Chapter 780: Demands
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
With a swoosh sound, the speedboat started moving and spraying large amounts of seawater around. As though it were hovering over the surface of the sea, the speedboat traveled at an astonishingly fast speed.
Li Du was also curious as to why the speedboat was traveling at such a fast speed. Could it be that the little bug's ability to slow down time could also to be used on other objects? Could it be that he was using the little bug's ability while operating the speedboat and hence, it was also independent of time?
While Li Du was pondering, the speed of the speedboat suddenly began decreasing. After which, the speedboat became slower and slower and ultimately came to a halt on the sea.
"Why is it not moving?" Hans anxiously asked Li Du. "What have you thought of again?"
After Li Du, who was dumbfounded, vigorously stepped on the accelerator, the outboard motor at the back of the speedboat gave off a few muffled rumbling sounds, as if it was clogged, and was ultimately not able to start.
Seeing this, Hans understood what was going on without needing Li Du to explain the situation to him. He exclaimed, "F*ck, there's a problem with the motor?"
Indeed, the speedboat had unexpectedly broken down at this critical moment.
The speedboat had really broken down. Was the speedboat going to stay in this area of sea where there was nothing else in sight?
The float was winding slowly toward them from behind like a snake. Before long, a triangle-shaped head emerged from the sea and the great white shark stood upright in front of them and stared at them with a pair of black eyes.
Seeing this sight, Hans inhaled a deep breath of air and asked, "God, what is it doing? Is it standing? Great white sharks can stand in water?"
Unlike Hans, Li Du knew what was going on. He explained, "This is spyhopping, where an animal kicks the seawater using its tail so as to stand upright in the sea and stick its head out of the surface."
"What for? Is the shark so curious about the outside world?" Hans asked.
Li Du replied, "Nonsense, this is how they hunt for food! Great white sharks are the only type of sharks that can spyhop. It gives them the advantage of being able to search for potential prey from the surface of the sea."
Hans was also scared out of his wits. "D*mn it, why aren't we escaping? It's hunting for food, right?"
The great white shark did not attack them. Having gradually calmed down, Li Du comforted Hans. "Don't be afraid, spyhopping is not for looking at objects that are on the surface of the sea. It's for overlooking the sea from the surface and checking out objects that are in the sea."
After telling Hans the above, he was unable to make up any more information.
Spyhopping was a method that great white sharks used to search the surface of the sea for prey. Due to having the ability to spyhop, great white sharks were able to prey on animals that swam on the surface of the sea, such as seals, sea lions, and penguins.
As great white sharks were not able to spyhop for a long period of time due to having an uneven body, the great white shark went back into the sea after sticking its head out of the surface and taking a look.
Hans heaved a sigh of relief. "Phew, it's finally gone."
On the other hand, Li Du's expression became grimmer. "This means that it's probably going to attack."
Assuming that the great white shark was intending to eat them, it had spyhopped to survey the area and went back into the sea to prepare to attack.
Despite the notoriety that great white sharks had, the number of people that had died from being eaten by them was, in truth, not high, and the number of people that had died from unprovoked great white shark attacks was even lower.
Li Du had looked up various kinds of information regarding the job of harvesting black gold abalone. When harvesting black gold abalone, precautions against shark attacks had to be taken. Despite that, based on an article, sharks were ranked very low in a list of animals that harvesters had to take precautions against and were even ranked lower than gentle sea animals such as seals and sea lions.
According to research done by oceanographers, great white sharks were intelligent and curious animals that had a fixed diet and wouldn't eat indiscriminately.
Great white sharks pretty much had no chance of eating humans in their lifetimes. When they encountered humans, they would at most be curious and would not prey on them.
However, as humans were too afraid of great white sharks, they would swim away or fight back when approached by one. As such, the great white shark would become angry and the situation would end tragically.
Great white sharks were indeed brutish enough to have this mindset. I'm the only one who is allowed to scare you and you are not allowed to scare me. I'm scaring you for fun. Since you scared me, I'm going to eat you.
Great white sharks were the only ones who were allowed to scare others!
There were a few main reasons for great white shark attacks.
First, as humans were just the right size for young great white sharks' hunting training, young great white sharks would attack them when learning how to hunt. Second, when humans interrupted great white sharks' courtship and ruined their chances of having sex, they would become enraged and attack them.
There was another possible reason as to why great white sharks attacked humans: those humans entered their territory at the wrong time, when they had just gotten the territory, and were as a threat.
After explaining the aforementioned reasons to Hans, Li Du said, "We most likely won't be attacked by a great white shark since we don't belong in any of those situations."
"What if the great white shark is starving?" Hans asked.
Hearing his question, Li Du became furious. "What's wrong with you? I have been f*king helping you be less anxious and comforting you. Why do you keep scaring me?"
Indeed, if great white sharks were starving, they would not be picky about what they ate.
Nonetheless, great white sharks would not attack humans if they were not starving.
As the fat content and calories that humans had were too low, great white sharks were not fond of eating humans and were more fond of eating animals with high-fat content, such as penguins and seals.
While swimming near Li Du and Hans and dragging the float with it, the great white shark made a few attempts to dive into the sea. However, due to the float, it was ultimately unable to.
After making a few attempts to dive into the sea, it became angry and started thrashing around.
As the length of the small speedboat was similar to that of the great white shark, the speedboat shook violently in the ripples created by the great white shark and scared the wits out of Li Du and Hans.
Finally, Sea Star 60 drove over. Having noticed that Li Du and Hans had been gone for a long time, Brother Wolf decided to drive over to check on them.
Frightened by the enormous yacht, the great white shark swam aside while dragging the float along. After which, it spyhopped once again and stuck its head out of the sea to survey the situation on the surface with its black eyes.
Having boarded the yacht, Li Du heaved a sigh of relief and called the Department of Hunting and Fishing to inform them of the situation.
After understanding their situation, the officer's attitude darkened and he said cautiously, "Oh, so it was a great white shark that was entangled in the fishing nets. Could you guys help us disentangle the great white shark from the fishing nets?"
Hans snatched the phone and said, "Dream on."
Clearly having understood why Hans sounded so angry, the officer had no choice but to say, "Relax, mates, this matter isn't that scary."
"No matter what you say, we won't go into the sea," Hans said firmly.
The officer did not force them and said, "In that case, don't harm the great white shark, great white sharks are a protected species. We'll settle this matter."
At this moment, Brother Wolf interrupted them and asked, "What will we get for helping you guys settle this matter? It's very dangerous—for you guys as well."
Hearing his words, the officer sensed that the situation had taken a turn for the better and immediately became excited. "If you guys are able to settle this matter properly, we can give you guys money."
"No, something else."
The officer pondered for a while. "You guys will gain the friendship of the Department of Fishing and Hunting and be able to harvest black gold abalone more freely. My colleagues and I will not trouble you guys again."
Brother Wolf said, "Deal."
Both Li Du and Hans exclaimed, "What?"