You Plan to Kill me with Meng?

POLAR BEAR ARC CHAPTER 33

The vast, boundless ocean concealed countless dangers. Even though Qiao Qixi had never personally encountered the terror of a Greenland shark, he knew this journey was fraught with peril.

When they swam back from the north in the summer, the conditions were better. But now, traveling at night made everything more challenging.

Qiao Qixi stayed fully alert in the water, closely following Otis's figure. His greatest fear was suddenly seeing the fin of a shark—or worse, multiple fins.

But he thought, with his lucky streak, he probably wouldn't be that unfortunate.

Just as he had this thought, the water around him began to stir slightly, as if a large marine animal was nearby.

What could it be?

Even Otis slowed down to observe, which made Qiao Qixi nervous, tightening his guard and scanning the surroundings.

After a moment, Otis resumed his steady pace, indicating that whatever caused the ripples posed no threat.

And indeed, it was later revealed that the disturbance was caused by a pair of Pacific porpoises. These dolphins, which prefer to live in waters about 20 meters deep near the coast, are also endangered. Due to increasing ocean pollution, sightings of them have become rare in recent years.

Qiao Qixi was delighted to see them, feeling quite pleased with this chance encounter.

Meeting like this in the vast ocean, and with neither being on the other's menu, was truly a beautiful encounter. He could definitely get used to more of these—just not with sharks.

Please, no sharks.

As they continued their journey, Qiao Qixi encountered a few more marine animals. It seemed that after dark, everyone liked to come out and play.

Perhaps it was his good luck, or maybe Otis's experienced leadership, but they managed to avoid any shark encounters. That didn't mean the journey was without its dangers, though.

The biggest threat Qiao Qixi faced was when a leatherback turtle started chasing his feet, occasionally trying to bite him.

???

Qiao Qixi wondered if it was his feet that smelled bad or something. Why was this big turtle going after him instead of Otis?

Being chased by a turtle wasn't exactly something Qiao Qixi wanted Otis to deal with—Otis was busy leading the way and had no idea there was a sneaky turtle causing trouble behind him.

Finally, fed up with the pursuit, Qiao Qixi turned around and kicked the leatherback turtle a few times, sending it far away.

It wasn't his fault for being a bit rough—the turtle had started it by not playing fair.

After that, the rest of the journey was uneventful.

Unlike their previous leisurely pace with frequent breaks, this time they had far fewer stops. Otis seemed to have planned the journey to match Qiao Qixi's endurance, maintaining a balance that wouldn't exhaust the little bear but still pushed him enough.

By mid-November, the sea ice was rapidly forming at an impressive rate. The nine million square kilometers of ice were enough to lure most polar bears back to the ice sheets.

Qiao Qixi could sense Otis's urgency, as if something was driving him to quickly return to the ice, hunt enough food, and replenish what he had lost over the past two seasons.

Otis's weight had remained stagnant throughout autumn and summer, but like the little polar bear, he was still growing and had the potential to gain more weight, possibly peaking before he turned ten.