Though they had known each other for less than half a year, they had faced life and death together multiple times. Their understanding of each other far surpassed that of so-called lifelong friends.
At this moment, Zhang Qiling had silently raised his Black Gold Ancient Saber. Fatty, adopting the demeanor of a doctor, was mumbling as he tried to determine the whale's sex.
"What? Fatty, what are you doing?" Wu Tianzhen looked at Fatty, who was trying to interrogate an innocent conch shell he'd picked up from the sculpture to determine the whale's gender, with utter bewilderment. He felt as if everyone had become strange after Xiao Ge emerged from the water.
Hei Yanjing suddenly displayed his diving skills, and Zhang Qiling's pupils gained a highlight.
Fatty, meanwhile, looked as if he was about to cross the species barrier, disregard reproductive isolation, and extend his wicked, grasping hand towards the innocent whale!
The world is deteriorating, and people's hearts are no longer ancient. Is this the distortion of human nature or the decay of morality!
"...I don't know why," Fatty stopped his actions, looking at Wu Tianzhen, who was becoming more unrestrained the more he thought, a look of suspicion on his face. "Fatty here always feels like you, Tianzhen, aren't thinking of anything good right now."
"Let me tell you, whatever you're thinking, just stop it. Fatty's character is noble and pure, and it doesn't allow any defilement!"
"What am I doing? Xiao Ge is about to operate on this whale. This is a crucial step for Xiao Ge entering the medical field. Shouldn't I study carefully whether this whale is male or female, so I can determine if it's a cesarean section or a regular incision?!"
Wu Tianzhen: ...Good heavens.
"Ahem!" Wu Tianzhen suppressed his overly obvious expression, trying to cover it up by saying, "Generally, female fish are short and round, while male fish are slender and long. You can't tell the gender from within it."
"Male."
Zhang Qiling, who had been listening quietly for a while, suddenly caught wind of the question. After thinking carefully, he realized he seemed to know the answer and actively responded to the questions posed by Teacher Wu and Teacher Fatty.
The two were momentarily speechless. When they looked over, they saw that Zhang Qiling appeared quite happy, perhaps because he had successfully answered the question.
...Actually, Zhang Qiling's expression hadn't changed at all. Anyone else wouldn't be able to tell his emotions, and might even mistakenly believe they were about to be killed by him due to Xiao Zhang's usual cold demeanor.
Wu Tianzhen and Fatty didn't know how they judged it, perhaps based on a man's sixth sense.
...But when did Xiao Ge determine the whale's gender? What was he looking at that thing for...
Wu Tianzhen and Fatty: Holy crap, what exactly were Xiao Ge and Hei Yanjing researching when they went into the water together?!
Hei Yanjing, who was swimming in the pool: ? That's too much! I'm a decent person!
Zhang Qiling, who had only glanced and seen it: ...?
With countless thoughts swirling in their minds, the two, who habitually threw the blame entirely onto the innocent Xiao Hei, came back to their senses and began to applaud exaggeratedly.
"As expected of our Xiao Ge, he knows everything!" Fatty, always at the forefront of flattery, clapped his hands like he was fanning himself.
They didn't know what Hei Yanjing was doing below, but the source of the water flow was getting stronger and stronger. At this point, they could no longer walk and could only swim towards the edge of the space where the sound had originated.
Fortunately, this space seemed to be constructed with a narrow top and a wide bottom. As the water level rose, the distance they had to swim was getting shorter.
Wu Tianzhen's mind was still occupied with listing Hei Yanjing's ninety-nine great sins. He had just reached the twenty-first when his hand touched the side wall of the whale's space.
Seeing Zhang Qiling about to showcase his skills on the whale without a word, Wu Tianzhen finally recalled a long-forgotten question from his mind.
"Wait, Xiao Ge!" Wu Tianzhen hurriedly looked back. He couldn't find the diving Xiao Hei in the surging, deep water. Although he had always disliked Hei Yanjing, his kindness prevailed at this moment of life and death.
"Shouldn't we wait for Hei Yanjing? He hasn't come out yet!"
"Good heavens, Tianzhen," Fatty leaned against the wall to rest. "I thought you were brooding over something all this time. Turns out you were worried about Hei Yanjing?"
"Besides, Hei Yanjing went into the water to catch fish without telling us, and only whispered with Xiao Ge. It's obvious he has a secret. Maybe he has a treasure map and has already gone off to get rich by himself!"
"Moreover, with his skills, you're more likely to worry about him eating the whale and getting us implicated for harming wildlife than the whale eating him."
"Don't worry, Xiao Ge didn't say anything, so he must be fine~"
Hearing Fatty's words, Wu Tianzhen didn't know whether to feel relieved or to retort that he wasn't brooding because he was worried about Hei Yanjing, but was actually editing ninety-nine reasons to scold him in his mind.
He subconsciously looked at Zhang Qiling, only to see him quietly gazing at the distant water surface, lost in thought.
Noticing Wu Tianzhen's gaze, Zhang Qiling turned his head and said faintly, "He's fine."
As soon as he finished speaking, with a "boom," the Black Gold Ancient Saber heavily struck the side wall!
Since Zhang Qiling had obtained the Black Gold Ancient Saber, he had used it to chop stones far more times than to chop corpses. He had gradually found a better method of condensing saber energy to shatter stones.
With this strike, Zhang Qiling clearly felt much less resistance under his hand, so he gently patted the back of the saber as encouragement.
The Black Gold Ancient Saber was overjoyed and almost burst into song, but it had no mouth, so it had to refrain.
The stone wall on the inner side of the space turned into flying debris. The Black Gold Ancient Saber, like a broken bamboo, moved forward with all its might, breaking through all obstacles with almost no pause!
The seawater outside instantly surged in, colliding with the Changsheng Water inside, creating huge waves!
Only then did the flesh and blood outside the giant whale, which had momentarily paused due to the Black Gold Ancient Saber's excessive speed, react and pump out streams of foul-smelling blood!
"Quick!"
Zhang Qiling noticed that the giant whale's wound was healing rapidly under the effect of the Changsheng Water. Although he could break through it again after it healed, he didn't want to cause secondary damage to the whale.
The giant whale thrashed wildly in pain. Wu Tianzhen could barely control his body. Just as he was about to be overturned by the churning water, Zhang Qiling suddenly grabbed one of his hands.
Zhang Qiling's hand felt icy cold in the warm water. Wu Tianzhen was startled for a moment, but he soon realized there was something hard in their clasped hands.
However, before he could struggle free and thank Zhang Qiling, his arm hurt, and he was flung out of the whale's wound into the cold seawater outside like a frisbee by Zhang Qiling!
"Gurgle gurgle gurgle—"
He tumbled several times in the seawater before steadying himself. He quickly held his breath. The water before his eyes was tinged with a faint red, the whale's blood.
His vision was blurry, but he still forced his eyes open, trying to see where Zhang Qiling was. Just then, his collar was grabbed, and Fatty, who had emerged at some unknown time, lifted him upwards.
The giant whale had not dived too deep. Wu Tianzhen could still vaguely see a sliver of light swaying with the waves above through the thick, ice-like seawater, like the last hope of life.
It was already dawn outside.