Chapter 211: My Good Friend Xiangxiang

The sperm whale floating on the sea surface appeared agitated, its fluke occasionally slapping the water in frustration.

Qin Yun swallowed hard and chuckled bitterly: "I take back what I just said—this is a sperm whale in emotional distress. Whales in this state are extremely dangerous; after all, it's just an animal, and if I get too close, the risk is still very high."

Facing Qin Yun's retreat, the livestream audience said nothing—without proper weapons, humans had no way to deal with such a giant beast; trying to kill a sperm whale barehanded was impossible.

"But before I leave, let me show you all the details of this sperm whale up close."

With that, the drone swiftly flew over, and as the distance closed, the sperm whale's full form finally appeared clearly in the livestream.

A massive head, square jaw, no dorsal fin, skin like wrinkled leather, and an especially thick lower body.

The secondary drone circled the sperm whale once, then moved to its head.

As the lens zoomed in, Qin Yun suddenly froze—he thought he saw something. Without hesitation, he used the main drone to command the secondary one back to its previous position; then, not just him, but everyone in the livestream clearly saw what was on screen.

Deeply embedded inside the whale's lower jaw, near its large teeth, was a dark, hard object; each time the whale's jaw twitched, it was clearly trying to shake off the foreign object in its mouth.

But that wasn't the worst—worse still, a faded blue plastic rope was tightly wrapped around the dark object, already embedded into the gums, causing the edges to turn white and inflamed.

"No wonder it's agitated—it's in pain," Qin Yun murmured, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Holy shit, I get annoyed just trying to pick out a strand of meat—imagine a thick plastic rope like that wrapped around your teeth. Just thinking about it makes me suffer."

"Humans really are the plague of Earth."

"Uh… are you really that hard on yourself?"

"It doesn't have hands—probably by the end, the tooth will get so infected it'll just fall out and finally feel better."

Qin Yun stared at the screen, hesitated briefly, then made up his mind.

He turned the camera toward himself, his expression serious: "It's in agony—something's stuck in its tooth, and a plastic rope is wrapped around it, embedded deep. I've decided to try removing it."

As soon as Qin Yun spoke, the livestream comments paused for a moment, then exploded in a flood of messages.

"Holy shit, Qin Ye, are you insane?"

"That's a whale—aren't you afraid it'll actually eat you?"

"And it's right in the mouth—you'd have to climb inside to get it out. Dude, just imagining it gives me chills."

"Insane. Jesus, Qin's gone mad."

Qin Yun's gaze returned to the distant sperm whale.

"Relax—I'm confident. Sperm whales are gentle mammals with extremely high intelligence, even possessing their own cultural transmission—they're not mindless beasts."

Hearing this, netizens were stunned.

"I'll accept high intelligence, but cultural transmission? Are you serious?"

"Nonsense—it's just a fish, where's the cultural transmission?"

"Qin Ye's making stuff up."

"Laughable—exposed your true level, huh? Cultural transmission? Bullshit."

Qin Yun looked at these comments and replied calmly: "It's not just cultural transmission—sperm whales even have their own social culture and dialects. They pass down hunting techniques generation after generation—that's cultural transmission. They have strong emotions and social bonds—they comfort injured companions and mourn their dead."

"Their logic, emotions, and memory far surpass human infants, approaching or even matching adult primates."

Seeing his serious explanation, some believed him, but others still sneered.

Until a verified Douyin influencer—a biology professor from a top university—spoke up, and the skepticism faded.

"Qin Ye is right. Sperm whales are among the most intelligent animals on Earth—their brains weigh five times that of a human's, and they engage in complex group communication. The 'clicking' sounds we hear are essentially their language."

Qin Yun thanked the professor, then began preparing. He bit his survival knife between his teeth, stripped everything else off, and swam toward the sperm whale wearing only briefs.

They were over a kilometer apart—luckily, Qin Yun was an excellent swimmer; any ordinary person attempting such a long ocean swim would collapse from exhaustion. Yet when Qin Yun reached forty to fifty meters from the sperm whale, he remained fully energized, showing no sign of fatigue.

At this point, as Qin Yun drew closer, the sperm whale noticed the tiny figure.

It knew humans existed, but was curious why one was here. Forgetting its pain for a moment, it studied Qin Yun with interest.

Qin Yun took the survival knife from his mouth, pointed to his own teeth, mimed cutting motions with the blade, and signaled: I'm here to help you.

At first, the sperm whale didn't understand—no matter how intelligent, it wasn't human—so Qin Yun repeated gestures and speech over ten times before it finally reacted.

"Click… click… click…"

A deep, rhythmic sound resonated, low and powerful.

Then, a shocking scene appeared before millions of livestream viewers: the massive sperm whale slowly opened its mouth.

Seeing this, Qin Yun laughed and looked up at the drone: "Hah! See? I told you sperm whales are still very human-like—high intelligence, they clearly understood me."

"Hey, don't forget how many times you gestured."

"Be careful—it's luring you in, waiting to swallow you whole once you climb inside."

"I have to say, Qin Yun is still too reckless."

"Yeah, even if this sperm whale understands Qin Ye, it's still an animal. When removing the object, pain might trigger an instinctive jaw movement—Qin Ye couldn't survive that."

Qin Yun re-bited the survival knife and continued swimming toward the sperm whale. When he finally reached a point where he could touch it, the visual impact was overwhelming.

This was the first time he'd truly touched such a colossal creature—he floated beside the whale, utterly minuscule.

Gripping the lower edge of the whale's mouth, Qin Yun quickly moved toward the inner teeth.

"Look—each tooth is as long as my forearm, twenty to thirty centimeters. Wow, how much food must it eat daily to grow so big?"

Qin Yun quickly located the gap between two teeth and finally saw what the dark object really was.

"It's a giant squid's beak." He reached out and touched it. "This thing's as hard as buffalo horn—see how deeply it's wedged between the two teeth. But if it were just this, over time it might eventually dislodge on its own. The real problem is this."

Qin Yun pointed to the blue plastic rope tightly wrapped around the tooth: "The rope is completely embedded into the gums—there's almost no chance it'll detach on its own. And it's this rope that prevents the giant squid's beak from falling out."

On screen, countless netizens stared, deeply shaken.

The massive head, sharp teeth, the overwhelming pressure so close—it was truly a giant beast.

Without intelligence, humans would be utterly helpless against such a creature.

Qin Yun took a deep breath and began carefully cutting the aged plastic rope with his survival knife. The outer layer was easy, but the ring embedded inside the gums was tricky.

He thought for a moment, then patted the sperm whale and shouted: "Hold still—don't bite down and kill me."

The sperm whale's body trembled slightly, as if to say: I understand.

Qin Yun looked at the camera and smiled: "It really is intimidating—but I'm sure nothing will happen."

With that, he began using the knife tip to slowly pry loose the plastic rope embedded in the gums.

The moment he pried, the whale shuddered violently, its open mouth jerking, the enormous head above seeming ready to crush down at any second.

Actually, sperm whales move only their lower jaws when feeding—the upper jaw is massive and fixed.

But on camera, it looked as if the colossal head might fall at any moment.

"Holy shit, this is giving me heart palpitations."

"Qin's balls are enormous."

"Respect—Qin Ye is truly brave."

"Hold on, almost done."

Qin Yun loudly reassured them while his hands moved with rock-solid steadiness.

Soon, the ring of plastic rope embedded in the gums was finally removed. In that instant, the sperm whale shuddered from pain, its massive nostrils blasting out rapid bursts of air—but it never moved erratically.

"Phew… now for the giant squid's beak."

The beak was pitch-black and unnaturally hard—no one knew how long it had been lodged there. Qin Yun chipped away, one cut after another.

"Crack!"

A faint snapping sound echoed—the squid's hard beak, which had tormented this sperm whale for so long, finally detached completely from the tooth gap.

Instantly, a flood of blood surged from the gums.

Seeing this, Qin Yun patted the sperm whale's body and began swimming back.

After drifting dozens of meters away, the whale's lower jaw finally closed slowly. For the first time in ages, it no longer felt the foreign object—relief and joy made it emit a series of cheerful "click-click-click" sounds.

Immediately, a warm, salty current from the deep sea washed over Qin Yun—the sperm whale simply shifted slightly and drifted closer to him.

The drone swiftly flew to the side, capturing the human and the whale together.

Compared to the sperm whale, Qin Yun was tiny—this contrast made the scene even more awe-inspiring.

Qin Yun laughed loudly and patted the whale's head: "No need to thank me—you just got lucky and ran into me."

"Click… click… click…"

Although Qin Yun was a master of zoology, he couldn't understand the sperm whale's sounds—yet he clearly felt the joy and goodwill in its voice.

"How about we take a photo together? Then I'll give you a name, okay?"

Qin Yun talked to himself, directing the drone to capture shots from different angles.

"Wow, Qin Ye is seriously next-level—this is an unforgettable experience."

"Yeah, who else would dare, who else could do this? In outdoor livestreaming, Qin Ye is unquestionably number one."

"Forget China—throughout the entire world, you won't find anyone more incredible than Qin Ye."

Netizens flooded the comment section with likes.

Qin Yun stroked the sperm whale's head, thought for a moment, then gave it a name that didn't match its gender.

"From now on, your name is Xiangxiang."

Hearing the name, everyone in the livestream burst out laughing.

"Pfft… what the hell kind of name is that?"

"Qin Ye's going abstract again."

"Xiangxiang, haha."

"Come on, Xiangxiang, look at the camera," Qin Yun patted the whale's head and guided it toward the distant drone.

"Hah! This is my good friend Xiangxiang—please take good care of her."

After the nonsense, the sperm whale gently nudged Qin Yun's body with its head, then swam away. Soon, its massive body plunged downward and vanished into the deep sea.

Qin Yun floated on the sea surface, watching the sperm whale vanish without a trace, thinking this experience was quite enjoyable.

"I should head back to my beacon block."

Qin Yun glanced at the camera, then turned toward the direction he had come from—and his expression changed instantly.

"Fuck, someone raided my base!"