A thought flickered in his mind, and the Recruitment Card appeared in his palm.
The Recruitment Card was neither metal nor jade; it felt smooth and warm. The back was a deep purple, and the front displayed a three-dimensional image of a fully grown, imposing Crowned Eagle.
The moment he held the card, he knew how it worked.
Just aim it at an empty spot and use it, and the unit contained within would be summoned out—after summoning it could no longer revert into a card for retrieval.
The recruited unit was a real living creature, with all the physiological needs and behavioral instincts of its species. It would get hungry, grow tired, be injured, fall ill, age, and it possessed natural emotions like fear, pleasure, and irritation.
At the same time, recruited units had a loyalty value, starting at 60 (Obedient).
If loyalty was too low, although the recruited unit could not harm the Home’s master, it might slack off, refuse orders, and had a chance of fleeing when faced with danger.
As the recruiter, he could also sense the simple emotions of his nonhuman recruited units.
(Image: Crowned Eagle)
Crowned Eagle...
Until today, Qin Ziwen was fairly unfamiliar with this animal; at most he knew it as a flying raptor.
He only recognized its specific appearance from the image on the card.
Judging from the picture, it shouldn’t be too small.
Exactly how large it would be, he didn’t know.
He also didn’t know the Crowned Eagle’s combat strength—could it defeat an adult not carrying firearms?
If it turned out to be small, letting it fly out through the window on ordinary days wouldn’t be a big problem. One side of his apartment faced the complex’s west exterior wall; the bat from the first day had simply stuck to that glass.
But if it was large, its movements during everyday activity would certainly be hard to conceal.
After thinking it over for a long time, Qin Ziwen decided to put it aside for now and wait to see what would happen.
Besides, it was a trump card—he could summon a flying unit immediately in an emergency.
The other three fish traps were an unexpected bonus.
They could be kept as spares or set up a bit further away.
Downstairs, Deng Guang kept urging him.
“Hurry and go take a look.”
“What if someone else takes them if we get there late?”
“I’m telling you, the spots I set up yesterday are definitely good! Today the traps will explode with catches!”
All the way Deng Guang chattered nonstop.
It was obvious he truly loved this.
When they reached the place where they’d set the fish traps yesterday, Qin Ziwen hooked the rope and pulled; the trap came up.
The moment the first trap was lifted,
many things wriggled inside,
splashing water everywhere.
“Splash—”
Qin Ziwen watched delightedly—this undeveloped part of the river was rich with resources.
He dragged the trap onto the bank and took out a flashlight, setting it to the lowest beam to shine into the trap.
“Whoa, these are loaches, fat ones.”
In the top compartment there were four plump loaches.
The second compartment contained some small gudgeon; they weren’t large but were lively, hopping nonstop once out of the water.
The third compartment was empty.
The fourth had several transparent marsh shrimps.
“Go check the second one.”
Qin Ziwen picked up the second trap.
“Holy crap!”
With a “slam,” the trap fell back into the water.
Deng Guang looked surprised. “What’s wrong?”
Qin Ziwen’s face went stiff. “There’s a big yellow eel.”
“Eels aren’t scary; they don’t bite people.” Deng Guang paused, then tried, “Could it be tattooed?”
“It’s tattooed.”
Deng Guang’s expression changed and he swallowed.
He then stood on tiptoe and carefully picked up the second trap.
Inside, a brown tattooed big “Yellow Eel” was coiled up, its triangular head staring at Deng Guang with a cold gaze.
“Holy crap!”
Deng Guang’s hand went limp, and with a “plop~”
the trap dropped into the water a second time.
Even though he had prepared himself mentally, being stared down by such a thick triangular head still sent a chill through him.
“This thing is a triangular-headed type!”
Qin Ziwen looked at him. “You know what it is?”
“Kind of looks like a viperhead.” Deng Guang said.
Qin Ziwen nodded. “So it’s a viperhead eel~”
The two fell silent.
Deng Guang said, “If we don’t deal with it, this trap is ruined. Of course, it might find a way to get out by itself after a while.”
Qin Ziwen said softly, “With it here, would you still dare keep setting traps in this spot? If it can be caught by the trap, it proves this area is its hunting ground. Next time, what if it isn’t inside the trap?”
Thinking that through, the two exchanged a glance and instinctively knew they had to find a way to handle this viperhead eel.
They carefully dragged the second trap ashore, and Qin Ziwen told his younger brother to stay back.
Then he picked up a stick, but Deng Guang stopped him.
“You can’t hit it directly. The trap might not be sturdy—if you break the rim it could slip out of the gap, and this thing looks really aggressive.”
“How should we handle it then?”
“I’ll do it.” Deng Guang drew a deep breath. The viperhead eel was in the second compartment of the trap.
The compartment wasn’t very big; it was cramped around it.
As humans approached, it grew more agitated, shaking its head from side to side.
Deng Guang slowly expanded the trap, then pressed two stones onto the first and third compartments, so the middle second compartment was wedged tightly.
This meant that even if something else was put inside, the trap wouldn’t spring up.
Qin Ziwen understood Deng Guang’s logic.
“I’ll do it.”
He fetched a stone and dropped it directly from above the trap onto the viperhead eel.
The heavy rock crushed it, making it hard to breathe.
Its exposed tail thrashed wildly.
Qin Ziwen found more stones and began piling them on; the eel’s movements shifted from violent thrashing to gradual stiffening.
Until its tail hadn’t moved for several minutes.
Qin Ziwu watched the whole time with knitted brows, tense. “Is it dead?”
“Don’t know. Snakes are resilient; I think we should wait a bit.” Seeing the viperhead pinned down, Qin Ziwen was actually no longer anxious.
Deng Guang felt regretful. “What a shame. This trap’s probably ruined; I see a lot of deformed parts.”
“No matter, the trap can be repaired.” Qin Ziwen shook his head. Compared to a broken trap, killing a viperhead eel was a bigger payoff.
He just wondered how the daily settlement would score killing such a venomous snake.
If scoring was by weight, it wouldn’t be high; but if scored by threat and lethality, a viperhead eel’s rating would definitely not be low.
The two emptied the catch from the first trap into a bucket, then covered the bucket with a cloth.
They stood beside the second trap for a long time, watching the crushed venomous snake. After ten minutes they pushed aside the stones that had been pressing down.
The viperhead eel’s head and body were flattened.
The rim of the trap had inevitably suffered some damage; the frames connecting several sections were deformed.
Qin Ziwen, still uneasy, prodded it with a stick for a while to confirm it couldn’t move, then grabbed one corner of the trap and shook it out.
The viperhead eel that fell out lay on the ground like a puddle of rotten flesh.
After doing all this, Qin Ziwen finally felt relieved. From the crocodile to the Tiger Fish, and now a viperhead eel—the river was like a treasure trove; you never knew what surprising little creature it would refresh next.
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