Chapter 730: Novelty Hunting

Piranhas were famous in China due to cheesy American horror movies; people were terrified at the mention of them. The highly aggressive and schooling breed of fish included a few dozen species in and of themselves. They were not a protected species, but as long as people were dumb enough to continually release them into local waters, then they would continue to bring a devastating impact upon the ecosystem.

However, piranhas lived in the tropical forest of the Amazon. The ice-covered, northern part of Germany could not sustain their survival. Even if they escaped unexpectedly from breeders, they would soon freeze to death.

Piranhas were not pretty in shape, thus most owners were either hunting for novelty alone or had a nefarious taste, like Karl. The old man was retired, yet he still greatly enjoyed pranking people. It was no wonder Reina complained about his odd character.

“The first time I came here for an interview, I was terrified, too. I almost called the police,” Paul, the expert in water quality, said.

“You? Call the police?” Karl sneered. “You screamed like a ten-year-old girl!”

“Absolutely not!” Paul clarified hurriedly.

While the two of them were going back and forth, Zhang Zian was carefully observing the aquarium tank that the piranhas were in. Without considering Karl’s nefarious taste, the landscaping within the tank was very successfully designed. The weeds, dry branches, skulls, and the fish––with black backs and red bellies––had created a creepy atmosphere. The novelty hunters would surely want a tank like such at home.

Aquascaping was a new form of entertainment that became quite popular in recent years; it was also an art. There were even stylists that specialized in aquascaping.

The profit of running an aquarium came from two major sources: one was the selling of living creatures, while the other was the selling of the peripherals. Aquascaping was one of the latter and produced a very high profit that was also immune to the impact of online businesses.

Zhang Zian was considering making an aquarium tank similar to this one, but he was afraid it would terrify the children that came into his shop. If he was accused of “promoting horror and violence,” then it wouldn’t be worth the risk.

Karl took out an aluminum container. Inside, there was a dead fish with bulging eyes and slightly open lips.

“It’s lunch time, Jeff. Would you like to feed these cute little fish?” he asked.

“Not this time. I’ll watch you feed them.” Zhang Zian was not interested in––and was mostly afraid of––getting his fingers bitten off while feeding them. The piranhas in the tanks were quite big––around 10 centimeters in length. He was afraid they might suddenly jump out of the water.

Karl shrugged, opened the lid of the tank, took the dead fish by the tail, then dipped its body into the water.

The moment the fish head hit the water, the piranhas swam away rapidly and hid behind the weeds and branches as if they were startled. However, once they realized there was no danger, they came out of their hiding places, headed straight to the dead fish, opened up their strong lower jaws with their razor-sharp teeth, and took a hard bite into the fish belly––the fattest part of the dead fish. They tore off a piece of meat, swam away slightly, swallowed then meat, then took another hard bite…

One bite after another, the piranhas surrounded the dead fish and shared it. Within a few minutes, the upper body of the dead fish only had bones left and the water had turned slightly turbid.

“These are wild Peruvian piranhas. If they were piranhas after two or three generations in an artificial environment, then they would not eat the fish after it had been dead for hours. The degeneration is quite obvious,” Karl said as he took the remaining half of the dead fish out the water and threw it into the garbage bag.

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Apart from the freshwater piranhas, most of Karl’s possessions were saltwater creatures, including some rare and dangerous species.

In a large tank, some colorful corals were placed on clean, white sand, like sunflowers blooming on the seabed. The water was clear and calm and a few tiny fish of ordinary breeds were swimming back and forth. Zhang Zian thought this was an aquascaping tank, but as he passed in front of it, he detected something unusual. Something seemed to have moved on the coral.

He took a closer look. There looked to be a mollusk with colors almost identical to the coral; it even had the same limestone appearance.

A small fish swam closer and closer to the coral, completely unaware of its imminent death.

The ring-shaped mollusk suddenly moved. The parachute-like tentacles suddenly wrapped around the fish like a bolt of lightning.

The fish struggled briefly and then stopped moving. There was no obvious bite wound on its body.

Zhang Zian took a deep breath. It was so toxic!

The animal was an extremely dangerous, blue-ringed octopus, the type of deadly creature that many experts warned against owning privately. There was no cure for the toxin, which could make one stop breathing before the ambulance even arrived.

It caught a small fish for lunch, but exposed its hiding place at the same time. There were no predators in the tank, but it stayed just as alert as if it were in nature. It flickered the blue stripes on its body, then secretly swam to another spot on the coral and jammed its body into its cracks. It changed the shape and color of its body almost instantly, becoming identical to the surrounding corals while it waited for its next meal to pass by.

“This is a dangerous creature. Are there many buyers?” Zhang Zian asked curiously.

Karl nodded. “Quite a few. As you know, the less popular the pet is, the more likely that the owners will form a group of their own. There are not many saltwater pet owners––at least not as many cat and dog owners. They are fewer in number, but they are more willing to communicate with each other because, compared to cat and dog information, it’s much harder to find saltwater pet information online. In the saltwater pet circle, the blue-ringed octopus is a special case. Being able to raise a blue-ringed octopus means that you are no longer a rookie in the saltwater pet circle, but an intermediate player. Plus, this little guy is cute, isn’t it?”

“This makes sense,” Zhang Zian admitted.

Whether it was psychological or not, from the brief glance Zhang Zian got of the octopus, he had encountered a fatal attraction to its golden, soft body and its bright blue stripes. It was no wonder many saltwater pet owners loved it so much. It was not a simple novelty like piranhas were.

The blue-ringed octopus was not a protected species, but he was still not planning to sell it in his pet shop. It was too dangerous, after all.

“Jeff, how many days do you plan to stay here?” Karl asked.

Zhang Zian made an estimate and said, “Seven days at the most.”

“You have plenty of time, then. How about settling down first?” Karl suggested.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Zhang Zian agreed.