Zhang Zian had not used the regular pet column in the game very often, except for when he had transported the Ragdolls and Abyssinian cats. He had only used it once to capture a stray cat during the game’s tutorial.
He took a clear, frontal picture of the pet––keeping in mind the game’s instructions––in order to capture it. He then adjusted the position carefully to focus the lens on the disgustingly weird worm before he pressed on the “capture” key.
Kacha!
The giant scale worm disappeared from where it had been before it appeared in the game and occupied one of the five regular pet columns. A live animal was digitalized on the screen.
No matter how sharp its teeth and how toxic its bristles were, it could only stay in the pet column.
Karl might like this weird worm, since Germans have strange tastes and find reptiles or poisonous creatures acceptable to keep as pets. It would look weird in my pet shop, though.
However, could it be a mere coincidence that such a rare animal just showed up on this empty beach?
“Galaxy, where are you? Come out now. I lose!”
Compared to the current issue, Zhang Zian was more concerned about if Galaxy had run into some danger. If it had touched similar monsters out of mere curiosity, then that would not be good.
The wind came in from the sea, so his voice was blown back to the land behind him as soon as it left his mouth. It could not travel very far ahead.
He focused to listen, but did not hear Galaxy’s response.
There was nothing he could do except search for Galaxy and the unknown elfin.
The further he walked ahead, the more creatures he found between the rocks and sand. Sometimes there were so many that he had nowhere to step and he had to take a detour.
To avoid stepping on poisonous creatures hidden under the rocks, he stopped caring about how he looked and started crawling on top of the rocks with both his arms and legs. Sometimes he jumped from one rock to another.
Richard had been very careful ever since it had almost turned into the worm’s feces. Every time Zhang Zian jumped, it fluttered its wings to fly as well, as it was afraid of injuring itself if Zhang Zian slipped on the rocks.
It had a wide field of vision above Zhang Zian’s head and soon discovered something unusual.
“Quack! What’s in that puddle up there? A fish with wings?”
Zhang Zian had seen quite a few rare fish, shrimps, and crabs along the way. They were not precious, but indeed rare to come across. He lifted his phone a few times, then put it down and marked the rocks with small stones. There was a limited amount of spaces in the pet column. If there were not any rarer creatures ahead, then he planned to capture them into the phone on his way back.
After he heard Richard’s scream, the first idea that came to his mind was, A fish with wings? Could it be a flying fish?
He climbed over another rock and planned to mock Richard for making such a fuss, but after seeing the creature in the puddle of water, he was astonished!
About a dozen semi-transparent mollusks were suspended in the half-meter deep puddle. Each one measured around eight centimeters in length, while some were even longer.
Most of their bodies were almost transparent. There was a heart-shaped, orange organ in their chests and a similar organ was found in their round heads, only much smaller.
The most surprising part was the pair of crystal clear wings that flapped in the water to keep them suspended. They also had a long, crystal clear tail and two soft antennae on their heads. They looked like elfins in a puddle––like in a dream.
Had it been the old Richard, it would have surely flown up to them immediately for a closer look; however, it had lost its guts after the fright before and stayed a distance away to watch.
Zhang Zian said, “Don’t worry. They won’t bite you!”
Richard finally relaxed. “Quack! I’m not afraid! But tell me… what are they? They look pretty.”
“If I’m not mistaken, they are very rare creatures called sea angels, or naked sea butterflies. The official name is Clione… These Cliones in front of us are huge. I’m guessing that they are giant sea angels living in north Atlantic,” he explained.
“Quack! That is a beautiful name. Since they are so rare, then why not take them back?” Richard asked.
“This is exactly my plan.” As Zhang Zian raised his phone, he became hesitant.
Giant sea angels were very rare creatures, even in public aquariums. They could have easily been the most eye-catching pet in the shop; however, the problem was that only one pet could be captured in each pet column and having four giant sea angels in all of the remaining spaces seemed like kind of a waste…
Zhang Zian almost put his entire face on the water and observed them again carefully. He suddenly noticed that one of the giant sea angels was bigger than the others, and that the organs inside the chest and abdomen had vibrant colors. He noted that as an obvious sign of sexual maturity.
Immediately, another giant sea angel crept over tentatively and floated next to the bigger one, like a polite gentleman inviting it to dance in the water.
Two opaque, giant sea angels attracted each other like magnets. They got closer and closer. The organs inside them looked like burning flames of love and shone brighter and brighter…
Zhang Zian seized the chance and pressed the “capture” button, putting both giant sea angels––which were about to mate––into his phone.
Giant sea angels were hermaphroditic, but needed to cross-fertilize. Therefore, it didn’t matter whether these captured giant sea angels were male or female.
He was not being insensitive to break them apart as they were about to mate. The mating of giant sea angels could last for four hours, which would put any human to shame. He simply could not wait…
After he captured the two giant sea angels, he thought that he might be able to breed a litter. There was an ambitious saying that said: “Give me a woman, and I can create a nation!”
He took another look at the remaining giant sea angels. As he was about to leave, another sea angel suddenly tore off its angel-like gentleness, exposed several tentacles, then jumped over a small creature next to it.
The little creature was determined to survive, but it was not as agile as the giant sea angel.
It was a helicid pteropod, which was another beautiful creature, but it was also the only food of giant sea angels, like bamboo was for pandas.
Without the helicid pteropods, even if the giant sea angels were successfully bred, they would starve to death.
The reason that giant sea angels were rare in major public aquariums was simply the scarcity of helicid pteropods; they simply had no food.
Without a second thought, Zhang Zian rolled up his sleeves and dipped his hand quickly underwater. He scooped out the helicid pteropod so that it would not end up being food.
The helicid pteropod was as big as a button, so he didn’t need the phone to hold it––a cup would do just fine.
He searched the puddles nearby and found a dozen helicid pteropods so that the giant sea angels would have plenty to eat.
The helicid pteropods would die quickly out of water, however, and Zian didn’t bring a cup when he came out. How would he transport the dozen helicid pteropods?
As he was getting anxious, Richard reminded him in time, “Quack! Don’t you have binoculars around your neck? Knock off the lenses on one side so that they could become a temporary cup.”
Richard’s suggestion was enlightening.
He spent money on these binoculars so it was a pity to break them, but he had to sacrifice them for a greater purpose.
He picked up a small rock and knocked off the lenses. After cleaning up the broken glass, he filled the binoculars with salt water and tossed the dozen helicid pteropods inside.
The binoculars were the cheap ones from the supermarket, but they were not leaking from the other side. He was surprised and joyous.
“Richard, you finally came up with a brilliant idea. Do you want to repay me for saving your life just now?” he asked.
Richard was staring ahead while he talked and answered him without rush. “Quack! Actually, I want to say that there seems to be a naturalist girl up front. She seems hot.”
“What!” Zhang Zian almost vomited blood. As he looked at the broken glass all over the ground, his heart broke into pieces!
Was it possible to put the lenses back?