We all watched the leader nervously, wondering what he would do next to pick out the red beans from beside a grumpy body.
After waiting for a long time without seeing the leader make any move, he and the three-spined serpent, which was almost as tall as a human face when standing upright, remained in a standoff, neither of them making a move first.
The audience was growing impatient, some seeing this for the first time, and they couldn't help but whisper among themselves. It was questionable whether the leader himself could even execute this training method.
Just then, the three-banded serpent, facing its leader's blatant provocation, seemed to be losing its temper.
The hissing sound immediately stopped, and the leader's usually calm eyes suddenly changed slightly, like a pebble thrown into a still lake creating ripples.
Without warning, the S-shaped, upright snake body, like a bolt of lightning, lunged at the leader's face with its gaping maw.
At this moment, the leader was already prepared and had already made a dodge move when the snake leaned back to gather its strength.
Almost as the snake's head grazed the leader's arm, the leader swiftly used chopsticks to precisely pick up a bean and toss it out of the earthenware jar.
The leader was exploiting the time difference between the snake's attack and the moment it struck, but even so, everyone was still amazed by the leader's reaction speed.
Next, the leader put down his chopsticks and began to explain the key points of the movements to everyone.
Dante, who was standing nearby, immediately provided a real-time translation, fearing that I might not understand.
"As everyone just saw, as long as you anticipate the snake's attack direction and dodge accordingly, you can still avoid the snake's attack and get the beans out."
"Next, you need to pay close attention to the muscle movements of the snake's head. All animals will make a slight backward tilt before attacking, and snakes are no exception. Observe carefully."
After saying this, the chief waved his hand to indicate that they could begin. Several young natives who were seeing the snake for the first time were eager to try, including Dante, who took chopsticks and came to the pottery jar to wait.
Soon, a scream came from beside a pottery jar. A snake's head was seen biting a native's arm, and the intense pain made sweat pour from his forehead.
Finally, another native came over and pried open the snake's mouth, thus rescuing the native man from his predicament.
Dante, who had been eager to try, became somewhat timid after seeing this scene.
This time, Su Su unexpectedly stepped forward, took a pair of long chopsticks, walked to the pottery jar, and squatted down, almost perfectly replicating the leader's actions.
However, this skill is not something that everyone can imitate in a short time, and unsurprisingly, Su Su also encountered an accident.
A three-lined serpentine snake bit Su Su's arm, and the pain brought tears to her eyes.
However, the stubborn girl didn't utter a sound, and with her other hand she grabbed the snake's body and began to pull hard.
All that could be heard was the cracking and snapping of the snake's bones as Su Su endured the pain. If she didn't let go soon, they might break from the force.
Knowing she had encountered a tigress, the three-lined serpent could only loosen its grip when it was about to be torn apart, and Su Su finally breathed a sigh of relief.
On the first day, almost no one was able to pick the beans out of the clay pot, but their arms were kissed by snakes several times.
We've only greatly improved our strength; our agility is still not as good as the leader's. In the end, the leader didn't say much, just told everyone to practice more in the future.
I stared at the bloody hole on my arm where the three-banded serpent had bitten me, lost in thought. This couldn't go on.
I don't know how much more suffering my hands will endure, but there won't be any good results in ten days or half a month. I need to find a way to improve my reaction speed.
When I accidentally saw a potato in the corner, I quickly came up with a better training method.
Our current problem is that our brains are not yet able to quickly adapt to external stimuli.
I now think that if two people work together and throw potatoes or other objects at each other from a certain distance, the opponent needs to judge the trajectory of the potatoes and then catch them one by one with their hands.
Once they've become proficient, they can be grouped into teams of three, with two people throwing the projectiles and one person catching them.
This way, hand-eye coordination can be developed very well. Moreover, there is no risk of being bitten; at most, you might get hit by a potato.
With this in mind, I shared my idea with Dante and Susu. At that moment, Dante and Susu were also looking at the wound on their hands with worried expressions, not knowing what to do.
When I told them there was a way to replace this suffering, their eyes lit up at the same time.
Dante asked impatiently,
"Sir, please tell us quickly. What method do you suggest? We'll listen to you."
I nodded and explained my thoughts to the two of them.
After listening to me, they felt that my words made sense and nodded in agreement, willing to cooperate with me and give it a try.
Dante and I were about three steps apart, so we started our first round of pitching practice in pairs.
We used potatoes as props, throwing them at each other intermittently without any pattern.
The potatoes thrown out are like the elusive three-banded serpent; you need to predict its attack direction in order to intercept them effectively.
That's what they say, but it's not so easy to actually do. Suddenly, a potato flew out of Dante's hand and hit me on the forehead, on both cheeks.
However, compared to the previous training methods, ours is much more effective. After a few simple training sessions, we can now catch objects thrown by our opponents in three steps.
Next, the two people were moved one step apart, increasing the distance to two steps. This two-step distance will reduce the time the potato takes to fly.
This means that the speed of the simulated trichordal cavitary snake will become much closer.
At this point, some of the locals watched our actions with curiosity and gathered around to ask Dante what he was doing.
Dante didn't keep anything to himself; he naturally wanted to share good things with everyone. Then, Dante explained everything about how we trained quickly.
Everyone was clearly excited after hearing this, because this way they could avoid being bitten on the arm by a snake and could also train themselves better.
Several small teams were immediately formed, and they went to the tribe's warehouse to take out some potatoes to use as props.
After a series of training exercises, everyone was pleasantly surprised to find that they had improved significantly. If we increase the number of people to three tomorrow and shorten their stride, we'll definitely be able to reach the speed of the three-corded serpentine snake.
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