Chapter 31 The Tattooed Eel
A thought flashed through his mind, and a recruitment card appeared in his palm.
The card was neither gold nor jade, but had a warm, smooth feel. The back was a deep purple, while the front featured a three-dimensional image of a menacing adult harpy eagle.
He instantly understood its use upon receiving the card.
Simply aim it at an empty space to summon the recruited unit, which could not be recycled back into a card.
The recruited unit was a real life form, possessing all the physiological needs and behavioral instincts of its species. It could feel hunger, fatigue, injury, illness, and aging, and it also possessed natural emotions such as fear, pleasure, and irritability.
The recruited unit also possessed loyalty, with an initial loyalty of 60 (obedience).
If loyalty was too low, although the recruited unit could not harm the master of the home, it would become passive, refuse to carry out orders, and had a chance to escape when faced with danger.
As the recruiter, he could also sense the simple emotions of his non-human recruited units.
(Image: Harpy Eagle) Before today,
the harpy eagle
was a relatively unfamiliar animal to Qin Ziwen; his greatest knowledge of it was that it was a flying raptor.
He only knew its appearance from the picture on the card.
Judging from the picture, it shouldn't be too small.
But he didn't know its exact size. He
wondered about the harpy eagle's fighting ability, whether it could defeat an adult without firearms.
If it was small, releasing it through the window wouldn't be a problem; his house had a wall against the west exterior wall of the complex, and the bats on the first day had nestled against that glass.
But if it was large, its movements would definitely be impossible to conceal.
After much consideration, Qin Ziwen decided to put it aside for now and see how things went.
Besides, this was a trump card; he could immediately summon a flying unit in an emergency.
As for the other three traps, they were an unexpected bonus.
He could use the new traps as backups, or set them up in a slightly farther location.
Downstairs, Deng Guang kept urging him on.
"Hurry up and go see!"
"What if someone else takes them if we're late?"
"Let me tell you, the spot I set up yesterday is absolutely perfect! I guarantee a huge catch today!"
Deng Guang kept chattering away the whole way.
It was clear he was genuinely passionate about it.
Arriving at the spot where they'd set up the traps yesterday, Qin Ziwen hooked the rope and pulled, lifting the traps. As
soon as the first trap was lifted,
several creatures wriggled inside,
splashing water.
"Splash!"
Qin Ziwen was delighted; the undeveloped river was indeed rich in resources.
Dragging the traps ashore, Qin Ziwen took out his flashlight, turned it to the lowest setting, and shone it on the traps.
"Wow, these are loaches, aren't they? So fat!"
The top compartment contained four large, plump loaches.
The second compartment held some small bitterlings, not very big, but very active, jumping around after being removed from the water.
The third compartment was empty.
The fourth compartment contained several transparent prawns.
"Go check the second one."
Qin Ziwen picked up the second fish trap.
"Holy crap!"
With a "thud," the trap fell back into the water.
Deng Guang asked in surprise, "What happened?"
Qin Ziwen's face stiffened. "There's a big yellow eel."
"What's wrong with an eel? It doesn't bite." Deng Guang paused after saying that, then tentatively asked, "It's not one with tattoos, is it?"
"Yes."
Deng Guang's eyes changed, and he swallowed hard.
Then, he tiptoed and carefully picked up the second fish trap. Inside the trap, a large, brown, tattooed "eel," coiled up, stared coldly at Deng Guang with its triangular head.
"Holy crap!"
Deng Guang's hand slipped, and
the trap fell back into the water with a "thud. "
Although he had mentally prepared himself, being stared at by such a thick triangular head still made him a little uneasy.
"This thing has a triangular head!"
Qin Ziwen looked at him. "Do you recognize it?"
"It looks a bit like a lancehead viper."
Qin Ziwen nodded. "Oh, it's a lancehead viper."
The two fell silent again.
Deng Guang said, "If we don't deal with this thing, the trap is useless. Of course, it might find a way to escape on its own after a while."
Qin Ziwen said quietly, "With it here, would you dare continue setting traps here? The fact that it got caught in the trap means this area is its hunting ground. What if it's not in the trap next time?"
Thinking this, the two exchanged a glance, understanding each other perfectly, and knew they had to find a way to deal with the lancehead viper.
Qin Ziwen carefully dragged the second trap ashore, telling his younger brother to step back beforehand.
He then picked up a stick, but Deng Guang stopped him.
"We can't hit it directly. This trap might not be sturdy. If we break the edge, it might just escape through the gaps. This thing looks very aggressive."
"Then what should we do?"
"I'll go first." Deng Guang took a deep breath. The spearhead viper was in the second compartment of the trap.
The space inside wasn't very large, and it was a bit cramped.
Sensing the approach of humans, it became increasingly agitated, shaking its head from side to side.
Deng Guang first slowly unfolded the trap, then placed two stones on the first and third compartments, thus securing the second compartment.
This way, even if more things were put down, the trap wouldn't bounce back.
Qin Ziwen understood Deng Guang's logic.
"I'll do it."
He moved a stone and let it fall freely from directly above the trap, smashing it onto the spearhead viper.
The huge stone made it hard for it to breathe.
Its exposed tail thrashed wildly.
Qin Ziwen gathered more stones from the side, and as the stones piled up, the spearhead viper's movements went from initial agitation to gradual stiffness.
Until its tail hadn't moved for several minutes.
Qin Ziwu watched nervously, his brow furrowed the entire time. "Is it dead?"
"I don't know, but snakes are very resilient. I think we should wait a while." Seeing the spearhead viper pinned down, Qin Ziwen was no longer in a hurry.
Deng Guang felt it was a pity: "What a pity, this trap is probably ruined now. I see many parts are deformed."
"It's okay, a broken trap can be repaired." Qin Ziwen shook his head. Compared to a trap, he felt that hunting a spearhead viper was more rewarding.
He just didn't know how the daily score would be for hunting such a highly venomous snake.
If it was based on weight, the score wouldn't be high, but if it was based on threat and lethality, the spearhead viper's score would definitely be high.
The two men emptied the catch from the first trap into a bucket and covered it with a cloth.
Looking at the venomous snake trapped in the second trap, they stood there for a long time, waiting ten minutes before pushing away the stone holding it down.
The head and body of the pit viper inside were crushed.
The edges of the trap were inevitably damaged, and the connecting frames between the sections were deformed.
Qin Ziwen, still not satisfied, poked at it with a stick for a while to make sure it couldn't move, then grabbed a corner of the trap and shook it out.
The pit viper lay on the ground like a pile of rotten flesh.
After doing all this, Qin Ziwen finally breathed a sigh of relief. From crocodiles to tigerfish, and now pit vipers, this river was truly a treasure trove; you never knew what surprising little creatures it would bring.
(End of Chapter)