Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The following day was Zhang Zian’s last day staying in the small town by the sea. As usual, he drove to Karl’s aquarium with Famous in the morning.
“Hi, Jeff! Good morning!”
Paul, the expert who tested the aquarium’s water quality, was analyzing something on his microscope. His eyes were close to the microscope’s lens when Zhang Zian opened the door. He glanced toward Zian half-heartedly––it was a short glance, as his eyes were not even one inch away from the lens.
He always had enough work to do. The water density and nitrate and phosphate levels were analyzed each week. Ammonia and nitrite levels were tested every two weeks. Adjustments had to be made immediately if anything unusual was detected. It was Paul’s job to determine the cause of the change, as well––it either occurred in the ecosystem of the tanks or was due to equipment malfunction. If the problem was not fixed, then fish could die, which was considered a significant loss.
There were so many tanks in the aquarium. He had to run batch tests and random tests, then record in detail the test date of each tank. It was a lot of work. Of course, Karl was paying him good money.
“Good morning, Paul!”
Zhang Zian put down the plastic storage box with great effort, then glanced around the shop. “Where is Karl? Not here?”
“He should be in the back. Go ahead to look for him.” Paul straightened up and recorded the data he just collected in the computer. He suddenly noticed the plastic container that Zhang Zian was carrying seemed very heavy, as if it was filled with water. “Do you need help?” he asked out of curiosity.
“It’s fine, thanks.” Zhang Zian glanced at the Paul, who was very skinny, and thought that he could not be very helpful.
Karl came out from the back, carrying a plastic bucket. “Jeff, are you heading back to Berlin today?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m leaving in a moment. Thank you for having me these past few days,” Zhang Zian said as he tossed the house key to Karl.
Paul was surprised. “What? You are leaving so soon?”
“Right. Otherwise, I’ll miss the closing ceremony of the film festival.” Zhang Zian smiled. “Thank you, Paul. I’ve learned a lot from you here.”
“Is that so…?” Paul lowered his head with regret.
After spending the last few days together, Zhang Zian had become a good friend to Paul. Zhang Zian was eager to learn and had a lot in common with him. He could not find such a sense of identity from Karl, nor the others, as they were more concerned with the local soccer teams and if they could make it to the German league in the next season. They didn’t care about how complicated it was to record water testing levels and to monitor them.
“It’s fine. We can keep in touch online. I’ll come over again if I have time in the future.” Zhang Zian hugged him to say goodbye.
“Jeff, there’s something that you must take a look at over here!” Karl could not wait to wave at Zhang Zian.
“Oh? What is it?”
The mysterious look on his face made Zhang Zian curious.
“You’ll find out after taking a look. Come look while it’s still alive…” Karl didn’t specify any details. He brought Zian to the employee section at the back of the aquarium where a tank was placed separately.
“Look… have you ever seen such a thing?” Karl asked as he pointed at the tank.
Zhang Zian walked closer to observe it.
There was a layer of sand at the bottom of the tank where a lethargic, strange creature was resting. It was covered in a hard, chitin shell, like a combination of a young cicada and a mantis shrimp, but it was hundreds of times bigger than both.
A young cicada was a nymph of a cicada. It climbed up trees in order to turn into a mature cicada, like a monkey in a tree.
The shell of this creature was light purple and measured about one foot. It was resting on the sand as if it were dead. If the two antennae were not moving slightly, Zhang Zian surely would have thought that it was already dead.
Between the creature’s body and the sand, a few of its appendages were visible. Each appendage had a sharp claw at the end of it.
“This is… a giant isopod?” Zhang Zian asked with uncertainty.
“Exactly!” Karl was both excited and sorry. He sighed. “It’s a shame that it’s dying and cannot live much longer. We might be the last two humans that it will ever meet.”
“Its death is certain, right? It lives in the deep ocean and is used to the high pressure that comes from the water. Not to mention land… even if it’s in shallow water, it will die from low pressure. It’s a miracle that it survived until now.” Zhang Zian was well aware of the imminent death of this rare creature.
Giant isopods usually lived hundreds of feet under the sea, making them an unlikely pet for most people. It was hard to catch them, as well.
They could be seen occasionally in deep-sea aquariums in Japan, as Japanese people seemed particularly fond of this creature. Isopod figures, toys, and keychains were popular. Maybe they found this creature cute.
“Right.” Karl nodded. “That’s why I called you here in a hurry––to take a last look at it. A living giant isopod is very rare. After it dies, I will have it taxidermied and put it in front of the shop.”
“Where did it come from?” Zhang Zian asked. “Did the fishermen catch it?”
Karl shook his head. “It’s strange. Yesterday my friend found it while walking on the beach. Isn’t this incredible? Such deep-sea creatures should know that they will die if they float up, but they are acting against their survival instinct, as if they are in a hurry to go somewhere. My friend knows aquatic life well. He thought it was a deep-sea isopod from Japan at first––that creature isn’t worth much money––but it’s strange to find it in Germany. After looking at it carefully, he recognized that it is a giant isopod. Then he called me, and I drove there to bring it back to the aquarium.”
Zhang Zian knew that it was very likely that the creature coming to shore was an anomaly caused by the mermaid.
“Oh, right. I have a gift for you, too.” He hinted for Karl to return to the front.
“What is it? Don’t’ tell me it’s a Berlin Bear toy. I’m too old for that,” Karl said, half-joking. “I also have an autographed picture of Famous.”
Zhang Zian also smiled, then opened the lid of the storage box, pointed at the creature in the water, and said, “Here it is.”
After seeing the giant scale worm, Karl was instantly stunned. He could not believe his eyes.
“My goodness! This… Is this a giant scale worm?” His voice was shaking. “Did you bring it here in a storage box?”
“Since I had nothing else available.” Zhang Zian didn’t know what else to say. “I can’t buy an aquarium tank just to transport this thing.”
Karl was quite savvy with novelty hunting creatures. He identified the giant scale worm immediately, knowing that it was a new species discovered by scientists.
He looked left and right around the storage box as if it were a treasure box. He had the urge to put it in his hands, but luckily he knew the danger of the creature.
In comparison, the giant isopod was not nearly as rare nor as precious.
Upon hearing their conversation, Paul came over from his water quality testing station. He was also astonished to see this strange and rare creature.
“This giant scale worm is your gift for me?” Karl suddenly realized. “Are you giving it to me? You should know how rare this creature is. I bet no other aquarium in the world owns it!”
“Yes, I’m giving it as a token of appreciation to you and Reina for taking care of me. Plus, you really like creatures like this, don’t you?” Zhang Zian laughed. “For the Chinese, it’s important to repay a favor. I can’t accept your favor without a payback. Otherwise, it would be a joke.”
He suddenly changed his tone and joked half-heartedly, “Plus, how can I transport this guy to my country? I’m afraid customs would stop me. If that happened, I would need a long explanation and might get into trouble.”
“But… How did you get this giant scale worm?” Karl asked, believing his story. “As far as I know, they live in the Antarctic.”
“I don’t know how it ended up in Germany, millions of miles away… It was quite a coincidence. I found it walking along the beach yesterday.” Zhang Zian shrugged. “Maybe the same adventure as your friend, except I had better luck. Giant scale worms don’t live in deep water, so they don’t die if they are stranded on the shore.”
Karl could not thank him enough. He asked Paul to free up the best tank in the shop right away, set up the cooling device, and mimic the water of the Antarctic in the tank. This new guest had to be treated with the best accommodations.
He was very confident that this giant scale worm would surely attract lots of customers.
According to his experience, the rare creatures didn’t even need to be put up for sale. In fact, the better option was to keep them in the shop on display, which could then facilitate the sales of other pets.
To some degree, Zhang Zian agreed with him. Some customers came to his shop after they heard about the rare, chocolate-colored Abyssinian cats, but they ended up taking an interest in another breed of cat, or buying imported cat food and supplies…
Zhang Zian then made his plans clear––he was hoping that Karl could help him acquire some high-quality German aquarium equipment.
Karl had always been a big customer of a local aquarium equipment supplier, so he was able to get the equipment for a good price. He agreed without hesitation and reassured Zhang Zian that he would have them shipped to China right away.
After finishing up their business, Zhang Zian said goodbye to them and started the car’s engine to drive back to Berlin.
