Chapter 65

"Xiaohu, go outside and play with your companions." After Fan Wei, Xue Zonghong, and others took Su Mei away, the killer whale finally surfaced from the sea. Su Jing patted the killer whale's head and said. The killer whale affectionately nudged Su Jing's hand, then turned around with some reluctance.

"Ai Jing, Ai Jing." At this moment, not far away, Su Liang's anxious voice rang out. Su Jing looked in the direction of the voice and saw Su Liang and Shi Qing running over. Shi Qing was drenched in sweat, her face full of anxiety, her eyes slightly red, and tears welling up.

"What's wrong?" Su Jing asked.

"Shi Yun went out to fish and hasn't returned all day. It's almost evening, and it's getting dark, but there's still no sign of him. Shi Qing wants to borrow our fishing boat to go out and look for him," Su Liang said quickly.

"Ai Jing, can we borrow your boat?" Shi Qing's voice was tinged with a sob.

"Of course, let's go quickly." As Su Jing spoke, he suddenly turned to the sea and said, "Xiaohu, don't go yet, come and help us look for him."

" Splash." The killer whale hadn't swum far and immediately surfaced upon hearing Su Jing's words, its tongue out, looking delighted. It clearly still preferred to stay with Su Jing.

"Killer... killer whale?" Shi Qing was startled, her eyes wide.

"I'll explain later, let's find him first. Liang, next time if something like this happens, don't ask me, just go out and look for him," Su Jing said. To Su Jing, a boat worth 200,000 yuan was far less important than a life, especially Shi Qing's brother.

Su Jing first instructed the killer whale to go out and look for the missing person, then ran to the dock with Su Liang and Shi Qing. Su Xiaolin, Su Hu, and a few others were already waiting there. A few more people were still at the fishing grounds, where they had already replaced the three broken net boxes. Leaving a few people to guard was enough.

"Xiaolin, you stay here. Call a few more people to help, and use all the boats in the village that can be used. If anyone refuses, tell them 3,000 yuan per day, and I'll pay for it," Su Jing said to Su Xiaolin.

"Okay." Su Xiaolin nodded and ran back to the village to gather more help. In fact, Shi Qing's father and the fishing boats from Shijia Village had already set out, but their boats were too small and dangerous in the open sea, especially with the large waves today. The small boats were hard to navigate, so they mainly relied on Su Jing's boat.

"Let's go." Su Jing and the others set out to sea to look for the missing person.

"Your brother went out with a few people? Did he say where he was going to fish?" Su Jing turned to Shi Qing and asked. She was wearing a casual T-shirt that accentuated her good figure, but there was a fishy smell on her. Su Jing could tell it was the smell of scallops. Besides occasionally working as a tour guide, she mostly helped her family dry scallops, as her family mainly did business in scallops. For most people, the smell of scallops might be a concern, but Su Jing, living by the sea, was very used to it, especially since he himself had just finished fishing and smelled even stronger.

"They were three in total, but I don't know exactly where they went to fish," Shi Qing shook her head.

"Don't worry too much. You know your brother is a very good swimmer, he'll be fine," Su Jing comforted her.

"Okay." Shi Qing nodded, but the worry in her expression didn't lessen much. People living by the sea knew that if you went out to sea, even the best swimmers were no match for the waves, especially with the large waves today. Each wave could knock a person into the sea and make it impossible to get back up.

Since they didn't know where Shi Yun had gone to fish, they could only rely on luck. They first went to the area where Shi Yun often fished, which was also a common area for nearby villagers. After all, some areas had more fish, and everyone knew it. Unfortunately, they didn't find any sign of Shi Yun. During the search, they saw a few fishing boats from Shijia Village, but they hadn't found him either.

"Su family boy." A small fishing boat approached, bouncing wildly in the big waves, looking like it might capsize at any moment. One of the tall, thin middle-aged men on the boat shouted.

"Uncle." Although the man was impolite, Su Jing was still courteous, as he was Shi Qing's father, Shi Guanglu.

"Shi Yun might have gone further out to sea. Our small boats can't go out there, so... please... help us..." Shi Guanglu was initially very anxious and didn't care about politeness. Plus, there had been rumors about Su Jing and Shi Qing in high school, which made him angry. But as he spoke, he realized he was asking for help. Was it more important to be petty or to save his son's life?

"Uncle, no need to say more, come aboard." Su Jing lowered a ladder, allowing Shi Guanglu and two other middle-aged men to climb up. The small boat was tied to the larger boat with a rope and dragged along. The two other middle-aged men were the fathers of the two young men who had gone out to sea with Shi Yun.

"Dad." Seeing her father, Shi Qing couldn't help but want to cry.

"It's okay, it's okay." Shi Guanglu patted Shi Qing's shoulder.

Su Liang steered the boat, and Shi Guanglu gave directions, heading further out to sea. Normally, people wouldn't take small boats so far from shore, but Shi Yun, being a good swimmer and very bold, it wasn't surprising that he had gone so far.

After searching for another few dozen minutes, the sky had already grown dark, making Shi Guanglu and Shi Qing even more anxious. Once it got dark, it would be even harder to find him, and the longer it took, the more dangerous it became.

" Splash." Suddenly, on the left side of the boat, the killer whale surfaced.

"Killer whale!" Shi Guanglu and the other two middle-aged men were shocked.

"It's fine, it's mine," Su Jing said.

"Yours?" Shi Guanglu's eyes widened. Can a killer whale be privately owned? But at this moment, he didn't have the time to ask more.

"Xiaohu, did you find anything?" Su Jing asked, and the killer whale called out.

"What? You found them?" Su Jing's eyes lit up.

"Found them?" Su Liang was delighted and stopped the boat to come over. Shi Qing, Shi Guanglu, and the others were dumbfounded, not quite understanding how Su Jing not only owned this killer whale but also trained it to understand and find people.

"Xiaohu says he saw three people standing on a reef, and they are shouting," Su Jing told everyone and then instructed the killer whale, "Xiaohu, take us there quickly."

The killer whale called out and swam south, with its dorsal fin exposed to help Su Jing see, acting like a guide. Su Liang, without needing Su Jing's instructions, turned the boat and followed the killer whale.

"Ai Jing, can you understand what the killer whale is saying? Did it really find them?" Shi Guanglu frowned, hoping to find his son quickly but not wanting to place his hopes on a killer whale, which he didn't trust. What if it wasted time?

"Killer whales finding people isn't unusual. They are highly intelligent and can be trained to perform special tasks, such as deep diving, navigation, and mine clearance. The U.S. Navy's Underwater Warfare Center in Hawaii spends millions of dollars each year training an animal force, with killer whales being a major part of it," Su Jing explained.

"Is that true?" Shi Guanglu's eyes widened, and Shi Qing felt a bit more reassured by Su Jing's calm words.

"Also, killer whales can emit ultrasound and use the echo to find fish schools, and they can determine the size and direction of the fish school through ultrasound. So, in a strict sense, they are very good at finding people. Besides, it's better to trust the killer whale once than to wander around aimlessly like a headless fly," Su Jing said. Shi Guanglu and the other two middle-aged men nodded.

"Look, there seems to be someone ahead?" After advancing about 3,000 meters, Su Liang suddenly shouted.

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