Chapter 1009: The Instincts of a seabird

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Zhang Zian looked up and saw several kinds of seabirds flying in the sky. They flew at different altitudes and were of different sizes, but, as Vladimir said, they were all flying in the same direction.

It was rare for different species of seabirds to gather in the same direction, no matter if they were avoiding tropical depressions such as typhoons or otherwise…

Although he was not familiar with the different species of the seabirds, he did, after all, grow up in Binhai City. He took up his binoculars to try to carefully identify them, and he recognized several distinctive scavenger birds.

Combined with what Sihwa said about a disgusting smell, the situation was already very clear. It was not as he had originally guessed––domestic or industrial wastewater––but it was… the decaying carcass of some animal.

But the question was, what kind of animal could produce a decaying smell that spread so far––and could attract so many scavenger birds? Was the body big enough for them to split it and eat?

One must know that seabirds flew high, saw far, and had good vision––but the earth’s surface was curved. Just because Zhang Zian couldn’t see anything with his telescope on the sea didn’t mean that the seabirds couldn’t see it from the sky. They were attracted like sharks to a smell and were ready to split it and eat.

Or perhaps it was a group of animals…

Zhang Zian thought, It could not be that some serial killer decided to massacre people at the beach, right?

“It could be that something has died,” he put down his binoculars and said, “Do you want to go over and take a look?”

Vladimir was very interested. “Let’s go take a look. Perhaps the Holy Cat statue has done so much injustice that it died!”

How could that be possible? Even if the Holy Cat Statue died, it was bronze. It was probably going to break the seabird’s beaks off…

Sihwa’s face turned green. She patted her chest and said, “If you want to go, you can go yourselves. I don’t want to see it… Just thinking about it makes me scared.”

“Then I’ll put you back into my phone and Vladimir and I will go and take a look.”

Zhang Zian put Sihwa back into the phone and gauged where the birds were congregating. He adjusted the ship, switched on the motor, and followed behind the seabirds.

He connected the current position of the boat with the coast and the direction of the seabird’s flight with the line and estimated it was an angle of about 30 to 45 degrees. He estimated that the battery’s power would not last. He might have to use effort to paddle…

Actually, thinking about it, if he had not put Sihwa back into the phone, when the boat ran out of battery, she could have pushed it from the back. Was that what they called… an old fish pushing the boat?

But it was just wishful thinking. She had such a delicate lady’s personality… She would not have been able to push the boat.

Vladimir was still seated at the front of the boat, and Zhang Zian picked up his binoculars to look in front.

The continuous coastline gradually appeared in his field of vision, and the seabirds changed from flying straight to diving down.

He noticed that there seemed to be a congregation of people on the beach in front of them, and there were a few cars stopped near the beach. There was a big black thing lying on the coast that was being washed repeatedly by the foaming sea water. They were still too far away to make out any details.

The electric indicator of the motor flashed a warning red light, indicating that the electricity could run out at any time. Zhang Zian, who suffered from laziness, could not help but recall a time that he was a child. He would play with the four-wheel drive, and whenever the battery ran out, he would bite it with his teeth a few times. The motion would exert his residual heat and allow it to run for about ten minutes more. The idea alone made him feel as though he had earned 100 million yuan!

He looked at the large battery and paused. It was better to just leave it. He was scared that it would explode, so he gave up on the idea of taking a few bites…

Sometimes, gentlemen needed to use actions and not just words.

When it was less than a kilometer from the shore, the battery was completely dead; the light did not even turn on.

He took up the two oars hanging on the side of the boat, shook his hair in a handsome manner, and hummed softly. “Let’s swing the oars and push the boat away from the waves…”

He had not been singing long when Vladimir, who was standing at the head of the boat, lowered its head to the sea, and said, “The fish have all been scared away.”

Zhang Zian was speechless. He had originally thought of humming a song to attract the gazes of the girls on shore, but now he was not even allowed to continue singing…

From where he was, he had already clearly seen what the black thing was: It was a whale.

Perhaps it was because it was the weekend, but there were quite a lot of curious onlookers next to the whale, pointing to it and chatting. Another whale was beached? That was not right.

Hungry seabirds hovered over the sky, and if there were not many people beside the whale, they would have rushed down and pecked at the food already.

Animal intuition was much more sensitive than human intuition. Judging from the actions of the seabirds, it was probably a dead whale. He just did not know whether it died before it was stranded and was washed ashore by the waves, or if it died after it was stranded.

Of course, there was a very small possibility that it was still in a dying state.

After hearing the news, people drove over to see the bustle. After all, there were very few whales in Binhai City until recently. People wanted to use the opportunity to open their eyes and see what a real whale looked like.

They were still a long way offshore. Zhang Zian had judged that the whale was much bigger than the minke whale that was stranded the last time. Although it was not as big as 52 Hertz, it was definitely an adult whale.

They were about to reach the shore, and the onlookers near the shore noticed their small boat floating to shore from the sea. What especially intrigued them was that there was a blue cat standing at the head of the ship, full of vigor. They had never seen someone bring a cat out to sea before… Were they not scared that the cat would jump into the sea and commit suicide?

Zhang Zian’s attention was completely on the whale. He was trying to identify the species of the whale, but because the waves kept washing on the whale’s body, it was hard to see clearly.

Suddenly, he heard someone calling from onshore, “Aish! Young Man Zhang! Young Man Zhang! Look over here!”

There were many people with the surname Zhang, and he felt that they were probably not referring to him, and so he did not take notice. The other party kept yelling, however, and there was another voice, a young child’s, that was also yelling. “Uncle Zhang… Wait no, Older Brother Zhang! Look over here!”

Zhang Zian suddenly became alert, feeling that the voices were definitely calling for him. He hurriedly looked over to where the sound came from.

He saw a middle-aged man onshore with a little boy. They were both waving at him. It was Huang and Xiao Zhi that he had met on the beach the last time a whale was stranded.

It was the same as last time they had met. Huang held a kite reel in his hand, and Xiao Zhi put a large and rough whale kite on his head, despite that the tail of the whale was still dragging to the ground.

Next to them stood a woman who was younger than Huang by a few years. She would help Xiao Zhi wipe sand off his clothes and sweat off his face from time to time; she was definitely a good wife and a good mother. She was likely Huang’s wife, and the three of them came to the seaside to fly kites together during the holiday.

Zhang Zian waved to them as a response. Huang excitedly pointed at Zhang Zian, telling the people next to him, “Did you see? A highly skilled person is here! Now there will be no problem! Everyone can relax!”

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