I raise furry animals and fly them to my motherland.

Chapter 279 Freshwater Wolf

Ye Jie and Yao Yingzhe watched the drone broadcast with tears in their eyes, feeling a pang of sadness.

The further you go into the center of the lake, the more dangerous the ice becomes, and the thinner the ice layer also becomes.

In a situation where the ice conditions were uncertain, Xu Ying provided a textbook example.

She lay flat on the ice like a seal, spreading her weight out, and then crawled slowly, which was the most reliable method.

When crawling on ice, sharp body parts such as elbows and knees cannot exert force on the ice.

[That was terrifying! It was clearly Station Master Xu moving on the ice, but I'm still sweating bullets.]

[This frozen lake is huge! It's triggering my megalophobia. What if a monster suddenly appears and snatches Xu Ying away?]

[A polar expedition member says, Station Chief Xu's demonstration of crawling on the ice was incredibly professional!]

Finally, Xu Ying carefully "climbed" to a large gap in the ice of the frozen lake.

The lake surface at the gap was calm.

Xu Ying took out fish food from his pocket to lure the small fish and sprinkled it onto the lake surface.

She sprinkled another handful of fish food, patiently waiting, sniffing the air to detect the fish's scent.

About six or seven minutes later, the calm water surface began to ripple.

Just as Xu Ying was wondering what kind of fish she had attracted with the fish food, her eyes suddenly widened as a huge creature more than a meter long floated up from the bottom of the water!
It opened its gaping maw and swallowed the fish food that Xu Ying had scattered in one gulp. This fish had teeth, and it made a sound when chewing the food, which was quite terrifying.

Xu Ying recognized the large fish as the taimen, also known as the "Siberian tiger of the water"!
Carnivorous fish!
The taimen is a top predator in cold-water basins such as the Xishan and Altai Mountains, and is known as the "freshwater wolf". It is ferocious, loves to eat meat, and is extremely adaptable.

During the coldest season, when the lake is completely frozen, they can even eat the carcasses of large animals that sink to the bottom of the lake in other seasons. Other small fish in freshwater lakes in high-altitude mountainous areas live in their shadow.

The taimen emits low-frequency sounds by rubbing its bones and teeth together, which are inaudible to ordinary people. However, Xu Ying, who has enhanced her animal language skills, can hear the sounds made by the taimen.

She heard the taimen say:

[Where did this little thing come from? It's so delicious, so crunchy!]
[I've lived in the lake for sixty-three years, and I've never had such delicious food!]
[It smells so good!]
Xu Ying's tension dissipated considerably; it turned out this taimen was quite talkative.

She felt more confident, and after the taimen had swallowed all the fish food, she added a small handful of fish food and a few small fish.

The taimen was fierce and quickly swallowed the small fish.

Only after it finished eating did it realize something was wrong: [How can there be summer fish in this season? Have I lived too long and am I hallucinating?]
"Why don't you look up?" Xu Ying said abruptly.

The taimen shuddered at the sound of human voices. It looked up, turned to the side, and caught sight of Xu Ying with its eye on one side.

It turns out this fish was too big, with its eyes too far apart, so it had to look at people at an angle to see them.

[Damn it, humans, let's get out of here!]
Just as the taimen was about to turn tail and run, Xu Ying threw another handful of tempting fish food on its head: "Don't run! I'm not here to catch you. I need your help!" "My thing fell to the bottom of the water!"

"If you can help me find them, I'll have plenty of these small fish! And if you want fresh, live fish, I'll have that too!"

Upon hearing Xu Ying's words, the taimen suddenly turned around and swung its body back. Xu Ying nimbly dodged the splash of water it created as it turned.

[real?]
[Wait, how can I understand human speech so clearly?]
The taimen's tiny eyes were filled with big question marks.

It had lived for sixty-three years and had encountered several humans. To it, the speech of these humans sounded like it was shrouded in mist, a garbled and indistinct murmur.

But it immediately understood what the person in front of it meant by saying a long string of words.

Xu Ying replied seriously, "Because I am a beast talker, I have a close connection with animals, and small animals can easily understand my words and emotions."

In the drone live stream, netizens breathed a sigh of relief to see that Xu Ying had started chatting with the taimen.

Wait a minute, isn't it said that fish only have a seven-second memory? Station Master Xu is getting used to this fish now. Will he have to get to know it all over again in seven seconds, and then get stuck on the frozen lake in a never-ending cycle?

[Pfft, what kind of vicious cycle is this?]

The idea that fish only have a seven-second memory is a misconception! It's a misunderstanding humans have about goldfish.

Experiments have shown that goldfish can remember the location of food, sound signals, and even complex mazes, and their memory can last for months.

Yes, yes, many fish remember their spawning grounds and territorial boundaries; their spatial memory is incredibly strong. They're not as stupid as they seem.

Fish have a memory of only seven seconds, which may be a result of behavioral restrictions and degeneration caused by the captive environment in which they are kept in captivity.

[I see. I also thought that claim was a bit far-fetched. A taimen is such a big fish, with an even bigger brain, so it should be more intelligent, right?]

The taimen was overjoyed after hearing Xu Ying's explanation, and it started grinding its teeth more frequently: [Oh! You can talk and communicate with me!]
[Great! Little girl, come chat with Grandma for a bit. I'm so curious about your human world.]
When Xu Ying heard the taimen call herself "grandma," her lips twitched slightly, but it made perfect sense.

Tailings are very long-lived fish, with a lifespan of up to 83 years. According to this fish, it is already 63 years old.

“Um… Grandma, I’m not like you fish who can swim freely in the water.”

Xu Ying pointed to the ice he was lying on: "My body temperature will make this ice thinner, so I can't stay here for too long. If the ice breaks, I'll fall into the water and freeze to death, and then you won't be able to eat such delicious fish food."

Although a drone was pulling the safety rope around his waist, being soaked in such icy water would be extremely harmful to his body, not to mention that after falling into the water, his clothes would absorb water, increasing the difficulty of the rescue.

[This is no problem, even if the sky falls, your milk will hold it up for you!]
Grandma Tailubber spoke calmly, with the air of a wise hermit: "By the way, what does what you're looking for look like?"
Xu Ying quickly gestured: "Cylindrical shape, bright orange shell, about the weight of two or three of your taimen combined, and this long."

The taimen thrashed about, creating ripples in the water around it: [Don't move from here, I'm going to call my children and grandchildren!]
The water flow ripples created by the taimen's muscle movements can be detected by their companions.

After the taimen grandmother gave the signal, one after another, taimen emerged from all directions at the bottom of the lake.

(End of this chapter)