Chapter 564 - 270: A Young Man’s Blade [Double Length!]

Professor Zhang carefully examined the portable hard drive, and tears quickly filled his eyes: "I’m really grateful! No other words can express it; I just have to say, thank you so much, Teacher Li."

Despite Li Younan being nearly two generations younger than him, Professor Zhang still very respectfully called him Teacher Li.

The young secretary standing by also repeatedly expressed gratitude, but this time, no matter what, Professor Zhang refused to let the secretary keep the hard drive for him.

At this point, the matter had come to a smooth conclusion.

Afterward, Li Younan and Professor Zhang exchanged contact information. Originally, Professor Zhang wanted to treat Li Younan to a meal, but Younan politely declined.

He still needed to continue his travels, and he had already delayed two days here, so there was no need for dinner.

Professor Zhang earnestly told Li Younan, "Feel free to ask me for help in the future whenever you need it!"

Li Younan laughed heartily: "Then I won’t be polite. If I ever need to trouble you, I’ll definitely ask."

For Li Younan, being able to make a connection with such a prestigious expert in this place, even if it might not be needed in the future, was certainly beneficial.

...

The journey continues.

Although Tibet is vast, there are actually only 5 prefecture-level cities and one prefecture-level region.

Currently, Li Younan had passed through two prefecture-level cities: the first one upon entering Tibet from Sichuan, Changdu, and the "Jiangnan of Tibet," Linzhi, where he was now. The special features of these areas are glaciers and virgin forests, respectively.

Heading further south is Shannan, which isn’t that famous, but it’s the origin of the entire Tibetan area. If one wants to understand the most authentic Tibetan culture, this is the place of choice.

Now in Gongbujiangda, they were faced with two directional choices.

They could either head directly west to reach Lhasa or turn south, exit Route 318, and take a tour around Shannan.

Before reaching Lhasa, Li Younan planned to take a tour of Shannan. After all, since he was already here, who knows when he might travel Route 318 again?

After a brief consultation with Liu Li, who naturally had no objections,

Li Younan’s plan was to divert from Route 318 onto the Gongsang Link and National Highway 560, heading towards Shannan, then take the Laza Expressway from Shannan back to Route 318.

...

Leaving Gongbujiangda, the car traveled alongside the Niyang River.

The terrain changed gradually, with no sudden ups and downs.

Gongbujiangda is the westernmost county of Linzhi, and they were now heading south.

Moreover, Linzhi is the Tibetan area’s lowest-altitude prefecture-level city; leaving here meant ascending in elevation regardless of direction.

Mila Pass is a geographical watershed, presenting completely different ecological landscapes on either side, and it’s the highest point along this route.

Of course, the scenery along this journey was not much different from what they had seen earlier, nothing particularly special.

And both Li Younan and Liu Li had long passed the phase of novelty upon first entering the Tibetan area, so the mountainous scenery now naturally felt somewhat tiresome.

When the car reached the foot of the Mila Pass’s small town, it was worth mentioning that there were many Sichuan-style restaurants and hot spring inns along the way. The Sichuan restaurants, in particular, brought a sense of familiarity for the two Sichuan natives.

For once, they didn’t cook in their camper van but went out for a meal.

Sichuan restaurants were abundant in the Tibetan area, even giving them the illusion of still being in the Western Sichuan Plateau.

After lunch, there was no rush to set off immediately.

The raven they brought back, Xuanhuan, was still somewhat tense, especially after seeing Tuantuan, instinctively panicking.

After all, Tuantuan was undoubtedly a bird of prey.

Li Younan bought a glass cabinet in the small town for Xuanhuan’s nest. He made some special modifications, cutting an opening on the lower part of the glass with a glass cutter and smoothing it out, to avoid cutting himself when reaching in.

Inside, he crafted a small drawer-like box to catch droppings, and separated the upper and lower parts of the cabinet with wire mesh, so that when Xuanhuan relieved itself inside, the droppings would fall into the drawer below, making it easy to clean.

Since it was kept inside the temperature-controlled camper, there was no need to line its little house with straw or anything else.

Ravens like shiny things, so the glass could make the little creature happy.

Li Younan placed Xuanhuan’s glass cabinet beneath Tuantuan’s perch.

Tuantuan hopped over in front of Xuanhuan, tilting its head to observe the little creature through the glass.

The little Xuanhuan backed away in panic.

Li Younan tapped Tuantuan on the head: "Don’t scare your little buddy."

Liu Li brought over small pieces of fresh meat, mixed with boiled egg yolk, and a bit of crushed walnuts.

Li Younan took over and explained: "Xuanhuan is currently in its fledgling stage; its feathers have already grown out, and it can hop short distances. The feeding principle now involves some tearing exercises to aid in beak development."

"Later, you can feed it by placing the food in a shallow dish, letting it peck by itself, or hanging pieces of meat inside the glass cabinet with a string to encourage it to jump up and tear."

Liu Li carefully took notes, then crouched down to observe the little raven in the glass cabinet and patted Tuantuan’s head beside her: "Tuantuan, look, Daddy brought you a little buddy. Are you happy? You mustn’t bully it."