Chapter 23

Kong Bi had no concept of Wang Tianba’s weight. Although it looked chubby and round, like a cat, as long as it wasn’t obese, it still fell into the category of “cute” in people’s eyes. However, seeing Quan Xiangsong’s solemn expression, Kong Bi understood that this weight was probably not good for a normal owl.

 

But Wang Tianba wasn’t a normal bird to begin with, so this shouldn’t have a big impact on it, right?

 

Quan Xiangsong had a serious face. “I’ll anesthetize it first.”

 

Anesthetizing avian animals usually relies on respiratory anesthesia, but the zoo currently lacks those facilities, so they have to resort to injections. This significantly increases the risk of anesthesia. However, Quan Xiangsong had experience using anesthesia on wild birds during rescues, otherwise he wouldn’t dare to do this. Even so, it’s still a very risky procedure.

 

If the anesthesia dosage is too light, the owl could wake up mid-procedure and become stressed, while if the dosage is too heavy, the owl could simply die.

 

After thinking for a long time, considering Wang Tianba’s size, Quan Xiangsong ultimately chose a larger anesthesia dose. After completing this, he first checked Wang Tianba’s beak and claws, and then began carefully examining the wounds on its body. After confirming they weren’t serious, he started looking at its feathers, and his brow furrowed even more deeply.

 

Kong Bi asked, “Old Quan, is there a problem?”

 

Quan Xiangsong looked puzzled, “How does it have stress bars on its feathers?”

 

Stress bars are distinct dark bands that appear horizontally across feathers. They are particularly noticeable on colorful feathers, looking as if the feather has been cut in half. These stress bars can appear on any bird, and the feathers with these bars are typically fragile and easily broken. They are an important indicator of a bird’s health.

 

The way stress bars form is evident from their name. If a bird exhibits these markings, it usually indicates that they may be sick, malnourished, or that their surrounding environment poses a risk, keeping them constantly tense without a moment of relaxation.

 

In Quan Xiangsong’s view, considering Wang Tianba’s size, it doesn’t look malnourished at all. Moreover, it was only injured yesterday, and stress bars wouldn’t develop so quickly. As for environmental issues, that’s even less likely. Owls, especially large ones like this, essentially have no natural predators except during their fledgling stage.

 

Hearing this, Kong Bi guessed the reason. To prevent Quan Xiangsong from getting too caught up in the details, she quickly said, “Let’s put that aside for now. Does it have any other problems?”

 

“That’s true,” Quan Xiangsong relaxed his brow, “At least for now, it’s not life-threatening, we can deal with it later.”

 

He reached between Wang Tianba’s legs and felt around. “It’s indeed a female.”

 

Kong Bi asked curiously, “How can you tell?”

 

Kong Bi knew that female owls are generally larger than males due to their role in raising offspring. But if she weren’t also a bird, she wouldn’t have been able to tell Wang Tianba’s gender.

 

As for why it was given such a masculine name after discovering it was female, well, no one said a female couldn’t have that name, it’s better than ‘Ba Tian’ right?

 

Hey, wait, ‘Batian’ sounds pretty good too, doesn’t it?

 

“Feel here,” Quan Xiangsong instructed Kong Bi, “Females lay eggs, so the distance between their pubic bones is wider. We usually call this the ‘egg gate.’ If you only feel one, you probably won’t get much of a sense of it. When you have time, feel all the green peacocks, and you’ll be able to feel the difference.”

 

Kong Bi blinked, feeling that this behavior was strangely perverted, like liking to feel cat testicles. The key point was that it didn’t have the feel of cat testicles. However, the feel of the owl’s thick, long feathers was something that cats couldn’t replicate.

 

She nodded and asked, “It doesn’t have any major problems, does it?”

 

Quan Xiangsong pondered for a moment, “I didn’t find any major issues, but since it followed you back, it might have suffered some internal injuries. It’s best to get a cardiac ultrasound or something similar to be sure.”

 

The foot structure of large birds of prey indicates that they are not suited for walking on the ground. So, unless absolutely necessary, no large bird would willingly choose to walk instead of using its perfectly good wings.

 

Kong Bi understood this, so upon hearing this, she instinctively took out her phone and searched on the all-powerful online shopping app. Although taking Wang Tianba for an examination now would definitely mean transporting it to another location and then bringing it back, buying the equipment now might mean it arrives by the time Wang Tianba returns, allowing them to do the tests at home next time.

 

“Huh, only a few tens of thousands?”

 

“I’ll make a call and ask for one from above. Don’t rush, it should be delivered soon.” Seeing that Kong Bi was about to seek external help, Quan Xiangsong quickly stopped her. Taking birds to an unfamiliar place suddenly is more likely to cause stress. It’s better to have someone come to them. Quan Xiangsong has a wide network of friends, he has this capability.

 

Kong Bi was shocked: “You can do that?”

 

Quan Xiangsong coughed dryly: “It’s still quite troublesome, you have to write applications and stuff, but we can borrow it first, and then maybe we won’t have to return it…”

 

Kong Bi: “???” Utterly shocked.

 

Quan Xiangsong is an expert at securing funding. After all, everyone wants the best equipment and the best people. However, with so many teams nationwide, the allocation plan cannot satisfy everyone. At this point, it depends on one’s abilities. Not only does one need to have impressive credentials, but one must also be adept at securing benefits for one’s team. Otherwise, people won’t be willing to come after a few times.

 

Quan Xiangsong took out his phone and made a few calls, then quickly gave Kong Bi an “OK” gesture, indicating he had it sorted.

 

Kong Bi looked at her phone, hesitating. Should she still buy one? If so, should she get a different model?

 

Before long, a group of people arrived with a lot of equipment, leaving Kong Bi in awe.

 

“Old Quan, where’s the spot-bellied eagle-owl? Was what you said on the phone true? If it’s a lie, I’m taking my stuff and leaving!… Holy crap, is that the spot-bellied eagle-owl?”

 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, what did it grow up eating? Hormones?”

 

“This is unscientific! How can a spot-bellied eagle-owl grow this big?”

 

“…..”

 

“Alright, alright, we can talk about this later, let’s do the examination first!” Quan Xiangsong interrupted them.

 

“What’s the rush? We need to calibrate the equipment, don’t we?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, even the birds I saw in Bug Valley last time weren’t this big.”

 

“Everyone step aside, let me take a picture and send it to the group to see if anyone recognizes it.”

 

The group chattered among themselves, making the room noisy. Kong Bi noticed that among the people who arrived was the person who examined the green peacocks last time. They were holding test tubes and syringes, and didn’t join the surrounding discussion.

 

Kong Bi asked, “What are you doing?”

 

“I’m collecting the surrounding air,” he pushed up his glasses. “There’s definitely something wrong here, with abnormally large animals appearing one after another. I suspect there’s some mysterious substance hidden in the air.”

 

“It could also be a problem with the soil,” someone interjected. “I tasted the soil from the Shiwan Mountains a while ago, and I felt the taste was off.”

 

“Weren’t you sick with a cold recently? Maybe your sense of taste is off?” After a pause, he continued, “But it’s true that the soil could be the problem. The large peacocks grew so big from eating food that grows from the ground, and the owl’s prey, which it normally eats, ate fruit that grew from the ground, causing the owl to become abnormally large. But perhaps because the intake wasn’t as much, its size didn’t change as drastically as the peacocks.”

 

“That makes sense, but I think it might be caused by hormones. Are there any strange processing plants nearby that aren’t following emission standards?”

 

“Um…” seeing them get into a heated discussion, Kong Bi weakly suggested, “Maybe we should do a cardiac ultrasound and draw blood from the owl first? It’s going to wake up from the anesthesia soon if we don’t.”

 

Kong Bi was actually very curious to see what the changes during a monster’s evolution would look like on the instruments. She herself didn’t dare to get checked at the moment, but Wang Tianba could. As long as it didn’t start talking, no one would treat it like a monster.