Chapter 116: Shortened Time
Han Ruochen tried to clamp the conger eel with the pliers, but it turned out that catching the eels was more difficult than she had imagined. The body of the eel was slippery and powerful; it was not easy to catch. In fact, if not for the fact that the eel was trapped under the boulder, it would have slipped out of her grasp. Her scanning system could help her find seafood, but it could not help her catch it.
Facing such a strong species, she still needed to learn how to deal with them.
"Sister Ruochen, try to clamp its head down. If you clamp its head, it won’t be able to escape." Tong Zhaodi had stayed in the village all her life, and she had watched many of the fishermen catching the conger eels; thus, she knew better than Han Ruochen. "You will not be able to catch it by clamping its body. Use your pliers to clamp on its head and then pull it out of the hole."
Han Ruochen pursed her lips. She thought about it a little and realised that it did make sense. If she were to clamp its body, she would have to worry about the mouth and jagged teeth trying to bite her arm off, but if she were to clamp the head of the eel, then she wouldn’t have to worry about it trying to bite her.
It was safer that way.
Although she could see it clearly, clamping the head of the conger eel was still proving a bit difficult. She tried to clamp the head of the eel many times, but couldn’t. Han Ruochen was worried that the eel would escape from her grasp, so she increased her strength, and after trying several times, she finally clamped the head of the eel. Using all the strength that she could muster at that very moment, she pulled out of the small hole under the stone and threw the eel in the bucket.
By the time she was done pulling the eel out of the hole, Han Ruochen was sweating hard.
It was really not easy to pull out a conger eel; she nearly lost her arm with all the twisting and thrashing.
She then turned her attention to the other eel, and her hand started to shake with the mere thought of pulling it out from the crack. It was difficult to begin with, and now that she was tired, Han Ruochen was worried that she might not be able to pull it out of the crack.
She looked down at the eel pliers and sighed. Even though this thing was anti-slip, they were still not powerful enough to grab a conger eel. And there was no point in looking for a fishing line for these eels in the stores in the town. There was not much variety when it came to fishing equipment. So it would be better if she went online and tried to look for something.
Han Ruochen rubbed her fingers and then turned her attention back to the conger eel that was eyeing her warily. After seeing what Han Ruochen did to their friend, the conger eel’s feelings toward Han Ruochen were less than friendly. The frightened conger eel saw Han Ruochen approach and immediately snapped its teeth at her.
Behind her, Tong Zhaodi cheered Han Ruochen.
Han Ruochen: "..."
Did she bring her here to cheer for her?
Han Ruochen sighed, and then, after learning her lesson, she didn’t bother to catch the conger eel by its body this time. Instead, she reached out and caught its head. Of course, the conger eel didn’t go down without a fight. It twisted and thrashed its body as hard as it could; in the end, Han Ruochen had no choice but to call for Tong Zhaodi. The two of them pulled the conger eel out of the crack, but not before receiving several scratches on their hands and arms from the thrashing tail of the conger eel.
Han Ruochen looked at the two-metre-long, thick and silvery grey snake and nodded in satisfaction.
"Wow!"
A sudden exclamation made Han Ruochen jump, and she turned to look behind her. When she saw that it was Aunt Luo, Han Ruochen heaved a sigh of relief. Aunt Luo was not a gossipy woman; thus, she wouldn’t bother with Han Ruochen. Sure enough, just as Han Ruochen expected, Aunt Luo didn’t rush to the crowd. Instead, she walked over and took a look at the eel in Han Ruochen’s hand. She said to her, "You are lucky, Ruochen. This giant eel is a good omen. You can assume it’s a gift from the sea god."
Han Ruochen was quite surprised when she heard Aunt Luo’s words; she lowered her head and looked at the conger eel in her pliers. It seemed like she was really not abandoned by the heavens. They were still watching her move forward, even when all the scars were making her stagger in pain.
"You should go back," said Aunt Luo after she was done looking at the giant eel. "The tide is about to rise again."
Han Ruochen was stunned. She raised her head and turned to look at Aunt Luo in shock. "But it has only been three hours."
"I know that, a few days ago, we could look for seafood for four hours, but today we can only look for three hours because there are three tides," Aunt Luo explained.
Only then did Han Ruochen remember that there were three tides today, which had cut short the duration of each tide.
She felt a bit at a loss; she hadn’t even finished looking at the shore completely, and now she had to return.
Tong Zhaodi was also very depressed. She thought that if they left now, they would be missing out on many good things. "Sister Ruochen, what are we going to do now?"
What else could they do other than return? It was the time for high tide now.
They couldn’t stay at the shore. Sighing, she could only say, "Let’s go back; as for the rest, we will see later on."
