Seeing Xiang Kun approach, the canary in the cage chirped a few short chirps.
Xiang Kun knew what it meant; it still meant submission and fear.
He picked up the cage, went to the bathroom, pointed at the bird droppings, and said to the canary in a emphatical tone, "No, not here." As he spoke, he focused his attention on the bird, trying to maintain a sense of authority, and recalled parts of his memory of the "Giant Owl." Then he wiped the droppings off with paper and threw them in the trash can.
The canary immediately fell silent, shrinking into a corner, it was unclear whether it had successfully received Xiang Kun's message.
Xiang Kun naturally knew that birds have relatively short rectums, making it difficult for them to store feces. They also need to defecate frequently to reduce weight and facilitate flight, making it more difficult to control their defecation than animals like cats and dogs. To get birds to defecate at fixed times and places, they need to be continuously guided and trained from a young age.
However, he still wanted to try and see if he could get the birds to understand his meaning directly, rather than through training.
After observing the canary for a while without receiving any response, I couldn't decipher its language and could only judge from its posture that it seemed a bit scared.
Xiang Kun thought for a moment, then put the cage back in its original place and covered it with the cage cover to make it feel safer.
He had already planned out several stages during his sensory training:
The first stage involves collecting "samples" of sounds and smells that did not exist before the senses were mutated and enhanced, establishing a "database," making them instinctive of smell and hearing, and further guiding the mutated evolution of sensory abilities;
The second stage involves training him to use sound and smell to help him quickly determine his surroundings and situations, making them his "super eyes."
The third stage involves in-depth exploration and long-term observation of a specific target. Similar to the second stage, this stage also focuses on guiding the evolution of the brain's ability to process sensory information.
The second stage, after several weeks of targeted training and evolution following the mutation, is almost complete; the collection of information about the surrounding environment has become an almost instinctive reaction. Therefore, he is now preparing to enter the third stage, to conduct in-depth and long-term observation of individuals.
Originally, I considered choosing a complete stranger as my target, but now I think I should train an animal first—in short, this canary.
After all, animals generally have much simpler social relationships and experiences, and for this canary, they are practically nonexistent. Moreover, the time since its birth has been relatively short, and it is now under his 24-hour surveillance, making it convenient for him to collect relevant information.
On the other hand, if we can gain a clearer understanding of the canary's habits and personality through in-depth observation, and more accurately interpret the meaning expressed by its various states and calls, we can also make it clearer how we "intimidate" it with our emotions and the specific impact this has on it.
Xiang Kun began searching online for information about canaries, hibiscus, and ornithology. He had already read some of this when he was studying "bird language," but now he was preparing to gain a more comprehensive, in-depth, and systematic understanding.
Meanwhile, he was also keeping a close eye on the canary's condition, its heartbeat, breathing, scent, and how it moved around in the cage.
After an unknown amount of time, when Xiang Kun encountered a problem and was about to check if "Little Apple" was asleep and wanted to ask her for advice, he picked up his phone and happened to receive a message from Tang Baona.
Upon opening it, I found a picture of a person carrying a hunting rifle and leading a dog, walking alone down a street. In the distance were dilapidated houses, a scene of devastation, resembling an apocalyptic world. The whole picture had a somewhat discordant ink-wash style, clearly indicating that the stitching was not handled very well in Photoshop.
Why did you send me this picture? What does it mean? Is it because the person in the picture is bald, just like me?
Xiang Kun was somewhat confused.
But the next moment he realized something was wrong. That bald guy in the picture... that color of his clothes... hmm, he looks just like me!
"What kind of picture is this?" Xiang Kun sent a question mark emoji.
Tang Baona didn't reply, but instead sent over a dozen more pictures in quick succession, all photoshopped images of bald heads and their backs. The last few were less heavily edited and almost indistinguishable from the originals, so Xiang Kun immediately recognized them.
Is that really me?!
And upon closer inspection of the picture where the bow and arrow weren't photoshopped out, combined with the surrounding environment, isn't this from when I left Xia Libing's house not far away?
Tang Baona sent another laughing emoji, "You're trending again~! Wait, why did I say 'again'?"
Then they sent me a Weibo link.
Earlier, after leaving Xia Libing's house, Tang Baona took a taxi to her maternal grandfather's house.
Her maternal grandfather, Mr. Feng, had a long-standing tradition of having his children bring their kids to his place on Mid-Autumn Festival evenings to have tea, eat mooncakes, and then enjoy the moon and chat together.
However, he knew that his children all had their own families, so he didn't insist on having dinner; everyone could just eat their own meals first and then come over.
Tang Baona's family has always been quite free, and her older sister is in the throes of love and is going to have dinner with her boyfriend that evening, so she and Yang Zhen'er went to Lao Xia's house to "see her off" and also to celebrate Xiang Kun's "birthday" in advance.
By this time, my parents and sister had already arrived and were sitting in the courtyard drinking tea and chatting. My other cousins, as well as my two uncles and two aunts, had also arrived, but they looked like they had just arrived.
As soon as she entered the courtyard, she quickly greeted her maternal grandfather and other elders, then her siblings of the same generation, and then their children. It took her quite a while to finish greeting them all.
After greeting them, Tang Baona behaved herself and shrank back next to her parents and sister, listening without saying a word.
But now, the conversation among them happened to be about how the four of them had accidentally caught a human trafficker and rescued two children.
The person speaking is Tang Baona's second uncle; she currently works at his company.
"Those two kids are the grandsons of Old Master Zhang from the Zhang family. It's said they secretly went out to play with their cousin, but the young man was busy chatting with a girl and didn't pay attention to the two kids, who ran off to a secluded corner. Unexpectedly, they were spotted by human traffickers and abducted. Alas, after the two kids' cousin discovered they were missing, he searched for several hours but couldn't find them, which only made things worse."
Upon learning of the situation, Grandpa Zhang didn't hesitate at all and immediately called the police to report it. The Municipal Public Security Bureau took it very seriously and immediately coordinated police forces to investigate. Fortunately, with surveillance cameras so advanced everywhere these days, they finally found clues about the two children and located the traffickers' vehicle.
However, before the police could take action, Nana and her friends rear-ended the traffickers' car.
At this point, Tang Baona's second uncle couldn't help but laugh, "The driver was the third daughter of the Yang family, so it's really not surprising that this happened. Last time she came to the company to see Nana, she parked her car and crashed into my SUV. I couldn't help but wonder if this girl had some kind of problem with me."