Chapter Sixty-Six: The Wounded Blue Whale

No matter what chaos was happening at the Insect House, Wu You decided to wait for the results before getting involved. Expertise matters, and the outcome chosen by professionals would certainly be more reliable than his own judgment. As for the remaining five alternative plans, he believed none of them would be bad; all he needed to do was pick whichever caught his eye. If he really couldn't decide, he could simply resort to a game of chance—whoever the finger landed on would be the one. If the participating design teams found out about this irresponsible attitude, they would probably spit out three liters of blood each and drown Wu You in it.

...

Aoguan had always been kept in the Azure Dragon River, which Wu You felt was unfair to it. After this trip to the sea, it was clear that a dragon should spend more time in open waters. So, during the day, he let the blue dragon roam the ocean freely, and if it came across any unique marine creatures, it could notify Wu You. Sure enough, Aoguan soon brought him a surprise.

A wave of consciousness belonging to Aoguan reached him. Wu You, with nothing else to do, switched to observation mode to see what was happening. Aoguan was now in a part of the sea where neither shore nor ships were visible, its head half submerged and half above water. What came into view was a small fish several hundred meters away—but that was only relative to Aoguan's massive size. In truth, the "fish" was nearly ten meters long.

Wu You realized this wasn't a fish but a whale—a blue whale, to be precise. As someone with a keen interest in unique creatures, Wu You easily recognized this distinct marine mammal. But blue whales were supposed to thrive in cold-water regions or at the junctions of cold and warm seas, where krill was abundant. This area shouldn't be part of their habitat. Why had it come here?

He checked the system's map, which showed Aoguan’s cursor position, and found it hadn't gone too far—just out of the inland sea and into the Pacific, heading toward the Bering Sea, frolicking along the way. Though still far from icy waters, the blue whale seemed to be in poor condition, barely moving.

Whether the whale had swum here on its own or been carried by ocean currents, Wu You had already decided to claim it. He ordered Aoguan to bring the blue whale back to China's inland sea while he ran downstairs. He was about to start up the yacht moored on the Azure Dragon River—the luxury vessel that Hou Li had transferred to him last time.

The reason he didn't simply let Aoguan drag it back and instead chose to go out himself was simple: a blue whale can only hold its breath underwater for less than twenty minutes. If Aoguan dragged it through the riverbed, it might drown. With such a massive dragon, and the whale being so large, it would be unreasonable to expect them to surface every ten minutes for the whale to breathe. Bringing it back at night wasn’t feasible either—there was still a risk of being seen, and besides, the whale appeared half dead during his observation, lying on the surface and barely moving, probably wouldn't last long, and freshwater wasn’t suitable.

So Wu You decided to head out to sea himself. Besides, he hadn't taken the yacht for a spin since acquiring it, so this was a good opportunity to enjoy the ride. He had only practiced driving the yacht briefly during the transfer, but thanks to his improved physical capabilities and control, he wasn't a novice anymore, even if not on par with seasoned captains.

Since this wasn’t purely a leisure trip, he didn’t invite anyone else—just Garuru would suffice. After notifying his family, Wu You set out on the yacht, with Aoguan swimming behind, its tail wrapped around the blue whale.

The yacht's top speed was about fifty nautical miles per hour, so even at maximum throttle, it would take several hours to reach suitable waters.

...

After sailing straight for over four hours, the yacht finally reached the Qiantang Bay area, with the famous Shengsi Islands not far ahead. During the journey, Wu You and Garuru took turns steering and enjoyed lunch. Aoguan had already arrived and was waiting for Wu You, the blue whale occasionally struggling in its grasp.

At last, face to face with his prize, Wu You was moved to tears—not because he missed Aoguan or adored the whale, but because the past few hours had been excruciatingly dull.

Eagerly, he had Aoguan bring the blue whale to the water platform at the yacht’s stern, and Wu You reached out to capture it.

Prompt: Capture failed; target possesses resistance.

Impossible. The whale appeared uninjured yet so weak—how could it still resist?

Under Wu You's gaze, Aoguan’s massive body coiled around the whale, four giant claws digging into its flesh, tightening its grip. The whale, once nearly lifeless, began to struggle fiercely. The sound of creaking bones accompanied its cries.

Once the whale’s struggles weakened, Wu You attempted to capture it again. The ill-fated whale finally vanished into a stream of black light.

Capture successful. Material obtained: Male blue whale.

Alas, he would still have to spend several hours piloting the yacht back.

...

Despite the long return, acquiring such a rare specimen left Wu You in high spirits, even though the blue whale was a protected species. But he doubted any conservation group would be so omniscient as to know he had captured one. He already had several plans in mind for how to utilize the blue whale.

Moreover, its capture made Wu You realize that Aoguan could roam the world’s oceans, collecting rare and unique marine creatures one by one.

...

On the way back, in areas away from prying eyes, Aoguan manipulated the water flow beneath the surface, increasing the yacht’s speed from fifty to one hundred twenty nautical miles per hour. Much faster than the sluggish pace earlier, and Wu You wouldn’t have to eat dinner on the yacht.

As soon as Wu You disembarked, a tiny figure dashed from his house’s back door. From afar, Wu You inwardly groaned.

...

The little one’s name was Zhang Tianbao, nine years old, Wu You’s nephew—specifically, his uncle Zhang Guojun’s grandson. It wasn’t that Wu You’s cousin Zhang Xiaoyuan, who was about his age, had been especially precocious; Zhang Xiaoyuan only married last year.

This child was an orphan rescued by Zhang Xiaoyuan during a military mission, and somehow, he ended up adopting him. At that time, the boy was only four years old. Afterward, the Zhang family treated him as their own, and Zhang Xiaoyuan’s longtime girlfriend, now wife, wholeheartedly supported the adoption.

But that wasn’t Wu You’s main concern.

It was that the boy had been spoiled—a textbook example of a mischievous child: boundless energy, destructive power, clinginess, all at maximum levels, and he especially liked to stick to Wu You.

The demise of his treasured gaming console, cola stains on his college thesis, the soggy diary of his ID card... These were painful memories he’d rather not revisit.