Chapter 19

Kong Bi wasn’t very familiar with bird species. Although many zoos in the country kept birds, her zoo in the game had a limited variety of birds. After all, they were born to belong to the sky, and confining them to a small space seemed a bit cruel to her.

You see, the birds in zoos all undergo anti-flight measures. This is to prevent them from flying up or away. Therefore, zoos not only install nets overhead but also choose to trim some of the feathers on one side of their wings. This makes their wings asymmetrical, making it difficult for them to fly again, or if they do, they can’t fly very high.

However, this would make the birds look somewhat unattractive due to their asymmetrical wings, and it would also negatively impact the visitor’s experience. Therefore, some zoos choose another method—surgery.

Birds that have undergone surgery to sever their tendons can no longer fly as freely as they once did, just like athletes with ruptured Achilles tendons find it difficult to return to the field. However, some zoos choose neither of these methods and instead rely on food enticement. Animals like the green peacock, which return to their territory to sleep at night, are not afraid of running away even if they are free-range. If they are also fed at fixed times, the probability of them flying away is even lower. After all, there is no food elsewhere, and they still have to fly back when it’s mealtime.

The primary purpose of animals appearing in zoos is to be seen by visitors. Therefore, most zoos naturally won’t let them fly around freely, and their activity space is inevitably limited. Only a very few zoos choose to let them fly freely.

Kong Bi’s zoo mainly houses monsters and their clans. For monsters that understand thinking, living in the wild is not difficult, so they are not very tempted by the monster king’s recruitment. Consequently, in the game, many birds only come to the zoo to have a meal at fixed times and then go home. The zoo’s attraction to them is extremely limited.

So, Kong Bi, who didn’t need to bother building enclosures for them, naturally hadn’t specifically looked up the most detailed information. Her knowledge of them was basically at the level of an amateur bird enthusiast. She could recognize the common ones, but when it came to rare and obscure species, she was completely lost.

Kong Bi could see that the fat owl in front of her had some similarities to the eagle-owl, but the eagle-owl category itself wasn’t small, and she couldn’t rely on that to identify its specific breed.

She took out her phone to check, but the task wasn’t completed, and the game didn’t display the owl’s breed. Kong Bi pondered, wondering if it was because she had only blocked it and hadn’t actually interacted with it up close?

“Waaahhhh!!!”

As Kong Bi pondered what action would trigger the game to recognize the task as complete, the owl trapped in the tree hollow finally snapped out of its fright. Its piercing, mournful cry, like a suona being blown to send someone to their grave, unleashed a tangible sonic wave that, along with a mountain-like pressure, spread outward like a landslide.

“Thump—”

“Thump—”

The birds circling around plummeted from the sky like dumplings falling into a pot.

Tian Ba paid no attention to any of this, its eyes fixed intently on Kong Bi, who stood unmoving at the entrance of the hollow tree. 

Intimidating enemies to leave is an action that every animal takes. In nature, it’s often seen that two animals, seemingly on the verge of a life-or-death struggle, will go through a long prelude, hissing and confronting each other, before actually fighting.

This is because food is limited in the wild, and every animal tries to conserve its body’s energy as much as possible. Therefore, they will choose to verbally or behaviorally threaten rather than physically fight unless they cannot scare the other party away through language or actions.

And the monsters have inherited this characteristic and carried it forward, which is the origin of the pressure and fear that small monsters feel from big monsters – the aura of dominance.

Monsters unleash the latent power within their bloodlines and bodies through their cries and auras, using the most energy-efficient method. The resulting intangible and formless field of aura energy is called pressure. This is also a tool for monsters to assess each other’s cultivation level. After all, reality isn’t a game with an ‘analyze’ spell, they can only indirectly judge each other’s strength through this method.

Tian Ba wasn’t confident in defeating Kong Bi, so it chose to ‘talk first.’ What if it could scare the enemy away?

“That’s not how pressure is used.”

As her voice fell, the surrounding space seemed to ripple, like stones dropped into water, sending out wave after wave.

A terrifying aura was unleashed from Kong Bi’s body without restraint, dominating heaven and earth.

Wherever it passed, the wind stopped, the clouds dispersed, and it seemed as if space itself had solidified, even the plants and trees remaining motionless.

In the next second, everything exploded with a bang. The air surged, and the turbulent airflow shot into the sky, forming a huge mushroom cloud. It then violently compressed and exploded, silently spreading outwards. Tender green leaves fell under the impact, and the tree hollow nest where the owl was located directly shattered, scattering in all directions and crashing to the ground, burying the owl beneath it.

A rustling sound arose from the shattered tree trunk. After a short while, a round owl head emerged from the debris of tree trunks and leaves, its ‘V’-shaped ‘eyebrows’ pressed down into a straight line.

“Goo uh!”

Tian Ba struggled to lift its head, looking at Kong Bi, letting out a fierce cry of defiance.

A huge, featherless face gradually enlarged before it, and reddish-brown eyes stared down at it. “This is my territory. You trespassed without permission and injured my people. Fat bird, you’re under arrest”

Under the pressure of Kong Bi, Tianba felt fear and terror from the bottom of her soul. The other party’s low and majestic voice was like a bell, resounding through her mind, as if even hee consciousness was about to be shattered.

The fear emanating from its very soul finally caused Tian Ba to let out a weak whimper, and it spoke with difficulty, like a child admitting its mistake: “I’m very sorry, I didn’t know this was your territory. Please forgive my intrusion.”

In the ruins, the owl, with only its head exposed, looked at Kong Bi, its dark eyes revealing an emotion of submission.

Different birds cannot communicate through language. Although they all speak ‘bird language,’ each species’ bird language sounds like a foreign language to another species, not to mention creatures like Kong Bi and the owl, one belonging to the Falconidae family and the other to the Strigidae family.”

But, for Kong Bi, making different species of birds understand what she said was not a difficult task. After all, the demon realm also has a ‘common language.’ Therefore, this gave Tian Ba a false perception—that Kong Bi was one of its own.

Although they looked different, Tian Ba itself was also different from other members of its species. So, it didn’t wonder why Kong Bi looked different from itself. Since the other party spoke the same language as it did, the external conflict turned into an internal one.

Owls are not social creatures; they are solitary except during the breeding season. Invading another owl’s territory and being driven out and attacked is a normal occurrence.

Upon hearing this, Kong Bi looked at the owl in the ruins with some surprise, not expecting it to admit defeat so quickly.

You know, many birds are known for their unyielding spirit, and given its untamed appearance, Kong Bi didn’t expect it to cooperate. She just planned to subdue it first.

After all, you’re a protected animal, and so am I. It’s not illegal for either of us to fight. Besides, the owl is a level-two protected animal, while the green peacock is a level-one!