Dolphins, sharks, and whales had all made their appearances, and the crowd felt that no other marine creature could possibly surprise them further.
But the enormous dark shadow that appeared on the distant horizon caused the tourists, whose emotions hadn't fully settled, to begin murmuring again.
"There's more? What marine creature is it this time?"
"It can't be a marine creature, can it? Judging by its size, it's almost as big as three humpback whales. How could such a large creature exist in the ocean?"
"I'm not going to say anything for sure anymore. Dolphin Island is, after all, the territory of the Xihong Zoo. It's not entirely impossible for a sea monster to appear."
"It's probably a submarine."
"Is the navy coming to support Dolphin Island's opening?"
"It's not impossible."
...
While the tourists on site were in a heated discussion, the drone responsible for aerial photography quickly raised its lens, zooming in.
Unlike the eye-level perspective of those on the observation deck, the netizens saw a bird's-eye view.
Therefore, they had a clearer understanding of the massive dark shadow enshrouded by the seawater.
Except for not being able to discern its specific appearance, everything else was visible.
At this moment, they were already mostly certain that the giant dark shadow slowly approaching was not a submarine, but a genuine marine creature.
Some netizens who suffered from megalophobia instantly felt a sense of breathlessness.
As the giant dark shadow drew closer, this suffocating feeling intensified.
Unconsciously, the number of bullet comments in the live stream began to dwindle.
One minute later, the colossal marine creature was still a hundred meters away from the observation deck.
Half a minute later, the colossal marine creature was less than fifty meters from the observation deck.
Just when everyone thought the behemoth would charge directly towards the coastline, it slowly came to a halt.
At this point, through the clear blue water, everyone could finally glimpse its full form.
Its skin, a pale blue that almost blended with the sea, and its massive, island-like, solid body.
When it raised its tall tail fin, it was as if a giant tree had suddenly grown out of the sea.
A profound silence fell, and the unique pressure emanating from a top-tier marine creature swept towards them like a sea breeze.
Without a doubt, on this entire blue planet, there was only one creature that could grow to such a size, from ancient times to the present.
The Blue Whale!
A seemingly fantastical, yet undeniably real, animal.
After everyone recognized the true identity of the dark shadow, it obligingly surfaced its entire body.
Even with the entire sea as its reference, its immense size still caused many who saw it for the first time to fall into deep disbelief.
"Holy shit, holy shit!"
"Is this a blue whale? It's too damn big."
"Forgive my ignorance, one 'holy shit' covers it all."
"I've always heard that blue whales are very large, but I've never seen one. Now I have, and it's truly massive."
"I used to wonder why no aquariums kept blue whales. Now I finally understand."
"Whale engulfing the world, that must refer to blue whales, right?"
"Only the ocean can nurture such colossal creatures. On land, it would consume a mountain in a day."
"I'm like an electrician touching a live wire, going straight from now on!"
"Compared to a blue whale, a humpback whale is like an underdeveloped child."
"Fun fact: a baby blue whale is already 7 meters long at birth."
"But why does this blue whale look a little different from a normal blue whale? It seems to be even larger than a typical adult blue whale."
"Based on my estimation, its length must have exceeded 35 meters."
"Is this the Kun from Xiaoyao You? The ancients' imagination had some basis. If we're this astonished, imagine how terrified the ancients must have been when they first saw a blue whale."
...
Needless to say, the grand finale was undoubtedly the "Kun baby."
As the highlight of the event, it didn't need any fancy tricks to elicit gasps and exclamations from the tourists.
After all, its appearance was already a miracle to everyone, and expecting it to perform was asking too much.
But the Kun baby clearly didn't think so. Possessing an intelligence far surpassing that of ordinary whales, it could even understand the conversations of the tourists on the observation deck.
It had expected the tourists to praise its beauty and handsomeness, but their comments were uniformly focused on its size.
Other aspects were even less praised than those of its "little brothers," making it hard for it to swallow.
"No, I can't let them look down on me, nor can I let the zoo director look down on me. I need to show them my strength, Kun Kun's strength!"
With a thought, the Kun baby had already devised a plan to impress the tourists.
The next second, to the confused gazes of the tourists, the Kun baby's colossal body suddenly submerged into the seawater.
"Huh? Where did the blue whale go? Is it leaving?"
"Probably. It's already given Director Yang a lot of face by coming. Did you expect it to put on a show for you?"
"Exactly. I've taken pictures and videos, and I'll post them on Douyin later to make everyone who didn't come jealous."
"The blue whale is gone, so let's go too. We're satisfied and content."
...
Just as the tourists were about to assume the Kun baby had left, a massive dark shadow shot out of the sea with extraordinary speed.
The commotion was so great that it gave everyone the illusion of a torpedo explosion.
Hearing the noise, the tourists quickly turned back to look.
In an instant, their pupils constricted rapidly.
Following their gaze, they saw a huge splash erupt on the vast expanse of the sea.
And at the center of the splash, a fully formed blue whale leaped out of the water.
As if escaping Earth's gravity, this largest creature on Earth, weighing hundreds of tons, soared dozens of meters into the air.
With its entire body airborne, it seemed to be flying on the wind, the waves exploding on its sides transforming into wings to propel its flight.
Such a sight completely stunned everyone.
It wasn't that they were ignorant; the scene before them was simply too magnificent.
It was a flying blue whale, a sight only seen in the comics of a certain Japanese cartoonist.
Of course, besides that Japanese cartoonist's comics, some tourists also recalled a passage from a text.
"The Kun is so large that its size is unknown for thousands of miles; it is transformed into a bird, and its name is Peng."
At this moment, the blue whale flying in the sky before them distinctly possessed the appearance of Kun and Peng.
Perhaps Zhuangzi, a thousand years ago, had also witnessed this scene in a dream, which enabled him to write such words.
Just as everyone felt that everything was unreal, the Kun baby, which had remained airborne for a long time, finally descended with a heavy thud.
BOOM!
After a deafening roar, the entire coastal area of Dolphin Island was enveloped in a thick mist of water.