Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Steve prepared to look for a place to begin their sail and took the fishing net, hook and
other equipment down from the snowmobile.
Li Du asked, “What about a boat, we did not bring one along, did we?”
To fish for the krill, one would definitely need to take a boat. Li Du had thought that the
boat was already waiting for them out at sea, but when he scanned the shore, there was
no trace of a vessel.
Steve smiled. “We will swim and get out into the water. We don’t need a boat.”
Li Du was stunned. “You gotta be kidding me…”
“Ahh-woooo!” Ah Ow started howling.
Li Du turned around and pinched her head, scolding, “What are you calling out for? Stop
howling. Stay here and wait. Otherwise, I will throw you into the waters for a cold bath.”
Ah Ow sat down unhappily and looked around, wearing an indignant look.
Li Du repeated, “You gotta be kidding. This is the Antarctic Ocean. If we dive, we’ll
freeze to death in just a few minutes.”
“Well, look at it this way, corpses in Antarctica can be preserved for decades. If there’s
a cold wave, it can even freeze you entirely. That way, you can be preserved for
hundreds of years,” Steve continued to laugh.
Just like that, Li Du knew that he had been kidding.
Indeed, Steve made to walk further forward and said, “Let me perform some magic and
make a boat appear out of nowhere.”
Seeing that the group had walked further, Ah Ow stretched out her head and started
howling again, “Ahh-woooo!”
Li Du went mad and turned to glare at Ah Ow. “What are you howling for?”
Ah Ow dashed towards a colony of penguins behind them and continued to call out,
“Ahh- wooo!”
Sophie asked, “Where’s Ah Meng?”
“Oww, oww,” Ah Ow moved towards where the penguin colony.
Then it dawned on Li Du that he had misunderstood Ah Ow. She had been trying to tell
him that Ah Meng had snuck off to where the penguins were.
They rushed over to see that Ah Meng had gone to where the penguins had been when
Sophie fell. Nobody knew when Ah Meng had snuck over.
“What’s the matter?”
“Honey badgers have a very strong tendency to take revenge. Just now, it seemed like
a penguin had bit it or something. In any case, Ah Meng had been in pain and it must
have gone back to take revenge,” Li Du explained.
Shocked, Steve asked, “There’s really such a thing? Its desire to take revenge is so
strong?”
“In Africa, honey badgers are chief troublemakers.”
Li Du was worried that Ah Meng would draw an attack from the penguin colony by
provoking them. Although honey badgers were good at fighting, they could not possibly
beat Emperor penguins. To protect their young, the penguins would even fight with
seals.
Besides, Ah Meng was facing a huge penguin colony. These fat penguins were more
than one meter tall and could easily stomp Ah Meng to death if they struck one after
another.
The group ran over but the situation was not as bad as they had feared. The colony of
penguins had not started a fight and there had been no attacks made yet.
Instead, the penguin colony had formed a circle, leaning on each other. They were
peering curiously with their small black eyes. The penguins at the back were even vying
to have a look.
Seeing that, Li Du was cheerful. “This is interesting,” He said.
Sophie patted his back and said, “Why are you nosing around? Quick, find Ah Meng.”
They did not have to search hard for Ah Meng as it was just in the middle of the penguin
circle. All the penguins were observing it.
There were too many penguins squeezed together to see what was going on. Although
Li Du and his group were tall, they could not see clearly from afar. Besides, Ah Meng
crouched very low and the penguins were blocking it.
Steve said, “Penguins are very curious. When they see something new, they will
observe it. In addition, they are flock birds, always copying one another. Hence, when
many penguins are gathered, even if some are uninterested, they would still join the
crowd for a look.”
“What exactly are they looking at? What is Ah Meng doing?”
Li Du was unsure, so he had to squeeze further in for a look.
Emperor penguins were strong. Although they did not even reach the height of Li Du’s
chest, they were plump and had a low center of gravity. Hence, they were like rocks
standing there and Li Du did not manage to inch closer.
When Li Du pushed with more force, some of the penguins were unhappy and turned
around, flapping their wings and making honking sounds at Li Du.
Li Du found that interesting as the Emperor penguins were acting like humans. They
would resist when others tried to cut the queue.
Fortunately, Emperor penguins did not have a bad temper. They did not attack him
although he had shoved them when he tried to squeeze his way in. Most of the
penguins had turned their attention to him, staring curiously.
When Li Du finally managed to squeeze through, he saw what had happened. Ah Meng
was digging a hole!
With its hind limbs pushing against the ground, its forelimbs were waving fast like small
shovels. Ah Meng’s mouth was opened and it continued to chew its way through the ice.
It continued to dig away even after the ice on the surface was crushed!
That was what the Emperor penguins were observing. They did not possess the ability
to dig and it was their first time seeing an animal dig a hole in the ice. That was very
interesting to them, and they could not help but envy the ability.
If penguins could dig, they would no longer have to endure strong wind or snow. If a
blizzard came, they would be able to dig a hole in the ice and hide inside.
However, based on Li Du’s knowledge, the ice caps in Antarctica were extremely tough.
Even mechanical drills would have trouble cutting through the ice. He was not sure how
Ah Meng could do that and even dig an entire hole!
Crushed ice piled up around Ah Meng as he dug. Li Du shouted for Ah Meng, “That’s
enough, that’s enough. Come over, it’s time for us to go…”
Sophie asked in a worried voice from behind, “What’s going on?”
Li Du had a sudden idea and pretended to be nervous as he said, “Ah Meng is fighting
with the Emperor penguins. There’s a one-on-one fight going on. The penguin is
especially strong and it’s battling Ah Meng!”
Steve was shell-shocked. When he regained his composure, he squeezed through as
well. “That must be the king of all Emperor penguins. Is it fighting with Ah Meng? I can’t
miss this opportunity, I must take a look!”
As Steve was hurriedly squeezing his way through, he had accidentally stepped on
some of the penguins’ feet. The penguins were annoyed and turned to poke Steve with
their beaks.
As Steve’s clothes were thick, the penguins did not manage to poke holes. He did not
feel any pain, but backed off and retreated.
Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Li Du started to laugh heartily. He walked
forward and scooped up Ah Meng, who was still digging in the ice. He said, “It was
digging a hole in the ice. Just now, it must have been hurt when it fell onto the ice, so
digging is probably a form of revenge.”
Having being caught, Ah Meng refused to give up and continued to scratch at the ice
with its claws.
At that moment, a black and grey big rock could be seen beneath the ice, especially
obvious due to its dark color.
Because of the storm, the surrounding ice had been flattened. It was the only ice cap in
the area. The ice cap was formed as the rock within caused a bulge to form.
Ah Meng was not digging at the ice, but rather at the rock. It was very smart and knew
that the rock was what had caused it pain.
When half of the rock had been dug up, Li Du spoke, “Steve, there’s a black-grey rock
here. It looks like the granite you’ve shown me in the pictures…”
Steve laughed coolly. “Get lost! I won’t fall for that, don’t try to bluff me!”
Li Du put down Ah Meng, who became a small excavator again. After more digging, it
finally extracted the rock. It was the size of a volleyball.
Li Du lifted the rock and said, “Look, it is alike.”
Steve was stunned. “God!”
