Little White woke with a start and opened his eyes in confusion, only to see Brother Hao baring his teeth as he faced off against a large bird.
The bird had its signature enormous bill pouch and white feathers all over. After two years apart, a little tuft of golden feathers had grown on its neck.
It was Big Sister Pelican!
Then everything was fine!
(Had Pelican been driven off the freighter by the monsters? Lasting two years alone was pretty impressive.)
Little White sprawled lazily on the deck, watching the struggle between the dog and the pelican.
Pelican seemed to know that the dog wasn't the ship's owner. After trading a few squawking insults with him, she settled of her own accord on the patch of deck where she used to perch.
Then...
She began straining mightily to lay an egg!
Little White stared at Pelican's rear without blinking.
Big Sister Pelican seemed to be having trouble getting it out. She let out a sharp squawk, telling the turtle to stop staring.
Then she shifted her backside in another direction and kept straining.
"What a wonderful day!"
Zhang Ming rode an orca in a wide circuit, cool spray splashing over him. The seawater here possessed not just a temperature, but a spirit and vitality, utterly unlike the Demon God's Sea.
Playing with these spirits of the ocean brought him a simple, childlike joy.
Even Stone Mama shared in that feeling, relocating to an orca's tail.
Seeing that evening was approaching and he had been playing for quite a while, he casually caught some fish and shrimp from the seabed to cook for dinner.
The moment Zhang Ming jumped aboard, he spotted a white bird crouched at the edge of the deck, straining. Taken aback, he teased, "Huh? What's