"Because I will soon be leaving this ocean." The blue whale's voice was filled with the utmost tenderness.
Shen Zhiyi understood its implied meaning.
"I'm following you because I've actually seen humans again."
The blue whale seemed to recall something, and it said, "In the past, there were many little humans like you catching fish on the sea, but... they haven't come for a long time."
"Humans, do you know why?"
Shen Zhiyi paused for a moment. She knew, of course she knew why.
"The sea god is gone, so humans can't go out to sea anymore," Shen Zhiyi told the blue whale what she knew.
The blue whale paused, "Lord Sea God... it seems like it's been a long time since I've seen her."
The blue whale had seen the sea god a few times, but over the long years, it had forgotten when it last saw the sea god.
Humans have stopped appearing on the sea surface, is it because the sea god has disappeared?
"Then where did the sea god go?"
Shen Zhiyi didn't know how to answer this question.
"Where are you going? To catch fish?" the blue whale asked again. "I can help you catch fish, lots and lots of fish."
Shen Zhiyi paused for a moment, then shook her head. She thought to herself, "We are going to find the Sea God. I heard that the Sea God is in Sunset Bay."
"Sunset Bay?" The blue whale thought for a moment, but couldn't come up with anything.
Fish don't have very good memories; once they get used to the scenery in the sea, they tend to forget it.
"Then you must be careful on your journey." The blue whale nudged Shen Zhiyi, not daring to move too much, for fear of knocking the little creature in front of it away.
"You humans are too fragile. I've saved quite a few people who fell off ships before."
Shen Zhiyi quickly replied, "We will. Thank you for your help to humanity in the past."
The blue whale sighed softly, "Alright, the seawater is cold, you should go back to your boat."
"I'm already so happy to be able to see humans again."
"Thank you for coming down to see this whale that is almost dead."
The blue whale's voice was incredibly gentle, as if it had come to a sense of relief.
Shen Zhiyi moved her lips, unsure of what to say.
"Then we're leaving, Blue Whale, goodbye."
But everyone knew this was the last time they would see each other. They said goodbye, but when would they ever see each other again?
Goodbye, lovely humans.
Shen Zhiyi and Nalan Zhao swam backward, away from the blue whale. When they got close to their boat, they were about to swim upstream.
As if sensing something, Shen Zhiyi turned around and looked back. Nalan Zhao also stopped and looked back.
The two then witnessed an extremely shocking scene.
The blue whale behind them, without them noticing, slowly turned over, its massive body gradually sinking to the seabed.
When Shen Zhiyi was on Earth, she watched a video explanation about whale falls.
It is said that when a whale senses that its life is about to end, it will quietly find a spot in the sea and wait for the last moment of its life to arrive.
After a whale dies, its body slowly sinks into the deep sea, and this process of falling has a romantic and poetic name: whale fall.
In the barren depths of the ocean, whale falls sustain numerous creatures, including a few invertebrates that live in symbiosis with whale falls. According to scientists, at least 43 species and individuals depend on whale falls for survival.
The carcass of a single whale can sustain an entire ecosystem for a century.
One whale falls, and all things come to life.
Whale falls are the whale's final farewell to the sea, and also its last gentle gift to the ocean.
(The above explanation of whale fall is from Baidu.)
The blue whale's carcass had slowly drawn away the marine life, and a shark swam past Shen Zhiyi.
Shen Zhiyi wanted to go over and see the gentle blue whale, but she stopped herself and returned to the ship with Nalan Zhao.
Back on the ship, Shen Zhiyi kept staring at the spot where the blue whale had been.
Having seen humans again, it must have fulfilled its wish to see them again, right?
"What's wrong with her?" Chen Peng pointed at Nalan Zhao, wondering why Shen Zhiyi kept looking at the sea behind them.
Nalan Zhao glanced at Shen Zhiyi, "I'm not quite sure what happened to her, but she talked to that whale, and then... we saw the whale fall."
"Whale fall?!" Chen Peng was somewhat excited, not expecting that these two would actually witness a whale fall with their own eyes.
Nalan Zhao nodded and went over to tug at Chen Zhiyi, "Sister, let's change your diving equipment first, otherwise you'll feel uncomfortable."
Shen Zhiyi snapped out of her daze and replied with an "okay".
When I sat back on the deck, it was already past lunchtime.
After returning from the seabed, Shen Zhiyi was a little tired, so she didn't cook. Chen Peng prepared lunch for her.
"What's the story behind that whale fall?" Chen Peng asked curiously.
Shen Zhiyi recalled the scene she had witnessed and sighed, "That whale followed us because it hadn't seen humans in a long time."
"It originally wanted to find a sea area to quietly wait for its death, but it saw our ship and followed us."
“When we went down to see it, it was quite happy and even said that it was happy to see humans again.”
"But we hadn't gone far when we looked back at it, and it was already gone."
Chen Peng nodded, understanding.
They initially thought something had happened underwater, but the blue whale kept following their ship.
It turned out that the blue whale simply wanted to see humans one last time before leaving.
After resting for a while, Shen Zhiyi took out the map.
"Because of the blue whale incident, we've wasted a lot of time. Let's stop and rest after we've gone a little further."
Shen Zhiyi calculated the distance they had traveled that day and said.
The other two had no objections.
However, Fox Moon, who was lying to one side, seemed a little listless.
"Fox Moon, are you still feeling unwell?" Shen Zhiyi stroked Fox Moon's fur.
Fox Moon weakly flicked her tail; she was still dizzy from the shaking that morning.
She had felt strange and a little uncomfortable after boarding the ship, but she didn't think much of it since it wasn't a big deal. But then, with a sudden sway, she felt completely drained.
Shen Zhiyi sighed. Fox Moon must be seasick.
The other kids didn't get seasick, only Fox Moon did.
Having no other choice, I went to the trading area to see if anyone was trading seasickness medication.
Before I could even find seasickness medicine, I saw the little red dot on my friends list—a message from Su Wuning.
Su Wuning didn't say anything, but sent some landscape photos, seemingly to tell Shen Zhiyi that he was doing well and that she didn't need to worry about him.
As long as you're okay.
Shen Zhiyi thought to herself silently.
You see, she was quite worried when Su Wuning left, but seeing him like this now, she finally felt a little relieved.
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