Chapter 8

The next day.

The clear and melodious calls of the green peacock served as an animal alarm clock. Kong Bi rubbed her sleepy eyes, completed her morning wash, and leisurely descended the stairs.

Like domesticated chickens, green peacocks, also members of the pheasant family, are creatures that favor early rising. They often wake up before dawn fully breaks, preening their beautiful feathers dampened by dew. This process typically lasts one to two hours, making complete silence a difficult feat.

Kong Bi was well-prepared for daily early wake-ups when she moved into the employee dormitory. After all, she had gained a relatively clear understanding of green peacocks three years ago while playing a game in order to get full achievements. More importantly, Kong Bi wasn’t fond of sleeping in, so this wasn’t much of a bother to her.

Since the zoo is located in a remote area, there’s even less worry about them disturbing the residents.

The cafeteria wasn’t particularly far from the peacock enclosure. When Kong Bi arrived, breakfast was already prepared. The sparsely populated cafeteria, with only three people present, seemed quite deserted.

Kong Bi thought for a moment, then, carrying her bowl, she went over and sat down. One of the people had a computer next to him, reviewing footage captured from the previous night.

The other party switched the video to multiple playback. Kong Bi looked calm. She thought of this when she flew over last night, but as long as she didn’t change, who could find her? So Kong Bi was not afraid of being taken away and sliced, after all, the premise of taking her away was to find her.

When Kong Bi was about to finish her meal, Kong Bi heard the other party’s excited voice: “Look!”

When everyone heard this, they immediately gathered around. The gray-toned footage clearly captured a massive green peacock flying into the peacock enclosure, accompanied by an adult female peacock who appeared quite petite in comparison.

“Is that really a green peacock?” someone couldn’t help but ask, their understanding of green peacocks challenged by the sheer size of the bird.

As large fowl, male green peacocks typically reach lengths of 2 to 2.5 meters, while females are slightly smaller, usually 1 to 1.1 meters. However, the female green peacock in the video made the male green peacock next to her look almost like a juvenile, which was truly shocking.

“Could it be a new subspecies?”

“Possibly!”

Upon hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up. For any scholar, discovering a new species in the world is an exciting and exhilarating event. There are currently only three known subspecies of the green peacock, and this group of green peacocks clearly differs from the known ones in terms of both habits and size, leading everyone to speculate in this direction.

However, despite this, no one jumped to conclusions, as they hadn’t yet conducted in-depth research. But even from just a brief observation, they had already discovered many questions about this group.

For example, Why is it an unusual situation with a female peacock leading them?

Did they settle here because of that giant peacock?

How did they communicate with each other to know the other was here?

…

While the footage captured by the surveillance seemed to unveil a portion of the puzzle for them, even more mysteries remained shrouded. After all, green peacocks are typically social animals, yet the large peacock departed shortly after its arrival. Could it have another group nearby? But that makes even less sense.

Compared to the Shiwan Mountains, Peacock Mountain isn’t particularly far from the city, making it an unsuitable habitat for green peacocks. There’s no reason for them to choose to live here.

Moreover, given the green peacocks’ calls, they might not be discovered immediately if they were living here, but over time, discovery would be inevitable.

Everyone did not discuss it to the end. Kong Bi mixed in and listened for a while, and finally completely put her mind at ease. After all, no matter how wild their imaginations were, they would not think that it was a human transformation. After Kong Bi slept last night, she learned new magic and created an illusion easily, and the risk of exposure was even smaller.

Even so, Kong Bi still sat aside and acted as a spy, so as not to miss important information related to herself.

As time passed, some people who got up late also came to the cafeteria. Because many animals are used to getting up early, scholars who have been in the wild for a long time naturally have no habit of sleeping in. After a while, they joined the discussion and were shocked by the scene captured in the video.

Fortunately, they didn’t seem to think that it had become a spirit.

Just as he was thinking this, a scholar noticed Quan Xiangsong’s continued silence and couldn’t help but ask, “Lao Quan, what do you think?”

“It might be a descendant of Princess Peacock,” Quan Xiangsong said uncertainly.

“???”

Quan Xiangsong explained: “When I went to the mountain to play, I would occasionally see a female peacock. Every time it appeared, all the green peacocks would fly around it. However, its body size was normal, just a little bigger than the average female peacock. It lived much longer than the average green peacock. The last time I saw it, it should have been more than 30 years old.”

In Quan Xiangsong’s memory, the zoo had existed for quite a long time when he was still a child. He had heard adults talk about the green peacock at that time. When he last saw it in his teens, it still showed no signs of aging. 

However, he didn’t take this situation too seriously. While the average lifespan of wild green peacocks is only a little over ten years, they can reach more than twenty years under artificial breeding, and this may not be the limit. Just like cats, whose lifespan is only a little over ten years, yet some long-lived individuals still live into their twenties.

Just like humans, some people die before reaching a hundred despite living a healthy life, while others smoke and drink but still live well past a hundred. Individual differences can sometimes be very large and unbelievable.

Calling her “princess” was purely due to Quan Xiangsong being influenced by the fairy tales his teacher told at the time. Later, for some reason, it became the default name, and Quan Xiangsong got used to calling her that.

He briefly explained the origin, then said somewhat uncertainly, “Princess Peacock’s whereabouts are mysterious. She stands out in all aspects compared to other individuals and has an extraordinary appeal to the green peacock population. If there are really other green peacocks nearby, it might just be her.” As he spoke, he couldn’t help but smile, “Of course, it’s also possible that she herself is Princess Peacock.”

“Then wouldn’t she be a spirit?”

Everyone laughed, not taking the words seriously. After all, if a green peacock had lived from Quan Xiangsong’s childhood until now, it would be around fifty or sixty years old. This far exceeds the concept of ‘longevity’ and is purely a matter of becoming a spirit.

Therefore, they were more inclined to believe it was a new subspecies, or a ‘miracle’ created by placing exceptionally outstanding individuals from two green peacock groups together.

Just like the selective breeding of pets, many pet cats and dogs are specially bred individuals. Through generations of selecting the best among the best, individuals with stable genetic traits become new breeds of pets. Therefore, if both the male and female in a green peacock group happen to be among the larger individuals of their kind, and this coincidence continues for several generations, then it is not impossible to breed individuals with significant size differences compared to ordinary green peacocks.

Although this sounds a bit magical and too coincidental.

However, reality often does not require logic, and the huge size of the green peacock in the video is not fake. They can only try to speculate in a reasonable direction. After all, no matter how outrageous this speculation is, it is always more reliable than saying that it has become a spirit, right?

Kong Bi wiped the cold sweat on her forehead. She was really frightened by their discussion, and was even more curious about the “Princess Peacock” mentioned by Quan Xiangsong.

You know, it is impossible for a young demon to have such a high dominance over a green peacock, just like Huajiao. Although the green peacocks usually recognize it as the boss, once it makes a strange move like migrating without any threat around, the tribe will immediately split. It is impossible for Kongbi to make them abandon everything and follow her as soon as she approaches.

Quan Xiangsong also said that the other party is only slightly larger than an ordinary green peacock. This is a situation that only monsters in the growth stage will appear. At that time, monsters can use magic to make their bodies become the size of normal tribe creatures. First, they reduce the consumption of food, and second, they will not be noticed and will not be used as food by some monsters or captured as mountain guardian beasts.

For monsters who believe that ‘big is strong, big is beautiful,’ they only choose to conceal their size to avoid becoming prey when they are still immature and lack sufficient power.

Of course, assuming they have intelligence, it’s also possible that old monsters choose this method to set traps for their enemies.

Regardless, this is enough to prove that the ‘Peacock Princess’ is at least a monster in its growth stage, and living for two or three hundred years shouldn’t be a problem. This greatly puzzles Kong Bi. After all, green peacocks are creatures with a strong sense of territory. If the other party were still around, how could they allow her to live here without any interference?

When Quan Xiangsong mentioned the mountain closure, Kong Bi had already made some guesses. It was possible that the country had discovered monsters here and made this choice out of caution. But what kind of chain reaction would her arrival trigger?

Kong Bi didn’t want to think too deeply. Technology and mythology were two completely unrelated fields. It was hard to say who would win if they really clashed. But at least she knew that even though she had only become a spirit a few days ago, a kitchen knife could only leave white marks on her skin without causing any wounds.

She couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, stopping herself from worrying about things that made her anxious. At least when she used her ‘golden finger’ to check the game’s registration online, she didn’t find any relevant information. It was as if it were a ghost. Even if someone investigated, they shouldn’t be able to find any problems.

Kong Bi has always been the type to immerse herself in games, never looking up guides. Under normal circumstances, unless they’ve been tricked, players rarely pay attention to things like checking registrations. So, during the three years since the game arrived, Kong Bi never searched online. Otherwise, she might have discovered the problem much earlier.

Of course, she might have also dismissed it and continued playing.

After all, a free-to-play, ad-free, and aesthetically pleasing single-player game is hard to pass up.