Feimo felt like it had been brushed off. It sulked for a while but eventually compromised, recalling its past with a deep tone, "A long, long time ago, I was a happy crow..."
Chi Feichi: "..."
He had a feeling this story was going to be long...
"I felt that living with the clan was too boring, so I left to venture out on my own. Then I met another group of crows..."
Feimo spent a minute recounting its heroic achievements, "Just like that, I became their leader, living with them..."
Chi Feichi silently moved on to treating another crow's injury.
Afterward, Feimo spent another minute talking about its life with those subordinates, then sighed depressingly.
"But after a few years, they all died, and I was still alive. After another few years, their children died, and I was still alive. After that I left, walking and walking until I found a place I wanted to stay. Then I found a group of crows to be my subordinates, led them to hunt, and watched them die. I've walked in many places, and my subordinates have changed term after term..."
Chi Feichi stopped what he was doing and looked up at the crow seriously, "How many years have you lived?"
"I'm not sure either. I spent a lot of time on the road. The places I passed before used to have many rice fields, but later there were more and more buildings. I can't even find the place I came from anymore. I only know that the crows who followed me died batch after batch. If one generation counts as one term, I have already led 14 terms of crows. This is the 15th term..." Feimo sighed with emotion, "Their lifespans are too short. I was looking for you because I wanted to find a long-living creature as a companion."
Chi Feichi raised his hand to rub his brow and exhaled deeply, trying to keep his voice calm, "You might have some misunderstanding about human lifespan. The lifespan of wild crows is about 13 years. You said you led 14 terms. If you remember correctly, then you have lived at least 182 years. This is still a conservative estimate. And for humans, living to 82 years old is considered very good."
"Eh?" Feimo tilted its head in a very annoying manner, "Have I lived that long?"
"How did you live so long?" Chi Feichi asked.
After calculating this crow's approximate age, his first thought was——
He really must be a snake spirit disease, right? Hearing animals talk is just his own hallucination, otherwise how could there be a crow that has lived more than 180 years?
However, he could indeed get information that was impossible to know from animals and plants. Feichi also really guided him through the road in the dark. Just relying on human sight, it would have been absolutely impossible to see anything in that kind of darkness, let alone perfectly find Conan's position at that time.
That possibility is excluded.
That means... this crow became a spirit? Cultivated?
"How do I know why I've lived so long," Feimo said depressingly, "I want to know the answer to this question too."
"Any strange encounters?" Chi Feichi guided.
"What strange encounters could I have?" Feimo was puzzled, "Isn't it just looking for food all day long, and playing around everywhere when full?"
Chi Feichi looked at Feimo. Its body shape was a little bit smaller than other crows, its feathers were dark and shiny, and the most special feature was that pair of red eyes. Suddenly, he thought of a possibility...
Genetic mutation!
Generally, crows' eyes are black. There is a very rare possibility that disease causes eyes to become red. The possibility of genetic mutation also cannot be excluded.
If this crow has no disease, red pupils are a manifestation of genetic mutation. And possibly because of genetic mutation, its lifespan also became long.
Although this world's timeline is messy and sometimes not very friendly to Newton's laws, there is still Akako Koizumi such a metaphysical species in existence, but the scientific aspect is also not inferior. Even drugs that can turn people into children exist, so a crow mutating and living a long time is not impossible.
Never mind that the red-eyed crow can't speak human language. Even if it could, it's not necessarily a spirit; maybe it has myna genes inside its body...
"Do you know about genetic mutation?"
"I know a little," Feimo stared at Chi Feichi's eyes, "Just like your eyes? People with purple eyes are not common."
"My eyes are hereditary. I heard it started from my maternal grandmother. She indeed belonged to a genetic mutation. After that, it was kept hereditary to my mother and me." Chi Feichi explained, calming down to continue helping another crow treat its injury.
After figuring it out, a long-lived red-eyed crow, whether because of metaphysics or science or Conan-physics, didn't seem so strange anymore.
Feimo checked the other crows' eyes one by one, "My eyes are also different from other crows. Does this mean I live long because of a genetic mutation?"
"This is just my conjecture. However, if you want to find a biological companion, you could actually find lizards..." Chi Feichi paused, "Forget it, lizards can't outlive you. Tortoise lifespans aren't that exaggerated. But on the islands near the Pacific Ocean, there are tortoises eating plants whose lifespans can reach 300 years. If you feel that's still not enough, you can go find clams; the longest known life is more than 500 years old."
"They can't understand my speech, how can they be companions? I don't want to look at each other in a daze every day," Feimo retreated two steps and very humanly waved its wings, patting the crow beside it, depressed, "Actually, they aren't very able to understand my meaning either; they were all taught by me bit by bit. So after so many years, only you can hear and clearly understand... I say, can't you strive to live a little longer?"
Look at what it said!
Chi Feichi glanced at Feimo and continued to wrap gauze around the crow in hand, "This is not something that can be decided by hard work. There are many accidents in the world. Maybe sometime you or I will die. You consider for yourself whether you want to stay or not."
"No need to consider, I have already investigated. Although your lifespan is a bit short, at least it's better than crows. You can understand my speech, are good at fighting, and have our crow style. Also, that snake fought you didn't blame it, and can help animals treat injuries. Of course I'll follow you," Feimo finished counting its reasons, then became depressed again, "But if you die and I don't, what should I do?"
"Jinx," Chi Feichi freed a hand and knocked Feimo's head, "Let's see if we can pass this year first."
Who knows how long this year is, and whether it can pass or not.
"That's the only way," Feimo sighed, cocking its head to look at Chi Feichi again, "If you die, do I want to commit suicide for love? I couldn't endure..."
Chi Feichi's movement paused. He put the bandaged crow aside and repeated, "Commit suicide for love?"
"Don't humans say that when one dies, another also follows to die," Feimo said unhappily, "Anyway, that's the meaning..."
"In the future, read more books," Chi Feichi picked up the next crow, "Also, if you follow me, you have to help."
"No problem, if you have things to do, just say so," Feimo lowered its head and used its claw to scratch the ground, "Anyway, I have nothing to do all day long, just lead them to find something to eat and drink, find some fun."
Chi Feichi added, "I can provide room and board."
"Temporarily don't need. Finding food is a kind of fun. When there's nothing to do, I still want to find it by myself," Feimo thought, continuing to use its claw to scratch the ground, "I still want to fly out; I don't want to live in a cage."
"Okay." Chi Feichi nodded.
Feimo stopped scratching the ground and raised its wings again to pat the crow beside it, "I numbered them, from 2 to 22. The empty number 1 is me. It's better if you help me pick a name. If you die, I don't want to commit suicide for love, and I won't change my name, just treat it as an eternal memorial..."
Chi Feichi had black lines all over his head and automatically ignored the jinx content, "Feimo."
"Good name! This way, when others hear it, they know we are a gang," Feimo nodded with satisfaction, jumped to Feichi's side, and used its wings to pat Feichi, "Future companion, please take care!"
Feichi was tired and playing dead on the ground. Although he couldn't understand what the red-eyed crow was squawking about randomly, from Chi Feichi's previous words, this guy was incorporated. He didn't mind Feimo's action and lazily rolled aside, "Not fighting today, fight with you again another day. Next time don't play the rogue and find so many crows as helpers, we single combat!"
"You don't need to feel guilty. Although we just fought a fight, and you were the one who first acted on my lovely subordinates, I fought this fight very happily," Feimo spoke earnestly, then turned to look at Chi Feichi again, "By the way, master, I have a meeting gift for you..."
Saying that, it flew towards the tree.
Chi Feichi: "..."
A meeting gift or something isn't important. The important thing is, he should consider the communication problem between the two pets at home.
Ten seconds later...
Chi Feichi silently took back the previous thought 'meeting gift not important'.
Who can tell him why Feimo would have detective badges?
Still two!
Thinking of a crow's style, and previously the red-eyed crow appeared outside Ayumi's apartment, it's not difficult to guess——absolutely snatched!
But Ayumi should only have one in hand. That is to say, Feimo encountered other members of Detective Boys, and snatched things?
Although he didn't know which two were snatched, he felt there was a black pot shaking around on his head.
If he let Conan and others see detective badges in his hands, would they think it was him who instigated crows to snatch children's things?
Feimo put the two detective badges on the ground and claimed credit, "Today the little girl master saved was using this kind of small communicator to contact others before. I feel it's very convenient. However I didn't snatch... No, it's that that little girl's small communicator doesn't match me well. Later I saw two children had ones looking very pleasing to the eye. Originally wanted to take them as toys, now just give them to master!"
Chi Feichi picked up the detective badges, confirmed they were not in communication, then said, "I am also familiar with the other four children."
Feimo was instantly embarrassed, but just for one or two seconds, then seriously said, "Master, no hurry, let's analyze first! At that time I didn't show my face. Other crows look almost the same in your humans' eyes. They should not recognize me. Moreover took already took, also can't send things back again. That appears too suspicious. How about we destroy the evidence and eliminate traces?"
Chi Feichi put the detective badges back to the ground, "As soon as possible, remember to throw them farther."
"I'll go right now!" Feimo's eyes shone, its vision indeed good as always, finding a human as a companion who suited its appetite so well. It looked around, called a subordinate who was not seriously injured, and together they left holding the detective badges in their mouths.
When Yurie Morizono walked up, she just saw two crows leaving and didn't think much of it. She just looked at the animals lying all over the ground, wrapped in gauze, feeling like they had collectively died after receiving treatment...
Are these animals really alright?