Chapter 160: Chapter 157: Tricked onto a Pirate Ship

The report was slammed down onto Lenin’s body.

Lenin picked it up and turned to the last page, muttering.

“Positive? How could that be?”

Lincoln looked as if his soul had left him; he had never imagined the test report would come back positive.

“The fact is, the bird flu test result is positive. Lenin, look at those geese; they should never have been released!” Johnny, angry at his orders having been disobeyed, pointed at the geese in the sky, then commanded the men behind him, “Unload the boat!”

Elvan and Bi Fang also hurried over.

“Wait, what did they say?” Elvan hadn’t understood Johnny’s Finnish.

Lenin looked at Elvan. “They said the test result is positive.”

Elvan became agitated. “Positive? How is that possible? Didn’t we conduct tests before? Everything was compliant, no issues, and we also vaccinated afterward!”

Could it be that you administered the vaccines too late?” Bi Fang asked.

Elvan frantically scratched his head and paced back and forth. “The vaccine was administered over half a month ago. Even if it’s a normal reaction post­exposure, it shouldn’t be positive now. There must be a mistake.”

Johnny, who understood English, used his index finger to jab at Lenin’s chest, pushing him backward until he was almost unsteady.

Bi Fang stepped forward to steady Lenin and glanced at Johnny.

Somehow, at that look, Johnny unconsciously withdrew his finger, coughed twice, and continued, “Is that so? I told you to keep the geese caged until the results were out. But what did you do? They shouldn’t have been bom, Lenin!” Without looking back, Johnny headed toward the small boat unloaded by the lakeside.

What is he trying to do?” Elvan watched Johnny moving the boat with confusion.

Lenin watched Johnny leave and said despondently, “To take them away.” Capture? No, no no no,” panicked Elvan, running towards Johnny, blocking his path. “STOP! STOP! Listen to me…”

Bi Fang also intercepted alongside Elvan. “Wait, wait, there must have been a mistake…”

“Who are you? Hurry up…” Johnny was about to scold but swallowed his words, “Whoever you are, step aside!”

Bi Fang blocked Johnny, and Elvan quickly explained, “No no, OK, listen, I can explain, it must be the vaccine.”

Elvan desperately tried to explain, but Johnny was immovable, and as they stood in opposition, the tension between them grew.

The audience in the live broadcast grew anxious. Why were there problems with the blood test now?

They thought the biggest challenge in animal protection would involve the environment; they had no idea that even before the project was implemented, the biggest obstacle would be humans themselves!

[If it’s positive, then the birds shouldn’t have been released, right?]

[Didn’t you hear what Professor Elvan said? The tests came back with no issues, and they had been vaccinated. I think there’s definitely some misunderstanding; something must be wrong.]

[That’s right; as a med student, I can tell you false positives are real, and even if it is positive, it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an illness.]

[Also, whether it’s positive or negative depends on the testing method. It could be positive even after vaccination.]

[Isn’t it over before it even started?]

[Aren’t they going to kill these birds too? Didn’t Big Beard say last night that the White-fronted Goose was killed simply because crossbreeding wasn’t allowed?]

[It’s quite possible.]

[Old Fang, stop them already, can’t things be settled amicably? Why is the first recourse always to kill? Is this the animal protection the foreigners keep shouting about?]

[Exactly, stop them!]

As the two sides pushed and shoved each other, on the brink of a physical altercation, Lenin quickly contacted Etienne by walkie-talkie, who was next to the glider: “Etienne, can you hear me? Etienne, if you can hear me, give a hand signal.”

Dressed in a robe, Etienne, who was far away, looked at the scuffling group and waved at Lenin to signal that he could hear him.

Lenin spoke quietly: “Good, take the geese to the center of the lake, repeat, take the geese to the center of the lake, I’ll explain to them.”

After speaking, Lenin rushed between the two sides, pushing away Elvan and Johnny, and then said to Johnny, “Calm down, getting angry won’t solve anything.”

Johnny knocked Lenin’s hand aside and straightened his collar.

Initially, he was just annoyed by the hassle of blood testing, so he’d prepared a positive report in advance, planning to seize the birds and leave. He felt a bit guilty before leaving, until he’d spoken with France on the way, which completely dispelled any guilt.

Johnny pointed at Elvan and Bi Fang and spoke harshly, “I’ve been in touch with Paris, and they don’t know anything about your plan.”

The whole process was complicated, yet it was linear, and not a single step could be omitted.

Paris had to agree first before Elvan could raise the non-wing-clipped wild geese and migrate with them. Then came Johnny’s turn to pass the blood test, so the geese could cross the Schengen Area.

Since the first step had not been completed, there was no need to look at the blood test report at all.

We can test again… huh, what?” Lenin was explaining when he heard this and went blank, as did Bi Fang standing nearby.

They don’t know about the plan?

Wait, didn’t Elvan just tell him on the plane that they had permission?

They don’t know what the plan is over here?

Deceive me onto the boat?

“He said he had contacts in Paris, but they have no clue about your plan,” Lenin turned his head towards Elvan, repeating what he had just said before making his own excuse, “Maybe there was a miscommunication. Call them again and explain.”

Elvan touched his neck and turned to walk towards the lake.

Bi Fang and Lenin hurried after him.

Lenin took out his mobile phone and handed it to Elvan, “Elvan, quick, ask them what’s happening over there.”

Seeing Elvan remain silent, Bi Fang sensed something was amiss, “Elvan, don’t you have permission?”

Lenin denied it before anyone else could, “No, I’ve seen the stamped document it’s real.”

“I stamped that seal myself.”

Elvan, looking at Etienne in the center of the lake, admitted with his head down.

“What the hell?” Lenin was flabbergasted, “Elvan, are you joking with me? Have you thought about the consequences of doing this?”

Elvan remained silent.

“What do we do now?” Etienne asked through the walkie-talkie.

Lenin stammered, “Uhm, we don’t have permission; you explain it to him.”

He passed the hot potato to Bi Fang and then ran to explain things again to Johnny.

Bi Fang took the walkie-talkie, glanced at the downhearted Elvan, and explained to the distant Etienne, “Can you hear me, Etienne? The situation is a bit complicated right now. Your dad didn’t get permission, and the documents are forged.”

What?” Etienne felt like he had heard wrong.

“I know this is hard for you, but that’s just how things are.” Bi Fang understood that Etienne had spent his entire summer with the geese and knew he must be feeling terrible now.

Elvan took the walkie-talkie, “I’m sorry, Etienne, I’m an idiot, a big idiot, now they want to take the geese away…”

The geese were about to be taken away.

Bi Fang pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling his temples throb. He wanted to save the geese too, but the local enforcers held power here; in another man’s land, his word meant nothing.

If only it were in his own country, with his current status, leading a flock of geese on a migration wouldn’t be so troublesome. Instead, he was now caught up with a pile of nonsense.

These foreigners shouted slogans about animal protection louder than anyone else, but when someone actually wanted to do something, it was harder than anything.

The mission would likely have to be reverted to its original plan.

So much time wasted, and after training with the geese, they were back to square one.

In the center of the lake, Etienne watched the workers at the shore pushing boats into the water, and the geese in the lake were calling out incessantly, as though foreseeing their own fate.

The young birds hatched from their eggs.

They learned to run for the first time.

They soared in the sky for the first time.

To familiarize the geese with the sound of engines, they played recordings all night even at the expense of their own sleep.

They claimed to have found an endangered species of hamster to protect the wetlands and give the young birds a chance to grow up.

Just because of hybrid breeding, they were going to be killed.

“Aga, Amu, let’s go.”

Etienne pulled the starter, the engine sprang to life, ripples spread across the lake, and the geese behind the glider, alerted by the sound, started swimming towards it.

On the shore, Elvan saw the propeller spinning and realized something was wrong. He shouted urgently, “Stop, Etienne, stop! Come back right now!”

Johnny, too, noticed the geese stirring and angrily directed the boats, “Chase them, chase them fast!”

“Come back, Etienne, the weather is about to change.”

Ignoring Elvan’s attempts to dissuade him, Etienne didn’t care. The propeller spun faster and faster, and the once stationary glider began to move along the water surface.

The engine roared to life.

The boats at the shore also started their engines, and two workers drove after the glider.

They had to stop the glider from taking off and bring all the White-fronted Geese back!

“Splash!”

The sound of someone entering the water.

Lenin turned in surprise, only to find Bi Fang had disappeared, leaving only his backpack.

“Bi Fang, what are you doing?”