The clansmen brought over the basket, and Dante and I worked together to throw the large yellow eel, weighing over three pounds, into the basket.

As soon as the eel was thrown in, it immediately burrowed under the giant frog and the dead bamboo partridge. This is its instinct to burrow; as long as it is out of the light, it feels safe and will stop its restlessness.

We were all very happy. Such things are usually hard to come by, especially such a large shipment.

After searching around the pond again, we managed to catch a few eels weighing a few ounces each, and that was about all we could find.

“Well, sir, this place has been searched… well, it’s clean. Do you think we should go check out the next location?” Dante said from the side.

I nodded. This is just the appetizer. We haven't even used the net we wove yet; we need to find a suitable place to dry it and see how it goes.

Since I started working, I haven't had the chance to touch these fishing gears for many years. The last time I fished was when I was a teenager, using a net with my father on our small wooden boat.

But those days are long gone from me now, ever since my father disappeared. I dropped out of school, and the burden of supporting the family fell on my mother and me.

I wonder if I've found any news about my father after all this time.

Seeing that I was looking at the net with a somewhat dazed expression, Dante asked, "Sir, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Oh! It's nothing. I was just thinking about where would be a good spot to set up the net, and I got a little lost in thought," I said apologetically.

"Sir, what do you think of that place? The chief and the others have all gone over there."

Only after hearing Dante's words did I realize that the leader and his party had already arrived at a backwater that had been washed out by the flood, with flashlights on their hands, to investigate.

Dante and I came to this cove, but it was the rainy season, and the river water was unlikely to become clear for the next two months, making it almost impossible to spot fish with our eyes.

However, I still have ways to determine whether there are fish in here, how many fish there are, and where the fish are more concentrated.

At this moment, because this is an inlet, the water flow is not very fast. Compared to the surging floodwaters outside, it is much quieter here.

I had a few natives illuminate the area with flashlights, and now the entire surface of the backwater bay is visible to me.

If you look closely, you can see that some bubbles are still rising from the surface of the water.

Some of the bubbles are from fish, while others are actually methane gas intermittently released from the silt layer at the bottom of the river.

The difference between these two types of bubbles is quite simple: just look at the spot where the bubbles are coming out. If methane is leaking out, the bubbles in that spot will not move away and will continue to emerge regularly.

Fish are creatures that never stay still; they are constantly swimming in the water. If you encounter bubbles that appear here and there irregularly, it is highly likely that you have encountered a school of fish.

Now I can see bubbles on the water surface. There are two possibilities. This is a backwater, so the water flow can't directly wash away the silt, which is normal.

Just then, a local man not far away pointed to a spot and started chattering excitedly. He waved and beckoned us to look at the place he was pointing to.

Following the beam of the homemade flashlight, I could see several small dots constantly rising and falling on the surface of a small patch of still water not far from him.

Those are none other than fish mouths. It's likely that the amount of silt in the water is too high, severely affecting the fish's normal respiratory system.

Now that they are feeling suffocated at the bottom of the water, they can only float to the surface and breathe some fresh air through their mouths.

But do you think we'll have the mercy to let these fish go after we find them?

"Dante, have everyone point the lights at that area. I'll start installing..."

"No, I'm going to start casting the net."

As I spoke, I first divided the net in my hand, following the traditional three-seven split, taking three parts and throwing seven.

Upon arriving at this body of water, I picked up the sorted net and swung it back and forth a few times to get a feel for it, giving the net a period of acceleration to adapt.

Then, with the next back swing, the power was transmitted from the waist to the arm at a 90-degree angle, and the arm was swung out forcefully.

The net, in a parabolic arc, gradually unfolds into a spiderweb-like circular net, perfectly covering the area where fish mouths had previously emerged.

As soon as the net was lowered into the water, a fish darted belly-up in the net before diving back into the deep water.

However, I'm not worried about them escaping. Once a fish is within the net's range, it's not so easy for it to get away.

This fishing net is something passed down from our ancestors for thousands of years. How can they let the fish escape so easily? Where do they put their faces?

The natives were once again impressed by my skill in throwing the net. They seemed to have become decades younger, their eyes sparkling with irresistible joy.

This is amazing! They can throw such a big net out with just a flick of their wrist. They're really impressive.

Soon, the net sank to the bottom of the water. It was time to haul it in. I pulled on the rope connecting the net and began to pull it up from the bottom.

When I pulled the net rope halfway through, I suddenly realized that the rope was taut and I couldn't pull it anymore.

At this moment, Dante, who was standing nearby, also ran over, grabbed the rope with one hand, and together with me, we pulled the net up like in a tug-of-war.

Even with two people pulling, it was still quite strenuous. As we pulled the net rope, we could clearly feel the immense force coming from above.

There must be a lot of big stuff in here, otherwise how could they have such strength to fight against me?

As we slowly pulled up the net, the tribespeople jumped for joy.

Because they saw a lot of fish jumping wildly inside the net, trying to break free and escape.

However, my net was not so easy to move at this moment. Dante and I gritted our teeth and pulled hard, dragging the net and all the fish inside to the shore.

The remaining natives cheered and came over to help, and soon a large number of fish were taken out of the nets.

The fish came in all shapes and sizes, from small crucian carp weighing only a few ounces each to large grass carp weighing about twenty pounds. My net was almost damaged in several places while trying to haul it up.

There are many kinds of fish, such as carp, catfish, mandarin fish, snakehead fish, and so on.

I estimated that the fish here weigh at least fifty or sixty pounds each. A single net can easily catch dozens of pounds of fish. In the past, this would have been an incredible feat.

Just as we were about to call it a day and head back, we saw a huge black figure approaching our location.