At dawn, Chen Chen was jolted awake by a strange cry. It was a noisy, comical birdcall, as if hundreds or thousands of birds were calling together, making it unbearably annoying.
Still groggy, Chen Chen unplugged his phone's charging cable and checked the time. It was only around seven in the morning.
Since he had been woken up, Chen Chen looked a little unhappy. He got out of bed and yanked open the curtains of the floor-to-ceiling window, wanting to see who was disturbing his sleep.
In an instant, mist filled the space between heaven and earth, making even the dawn appear hazy. On the beach several dozen meters away, a huge flock of bright-red seabirds was gathered. The strange cries Chen Chen had heard were coming from them.
Those were probably the world-famous flamingos.
Walvis Bay lay along the Atlantic coast. Influenced by the Atlantic's unique Benguela Current, it was often shrouded in cold, damp fog in the early morning. The Atlantic currents also brought an abundance of food, so thousands of flamingos lived year-round in the lagoon—that was, on the beach before Chen Chen's eyes.
The hotel where Chen Chen was staying was called Flamingo Villa Boutique Hotel, or Flamingo Villas Boutique Hotel in full. In English, flamingo meant exactly what it did in Chinese: flamingo.
Several luxury hotels stood along the lagoon, along with countless European-style mansions built around it. On this barren African land, it was practically a paradise where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold.
It was said that international movie stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt had given birth to their first child here.
Chen Chen withdrew his gaze and looked down at the main road below.
Beneath the thin morning mist, a white girl wearing earphones jogged along the