Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian sat on the rocking boat with his headphones in his ears and his eyes closed. As the connection between his five senses and the outside world weakened, he listened to the sounds filtering through the underwater pickup device from the bottom of the ocean. His whole person seemed to sink slowly into the sea, enveloped by the bottomless darkness. Like returning back into his mother’s womb, he was suspended in the middle of nothingness.
The darkness induced one to focus more, and the beauty of the underwater hymns made one lose any sense of time. However, as a strange sound rang around him, Zian couldn’t help but open his eyes, drenched in cold sweat as he was brought back to reality. He was thankful that he wasn’t physically present at the bottom of the dark sea so he didn’t have to worry about what kind of monster it was that produced the sound from earlier.
If experienced, underwater acoustic engineering teachers and graduate students were there, through the application of the triangulation method by making use of two or more underwater pickup devices, they would be able to judge the swimming speed and direction of the target. It was also said that experienced submarine sonar technician officers could even identify the true body of hundreds of noise targets in a short time frame.
Zhang Zian did not have such outstanding abilities, but he could tell that the sound was the voice of the minke whale because the voice of the minke whale was very special, and he was aware that there was a minke whale nearby. If it was replaced by a whale that was relatively rare, then Zian would not be able to tell.
He listened for a while and heard the sound of other cetaceans, but they were too far away for him to distinguish what they were.
He took off his headphones and hung them around his neck, then he sunk the underwater speaker into the water––but not as deep as the underwater pickup device because its line was not long enough.
He started the speaker, which began to play Sihwa’s song.
He did it several times, and each time, he would play the song for a few minutes, pause, put on his headphones, and listen to the sound of the sea. If he didn’t pause the song, because the speaker was too close to the pickup device, Sihwa’s song would drown out all the other sounds. He would not be able to hear anything else.
The day before, he had used Sihwa’s song to appease the male minke whale, but unexpectedly, the song had also attracted the giant whale. Now, he intended to replicate what happened the day before to see if he could attract the giant whale again.
Unlike the day before, Zian was now mentally prepared, so he would not let the giant whale pull off another surprise attack.
The giant whale had emerged without any warning, and that had almost led Zian to think that it was a submarine from another country. Because it had traveled deep under the water’s surface in a single breath, there were no signs that could’ve been observed from the surface of the water.
The giant whale was not very easy to get along with. If it came within a dangerous distance with Zian, there were no longer any minke whales there to save him. It was a small matter to have his boat overturned, but if the valuable instruments were to fall into the water, he would have to send everything––even his underwear––to the pawnshop.
However, he now had a secret weapon: the underwater pickup device. As long as the whale came within a certain range, Zian could locate it in advance and take some countermeasures—namely escaping.
To draw an analogy, it was like a game of cat and mouse between a Destroyer and an SSBN, but this Destroyer was rather cowardly.
That kind of thing was a real test of patience. It was like war movies where the submarine sonar technicians were on duty. Often, they were made to sit there for half a day and listen to the various sounds with their headphones, trying their best to find their enemy before the enemy’s sonar crew found them. What level of concentration did they need? If they got distracted for even a brief moment, the entire submarine could have already been sunk by the enemy submarine.
Zhang Zian didn’t have such patience and focus, but thankfully, he didn’t need to listen for too long.
After about the third pause, he picked up a strange sound on the headphones; it was a intermingled between the short bursts of the minke whale’s sound. If it wasn’t because he had been paying close attention, he might’ve easily missed it.
There seemed to be more than one minke whale in the vicinity; the sounds were chaotic and noisy. They sounded just like people bargaining in the market. Zian didn’t know what they were saying; however, when the strange sound appeared, the sounds from the minke whales stopped, like they heard the ring of a bell that signaled the start of a class. Then, the sounds from the minke whales burst out at a higher concentration, as if they were warning each other about something.
They had no other option. Although whales had a certain degree of wisdom, they were still stuck in the era where communication was based on roars and growls.
Zhang Zian braced himself and listened in more carefully, nervously wiping his sweaty palms on his trousers. He took a deep breath and glanced over at the motor handle.
He couldn’t determine if the sound was from the giant whale or something else, so he could only wait.
About half a minute later, the sound rang again, now closer and clearer than the last time.
The target was swimming with a tremendous amount of speed, accompanied by a rumbling reverberation. It was like a train-like, huge object was approaching his boat quickly.
Zhang Zian could almost imagine a giant whale with its mouth wide open, taking in all the small fish and shrimp along the way into its mouth without any differentiation. It would swallow them then discharge seawater through its baleen.
The sounds from the minke whales were weakening and their numbers were decreasing. It was as if they were moving away from the mysterious behemoth––not necessarily because they were afraid of it, but because it had eaten all the food nearby, so all the other whales in the vicinity could only starve.
The sound was getting closer and closer, like a periodically changing whistle. When it was loud, his eardrums rang, but when it was soft, the sound was really hard to catch.
Zhang Zian frowned as he listened. What kind of thing produced such sounds? Was it the giant whale?
Zian glanced over at the meter’s LCD screen. The instrument was automatically recording and drawing the waveform of the sounds, but he didn’t have the time to carefully examine it; the target was approaching fast. He wasn’t sure if he had recorded a sound sample that was long enough, but he had to leave immediately. Otherwise, it would be a repeat of what had happened the day before.
He took off his headphones and quickly rolled up the fiber optic cable to pull the underwater pickup device out from the water. It was going to take some time to pull the 50-meter-long fiber optic cable from the water, so Zian stared at the sea’s calm surface with a nervous look. He was worried that something as huge as a submarine would suddenly emerge from the depths.
With the sound of splashing water, he finally pulled the underwater pickup device out of the water; there was some dark green algae tangled in with it, too.
Zian then placed the pickup device down and started the motor as quickly as he could. He adjusted the bow to face the direction of the land and turned the power to the highest level, having the propeller rotate at a very high speed.
The assault boat sped off towards the shore.
Zian was still not completely relieved; he kept looking back while he operated the boat.
Splash!
Not even a minute after he left, a huge water pillar burst out from his earlier position, rising up to its highest point before falling back down into the water like a rainstorm.
The surface of the sea was split into two as a huge figure rose out of the water.
Zhang Zian estimated that he had already arrived in safe waters, so he slowed the boat down and picked up the telescope to observe.
The giant whale whipped its tail around and swam for a little while on the water’s surface without a care. It seemed like it had not found what it was interested in, so after inhaling a few breaths of air, it made a vigorous plunge into the water and disappeared again.
Zhang Zian finally heaved a sigh of relief. He had managed to escape from the whale dry, and he was able to confirm that the source of the sound was the giant whale and not something else. It hadn’t been a wasted trip.
