It was impossible for Jiang Ye to not feel panicked and nervous.
After all, she was facing a Great White Shark.
On Blue Star, there were countless horror movies with them as the protagonists. They were practically all killers, and a single bite could separate a person's head from their body.
But what was the use of panic and nervousness?
Jiang Ye had two options in front of her.
One, immediately click the 'Return to Island' button and disappear on the spot.
Two, wait for the Great White Shark not far away to charge and fight it, then wait to be killed.
Jiang Ye didn't think her small arms and legs could outlast the overlord of the sea by herself.
Turning around and swimming in the opposite direction to escape was also not an option.
The Great White Shark's head organs could detect the prey's heartbeat, just like the 'bilibili' signal Jiang Ye had felt earlier. Great White Sharks could use this special shark radar to lock onto distant prey and track them to the ends of the earth.
Furthermore, if one could observe a Great White Shark up close, they would notice two rows of small pores distributed on its body. These pores could sense the direction of water flow in the ocean. They used this sense to capture and determine the prey's movement direction.
So, in short, running away from a Great White Shark was impossible.
In just a few seconds, countless thoughts flashed through Jiang Ye's mind.
Finally, she decided to stay put and take a gamble.
She believed in science!
She wasn't in a hurry, but the bullet comments were anxious to death.
γGreat White Shark? Is it the Great White Shark I'm thinking of?γ
γAhhh, is it that white and chubby shark that eats people!!γ
γThe previous commenter, please don't describe it so cutely? White and chubby... Do you think it's your dog?γ
γWhy isn't the streamer running yet!!γ
γDamn, damn, damn, streamer quickly return to the island with one click!!γ
γHelp, I don't want to see the Great White Shark tear the streamer apart, it's too bloody, too cruel.γ
γBut why do I have a slight expectation? /cover faceγ
I'm Super Fierce: γStreamer, ignore them! Your life is important! Run quickly!γ
"Why run?" Jiang Ye said calmly, with an expression of 'Mount Tai collapsing before her without changing her color'. "There's no need to run."
"Scientific data proves that animals like Great White Sharks do not have a habit of actively attacking humans."[1]
Jiang Ye was trying to use knowledge to numb her instinctive fear.
"According to annual data statistics, there are 50,000 deaths from rabies each year, 1,000 deaths from crocodile bites, 500 deaths from hippopotamus trampling, and 100 deaths from elephant collisions. Globally, only about ten humans are killed by Great White Sharks."
γStreamer, which planet are you on? Don't be fooled!!γ
γOnion News, streamer, you must be watching Onion News.γ
γAnd this is a game, streamer. What if the Great White Shark is a monster and attacks automatically?γ
"I haven't seen that situation in the sea yet," Jiang Ye said.
She was confident about this point.
Having swum in the ocean for so long, apart from that Blanket Octopus, Jiang Ye hadn't encountered any creature that proactively attacked her.
As the seawater became more turbulent, the water waves created by the Great White Shark's movement crashed towards Jiang Ye like waves.
Jiang Ye found that the instinctive fear she had felt moments ago was replaced by another kind of madness.
Bring it on!
Let her face all the storms!
Face the most ferocious hunter in the eyes of humans in this world!
At this moment, the previously surging seawater suddenly stopped.
The Great White Shark, which had been tracking in Jiang Ye's direction, suddenly became much quieter.
It initially sensed the heartbeat of a seal and wanted to charge and attack. Later, it found that the seal seemed to have disappeared, but another creature that felt fear towards it still existed.
Great White Sharks have keen senses of smell but not very sharp eyesight. From a distance, they can only see a round, strip-like creature in the sea.
It couldn't tell what kind of creature it was for a moment, so it directly treated it as prey.
But just as it was rushing to capture its prey, it suddenly couldn't sense the prey's information anymore.
Its swimming slowed down, and the distance was shortening.
Closer, and closer.
The Great White Shark finally saw clearly that the creature in front of it did not belong to any marine creature, nor was it its usual prey.
It was a human.
The Great White Shark curiously observed the human in front of it.
Jiang Ye also looked back at it.
The scales of the Great White Shark are very fine, almost invisible. Such an evolution helps them minimize resistance during swimming. Up close, the Great White Shark's pointed snout twitched slightly, as if a puppy was sniffing something it had never seen before.
Jiang Ye held her breath.
The bullet comments also fell silent.
In this standoff between human and shark, all creatures fell into silence.
The Great White Shark, with its narrow front and wide back, tapered head, was now baring its mouth, with its sharp teeth neatly arranged in a cute manner.
Jiang Ye loved observing animal teeth; sometimes she even found joy in finding patterns.
From Jiang Ye's perspective, the Great White Shark's dark eyes were just a magnified version of Chubby Bird Dou Dou's eyes. Coupled with its round head, it looked a bitζ¨ (naive/simple) when it opened its mouth, and Jiang Ye found it quite cute.
Not just her, even the bullet comments felt the same.
γIs my brain playing tricks on me? Why do I think this Great White Shark is kind of cute?γ
γAwooo! Can Great White Sharks be pets? I really want one!γ
γCan the streamer pet it... Never mind if not, I take it back! Your life is important!γ
Jiang Ye raised her hand, shifted her position slightly, and swam next to the Great White Shark.
This Great White Shark was huge, about five meters long. Jiang Ye beside it was like a matchstick next to a storage box.
In the silent waves, frequencies of thought were transmitted.
Jiang Ye calmed her mind, gently raised her hand, and slowly touched the Great White Shark's fin.
This fin, which symbolized slaughter and death in horror movies, felt surprisingly warm to the touch, hot and comfortable.
The Great White Shark's body temperature was higher than the surrounding seawater.
Jiang Ye guessed this was to maximize its kinetic energy for capturing prey.
As Jiang Ye felt the resonance with the Great White Shark at this moment, feeling incredibly comfortable and even a little moved, the Great White Shark's state suddenly changed, and it immediately became vigilant.
Without even minding Jiang Ye, it flicked its tail, sending her flying to the side.
Jiang Ye spun in the water for quite a while before stabilizing.
γHoly crap! The Great White Shark went berserk!γ
γStreamer, streamer, don't die!!!!!γ
γI knew scientific data was all lies! The Great White Shark is definitely going to bite the streamer to death!γ
But the Great White Shark had no time to pay attention to Jiang Ye. It charged forward and swam in the opposite direction.
Great White Sharks have no vocal cords and cannot make sounds; they are silent hunters of the sea, always gliding over the surface like ghosts. But Jiang Ye was very close to it and could hear the Great White Shark's breathing.
This breathing was very rapid and extremely uneven.
Danger was approaching.
But in the ocean, what creature could make a Great White Shark feel threatened?
A flash of lightning struck Jiang Ye's mind, and she swam in the direction the Great White Shark was rushing towards.
As she got a little closer, Jiang Ye got her answer.
βIt was Orcas!
A whole pod of Orcas!
γHoly crap, what is this thing??γ
γSo scary, ahhhh!!!γ
γCould this be whales??????γ
"Yes, these are Orcas," Jiang Ye said with a complex tone. "They are also well-known hunters of the sea. However, unlike Great White Sharks, Orcas usually interact in groups and are smarter, excelling at teamwork."
γStreamer, are they all here to eat you??γ
γWhat terrible luck, my god!γ
γWho understands me! Watching a live stream now, I even have to cover my eyes with my hands and peek through my fingers... It's too scary! Do you have to be so thrilling?γ
γLast day of streaming... Oh my god, can we have something a little more heartwarming?!γ
γStreamer don't die, streamer don't die!γ
"You don't need to be afraid," Jiang Ye said with a heavy tone. "I think this pod of Orcas is not here for me."
As soon as Jiang Ye finished speaking, the water surface not far from her began to churn violently. The waves swayed wildly, almost throwing Jiang Ye off balance.
But Jiang Ye refused to leave. She gritted her teeth and looked ahead.
Her prediction was correct.
This pod of Orcas was not here for her.
Their only target was: the Great White Shark!
Although one Orca is smaller than a Great White Shark, several of them together can completely overpower one.
There were currently six Orcas attacking the Great White Shark.
They were premeditated and planned.
They were currently surrounding the Great White Shark in a net-like formation.
The Great White Shark opened its enormous mouth to face the enemy head-on. That mouth, capable of crushing a sea turtle's shell and generating a bite force of 1.8 tons, was attacking the Orcas.
But the Orcas were smart.
The Orca charging head-on was just a decoy. The other two Orcas on the sides directly rammed it, causing the Great White Shark to lose its balance.
The Great White Shark almost flipped over in the sea, but it stabilized itself.
"Not good!"
Jiang Ye shouted.
γWhat's wrong? What's wrong!γ
γStreamer, you suddenly spoke and scared me!!!γ
γThe Great White Shark is so pitiful,εεε!γ
γSurvival of the fittest, that's nature.γ
γStreamer, explain why it's not good!γ
"Sharks have a fatal weakness," Jiang Ye said, her lips pressed tightly, frowning as she watched the battle between the two hunters not far away. "When they are flipped on their side, their brains temporarily stop secreting serotonin."
"Once that happens, they enter a state of tonic immobility."
"In other words, as long as the Great White Shark is completely flipped by the Orcas, it will definitely lose."
γThat's so strange! If it sensed the Orcas earlier, why didn't it run? Why did it run towards the Orcas?γ
γWe're not sharks, we don't know, and we don't dare to ask.γ
The question raised by the bullet comments was exactly Jiang Ye's question.
She was very puzzled, but when she felt the water waves coming from behind her and a wave of sorrowful thoughts, she immediately understood.
Jiang Ye looked back and saw a mini, scaled-down version of a Great White Shark struggling to swim towards them.
So...
This Great White Shark didn't choose to escape, but instead chose to face the enemy head-on, to protect its child. If it had fled, the Orcas would have inevitably pursued, and its still young child, whose swimming speed had not yet reached its peak, would have had a higher chance of dying at the hands of the Orcas.
It was better to take a gamble.
Life is like this.
The Great White Shark fought against the six Orcas with a resolute and tragic spirit.
Its body was already covered in bite marks and wounds. The blue ocean was already stained red with blood.
Jiang Ye couldn't distinguish whether it was the Great White Shark's blood or the Orcas' blood.
In the face of the duels of natural creatures, human strength seemed so insignificant.
Jiang Ye didn't know what to do.
Should she just stand here and watch?
But the Great White Shark behind her was getting closer and closer. Jiang Ye could even sense that the Orcas had noticed this. They intentionally abandoned the adult Great White Shark and collectively attacked the young shark.
They were very intelligent, never lingering in a fight, and knew how to allocate resources reasonably.
Jiang Ye saw the adult Great White Shark let out a desperate breath and swim forward, blocking the Orcas, trying to stop them from attacking its child.
This scene deeply moved Jiang Ye.
She knew she probably shouldn't interfere or get involved.
The ocean has its rules.
But since everything was happening before her eyes, how could she ignore it?
Jiang Ye gritted her teeth and moved forward, rapidly approaching the Great White Shark's direction.
γStreamer, what are you doing!!!γ
γStreamer, don't do anything rash! If you accidentally injure yourself now, you're done for!γ
γThe streamer isn't going to save this shark, is she? Hey, it's just a game. Anyway, even if you die, you'll respawn later. There's no need to get yourself involved, and you'll even lose levels.γ
γI support the streamer... but what can you do?γ
Jiang Ye no longer cared about these bullet comments. She had only one thought in her mind: she did not want to see a tragedy of a mother and child being separated in front of her again.
Whether they called her a saint or irrational.
Since she had stumbled upon this, she wouldn't let the shark baby, who was rushing towards them, become an orphan.
Jiang Ye flashed forward and darted to the Great White Shark's side.
Her appearance and sudden involvement clearly stunned both the Great White Shark and the Orcas.
Jiang Ye extended her hand, closed her eyes, and touched the Great White Shark, just like at the beginning.
She was also gambling.
Gambling whether her intuition was correct.
After waiting quietly for a moment, a current of electricity flashed from where she and the Great White Shark were in contact.
Immediately after, Jiang Ye felt her consciousness synchronize with the Great White Shark.
This immediately turned the tide of the battle.
There were also two smaller Orcas among the pod. Jiang Ye could see that the Orcas seemed to believe their six-on-one advantage was a sure win, so they intentionally let the two smaller ones torment the Great White Shark as hunting practice.
After all, practice makes perfect.
The Great White Shark didn't notice this at first, only focusing on fighting. But now that its brainwaves were synchronized with Jiang Ye, it understood the key.
Since the Orcas intended to leave it to hunt its child, she could also lock onto the target and attack the Orcas' young.
Both sides were protective of their young.
After this entanglement, the Orcas realized they couldn't gain an advantage, and seeing the Great White Shark's young child rushing to become an ally, they turned and fled without a word.
They could take it, and they could let it go!
These were the true hunters of the sea!
The Orcas left, and the Great White Shark did not linger.
It turned around, swam towards its back, and interacted with the shark baby rushing towards it.
The large and small sharks swam in circles, like a neat Tai Chi diagram.
Water rippled, and their joyous breaths were transmitted through the waves.
Watching this scene of maternal love and filial piety, Jiang Ye subconsciously thought of a children's song she often heard when she used to take care of her younger sister, Jiang Li.
Oh~
Babyshark doodoodoodoodoodoo~
Mommyshark doodoodoodoodoodoo~
As Jiang Ye hummed this song in her mind, she forgot that she hadn't disconnected from the shark yet. Under her humming, the large and small sharks, in coordination with the music, swam in front of her. Their naive mouths opened and closed, looking particularly cute and adorable.
The little shark also acted spoiled, circled Jiang Ye once, opened its mouth wide to emit an 'awoo' sound, and splashed Jiang Ye with bubbles.
Jiang Ye felt happy for them seeing them so happy.
Finally, when the Great White Shark mother and child swam away, Jiang Ye waved goodbye to them.
After watching them leave, Jiang Ye returned to the island.
Despite her reluctance, she said goodbye to the audience in the live stream room.
Before the live stream room finally closed, she took everyone, like an old friend, to survey the island scenery.
"If there's a chance, I hope we'll meet again."
Jiang Ye didn't like to be sentimental. Even though there were countless messages in the bullet comments shouting 'Don't go, we're reluctant', she still heartlessly closed the live stream.
After doing this, she began to inventory her belongings, preparing for the upcoming account deletion and data transfer.
But at this very moment, she discovered a small creature in her Ocean Manual.
[Great White Shark Baby: A gift from the Great White Shark. Level 1, requires nurturing, requires care, can be summoned, can accompany you, please explore its usage rules freely~]
[System: Current collection progress 18/100, Player Level +1, Island Level +3!]
Because of the addition of the shark baby, Jiang Ye's level became 18, and her island level also became 18.
Jiang Ye didn't want to look further, as she knew all of this would disappear with her account deletion.
But she couldn't resist the urge and clicked on the shark baby.
With a 'puchi' sound, a tiny ball of fluff appeared before her. It looked no older than a year, even younger than the Monk Seal and the Ocean Sunfish. It was exceptionally well-behaved, but once it opened its mouth, people would notice its uniqueness.
Because this little one's teeth were like a shark's, aligned top and bottom, sharp and cute.
The little one stared at Jiang Ye for a while, then took a step towards Jiang Ye with its short legs.
This little one was clearly too low level; it didn't even know how to walk, so it stumbled and fell forward.
Jiang Ye instinctively stepped forward to help her, but the little one suddenly raised its hand, made a rejecting gesture, and then wobbled to its feet.
The little one learned from its mistake and this time decided to take smaller steps, switching to tiny ones.
'Pa ji pa ji.'
The little one stepped on the vegetable patch, walked up to Jiang Ye, then opened its arms, hugged Jiang Ye's thigh, tilted its head up, and called out to Jiang Ye in a sweet and sticky voice: "Mommy!"
Jiang Ye was dazed for a moment.
"What did you just call me?"
"Mommy!" the little one shouted happily, its voice crisp.
Jiang Ye couldn't help but reach out and rub the child's head. Seeing how cute she was, she picked her up. Jiang Ye was good at holding children, scooping the little one up easily. The little one also liked her, wrapping its arms around her neck and kissing her on the cheek.
She heard the system prompt her about the shark baby leveling up and felt burning gazes beside her.
The gazes of He Xiaoshang and Fan Xiaoche, and even the beautiful Xi Yan looked over with a hint of resentment.
At this moment, Jiang Ye suddenly felt a little guilty.
"Master, do I get this kind of treatment just by calling you Mommy?" Xi Yan asked softly.
"Mommy!!!" Fan Xiaoche and He Xiaoshang immediately opened their mouths and shouted upon hearing this.
After the two little ones shouted in unison, they rushed towards Jiang Ye, wanting a hug.
However, they were frozen in place by a glare from the shark baby.
It seemed that even after transforming into a human pet, the bloodline suppression etched into its bones had not changed.
Jiang Ye smiled and shook her head. Just as she was about to pinch the shark baby's cheek to punish her for her playfulness and possessiveness, she saw the shark baby looking behind her, freezing as if she had seen a ghost, as if she was scared and shrinking into Jiang Ye's arms.
Jiang Ye turned around blankly.
Behind her, Jing Lian stood gently, giving her a faint smile.
Jiang Ye took this smile as a hint.
She put down the shark baby. This little one was very clingy and refused to leave, hiding behind Jiang Ye and looking at Jing Lian.
Jiang Ye soothed her emotions, assuming the child was uneasy because she knew she was about to be erased as well.
She spoke to Jing Lian.
"Boss Yi, you don't have to look at me like that. I'll create a new account, and I'll delete my account immediately after transferring my items."
Jiang Ye knew what she had promised Jing Lian, and she kept her word.
"No need," Jing Lian pursed her lips. "You can wait until the game updates before deleting it."
"Game update?" Jiang Ye asked, confused. "When?"
"In a few minutes," Jing Lian said.
"Why didn't I see any notification!"
"I just notified you," Jing Lian smiled.
Such an annoying smile...
Is this what it means to be a boss, so capricious and amazing?
Jiang Ye shrugged and agreed to Jing Lian, immediately logging offline. All other players also logged off with her.
After all players had exited, Jing Lian looked at the island in front of her, her voice turning cold.
"Come out, she's gone."