1017 No God (1/2)

Into the night.

”Ah!” Jiang Feifei sighed with the bento in her hands. ”Store Manager, why is your luck always so good? Every time you go to the beach, you're always able to encounter whales, whether they are alive or dead. Why can't I meet one?”

A ”closed” sign was hung on the shop door, otherwise, fans of Famous and customers would still visit in the middle of the night. Although Zhang Zian was happy to do more business, it was just like the famous saying that Vladimir often said, ”Those that don't know how to rest, don't know how to work.”

Including Zhang Zian, everyone else was pigging themselves out on the bento in their hands.

The evening news of the local television station was being broadcasted on the television, and the content was about the whale that got beached and died.

The cameraman carried the camera on his shoulders and filmed the scene from above. The focus of the shot was not on the whale's carcass, and it was censored with mosaic. Even then, however, the bloodiness of the scene was clear to everyone; the entire beach was almost painted red with the whale's blood.

A large number of firefighters wearing full protective gear were constantly coming and going. Some were cutting the whale meat with a cutting machine, while others pushed a small, sled-like cart and transported the whale meat away in batches, most likely to incinerate them in another location… The greatest exaggeration was that sometimes the firefighters had to use a chainsaw or a cutting machine to drill into the whale's belly to cut it up, and the pungent smell was just too overwhelming. Many people were probably going to stay away from meat for a very long time.

In addition, the remaining firefighters took a high-pressure water gun to flush the blood and bits of meat into the sea. The sea water soon turned dark red and white whale blubber was floating everywhere.

As the weather got warmer, soon enough, many people would come to the beach for a walk. But after that incident, no one would want to swim in the water for a long time.

A reporter interviewed Ke Shaohui on the spot. It was obvious that it was Ke Shaohui's first time being interviewed, and his first time to be on television. He stuttered through the interview, but he was still clear about the process.

He gave a detailed recap on how he got a call from Zhang Zian and learned that a whale had been beached and was already dead. He then talked about the process from when he brought his men down, to how they solved the problem of the whale potential explosion. He then closed off the interview with an appeal to the public––that if they were to encounter another incident of a beached whale, whether the whale was alive or dead, to please call the administration of fishery immediately. He added that no inexperienced person should attempt to deal with it alone, for there was a lot of potential danger. In closing, he repeated the contact number of the administration of fishery.

The reporter was also affected by the bloodiness on the beach. He repeated Ke Shaohui's words to the audience again and again. He also mentioned that the administration of fishery had already started a project, and was prepared to set up new signs on the entire coastline of Binhai City to warn the public of the correct procedures to take if they encountered a beached whale.

Wang Qian stuffed a mouthful of rice into his mouth, then said while chewing, ”Master, just tell us the truth––did you chop open the whale's belly with your bare hands?”

”What? At most, he just used the fingernail on his pinky finger!” Li Kun corrected Wang Qian with rice spurting out from his mouth.

Zhang Zian was too lazy to entertain them, but his silence was taken as consent on their end.

Lu Yiyun wasn't interested in the topic, and she wasn't courageous enough to look at the images on the news. She silently sat in front of the cashier counter as she dug into her bento, eating and checking the contents of the day's business statements to ensure that nothing was overlooked.

Jiang Feifei pleaded repeatedly for Zhang Zian to call her if he ever came across another beached whale.

Zhang Zian promised her that he would, but he said that he would decided whether or not to call her depending on the situation. Also, who was going to look after the store if she was gone?

”Right, Store Manager.” Jiang Feifei remembered something. ”Welder Zhao visited earlier today and took two clownfish home with him. He mentioned that he had an agreement with you and told me to let you know.”

”Well, we did have an agreement, but I forgot to tell you about it.” Zhang Zian nodded, and sincerely hoped that he wouldn't have any further involvement with Welder Zhao. If things were to continue on like that, then one fine day, he would become the next victim of the jinxed old man.

A blueish gray figure flashed by while they were talking. Zhang Zian glanced over and saw that Vladimir was walking out of the store.

Basically every night at that time, Vladimir always snuck out alone. It used to wander outside until morning, but it now came back before midnight as long as Zian left a little gap at the window. Anyway, the weather was warm now, so it was pretty comfortable to sleep with the window open.

Jiang Feifei had her full attention on the news while Wang Qian and Li Kun were gossiping about all kinds of things. Only Liu Yiyun, who was quietly eating, noticed what Vladimir was doing and told Zian, ”Mr. Manager, this cat is running out alone.”

”It's okay. You don't have to worry about it.” Zhang Zian waved his hand to reassure her. ”It'll come back by itself.”

He thought that Vladimir would return sometime during the middle of the night, so he didn't really bother. After he was done eating, he threw the bento box into the trash can. Just as he was about to go wash his hands, he heard Lu Yiyun say, ”Oh, it really did come back.”

Zhang Zian stopped and turned around. He saw that Vladimir was back, but it didn't enter the store. It stood by the entrance and stared at Zian. The golden part of its eyes were sparkling under the light. It looked like it had something to say.

Zian then gave Vladimir a look and followed it out of the store. When he saw that no one was around, Zian asked, ”What's going on?”