As the mutated seven-gilled lamprey and the mutated giant salamander began to move, Yang Lin soon saw the situation in the Yong River.
Thanks to his previous exposure of Ming Corporation's wastewater discharge problem, the Ningnan city officials had now launched a protection campaign for the Yong River.
As a result, the underwater visibility was much higher than before, with various fish, shrimp, and crabs swimming past from time to time.
To save time, Yang Lin simply had the two large creatures act separately.
One went up, and one went down.
But even so, finding a severely injured Yangtze finless porpoise in the vast Yong River was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
As the one-hour time limit drew closer, a hint of anxiety arose in Yang Lin's heart.
If he hadn't known the Yangtze finless porpoise was still alive, it would have been fine.
But knowing it was alive and being unable to conduct a rescue was an unbearable feeling of helplessness.
If it ultimately couldn't be saved, he might feel guilty for a long time.
Just as Yang Lin felt his hope dwindling, a bleating sound, like that of a sheep, suddenly caught his attention.
"Where is a sheep's bleat coming from in the water?"
After hesitating for about 3 seconds, Yang Lin quickly reacted.
"No, that's not a sheep's bleat. That's the call of a Yangtze finless porpoise."
Realizing this, Yang Lin's heart was immediately rekindled with a spark of hope.
Following the direction from which the faint call had come, Yang Lin quickly controlled the giant salamander to swim to the side.
Before long, a dark shadow appeared before him.
Upon closer inspection, it was indeed a Yangtze finless porpoise about the size of a small dog.
However, Yang Lin was somewhat surprised that this Yangtze finless porpoise showed no signs of injury.
"Could the information be wrong?"
Just as Yang Lin was full of doubt, a dark shadow floating on the water's surface caught his attention.
Although only a part of it was visible, its distinctive grayish-black skin still allowed Yang Lin to recognize it immediately.
"So, this is the injured one. The one next to it, the intact one, must be its companion keeping watch."
With a moment's thought, Yang Lin immediately understood.
At this moment, the uninjured Yangtze finless porpoise also sensed the presence of the giant salamander, its round little eyes filled with vigilance.
It was clearly mistaking the giant salamander for someone who wanted to eat its companion.
Looking at this Yangtze finless porpoise desperately trying to protect its companion, Yang Lin's anger towards that placenta grew even stronger.
It was highly likely that these two Yangtze finless porpoises were the last of their kind in this water area.
If the severely injured one died tragically, wouldn't that mean the other would have to live alone?
It might be different for other fish, but for a highly intelligent mammal like a Yangtze finless porpoise, what kind of suffering would that be?
With this thought, Yang Lin immediately gave the giant salamander an order.
"Stay here and don't let any humans or animals come near. I'll be right there."
After giving the command, he immediately withdrew his shared vision and, in the next second, headed straight for his small van.
Insert key, start engine, shift gear, release clutch, step on accelerator – all done in one smooth motion. Finally, the dilapidated van sped out of the zoo at a breakneck speed of 50 mph.
As soon as it hit a speed bump, two parts clattered to the ground.
"Looks like I need a new car. If not, I'll have to ask the rich benefactor for one."
As he spoke, Yang Lin rolled down the window and, in the next moment, stuck his head out.
"Move aside, my brakes are a bit unreliable!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the tourists who had been crowding the zoo entrance spontaneously cleared a path.
If other people said this while driving, they might not believe it, but after seeing the condition of Yang Lin's car, they truly didn't dare to gamble.
They even suspected that Yang Lin's car had been inherited from his grandfather along with the zoo.
"What is the zoo director trying to do? Why is he standing up and stepping on the accelerator?"
"Probably going to fix the car."
"Why is the director's car still emitting black smoke? Is it diesel-powered?"
"I saw this car on Mount Akina before. I couldn't even see its license plate clearly because of the smoke."
"I suspect the director is lying. His car's brakes aren't just unreliable; it probably has no brakes."
...
Amidst the tourists' jests, Yang Lin managed to drive from Xihong Zoo to the Yong River, where the Yangtze finless porpoise had been spotted, in just ten minutes.
Perhaps because the citizens of Ningnan had forgotten about the previous water monster incident, a large number of people were still gathered by the river for recreation.
When Yang Lin and his dilapidated car appeared by the river, they didn't attract any attention.
It wasn't until they saw Yang Lin starting to take off his clothes and pants that their attention shifted.
"Holy crap, what is this guy doing? Why is he taking off his pants?"
"This guy is a total pervert, in broad daylight."
"He's not going to jump into the river, is he?"
"How could that be? The Yong River is so polluted; he'd be poisoned before he drowned."
...
However, just as the person finished speaking, the sound of a heavy object falling into the water echoed from the riverbank.
A large splash followed.
Seeing this, everyone was stunned for a moment before reacting.
"Someone jumped into the river!"
"Quick, save him!"
"He's so young; why would he give up on life?"
"Must be heartbroken."
"Driving such a broken car, his life must be hard."
"Let's not talk anymore; let's figure out how to save him."
...
As they spoke, more and more people crowded by the river.
And under the gaze of this throng of onlookers, a head suddenly emerged from the middle of the river.
Seeing this head, those who were about to jump in to save him let out a long sigh of relief.
What followed was a strong sense of curiosity.
After all, who would swim to the middle of the river alone for no reason, especially in this weather?
Just as everyone was feeling puzzled, Yang Lin finally touched the severely injured Yangtze finless porpoise.
Just as the system had said, the Yangtze finless porpoise was in a near-death state at this moment.
Although there were no visible external injuries, its esophagus and mouth must have been torn by the fish hook to be caught.
With this thought, Yang Lin immediately clicked on its talent panel.
[Intelligent (Green Talent) requires 1 talent point to activate]
[Affinity (Green Talent) requires 1 talent point to activate]
[Singing (Green Talent) requires 1 talent point to activate]
[Lucky (Legendary Talent) requires 10 talent points to activate]
...
Yang Lin had to admit, this was the most bizarre talent panel he had ever seen.
Three green talents and one legendary talent.
If you say its talents are not good, it still has a legendary talent.
If you say its talents are good, it only has four talents in total, and three of them are green.
After a moment of thought, Yang Lin casually activated one of the talents.