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Chapter 523: Chapter 520: The Three Giants

As a seaside city, summer storms are quite common.

At this moment, a torrential storm raged outside the vehicle, with sheets of rain pelting the slanted windows. The windshield wipers swung back and forth like an out-of-control metronome, clearing away the layers of rainwater.

Two policemen clad in raincoats stood by the roadside, with the already closed commercial street behind them, seemingly conducting some checks as they repeatedly stopped passing vehicles.

The rain clattered loudly on the roof of the car.

Bi Fang said, “Mugalen, switch places with me, quickly.”

“Okay.”

Bi Fang lowered his backrest, and they swiftly exchanged positions. Then he told Mugalen to take off his face mask and sunglasses.

“Didn’t you say…”

“Just do as I say. When they come over to ask, you take the initiative to speak up and say you are a tourist from abroad. No matter what he asks, just say you are Amrican, with an aggressive tone, got it?”

“I have a good temper…”

“Just imagine your daughter is dating early, and her boyfriend is a tattoo-covered delinquent who smokes, drinks, and has a past in a labor camp, thinking about how to seduce your daughter to a motel.”

Mugalen’s veins throbbed on the back of his hand.

He was getting angry already.

Richard, who was driving, hunched over and pulled his cap brim down to lower his presence as much as possible.

“It’s such a hassle to check the roads in the rain.”

“Can’t be helped, I’ve heard that group is back. Better lock on to their vehicle quickly.”

A policeman shrank his hand in, where the raindrops stung his skin somewhat painfully.

He looked towards the road where the visibility was extremely poor, a grey blur, with occasional flashes of light followed by rolling thunder and sharp horn blasts mixed with the sound of rain.

The cars slowed down, one after the other passing through, the red light from the brake lamps piercing through the veil of rain.

The policeman waved his baton, stopping a business vehicle when he saw a foreign man with a beard leaning out from the passenger side, shouting loudly with a red face and bulging forehead veins, looking extremely angry and yelling, “Amrican.”

He was dumbstruck on the spot, bowing apologetically by reflex: “Sorry, sorry.”

The other policeman bowed as well, but still looked up at Mugalen. The beard was too conspicuous. He shouted, “You’re the Hunter here to participate in the hunting season, right?”

Mugalen was taken aback and could no longer shout about Amrican. He was Angolan, from Northern Europe…

He had been recognized.

Mugalen dropped the act and said, “I’m here to inspect the environment of Taiji Town, and you dare to stop me? If I lose, you’re taking full responsibility!”@@novelbin@@

“No, no,” the two policemen rushed to explain that they had no such intention. They then looked at each other and tried to peek inside the car.

“Hey!” Mugalen shouted. “Do you have any business or not? If not, let me go quickly!”

Although they often dealt with foreign tourists and spoke decent English, Mugalen’s tone was so aggressive and fast that with the rain so loud, both of them couldn’t hear clearly what he was shouting.

Certain that they were dealing with a Hunter here for the Black Bear hunting season, and with the horns blaring from the cars behind, they became nervous, not wanting to offend the guest. They stopped inquiring, waved their fluorescent batons, and let the group leave quickly.

Richard floored the gas pedal, and everyone felt a strong pushback, indicating how nervous they all were; the business vehicle quickly left the street in the pouring rain.

Only when the figures of the two policemen were completely out of sight did Mugalen let out a sigh of relief. That had been too thrilling. When he turned back, he jumped in fright as he saw Bi Fang staring at him intently.

“What are you looking at?”

“Interested in being my Harvey?”

“A stand-in? What do you mean?”

“Nothing, just a reference.”

Bi Fang pinched the bridge of his nose. Just now, he had a sudden brainwave. Batman has Harvey, who creates scenes with both Batman and Bruce Wayne when in trouble. Could he also have one? But thinking about it, since their appearances were widely different, he abandoned the idea.

Having evaded the police search, the group continued the previous conversation.

“No aquarium without dolphins. To maintain the chain of interests, Iki could only buy dolphins from Taiji Town.”

Richard recalled everything he had seen and heard.

“I’ve asked Taiji Town’s fishermen if we could subsidize their actions. In other words, if you don’t go out to sea to capture dolphins, we’ll give you an amount equal to what you get from killing them, to be borne by OPS.”

Mugalen asked, “What is OPS?”

Bi Fang replied, “It’s a marine conservation association, founded by Richard.”

Richard nodded, continuing, “The local fishermen said that it’s not a matter of money, but rather to prevent harmful fish.”

Prevent fish pests?

What do you mean?

Everyone present was baffled, dolphins are fish pests?

It was the first time Bi Fang had heard such a claim; he had only heard of pests, never of fish pests, and found it quite strange.

“Yes,” Richard confirmed he hadn’t misspoken, “That is to say, the government tells them that dolphins eat too many fish in the sea, which would lead to no fish left to catch, so they are considered fish pests, just like locusts that consume crops.”

“It’s not just the fishermen who are told this; the Japanese delegate Morishita Suji also says the same thing at the IWC conferences.”

Morishita Suji, a man with handsome features, always dressed in a suit with a pair of black-rimmed glasses, greeted everyone he met with a smile and spoke with polite, refined eloquence. As an official, he was also quite talented; after all, Japan’s participation in the IWC, the International Whaling Commission, was a rather awkward affair, yet he handled it with ease.

“His job is tough. Every day he wakes up, he has to convince himself in the mirror first, then go out and explain Japan’s whaling policy to the whole world,” Richard quipped with a cold joke.

“Since 2003, Japan has been citing ‘scientific data’ to blame the decrease in the international fishery yield on dolphins and whales.”

Mugalen cursed loudly, “Shameless!”

Bi Fang was also very puzzled; he felt he had seen this blame-shifting onto dolphins and whales for the reduction in fish resources before.

Oh, isn’t this just like the case with saury?

“Japan is truly despicable. We in Northern Europe would never do such a thing,” Mugalen said, filled with righteous indignation.

However, after Mugalen spoke, everyone present instinctively turned their gaze toward him.

Mugalen looked around: “What? Did I say something incorrect? There are many whales where we come from too. Didn’t Bi Fang encounter them on his sea drift last time? But we never sell whale meat.”

Bi Fang patted Mugalen’s shoulder: “Norway hunts more whales annually than Japan, and then there is Iceland; these three are called ‘the big three of whale hunting’, with Norway as the Boss, Japan as Second Brother, and Iceland as Third Brother.”

Mugalen immediately corrected himself: “I’m from Angolan, unrelated to those two; strictly speaking, Angolan actually belongs to Western Europe. Yes, that’s right.”

Japan is infamous for its whaling activities, but it is certainly not the only country involved.

Both of Norway’s Northern European siblings, along with Japan, are engaged in the same practice.

In fact, Norway, rather than Japan, has earned the title of global number one “Whale Killer.”

When it comes to whaling, Norway’s actions are even more astonishing.

Norway and Japan differ in their approaches. Since 1982, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has banned commercial whaling.

Afterward, the Japanese continued to exploit loopholes to whale, under the disguise of “scientific research.”

In contrast, the Norwegians appear more “honest”; they couldn’t be bothered to exploit loopholes or find excuses, adhering to the Viking pirates’ way of doing things – you say yours, I catch mine.”

Every year, the number of whales hunted and killed by Norway even surpasses the combined whaling efforts of Japan and Iceland, making Norway the top “Whale Killer” in the world.

Their harpoons, the largest of which can weigh up to 45 kilograms, are capable of piercing the belly of a whale at speeds of over 400 kilometers per hour, triggering a mechanism in just milliseconds, rapidly releasing 100 grams of explosives. After the explosion, the harpoon opens up like an umbrella, with 4 hooks wrapping around the whale’s flesh.

This type of explosive can destroy the whale’s internal tissue and is far more lethal than black powder.

If the whale dies “too slowly,” the hunters will shoot it dead with a gun.

Moreover, Norwegian whalers prefer to follow female whales—most of whom are pregnant with baby whales. According to Norwegian whaling documentaries, 90% of the captured whales are pregnant females.

Because female whales typically swim slower, making it easier to hit them with hand grenades.

If falling into the hands of the Japanese is tantamount to a death sentence for whales, being targeted by Norwegians is like entering hell.

As for Iceland, compared to Japan and Norway, it’s like a little brother trailing behind them.

These three places are where Richard spends most of his efforts.

Dolphins are part of the whale family; whales, dolphins—from these three giants, all are hunted. And wherever there is dolphin oppression, there you will find this old man’s presence, including in Ugly Country itself.

In Icelandic supermarkets, the price of whale meat is generally around 2,400 Icelandic krona per kilogram, equivalent to about 150 Huaxia currency. Many tourists, curious, try it out.

But beyond that, not many people like to eat whale meat, and most of it is exported to Japan.

In the end, Japan seems to become the target of criticism once again, like an unlucky devil. Plus, with Ugly Country’s pressure on maritime rights and even more intense propaganda against Japan, few people are aware of the other two giants.

Iceland and Norway are both very beautiful places, with Goose’s journey starting from the northernmost part of Norway, but many beautiful things are not necessarily beautiful in every aspect.

“Compared to Japan, the crimes of Norway and Iceland are harder to expose because they don’t herd the dolphins together but rather spread out their fishing boats at sea,”

Regardless, when it comes to whaling, Japan, Iceland, and Norway, these three giants, are completely in cahoots.

Richard said gravely, “The claws that stretch out to animals will eventually reach out to ourselves.”