HLM – Chapter 789 The Protection Operation

The grass by the riverside rustled, and a large opossum darted out. It stared at the group of blue ducks for a while before cautiously jumping into the water, swimming toward them.

Seeing this, the blue ducks hastily paddled away. Just like Charlie had said on the plane, these ducks were excellent swimmers — as fast as a fleet of small boats skimming across the water.

Charlie’s pupils shrank. “Damn it! Stop that bush-tailed possum — it’s trying to eat the ducklings!”

He quickly picked up a stone and hurled it. The stone splashed into the water right next to the possum, startling it. The creature gave up on its prey, scrambling ashore and fleeing into the grass.

After chasing the possum off, Charlie exhaled in relief. “That’s exactly why blue ducks are considered rare birds. They like to build their nests beside clean rivers, among reeds and aquatic plants.”

“You know,” he continued, “New Zealand has lots of stoats and possums. They’re the natural enemies of blue ducks — they love ambushing and eating them. The ducks are poor fighters. Not only their eggs and ducklings get eaten, sometimes even the adults end up as dinner.”

“So what should we do?” Wang Bo asked worriedly. Possums were a plague across the ranches — every rancher’s headache. Getting rid of them wasn’t easy.

Charlie shrugged helplessly. He didn’t have a good solution either — it wasn’t like they could stay here every day to guard the ducks.

As they walked along the creek, Wang Bo thought while observing. He noticed many Neoceratodus lungfish living on the riverbed — most of them were still tiny.

It seemed the blue ducks hadn’t started feeding on them in large numbers yet. Thanks to the spiritual spring, the lungfish population had successfully reproduced — those tiny fish were freshly hatched fry.

That was a relief — at least he didn’t have to worry about the lungfish for now.

Just then, Charlie tossed another stone — this time startling the ducks instead. The adult ducks led their ducklings downstream, swimming fast.

“What are you doing?” Wang Bo asked.

Charlie shrugged. “Don’t you see? The ducks are trying to head back upstream. It’d be better if they stayed in the lake — possums aren’t good swimmers.”

Wang Bo shook his head. “That won’t work. They’ll definitely nest along the shore, and the possums will…”

He paused mid-sentence, a thought flashing through his mind. He looked at Charlie. “Wait — you said these blue ducks like fast-flowing water, right?”

“Yeah,” Charlie nodded.

“Then why don’t we modify the downstream section of the river? Build river terraces and narrow the channel — that’ll naturally make the current faster. The blue ducks would stop heading upstream.”

Charlie hesitated. “But they’d still nest along the banks.”

Wang Bo knew that too. The reason he wanted to guide the ducks downstream wasn’t to change their nesting habits but to separate them from the upstream fish population. The Neoceratodus lungfish preferred clear, still waters, so they lived near the spring source.

That problem needed another approach. Wang Bo looked toward the lake. A gentle breeze rippled the surface, and a few ospreys’ floating huts drifted slowly with the current.

That scene inspired him. He pointed toward the huts. “What if we built nesting platforms on the lake for the blue ducks? Like little floating houses where they can rest — what do you think?”

“Blue ducks aren’t like cormorants,” Charlie replied. “They’re social — they live in groups, with their nests clustered together.”

Wang Bo’s eyes lit up. “That’s even easier! We can find an old fishing boat, refurbish it, and build several nests on it — all in one spot. Wouldn’t that solve the problem?”

Charlie thought for a moment and nodded. “Actually, that’s a great idea.”

“Then let’s get to it right away!” Wang Bo said.

He had completely adjusted to his new role as mayor — and he was starting to enjoy it. Being in charge wasn’t bad at all. He didn’t need to do everything himself — one command, and people would handle it.

Before the duck nests were finished, the ducklings still needed protection. There were five or six of them — small, fluffy, and utterly defenseless.

Wang Bo called over Crown Prince — his large beast companion — to patrol along the riverbank. Then he brought Little Wang over and forced it to drink lots of water.

Once Little Wang had drunk its fill, it began urinating. Wang Bo led it along the riverbank, letting it mark the area. The scent of the liger’s urine carried a strong predator odor that would keep possums far away.

If he had any other choice, he wouldn’t have resorted to this — it was a self-sacrificing method. The problem was, the urine smell would also scare the cattle and sheep, keeping them from drinking at the creek.

But desperate times called for desperate measures — the ducks’ survival was more important right now.

Blue ducks were extremely rare — fewer than three thousand existed in all of New Zealand, even fewer than giant pandas.

Just imagine — if a group of twenty pandas faced a survival crisis in China, it would probably alarm the central government itself.

At first, Crown Prince’s presence startled the ducks. But they soon realized this massive beast was less of a threat than possums or stoats, and they relaxed.

Wang Bo guessed that the duck group had been planning to move, but with so many ducklings and no better water source than Spring and Lake Hāwea, they had no choice but to stay.

Their arrival drew the attention of Eva and Dale. On weekends and after work, Eva brought her students and the child to watch the ducks by the lake.

Wang Bo assigned Elizabeth — the careful one — to keep an eye on the ducks, while he turned to another important matter: issuing fines at the mining site.

Money tempted people’s hearts, and gold even more so.

Ever since the press conference, Sunset Town’s tourist traffic had surged dramatically. Most visitors came for the gold mine.

Tourists were fine — they were content to pick up a few pretty golden stones as souvenirs. Those raw ores couldn’t be smelted, so they weren’t worth much anyway.

But soon, miners started arriving — men who secretly brought mining and smelting equipment, hoping to strike it rich from the gold deposits.

They were clever, too. Upon arriving in town, they didn’t act immediately — instead, they observed others, waiting to see what would happen to those who made the first move.

On the fourth night after the press conference, the first group finally couldn’t hold back. At midnight, a five-man team carrying tools snuck up the mountain.

Wang Bo had already stationed police officers to patrol the area at night. For extra safety, he’d also sent Zhuang Ding and Queen to assist.

The moment the illegal miners entered the mountain, Zhuang Ding spotted them. He immediately smacked awake Atulu, who’d been snoring nearby, and the two went to confront the group.

Seeing the intruders with their mining gear, Atulu didn’t dare act rashly — they were outnumbered. He quickly called Wang Bo.

At last, Wang Bo had the perfect chance to make an example of someone. He jumped up, threw on his police uniform, called Uncle Bing to get the helicopter ready, and sped off toward the mine.