One morning, Xu Qiaoqiao suddenly woke up from her sleep. She looked up at the white surroundings, her eyes somewhat dazed, clearly still half asleep.
"Hmm..."
Xu Qiaoqiao turned her head and buried her head in Jun Qi's arms, rubbing against him several times unintentionally. Then she let out a long yawn, blinked a few times, and a layer of mist appeared in her eyes.
"quack."
She let out a meaningless call; clearly, the other emperor penguins were still asleep. Today, she was the first emperor penguin in the flock to wake up.
Jun Qi was clearly still asleep. Xu Qiaoqiao stretched out her arm and gently patted Jun Qi's head, like a leaf gently falling on the water, creating ripples. The Antarctic wind seemed to never stop.
This year, Xu Qiaoqiao and Jun Qi are already nineteen-year-old Emperor Penguins. Time flies. Thinking back, it seems like just yesterday they were those soft and cute little chicks, and today they've all grown up and entered old age.
Xu Qiaoqiao sighed inwardly.
Even after waking up, she didn't leave Jun Qi's embrace. She quietly leaned there and didn't wake up her other companions. It seemed that as she got older, she needed to rest more.
Xu Qiaoqiao's mind began to wander to some things from the past. After a while, one of the emperor penguins in the penguin colony woke up, flapped its arms, yawned loudly, and made a high-pitched call.
"quack--!!!"
This call woke up all the other emperor penguins. They all raised their heads, stretched their necks, and began to loosen their muscles and bones. As they got older, they felt that their bodies had become rusty and needed to move around more. They flapped their wings as if they were about to take flight.
If this scene were reversed, it would be a large group of elderly men and women exercising on the playground, looking quite relaxed, and some might even be chatting.
After waking up, the emperor penguins stretched as usual, started to squawk, and then began to line up in an orderly fashion, their slow movements just like those of an old man and woman.
Their daily lives remained unchanged, but what was different was that they didn't look as energetic as before, and they weren't as agile when fishing. Because of this, their chances of escaping from hunters when fishing at sea were much smaller.
As emperor penguins age, many exhibit signs of aging, such as their beaks becoming deformed, difficulty moving, and declining vision due to cataracts.
Even so, emperor penguins will not stop looking for mates when they turn nineteen. They will still have offspring, and this will not stop just because they are getting older.
However, after laying their eggs, when female emperor penguins go out hunting to build up their fat reserves, they encounter seals or killer whales, and several of them are unable to return in time due to their reduced physical mobility.
Their husbands and their unborn babies will never see her again.
After successfully enabling the baby to become independent, everyone seemed to lose all their energy in an instant. They walked unsteadily, only knowing to walk forward, without knowing where they were going.
They've lived here their whole lives. Everyone knows how much the emperor penguin population has decreased, but when it comes to their own lives, there's fear, but mostly curiosity.
Happy deliberately lagged behind the group. He watched the two penguins, Boss Junqi and Sister Qiaoqiao, walking side by side, occasionally calling out softly as if they were communicating. They seemed quite happy.
It seems that from the very first time I met them, they were always like this, never leaving each other, and their relationship was always so good. Even when new members came later, they couldn't fit in with the two of them.
That's strange.
Why would there be emperor penguins like this? Happy scratched his head, not quite understanding. For emperor penguins, changing partners every year is normal, but these two don't seem to be like that.
"quack."
Happy blinked a few times, glanced at the two of them again, and a few seconds later, turned around and continued walking with the main group. Therefore, he did not see that the two emperor penguins behind him were gradually deviating from their path.
When everyone stopped and started counting the members, they found that several emperor penguins were missing, including Sister Qiao Qiao and Boss Jun Qi. When everyone realized this, the noisy team immediately fell silent.
Everyone knows what this means: the emperor penguin who left a deep impression on everyone, the emperor penguin who served as a role model for everyone, and his mate have all left them and left this world.
"Gah—"
People began to cry out, in a low and sorrowful voice. They bent down slightly and looked back in the direction they had come from. The number of emperor penguins had decreased significantly.
Happy recalled the two figures huddled together in the wind. When he heard the news, he felt sadness, but even more so, a sense of "I knew it." Indeed, they had never been apart in this life.
How should I put this kind of feeling? Perhaps it seems puzzling, but after a while, I realize it's a normal phenomenon.
But what is it called?
Happy raised his head slightly, facing the wind, and looked into the distance, letting out a soft sigh.
Hey boss, I said I'd follow you guys back then. Since you left first, wait for me, I'll come over sooner or later!
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