Undercover Penguin Gang

"Okay, George, don't cling to Han Zhen."

Edward's voice sounded elegant and lazy, like a cat just waking up.

He pointed to the sky, winked at Han Zhen, and said, "I know you like Han Zhen, and I like him too, but it's getting dark now, and if we don't go fishing, our dinner will be ruined. How about it, George, let's eat first? If you really like Han Zhen, you still have a lot of time to chat with him at night."

It wasn't until Edward said that that George realized how long he had been talking to Han Zhen. He said sorry to Han Zhen with a guilty face, and then quickly ran back to Edward, smiled shyly, and started fishing with everyone. ready to come.

"He is also willing to listen to Edward."

After the penguins wobbled away, Shawart came to Han Zhen, sighed, and said in a low voice, "Because he was rescued by Edward."

Han Zhen keenly sensed another tortuous and bitter story.

"Would you mind telling me about it? About George."

From any point of view, Professor Han is an empathetic person, because he knows how to read words and expressions.Just like now, he keenly sees the desire to speak in his heart from behind Shawart's hesitant expression, so he intends to be a good listener.

And it turns out he was right.

In Shawart's narration, Han Zhen learned about the past of George the Gentoo penguin.

George and his companions once lived in the vast Falkland Islands, where the climate is warm, the food is abundant, and the various races live in harmony. It can be said that it is a paradise for small and medium-sized penguins.

He should have been living in that comfortable and rich land.

But there are always accidents in everything. During a small-scale shallow sea predation operation, due to the sudden change of ocean current and wind direction, George failed to find the correct direction of return, separated from his companions, and swam to the open sea alone, suffering misfortune in the cold and darkness. Meet a pack of menacing leopard seals, and...

"Nobody knows what happened to him because he couldn't even explain it himself."

Shavert's voice sounded muffled.

"When Edward found him, he was washed to the shore by the waves. He was covered with injuries. Half of his fins had been gnawed by seals and left only bones. When he woke up, we asked him where he lived and what happened. I don’t know at all, and I didn’t finally recall something until the injury slowly recovered.”

Shawart looked up at the back of George, who was next to Edward, and frowned even tighter.

"But there is a long scar at the base of his left fin, which is hidden under the feathers. It will never heal in this life. He looks carefree, but in fact he is very afraid of going into the sea, and he is very clingy to Edward. The matter about seals is even more serious. I can’t even hear it. In fact, he hasn’t recovered all the time, and he doesn’t say it, but I know it, but I can’t help him.”

Shawart's voice became lower and lower, he no longer looked at George, but lowered his eyes, staring silently at the ground, his pair of bright black eyes were empty and lifeless.

Han Zhen suddenly felt a little distressed.

It's not your fault, Schwart.

He thought for a while, raised his hand and gently rubbed the furry black head of the emperor penguin, and said softly: "Do you know Shawart, we human beings will selectively lose their memory after encountering certain devastating blows, just like accidents?" People who survived a car accident or an earthquake will subconsciously close their memory of the disaster after experiencing such a terrible event, leaving only a blank space."

His tone was very normal, but Shawart's breath was stagnant.

"Close your eyes, cover your ears, don't look, don't listen, don't say, it seems that this can erase the imprint left on them by that incident, but this is not the case. Put all negative and bad things Locked in the dark room in the bottom of my heart, thinking that if I don’t open it, I will never be hurt, but in fact, the pain is always there. Once you find that you have nowhere to escape, those pains will be magnified countless times, crushing you, It’s even possible to destroy you.”

Han Zhen's voice was soft and low, it sounded like a breeze blowing on his face, which was very comfortable, but Schwart didn't know why, his whole body was tense, his eyes flickered, as if he was holding back something.

"This is not something outsiders can change, Schwart. Even if you really want to help him, but this is his own choice, and no one can change it except himself... Huh? Schwart, what's wrong with you? You Shaking?"

After realizing that something was wrong with Schwart, Han Zhen hurriedly squatted down, stretched out his arms to wrap around Schwart's body, stroked the feathers on Schwart's wings, trying to calm him down.

"...I'm fine."

Shawart took a deep breath, uttered these three words with difficulty, pushed Han Zhen's hand away, and walked quickly towards the beach.

"I'll help, you stay here and don't wander around."

He left so fast that Han Zhen didn't even have time to retract his outstretched arm.

How... escaped?

Han Zhen was at a loss, did he say anything serious?Otherwise, why would Shawart run away.Also, didn't he read it wrong, Shawart just now, with that cold paralyzed face, was actually trembling?

Could it be that his own words touched him something sad?

Forget it, let it be an illusion.

His intuition told Han Zhen that there was something wrong with Schwart just now, and this something wrong seemed to have a lot to do with what he said, but there were too many puzzles about the little penguin, and before he was able to explain them clearly one by one, It is better to classify it as an illusion first.

He didn't want to doubt and suspect these kind and lovely little guys for any reason anymore.

"call……"

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Han Zhen took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly, feeling the turbid air and heat slowly being drawn away from his lungs, and his stomach also let out an unsatisfactory "gurgling".

Only then did Han Zhen remember that the last time he ate was yesterday.

Perhaps because of the low temperature in Antarctica and lack of gastric motility, Han Zhen didn't feel hungry for more than ten hours with the small portion of potato rice he ate at the base before departure.

Hmm, I suddenly miss the taste of potatoes.

Han Zhen smiled wryly and shook his head. Although the boxed lunch served on the table as soon as it is heated up in the microwave is not as delicious as the set meal served on the plane, but judging from his current situation, it seems that there is nothing more unpalatable than compressed biscuits .

Fortunately, there are still fish!

Thinking of fish, Han Zhen regained his energy, got up from the ground vigorously, wiped off the snowflakes on the hem of his clothes, and strode towards the coast.

It should be interesting to watch the penguins catch fish and so on!

Facts have proved that the efficiency of the penguins in catching fish is far higher than Professor Han expected. It took only a while, and when Han Zhen arrived, the fish on the shore had already piled up into a hill.

Han Zhen asked in surprise, "Didn't it mean there was a lack of food? Why are there so many fish?"

Shawart was standing on the shore to help carry the salvaged fish. Just a few minutes was enough for him to adjust his emotions. Hearing that he put down what he was doing, he retreated to the side of Han Zhen and said, "This sea area is indeed It’s not to the point where you can’t even catch fish, but compared to previous years, the number of fish has been cut by more than half.”

"More than half?" Han Zhen stared wide-eyed, and it was so easy to catch half of the fish, so how many fish must there be before?

"You don't believe it?" Shawart raised his eyebrows, "Let's put it this way, we didn't need to dive into the deep sea for fishing a few years ago, and we could catch a sufficient amount of fish only in the shallow sea, but in the past two years, the shallow sea Fish are almost extinct, not only here, but also in the nearby sea areas, and only the devil sea area is better."

He sighed deeply as he spoke, looking helpless.

"The warm season is good, and fish activities are relatively frequent. We don't have to venture into the depths of the ocean to hunt for food. But once the cold season comes, the sea surface temperature drops suddenly. Most fish are used to dormant in nests on the seabed and rarely swim up. , our food is even more scarce.”

The deeper the sea, the greater the danger, which is true for most marine life.Penguins do not belong to the upper level in the Antarctic biological chain, and they are not a strong group at all. There are too many creatures with stronger physiques and tyrannical temperaments than them.

Han Zhen listened silently, but his thoughts drifted further and further away.

Since the 21st century, global warming has gradually become the biggest environmental problem in the world. This trend has intensified, and by the middle of this century, it has seriously threatened the survival of human beings and other species.

Although human beings have tried their best to make up for the problems after discovering them, and indeed achieved good results, there is no doubt that the earth's environment has been greatly changed, and it is impossible to return to the previous state.

Han Zhen vaguely remembered that he read an article in World Geography magazine before he set off, saying that the melting of the Arctic glaciers in recent years had enlarged the Arctic Ocean by a factor of four. He thought that the situation in the Antarctic would be better, but unexpectedly it was so Oops.

"Then have you thought of any countermeasures?" Han Zhen chatted with Shawart in a random way, "Although it is the warm season now, the cold season is only a few months away. Is there any way to get through it? Woolen cloth."

Han Zhen just asked casually. The problems of climate warming and environmental degradation cannot be solved even by the top environmentalists, and he did not expect to hear any good answers from the little penguin.

But the speaker didn't mean it, but the listener meant it. Although Shawart didn't say a word when he heard the words, his peripheral vision slowly fell on Han Zhen.

The solution...is up to you.

"The fish should be almost caught." Putting aside all his thoughts, Shawart stood up abruptly, shook the snowflakes stuck to his hair, and said to Han Zhen with his head tilted, "Let's go, dinner is ready."

"it is good."

The dinner for the penguins was actually very monotonous. Except for the pile of fish, there were only a few fat Antarctic krill still jumping and dying on the snow.

But Professor Han moved his index finger wildly.

He picked up a fresh Antarctic cod that was still wriggling, and said with infinite yearning: "It's a pity that there is no oven, otherwise, cut this cod into pieces, marinate it with wine and sauce, and throw the wrapped tinfoil into the oven. You can taste the ultimate delicacy in less than half an hour!"

He swallowed hard, threw the cod back, pointed to the still beating krill, and said, "It's a pity that there is no salt, otherwise you can make a fried shrimp with salt and pepper...but it doesn't matter, this kind of shrimp has a natural taste It’s very fresh, and it’s sure to be delicious when you throw it on a skewer with a knife and roast it for a while.”

Because Han Zhen had been living in the imperial capital before, all the seafood he ate was shipped from other provinces, which were expensive and stale, so it was better to buy meat directly.

After finally coming to Antarctica, right next to the sea, Professor Han can’t even eat stale seafood. There is no way, who made international conventions require researchers from various countries not to destroy the ecological balance here? Theirs The food is all transported by air, and I dare not make a simple paella with local materials.

But it doesn't matter now, because these fish were caught by the little penguins!

Although Han Zhen knew very well in his heart that the penguins caught far more fish than usual because of himself as a "guest", he still deceived himself to comfort himself. Anyway, the fish were caught by the penguins, and he just followed behind to eat. It's just a few bites, how can this be considered a violation of international conventions!