Chapter 297 - Who Has Such a Great Ability (1/2)
The sea breeze of the polar night was cold and lonely.
Fang Ning stared at the sea, puzzled. The tide was getting stronger, and the moon was getting nearer, but the observatory did not give any early warnings. It was obviously not normal.
He subconsciously looked around him to pass the time while waiting for the Dragon Carp to return from investigating.
In the dark night, in the far distance to the west, under a mountain peak, he could vaguely make out obviously man-made markings on an ice wall, neatly stacked and layered like a great wall of ice.
Through the cracks on the ice wall, with his current super eyesight, Fang Ning could occasionally see several fat black and white objects moving around.
Curious, he looked closer, and realized that it was a huddle of fat penguins. However, he could not tell what species it was.
Fang Ning pondered and asked Old George, “Do you usually encounter penguins while working here?”
Old George was stunned. Although he did not understand what the Pharos of the East meant by that, he answered happily, “Yes, I often meet them while I work nearby. They’re just like my grandchildren. I love playing with them, I’ve even taught them many things.
“In fact, they were the ones who told me about the changes in the waves a few months ago. That was when I started to observe and record.”
Fang Ning nodded and said, “In other words, it was you who taught them how to build the ice wall below the mountain on the west?”
Old George turned to look and cried out in astonishment, “Mister, your eyesight really is amazing. That’s an emperor penguin tribe. They’re seven kilometers away from us, I can’t see them from here at all.
“Indeed, I taught them how to build that ice wall. They’re a bunch of idiots, they don’t have hands. I initially wanted to teach them how to make Inuit igloos.
“However, even after months of tinkering, they only learned how to cut ice bricks out of the ice using their beaks which became strong and sharp after mutation. They managed to build ice walls, but they can never build an elaborate igloo. It seems that it’ll take a few years for them to master such a complex building technique.
“However, this is also a hundred times better than when they could only rely on their own bodies to break the wind. This should save them from a lot of fat consumption. I believe that this winter, the male penguins that are hatching eggs will be able to have a comfortable winter for the first time.”
Fang Ning marveled at his words. If animals gained sapience, many big problems for survival would be easily solved by learning just a little from human beings.
He had seen some documentaries. One of the major difficulties for Antarctic penguins was that the harsh and cold climate greatly reduced the survival rate of chicks.
Fortunately, this cold also prevented the most ferocious predators from appearing, and only a few natural enemies existed. There were both advantages and disadvantages.
Fang Ning nodded and said, “It looks like we’ll have to go ask the locals to find more clues.”
The truth was that he was getting too bored, and just wanted to find something new to see.
After all, this was the south pole. There was no wireless signal here, so he could not surf the net…
He ordered the Black Dog to stand guard there and wait for the Dragon Carp to return.
Afterward, he took Old George as well as Robert. They rode on the flying sword and arrived at the ice wall in an instant.
Looking at it from above, Fang Ning was even more amazed. He felt like this trip had been worthwhile, and that he had greatly broadened his knowledge.
It turned out that the ice wall was stacked on top of each other. There were a total of three layers inside and outside, and each layer was higher than the other. Since it was at the foot of a mountain, it looked like city walls. The large area was firmly and tightly enclosed.
There were only two openings. One seemed to be the entrance, while the other was the exit.
Inside the ice-made walls, there were many fat penguins packed together.
They were not doing anything. They just stood there and occasionally cried at each other.
It was just as Old George said. The howls of the wind became much softer inside the ice walls.
This large waddle of emperor penguins grew to around one meter in height. They were all plump and fat, all streamline, and black and white in color.
When they saw the three men appear, they did not panic and just stood where they were. Instead, they started twittering and calling. No one knew what they were talking about.
After a while, the tallest and fattest penguin forcefully squeezed out of the waddle.
It went towards a vacant space and raised its head to look at the three people. Then, it said towards Old George, “Oh, it’s our dear Old George. Are you here to teach us something again?”
What surprised Fang Ning was the fact that this penguin could actually speak English. However, its accent was very strange.
Oh, right, maybe Old George was too old and could not learn Mandarin, unlike Robert. The three of them had been conversing in English.
Old George introduced Vigilante A to the fat penguin and said that he would like to ask it some questions.
Hearing this, the fat penguin shook its body and turned its eyes, and said, “Oh, you want to ask about the waves getting bigger? I can tell you about that, but this time, you need to teach us a cultivation ability. I know you humans have lots of those.”
Old George was speechless, “Hey, Mike, you weren’t this greedy before. I’ve already taught you how to build a house. After you learn it, you can use it to avoid the gulls, the wretched cold wind, and even your old fur seal adversaries.
“You shouldn’t push your luck like this. After all, what I want to ask is of no value to you. It’s just a passing mention.”
Old George was no fool. He was a scientific researcher with a high IQ. He naturally knew how long it would take to develop a cultivation ability that would be suitable for penguins…
However, the crisis was imminent. Where would they find that sort of time?
The penguin leader Mike shook its head, “It might not be of any value to us, but it’s very important to you. I often see you run towards the sea, braving the dark nights and cold winds. Is it because if the waves continue getting bigger, the houses that you build by the sea will be flooded?”
Old George sighed helplessly and turned towards Vigilante A.