As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up
Chapter 301 - Chapter 301 Chapter 256 Fishing in the Wild River Encountering

Chapter 301: Chapter 256: Fishing in the Wild River, Encountering a Crocodile Chapter 301: Chapter 256: Fishing in the Wild River, Encountering a Crocodile Back at the dock, Noah was in agony yet elated. Chu Mingcheng was catching Emperor Crabs so quickly that he couldn’t sell them in time.

“Chu, maybe you could rest for a few days, wait for me to sell this batch, and then head out to sea again.”

Chu Mingcheng immediately shook his head in refusal, “No, that group of crabbers has been giving me trouble, and I plan to set out again tomorrow to complete catching the remaining three thousand and some pounds, then quickly leave here to take on bounty tasks.”

“Lest these crabbers become desperate and do something even more outrageous.”

“Leaving earlier is relatively safer. So, I suggest you just sell the Emperor Crabs at a lower price and join me on the bounty tasks.”

Upon hearing this, Noah pondered for a moment and nodded, “You have a point; in fact, I’ve also gathered some information these past few days.”

“The most reckless of those crabbers you slapped is still recuperating, and I haven’t heard that any of the others would do something too excessive. So I originally thought you were temporarily safe.”

“But now it seems I was negligent. Let’s not discuss whether that brute will seek revenge once he’s recovered. Even others might act impulsively.”

Noah wasn’t really worried about his own safety; the main conflict was on Chu Mingcheng’s side, and he was just a seafood merchant after all.

Luckily, Chu Mingcheng didn’t reside in Melbourne, so once he sold the Emperor Crabs, he could quickly leave, and those people naturally couldn’t trouble him.

The main thing was to create a timing difference and catch them off guard.

That night, Chu Mingcheng was invited by a government official to come in for questioning over the incident of the cut crab pot ropes.

To any normal person, it was a very strange affair, and naturally, he played ignorant. After the questioning, he was free to go.

Suspects needed evidence, and even the two crabbing captains hadn’t suspected Chu Mingcheng.

Stepping out of the police station, Noah was waiting in the car outside.

When he saw Chu Mingcheng get in, he immediately asked with concern, “Are you okay, what happened?”

“It’s nothing, just some minor conflicts with the crabbers. They just asked a few questions,” Chu Mingcheng brushed it off lightly. Regarding the cut ropes, he “knew nothing” about it, and he wouldn’t discuss the matter.

His evasive attitude was completely different from inside, leading Noah to realize that he was hiding something.

But understanding the situation, he didn’t ask further and decided to quickly sell the Emperor Crabs at a lower price and then leave Melbourne to lay low.

For Chu Mingcheng, this experience with the Emperor Crabs had been quite exhausting.

He hadn’t expected that while he could handle the local fishing regulations with his skills, the locals would still be troublesome.

Seems like he would need to be more cautious using this ability in the future, especially in countries where individuals could own firearms. He would have to be more careful.

Two days later, Chu Mingcheng returned to the docks with over three thousand pounds of Emperor Crabs and handed them off to Noah.

This Melbourne trip was almost over, and this was the last time he went out crabbing.

However, there was a fisheries patrol ship in the waters, which was apparently investigating the situation of the cut ropes.

Chu Mingcheng saw them from afar and passed directly by without stopping, then made a detour to the Moxiang Whale area and caught a few hundred pounds of Emperor Crabs.

But this was too inefficient, so he returned to the spot with two hundred sunken crab pots that night.

Luckily, the fisheries had already left, and he quickly filled his quota and then disappeared.

These crab pots definitely needed to be harvested; if left alone, it was estimated that many Emperor Crabs would die each year.

But this no longer concerned Chu Mingcheng, and he sold all the Emperor Crabs to Noah once he returned to the harbor.

After the expenses and paying the boat’s rent, his account balance had just exceeded five hundred thousand Australian dollars, reaching five hundred twenty thousand.

Converted to Big Coins, that was about two and a half million. In Xia City, that amount might be enough for a down payment on a small villa.

But whether or not to buy a villa was something Chu Mingcheng was still undecided about.

For young people like them, living in the city center was more convenient; generally, villas are in the suburbs, and commuting could be a hassle.

He wondered if a large flat with its own indoor swimming pool was expensive, as he personally thought this type of property would likely be more expensive than ordinary villas.

After all, a flat that includes a swimming pool has many factors to consider…

Shaking his head, Chu Mingcheng decided not to think about it for now and would discuss it with Jiang Luoluo when he returned.

For now, the priority was to earn money; two hundred thousand might seem like a lot, but in reality, it was far from enough for anything substantial.

Noah would need at least three more days to deal with the Emperor Crabs, and after resting for a day, Chu Mingcheng planned to go to Northern Australia to apply for a hunting license.

The bounty task he was undertaking was to hunt Saltwater Crocodiles.

Since Saltwater Crocodiles were also aquatic creatures, Chu Mingcheng had no problem applying for a hunting license with his skills.

Australia’s natural environment was excellent; virtually all species that appeared in this country tended to become overly prolific.

The currently proliferating Saltwater Crocodiles had also become a headache for the Australian City Government.

Originally, Saltwater Crocodiles were near extinction, but after arriving in Australia, their numbers had uncontrollably surged to two hundred fifty thousand.

Therefore, the Australian City Government issued bounties for hunters to kill these ferocious beasts.

Of course, Australia had many professional hunters, and those who hunted Saltwater Crocodiles were naturally Crocodile Hunters.

Profession matching, they needed to apply for hunting licenses.

Before hunting, an application was required, there was a limit on the number of kills, the entire process from spotting a crocodile to killing it needed to be recorded, and other animals could not be hunted.

Additionally, any crocodile eggs found could be collected and sold, but there was an annual limit on this too.

When Chu Mingcheng learnt of these restrictions, he immediately frowned.

He was somewhat put off by the continuous filming, but then he thought about it again, he wasn’t planning to dive while hunting the Saltwater Crocodile, so there wasn’t much to expose.

The only possible thing that might be exposed was his own great strength, but that seemed to matter little.

Don’t be fooled by Chu Mingcheng’s earlier feat of beating a Six-gill Shark, for that type of shark isn’t particularly aggressive, and moreover, it lacks agility.

If it were a three or four meter Great White Shark, one might be manageable, but if there was even one more, he would definitely turn and run.

The size of a Saltwater Crocodile is no smaller than that of an adult Great White Shark, ranging from four to five meters in length and could grow up to seven meters.

Facing such a highly defensive and thick-skinned crocodile, with just a small harpoon in his hand, how could he dare dive and provoke one?

However, a four-meter Saltwater Crocodile could fetch over twenty thousand Australian dollars, which is roughly equivalent to one hundred thousand Big Coins.

Furthermore, it seems the Australian City Government also offers some rewards. However, after the annual hunting limit reaches one thousand two hundred Saltwater Crocodiles, one cannot hunt any further.

It’s only halfway through the year, so there’s no need to worry about reaching the limit yet.

Moreover, crocodile skin could be made into bags, and it seems his girlfriend, mother, and mother-in-law all lack a crocodile skin bag.

It’s just unknown whether they prefer custom-made crocodile skin bags or pre-made ones.

After saying goodbye to Noah, Chu Mingcheng went ahead to Darwin City, the capital of Northern Territory, Australia, where he successfully obtained a hunting permit for Saltwater Crocodiles.

He also checked the number of crocodiles that had been killed this year, which currently stood at only two hundred thirty-seven.

The limit of one thousand two hundred is still far away, but the peak periods for hunting Saltwater Crocodile are summer and autumn, usually reaching the limit by mid-autumn.

Furthermore, Chu Mingcheng learned that not all Saltwater Crocodiles killed can fetch a reward.

Only those that had previously attacked humans could offer an additional reward, and these crocodiles were already listed for a bounty at the City Hall.

The Crocodile Hunter can only learn the specific habitats of these crocodiles once they accept the mission.

Hunting Saltwater Crocodiles is evidently very lucrative, but there are also many hunters who perish at the jaws of crocodiles each year, making it an extremely dangerous profession.

Noah hadn’t arrived yet, so Chu Mingcheng, having nothing else to do, went to buy a fishing rod, planning to catch some fish in the river and possibly add some unique specimens to his aquatic pictorial guide that aren’t found back home.

In Melbourne, he sold all his previously bought second-hand fishing gear like fish crates and crab cages, as these items were difficult to transport back home. Currently, he only carried an electric winch with him.

Therefore, since he planned to go fishing today, besides the rod, he needed to buy a fish protector.

As for other non-essential gear, he decided not to buy any to save some money.

Although his Melbourne fishing license hadn’t expired, it wasn’t usable in the northern region, so he had to buy a new one.

Luckily, it wasn’t expensive, so he bought one for three days.

He rented a car, Chu Mingcheng followed the GPS and drove towards the suburbs.

After about an hour or so, he found a secluded river surrounded by lush vegetation.

Arriving at the riverbank, Chu Mingcheng frowned, The water quality in this river today wasn’t up to the mark!

It might be because it had just rained heavily this morning, making the river water rather yellow.

Under such circumstances, the fish might hide due to obstructed vision and not come out to feed, thus making it not a good spot for fishing.

However, after some thought, Chu Mingcheng decided to try fishing here for a while.

He was mainly planning to pass the time by fishing, so he wasn’t particularly concerned about how many fish he could catch.

He scattered some bait mix two meters ahead and baited the hook, then cast it into the baited spot.

Usually, after baiting, one is supposed to wait at least half an hour, typically an hour.

But as Chu Mingcheng had nothing else to do, he just started fishing immediately, hoping that perhaps a lost little fish would bite.

However, the activity on his end had already caught the attention of a creature resting by the riverbank not far away.

It submerged into the water almost without a sound, causing only a few ripples on the surface.

It dived into the water and slowly approached Chu Mingcheng at a very slow pace.

Once it got closer, however, it began to hesitate.

Being a young Saltwater Crocodile, its diet currently consisted of fish and small amphibians from the river.

It usually avoided large creatures since it knew it wasn’t grown enough to tackle them.

Thus, upon drawing closer and discovering the prey was rather large, it paused instead of attacking rashly.

Additionally, since the prey was somewhat far from the bank, it wasn’t sure it could secure its bite.

So it quietly hid under nearby weeds, only its crocodile head breathing out, waiting for its prey to come closer to the water.

That would be its moment to strike.

However…

“Dammit!”

Chu Mingcheng, who hadn’t had any bites all day, casually looked around and ended up spotting a crocodile head not two meters away, startling him immensely.

Were Saltwater Crocodiles so overpopulated in Northern Australia?

Did he just stumble upon a Saltwater Crocodile by fishing in a random small wild river?

Chu Mingcheng promptly packed up his fishing rod, only to find that when he lifted it, it had snagged a big fish.

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