It was past six in the evening when Ke Meng and the others set sail. Because of the time difference, it was already four in the afternoon when they returned to Whale City on the Koi Continent.
A long crowd surged along Whale City's shore, craning their necks to see when the great Whale Monster would return.
"Why aren't they back yet?" Director Wu paced along the shore, as restless as a cat on hot bricks.
Some Frog-Headed People had now appeared on the Koi Continent. They had all been ordinary people before their transformations, and questioning by investigators revealed that they had never been involved in any illegal or criminal activities.
The vast majority of these Frog-Headed People had merely seen strange Frog-Body Sculptures in their residential complexes while renting homes or commuting to and from work. They had never consciously entertained any criminal intentions.
Even after becoming Frog-Headed People, they remained utterly bewildered. Their despair had even driven them to consider suicide.
Anyone who had lived for twenty or thirty years and suddenly turned into a strange Frog-Body Man would feel frightened and helpless.
There had even been cases of people with poorer mental resilience jumping to their deaths that very day. The Investigation Bureau had issued a public statement: "The Frog Society, an illegal criminal organization from the Crocodile Continent, has spent years infiltrating our country through frog transformation operations, causing law-abiding citizens in multiple regions to become Frog-Headed People. The Investigation Bureau strongly condemns these actions."
As the people on shore milled around in agitation, someone suddenly shouted, "Look! It's the whale!"
Everyone immediately looked toward the horizon. Under the afternoon sunlight, an enormous, rounded black head rose above the surface, pushing great waves aside.
The great Whale Monster moved swiftly, reaching the deepwater harbor in