Pet King

Zhang Zian, Wang Qian, Li Kun, and Jiang Feifei opened the door. “Don’t move!” they all shouted in unison.

The group of little boys was scared and in shock. Electrician Wu’s grandson immediately pulled his hand out of the fish tank.

“You… who are you people? What are you doing? Who gave you the keys? Thieves? Are you guys thieves? Let me tell you, we’re not afraid… The adults are in the house!” one of the little boys, a cute fatty, screamed out sternly.

The other little children echoed along with him. “If all of you don’t leave, we’ll call the adults!”

Zhang Zian did not bother with them. He looked over at the fish tank that was behind them.

The kids might have disturbed the water from taking turns putting their hands in the water. It caused the water in the fish tank to appear murky, like looking at flowers in the mist or staring at the moon in the water. Zian could only distinguish the outline of the reef rocks.

When the little brats saw that Zhang Zian and company weren’t going to leave, some were about to cry, some wanted to call for help, and the others were at a loss for what to do.

Fortunately, the two old men, Electrician Wu and Welder Zhao, who were panting heavily, had finally climbed upstairs. The little brats immediately felt at ease and gathered around them to complain.

“Grandpa! Thieves have broken into our house. Quick, call the police!”

“Grandpa Wu! Wu wu!”

“Grandpa Zhao, I’m scared… I want mummy!”

The house was a mess and the neighbors next door had heard the noise and come over to check on the situation, but Electrician Wu and Welder Zhao persuaded them to go back after some repeated apologies.

Seeing that the children were all okay, Electrician Wu and Welder Zhao were finally relieved. The two of them had rushed up six floors in one breath without taking a break, and because of their old age, they were still unable to catch their breath after some time had passed. They looked at the boisterous children with both love and hate.

Welder Zhao usually had to go up and down six floors, so his physical condition was much better than Electrician Wu’s. He caught his breath first and asked, “How… is it? The thing in the water… is there any movement?”

Zhang Zian was already cautiously approaching the fish tank.

He swept his gaze across the window and said, “Bobbit Worms are generally nocturnal, but it’s daytime now and the sun is strong, so it should be resting in its hiding place. It will not come out under normal circumstances… but now that it has been disturbed by the children, I’m not sure if it will…”

In just a short while, the whirl of sand that was stirred up had gradually sunk back down and the visibility in the tank slowly recovered.

Before Zhang Zian’s voice died off, a dark-brown colored shadow rolled up the sand and shot out from inside the reef rocks like a spring. It bit onto a small fish that had swum by and retracted back with great speed.

All the adults present had witnessed the scene; they were stunned with shock.

“Grandpa, what’s that?”

Some of the kids had seen it too, so they asked with terrified and trembling voices.

Zhang Zian was the closest to the fish tank, so he got the clearest look of it. It had five feelers on the top of its head; its segmented body looked smooth; its strong mouthpart was like a pair of steel clamps; and it had a very ferocious bite. If it was not a Bobbit Worm, what could it be?

After witnessing the scene, Welder Zhao, who was pretending to be calm, had completely vanished. It was almost like electricity had run through him––his back felt weak and numb and he didn’t have to touch his back to know that it was all cold sweat.

“Holy sh*t!” Electrician Wu shouted out loud and grabbed a bench that was beside him with the intention to throw it into the tank.

“Wu! Don’t! My fish tank!” Welder Zhao immediately pulled Electrician Wu back.

He had spent days working hard before he finally found five suitable pieces of glass, which he had cut and glued together. He couldn’t even remember how many times he had made a mistake during the whole process. He can’t bear to have it smashed.

Zhang Zian had also stopped Electrician Wu because the Bobbit Worm had already retracted back into the reef rock. Nothing can be achieved even if the fish tank was smashed, and instead, it might even allow it to escape from the fish tank. Then it would be running around the house, biting anyone it catches. What could be done then?

Electrician Wu was so furious his lips trembled. He wanted to smash that worm into smithereens.

“Zhao! Give me an explanation! How did you get this weird worm in there?” Electrician Wu started scolding Welder Zhao harshly while pointing at his nose. The boat of friendship that had floated for years was about to capsize.

“This… how would I know? If I had known about it, why would I keep it in there?” Welder Zhao was also pouring out his grievances. Even if he didn’t want to be too attentive to the children, he would not possibly let the children come into such close contact with an animal so dangerous.

What he said was the truth, but Electrician Wu was unable to think straight from his anger.

Zhang Zian had already guessed the truth of the matter, so he helped Welder Zhao explain. “Master Wu, don’t worry. Nothing happened. Just calm down first. I already know what’s going on.”

“Ah? How did it happen?” Welder Zhao also wanted to know.

“The problem lies in the reef rock that you got from the beach,” Zhang Zian said, his gaze was fixed on the reef rock. “Bringing reef rocks back as live rocks is fine, but did you disinfect them before placing them in the tank?”

“Disinfect?” Welder Zhao thought for a moment. “I found the reef rock to be quite clean, so I only rinsed it once with a water pipe.”

“That cannot do. The problem lies here—whether it’s a reef rock or a lick rock, you have to disinfect them with hot, boiling water when you bring them back, and it’s best to rinse it a few times. Otherwise, there may be some unexpected creature or their eggs hiding in the holes of the rock. Then you bring them into your fish tank,” Zhang Zian explained. “Clam Worms and the Bobbit Worm are such aliens.”

Zian added, “Of course, there are some veteran aquatic hobbyists who like surprises. They would deliberately not disinfect the live rocks––especially live rocks from overseas––which would give the rock some time to see what kind of alien would grow out of the holes. There might even be unexpected rare creatures. But you… obviously you don’t look like a veteran at this, right? Even those veterans would only do such a thing after they have made all proper preparations.”

This Bobbit Worm was similar to the Ugly Duckling Coral––both were aliens attached to the live rocks. Such situations were not uncommon in the circle of aquatic creatures.

The proper procedure was to sterilize the live rocks with boiling water before placing them into the tank, but there were also some veterans that deliberately did the opposite in an attempt to gamble.

Zhang Zian spending the money to buy the ugly coral was also a form of gambling.

Gambling with a small amount was entertainment, while excessive gambling was harmful. It was just like the saying, “If you win, you get the clubs and the girls; if you lose, you get the gloves and do the work!”

In a regular aquarium, because they were afraid that customers might not be aware of the procedure, their live rocks were often disinfected before they were sold to the customers.

However, Welder Zhao went to the beach himself to get the reef rocks, and he didn’t know that it had to be disinfected. Then, coincidentally, one of the reef rocks had contained a young Bobbit Worm, so now there was a problem.

The Bobbit Worm was well-versed in the ancestor’s strategy: “Dig deep, accumulate stocks, and don’t flaunt.” It had been acting with restraint so as to not attract attention, feeding on the small fishes, prawns, and Clam Worms as it grew longer and bigger. The key was that its body was able to hide in the sand and reef rocks, and it only moved at night so it was hard to be discovered.

So next was how to kill it.