Chapter 203: Catching Soil Dragons on the Beach

According to the two's current conditions, there is no soil dragon fork, and it seems no one in the village has one, so maybe using smoke silk would be easier to get a bit.

The two made two hooks; although not professional, they can still be used.

Of course, to be safe, the two also brought several shovels; if worse comes to worst, they could dig like they would for crab tiger fish.

Just as they were about to set off, Xiao Hu pointed to the fishing rod in the corner and said, "Brother, why not bring the fishing rod too?"

"Bring the fishing rod? We're going to the beach; do you still want to fish?"

"No, there might be jumping fish; getting some would be nice. Anyway, catching soil dragons takes time, so idling is just idling."

Jumping fish, also called mudskipper, is a small fish less than ten centimeters long; it usually looks for food on the beach, so it's considered a common visitor there.

However, this fish is hard to catch by hand because it's too fast, and it will dart into a burrow at the slightest provocation.

Therefore, people usually cast a line to fish for it, without bait; they position the hook, cast it out, choose an angle, and when pulling back, they hook the jumping fish in one motion.

Of course, it sounds simple, but it's not easy at all to do.

Jumping fish have high nutritional value, so they are not cheap; they can sell for several dozen yuan per catty.

According to Ye Cheng's understanding of himself, his success rate at casting a line to catch jumping fish is a bit low, but there's no harm in trying.

The two had gathered all their things, then rode a motorcycle to the village entrance.

The Chen brothers had already arrived, each on a broken 26-inch bicycle; the four greeted each other and then rode out.

Besides, the Chen brothers ride their broken bicycles quite fast; although they can't reach the speed of a hundred-thousand-yuan road bike, maintaining twenty-plus miles per hour is no problem.

The beach they spoke of is not in the direction toward the town; it's the other way.

Over there there are hardly any villages left, just wild beaches.

Because the bicycles are relatively slow, the four took about forty minutes to reach the spot.

"Cheng Ge, Xiao Hu Ge, this is it," Chen Zhangfu said, pointing at the beach ahead; after riding so long, he was also a bit tired.

This is a large expanse of beach, looking dark and black; with the naked eye one can see many things moving on it, a very lively stretch of beach.

"That, my friend said he found the soil dragon in that seaside patch," Chen Zhangfu pointed to a spot.

"Alright, let's go down and take a look."

Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu unloaded their things, and the four walked together onto the beach.

It's a very pure beach; stepping on it yields deep and shallow footprints, and there are many small holes on it, each like opening a blind box—you never know what's inside.

Upon reaching the spot Chen Zhangfu mentioned, Ye Cheng looked and saw indeed many hole openings, but none of the creatures came out actively to meet their doom.

He took out two packs of Lijun cigarettes and began to open them.

"Cheng Ge, it's already smoking just at the start," the Chen brothers said, feeling a bit embarrassed since they hadn't even started working yet.

Ye Cheng calmly said, "This is for the soil dragons; we'll stuff it into their holes later, and when they come out we'll hook them."

Upon hearing Ye Cheng plan to use this, Chen Zhangfu's face fell a bit, but he said nothing.

Chen Zhanglong, being straightforward, said, "Cheng Ge, this method won't work; with so many holes, only a few have soil dragons—maybe even after sending down a smoke, we still won't get anything out."

Ye Cheng calmly took out the smoke silk, then threw another pack to the two brothers, telling them to open it together.

"Don't worry, I'm me, they're them; just listen to me."

Seeing Ye Cheng so confident, the two brothers recalled the village rumors and instantly felt confident.

Together the four unpacked both packs of cigarettes; looking at the pile of smoke silk, the Chen brothers swallowed, feeling a bit regretful.

Ye Cheng directly tossed them two packs of Hua Zi cigarettes, saying, "Then let's smoke these."

"Thank you, Cheng Ge."

The Hua Zi cigarettes cleared the way, smooth and unobstructed.

There are many holes on this beach; frankly, Ye Cheng has no idea which ones contain soil dragons.

But he doesn't care; today his luck value is high, so he'll just go with it.

Thus he began assigning tasks, designating which hole was which; after picking one, the other three started laying out smoke silk and then covering it with mud.

To test the effect, Ye Cheng temporarily set up eight holes; then each of the four took a hook, each guarding two holes, standing by to wait.

Time passed second by second; the mud-sealed hole mouths still showed no movement, and Chen Zhangfu glanced at Ye Cheng.

"Cheng Ge, what if there's nothing down there?"

Ye Cheng thought to himself, this thing can't even be detected by infrared; you ask me.

"Don't worry, there definitely is; when they come out, just don't shake your hands."

"Oh, Cheng Ge, don't worry; we brothers are experts at gathering from the sea."

Glug.

A small bubble rose from the mud before Chen Zhanglong's eyes, followed immediately by a pointed soil dragon head bursting through the smoke silk, poking out of the hole and beginning to gulp fresh air.

Chen Zhangfu, sharp-eyed and quick-handed, gave a whoosh with his hook, snagging the soil dragon's gills, then jerked it upward.

A forty-centimeter-long soil dragon was forcibly pulled out of its hole and fell onto the beach.

It hadn't expected that it was merely avoiding the smoke smell, yet someone was guarding; as soon as it fell, its long body writhed, trying to burrow down again.

But Chen Zhanglong had already rushed over, using both hands to grab it twice in succession, finally securing it in his grip.

"Cheng Ge, a soil dragon, really a soil dragon—estimated at about one catty!" Chen Zhanglong shouted excitedly; one catty is several hundred, that's money.

Ye Cheng kicked the water tank over, saying, "Thanks for the catch; there's still another hole."

"Oh, okay."

Chen Zhanglong placed the soil dragon into the water tank, still reluctant to let go, rubbing it twice, his eyes full of happiness.

Ye Cheng shook his head; for a fisherman without a system, a single soil dragon is enough to show off for a month.

Just as Chen Zhanglong returned, Xiao Hu and Chen Zhangfu also had movement—two earth dragons burst out consecutively, each hooked by one of them, chased across the beach, and finally caught and placed into the water tank.

Ye Cheng looked at the two holes before him, muttering inwardly, "Brothers, hurry up already."

Soon, the first hole showed movement; a large head shot out, Ye Cheng raised his hand and brought down the hook—handsome in motion—he felt the hook bear the load instantly, then gave a hard yank, pulling the soil dragon's body out.

It was just different from what they had pulled out before; this earth dragon's body was a bit long, and Ye Cheng's pulling arc wasn't enough, so he actually only managed to pull out most of it.

That earth dragon's strength lay in its tail; its tail was still in the hole, and with a swoosh it was about to retract back inside.

In an instant, Xiao Hu's hook suddenly swooped across, and just as it was about to burrow in, the hook caught it and pulled it out again.