Chapter 17
No matter how many times Si Jingce tried, that voice never returned.
He poked the little bird, and the bird chirped weakly like a sound toy—just a soft “chirp.”
Eventually, Yan Yan got annoyed and turned to gently bite his fingertip.
Moments later, he regretted it. He looked up to check Si Jingce’s expression and rubbed his head apologetically against the man.
Si Jingce withdrew his hand, thoughts tangled.
His only way of understanding Yan Yan had been through that strange ability.
But now, that ability had vanished.
He looked down at the taupe-colored pearl bird and quickly composed himself.
No time to panic. He needed to solve the problem.
He placed the pet communicator on the sofa. “A doctor will be coming to see you again in a few days.”
“If anything happens before then, you must let me know immediately.”
Yan Yan glanced at the communicator: …
Like I wouldn’t if I could.
The bird struggled to stand up, determined to try one last time.
He targeted the phone lying beside Si Jingce and pecked at the screen.
The display lit up. Using his head, Yan Yan painstakingly unlocked the password and opened the search app.
Even that simple process exhausted him completely.
Just as he was about to start typing, a hand suddenly snatched the phone away. A few taps later—
The familiar theme song of Journey to the West played, and the screen was returned to him.
The man looked down at him. “Other than watching dramas, what else do you want to do?”
Yan Yan: …
Do you have any idea what you’ve just interrupted?!
Do you even understand the consequences of your actions?!
The bird had given up all hope on his clueless human.
He gave up completely and pressed a button—
“Hungry.”
Si Jingce: “Should I get you more bird food?”
“No.”
He realized what that meant. “Then… should I fry some chips for you?”
“Mm.”
As long as Yan Yan wanted to eat, that was a good sign.
Si Jingce let out a breath and rushed to the kitchen to make him some chips.
Even homemade, he carefully controlled the portions so Yan Yan wouldn’t overeat and get inflamed.
Soon, the chips were ready and placed before Yan Yan.
The pearl bird didn’t even bother lifting his head. Crunch—he bit a small piece, letting the drama play in the background.
He had to eat well, so he’d have the strength to transform!
…
To care for the bird, Si Jingce took several days off in a row. Fans flooded his Weibo, checking in daily and begging the “missing person” to return.
But Yan Yan’s condition was only worsening day by day.
Madam Gui Yaying paid a special visit. The moment she saw the bird, she was startled. “Why has he gotten so skinny?”
Si Jingce ran a hand over the pearl bird in his palm and said nothing.
The once-fluffy chubby bird now looked like a shriveled eggplant, his feathers dull and stuck flat to his body.
Gui Yaying reached over to gently touch Yan Yan. The bird opened his eyes weakly, then closed them again.
It’s Mom.
But he no longer had the strength to greet her.
Gui Yaying hated seeing small animals looking thin and pitiful. Her eyes were full of heartache. “Poor baby… Why didn’t you tell me earlier how bad this was? The doctor won’t be here until this afternoon.”
When Si Jingce first contacted her, she’d studied the report thoroughly and assumed it was just a standard heat cycle. Nothing serious.
But now, seeing him in person, it was clearly much worse.
Si Jingce placed Yan Yan back in his coconut shell bed and spoke to Gui Yaying privately, out of earshot. “This started after he drank alcohol. He hasn’t improved after days of observation. His body’s only getting worse.”
The only small comfort was that Yan Yan’s appetite was increasing…
Though honestly, it was becoming excessive.
He was constantly crying out for food. Just yesterday, Si Jingce had fed him some rice, and when he wasn’t paying attention, Yan Yan had eaten half a bowl!
That was nearly a human’s portion.
And yet, instead of getting rounder, he only looked thinner.
Even without bird-care experience, Si Jingce knew—this was not normal.
“When the doctor gets here this afternoon, let him take another look.” Gui Yaying sighed. “And don’t stress yourself too much. You’ve already missed work for several days.”
With the end of the month approaching, Si Jingce had fallen far behind on his streaming hours.
“I’ve already asked the doctor to add your contact info. In the meantime, do something else to take your mind off things.”
“Yan Yan will be okay.”
Hopefully.
After seeing Gui Yaying off, Si Jingce received a friend request from the doctor on WeChat.
They arranged to meet at three in the afternoon. At that moment, staff from Gemstone TV were frantically messaging, begging him to go live.
He glanced at Yan Yan.
Yes… maybe a distraction would help.
Panicking aimlessly wasn’t solving anything.
But he wouldn’t feel safe letting Yan Yan out of sight.
He picked up the bird and placed him on his shoulder. The little one immediately snuggled into the hood of his sweatshirt and fell asleep.
With bird in tow, he entered the study and started the stream.
As soon as Si Jingce went live, a flood of messages filled the screen. Even Yun Duan messaged him, asking to team up for a game.
Once they connected, Si Jingce finally glanced at the chat.
[Wahhh! The missing person is back! You have no idea how much I’ve been scratching the walls waiting for you!!]
[So you weren’t banned like Luo Huoxi? I thought you’d been silenced QAQ]
“I’ve been dealing with some stuff, so I paused streaming for a while.” Si Jingce adjusted his headset and turned to Yun Duan. “What game?”
Yun Duan replied carefully, “You decide, bro.”
Si Jingce casually opened PUBG.
The stream was oddly quiet. Si Jingce wasn’t usually chatty, but even Yun Duan was being unusually silent today.
[? Did I enter the wrong stream or did the audio cut out?]
[lcberg looks terrible today, kind of scary…]
[Where’s Yan Yan? Even the noisy little chick isn’t chirping.]
At the mention of Yan Yan, Si Jingce finally looked up. “Yan Yan’s sick.”
He lifted part of his hoodie to show the bird nestled quietly inside, watching the camera.
[!!!]
[Poor baby looks so skinny… What illness is it? (crying emoji x2)]
In Yun Duan’s stream, people were asking the same.
“Yeah, we went to the vet a few days ago.” Yun Duan answered for him. “Yan Yan’s been super low-energy lately. The vet didn’t find anything. They said maybe it’s just mating season.”
“Anyone in chat have experience with this? Please help.”
[Could be loneliness. Weren’t people criticizing lcberg for only raising one bird? Still hasn’t gotten Yan Yan a companion.]
[He really might be sick… Don’t make wild guesses, you’re clearly one of Luo Huoxi’s fans.]
[This is familiar… I work at a bird park and we had a bird with similar symptoms. Then something very unexpected happened…]
[This is serious, stop trying to be funny up there…]
…
Si Jingce read the chat for a while but didn’t find anything useful. The frown between his brows deepened.
To avoid showing fans his unease, he swiftly shut off the camera.
“I’ll play a few rounds casually today. I need to take Yan Yan to the doctor soon.”
They entered the game in silence. On the plane, Yun Duan opened the map, thinking of a safe drop spot.
Then Si Jingce suddenly marked Pochinki.
Yun Duan: ?
Chat: ??
[Am I hallucinating? Did he hire someone to play for him?]
[Am I finally going to witness lcberg charge into combat?!]
[No way… He’s probably found a new hiding spot.]
Yun Duan hesitated. “Bro… we’re really dropping here?”
“Drop,” Si Jingce said flatly.
They parachuted in together. Yun Duan landed on a rooftop.
Before he could find a decent weapon, Si Jingce was already in a shootout.
Gunfire burst out, and before he knew what happened, the kill notification flashed across the screen—Si Jingce had taken down the enemy.
…Was he always this aggressive?
The sudden shift in playstyle caught everyone off guard. Yun Duan couldn’t keep up. While they were escaping the zone, he was sniped.
Scratching his head, he said awkwardly, “Sorry, bro…”
Before he could finish, Si Jingce’s avatar pulled out a grenade and self-destructed.
His calm voice came through the mic.
“Next match.”
Yun Duan quickly shut off the mic and whispered to his own chat, “Did my bro eat dynamite or something?”
[No clue…]
[Wish I knew.]
Without answers, the next match began.
Another hot drop. They regrouped quickly, and before Yun Duan even finished reloading, Si Jingce had already killed three.
Yun Duan: …
Bro, chill. You’re scaring me.
“He’s gone mad, totally mad.”
He ranted to chat again. “What do I do now?! I wasn’t prepared for my bro’s emotional outburst to turn into FPS god mode!!”
In the final match, Yun Duan sprayed bullets at a distant enemy. When the victory screen appeared, he went silent.
All these years!
They’d played together for years!
Not once had he been carried to victory by Si Jingce!
“I can’t believe my bro finally carried me… He’s been hiding his skills all along, huh? But that last enemy was spotted by me! He just stared through the 8x scope and didn’t see squat!”
After ranting, he timidly reopened the mic. “Bro? One more?”
Si Jingce glanced at the clock. “Almost three. Let’s end here.”
Yun Duan sighed with disappointment.
As fans begged him to stay, Si Jingce glanced at the chat—and then the screen exploded with flashy effects.
Luo Huoxi had arrived.
Big streamers always came with flashy entrances.
Luo Huoxi’s appearance drew instant attention. He threw multiple expensive “deep-sea torpedoes” at Si Jingce.
[Luo Huoxi: Bro, I’m really sorry. I came here today to apologize.]
His message was pinned at the top of the chat and refused to disappear, glaringly conspicuous.
[What the—wasn’t his channel banned for a month?!]
[He’s not banned from chatting site-wide. Of course he can come to lcberg’s stream…]
[Wait—Luo Huoxi’s actually here to apologize? Are they reconciling?!]
A few seconds later, Si Jingce moved his mouse, calmly and cleanly booted Luo Huoxi from the room.
[?!]
Moments later, Luo Huoxi came back.
[Luo Huoxi: Bro, that’s kinda rude, no?]
Si Jingce kicked him out again—and this time, handed him a full-site mute gift package.
The chat exploded.
Any streamer with more than 500,000 followers had a notorious special privilege.
Global mute.
Once activated, the target couldn’t post any messages for a full week.
When this feature was introduced, Gemstone TV had been dragged into controversy for days. Still, it remained.
Most streamers avoided using it—for fear of backlash.
But now… lcberg had muted Luo Huoxi?
Yun Duan watched the whole thing, dumbfounded. Fans poured into his stream, asking what had happened.
“I wish I knew…” Yun Duan mumbled. “Yeah, my bro’s in a bad mood because of Yan Yan, so he’s extra snappy tonight, but…”
“But he’s really starting to act like…”
His usually empty brain struggled for words. After a long pause, he finally blurted out—
“Like a grieving widower.”
