Chapter 211: My Good Friend Xiangxiang

The sperm whale floating on the sea surface appeared agitated, its fluke occasionally slapping the water to vent its emotions.

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 truly get close, the risk is still very high."

Facing Qin Yun's retreat, the livestream viewers said nothing—without suitable weapons, humans had no way at all against such a giant beast; trying to kill a sperm whale barehanded was impossible.

"But before I leave, I'll let everyone see the details of this sperm whale up close."

Saying this, the drone swiftly flew over, and as the distance closed, the sperm whale's full form finally appeared 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's gaze suddenly froze—he seemed to see 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.

There, deeply embedded in the inner side of the sperm 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 was a faded blue plastic rope, tightly entangled over the dark object, even dug 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.

"Damn, what bad luck—I get annoyed just by getting a strand of meat stuck in my teeth; imagine a thick plastic rope like that wrapped around there—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, so eventually this tooth will become severely inflamed and fall out just to find relief."

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

He turned the lens 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 into a flood.

"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 teeth—you'd have to climb into its mouth, damn, just imagining it gives me the creeps."

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

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

"Don't worry—I still have confidence. 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 you say they have cultural transmission—are you sure you're not joking?"

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

"Qin Ye is starting to make stuff up."

"Laughable—now your true level's exposed, 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 exceed human infants, approaching or even matching adult primates."

Seeing him deliver this serious lecture, some believed him, but others still sneered.

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

"Qin Ye is right—sperm whales are among the smartest 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, then, wearing nothing but briefs, swam toward the sperm whale.

They were a kilometer apart—luckily, Qin Yun's swimming skills were exceptional; any ordinary person attempting such a long ocean swim would collapse from exhaustion. Yet when Qin Yun reached forty or fifty meters from the sperm whale's front, he remained fully energized, showing no sign of fatigue.

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

It knew humans well, but was curious why one was here; momentarily forgetting its pain, it studied Qin Yun with curiosity.

Qin Yun took the survival knife from his mouth, pointed to his own teeth, and mimed with the blade: 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 the gestures and speech over a dozen 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: "Hahahaha, look—you see? I told you sperm whales are still very humanlike, extremely intelligent—they understood me!"

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

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

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

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

Qin Yun re-bited the survival knife, then swam onward toward the sperm whale. When he could finally reach out and touch it, the visual impact was overwhelming.

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

Gripping the lower edge of the sperm 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 must it eat daily to grow so big?"

Qin Yun swiftly located the gap between two teeth and finally saw clearly what the dark object 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 jammed between 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 in the gums—there's virtually 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 at the scene, deeply shaken.

The massive head, sharp teeth—the overwhelming pressure so close at hand—this 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.

Thinking for a moment, he patted the sperm whale and shouted loudly: "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 laughed: "I have to say, there really is a sense of pressure, but I believe nothing will go wrong."

Having said that, he began using the tip of the knife to pry, bit by bit, at the loop of plastic rope embedded in the gum.

The moment he pried, the whale was in so much pain that its whole body shuddered; its gaping mouth wobbled, and that enormous head on top looked as though it might come crashing down at any moment.

Actually, when a sperm whale feeds and opens and closes its mouth, it's the lower jaw that moves; the upper jaw is huge and heavy and basically stays fixed.

But through the camera, it looked as though at any moment that incomparably massive head was about to come slamming down.

"Holy shit, watching this is making my heart pound out of my chest."

"Qin's got some serious guts."

"Respect, Master Qin is truly brave."

"Hold on, it'll be over soon."

Qin Yun called out in a soothing voice, his hands steady as a rock.

Soon, that loop of plastic rope embedded in the gum was finally removed; in that instant, the sperm whale shuddered all over in pain, and a rush of air burst from its enormous blowhole, yet it never thrashed about.

"Phew… next up is this giant squid's beak."

This beak was absurdly black and rock-hard; no one knew how long it had been embedded. Qin Yun pried at it, one cut after another, bit by bit.

"Crack—!"

A faint sound of something breaking rang out; the squid's hard beak that had tormented this sperm whale for who knows how long finally came completely free from the gum.

In an instant, a great gush of blood spurted from the gum.

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

After leaving the sperm whale by several dozen meters, the sperm whale's lower jaw finally slowly closed; in that instant it finally no longer felt that foreign object, and the feeling of relief and joy made it unable to help letting out a series of "click-clack, click-clack" sounds.

Immediately, a warm current of air carrying the briny smell of the deep sea rushed toward him; the sperm whale merely shifted slightly and drew close to Qin Yun.

The drone swiftly flew to the side, capturing both the man and the whale in frame.

Compared to the sperm whale, Qin Yun was tiny, and this contrast made the scene all the more stunning.

Qin Yun laughed heartily, patted the sperm whale's head, and said: "No need to thank me, you just got lucky running into me."

"Click-clack… click-clack… click-clack…"

Although Qin Yun was also a master-level zoologist, he really couldn't understand the sperm whale's sounds; he could only sense the joy and goodwill carried in them.

"How about we take a photo together, and then I'll give you a name, alright?"

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

"Tsk tsk, Master Qin is really badass-plus, an absolutely stunning experience."

"Yeah, who would dare do this, who could? In the entire outdoor livestreaming world, Master Qin is already the undisputed number one."

"Forget the country, you couldn't find anyone more badass than Master Qin anywhere in the world."

Netizens were madly hitting the like button in the comment section.

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

"From now on, your name will be Xiangxiang."

Hearing this name, every single netizen burst out laughing.

"Pfft… damn, what kind of lousy name is that."

"Master Qin's being abstract again."

"Xiangxiang, hahaha."

"Come on, Xiangxiang, look at the camera." Qin Yun patted the sperm whale's head, then guided it to look at the drone in the distance.

"Hahaha, this is my good friend Xiangxiang, please take good care of her, everyone."

After the horseplay, the sperm whale gently nudged Qin Yun's body with its head, then swam off into the distance; in no time at all, its massive body suddenly sank and vanished into the deep sea.

Qin Yun floated on the surface, watching the sperm whale disappear without a trace, feeling that this experience had been pretty good.

"I should head back to my beacon block too."

Qin Yun glanced at the camera, then looked back in the direction he'd come from, and his expression suddenly changed.

"Holy shit, my home base got raided!"