Chapter 65: The Orca Pod Joins In
[They say a black-hearted human showed up in the east—have you heard?]
[What? What? There’s gossip even I don’t know?!]
[There’s this evil, black-hearted human demon king who actually controls four huge birds to hunt little birds like us!]
[That’s outrageous!]
[Exactly! So don’t you dare go near that area!]
Right now, the “demon king” being hyped up by countless seagulls—Lin Jiangye—was sitting in the courtyard, watching as the seagulls ate his little biscuits until they turned round and chubby.
Beside him lay a white-tailed sea eagle that had clearly just been beaten up.
[I was just saying it randomly… I don’t even know what “skin you and stuff you” means.]
The white-tailed sea eagle never stopped complaining. The seagulls he’d dragged over kept one eye on him in fear, ready in case he pounced—yet they also couldn’t resist the food right in front of their beaks.
“Something’s off…” Lin Jiangye frowned. “Tourmaline and the others called in so many seagulls. Why aren’t any new seabirds coming after they’ve eaten their fill?”
That didn’t make sense. The seagulls who’d tasted the biscuits should be spreading the word to their flockmates.
Don’t tell him they were hoarding it and refusing to tell the others… Ha.
Lin Jiangye found the idea funny—until the more he laughed, the more wrong it felt.
He immediately grabbed a seagull that was holding a small piece of biscuit and demanded, face stern, “You are telling your flockmates there are biscuits here, right?”
The seagull swallowed the biscuit. The seagull smacked its beak in satisfaction. The seagull closed its eyes and played dead.
Lin Jiangye: !!!
“Thieving gull!!!”
“Skua” is actually a real bird term, but the “thieving gull” Lin Jiangye yelled here was purely him cursing these seagulls.
Well… not that different.
Real skuas are pirates of the sea. And Lin Jiangye was accusing these seagulls of being liars and promise-breakers.
He’d said it clearly: if they ate his biscuits, they had to call more flockmates over—he needed seabirds to help with something.
And yet—
“You’re all a bunch of liars! Thieving gulls!” Lin Jiangye hadn’t been tricked by animals in ages. Getting tricked so suddenly made him go a little reactive.
The seagull in his hand guiltily turned its head away—basically confirming his suspicion.
“Unbelievable! Promise-breakers! If you won’t keep your word, then no more biscuits! Nobody gets any!”
The moment “no more” came out, the seagulls who’d been pecking like mad all froze, bellies bulging, and asked in unison:
[There’ll be more later?]
They’d thought the treats were only for today, and that the biscuits were limited—so of course they wouldn’t “share the opportunity” with other seagulls.
“There will be. Even if you eat them all, I’ll make new ones. I need your help, so the biscuits will be unlimited until the day I leave. And even after I leave, I’ll teach someone else how to make them. If you’re hungry in the future, you can go to them for food.”
As he said this, Lin Jiangye was already planning to train a group of seabirds as eyes-in-the-sky for the South China Sea coast guard.
This area was like Taibai Mountain: all kinds of small animals everywhere—perfect for building a long-term animal–police partnership.
As for whether Lin Xia and the others would refuse… if Lin Jiangye performed well in this operation, they absolutely wouldn’t dare.
Once the seagulls heard they could keep eating the delicious biscuits in the future, they stopped panicking.
The one still in Lin Jiangye’s grasp even put on a syrupy, flattering voice:
[Human, gull knows it was wrong~]
Beside them, Chang Geng shook his feathers like he’d been disgusted by the tone.
Lin Jiangye was helpless, but faced with those tiny black-bean eyes, he could only let it go.
“Last chance. Go call your flockmates,” he said weakly.
But this time, the seagulls didn’t immediately fly off. Instead, they asked what he wanted them to do.
[Gull really likes the food you make. Gull can call other flockmates over… but gull wants to know what you want. Gull can’t send other flockmates into danger.]
Lin Jiangye didn’t get angry. He actually laughed.
“Me? I want to ask you for two things. First, I want you to help me contact the big ones in the sea—I need their help too. Second…” He paused. “The second thing is basically the same as asking the big ones. I need you to help humans do something…”
He explained the coast guard operation in simple, easy-to-understand terms, using “different species and territories” among animals to describe different human countries.
“That’s the situation. To save our own companions, we can’t rely on ourselves alone. So we want your help.”
That speech hit the small seagulls like a thunderclap.
They’d seen how terrifying humans could be—especially those massive weapons, bigger than even the sea’s great beasts. When they went boom, the seawater would surge up like a tsunami.
To seagulls, humans were dangerous, terrifying creatures.
And yet now… a human was asking tiny seagulls for help.
That was—
[So exciting!!!]
Nobody knew what exactly triggered their enthusiasm, but they weren’t resistant at all—they were fired up!
Lin Jiangye only had to think for a second to understand. Humans looked all-powerful, yet now they needed little birds as reinforcements. For seagulls, that was basically praise and recognition for their entire species.
[Gull will go find birds for you RIGHT NOW!!!]
They were so excited they didn’t even finish the remaining biscuits. Wings flapping, they shot out of the yard.
When the coast guards returned, they saw the sky completely covered—seagulls densely packed across the whole heavens.
“My god…” They craned their heads back. They’d never seen anything like it.
They hurried into the yard clutching their supplies—only to see Lin Jiangye pressing a hand on the white-tailed sea eagle’s head and scolding him harshly:
“From now on, you are NOT allowed to play on human phones!”
Huh? That sounded weirdly familiar.
People who’d once said the same thing to their own kids froze mid-step, faces unconsciously puzzled.
A bird playing with a phone? Can it even read human words?
Lin Jiangye—who had just pried the full story out of Chang Geng—only wanted to say: these little brats didn’t need to read. Just watching and listening was more than enough.
“Play less on human phones. Did you hear me?!”
The white-tailed sea eagle, freshly lectured, drooped his head and muttered unwillingly:
[Tourmaline watches the most…]
Why was he the only one being restricted?
Lin Jiangye snorted. “You think Tourmaline’s getting away with it?”
Honestly, he wanted to contact Jiang Xin immediately and tell everyone: stop using phones in front of the kids!
The white-tailed sea eagle fully wilted, grumbling but agreeing.
Soon the other three also returned—and before they could say a word, they were hit with the same warning. Tourmaline nearly shattered on the spot.
But with Lin Jiangye’s face so serious, the small raven didn’t dare say a single word in protest.
At least Lin Jiangye said “play less,” not “never play.” If it had been “never,” Tourmaline’s world would’ve ended.
Human phones were so fun, okay?!
After the four little ones spread the word, the seagulls brought back updated gossip.
[A kind human showed up in the east—have you heard?!]
A frigatebird slowly turned to stare at the seagull, remembering what it had said before.
[Didn’t you say an evil demon human showed up in the east?]
[Oh. That was before the update.]
The frigatebird processed that with its tiny brain—then exploded.
[You lied to birds!!!]
Sensing the frigatebird’s rage, the messenger seagull made a startled “oh!” and fled immediately.
If it didn’t fly, it was about to get beaten!
So while Lin Jiangye and the coast guards rushed to bake new biscuits, more and more birds began gathering in the yard.
They watched the busy human inside the house with curiosity, and once the aroma drifted out—even knowing it would take time—they still refused to leave.
Thankfully, Lin Jiangye came out soon. Seeing the yard packed with birds, he lit up with surprise despite his exhaustion.
“Wait a little longer—the biscuits will be freshly out very soon!”
The earlier stock had basically been devoured by seagulls, who’d eaten until they looked like balls. They’d lain on the ground for ages digesting before they could even fly again.
And it was exactly that obvious “getting fatter before your eyes” that lured other birds in: what kind of thing could make those greedy seagulls eat like that?
Not long after, the freshly baked biscuits finally came out. A heavy, meaty aroma slammed straight into every bird’s nose.
To humans it might smell a bit fishy, but to birds it was pure delicacy.
[Food food food!!!]
[Want to eat want to eat want to eat!!!]
[Human! Please! Let bird take one bite! Bird can imitate chicken—cluck cluck cluck!]
The last frigatebird really did start clucking like a hen, making Lin Jiangye laugh despite himself.
Once the biscuits cooled enough, Lin Jiangye led the coast guards outside to feed them.
“Th-this… how do we even feed this many?” One coast guard looked at the dense sea of seabirds and inexplicably felt a chill crawl up his back.
Most of these were medium-to-large seabirds. The seagulls were already full and didn’t come, so what arrived were frigatebirds, storm petrels—and a massive crowd of pelicans.
“No wonder the list had so much meat…” the coast guard muttered. “If we don’t feed meat, it’s impossible.”
These seabirds weren’t like small land birds—their diet was basically marine life.
Hearing their constant muttering, Lin Jiangye fed them the way you’d feed chickens—he simply flicked the biscuits onto the ground. The seabirds immediately lowered their heads and started pecking.
Watching a scene that was no different from feeding chickens, the coast guards froze. “That’s it? That works?”
Lin Jiangye shot them a puzzled look and asked back, “If not like this, are you planning to hand-feed them one by one?”
The coast guards choked a little inside and quietly looked away.
Because, honestly… they really had been thinking about doing exactly that.
They fed the birds in front while new batches of biscuits were still baking behind them. The continuous, meaty aroma rode the sea breeze, drifting farther and farther out.
Meanwhile, the seagulls who’d gotten the first round of biscuits obediently followed their agreement with Lin Jiangye and flew toward a small island out in the sea.
Humans had a hard time locating the “big ones” in the ocean—but that didn’t mean the seagulls did.
“Ou! Ou! Ou!” Their cries echoed across the entire island. Soon, other birds on the island fanned out in all directions, searching for the big ones.
Before long, as the sun climbed toward noon, a massive shadow slowly approached the shore.
“Wuuu—” The long, drawn-out call instantly caught Lin Jiangye’s attention. He recognized that sound—it should be an orca.
At the same time, a seagull swooped in above his head to alert him: [Human! The big one is coming!]
It landed in front of Lin Jiangye, chin lifted high, radiating pure “See how amazing I am?”
Lin Jiangye, of course, didn’t hold back on praise. He scooped up the seagull who’d done such a great job and showered it with compliments—so many that he went on for ten full minutes without repeating a single phrase.
Chang Geng and Qi Ming watched in envy.
They wanted praise too!
They’d thought that coming along with him would give them a chance to contribute, but once they saw the vast ocean, they wilted immediately.
Waaah. They were useless.
Tourmaline and Opal, on the other hand, were calm now.
[Don’t rush. If we can’t do much, then we’ll protect Dad.]
They also wanted to earn a big merit, but clearly the current situation didn’t suit them. So they would wait, stay sharp, and prepare for the real fight in a few days.
Once Lin Jiangye took them out to sea, they could help mark the fishing boats doing bad things—just like the seabirds did.
And if any bad humans tried to resist, they could attack them.
In terms of sheer attack power, the four of them weren’t weaker than frigatebirds at all.
And they were smarter, too.
Hearing the call, Lin Jiangye immediately rushed to a steep cliff. Looking down, he saw a huge black shadow shifting beneath the water.
“Hello!!!” He cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted down at the sea.
The next second, a bright, excited cry rang out again: [Ahhh, it’s a human! A small, soft human!]
Lin Jiangye’s smile stiffened instantly.
No—what is wrong with this orca? Why did it sound exactly like those little kids he’d met before?
Shocked or not, Lin Jiangye still cared about the orca, so he quickly had people take the boat out.
He couldn’t let an orca get too close to shore—not because he was afraid of being seen, but because he was afraid the big fellow might accidentally beach itself.
If that happened, getting it back into the sea would be an absolute nightmare.
The coast guards didn’t expect things to progress so fast. Once they took Lin Jiangye out, they really did see a black shape approaching their boat within minutes.
“Ying-ying-ying!” Orcas are dolphins, so they could make those crisp, “ying-ying” dolphin-like sounds too.
Hearing that, the coast guards’ hearts softened—let alone Lin Jiangye.
And right then, Lin Jiangye did something outrageous.
He jumped straight into the sea without wearing any diving suit at all.
“Mr. Lin!!!” The others’ eyes almost split open in terror. Yes, they knew Lin Jiangye could swim. Yes, there were no known cases of wild orcas hunting humans at night—but—
But it was still terrifying!
Lin Jiangye hit the water and, in less than a second, swung himself onto the orca’s back. Then he rose up with it from below the surface, straddling it as they surfaced together.
[It’s a human! It’s a human! A fragrant, soft human—ahhh!]
The orca was ecstatic, “ying-ying-ying” nonstop.
“It’s an orca! Great—finally I found you!” Lin Jiangye was just as thrilled. Human and whale went back and forth in completely mismatched chatter for several minutes before finally getting to the point.
[Human—bird said you were looking for us to help with something. Is that true?]
The orca stared at the tiny human in amazement. It was the first time it had ever met a human who actively asked them for help.
So cute.
Lin Jiangye quickly explained the operation. Once the orca understood that humans wanted to fight humans, its voice sank lower and lower—until it fell silent.
After a long pause, it finally spoke, subdued: [Elder said we shouldn’t get involved in human affairs. This time… whale can’t help you.]
This orca pod was led by its grandmother. The orca grandma had seen human wars before. She might think humans squabbling was “cute,” but once humans brought out those hard, gigantic things, it stopped being cute fast.
Lin Jiangye laughed softly and patted the orca’s head. “Don’t worry. The kind of huge ‘hard things’ you’re afraid of will absolutely not be involved.”
The orca wasn’t talking about ordinary coast guard boats. It meant warships—massive vessels. If those got involved, the whole region would go up in flames.
But for a small cluster of criminals? They weren’t worth deploying anything that extreme.
Hearing that no massive “hard big things” would appear, the orca immediately relaxed. [Good, good!]
It had actually seen gatherings of small boats like this before—just not in this area. And they always came out at night. According to Grandma, those humans were sneaky and shady—clearly up to no good.
Curiosity was fine, but under no circumstances should they get close.
“You’re right not to get close.” Lin Jiangye grew serious. “Even if those bad humans don’t have the huge weapons, they still have smaller hard weapons. If you get hit, it’ll hurt—a lot.”
Lin Jiangye was genuinely worried the orcas might be shot.
Especially if they tried to physically block the boats. Near the surface, they’d be even easier targets.
He didn’t hide anything. He told the orca every danger and every possible consequence.
“I know you have a whole family. Don’t say yes yet—go back and talk with your mom and grandma. If it’s possible, I’ll need a lot of big ones to help.”
He paused, then sighed helplessly. “As for payment—if you’re willing to help, tell me what you want. I honestly don’t even know what kind of reward to offer.”
Orcas basically had no predators here. Food-wise, he doubted they lacked anything. So he could only let them decide.
The orca beneath him could feel the sincerity in this small human. Even if it sensed trouble, it still didn’t reject him immediately.
[Whale… has to ask Grandma… Whale can’t decide.]
It sounded a little timid, as if worried the answer might disappoint him.
Lin Jiangye lay on its back and nuzzled it, coaxing softly, “Even if she says no, it’s fine. I already talked it over with the seabirds—they’ll help too. Once I’m done with this, I’ll come play with you again!”
He was going to stay here for a while anyway. His job was to build a bridge between the coast guards and the seabirds.
The orca, hearing his tone, wagged its tail happily.
Then it forgot how huge it was. It also forgot there was a small boat right beside it.
Its tail slapped the sea hard—so hard the water surged and rocked the speedboat violently. The four birds perched at the edge shrieked and shot straight into the sky.
[Scared bird to death!]
The orca lifted its head, stared at the four tiny dots in the air, and immediately wanted to play—but they were so small it was afraid it would kill them with one careless move.
So it gave up.
Because it had a human to play ball with instead.
The coast guards watched Lin Jiangye and the orca bumping a half-body-sized inflatable ball back and forth, both of them having the time of their lives, and couldn’t help feeling itchy with temptation.
In the end, they jumped in too—leaving one person on the boat—and played together.
This just-barely-adult orca had never had such a fun toy. It played so hard it practically didn’t want to leave.
“Go on. I’ll wait for your answer,” Lin Jiangye said, hugging the orca’s massive head and kissing it. The kiss made the orca so excited it rolled in the water.
No joke—watching it, Lin Jiangye flashed back to New Year’s night, when Yan Keke got kissed by Tian Shu the Northeast tiger and nearly ascended to heaven.
Only this time, the orca was Yan Keke, and he was Tian Shu.
To an orca, humans really were like tiny kitten-babies—every move cute beyond reason.
Well—except when humans fought. And except when humans hunted orcas. Those bad humans were like rabid animals and had to be avoided at all costs.
After sending the orca off, Lin Jiangye finally climbed back onto the boat. The coast guards, still staring after it, asked, “Do you think they’ll agree?”
This time, even Lin Jiangye couldn’t answer. “I don’t know.”
They had a wise leader in the pod. To protect themselves and avoid disrupting their own lives, they were very likely to refuse.
“…A refusal would make sense,” the coast guards said, disappointed—but not despairing.
Did they think they wouldn’t keep pursuing those black ships without seabirds or sea creatures helping?
Of course not.
So there was nothing to despair over. They believed, stubbornly, that justice would win. Even if they failed ten times, twenty times, they still wouldn’t quit.
Watching their spirit stay so high, Lin Jiangye’s mouth curved slightly.
That was the kind of backbone the nation’s police should have.
But unexpectedly, on the next day, the seagulls brought an astonishing piece of news:
[The big ones are coming again!]
Key point: “big ones,” plural—meaning many orcas were coming.
Lin Jiangye didn’t waste even one second. He immediately took the coast guards back out to sea. Once they left the sandy shoreline behind, they saw them—
Groups and groups of black silhouettes.
A true crowd.
“My god…” one coast guard gasped. They had imagined the orcas not coming at all. They’d imagined one or two, maybe three or four. But they had never imagined seeing more than ten.
Was this an entire family?
Very quickly, Lin Jiangye spotted the pod’s matriarch: an enormous orca about eight meters long.
[Child—are you the one asking for our help?]
The voice was old but powerful—so much like Diamond’s tone that Opal immediately scooted forward, staring curiously at the colossal presence below.
“Yes,” Lin Jiangye said. “The orca yesterday told me it needed to go home and ask its elders. I assume… you’re its elder.”
So—what’s the answer? Would they help?
Seeing the whole pod show up like this, it really didn’t look like a rejection.
Unless… they’d come as a family because they thought Lin Jiangye had lured their young one and meant harm, and they were here to attack him.
Surely… not.
Luckily, they really had come to talk.
[We agree. But we have one condition.]
“Say it!” Lin Jiangye’s voice jumped with excitement. The other coast guards’ eyes lit up too—this meant there was hope!
[Find us a clean, safe place to stay… and then treat our wounds.]
This pod—aside from the youngest calves and the newly grown juveniles—was injured. Every single adult was hurt.
