The killer whales were fast, swimming directly ahead of the boat.
But they didn’t go too far.
Having eaten their fill, the killer whales had plenty of time to play.
But when the killer whales wanted to find something to play with, most of the other animals in the ocean were out of luck.
For instance, the Manta Ray from before.
And for another example, a certain unlucky sea turtle.
When a killer whale brought a familiar-looking sea turtle before Yun Jiao, wanting her to play, Yun Jiao could clearly sense the turtle’s utter despair, which was tinged with a hint of a mental breakdown.
The sea turtle: (╥﹏╥)
’Who will speak up for me?!’
The moment it saw Yun Jiao, the sea turtle struggled.
’Save me, save me...’
Yun Jiao: ...
’You poor, unlucky turtle.’
In the end, she stepped in and saved the large sea turtle.
Wang Yi said, "This sea turtle looks so familiar. It’s not the one your family is keeping, is it?"
"It is," Yun Jiao replied.
Wang Yi said, "That’s quite a coincidence. Are they playing?"
"No," Yun Jiao said. "It’s one-sided torment."
Wang Yi: ...
The sea turtle was saved, but now the killer whales were unhappy.
They had nothing fun to play with. They were bored and unhappy.
Yun Jiao patted the killer whale she was riding. "Let’s head back. I brought you all a toy."
Back by the boat, Yun Jiao asked her dad to get out a wooden ball.
The wooden ball was about the size of a basketball. It was the gift Yun Jiao had prepared for the killer whales.
It was a matter of reciprocity, after all. The killer whales were willing to take her, her brother, and their friend out to play in the sea, so she had to give a gift in return to strengthen their bond.
Yun Linhai tossed the wooden ball directly into the sea.
The wooden ball floated on the surface. Yun Jiao patted the killer whale’s body, communicating to them how to play with it.
It was simple: they could use any part of their body to knock the ball out of the water. They could play however they liked. The main idea was that there were no rules.
Killer whales already enjoyed slapping prey out of the water with their tails, so once the first one understood the game, it eagerly rushed forward. It dove under the water, and when the wooden ball was right above its tail, it flicked it up with a sudden jerk. WHAP! The wooden ball flew six or seven meters into the air before falling back down.
The other killer whales’ eyes lit up. Chirping excitedly, they darted toward the spot where the wooden ball had landed and started slapping it with their tails.
But another killer whale quickly retrieved it.
Killer whales are extremely playful, and since this was their first time encountering a wooden ball, the novelty was immense. They completely forgot about the unlucky sea turtle.
The pod of killer whales was soon playing together, fighting over the wooden ball.
The killer whale Wang Yi was riding watched them, its eyes green with envy. It completely forgot about the person on its back and shot off with a WHOOSH.
Wang Yi wasn’t seated securely and rolled right off the killer whale’s back into the sea. He choked on several mouthfuls of seawater, GLUG GLUG, before finally getting control of his body and floating.
Yun Jiao went over, scooped him up, and brought him to the boat.
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe pulled the two of them aboard.
"Are you okay?"
Wang Yi coughed several times and shook his head. "I’m fine. I just choked on a few mouthfuls of seawater."
He wasn’t the least bit angry. In fact, his eyes were shining as he watched the killer whales fighting over the wooden ball.
"Uncle, quick, give me the camera."
He’d seen people play basketball and soccer, but this was the first time he’d ever seen killer whales play with a ball. He had to capture this scene!
Yun Linhe and the others were speechless. It was obvious he was truly fine.
Wang Yi wiped his hands dry, draped a large towel over himself, and eagerly began taking pictures.
Yun Jiao herself slipped back into the sea.
She was just soaking in the water when, after a little while, the sea turtle came over. It swam to her side and spread itself out to float on the surface.
Yun Jiao stroked its shell. "They have a toy now, so they won’t be spinning you around and around."
The sea turtle nuzzled its head against her palm.
"Huh? What’s that thing over there?"
Yun Jiao had spotted a white dot in the distance.
Her curiosity piqued by everything, she immediately decided to go check it out.
"Come on, big turtle, let’s go take a look."
The girl and the turtle immediately headed toward the white dot.
"Jiaojiao, where are you two going?"
Yun Linhai had been keeping an eye on Yun Jiao. When he saw her swimming off in another direction, he immediately steered the boat to follow.
The killer whales were having a blast and didn’t follow.
"Huh? Where are we going?"
Wang Yi wanted to keep watching the killer whales; he felt like he could watch them all day and never get tired of it.
As they got closer to the white dot, Yun Linhai and the others realized what it was. It looked like a fish.
It seemed quite large, but they didn’t know what kind of fish it was.
Yun Jiao and the sea turtle arrived first and were stunned by the sight before them.
’What a huge fish, and so strange-looking.’
The fish was massive, but its body structure looked somewhat short. It was laterally flat, like a giant, round pancake.
Its tail was too short to belong to a fish, and near its rear were two large, silver-gray fins, one on top and one on the bottom.
Being big and strange was one thing, but more importantly, two sea lions were circling the massive fish, periodically swimming up to take a bite. Half of its head was nearly gone.
Yet the fish seemed to feel nothing. Its body was covered in bite marks, but it just floated leisurely on the surface, basking in the sun.
Yun Jiao thought it was dead, but when she swam around to its front, she saw that—holy cow—it was still alive.
’Seriously? It’s not even going to run?’
’Is this fish an idiot?’
Meeting the big fish’s "intelligent" gaze, Yun Jiao was certain. It was an idiot.
"Holy shit!"
When Yun Linhai and the others approached, they stopped the boat some distance away from the sunfish and didn’t get any closer.
Wang Yi shouted, "Uncle, quick, catch it! A fish this big, we’ll be rich!"
The fish was probably as big as a small car, and it looked so dense.
Yun Linhe quickly said, "Rich? What are you talking about? You can’t catch this fish."
"Huh? Why not? It’s huge."
"This is a sunfish!"
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe exclaimed at their bad luck. "How did we end up running into this stupid fish?"
Wang Yi was completely baffled.
Yun Linhe explained, "It’s a sunfish. In Chinese, its name sounds like ’capsizing fish,’ so just hearing it is bad luck. Besides that, its meat is terrible, so no one eats it. It would take a ton of time and effort to haul it up, and the fish buyers wouldn’t take it anyway. When we see one, we usually just stay away."
Wang Yi was speechless. "...I’ve never heard of that."
It was the first time he’d ever seen a fish that was so universally disliked.
"It looks like it’s injured. Is it dead?"
The two sea lions had fled when they approached, but the gruesome chunks missing from the sunfish’s body were still a terrifying sight.
Yun Jiao swam two laps around the sunfish before returning.
"Dad, that fish is so dumb! When I got here, two sea lions were gnawing on it. Half its head was almost gone, but it didn’t even run. It was just sunbathing."
Wang Yi was astonished. "The fish is still alive?"
Just as Yun Jiao was about to nod, the sunbathing sunfish suddenly moved, slowly starting to sink down into the sea.
"Holy shit!" Wang Yi exclaimed. "It really is alive! Doesn’t it feel pain?"
Yun Linhai said, "Probably not. If it hurt, why wouldn’t it run?"
Yun Linhe added, "I’ve heard that a sunfish’s brain is tiny. It doesn’t even register when it’s being bitten."
"Huh? But its head looks pretty big, doesn’t it?"
"I’m talking about the thinking part of the brain. The rest of its head is just meat."
Yun Jiao loudly retorted, "It’s dumber than an idiot! It has no brain at all!"