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"Who told you about super beasts?" Nan Xizi rolled her eyes at him. When they were alone, Nan Xizi would be more casual. The two of them, who had a common secret, would also let go of some of their restraint. "Look, there are pigeons in the sky!"
It turns out they were talking about pigeons.
After being reminded of this, Beidou indeed spotted a flying pigeon in the sky.
It flew very high, several dozen meters, higher than the surrounding buildings. Even if ordinary people saw it from such a distance, it would be difficult to distinguish the species of the bird.
But Beidou and Nan Xizi were Ace's human bodies after all. Even though they didn't have the same power as Ace before they transformed, their five senses were much sharper than those of ordinary people. Not only did he see clearly that it was a snow-white dove, he also saw that there was a ring tied to the pigeon's lower claws.
"That's a carrier pigeon! It has a carrier pigeon anklet on its foot!"
Unexpectedly, the carrier pigeon he had been looking for for two days appeared right in front of him. Beidou's fatigue was swept away, and he started the car and chased after it.
Pigeons can fly freely in the air, but cars on the ground cannot do that. They can only drive on roads. Beidou almost lost track of us several times. Fortunately, this is a relatively remote place with few pedestrians and vehicles on the road, and the performance of the Black Panther is reliable enough.
It was the square in front of the nearby market when the pigeon landed on a girl's hand.
That was someone Beidou was no stranger to. He was a little suspicious for a moment. What had he been doing these past two days? If he had known that he could find the carrier pigeon this way, wouldn't it be something that could be solved with a phone call?
It was Lingye who appeared in front of the Black Panther where Beidou had stopped.
The pigeon danced on Lingye's hand and then landed on her shoulder. It seemed to enjoy this position and squatted down, cooing.
"Gui An, Brother Beidou, Sister Xizi."
Since it was unclear whether it was morning or noon, Ling used a universal greeting.
"Gui'an, is this the carrier pigeon you raise?" Beidou seemed to be hit hard and was depressed and silent for a while, so Nan Xizi asked on his behalf.
She had never heard of Ling Ye raising homing pigeons before, and had never seen one.
"No, it's raised by my uncle Hachiken's friend. Uncle Hachiken and sister Aki are shopping in the market. Its name is 'Shirayuki'. Isn't it cute?"
The owner's name is Aki and the pigeon's name is Bai Xue.
The two names match each other, so it is almost impossible that it is a coincidence.
Aki was a little depressed. She had raised the pigeon for several years and it was the closest to her. But after meeting Lingye, Shirayuki had inexplicably "rebelled" and seemed to prefer being with Lingye rather than with her.
This is the department store, only 20 minutes away from the Oshima family. Hachiken brought Aki to buy some daily necessities, such as soap, toothpaste, towels, etc. The choir club at Reiya's school needed a music folder, and when she learned that Hachiken was going out, she didn't bother Jianye to drive, and took Hachiken's ride to come together.
Although she can ask Hachiken to bring it back, Ling usually prefers to do things by herself if she can do them by herself, and doesn't like to trouble others.
The department store here is not very big, of course not as big as those commercial centers in Ginza and Akihabara. It is a two-story building covering less than 1,000 square meters. But it is enough to buy daily necessities.
Ling quickly bought a music folder and a flute from the musical instrument store in the corner of the first floor of the department store.
Ling had never learned to play the flute, so there was no flute at home, but she had learned it before. Although she was not very skilled, she could only play basic music such as "Ave Maria". It was enough to entertain herself.
In my spare time, I play my favorite songs, such as "Where the Stars Are", "Castle in the Sky", "Lonely Star", and "Dawn of Heroes".
Well, anime and martial arts don't seem to go together, but it doesn't matter, her hobbies are just diverse. She just needs to entertain herself, there's no need to entertain others, and she has no intention of joining a band. It was like this in the past, and it's still like this now.
The golden flute was packed in a small suitcase, along with Vaseline and silk cloth for maintenance, and Ling had just put it back into the pickup truck's cabin.
The things that Hachixuan and the others want to buy are more fragmentary and will take more time.
Ling also has the patience and time to wait.
Watching the pigeons flying in the sky in the square in front of the shopping mall is not a boring thing for her.
Watching ants moving or birds circling back and forth are apparently meaningless things, but sometimes they can make people stare at them for half an hour without even noticing the passage of time.
Perhaps I envy the freedom and innocence of these little creatures, who never seem to have anything to worry about. So even just watching them can make people relax.
Meeting Beidou and Nan from the TAC team here was an accident, but not a mere accident.
Because they were actually attracted by "White Snow".
It was Lingye's suggestion to refer to homing pigeons and bionics. So she quickly understood why Beidou and Nan Xizi were chasing the pigeons.
"So, Team TAC wants to borrow 'Shirayuki'?"
"Yes, Snow White is the best homing pigeon. Even after traveling more than a thousand kilometers, it can still find its way back accurately. Since it won the national homing pigeon competition, I think there is no better object for researchers to observe than it."
"Winner of the national competition? You mean Snow White?"
"You do not know?"
Ling also shook her head. She really didn't know. Because Bai Xue was not her carrier pigeon. Similarly, whether Bai Xue was allowed to participate in the experiment or not, her words did not count.
The real person was carrying a large bag and following Hachiken out of the glass door of the department store.
Hachiken took all the big items, but even so, Aki still had a lot of things in her hands.
Aki had run out of food and had to move into the Oshima Manor, so it was obvious that all these were bought by Hachiken. There were all kinds of food and daily necessities. All the big and small bags were put into the bed of the pickup truck. Fortunately, it was a pickup truck today. If it was a car, it might not be able to fit.
With everything so complete, aren't you planning on letting Aki go back to Hokkaido?
Humph, your bad intentions are obvious. Living together, we are like a family.
It seems that Maria and I had made good preparations beforehand. We should indeed prepare to contact the shrine and the priests.
Ling also told Aki about the purpose of the TAC team, and Aki was undecided for a moment. She looked at Hachiken for help.
This was her natural reaction. During this period of time, she had been hitting a wall everywhere in Tokyo and felt that she could hardly move forward. Hachiken gradually became her backbone.
When people are protected when they are at their most vulnerable, they will inevitably become dependent.
"If necessary, ordinary citizens should indeed cooperate with the TAC team, but will it be dangerous to Shirayuki?"
"Of course not. We are only installing some detection instruments on the pigeons. They are only attached to the surface of the body and will not be implanted. Moreover, these detectors are very small. After completing the observation experiment, we will definitely return the snow white to the pigeons in good condition."
"Promise?" Aki asked in a low voice.
It wasn't that she was stingy. She had raised Bai Xue since she was a child and had poured a lot of love into her. Moreover, she had a letter that she hadn't been able to write, and she needed Bai Xue to send it home for her, to Hokkaido, thousands of miles away.
When Bai Xue was by her side, she always felt like she could write at any time, but she couldn't put down a single word. But once they had to be separated temporarily, she became anxious and impatient.
"Of course, I promise. I guarantee it with my character!"
Beidou Xingsi said with a solemn vow.
Chapter 111 Missing
“Oh, this is the pigeon that won the national championship last year?”
In the command room of the TAC team, the team members gathered around the pigeon cage in the middle with great interest. The snow-white pigeons looked around curiously at the strangers, but were not stage-frightened. They turned their heads from time to time and made cooing sounds.
"You can tell this pigeon has a good pedigree. Look how lively its nose tip is. I used to raise homing pigeons in my hometown, but I was totally unsuccessful in taking care of them." Konno said with some emotion.
"Konno, have you ever raised homing pigeons?"
"Yes, I live in Okayama, a small village on the coast. Didn't you all go there a while ago? Although it's remote, the natural environment there is really good. There is no exhaust gas from big cities. It is a paradise for hundreds of birds."
"When I was a kid, I raised a lot of animals, including parrots, pigeons, and even sparrows. Raising homing pigeons is a technical job. The one I raised disappeared after only a few months. I didn't know if it got lost or was taken away by an eagle. I was very sad at the time."
Konno said that only those who have raised homing pigeons can truly understand how difficult it is to breed a homing pigeon.
"Well, it's really sad when a pet that you've been with day and night is gone. I once had a puppy at home, but it was hit by a car and died. After that, I never kept a pet again." Captain Long brought the topic back to the topic. "Now that the carrier pigeons for collecting data are in place, Yoichi, please arrange the experiment as soon as possible."
Kijihiro nodded slightly.
"The observation experiment can start at any time. This afternoon, for example."
"Isn't that too hasty?"
"No, the experimental process has been designed long ago. The necessary instruments are already in the laboratory, so there is nothing special to prepare."
"Well, I don't know much about the Science Department either. You are in charge of that. Just take care of it. I hope we can really promote the research and development of unmanned automatic combat systems."
"It is definitely not enough to just observe pigeons. Next we will have to do observation experiments on dogs, gorillas and other animals. Although these animals have been with us for tens of thousands of years, and all kinds of popular science articles can fill a library, some data still have to be observed and collected in person to be truly meaningful. I hope this is a good start."
Hearsay is always of insufficient value, even for scientific papers. Especially in scientific research, data that must be produced by hand is credible for reference.
The observation experiment was conducted in the afternoon of that day.
This was not a classified experiment. Although Aki was a civilian, she was invited to the experiment as the owner of the pigeon. After all, Aki had trained the pigeon since she was a child, and the experiment required her cooperation as the owner.
"I will give you an order at that time. Please release the pigeon and have it fly around the designated location and then return here. Is there any problem?"
Aki shook his head.
The so-called ability of a carrier pigeon to deliver mail is actually its instinct to return to its nest. If it can arbitrarily specify the place to deliver mail, it is not a carrier pigeon, but an owl from the magic academy. So if Snow White is really asked to deliver mail, the only destination it can return to is the pigeon shed in Hokkaido where it was born.
But it doesn't matter, Aki can use a whistle to issue simple instructions. Her whistle can command Bai Xue to fly back.
At this time, a signal receiver was attached to Bai Xue's neck, which could detect the surrounding temperature, humidity, geomagnetic field, sunlight, particle radiation and other data, so as to determine the impact of these data on the pigeon's flight and calculate the mathematical model for the pigeon to distinguish the direction.
Aki didn't understand the professional data, she just let Shirayuki fly after Dr. Kizuki gave the signal.
The pigeon flapped its wings and flew into the blue sky, just like it had done countless times before. That was the pigeon's destination.
This was also the last time Aki saw Shirayuki.
Night, Oshima Manor Ranger Lodge
The atmosphere in the house was a little gloomy. Aki sat in the rocking chair in front of the fireplace in the living room. The temperature was not yet high enough to light the fireplace. The fireplace, which had not been used since last winter, was a little dusty. Hachiken would not think of cleaning something that was not used temporarily.
Maybe he should also have a maid, but it is obvious that Hachiken has no money to pay her.
The TAC team's Black Panther stopped on the lawn outside the ranger's hut.
This was Beidou's first time to Lingye's house, and it was more spectacular than he could imagine. If it were any other time, he might have expressed his admiration to Lingye, but this occasion was clearly not suitable.
He came to apologize.
He swore that he would use his integrity to guarantee Snow White's safety. But Snow White disappeared. During the test in full view of everyone, the snow-white dove flew into the sky and quickly disappeared from everyone's sight.
Even the instruments tracking the signal lost its source.
This means that Bai Xue obviously did not get lost naturally. The signal receiver installed by the TAC team on Bai Xue, although small in size, is very technologically advanced. Even in extreme environments such as high temperature, high pressure, and high radiation, it can continue to work for a period of time, and at least be able to transmit the final signal back.
But there were no extreme conditions that day, the sky was clear and the breeze was gentle. However, the source disappeared a few minutes after the test began. None of the preset observation points found anything. It was as if it had entered another dimension after it was released.
No one knows where Snow White went.
Beidou searched for a long time, including everyone in the TAC team, but there was no clue. Aki blew the whistle hard, even hurting her cheeks, but it was no use.
Several hours passed and Bai Xue still didn't come back.
Reiya was also at the ranger's cabin at the moment. Beidou didn't know Aki, and she was the middleman who made it possible for Aki to borrow Shirayuki. In the end, Reiya felt that she was also somewhat responsible for Shirayuki's disappearance.
"I'm so sorry!" Beidou bowed to Aki.
There were still traces of tears in the corners of Aki's eyes, obviously she had just cried. Hachiken was beside her, not knowing what to say. Although this was a good opportunity to show his "manliness", Hachiken was not a person who was good at speaking.
Should we blame the TAC team? But Bai Xue's disappearance was definitely not TAC's intention. They did all this to develop more advanced weapons to better fight against the super beasts.