HLM -Chapter 1127 The Bully Birds

Aside from a little mishap with the beginning, everything else went smoothly.

By “smoothly,” it referred to the process; the final result, however, was another story.

His parents’ Chinese dishes were fine—very successful—but the cakes Wang Bo baked had problems. There wasn’t enough water under the baking tray, so the cakes came out looking like they’d been blasted by firecrackers.

A group of curious children gathered around him and asked, “Uncle Mayor, why does your cake look so weird?”

Wang Bo: “……”

A little girl shoved the others aside, clearing a path to Wang Bo. Then she shouted at her classmates with a fierce expression: “You don’t understand! This is called a ‘flowering cake’! Have you ever eaten a flowering cake?”

The children shook their heads blankly. A blonde little boy spoke up: “Dale, don’t think we’re stupid. This is obviously just cracks because the cake didn’t bake properly!”

Dale said, “Come over here and I’ll explain. These aren’t cracks. This is a flowering cake.”

The little boy shook his head cautiously: “I’m not arguing with you.”

Dale sneered and waved her hand: “Since logic doesn’t work, I’ll have to use force. Ron Little Si, go up and beat him!”

The little boy got beaten, wailing loudly. The teachers quickly came to break up the fight. As the instigator, the little girl was naturally criticized.

Being her guardian, a female teacher approached Wang Bo gently: “Mr. Mayor, you need to shift some attention from work to education. Dale is a good child, but she likes fighting too much.”

Wang Bo quickly said, “Don’t worry, I’ll beat her when we get home!”

The teacher: “……”

Wang Bo realized his mistake and forced a laugh: “I misspoke, haha. How could I hit a child?”

The teacher sighed in relief.

“I’ll have her older sister punish her then!” Wang Bo added immediately.

The teacher didn’t want to discuss further.

Of course, he couldn’t actually punish the little girl this time; she had stood up for him. After the event ended and school was dismissed, Wang Bo drove her home.

At the department store, he gave her ten dollars: “Go buy a starry wand. The teacher treats you.”

Dale shook her head disdainfully: “I’m big enough now. I’m not going to eat childish things like starry wands. Teacher, give me ten more dollars and I’ll buy a Barbie doll instead.”

Wang Bo handed her another ten dollars. She held it up and cheered: “Teacher, you’re so nice to me! When I have money in the future, if I have ten dollars, I’ll give you nine. If I have twenty, I’ll give you nineteen.”

“And what if you have a hundred thousand?” Wang Bo asked with interest.

Dale bit her lips and said, “Then I’ll give you twenty dollars.”

That night, the draw plate glowed emerald green again. Wang Bo drew a prize—a secondary territory heart, a Paradise Heart.

Coincidentally, the Christmas Park planned to open next month before Christmas, so Wang Bo placed the heart there and upgraded it.

He planned to rest properly over the weekend, but Atulu called, saying there were birds causing trouble on the street.

Wang Bo was puzzled: “Is this some kind of code? What do you mean by birds?”

He could understand birds pecking at vegetables, crops, or lavender—but causing trouble? That was beyond him.

Atulu explained: “No code, boss. Come to Central Street quickly. A flock of tui birds is causing trouble. You know tui birds, right?”

Of course, Wang Bo knew the tui bird. It was native to New Zealand, common enough, with sightings across many forested areas.

These birds were relatives of sparrows, belonging to the passerine order, and were among the largest species in the honeyeater family. Wang Bo often saw them when he went into the mountains.

Driving to town, he saw Atulu, Uncle Bing, and the new AOS commander Sam comforting some middle-aged tourists.

“What happened? The AOS is deployed?” Wang Bo asked, surprised.

Sam shrugged: “Oh, no. I’m on duty today.”

Facing Wang Bo, the AOS commander looked embarrassed. He had once tried to recruit Wang Bo as a subordinate, but now he had become Wang Bo’s underling in Sunset Town.

The frustrating part: Sam’s salary increased only 50% from his previous pay. It seemed large, but considering his original salary of just over four thousand, and Wang Bo had once offered him twenty thousand—which he didn’t take—the gap was… huge.

But there was no time for awkwardness. The birds were flying and swooping everywhere, extremely aggressive.

The birds’ feathers were mostly black, with white markings on the neck and wings, and a ring of rainbow-colored feathers on the back and sides—beautiful to behold.

These were tui birds, among the most beautiful in New Zealand.

Although small, tui birds were strong. They had short but wide wings with powerful muscles, almost like boxers. This physique allowed them to flap quickly, maneuver sharply, climb, and dive—extremely agile.

Now they were using their flight skills to strike at people, pecking with their beaks and scratching with their claws, sending tourists fleeing in panic.

“Why are there so many tui birds in town?” Wang Bo asked in shock.

Normally, tui birds live in forests below 1500 meters. They dislike noise and larger animals, so rarely enter human settlements.

Uncle Bing shrugged: “I guess our town’s greenery, trees, and flowers attracted them.”

“What are they doing? Why are they acting like this?”

Sam said: “Attacking pedestrians. They’re drunk.”

“Drunk?” Wang Bo asked, puzzled.

Sam nodded: “Yes, I’m sure. You know, tui birds used to be called ‘priest birds,’ right?”

Wang Bo nodded. Early European settlers named them that because the mostly black plumage resembled a priest’s robe.

When he said this, Sam shook his head: “Actually, that’s not the whole story. Later, people stopped calling them that. Europeans learned the Māori name—tui. Why?”

Wang Bo shook his head; he didn’t know. Indeed, it was unusual. Many species in New Zealand had official names given by Europeans—like the blue duck or kea—but tui birds were an exception.