Chapter 4

Actually, it’s not just the animal world; China once had a period where dancing at the drop of a hat was common, especially during the Tang Dynasty. It was very common for emperors to play the pipa as accompaniment, with ministers toasting and dancing one by one, and even the emperor leading the dance. Those who couldn’t dance even had difficulty climbing the ranks in officialdom.

But times have changed. At least now, if ordinary people see someone dancing for no apparent reason in a non-special occasion, their first thought would probably be to call the police or the mental hospital.

Social butterflies a thousand years ago: Inviting each other to dance, limbs flying, engaging in dance-offs.

Socially awkward people a thousand years later: Curling their toes into a metaphorical Pacific Ocean.

In Kong Bi’s inherited memories, there are numerous records concerning this, not only dances performed in her true form but also how to dance in human form like Kong Bi. Dancing towards the green peacock tribe signifies her acceptance of them. If she doesn’t dance, they might be perpetually restless and uneasy.

Thinking of this, Kong Bi couldn’t help but curl her toes in embarrassment. If there were no demons in this tribe, Kong Bi could have gotten away with it. But it’s clear that the leading female peacock is a fledgling demon, as green peacock tribes are typically composed of one male and several females. The only thing that could make them defy this natural order is the presence of a demon among them.

Since no one was watching anyway, Kong Bi simply braced herself and raised her arms.

She tiptoed, her graceful dance steps lithe and gentle, a welcoming gesture of warmth and hospitality.

Then, her posture suddenly shifted, becoming restrained and solemn…

At this moment, the female peacocks called out, harmonizing with the dance, flapping their wings and soaring together, their clear calls echoing in waves. Kong Bi moved among them, as if walking on air.

Ancient dances, in fact, often told stories through movement. Kong Bi’s dance, even more so, fell within the category of ritual dances, possessing the unique restraint, beauty, and mystery of classical dance. But to summarize, it essentially conveyed one sentence: ‘Welcome to you all. On such and such a day, according to the customs of the demon realm, I, in the name of the demon king, formally extend an invitation. Would you like to become my followers?’

And the green peacocks’ circling and calls were their way of demonstrating their willingness to pledge allegiance, to follow her every command.

Fortunately, human understanding of animal language is still largely guesswork, otherwise, the reality might be quite disillusioning.

…

“Holy sh*t!”

Ye Zhou, who had rushed over following the peacock calls, stared dumbfounded at the scene before him. He couldn’t help but rub his eyes, and when he realized it wasn’t a hallucination, he was even more shocked.

He saw a tall woman dancing gracefully among the peacock flock on the lawn. The surrounding green peacocks not only didn’t reject her but danced along with her, even providing accompaniment. Their performance held his gaze captive, unable to look away, and filled his heart with boundless admiration and praise for “beauty.”

At that moment, the power of language seemed to fail, utterly inadequate to describe such a dreamlike and beautiful scene. The group stared blankly until the green peacocks folded their wings and stopped calling, as if waking from a dream.

“Doo-hoo—”

Kong Bi straightened up, feeling a sense of relief. It turned out that boundaries were meant to be broken. At first, Kong Bi was reluctant and even felt a little ashamed, but as she danced, she got into the rhythm, even improvising to make the overall movements more in line with modern aesthetics. When the dance ended, she even felt a little unsatisfied.

Just as Kong Bi was about to savor the moment, the green peacocks suddenly looked alertly into the distance, their feathers rustling like leaves blown by the wind.

This subsonic sound, produced by their feathers, is how peacocks communicate in whispers to avoid being heard by enemies. The frequency is below 20Hz, which is inaudible to humans. Kong Bi paused, then turned her head stiffly.

In the distance, several young men and women were watching them, one of them even holding a camera.

Kong Bi: “…………”

Seeing that Kong Bi had noticed them, the group instinctively started walking over. But as soon as they took a step, the lead female peacock immediately flapped its wings and kicked at them, sending them scurrying away, covering their heads in a panic.

Those familiar with the habits of green peacocks know that, unlike blue peacocks, which mostly just display threats, green peacocks typically have extremely fiery and wild temperaments. They have very sharp spurs on their legs, and being kicked by them would inevitably leave horrifying wounds.

“Come back!”

Kong Bi, afraid that someone might get hurt, quickly called them back. The green peacocks reluctantly flew back, but still glared at the intruders with wary eyes, clearly indicating that they would attack again if they came any closer.

This forced Kong Bi to walk over and talk to them: “Who are you?”

“Hello, I’m a forest ranger from the Shíwàn Mountains.” Ye Zhou saluted Kong Bi.

Behind Peacock Mountain lies a large mountain range called the Phoenix Mountains, but locals usually refer to it as the Ten Thousand(Shí wàn) Great Mountains because the range is vast and undulating, with countless large and small mountains, and is home to numerous rare species, often attracting scientific research teams.

As a forest ranger, Ye Zhou’s mission is to prevent travelers and tourists from venturing beyond the developed areas into the depths, protecting the forest and maintaining order.

Kong Bi was puzzled: “Then why did you get here?”

“We followed it,” Ye Zhou pointed at the albino green peacock, then at the people behind him, “They illegally entered the undeveloped mountainous area, and we should have taken enforcement actions according to the law. But on our way back, we found it…”

There are many albino animals in the animal kingdom, the most famous being white tigers and white lions. Birds also have albino species, but the pure and beautiful colors in human eyes often cause animals to become ostracized outliers in their groups.

This albino green peacock is one such example.

Its location was not within the habitat of the protected green peacocks, especially the numerous trees nearby, which is not conducive to green peacock survival. Therefore, Ye Zhou’s initial plan was to take the albino green peacock away and place it in a rescue station first. After all, its size and appearance all indicated that it was not suitable for survival in the wild.

Rather than letting it roam, it would be better to take it in. Besides, zoo-raised green peacocks don’t have such high demands for males, and it might even find a mate.

However, before Ye Zhou could contact anyone to take action, he saw the albino green peacock suddenly leave as if it had discovered something. Ye Zhou followed, and found that it had been adopted by a green peacock tribe.

If things had ended there, it would have been a happy ending for everyone. But soon, Ye Zhou discovered something even stranger: the leader of this tribe was actually a female peacock, and they seemed to be migrating. Green peacocks rarely change their territory unless their original habitat is no longer suitable for survival. This situation naturally warranted attention. Currently, there are nine protected areas established for green peacocks in China, eight of which are located in Yunnan Province. The Ten Thousand Mountains is the only remaining provincial protected area located further away.

Therefore, this situation naturally became even more concerning. To their surprise, as they followed, they found that this tribe of more than a dozen green peacocks was flying towards the zoo.

After listening to Ye Zhou’s description, Kong Bi blinked and spread her hands, saying, “This… I don’t know either!”

She feigned ignorance, “You can see, this zoo has been abandoned, and I’ve only recently planned to renovate and reopen it. I don’t know how they got here.”

Ye Zhou: “But they seem very close to you, like…” domesticated ones.

Ye Zhou didn’t voice this guess because it was too absurd. There are indeed a few zoos in China that keep green peacocks, but even those raised from a young age wouldn’t act like this.

“Maybe because I have a good affinity with animals since I was a child,” Kong Bi tried to explain, “This place has always been called Peacock Mountain. Maybe they used to live here, and left when more people came.”

Ye Zhou still felt that something was off. Peacock Mountain was named because it was once a place where peacocks were raised for the emperor, but it was abandoned after a brief period of glory. Otherwise, if it had a deep historical background, it would have become a well-known tourist attraction long ago.

But he couldn’t find a reasonable explanation. It couldn’t possibly be that these green peacocks came because of Kong Bi, right? Who would believe that?

Therefore, after a moment of hesitation, Ye Zhou had no choice but to instruct Kong Bi to keep an eye on them, planning to contact experts to investigate why the green peacocks’ behavior was so abnormal.

Kong Bi couldn’t refuse, so she had to agree. Only then did Ye Zhou leave, taking with him the tourists who had secretly entered the Shíwàn Mountains.

After they left, Kong Bi covered her face in distress. ‘Was this arrival a bit too high-profile?’ It’s illegal for her to keep first-class protected animals without a permit!

“Doo-hoo?”

The female peacock nudged Kong Bi’s arm with its beak, looking puzzled.”

“I’m fine.” Kong Bi reached out and touched the female peacock’s neck, all the way to the back. The smooth and soft feathers felt very good, much better than petting a cat.

However, the most comfortable place to touch a peacock should be under its chest, where they incubate their chicks. Kong Bi had touched this area on a hen before, but considering the peacock’s fine feathers, it should feel even better than a chicken. After all, green peacocks spend one or two hours every day cleaning their feathers.

But touching that area on the first meeting would be inappropriate, so Kong Bi restrained herself and only touched the green peacock’s back.

However, this behavior seemed to arouse jealousy in the other green peacocks. Soon, another green peacock pushed its way in, kicking the female peacock aside and nudging Kong Bi’s palm with its head.

“Doo-hoo—!”

The female peacock immediately lowered its head and pecked, pulling out a feather from the other peacock.

“Hey, hey, stop fighting! Everyone gets a turn, everyone gets a turn!” Kong Bi quickly intervened, petting them with both hands.

“Doo-hoo! Doo-hoo! (It’s my turn!)”

Kong Bi couldn’t help but rub her ears. Although she knew from researching during her gaming days that peacocks were noisy, she dismissed it as a common trait among birds. But in reality, let alone peacocks, even if a dozen people chattered in your ear, it would still be unbearable.

Compared to the calls of green peacocks that can be searched on the Internet, their calls are more unique, more akin to ancient peacock language. In ancient times, because their calls sounded like “doo-hoo,” green peacocks were jokingly called ‘Duhu’ (Protector-General). However, this type of call is now rarely heard. After all, geographical changes and the passage of time can alter the ‘accents’ of a tribe. Green peacocks were once distributed in Sichuan, Hunan, Guangdong East, and Guangdong West. Different regions naturally had their own regional characteristics in their ‘speech’ tones, so one could tell which region a peacock was from just by listening to its call.