid I'll eat you?"

"I'm not afraid, I can't sleep anymore even though I sleep alone now."

"Ah."

"Li Younan, are you afraid of being alone?"

"Not afraid."

"Do you want to sleep with me?"

"Sleep...sleep."

Lying in bed, Li Younan couldn't help but glance at the skylight, thinking that Liu Li would probably cry for a long time when she woke up tomorrow morning.

Silent all night.

Liu Li woke up earlier than Li Younan. After going to the bathroom, she came back, rubbed her eyes, and said, "Li Younan, go and get Tuantuan down quickly. I've been thinking about it, and it must have been because I didn't give the right command yesterday when it didn't listen to me. I suddenly remembered that when I asked it to fetch something yesterday, I said 'smart Tuantuan'."

For a moment, Li Younan didn't know how to explain it to Liu Li.

Seeing that Li Younan didn't move, Liu Li said, "Are you still a little tired?"

Li Younan then got up: "I'm not tired, I have plenty of energy."

He slowly walked to the skylight, pulled down the ladder, climbed up, opened the skylight, and poked his head out. Sure enough, Tuan Tuan's little nest was empty.

Li Younan closed the door to Tuantuan's little house, thinking that if it didn't work, he would make up a lie and say that the door wasn't closed properly and Tuantuan flew away.

But at that moment, Liu Li exclaimed in surprise, "How come a rabbit is flying in the sky?"

Li Younan leaned down and said, "You must have seen wrong."

Liu Li didn't say anything, walked over and opened the door abruptly. A cold wind rushed in, along with a rabbit and Tuan Tuan flapping its wings.

Li Younan was dumbfounded and almost fell off the ladder.

The owl, as always, tilted its head, blinked its big, round eyes, and then, with an air of nonchalance, strolled over to its perch.

as usual.

"How did Tuan Tuan fly over from over there?"

"That makes perfect sense."

"Huh? It didn't sleep in its little bed last night?"

"Well... the weather seems pretty nice today."

"Seems to be……"

Liu Li grabbed the rabbit by the ear and lifted it up, asking Li Younan blankly, "Can we eat this?"

Li Younan jumped down from the ladder: "Eat, we must eat! This is a gift from Tuantuan to the two of us!"

Li Younan silently walked to Tuan Tuan's side, this time without ruffling its feathers, and chuckled twice: "At least you still have some conscience."

Then, it gently tapped its head. "I gave you a chance to leave, but you refused. Now, don't even think about running away again. Come wander the world with me, little fat bird."

Tuantuan opened her mouth slightly, as if she were yawning, then closed one eye and half-closed the other, clearly feeling tired and wanting to sleep.

……

Li Younan got out of the RV, and a police car drove up. Professor Zhang got out of the car, and next to him was a tall policeman, the Tibetan policeman Solang Duncuo who had left some impression on Li Younan yesterday.

"We plan to use a drone to fly up there and take another look," said Sonam Dondrup.

He then said to Professor Zhang, "Professor Zhang, if we really can't find it using drones, then we really have no other way."

Li Younan shook his head: "Drones definitely can't search comprehensively. There's a lot of vegetation on the cliff, and with the cover of this vegetation, the range that a drone's camera can search is very limited."

"Is there really no other way?"

Li Younan shrugged: "Didn't I say? I'll go up and take a look today. I'm quite familiar with monkeys' habits, and there's no one else suitable besides me."

He looked relaxed, as if he were talking about something trivial.

(End of this chapter)