Pet King

As the saying went, “Things gather in groups; people separate into groups.” Huang was a good person; he was very caring and very good with children. People who could get along with him were mostly similar in personality.

They had heard Huang say that Zhang Zian was very skilled, and originally, they were waiting for Zhang Zian’s instructions to send the stranded whale back to the sea. How could Zhang Zian sent them away? Wasn’t it obvious that he was looking down on them?

Huang was also stunned. From his perspective, Zhang Zian was not that kind of person. Even if they did not know about whales, they could at least they help in strength… Was it because Zhang Zian had achieved such great success and had become arrogant?

Zhang Zian waved his hands. “Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not looking down on you or anything! It is just that this time is unique––there could be danger.”

When he said that, he looked around the area, thinking, Welder Zhao is not nearby, right? That guy was practically the reincarnation of the God of Misfortunes. He was unlucky wherever he went!

Danger? How could a beached whale be dangerous? Could it be that their eyes had a problem and it was a great white shark that was beached on the sand?

Everyone was confused. Most of the people did not believe what he was saying, and the everyone else was a bit doubtful.

On the other hand, Xiao Zhi totally believed in what he was saying. Upon hearing his words, he raised his head and asked, “Then… then what should we do?”

Zhang Zian shook his head. “I’m not sure yet. I need to observe it closely before I can decide what we should do.”

Xiao Zhi stared at the whale on the beach and asked, “This is a gray whale, right?”

“Yes, it’s a grey whale––an adult grey whale. Xiao Zhi, you didn’t waste your parents’ money by reading popular science books about oceans.” Zhang Zian patted him on the shoulder approvingly. “Well, stay with your parents and don’t come over unless I give you a clear signal.”

Saying that, he signaled for Huang and his wife to bring Xiao Zhi a bit further away.

Although Lao Huang was always low in front of his wife, he still had a strong appeal in front of colleagues. He waved and said, “Everybody heard what Brother Zhang said. It might be dangerous. Let’s believe Brother Zhang. Back up a bit! Take good care of your own children; don’t let them run away.”

After he spoke, his colleagues, even if they did not believe Zhang Zian, at least gave Lao Huang a face and took their families a little further away.

Zhang Zian pointed at the cars that had stopped next to the sea wall and said, “Back up to the wall. If there’s a danger, hide behind the car.”

When Huang and the rest had reached the safe area, he frowned and looked at the group of people that were arguing.

“I told everyone to stop arguing and be quiet!” he said in a loud voice. “This place is not safe. Everyone back away a bit.”

In the end, no one acknowledged him at all. His voice had been drowned out in the argument.

The naughty children’s parents and the young girl’s friends had exploded. All kinds of ugly, foul language was blurted out. The quarrel had entered a white-hot stage; with only a small spark, it would detonate.

Zhang Zian shouted a few times, which was not useful at all.

There were still pedestrians nearby watching the drama and filming it. They were preparing to publish it online for a big article, so they ignored his warning as well.

He quietly sighed. He had already done his best, right?

Vladimir jumped off the roof of the car, and it walked up to him and said, “A monk cannot teach fools. You don’t have to waste your time talking to them.”

“All right. You’re right,” Zhang Zian agreed. Some people were stubborn and regarded other people’s kindness as a donkey’s liver and lungs.

“Vladimir, you too––stay away. I’ll go over myself and take a look,” he said, pointing at the whale.

It smiled. “I’ll follow you there. A true Meow-Meow Doctrine Believer is scared of nothing!”

“No. It’s not about being fearless, it’s about being unable to help even if you went over. There’s no need to take any unnecessary risks,” Zhang Zian explained.

Vladimir thought about it for a while. “What you said has logic. I’ll wait for your news over here.”

Zhang Zian nodded. It was about twenty meters away from the whale. Even if anything happened, Vladimir was fast and would be able to avoid it in time.

He walked a few steps before he heard it say from behind, “You also have to be careful. If you can fight it, then you do it. If you can’t manage to fight it, then just run. Don’t make meaningless sacrifices.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll weigh the risks and benefits. If things don’t turn out well, I’ll be sure to run.” He looked back at it and laughed.

“That’s good.” Vladimir stared at him, a half-smirk on its face.

Zhang Zian kept his spirits up. Instead of walking slowly like before, he ran quickly to the whale. If the situation really as he imagined, then the more they delayed, the more dangerous it was.

Reaching it, he stopped and observed the whale from a closer distance. In fact, when he was still far away, he had smelled the rotten smell of the whale. He knew that the whale was absolutely dead. It was totally cool and had started to rot.

It was just as what Xiao Zhi said––it was a mature gray whale. Its body is about 15 meters long. Its body was strong, its skin was grayish black, and it was covered with medium-sized, white spots. That was a remarkable feature that distinguished it from other cetaceans.

Grey whales were baleen whales and were widely distributed on both sides of the northern Pacific Ocean and in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Occasionally, they could be seen along the coast of China, and the subgroups in the northwestern Pacific Ocean were listed as extremely endangered animals.

He could not tell whether the grey whale was a subgroup of the northwestern Pacific Ocean, nor could he tell how it died; however, he did notice that it did not have any external injuries. It was quite possible that it died due to age, and thus was washed onto the shore. The reason for that speculation was that the grey whale had reached its maximum size, and there were many stripes on the whale’s whiskers. It also had a lot of body scars––all old wounds––that were traces of a long life.

To know its true age, one could only dissect it and take out the “earwax plug” from its ear canal, which was the keratinized sediment formed by the combination of exfoliated skin cells and earwax layers. It was stored in a whale’s ear canal for life, and one could look at the bright and dark ring stripes from its cross-section to calculate the true age of the whale.

“Whale fall” was the best destination for giant whales after they died. It was from the sea and it ended up in the sea. It was their gift to the underwater creatures. Not every giant whale died in the deep sea, however. If they died in the shallow sea, their bodies were washed onto the shore due to the wind and waves, just like the gray whale was.

Whales belonged to the sea, and the whale bodies that were washed onto shore were no longer a gift, but a time bomb, which could bring danger to nearby creatures.