Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 540 An Extraordinary Day

Is it wrong to expect sparrows to recognize other bird species? But the fact that sparrows could complain to Zheng Fan about being bullied is itself a mistake.

In short, those mysterious, evil birds, judging from the descriptions, seem to be a mixed group of birds without any clear pattern.

There were all sorts of birds, seemingly common urban birds from various environments, large and small, and they were extremely disciplined. Faced with such a formidable force, the small animal alliance of Jiyun City quickly crumbled, even more decisively than when the eagle first arrived.

Even now, in the Jiyun City Small Animal Alliance's iron triangle, one of the corners is that eagle, but even that eagle is no match for it.

The opponent is too strong.

At first, the flock of birds had simply invaded the airspace of the Sparrow Sky Pirates, and then seemed to be plotting something. When the Sparrow leader went to drive them away, he was met with a counterattack.

After that, they seemed to intend to conquer the small animal world of Jiyun City once and for all, and directly declared war on the Small Animal Alliance.

After listening, Zheng Fan blinked: "The initial goal of this flock of mixed-breed birds of unknown origin was not to provoke us or directly seize our territory..."

This was very unusual, a behavior that deviated from the normal habits of small animals. This reminded Zheng Fan of something.

When Zheng Fan first learned about the special existence of spiritual animals in the White City from Lin Yilin, he had already thought about related matters.

Suppose that a person or spiritual animal can communicate properly without using supernatural powers and direct them to act on their own behalf.

The spiritual animals' transcendence and flexibility within the white city offer considerable room for maneuver.

Were those hybrid bird flocks bred and manipulated by people with such ideas?
This is very possible.

"When did you discover them?" Zheng Fan asked.

However, he realized he had asked another silly question after he asked it—wasn't it a mistake to expect a bird to have a sense of time?
"Chirp~".

4:13 AM.

Zheng Fan: ?
No, your spirituality is abnormal, Miss Sparrow.

You can describe the general weather conditions, but can you be precise down to the minute? Are you really just a sparrow?
Seeing Zheng Fan's surprised look, the sparrow leader, feeling proud, wiggled its little bottom and rubbed its tail feathers against Zheng Fan's tail feathers, enjoying a bit of rubbing.

Zheng Fan slightly moved his tail feathers aside.

If you don't even have your own territory, can you please stop acting like a greasy old man and trying to freeload off other people?
The behavior of the sparrow leader reminded Zheng of the origin of another kind of spiritual animal that Lin Yilin had mentioned. It was a creature that had entered the white world through anthropomorphic hallucinations, where its various functions were suppressed to the level of an ordinary animal, and its intelligence was also degraded, eventually forgetting its past and becoming an ordinary spiritual animal.

Could this sparrow be so intelligent that it's actually an anthropomorphic illusion?
At that moment, Zheng Fan caught the sound of sirens. The sparrows were oblivious; they had no concept of such things. But Zheng Fan keenly noticed that there seemed to be quite a few sirens.

The direction they came from is... Oh ho, looks like he doesn't need to guess anymore.

One of his wings, like a cartoonish arm, emerged from the folded feathers of space to retrieve his phone. He didn't need to look for Lin Yilin; he simply glanced at the latest news related to Xixi Keke.

The Central Bank of Dadu's Jiyun branch has been robbed! The amount of loss is substantial and currently being estimated. The criminals have fled towards Xixi Keke; their methods were sophisticated and details are under investigation...

To be honest, Zheng Fan found the idea of ​​robbing a bank quite novel.

On the one hand, most central banks have a monopoly, and then they only set up branches in major city blocks. At the same time, the branches are strictly protected, making it quite difficult for robbers to rob them. People with the ability to rob banks can usually make more and more money by working as cleaners.

On the other hand, Zheng Fan had been "legally robbing" the Central Bank of Dadu, and his concept of money had long since collapsed, so he really didn't feel anything when he saw this.

But here's the key point: the bank robbed was located in Jiyun District. In other words, how did the robbers manage to rob a bank while adhering to strict rules against violence, unable to use guns, and employing only "soft" weapons like knives?
This method is indeed very mysterious.

Although Zheng Fan is not entirely clueless at the moment.

……

He said Zheng would come to find him after things calmed down, but Mo Mang's appearance—dressed like an office worker and carefully carrying a piece of toast—was still a bit too conspicuous. He also had other things in his briefcase, and he didn't dare stuff such a large piece of toast into it.

As Mo Mang walked home, he faintly heard the sound of police sirens.

"Is it this lively so early in the morning? I thought things would be peaceful in Xixi Keke for a while longer."

Mo Mang sighed, because the sound of the sirens was coming from the road he was about to cross.

He was getting a little tired, so he sat down on a bench by the roadside and placed the toast and briefcase on his lap.

After a moment of silence, he felt a strange urge to confide in the toast: "Actually, I have a system. I've had it for a long time, maybe even one of the earliest systems. But I've never paid any attention to it."

"..." Toast was still dormant and ignored him.

However, Mo Mang didn't care and continued, "It's called the 'Tips System.' After it's activated, it can give me a hint at the appropriate time. As expected of someone like me, even if I were lucky enough to get a system like winning the lottery, the result would still be this kind of ordinary system."

"Once the system is opened, I may be drawn into an extraordinary world. I realized this even without any warning, and now, according to what I read online, my choice was correct."

"I've always been someone who's neither here nor there. If I were more confident, I'd consider myself excellent, but I'm not outstanding enough. People in this world who aren't excellent or special can only be like me. Of course, saying that makes it sound like I'm dragging others down with me."

“I have no complaints. In fact, I’m quite satisfied with my situation,” Mo Mang said. “Life isn’t great, but it’s not bad either. The most important thing is that I don’t want my parents to be implicated because of me… You’re just a piece of toast, so you might not know, but it’s not just about wanting my parents to not be involved in extraordinary things. It’s about the fact that even if you die alone and carefree, there might be people who care about you who will shed tears for you afterward. I can’t bear to think about that.”

"If possible, I hope to avoid getting involved in anything strange. Mr. Toast, I hope you can also pass on this message to Mr. Zheng Fan. I am still very grateful to him for helping me get out of the Zero Subway and preventing me from getting involved in anything strange."

The toast didn't respond; it remained just a piece of toast.

The sound of sirens began to approach, and Mo Mang looked up, feeling slightly uneasy.

Why does it look like they're heading this way?
boom!
The thought had barely formed when a loud bang suddenly erupted from a street corner in the distance. An explosion occurred, and the resulting smoke and debris spread toward him with the blast wave.

He quickly got up and took a few steps, but his eyes were blinded by the sand and dust, making it impossible to see his surroundings. He even lost his sense of direction due to the subsequent explosions.

Just then, a strong hand grabbed his shoulder.

Before he could even say thank you, he was grabbed by the shoulder and pulled away.

When his vision returned, he found himself pinned down in a van, with a dark gun barrel pointed at his forehead.

"We've caught another hostage! Keep arguing with the police and the police station behind us, and head towards the crowd. I refuse to believe it!" Then he heard a rude voice say.

Mo Mang: ...

There was no panic, no tension, only silence and a hint of helplessness.

Life is full of disappointments...

(End of this chapter)