HLM -Chapter 1334 Hide and Seek

Wang Bo had worried he might be bored that night, but in reality, his worries were entirely unnecessary.

By around midnight, as the city lights gradually dimmed and the urban noise faded, his villa started to get lively.

Wang Bo was full of energy. Eva, Dale, and his parents with the baby had all gone to bed. With nothing else to do, he could only turn on the lights and stare at Zhuang Ding and the little ones, exchanging wide-eyed glances.

At some point, a chaotic “plap-plap-plap” noise began outside the villa.

At first, Wang Bo thought it was just the wind shaking the beech tree branches, so he didn’t pay it any attention.

But after a while, a “toot-toot-toot-toot” sound followed, sounding like a woodpecker pecking at a tree—or maybe some bird pecking at the house’s doors and windows.

The sound was sharp and loud. The baby, who had been sleeping soundly, was startled. With eyes closed, she opened her mouth and started wailing.

Ever since the queen had been taking care of her for over a month, the baby rarely cried at night. Eva had begun holding her to sleep, so she would get used to the warmth and scent of her mother’s embrace.

Maternal love is a strange thing. Eva slept deeply—she wouldn’t even hear thunder outside. Yet whenever the baby fussed, no matter how soundly Eva slept, she would wake immediately.

And naturally, this time was no exception. The moment the baby cried, Eva sat up awake, gently rocked her, and quietly asked Wang Bo, “What’s happening?”

Wang Bo replied, “I heard a noise. I’ll go check outside.”

Eva was a little worried. “Be careful. Do you have anything to protect yourself?” she whispered.

“Don’t worry. This is Iceland, not some American slum,” Wang Bo said, giving her a confident smile.

Still, noticing he was alone, he decisively pulled a shotgun out of the sand table before heading out.

Since he was on unfamiliar land in a remote area, he considered the possibility that someone could be lying in ambush.

He looked at the commander and gestured, whispering, “Commander, listen up?”

The commander puffed up his chest: “Ah, the commander is the best, the most obedient!”

“Good. Since you’re so obedient, fly out and see what’s going on, then come back and tell me.”

Hearing this, the commander immediately tucked his head under his wings, pretending not to have heard Wang Bo.

“Damn coward,” Wang Bo muttered in frustration.

With no help forthcoming, he had to step out himself. Opening the door, he saw no people—just small groups of seabirds.

Having grown up by the sea, he immediately recognized them as seagulls, though the exact species was uncertain.

Some of the birds were resting, standing on trees or rooftops with their heads tucked in, eyes closed, looking adorably well-behaved.

But most of the seagulls were not so polite. They pecked at each other in the trees, at the windows, at the door panels, and even at the bulbs of the lights in front of the house!

The sharp noises he had heard were from them. As soon as he opened the door, all the birds, whether noisy or seemingly resting, flapped their wings and flew away.

The commander yelled at the seagulls: “Ah, naughty! Go away!”

Wang Bo patted the commander’s head. “Okay, earlier I told you to go check, and you acted like a scared roast pork. Now suddenly you’re fierce?”

Having scared the seagulls away, he went back inside and told Eva, “It’s fine. A bunch of birds came around, but I scared them off. You guys go back to sleep.”

Eva yawned, soothed the baby, and snuggled back under the covers.

But barely had she closed her eyes when Zhuang Ding and little ones got up, and two seconds later, the pecking sound on the door came again!

“Waaah!” The baby sounded the alarm.

Eva, who had a morning grump even at night, couldn’t scold her daughter, so she turned to Wang Bo: “What are you doing? Can you chase these birds away? We want to sleep!”

Fuming, Wang Bo threw open the door and ran out. The seagulls, some still landing with wings not fully folded, took off again.

This wasn’t working. He closed the door, peered out the crack, and just as he suspected, as soon as he went back inside, the seagulls returned.

Seeing this, he went into a frenzy. What was wrong with these seagulls? He remembered that back home, seagulls weren’t so annoying. They were even afraid of humans and wouldn’t venture into inhabited areas.

These seagulls were clearly afraid too—but only face-to-face. They behaved like guerrilla fighters: he advanced, they retreated; he pursued, they dodged. They avoided direct conflict rather than being truly scared.

This feeling made Wang Bo uncomfortable. He went out again for a round, and the seagulls immediately flew away. Returning inside, the birds came back.

The baby started crying again because the wooden door creaked annoyingly.

Wang Bo was at a loss. He pulled out his phone to search for ways to deal with seagulls. But the 2G network was too slow, the page kept refreshing and wouldn’t load. He was so frustrated he wanted to throw his phone.

After five minutes, the page finally loaded. He opened the highest-ranked webpage, but it took dozens of refreshes.

The first piece of advice: if seagulls are causing trouble at home, the best way to deal with them is to kill them.

Other responses:

“Report them, catch them.”

“Dark-minded, a ticking time bomb in society.”