Pet King

As Huang and Xiao Zhi walked further and further away, only the goldfish kite could be seen as the wind blew it up from time to time. Someone said slowly, “I wish there were more people like them.”

Zhang Zian looked sideways. It was the lead officer of the Fishery Administration. He was in his 30s, right in his prime years, and was strong and muscular.

“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet. My last name is Ke. I’m Ke Shaohui.” He came over to shake hands. “In fact, I can tell that you did most of the work in saving that minke whale. The father and son only helped you a bit?”

His eyes landed on Zhang Zian’s sleeves. Both of Zhang Zian’s sleeves were tainted red by the whale’s blood. Blood spots splashed on his clothes. He might not be able to wash them clean again. Luckily, his shirt was not an expensive designer brand.

In comparison, there was barely any blood on Huang and Xiao Zhi’s clothes. They were clean, just soaked wet by the ocean.

An observant person would be able to tell right away who the real player was, while who the cheer leaders were.

“Without them, I never would have found out that there was a stranded minke whale in the first place,” Zhang Zian said. He also introduced his own name.

“Well… Forgive me if I was wrong. Why do I find you familiar? Have we met somewhere?” Ke Shaohui gazed upon Zhang Zian’s face and glanced him over in suspicion. “The name sounds familiar too…”

Zhang Zian was certain that he had never met him.

“Oh! I remember it! You are the one who won an award in Berlin with the dog…” Ke Shaohui suddenly remembered that he had seen Zhang Zian’s news while browsing on the internet.

Zhang Zian smiled and did not deny it.

“Wow! No wonder you are so familiar with animal treatment. Had it been someone else, I bet the whale would be dead already…” Ke Shaohui said, sucking air into his mouth.

“Chief! Are you there?” There came a voice from the walkie-talkie.

Ke Shaohui put the walkie-talkie over his mouth and said, “What’s the matter?”

“I just received a report that there is a fishing ship that hit the reef and is leaking. It’s about to sink. The higher office asked us to help. It’s an emergency,” the voice from the walkie-talkie said.

“Okay, got it. You can drive the boat here…” Before Ke Shaohui finished the sentence, he frowned as he looked at the tow boat.

The Fishery Administration staff on the tow boat was worried that the suture might break open as the minke whale swam. Therefore, he drove the boat and followed it for a while. He stopped only after making sure that it had dove deep into the ocean safely. Now the boat was already far away. Only a black dot could be seen fluctuating over the horizon. It was at least a dozen kilometers away from the shore.

It would take a long time to drive the tow boat to the shore, lower the inflatable boat, then pick up Ke Shaohui and take him back to the tow boat. The sinking fishing boat was in great emergency, and allowed for no delays.

Then, Ke Shaohui changed his words immediately, “You should go rescue the sinking fishing boat immediately. Don’t come back for me.”

“But officer, you…”

“I’ll get a taxi home. You should hurry up.” Ke Shaohui gave the order, loud and clear.

“Okay. We are going there.”

As the engine rolled up the waves, the tow boat turned around slowly and drove in the other direction at full speed.

In fact, part of the reason why the minke whale left without looking back was that it was afraid of the tow boat. It could not tell the difference between the tow boat and the boat that injured it. Zhang Zian simply didn’t share that information with Huang.

As Ke Shaohui spoke, Zhang Zian rolled down his pants and put back on his socks and shoes.

As Ke Shaohi put down the walkie-talkie, Zhang Zian asked, “Oh, you mentioned that similar incidents had happened in the past, right? Could you tell me more about it?”

“Oh, okay.” Ke Shaohui nodded. “Lately, there have been a lot of whales in the ocean around Binhai City. Do you know about this?”

“Yes. It was in the news.” Zhang Zian thought that he might have been the first person to discover that information because of Sihwa.

“Well, we’ve been busy lately, as we always need to accompany the experts that the higher office sent here to the sea. The boat arrived late today because of that…” Ke Sahohui spread his hands speechlessly. “Now we don’t have enough boats, while in the past, we had plenty.”

“Experts?” Zhang Zian asked.

“Because the whales are coming for no reason.” Ke Shaohui didn’t hide anything and told him frankly, “The news says it’s because our anti-pollution treatments are working well. In fact, we all know that this is not the reason. We patrol the surrounding ocean almost every day. We know the pollution situation better than anyone. Of course, the marine pollution has indeed improved in recent years, but it is far behind where it should be… We know this, so do the higher officials. Therefore, they sent a lot of experts here, both Chinese and foreigners, to find out why Binhai City is attracting so many whales. However…”

He laughed bitterly. “As the experts lined up to arrive, they lined up to leave. They spent a lot of money and raised all kinds of sophisticated theories––the only theory they haven’t brought out is the hidden UFO in the ocean––but none of the theories are legit!”

Zhang Zian tried not to laugh, thinking that the situation must be hard on the experts.

Ke Shaohui continued, “The rising whale population is surely a good sign. The higher officials are supportive, too, as it’s helpful for our tourism. But, some whales arrive wounded; some are injured by fishing spears; some are injured by the propeller blades; and some are injured by something else entirely.”

Zhang Zian tried to concentrate and listen carefully.

Ke Shaohui looked towards where the minke whale disappeared and said, “Among the injured whales, not many are lucky enough to receive the treatment that this minke whale did. The lesser injuries may recover on their own, but the badly injured ones cannot. Some of them died in the ocean, and their bodies are carried to the shore by the waves then discovered by people. Some get stranded, like this minke whale did. But the people who find them may not know what to do and they delay the precious time for treatment. By the time we arrive, they are already dead…

Surely enough, we are partially responsible, as we have not reacted and acted quickly enough. A few of the men who work for me are new grads from University. They don’t know anything, and they rely on us to teach them everything. Some are even seasick… Why would they bother working for the Fishery Administration if they are seasick? Isn’t that just more trouble for us? They told me they thought it was an office job…” Ke Shaohui complained.

Zhang Zian could understand him. In the past, there were no whales at all in the neighboring sea. All of a sudden, so many whale pods appeared, which would surely overwhelm the underprepared Fishery Administration.

“But you seem very experienced to me,” Zhang Zian mentioned tentatively.

“Me? I used to be in the navy,” Ke Shaohui said proudly. “Asking me to train these fresh grads is just like asking a lion to train a herd of sheep!”

No wonder… Zhang Zian suddenly understood everything. Untrained people could never tie such sophisticated sailor’s knots so quickly. It had to be an old sailor. He was not bragging.

Ke Shaohui gazed at Zhang Zian’s face and asked him, half joking, “Well, as we are understaffed, I heard that the city’s Fishery Administration is planning to expand the operation and double the budget to cope with the exploding whale population. I suppose you are in your 20s? Would you consider taking the qualifying exam?”

The fresh grads working under him were not good at the work they did. As he saw the sutures on the minke whale, he felt that Zhang Zian could certainly be an immediate asset if he was recruited into the Fishery Administration. However, he also knew that it was unlikely, as Zhang Zian had already earned his fame and fortune. There was no need for him to join the government system work force. Still, he felt sorry that such talents were too rare.

As he expected, Zhang Zian declined his invitation.

“Where did the whales get the injuries?” Zhang Zian asked out of curiosity.

Ke Shaohui thought about it and said, “The propeller blades are hard cases, as most countries are using similar blades. As the whales swim under the boats, they might be injured by the propeller if they didn’t dive deep enough. Well, the fishing moratorium period will start earlier this year in our city, and it will end later. I heard that the higher office is thinking about how to compensate the fishermen, as they have no other options. But there are not that many real fishermen these days still catching fish in the sea. Most of them do fish farming, so it won’t affect them much.”

Zhang Zian nodded. The traveling fishing boats might indeed injure the whales accidentally.

“As for the fishing spear injuries…” Ke Shaohui murmured, “We can’t rule out the individual Chinese fishermen who might do it out of greed or curiosity. But most are probably done by Korea and Japanese whale poachers. Our fishermen don’t have the tradition of catching and eating whales. Even if they catch one, the good citizens may report them. So very few fishermen here would bother wasting time and energy on such a thing.”

Zhang Zian had already figured that out, more or less. He was still surprised as he heard Ke Shaohui’s confirmation.

In fact, the Chinese were very protective towards giant, wild creatures such as whales. A few years ago, a dead, young minke whale had appeared in a university cafeteria in the Shandong province. Students reported it to the media and government offices right away.

“In addition, some whales don’t seem to have particular reasons of death. But after autopsy, they found out that their stomachs are filled with plastic bags and other trash.” Ke Shaohui sighed. “Maybe they can’t find enough fish, so they find other things to eat. This is also one of the reasons we are prolonging the fishing moratorium.”

Zhang Zian didn’t think of that before. As Ke Shaohui explained, he understood it immediately.

Whales needed a lot of food. After years of overfishing in Binhai’s neighboring sea, there were not many fish left. In order to make the whales settle in Binhai City for a long time, the city officials would surely do their best to provide an appropriate environment for them, but that would take some time.

Ke Shaohui looked at the waterproof watch on his wrist and said, “Oh, it’s getting late. I must go back now, or else they’ll think I’m idling around.”

Zhang Zian had been hungry for a long time. He pointed at his Wuling Hong Guang and said, “Would you like a lift?”