Deng Wen raised the wooden stick in her hand and pointed at a certain spot on the water surface: "There's a snake in the water!"
On the water's surface, a small gray snake was swimming across.
Startled by the sounds from the shore, the little snake swam swiftly and quickly dove to the bottom, disappearing from view.
"You've been busy all morning, have some lunch."
Xiao Meixue came over carrying two bags.
One bag contained a large clay pot steaming with heat, while the other held bowls and chopsticks.
Uncovering the large clay pot, steam rose up, revealing a fish and shrimp vegetable porridge made with stewed fish meat, shrimp meat, and wild vegetables.
"I picked out all the fish bones, you can eat without worry." Xiao Meixue said as she first served Qin Ziwen a full, generous bowl.
"Thank you, Sister-in-law." Qin Ziwen quickly stood up.
Taking the large bowl, the fish and shrimp vegetable porridge inside gave off a fresh aroma, steaming hot.
After serving bowls for everyone, Xiao Meixue also served herself a bowl.
The five of them sat by the river, blowing on their porridge while slowly drinking it.
In the afternoon, their luck improved a bit.
Qin Ziwen caught three fish in a row, although they were all small fish the size of a palm, the quantity made up for it.
These three fish weren't common carp or crucian carp - they looked rather flashy with colorful scales and tails, resembling some kind of ornamental fish.
If this were modern times, they might fetch a price, but here they only had one option: to be eaten.
"Hopefully the meat of these flashy fish tastes better."
Throwing the fish into the bucket.
Qin Ziwen leaned over and looked around: "Old Deng, it seems like the crocodiles in the river have disappeared these past two days."
Deng Guang nodded: "Yeah, after that big male crocodile died, we haven't seen any fish in the river now."
Yesterday the two of them were cautious all day, but didn't even catch a glimpse of a crocodile.
Now most of the daytime had passed today, still with no sign of crocodiles.
Qin Ziwu pondered: "They might have run away, or they could be hiding. Speaking of which, animals like crocodiles have territorial awareness, right? A single river basin should only have one group. If the leader of this group dies, will a new leader emerge? Or will one drift over from other river basins?"
Qin Ziwen said: "That's possible, but even if there's a new leader, it probably wouldn't happen this quickly."
Seeing that it was getting late, Qin Ziwen picked up the bucket to head home. Besides the four fish caught during the day, the bucket also contained the loaches and gudgeons from the fish trap.
As for those marsh shrimps, they had been taken away by Xiao Meixue when she returned to make lunch - the shrimp in the noon porridge were them.
Carrying the bucket, he returned home through the east gate.
After arriving home, he took out the Recruitment Card, pondered for a moment, then silently recited "use."
The card transformed into a stream of light, a ball of white light landed on the ground, and a bird of prey with a body over one meter tall appeared on the bedroom floor.
Its sharp eyes scanned the surroundings, eventually settling on Qin Ziwen.
"Wheeeeee-ah!"
The Crowned Eagle's voice had strong penetrating power, but the underlying tone carried a whimpering quality like a puppy trying to please its owner.
"Alright, keep your voice down, don't call out." Qin Ziwen placed his index finger by his mouth, making a shushing gesture.
The Crowned Eagle tilted its head, its pair of bright, large eyes looking at Qin Ziwen. It was unclear whether it understood, but at least it really stopped calling.
From outside the bedroom door came his brother's exclamation, "Brother, I think I just heard a bird call."
"It was a bird call." Qin Ziwen opened the door to let his brother in.
As soon as Qin Ziwu opened the door, he saw the Crowned Eagle staring right at him.
Seeing a stranger, the Crowned Eagle immediately spread its wings to intimidate him. When its wings spread out, they measured over two meters wide, startling Qin Ziwu into taking half a step back.
"He's one of us." Qin Ziwen rubbed the Crowned Eagle's square head.
The Crowned Eagle folded its wings.
Qin Ziwu looked at the additional Crowned Eagle in their home, feeling too exhausted to comment.
Alright, this is another one you dug up... no, picked up, right!
But Qin Ziwu was already used to it. After all, it was his own brother - if he didn't want to explain, he must have his difficulties. They were family - would he harm his own brother?
Immediately, the younger brother looked at the Crowned Eagle with eager eyes, "Brother, can I touch it? This thing looks so majestic."
"You can touch it."
Under Qin Ziwen's reassurance, although the Crowned Eagle wasn't very accustomed to being touched by a stranger, it still closed its eyes and let Qin Ziwu stroke it a few times.
While petting it, Qin Ziwu secretly observed the Crowned Eagle's dagger-like claws - the longest one was probably over ten centimeters long. One swipe from these claws could probably tear off flesh and tendons together.
Qin Ziwen said: "I plan to have it guard the fish trap tonight. If someone comes to steal the trap, it will attack. This way we can safely set the trap at night."
Qin Ziwu looked at the Crowned Eagle's gray feathers.
In nighttime conditions, standing on a tree branch would indeed provide good concealment.
The younger brother laughed: "So it works the night shift while we work the day shift?"
"It needs to work during the day too. I remember birds can sleep with half their brain while keeping watch with the other half. When it's guarding there at night, it's almost like resting. I plan to teach it some simple things first to see how intelligent it is. If it's smart, it can help me map out the surrounding area."
Qin Ziwu felt his older brother's idea was quite capitalistic - working both day and night shifts. He looked at this square-headed Crowned Eagle with pity.
"Knock knock knock."
Then came knocking at the door.
Qin Ziwen gave his brother a look, signaling him to answer the door, while he stayed with the Crowned Eagle in the bedroom.
Qin Ziwen sat on the edge of the bed, holding the Crowned Eagle's wing, lowering his voice to whisper: "Don't call out randomly."
The Crowned Eagle obediently took two steps forward, resting its head on Qin Ziwen's shoulder.
After a while, the living room door closed.
The younger brother came in: "It was Wang Xiaoli from across the hall. She said she hasn't eaten cooked food for several days and wanted to borrow some fire from us. I used the flint to start a fire for her."
"Mm." Qin Ziwen nodded - this was just a minor matter.
......
That evening, Qin Ziwen pushed open the window and released the Crowned Eagle, letting it fly in the sky to await his instructions.
Just as he was about to leave the residential complex, he ran into Wang Yun.
Wang Yun had a pleased expression on his face. Compared to yesterday's dejection, today he was beaming with energy and high spirits.
Patting Qin Ziwen's shoulder, he leaned close to his ear and said in a low voice: "Come to my place, I'll show you something good."
He vigorously winked at Qin Ziwen.
Qin Ziwen pondered, then nodded.
Arriving at Wang Yun's home,
After entering, he almost thought he had the wrong door. Several people were sitting in the room, chatting and laughing, creating quite a lively atmosphere. In the corner, a long-haired man with a demeanor that didn't fit in with the others sat awkwardly on a stool.
Most noticeably, in Wang Yun's living room, floated a ball of light.
Wasn't this the Home?
Had Wang Yun also obtained a card?
The surprise on Qin Ziwen's face was noticed by Wang Yun, who laughed heartily and pointed at the light sphere: "Brother, this thing is called Home. As long as you can obtain a card, you can activate the Home. This thing has all kinds of wonderful uses."
Wang Yun didn't keep secrets, explaining the uses of the Home, and finally revealed where he had obtained the card.
It was in a cave to the east, where there was an altar. At that time, this card was floating above the altar.
The cave entrance was somewhat hidden, and he had been lucky to discover it.
Speaking of this, Wang Yun sighed with emotion. If he hadn't encountered the wolf pack in the west and lost companions, he wouldn't have gone to explore the east, and thus wouldn't have been able to obtain this card.