Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian realized with a shock that his thoughts were on the wrong track. Whenever he encountered a difficult problem, he would forcibly add an explanation just to make it logical. It was just like how the ancients would push the identity of the culprit onto supernatural forces whenever they encountered something that was unexplainable. They would add an unknown entity just to explain the unexplainable.
It was fine for the ancients to do that––after all, scientific knowledge during those days was extremely lacking––but the people of the modern age should not advocate for such a practice. The television program “Approaching Science,” which is often ridiculed by netizens, at least had methods and a certain attitude when facing spooky events that was somewhat desirable… Although their final conclusion always left one with the urge to puke out blood.
Was there any difference in speculating that there was another mysterious whale following behind the giant whale––or in speculating that a spirit that no one could see was following behind somebody? Not only did that not explain the problem, but it also complicated the problem.
The simplest explanation was that it was what the whale had originally sounded like, and there was no other mysterious whale.
Zian went back and examined his thoughts. The reason why his thoughts were caught on the wrong track was because he had committed a mistake of empiricism and dogmatism. It was stated in books and on the internet that the blue whale’s sound wave band was 15 to 40 Hz, but was there no exception? Some people’s voices were higher than others; some people’s hearing had a wider range than others; and some people’s vision was better than others. It was very normal in human society!
Wasn’t the intellectual gap between ordinary people and Einstein not greater than the difference in the whales?
Information found in books was based on the collected sample data that humans had gathered, but the ocean was inherently mysterious. To have a whale that was outside of the sample standard was normal. It was also better to not have a book if all you believed were facts found in books.
Zian breathed a sigh of relief. It felt like he had just solved a difficult math problem; he was both tired and speechless.
However, his stretched posture immediately froze because he thought of another, more serious problem. If the sound waves of the whale were out of the ordinary, how did the other whales communicate with it?
Whales were just like humans; they were animals that socialized with each other. Although not all whales were social animals, all whales had to communicate with other whales. Through their unique songs of courtship, warnings, assistance, and the broad range of low-frequency sound waves ensured that they could hear each other… Otherwise, how would they find one of their own in the vast ocean?
Some extremely rare cetaceans had only a few hundred of their own left in the world, and if they couldn’t find each other through their songs in the ocean, they would’ve already gone extinct.
No wonder… Some things made sense now.
The reason why the whale was always so moody and always alone was probably because it may not have been able to communicate with other whales since its birth. It had no way to learn the social rules of the whale society, no way to respond to the call of the opposite sex, and even its mother might not have been able to communicate with it normally… It was a miracle that it could have even survived until then.
Most importantly, it had to be single!
Being of the same kind, Zhang Zian couldn’t help but feel a deep sympathy for it… At the same time, he also had a sense of superiority because he was only temporarily single, but it was probably destined to be alone for life.
Zhang Zian was still immersed in his own emotions when he felt his shirt being tugged at from behind. Zian had spent a lot of time on the computer, fiddling with the sound analysis software. He thought that it was Pi who wanted to continue writing, but when he turned his head to look, Pi was curled up in the basket hammock chair with its ears still blocked. It didn’t even move. Pi seemed to have fallen asleep accidentally.
Turning his head around to look again, it was Fina who was sat behind him. Fina had a nasty look on its face as it glared at him.
“…It’s not meal time yet, right?” Zhang Zian looked at his watch. He thought that the glutton was hungry again.
“What do you treat this queen as?” Fina said with anger.
“No, nothing… so what’s the matter?” Zian quickly changed the subject.
Fina lifted a paw and pointed in the direction of the bathroom. “What did you do to her earlier?”
To her? To Sihwa? “I didn’t do anything… I’ve been here ever since I came back. Pi can testify for me.” Zhang Zian was confused. With the way that Fina was questioning him it seemed like he had done something sickening.
Fina looked over at Pi who was sleeping soundly in the basket hammock chair. Obviously, Pi could not testify for Zian.
Zhang Zian was speechless. He thought to himself that, out of all times, why did Pi have to sleep now?
“What’s wrong with her? Did she jump out of the bathtub?” Zian asked, the image of a dying, salted fish struggling in the desert popping into his mind.
Probably because his expression didn’t look like he was faking it, Fina’s doubt cleared a little. “She’s crying,” it said.
“Crying? Are you sure?”
Zhang Zian’s first reaction was that she was most likely faking it. Normally all he would hear was Sihwa watching live broadcasts and laughing foolishly.
“How dare you! Why would this queen lie to you?” Fina’s face turned nastier at his doubt.
“No––what I meant was… Could you have heard wrong?” Zian leaned over to listen, but he couldn’t hear any crying. It was very quiet.
“Hmph! This queen would never mishear! But you––you’re dull like a deaf!” Fina squinted at him disdainfully. Even though Fina was of shorter stature, it had a way of making others feel like it was staring down at them… Though, that might’ve been because it was always sleeping on the highest cat tree.
“Cough! Zian…”
In the midst of their conversation, with the sound of a light cough, Old Time Tea appeared at the entrance of the living room. Old Time Tea was slightly surprised when it saw that Fina was also present. “Is her Majesty also here because of Sihwa’s crying?”
Sometimes, Fina wasn’t able to keep its calm, but the calm and steady Old Time Tea would hardly make any mistakes. No one could’ve predicted the consequences for the incident with Love Lovely Pets.
Fina nodded slightly.
“So, it seems like this old one is a step late. Since the queen is personally here, I don’t think I’ll be needed anymore.” As always, Old Time Tea’s flattery was on point. It easily made Fina happy.
Even though it made Fina happy, it still glared at Zhang Zian, meaning to say, “Can’t a lowly servant like you learn something?”
Zhang Zian stood up from the chair. He felt the seriousness of the matter. Even Old Time Tea was alarmed… In addition, he was panicking a little inside. Was he really deaf?
Of course he wasn’t deaf. The laptop was still playing the recordings of the giant whale; there were numerous car horns outside the window; and the voices of the customers downstairs bargaining were all in his ears.
So why did both Fina and Old Time Tea mention that Sihwa was crying, but he couldn’t hear anything? There was only one truth: Sihwa was crying at a frequency that exceeded a human’s hearing range.
Just as he had understood what was going on, he heard a soft clap from the side of his body; it was like the sound of chopsticks being split into half.
The two cats and one man all turned around to look. A hairline crack suddenly appeared on the glass window.
