Chapter 1012: Ebb and Flow

Zhang Zian looked up at the red sun hanging in the sky, and the temperature of the air gradually increased as the sun rose. He knew that the gray-black skin of this whale would double absorb the heat of the sun, and its thick layer of fat would prevent the heat from escaping. It is further accelerating under the heating of the sun, and it is already unstoppable.

After most animals die, they start to rot from the inside out. The first thing to rot is the internal organs, and the same is true for whales.

In addition, there is another difference between whales, that is, the skin of whales is too thick and tough.

After animals on land die, all kinds of scavengers will come, and the corpse may be eaten up as soon as it shows signs of decay, whether you were the king of beasts or what.

But it is special if the whale dies on the beach, because there are often no particularly powerful scavengers on the beach.

Without the razor-sharp teeth of sharks, ordinary shrimps, crabs and seabirds can't even break through the skin of whales, so if whales die on the beach, their bodies are often well preserved.

Zhang Zian tried to stretch out his hand, and pressed the skin of the gray whale corpse. The skin was hot and fishy, ​​and the moisture had been dried, but the palm still seemed to be elastic when he pressed it, somewhat similar to the feeling of pressing on a water bed.

He walked around to the other side of the whale carcass. This direction revealed part of the whale's abdomen. He tried to press the whale's belly again. It was softer and more elastic than the whale's back, and it seemed a little too soft.

When helping the stranded minke whale to leave the beach, he also pressed the belly of the minke whale, which gave him a feeling of firmness and elasticity. Although whales of different types and ages may not be comparable horizontally, the difference in feel is a bit too big.

He went to the gray whale's head again, and sniffed close to its mouth.

The mouth of the gray whale was slightly opened, and the strong and disgusting pungent taste slowly overflowed from the depths of the mouth, choking him to cough, staggered a few steps away, squatted down and retched a few times.

He was not the only one next to the whale carcass, and five or six other people took pictures and selfies with the whale carcass as the background, and then posted them on Weibo and circle of friends to show off.

Zhang Zian wiped his mouth and watched one of them take a selfie happily. He was concentrating on retouching the picture, adding a literary filter to the photo, and adding the words "I see a deer when the forest is deep, and a whale when the sea is blue". , ready to post on Moments to pretend.

He walked over to strike up a conversation and said, "Brother, please excuse me."

The other party was startled, looked him up warily, and found that he didn't know him, so he asked nonchalantly, "What's the matter?"

"I want to ask, when did this whale run aground here?" Zhang Zian asked, pointing at the gray whale.

"This... I don't know too well, anyway, it was here when I came here... Hey, do you know when this whale ran aground?" The man asked the other people next to him.

"have no idea."

"I don't know."

"I was also called by a friend. She said that a whale was stranded on the beach here, and she asked me to come and have a look." A girl said.

Zhang Zian asked: "Then when did your friend see it?"

"Hmm..." The girl thought for a while, "Maybe in the morning, she has the habit of running along Huanhai Avenue in the morning, and she told me when she returned to the house we shared after running."

"About what time?"

"What time is it... maybe after seven o'clock."

Zhang Zian checked the date on his mobile phone, and then silently estimated the ebb and flow times in his heart.

Affected by the gravitational force of the moon, there are two high tides and two low tides every day. The time of high tide and low tide is not fixed, but a periodic cycle like the moon's waxing and waning. There is about 12 hours between high tides and low tides every day.

As a child who grew up by the sea, he knew this rule very well.

The last time he helped the minke whale, the high tide happened around noon, and according to his calculation, the first high tide today was around 9:30 in the morning, but the gray whale had already stranded here.

To be clear, the large adult gray whale must have been pushed onto the beach by a high tide.

Since it wasn't pushed up by the high tide at 9:30 this morning, it was probably pushed up by the high tide at the early nine o'clock last night. It was night at that time, and no one would come to this beach at that time, so it was discovered in the morning.

As for whether it will be earlier... It's hard to say, because he didn't pass by this area when he came to the beach yesterday morning, so it's unclear whether the gray whale was already here at that time.

According to the most conservative estimate, its corpse has been here...for almost 14 hours.

How long after it died was it afloat before being pushed onto the beach? No one can tell.

"This whale must be dead, right? It stinks."

"Probably."

"Do you think there will be a restaurant owner or something who will take away the whale carcass and sell the whale meat?"

"No way...that's disgusting, and it stinks..."

Several people next to each other chatted with each other while taking pictures.

Zhang Zian asked again: "Do you know if anyone has reported the death of this whale here to the relevant department?"

"..."

These young people looked at each other.

"I don't."

"Me neither."

"I think someone else should have reported it..."

They talked and laughed, with relaxed expressions, as if they thought that someone else might have reported it, and it had nothing to do with them.

"Let's talk about the relevant department, which department is the relevant department?" One of them smiled wryly, "Should we call 110? Wouldn't that count as a false alarm?"

"Hello? 110? A dead body was found by the sea, please come here. Please protect the scene and tell me your exact location. Is the dead body male or female? Report, it is the dead body of a whale. I don't know if it is male or not." Girl... get out!" The other person imitated the tone of calling the police, making several girls present laugh.

Zhang Zian: "..."

"Since no one is calling, let me call. Leave here as soon as you finish taking pictures. It is dangerous to stay here. The body of this gray whale may explode."

He warned them, but before he could explain in detail, he took out his mobile phone and found a phone number from the address book. The owner of the number was Ke Shaohui, the fishery staff member who called when he rescued the minke whale last time.

His finger moved to Ke Shaohui's name, and he was about to press it to make a call, but he was startled and stopped quickly.

The pungent smell from the whale's mouth lingers around, and using a mobile phone next to a rotting whale carcass is as dangerous as using a mobile phone at a gas station.

He trotted away for a certain distance and dialed Ke Shaohui's number.