Chapter 452: The Weird Cry—So It Was This!

What was that sound?

When the cry echoed through the livestream room, everyone's heart skipped a beat.

In the Tropical Rainforest, aside from insects, most animals didn't make calls like that.

The sound coming from deep within the woods was slightly sharp, and it absolutely belonged to some larger animal.

"Looks like a bird's cry!"

"Could this be the weird cry Rum was talking about?"

"I have to go take a look."

Ning Fei had originally planned to head back the way he came, but hearing this sound immediately piqued his interest.

"Little Dog, let's go take a look!"

Ning Fei said with a smile.

Little Dog was also excited, immediately following along while wagging his tail happily.

"Temple Master Ning is so brave!"

"Good heavens, this is thrilling. I'm looking forward to it."

"He actually dares to go?"

"The elders say it's best not to wander into the woods at night."

"Walking alone in such a deep jungle at night... I would've died of fright!"

"Keep it up, Temple Master Ning."

The netizens were a bit nervous.

Darkness always gave people an inexplicable sense of dread. This was especially true in the untamed wilderness. Looking out into the pitch-black bushes, one couldn't shake the feeling that something was silently watching them from the depths.

Ning Fei, however, felt no fear whatsoever.

Little Dog was completely oblivious to fear.

A Daoist priest from Huaxia, wearing a Daoist Robe, traversing the rainforest of the Australian Continent. This scene was quite peculiar.

"There's no path ahead. It seems the locals rarely venture this deep."

"Let's go up!"

Ning Fei scooped up Little Dog and leaped lightly, bounding onto the branches once more.

The trees here were lush and extremely dense. As Ning Fei slipped through the foliage, the netizens could only catch glimpses of rustling leaves and a dark blue silhouette weaving through the gaps.

"There it is, Temple Master Ning's Light Kung Fu!"

"So badass!"

Ning Fei drew closer and closer to the cry.

Right at that moment, a sharp screech suddenly pierced the air above his head.

Ning Fei looked up. Several dark shadows swept over him, disappearing into the distance ahead.

"What was that?"

"There really are dark shadows!"

"Damn, I didn't get a good look. They seemed like birds, but I couldn't see their faces!"

"Is it really that scary?"

The drone's camera had tilted upward, but the netizens only caught a fleeting glimpse, unable to see the complete picture of the shadows.

Ning Fei's eyesight, however, was exceptionally sharp. He had taken everything in.

"So it's them!"

Ning Fei smiled, muttering to himself.

Hearing Ning Fei's words, the netizens immediately grew even more curious.

"Temple Master Ning, hurry up and tell us! What exactly flew past just now?"

"Yeah, that cry sounded terrifying!"

"It couldn't really be some kind of monster, right?"

Everyone was deeply anxious.

This was mainly because the Australian man from earlier had shared stories in the livestream about dark shadows and bizarre cries in the nearby woods, claiming people were too afraid to leave their homes at night.

As a result, the netizens were biased, convinced that everything was highly abnormal.

As if there was something unclean out there.

"Don't be afraid, everyone. There are no supernatural phenomena in this world."

Ning Fei stated first.

Though he said that, when he thought of the System and his inventory of items—the Wind Control Card, Rain Control Card, and Wave Control Card—even he found his own words unconvincing.

"What just flew past was an animal unique to Australia, and an extremely rare one at that."

"They hold immense ornamental value. You could say that just seeing them makes this entire trip to the Australian Continent completely worth it."

"Temple Master Ning, hurry up and tell us what they are!"

"I've been waiting forever!"

The netizens were impatient.

The more frightened they were, the more desperately they wanted to know the final answer.

Ning Fei bounded forward a few more times before dropping to the ground and parting the bushes ahead.

"These animals are black swans."

The drone aimed its lens forward.

The netizens finally learned the ultimate answer.

Just past the bushes lay a wetland. In the center of the marsh was a lake, and floating upon it were over a dozen entirely black swans.

They swam joyfully, occasionally tilting their heads back to cry out toward the sky.

Upon seeing the source of the originally blood-curdling cries, many people suddenly realized the sounds weren't scary at all anymore.

"It's actually black swans!"

"Do black swans actually exist in real life?"

"What do black swans symbolize?"

"It's so weird. I was terrified a second ago, but now hearing them, I actually think their calls sound quite nice."

"People really just scare themselves."

"Black swans are one of Australia's unique rare species, and members of the broader swan family."

Ning Fei explained as he walked toward the lake.

"They are highly nomadic and have irregular migration patterns."

"These black swans must have migrated here very recently."

"The people in the local town aren't familiar with their calls, which is why they felt afraid."

In the livestream, the black swans danced gracefully by the lake, snuggling up against one another.

They basked in the warmth of the last rays of dusk, calling out merrily in celebration of finding a new habitat.

Right then, two more black swans flew past the horizon, descending straight into the lake.

As they swept over Ning Fei's head, a few black feathers drifted down from the sky.

The netizens didn't notice, but Ning Fei's sharp eyes caught sight of them.

He reached out, gently catching a black swan feather in his palm.

The scene was incredibly picturesque, brimming with a classical elegance.

"So cool!"

One netizen exclaimed.

Holding the feather in his hand, Ning Fei murmured, "Perfect. This makes a nice souvenir."

"To think we'd get to see black swans in this small town."

"This trip has paid off massively."

After lingering to admire the black swans for a while longer, Ning Fei left with Little Dog.

It was already quite late by the time they returned to town. Ning Fei headed back to the courtyard of his rented villa, quickly settled all the little guys in, and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, Ning Fei woke up early as usual and took Little Dog for a morning jog along the town's roads.

After breakfast, his neighbor Rum happened to step out of his house, sitting in the yard to sober up.

"Buddy, you didn't run into anything in the woods last night, did you? I was worried about you," Rum said to Ning Fei.

"I heard the cry you mentioned in the forest, so I went deep inside to take a look," Ning Fei replied with a smile.

"What?!" Hearing Ning Fei's words, Rum froze for a moment.

'This young man is truly fearless,' he thought to himself.

"Then what did you see?" Rum asked nervously.

"I saw a flock of migrating black swans in the wetlands up ahead. Those cries were simply the calls of the black swans."

"Black swans!"

Hearing Ning Fei's words, the astonishment on Rum's face only deepened. Immediately after, he cheered with sheer excitement:

"My God, black swans!"

"Hahaha! They really gave everyone in town a scare! They made us too afraid to go out at night."

"Buddy, you've made a huge discovery!"

"You're incredible!"

Seeing how thrilled Rum was, Ning Fei smiled as well.

"Just got relatively lucky, that's all."

Rum sobered up instantly. He quickly left his yard, running off to spread the news to the rest of the town.

Ning Fei, meanwhile, stayed in the yard to play with the little guys.

They had been drifting at sea for a long time recently. Now that they were finally back on land, everyone was having a blast.

But having been away for so long, he did start to miss the Daoist temple somewhat.

"Once our trip to Australia is over, we'll head home and rest for a while."

Ning Fei said to the little guys.

They all cried out happily, and the atmosphere grew incredibly cheerful.