I raise furry animals and fly them to my motherland.

Chapter 158 The Frog About to Drown
Liu Kai just wanted to finish the task as soon as possible and end this torment. Seeing that Xu Ying still wanted to linger at Crescent Lake, he said a few sarcastic remarks: "You're not going to take pictures and check in, are you? Now is not the time to play around."

Xu Ying raised an eyebrow and said in a nonchalant tone, "Then you can go to the village to investigate the situation by yourself first. You don't need to wait for me."

Liu Kai fell silent. The four villages in Crescent Oasis generally didn't treat outsiders very well, and their attitude was quite fierce. Moreover, the villagers here were generally tall and strong.

Liu Kai dared not enter the village alone.

With improved transportation in recent years, many outsiders have come to the village posing as tourists on self-driving tours to commit fraud, theft, and even human trafficking...

The villagers living in Crescent Oasis are very simple and honest. After being deceived in many ways over the years, they are very resistant to outsiders. Even the staff sent by the government are cold and uncooperative.

"Then hurry up," Liu Kai muttered.

Xu Ying was too lazy to explain to him. She stepped on the gas and drove towards Crescent Lake. The scenery in the distance kept expanding, and Crescent Lake changed from a small puddle in sight to a vast lake. The lake was very large, but now it was the dry season and most of the water in the lake had evaporated.

However, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse; Crescent Lake still has a very sufficient amount of water compared to the rest of the desert.

The crescent-shaped lake in front of me was like a silver mirror under the afternoon sun, while the dried-up areas at the edges had formed salt crusts that cracked along the shore.

On the road nearing the lake shore, Xu Ying could see the claw marks left by reptiles such as lizards.

The reflections of three or five poplar trees in the distance are immersed in the water, and the tree trunks still bear the marks left by the long floodwaters of the rainy season.

Seasonal lakes are like an account with insufficient funds. During the rainy season, the water volume surges and the lake surface expands. During the dry season, they evaporate rapidly and may even dry up completely and become saline-alkali land.

With winter approaching, Crescent Lake has shrunk in size, now resembling a pond of about ten acres.

Xu Ying parked his car and walked to the lake shore, while Liu Kai moved slowly, falling far behind him.

Xu Ying noticed a row of figures squatting by the water. Judging from their youthful faces and school uniforms, they were probably around thirteen or fourteen years old, just starting junior high school.

All the people squatting on the shore were boys; there were six of them in total.

Although they were only thirteen or fourteen years old, they were already about 1.7 meters tall and very strong. If it weren't for their still-childish faces and school uniforms, Xu Ying would not have been able to tell them apart.

Even during the dry season, Crescent Lake is six or seven meters deep, enough to drown a person.

The drowning prevention education that started in elementary school was already ingrained in his mind, so Xu Ying quickened his pace and walked towards the group of teenagers.

As Xu Ying got closer, she heard the group of teenagers discussing something.

Why aren't they moving in the water?

"Their bellies are so swollen, won't they explode?"

"Don't frogs on TV always do the breaststroke when they go back into the water?"

……

Xu Ying walked to the water's edge and looked closely. There were more than ten frogs lying on their backs floating on the water, their bellies bulging. They didn't dare to move at all.

These frogs are different from the green frogs we often see. They have round, plump bodies, like fluffy steamed buns, short hind legs, and a light sandy yellow color with irregular spots on their bodies, as if they have been casually sprinkled with cocoa powder.

Xu Ying immediately recognized it as the Mantou Frog, a unique frog species that lives in deserts and savannas.

The mandarin frog is a well-known landlubber among frogs; its small lung capacity makes it prone to suffocation when submerged. Xu Ying quickly said to the group of boys, "Kids, hurry up and scoop these mandarin frogs out; they can't swim!"

When an unfamiliar stranger appeared at Crescent Lake, the boys' eyes immediately became wary as they looked at Xu Ying.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"How could there be frogs that can't swim?!"

The boys did not trust Xu Ying, who had suddenly appeared. Some of them had already picked up pebbles from the lake and held them in their hands, as if they were preparing to throw stones at Xu Ying if they noticed anything amiss.

The boys were tall and strong with fierce eyes, and it was quite intimidating when they surrounded Xu Ying.

Upon seeing this scene, Liu Kai, who was walking behind, stopped in his tracks and quickly retreated to his motorcycle to secretly observe what was going on.

Xu Ying quickly showed her work ID: "I am an animal rescuer at the desert rescue station, not a bad person."

"Look at their small, short legs. They have no strength at all when they move. They can't kick the water like ordinary frogs."

"Moreover, their lung capacity is very small, and although they can breathe through their skin, it is very inefficient."

"In order to avoid drowning, they can only lie on their backs and frantically inhale, turning themselves into round, inflated buns to float on the water, but this cannot be maintained for long."

The children's eyes widened as they listened to Xu Ying's professional yet easy-to-understand explanation and looked at her name tag, which read "Director of 032 Rescue Station".

"What should we do? We only have a net for catching frogs, but they've already drifted far away, and the net pole is too short to catch these little buns!"

The boys held up nets with short, thin poles made from half a tree branch. The nets and the inflated frogs were drifting further and further away, their bellies unable to support the weight, visibly deflated.

The boys looked anxious and guilty. "These frogs keep croaking in the village. The adults want to kill them all, but we can't bear to, so we rescued them and want to put them back in the water."

"I never expected my good intentions would backfire!"

"Don't rush, take apart the net poles, hand me the net, and leave the rest to me."

As Xu Ying spoke, she took out a military drone that the soldiers had given her last time. This type of drone can glide on water.

Upon hearing this, the boys quickly unpacked the net and handed it to Xu Ying. When they saw the camouflage drone in Xu Ying's hand, their mouths dropped open in an "O" shape. This machine is so cool!
Xu Ying deftly secured the net to the bottom of the drone, then used the handle to control the drone as it flew towards the entrance of the steamed bun.

"Little steamed buns, don't be afraid."

As Xu Ying pressed the handle, she shouted to the desperate frogs on the water's surface, "This flying machine is here to save you, not to eat you!"

When Xu Ying was watching Lingsi Photography videos, she unlocked the skill of understanding frog language. Her words were natural and friendly to the frogs. When the frogs on the surface of the water heard that someone was coming to save them, they used all their strength to desperately inhale.

But some of them couldn't hold on and sank into the water. The little steamed buns watched as their companions fell into the water one by one, desperately trying to breathe, but they still couldn't stop the speed at which they sank.

However, at that moment, the drone, with a small net attached, controlled by Xu Ying, swiftly scooped up the flounder that had sunk into the water.

Xu Ying calmly manipulated the handle, controlling the drone to go up and down, and managed to scoop up the frogs one by one.

As the boys watched Xu Ying's fingers fly across the keyboard, rapidly pressing the command keys, and calmly maneuvering the drone to successfully rescue the children who had fallen into the water, their wary gazes gradually transformed into admiration.

This girl's skills are amazing, so cool!
(Illustration of the Steamed Bun Frog)