Chapter 273 — Shark? Slaughter the Fish!
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Sharks were among the more intelligent creatures of the sea, and faced with something contrary to reason, one would hardly keep up a blind, ferocious charge. Seeing Wei Zhao motionless, the shark slowed its swimming too, though it seemed to pay no mind to this creature so much smaller than itself.
It slowed its approach, but it did not abandon its intent to attack; it merely closed the distance more slowly.
In an instant the shark lunged savagely at Wei Zhao—perhaps it had lost patience. But at that very moment Wei Zhao struck too, his left fist swinging out and slamming hard into the shark's snout!
That was one of the most vulnerable points on a shark's body, and Wei Zhao knew that weak spot like the back of his hand.
"Bam—"
Such was the force of Wei Zhao's blow that, landed on a man, it might well have killed an ordinary person outright. It could not kill the shark, but it was enough to knock its head sharply to one side.
The shark felt the smart of it, and the pain only stirred its savagery further. Its gills flared, and it made to open its mouth and bite at Wei Zhao. But alas for it, Wei Zhao gave it no such chance: he drove his blade into the shark's gills, slashed up and down a few times inside, then quickly swam off to one side.
The shark thrashed a few times in the water, then went still, drifting slowly to the surface, shorn of its former menace. The gills are one of a shark's fatal weak points, and Wei Zhao had long since grown practiced at striking them.
Having killed the shark, Wei Zhao was hardly about to let it go to waste. Who knew where they would come ashore, or how long it would be? If hunger struck, the flesh might not be choice eating, but it would fill a belly well enough. That was the first rule of surviving in the wild.
He untied the severed cord from his ankle and lashed it around the shark's tail, then swam for shore dragging the carcass behind him. A weight of that order he scarcely even felt.
In his training days, they had bound iron weights to his hands and feet, and even then he had swum just fine.
"Hah—" Wei Zhao hauled himself onto the bank and dumped the shark to one side. The pressing matter was to bring Shen Yushu around first.
Yet when it came to reviving her, Wei Zhao hesitated. By the book, the proper procedure now was artificial respiration, but that seemed rather like taking advantage of Shen Yushu. Because when Wei Zhao saved someone, he had no need of artificial respiration...
And yet he could not quite withstand the pull of Shen Yushu. He was fond of her, more fond than of Gu Mengyao, at any rate. The girl was endearing, the sort one took to easily.
But to take such liberties while she was unconscious—Wei Zhao still could not bring himself to do it. In the sea earlier, there had been no choice in the urgency of the moment, but now there were other ways to accomplish the same end.
That he was fond of Shen Yushu was true enough, and that he wanted to kiss her was true enough as well—but never by such means as this! Wei Zhao did not count himself any paragon of virtue, but neither would he do anything by force.