Chapter 519 Storm
On the train, Bifang and Mugalen, both wearing masks, stood back to back, looking up as if they didn't care about the female high school student on the train.
After getting off the car, Bifang found that Mu Jialun's sweatshirt was completely wet, and asked in confusion: "Can't you be more natural?"
"It's my first time as a thief, and I'm a little nervous." Mugalen secretly looked up and around. He always felt as if someone was staring at him.
On the way here, Bifang told Mugalen everything.
As a half-friend, Mugalen is trustworthy. If you make things clear now, he may be able to help you later.
Bi Fang disagreed: "To be honest, they are the thieves."
Mugalun sighed and said, "I never dreamed that you were not going to kill the black bear, but to save the dolphin. If I had known, I would never have followed you here."
I thought there was something different about Taiji Town in Wakayama Prefecture, perhaps a gathering place for black bears that I hadn't noticed, but I only found out after hearing about it.
It's all bullshit!
Now that I'm on this pirate ship, I can't leave even if I want to.
Bifang walked out of the station and saw the lush forests. They were on a road around the mountain. Standing here, they could look down at most of the town.
Taiji Town is a bay with a very beautiful environment, surrounded by low mountains and spectacular coastal scenery.
Mugalen was initially shocked that such atrocities could happen in such a beautiful place.
Perhaps the word hunter often means hunting, but those who have obtained formal qualifications understand the importance of rare animals.
This is a tourist destination. It not only has a protected area park, but also many famous temples, which are among the best in Japan.
In one of the temples, there is a stone courtyard where the monks have raked the stones flat, and there are a few rocks in the middle of the courtyard for people from all over the world to come and see.
Bifang saw the temple that Richard pointed to through the telescope.
The temple is not high and is built very elegantly. It has a typical five-story pagoda structure, which is a Japanese version of Tang-style architecture and was most popular in the Nara period.
The architectural style has evolved from the thick and majestic Tang style to the slender and graceful aristocratic style.
From the outside, the eaves of the tower are very deep and the body is very slender. There is a railing only on the second floor. The slope of the eaves of each floor has a clear decreasing trend, giving people a strong sense of stability.
The protruding eaves are connected and spread out, and the layered sunlight reflections on the smooth tiles look like sea waves.
Looking down, the overhanging eaves blocked most of the sunlight, and the room was dark, but it was clear that there were many people walking around inside, perhaps tourists.
There is an open space in front of the building. The ground is covered with dense pebbles. The monks use a rake to comb the stones into a regular layer. Among the small pebbles, there are a few scattered rocks standing, and green grass grows at the foot of the rocks.
Tourists took photos of the stones. When the breeze blew, the wind chimes under the eaves swayed slightly. Even if you couldn't hear it, it seemed like the tinkling sounds were ringing in your ears, which was quite Zen.
Bifang found it very interesting.
People there look at the stones, but little do they know that the stones can also look at people.
"In our country, no one comes here to see the stones on Sundays." Mugalen was amazed and turned to look at Bifang, "So what are we doing now?"
"Wait for Richard and the others." Bifang leaned against the railing and continued to look around.
Reconnaissance is the first step in all actions.
"Since one of you is in the light and the other is in the dark, why do we have to wear masks? Can't we just be open and aboveboard?" Mugalun was puzzled.
"Richard and the others are coming today as well. To be on the safe side, it's best not to appear in front of everyone on the same day."
Bifang looked towards the coast, where there were fishing boats that had just returned to the port. The restaurant owner was riding a motorcycle and loading a basket of fish onto the vehicle. One could even see a smile on his face.
Many local fishermen keep the phone numbers of local restaurant owners in order to sell the freshest and largest fish for a good price, while most of the rest are put into frozen containers.
Most of these fish go to Tsukiji, the largest fish market in Japan and even in the world.
Bifang murmured, "It's going to rain."
Mugalen looked up at the sky, which was clear and blue, and asked in surprise, "How did you know?"
Not all weather can be judged by clouds. For example, during a rainstorm, dark clouds may suddenly appear. Such weather changes can only be detected by meteorological satellites and cannot be known by human power alone.
Did Bifang secretly check the weather forecast?
"They told me." Bifang stretched out his hand and pointed at the fishing boats returning to the port.
"It's noon now. Fishing boats go out to sea mainly depending on the wind, not the time. Sometimes they go out to sea in the middle of the night, and it's even more uncertain whether they will return to the port. But now more than one fishing boat has returned to the port, and some of them didn't even catch much fish."
Bifang stretched out his hand on the roadside, and the wind passed through his five fingers and flew towards the sea: "Look, it's a favorable wind now. It's easy to go out to the port and reach the fishing area. Fishing boats should go out to sea instead of returning to the port in twos and threes. So it's only possible that they heard the weather forecast and returned to the port early."
"A big rainstorm is coming."
Mugalen was silent for a moment.
Although he still knew about the changes indirectly through the weather forecast, but...why did he feel so awesome?
Fellow hunter, what makes you so special?
As if to verify Bifang's statement, in less than half an hour, the sky suddenly became gloomy, and lead-gray clouds drifted from the land to the sea. It was only a few minutes from the time the clouds appeared to the time it got dark.
The wind suddenly picked up.
A white light flashed through the thick clouds, thunder rumbled, and rain suddenly poured down, rapidly approaching them.
People on the streets were running around in the narrow alleys, hurried back home and closed their doors and windows.
Mu Jialun was confused. He looked blankly at Bifang who had one foot on the guardrail: "Do you have an umbrella?"
Bifang was silent for a moment and shook his head slowly.
Mugalen: “…”
Awkwardness spread in the air.
Fortunately, the two did not get too embarrassed. As they ran down the mountain, a horn sounded in time.
Richard and the others are here.
"Oh, thanks. I almost got soaked."
Bifang took the towel handed to him by Mandy and wiped his wet hair.
It was really embarrassing. The plum rain season usually lasts from late June to mid-July. Bifang saw that it was sunny today and thought that the plum rain season had passed. He didn't think of bringing an umbrella. Facts taught him a lesson.
Mugalen was introduced to everyone and both sides quickly accepted each other.
As long as we come to help, we are all good friends.
Richard and others were driving a nine-seater commercial vehicle, which was just enough to accommodate everyone.
"It's a good opportunity. It's raining heavily now and there are not many people on the road." Mugalen looked at the road ahead and found that there were fewer vehicles.
Bifang nodded and said that it was indeed a good opportunity to go in and take a look around.
Richard nodded, and they all drove quickly into the town.
Just after going halfway around the hill, Mugalen rubbed his eyes, rolled down the window and looked back, pointing at the dolphin sculpture behind him with a puzzled look on his face: "Am I seeing right? They are erecting a sculpture for a dolphin?"
"You're not seeing things." Bifang pointed ahead . This was the other half of Taiji Town behind the mountain that they hadn't seen just now.
Dolphin Park.
Driving into Taiji Town is a very strange experience.
There are dolphin sculptures everywhere, the welcome paintings on the walls are covered with dolphins, there is a fountain with people riding dolphins in the middle of the park lake, and a huge whale tail leaps from the ground, making Mugalen, an outsider who knows the truth, feel like he has entered the "Twilight Zone".
There are tiles on the sidewalks that face dolphins, and even in the distant sea, you can see a few dolphin-style cruise ships.
Mugalen smiled bitterly: "If I didn't know, I might really think this is a dolphin park."
Halfway through the drive, Richard pointed to a building with giant whale and dolphin designs in the distance and said, "See that building over there? That's the Whale Museum in Taiji Town. It's the place I hate the most in my life."
Richard was very frustrated. Each of them wore a mask because they were worried about being recognized by the townspeople. Western faces were too conspicuous in this Asian land.
If you didn’t know, you might think this group of people was a medical team.
"In Taiji, when you go to the 'Whale Museum', you can watch a dolphin show, buy a stuffed dolphin doll, and finally have a meal made of dolphin meat."
Richard's words made everyone present shudder.
How insane is it to watch a dolphin show and then eat the flesh of their own kind?
"They are selling whale and dolphin meat in dolphinariums."
Such an industrial chain allows the massacre to continue year after year, and the fishermen's bad behavior is richly rewarded.
"Each dead dolphin is worth only $600, but when it is sold to the whale museum, it gets $150,000. The Taiji Town Whale Museum acts as the middleman, and the city government and fishermen share the profits."
"Iki was once a tourist destination in Japan, but they also slaughtered dolphins. It is no exaggeration to say that thousands of dolphins were killed in one day."
"I went there again three years ago, but there were no dolphins there. Twenty years ago, there were tens of thousands of dolphins along the coastline, but now they are gone."
Richard turned the steering wheel, walked out of a small tunnel, and officially entered the town of Taiji Town.
"All whales known to mankind will suffer a catastrophic disaster if they approach Japan..."
"Wait, police!"
