Before they even reached the river, Qin Ziwen heard the sound of violent splashing.
Along the riverbank, teams were distributed, some already getting hands-on practice, while others were still observing how it was done.
The most successful team had used several sheets and curtains woven together to create a rope snare that trapped a crocodile, then tied the other end to a nearby tree, with a group of people continuously poking the crocodile with long weapons.
"Gurgle..."
The crocodile thrashed wildly, opening its mouth to emit angry sounds.
Another team had dug a trap on the bank, but the pit wasn't deep enough, ultimately allowing the crocodile to escape. The frightened crocodile scrambled into the river in panic, splashing up large amounts of water.
On the river surface, several crocodiles floated, revealing cold eyes as they quietly observed.
A young guy in the team said, "We need to go further downstream, further away. If we're too close, these crocodiles won't take the bait."
Huang Tao said, "Let's go, we'll head downstream. By the way, this brother is called Zhang Zhen. He previously worked at a zoo, served as a crocodile keeper for a while, and has a good understanding of crocodile behavior."
The others all turned to seek his advice.
Another team had dug a trap on the bank, but the pit wasn't deep enough, ultimately allowing the crocodile to escape. The frightened crocodile scrambled into the river in panic, splashing up large amounts of water.
"For example, if you feed them, they learn that approaching you means food. After eating and drinking their fill, they'll lie there digesting. As long as you don't make them feel threatened, they won't actively attack you."
"When they see their own kind being killed, they don't feel fear, but they become vigilant. They'll equate us humans with threat."
Zhang Zhen pointed to the crocodiles floating on the water surface in the river, "Look, those crocodiles in the water observing us - they're assessing our threat level. They'll mark this location, these humans as threats, and will be more cautious when facing us."
Qin Ziwen asked, "Then won't the crocodiles come up at all?"
Zhang Zhen shook his head, "No, in the short term, at the same location, using the same method, they won't take the bait because they've already equated this danger with threat. But as long as we change locations, they'll still be attracted by bait. Their brains don't have the concept of 'humans are using traps to hunt us' - only simple logic like food, threat, and defending territory."
Qin Ziwen roughly understood.
The group walked about a hundred meters downstream along the river. Huang Tao took out the remaining crocodile entrails from the previous hunt, tied them with rope, and threw them into the water by the riverbank.
Blood color spread along the river water.
In the water near the bank edge, a dense shadow slowly approached.
Zheng Yuan, who was responsible for observation, made a hand signal.
The people behind pulled the rope, lifting the entrails out of the water. The foul-smelling entrails dragged across the muddy ground.
The shadow remained motionless on the water surface.
"Will the crocodile be lured up?" Qin Ziwu, crouching beside Zhang Zhen, asked quietly.
"It will. Crocodiles' favorite food is animal entrails. When a crocodile sees entrails, it's like a cat seeing a cat teaser - it will think something is competing for its food. Just watch."
As soon as he finished speaking, the water surface exploded with a roar as a huge black shadow broke through the water surface and charged toward the entrails on the bank.
"Pull quickly!"
But they were still a step too slow. The black shadow had already bitten the entrails, turned its head back, and started returning to the river.
The rope tied to the entrails instantly tightened, causing the two people holding the other end to stumble.
The giant crocodile paused its movement, lying in place as if confused about why something seemed to be pulling the food in its mouth.
Its peripheral vision fell on the humans not far away, then it violently shook its head, its thick tail splashing up large amounts of mud.
The rope snapped with a sharp crack, and the giant crocodile submerged back into the river.
Zhang Zhen murmured, "We'll have to try again."
Huang Tao asked quietly, "Will it take the bait again?"
Zhang Zhen nodded affirmatively, "It just got the entrails and tasted the reward. If we use another bait, it will definitely take it. But this time we need to pull the bait faster, upward. When it gets close, cover it with the large net, then stab it with weapons."
"Good thing I prepared several extra baits in advance. This time, let two different people pull the bait, and they need to be faster."
Qin Ziwen stepped forward proactively, "I'll do it."
Zou Sheng beside him rolled up his sleeves, "Count me in."
The second bait was thrown into the river.
The entrails fell into the river water, splashing. Underwater, the giant crocodile that hadn't gone far swung its tail and swam back.
Qin Ziwen pulled the line upward, the entrails moving through the water, across the mudflat, winding upward through the grass.
The giant crocodile followed the scent ashore, chasing the entrails with heavy footsteps.
Qin Ziwen and Zou Sheng increased their rope-pulling frequency. The crocodile's footsteps paused for a moment, then suddenly accelerated.
Qin Ziwen stared intently at the giant crocodile. From his perspective, this crocodile was charging straight toward him at full speed.
His attention was highly focused - if the others were a bit slow with the net, this crocodile would be right in his face.
Fortunately, there were no mistakes this time.
The large net fell from above, directly covering the giant crocodile, while the four people hiding diagonally behind simultaneously pulled the trailing ropes, using the crocodile's forward momentum to completely trap it inside.
"Go!"
Everyone rushed forward, their weapons stabbing the crocodile like raindrops.
They focused particularly on the crocodile's head.
"Thud."
Someone got lucky - one spear thrust happened to hit the crocodile's eye.
"Hiss roar!"
The crocodile let out a painful howl.
"Let me!" a security guard shouted from the side, swinging down a long-handled axe heavily.
This axe struck the crocodile's head perfectly.
The connection between the axe head and wooden handle also happened to come loose at that moment. With a snap, the short-handled axe became stuck in the crocodile's head.
This axe strike hurt so much it almost made the crocodile stand upright.
Qin Ziwen saw clearly - it was a firefighting axe.
They had apparently tied the firefighting axe to a wooden pole earlier.
The crocodile struggled wildly, instinctively trying to escape back to the river.
The others wouldn't let it have its way, all pulling on the ropes, dragging it backward.
A dozen strong men pulled the ropes simultaneously, but caught off guard, several still fell to the ground.
However, the crocodile's speed also slowed significantly. After about ten seconds of stalemate between the two sides, the crocodile's strength gradually diminished.
It eventually stopped moving entirely.
Zhang Zhen, panting heavily, said, "It's used up its stamina."
Qin Ziwen remembered Wang Yun saying yesterday that crocodiles have poor endurance, and now he had a more direct understanding of it.
The entire process took only about two minutes, yet the crocodile's physical strength was almost completely exhausted after such intense bursts.
Even though the crocodile seemed to have exhausted its strength, no one dared to approach it closely to provoke it.
They still used long weapons, maintaining a relatively safe distance while continuously attacking.
Finally, the crocodile breathed its last breath.
The group waited another ten-plus minutes before approaching to process the carcass.
On the river surface, a pair of cold eyes watched this scene emotionlessly, observing as its own kind was dismembered.
This crocodile was slightly larger than the one hunted at the south gate last time, measuring a full five meters and twelve centimeters in length.
Since there were three more people than last time, each person received 38 jin of meat this time, two jin less than last time.
But even so, everyone was still extremely happy.
After processing the crocodile, Zhang Zhen's brow remained furrowed.
Huang Tao nudged his arm and joked, "What's wrong? Not happy even after killing a crocodile?"
Zhang Zhen was momentarily stunned, then shook his head, "It's nothing. I just observed earlier - this one appears to be a female crocodile, and the one killed at the south gate last time was also a female."
......