Chapter 279 Freshwater Wolf
Ye Jie and Yao Yingzhe's eyes turned red as they watched the images broadcast by the drone, and they felt uncomfortable.
The further you get towards the center of the lake, the more dangerous the ice becomes and the thinner it becomes.
When the ice conditions were uncertain, Xu Ying gave a textbook demonstration.
The most reliable way for her to do this is to lie flat on the ground, spread her body flat on the ice like a seal, distribute her weight, and then crawl slowly.
When crawling on the ice, sharp parts of the body such as elbows and knees cannot exert force on the ice.
[This is so scary! It's clearly Station Master Xu moving on the ice, and I'm breaking out in a cold sweat.]
[This icy lake is really huge. I'm getting a megalophobia attack. Will a water monster suddenly appear and snatch Xu Ying away?]
[A polar expedition member said, "Stationmaster Xu's demonstration of ice crawling is so professional!"]
Finally, Xu Ying carefully "climbed" to a large gap in the ice of the icy lake.
The lake at the gap was calm.
Xu Ying took out fish food from his pocket to attract small fish and sprinkled it into the lake.
She scattered another handful of fish food and waited patiently, sniffing with her nose to sense the scent of fish.
After about six or seven minutes, the calm water surface began to waver.
Just as Xu Ying was wondering what kind of fish she had attracted with the fish food, her eyes suddenly widened. A huge creature over one meter long floated up from the bottom of the water!
It opened its bloody mouth and swallowed the fish food that Xu Ying had scattered. This fish had teeth, and when it chewed the fish food, it made a sound that was creepy.
Xu Ying recognized that this big fish was the Taimen, also known as the "Siberian Tiger of the Water"!
Carnivorous fish!
The Taimen is the top predator in cold water basins such as the Xishan Mountains and the Altai Mountains. It is known as the "freshwater wolf". It has a ferocious diet, loves meat and is highly adaptable.
In the coldest season, when the lake is completely frozen, they can even eat the carcasses of large animals that sink to the bottom of the lake in other seasons. In the high-altitude mountainous areas, other small fish in freshwater lakes live under its shadow.
The Taimen fish makes low-frequency sounds by rubbing its bones and teeth together, which are inaudible to ordinary people. However, Xu Ying, as someone with enhanced animal language skills, can hear the sounds made by the Taimen fish.
She heard the taimen say:
[Where did this little thing come from? It’s so delicious and crunchy~]
[I've been in the lake for sixty-three years, and I haven't found food this delicious!]
[Smells so good!]
The tension in Xu Ying's heart dissipated a lot. It turned out that this Taimen was a chatterbox.
She felt somewhat confident, so after the Taimen had swallowed all the food, she put in another handful of food and a few small fish.
The Taimen was very brave and swallowed the small fish in just a few bites.
After it finished eating, it realized something was wrong: "How can there be summer fish in this season? Have I lived too long and am hallucinating?"
"Why don't you look up?" Xu Ying asked suddenly.
When the Taimen fish heard the human voice, its body trembled. It raised its head and turned sideways, and only then did it catch a glimpse of Xu Ying with its eye on one side.
It turned out that the fish was too big and its eyes were too far apart, so it had to look at people sideways to see them.
[Damn it, human, run away!]
Just as the Taimen was about to turn around and run away, Xu Ying dropped another handful of tempting small fish on its head: "Don't run, I'm not here to catch you, I need your help!"
"My stuff fell into the water!"
"If you can help me find them, these little fish are enough! We also have fresh live fish if you want to eat them!"
The Taimen heard what Xu Ying said and turned around again, swinging back. Xu Ying nimbly moved sideways to avoid the splash it made when turning.
[real?]
[No, how can I understand what humans say so clearly?]
The Taimen's small eyes are filled with big question marks.
It has lived for sixty-three years and has met several humans. To it, the speech of these humans sounded like it was covered with mist, and the speech was unclear and gibberish.
But after hearing the long string of words spoken by the person in front of it, it immediately understood what she meant.
Xu Ying replied seriously, "Because I am an animal speaker and have a close affinity with animals, small animals can easily understand my words and emotions."
In the live broadcast of the drone, netizens breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Xu Ying chatting with the Taimeng fish.
[Wait a minute, isn't it said that fish only have a memory of seven seconds? Stationmaster Xu is now familiar with this fish. Won't he have to get to know it all over again after seven seconds, repeating the cycle and getting stuck on the icy lake?]
[Pfft, what kind of cyclical dilemma is this?]
The myth that fish only have a memory of seven seconds is actually a myth! It's a misunderstanding of goldfish.
[Experiments have shown that goldfish can remember food locations, sound signals, and even complex mazes for months.]
Yes, yes, yes. Many fish have to remember their spawning grounds and territories. They have very strong spatial memories and are not that stupid.
Fish have a memory of only seven seconds, which may be due to the slowness and degeneration caused by the restricted behavior of fish in captivity.
[I see. I also think this statement is a bit outrageous. A fish as big as the Taimen should have a bigger brain, so it should be smarter!]
After hearing Xu Ying's explanation, the Taimen was very surprised and started grinding its teeth more frequently: "Oh! You can talk to me!"
[That's great, little girl, come and chat with grandma. I'm so curious about your human world.]
When Xu Ying heard the Tailuo fish call herself grandma, the corners of her mouth twitched, but there was indeed nothing wrong with it.
Taimen is a very long-lived fish, with a lifespan of up to eighty-three years. I just heard this fish say that it is already sixty-three years old.
"Um... Milk, I'm not like you fish who can swim freely in the water."
Xu Ying pointed at the ice where she lay. "My body heat will make it thinner. I can't stay here for too long. If the ice breaks, I'll fall into the water and freeze to death. Then you won't be able to enjoy this delicious fish food."
Although there is a drone pulling the safety rope around his waist, soaking in such icy water is extremely harmful to the body, not to mention that after falling into the water, the clothes on the body will absorb water, which will increase the difficulty of rescue.
[That's not a problem, even if the sky falls, I'll have milk to hold it up for you!]
Grandma Tailuo spoke calmly, with the air of a sage: [By the way, what does the thing you are looking for look like?]
Xu Ying quickly gestured: "It's cylindrical, with a bright orange shell. It's about the weight of two or three of your Taimen combined, and it's this long."
The Taimen swayed its body, causing the water around it to ripple. "Don't move here. I'll go call my children and grandchildren over!"
The water current fluctuations generated by the muscle movements of the Taimen can be detected by its companions.
After the Taimen Grandma sent out the signal, one Taimen after another emerged from all directions at the bottom of the lake.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
