I woke up to find myself transmigrated into a disabled child.

Chapter 240 The First Day of the Hostage Program

"Lei Xiu, Le Man reported that he seems to have found some traces, suspecting they were left by the Prosperous Bird. I've already sent people over there. How's it going on your end?"

The vine on her wrist was activated, and a flower grew that was exactly the same as the mother vine, but scaled down. Le Chu's voice came from the flower's stamen.

"I haven't found anything yet." Even though there was no one around, Lei Xiu remained expressionless, and his voice was unusually cold and devoid of any inflection.

Unable to discern Lei Xiu's thoughts from his tone, Le Chu couldn't offer any advice. Therefore, she simply let Lei Xiu do as he pleased, figuring that with his style and experience, nothing too serious would go wrong.

"Okay, please let me know immediately if you find anything, or if you need any help. Also, be careful, Lezhi is still waiting for you to rescue him."

"Ah."

Upon hearing Le Chu mention Le Zhi's name, a peculiar light flashed in Lei Xiu's usually calm eyes, before quickly disappearing.

He was now deep in the Cloud Dream Forest. Although it was a sunny day, the many evergreen plants in the forest crowded together, blocking out much of the light. Even with the reflection of the snow, it was still quite dark here.

A heavy snow had just fallen, and the snow had not melted in many parts of the forest. Because of the sudden drop in temperature, the normally active insects had also fallen silent, and the forest was unusually quiet, so quiet that Lei Xiu could only hear his own breathing.

Most of the surrounding snow still looks the same as when it fell, with only a few scattered traces. The extent of their damage indicates who left their footprints in the snow.

Lei Xiu examined all these traces and came to the conclusion that "they were not birds or beasts; there wasn't a single footprint left by any of them."

His slightly furrowed brows relaxed a little, and sunlight shone through the gaps in the branches and leaves, illuminating Lei Xiu's face and bringing a rare touch of brightness.

In an instant, the sound of flapping wings rang out, and the tall figure disappeared from the spot, leaving only footprints in the snow as proof that someone had visited.

……

In the valley where birds and beasts gathered, after bidding farewell to the hooded birds one by one and reluctantly stroking the head feathers of the more friendly chicks, Lezhi and his companions finally returned to the cave that belonged to the adult birds.

Behind them was a cave platform that had been cleaned up. The huge insect carcasses that had been there were now only a small part left in place, the rest had been devoured by the large birds and hooded birds.

In the form of cooked food.

Yes, Lezhi's culinary strategy has once again been a great success, conquering not only the big birds, but also the hooded birds that had been itching to try it.

Of course, Lezhi and his friends, relying on their past experience running a shop, managed to feed the group of people without showing any favoritism.

"Phew, it's almost past our usual lunch time. This lunch break is taking forever." As soon as Leyou returned to the cave, he couldn't wait to find a rock to sit down.

The roasted meat that the birds just ate was mostly made by him. He had been roasting meat for several hours straight, and Leyou felt like he was being marinated in the smoky flavor of the meat.

"Ugh... I don't want to eat barbecue for the next week..."

“Me too…” Leting’s eyes were glazed over, and her voice was a little unsteady as she answered.

Lezhi understood their feelings very well. As a chef, it's easy to develop a physiological aversion to the food you make after cooking for a long time. The solution is simple: it will pass after a while.

Therefore, Lezhi readily agreed, "Okay, then I'll try not to make barbecue in the future, and I'll make it whenever you want to eat it."

"Chirp chirp~" The fur ball was the first to react to Lezhi's words. It expressed its dissatisfaction with a chirp, but its attitude was not too strong. After all, the chef had the final say on what to eat, and as someone waiting for food, its opinion was not that important.

"Hehe, I knew Rakuchi was the best!"

It's clear that Leyou Leting wins this round.

"Alright, fluffy ball, it's just that we won't have barbecue for now. There are plenty of other delicious foods, so you definitely won't go hungry." Lezhi gently stroked fluffy ball's drooping fur, as it looked dejected, and assured it softly.

"Chirp chirp~"

"Yes, I'm not lying to you, I promise."

"Chirp~"

The little fluffy ball, who had just looked dejected, quickly softened and nestled in Lezhi's arms after being coaxed and comforted by Lezhi's few words. Only the chick, who was so close, saw the satisfied gleam in the fluffy ball's eyes after its wicked scheme had succeeded.

A chill ran down my spine. The fledgling moved its tiny claws and fleshy wings, curling its body up even smaller to avoid attracting the attention of the fluffy ball.

The big bird that came back with Lezhi and the others witnessed the whole show that the group put on at the cave entrance. It didn't quite understand what these people who could freely fold their wings were saying, but it could sense that after half a day, they were no longer as resistant to staying in the valley as they had been when they first arrived.

The bird was quite satisfied with this change; only if the bird didn't reject it could things proceed smoothly.

The cave is located halfway up the cliff, with few plants around to block the sunlight, so it can enjoy the maximum amount of sunshine. The winter afternoon sun is a gift from nature, and the birds of prey certainly won't miss it.

Watching the large bird with its eyelids half-closed, standing quietly on one side of the cave platform, its feathers reflected even richer colors under the sunlight, it was a feast for the eyes.

However, Leyou and his companions were not merely admiring the beauty. The bird's perception was correct; after half a day of exploration and adaptation, they had preliminarily determined that these birds and beasts seemed to genuinely harbor no ill will towards them.

Bringing them here is probably, as Maoqiu said, because they need something from Lezhi.

Le You secretly gave Le Ting a look, and they whispered to each other briefly before quickly parting ways.

Regardless of the birds' or beasts' intentions, the distress signal still had to be sent. Leyou, who had been repeatedly warned by his tribe since childhood to be careful, was quite obedient in such matters.

Confirming that Leting's energy was steadily recovering and that he should be able to contact Mother Vine again soon, Leyou suppressed his excitement and tried his best to appear outwardly normal.

To divert attention, Leyou simply pretended to be generous and started chatting with Lezhi, "By the way, Lezhi, you said before that the big bird would provide us with food, right?"

“Yeah.” Not missing her friends’ whispers, Lezhi played along with Leyou.

"I was just thinking, 'Does this big bird only eat insects? If so, our stored fruits and vegetables probably won't last long!'"

I initially thought Leyou was just making idle chatter, but I didn't expect his suggestions to be so constructive.

Yes, that's the problem they urgently need to solve. They don't know how long they'll be stuck here. In any case, Lezhi doesn't want to compromise on food for herself and her friends.

“Let me think about it. Actually, I think Big Bird’s attitude was quite mild today. If possible, after a couple more days when we’ve all gotten along better, I’ll suggest to Big Bird that we see if we can go out to collect things.”

"Is this feasible?" Leting felt that Lezhi was being too optimistic. Their current situation seemed free, but in reality, all their activities were under the watchful eyes of the birds and beasts.

Going out to collect samples would probably be very difficult.

"Let's give it a try, and if it doesn't work, we'll see..." Thinking of the vigorous and thriving bougainvillea at home, Lezhi felt quite confident. "In any case, we won't go hungry, don't worry!"