Chapter 281: Little Crow Lingyu
The crow didn’t seem completely dead yet, letting out a gurgling, dying sound from its throat.
Shi Zijin immediately noticed that this crow was unusual:
“Don’t let Black bean eat it. Save it and keep it by your side—training it will be useful for you.”
Su Tao, of course, listened to him. She snatched the crow from Black Sesame’s mouth and handed it to Jian Kaiyu.
Black Sesame was a bit stunned at having its food taken away.
Jian Kaiyu examined the crow briefly and nodded, indicating that it could be treated.
Although his ability was “purification,” it belonged to the healing category, so he could manage simple bleeding control and wound treatment.
However, throughout the treatment, Black Sesame refused to give up, meowing non-stop as if cursing about having its food stolen.
Su Tao grabbed it by the neck and tossed it back into the car, telling Fang Zhi to open a canned food to shut it up.
The crow’s injuries were actually not severe; it had only seemed on the verge of death because it was terrified.
As soon as it was healed, it flapped its wings and suddenly shouted in human language:
“Help! Help! Someone’s eating a bird!”
Su Tao turned to Shi Zijin in amazement.
“It can talk?”
Weren’t parrots the only birds that could mimic human speech?
Shi Zijin examined the crow from head to toe, made a few gestures, and asked a few questions. The crow responded with corresponding answers.
Shi Zijin nodded. “It’s very intelligent and has been trained. Its IQ is quite high.”
Jian Kaiyu took a thin rope, tying one end to the crow’s leg and handing the other end to Su Tao.
“Take it for a walk.”
As soon as Su Tao took the rope, the little crow cawed loudly,
“Kidnapping! Kidnapping! Help!”
It even stomped on Su Tao’s head.
Shi Zijin grabbed it in one swift motion. The cowardly crow instantly quieted down, shrinking into itself like a quail, not daring to move.
“If you keep causing trouble, the cat will eat you.”
That worked. When Su Tao reached for the rope again, the crow obediently complied.
She glared at it. “So you pick and choose who to mess with?”
She rummaged through Fang Zhi’s space and found a cage, locking the crow inside. She decided to only feed it when it truly learned its lesson.
This whole ambush and robbery incident felt like a mere side episode. Instead of causing much trouble, it actually earned them a bag of crystal cores and a talking crow.
The convoy continued on.
Su Tao looked at the dented car hood and broken headlights in distress, deciding to find someone to repair them when they reached Xindu. For now, they had to make do.
Oh, right—She had also lost a set of her favorite dishes.
All because of the damn car collision.
For the rest of the day, the journey was fairly smooth. Even the crow stopped screaming for help and switched to yelling,
“Food! Food!”
Su Tao deliberately made it wait. The crow, as if it understood, grew impatient, flapping around in its cage and crying out,
“Abuse! Abuse!”
But whenever Black Sesame jumped next to its cage, it would immediately shrink back and play dead.
Su Tao found it hilarious. The day before they reached Xindu, she saw that the crow was truly starving. Finally, in a pitiful voice, it cried out:
“Lingyu is hungry! Lingyu is hungry!”
It sounded just like a little kid, and Su Tao’s heart softened.
“You’re called Lingyu? What do you like to eat?”
She had looked it up before—crows were omnivorous and could eat almost anything.
The supplies in their storage space should be able to satisfy it.
Lingyu tilted its head.
“Zombies.”
Su Tao was stunned and ran to Shi Zijin in a panic.
“It says it likes to eat zombies??”
There was all kinds of food in the storage space—but no zombies!
Did she just adopt a zombie-eating bird?
Shi Zijin was in the middle of a remote meeting. Upon seeing her, he immediately muted it and calmly said,
“Tell Cen Tianjiao to catch one when we stop on the way.”
Sure enough, Cen Tianjiao actually caught a completely dead zombie. The moment he brought it over, the stench of rot filled the air.
Holding her breath, Su Tao released Lingyu from the cage—of course, still keeping it on a leash.
Lingyu happily flapped over and started eating with loud, satisfied caws.
Cen Tianjiao grimaced. “Isn’t it gonna have bad breath? We should keep our distance when talking to it from now on.”
Lingyu understood and turned its head.
“You stink! You stink!”
“Oh, so now you’re talking back? If I say you stink, you stink!”
Lingyu huffed out a breath and ignored him. After eating its fill, it surprisingly flew back into the cage on its own.
Su Tao thought for a moment and took out a white strawberry from her storage, offering it as a reward.
Lingyu had never seen one before, but the smell told it that it was delicious.
It grabbed the berry and, after just one bite, hastily swallowed the whole thing.
“Was it good?” Su Tao asked with a smile.
Lingyu: “More! More!”
“Nope, don’t push your luck.”
“Teach me! Teach me!”
Su Tao was confused. “Teach you what?”
Shi Zijin, standing beside her, reminded her,
“It wants to know what it’s called.”
“Oh! It’s called a strawberry.”
Lingyu: “Strawberry! Strawberry!”
Su Tao: “Shut up, you broken record.”
Lingyu really did shut up. It stayed quiet for a long while before finally flapping its wings and asking:
“Where’s Old Xue? Where’s Old Xue?”
Su Tao was in the middle of some work. Hearing the voice, she exited the system and sat up in confusion.
Who was Old Xue?
She ignored Lingyu, but after a while, it started calling for Old Xue again.
For some reason, Su Tao could hear a hint of sadness in its voice.
But it was too noisy. Even Xuedao, who was usually patient, grew irritated and smacked the cage, signaling it to be quiet.
Su Tao was also getting annoyed. She asked, “Who is Old Xue?”
“Old Xue is Old Xue.”
“He abandoned me! He abandoned me!”
Lingyu flapped its wings anxiously inside the cage.
Su Tao had a vague suspicion—Old Xue was probably one of the bandits, most likely Lingyu’s original owner.
She sighed. “Old Xue is dead.”
Lingyu instantly fell silent upon hearing those words.
Su Tao could clearly sense its grief, and a strange feeling rose in her heart.
She took out another strawberry and pushed it into the cage.
“Lingyu, stay with me from now on. I have endless strawberries, and even better things to eat.”
But Lingyu merely glanced at the strawberry, then silently turned its back and curled up in the corner of the cage without a sound.
Su Tao felt a little sad too.
Shi Zijin comforted her,
“Give it time. You should be glad that it isn’t fickle and unfaithful but instead loyal to its master. Once it accepts you, it will follow you forever.”
Su Tao felt reassured and nodded.
The closer they got to Xindu, the more convoys they saw traveling in the same direction. There was no need to ask—they were all heading to the Alliance Summit.
Among the vehicles, Su Tao spotted a few eye-catching motorcycles from Leopard Path in the distance.
At least they were keeping a low profile this time—no blasting music, probably out of respect for the big shot from Changjing sitting on one of the bikes.
Meanwhile, in the rearview mirror, Dazui spotted Black Sesame standing proudly on the car roof, wind ruffling its fur.
At first, he wasn’t sure—it wasn’t like Su Boss was the only one who kept a pet cat.
But the moment he saw Su Tao sticking her head out of the window, he immediately shouted:
“Brother Lei! Boss Su and the others are behind us!”
