novelraw Chapter 260: Gaining Experience
Chapter 260: Gaining Experience
Chapter 260: Gaining Experience
Two days passed in a flash. Noah successfully applied for a mission to hunt a saltwater crocodile of about two and a half meters. Unfortunately, this bounty mission wasn't very dangerous, so the price was also not high—only five thousand Australian dollars.
Basically, any bounty mission for a saltwater crocodile under three meters would be snatched up by a crocodile hunter almost instantly.
Most of the ones that hung around on the municipal government's list were the difficult ones—huge in size and surrounded by other saltwater crocodiles.
These tough nuts were, of course, dealt with, but it required a team of four or five experienced old hunters.
A four or five-meter saltwater crocodile could swallow half an adult in one bite. A two-person team would not normally challenge one.
It was quite lucky that Noah was able to get this bounty mission.
He had wanted to get a smaller saltwater crocodile for Chu Mingcheng to practice on and gain some experience.
As it happened, the client came to the City Council for help just then. When he heard it was only a 2.5-meter saltwater crocodile, he immediately accepted the mission.
Then he went to the client's house to understand the specific situation.
Chu Mingcheng had been quite relaxed these past two days. The issue with Jiang Luoluo's employee accommodation was never really a problem.
However, she didn't want a strange woman living in the apartment her man had lived in; after all, it still had traces of him.
Therefore, she was willing to spend a little more money to rent a separate place.
And for the following two days, Noah was the one who ran all the errands, searching for a suitable target. To be worthy of his twenty percent cut, he got a taste of being fleeced by the capitalist for once.
"Cheng, take a look at the information on this saltwater crocodile."
"Okay."
Chu Mingcheng took the tablet and looked at the crocodile's information in detail.
He had thought it was the information on the saltwater crocodile they had found in the small river before, but it turned out Noah had accepted a bounty mission.
The target was a female saltwater crocodile that had recently taken up residence in a small pond in someone's yard and refused to leave. The main reason was that the client kept a lot of fish in the pond, and the abundant food made the saltwater crocodile unwilling to leave.
Saltwater crocodiles are quite aggressive toward humans, and the client had two young children, only five or six years old. He couldn't rest easy with the crocodile staying there for even one more day.
Therefore, he had immediately gone to the City Council for help that very day. Noah, who had been running around for two days and had filmed another saltwater crocodile, happened to run into him and took the mission on the spot.
After reading it, Chu Mingcheng began to pack his gear. "Let's just bring a rope and we can go."
Noah, who had just taken out his shotgun, was stunned. "I've already got my shotgun out, and you're telling me we only need a rope?"
"I don't need this thing. Are you planning to go solo?"
"NONONO, I have absolutely no intention of going solo. I just want to try the feeling of shooting a gun."
"Noah, you should save some bullets. Your wife is coming back to Australia soon."
"You don't understand. It doesn't matter if the bullets are gone, as long as this shotgun is good."
Chu Mingcheng couldn't be bothered with this chattering old man anymore. What was an assistant doing with a shotgun? Would he admit he was envious?
Unfortunately, he couldn't own a shotgun!
They had switched cars. This time, it was a second-hand—or who knows how many hands—pickup truck they had bought from a used market, complete with a crane on the back. The total cost was twenty-two thousand Australian dollars.
Chu Mingcheng had paid for it. After all, he was taking eighty percent of the profits; he couldn't let Noah pay for it. Anyway, he would sell the truck before leaving Australia to recoup some of the cost.
Although the pickup was cheap, it was very stable on the road. Noah had been driving around the suburbs for the past few days, and the truck had no problems at all.
They bought a boiled chicken on the way, and Noah drove directly to the client's house.
The client lived on the outskirts of the city, in a typical European-style small villa with a yard much larger than the house.
This was the advantage of a developed country with a small population—at least people didn't have to worry about housing when they got married.
"Oh, thank goodness, you're finally here." Noah had already called ahead, and the client was waiting at the door. When he saw the car drive in, he immediately came forward to welcome them.
Of course, his enthusiasm was mainly for Noah.
As for Chu Mingcheng, he was treated as the crocodile hunter's little assistant, but he didn't mind.
The client exchanged a few pleasantries with Noah, then walked into the yard and came to the side of the small pond.
At the left edge of the pond, a saltwater crocodile's head could be seen above the water. Judging by the size of its head, it was indeed smaller than the one they had caught before.
Chu Mingcheng took out the boiled chicken he had just bought as bait and came to the edge of the pond.
Seeing this, the client was startled. "Noah, what is he doing?"
"Don't worry, just watch. He's the crocodile hunter of our team. He once subdued a three-meter-plus saltwater crocodile with his bare hands, easy."
Noah patted the client's shoulder to reassure him, then set up the camera to film.
Then he brought a rope from the car to tie the crocodile with later.
Of course, there was also a cloth to cover its eyes, which he thought Chu Mingcheng might use.
The client was a bit stunned. He hadn't expected the quiet Asian man standing by to be the real crocodile hunter.
But he couldn't say much at this point, his expression just a little worried.
The saltwater crocodile in the pond, which had been resting, immediately submerged and swam over when it saw food on the bank.
Chu Mingcheng stared intently at the water's surface, on guard against the crocodile's first fatal attack.
The reason he dared to play like this was entirely because his reaction speed was faster.
Besides, foreigners often played this game of luring saltwater crocodiles with a chicken. Although a very small number of them made mistakes and became a meal, contributing to their country's population control, the vast majority successfully lured the crocodiles onto land.
Suddenly, the water's surface exploded. A ferocious crocodile opened its huge mouth and bit fiercely at the boiled chicken in Chu Mingcheng's hand.
From the looks of it, it seemed it could even bite his hand.
Chu Mingcheng's attention had been focused on the saltwater crocodile. The moment it shot out of the water, he took a step back, getting out of its attack range.
As long as one is prepared, a human's reaction speed is faster than a crocodile's when it lunges out of the water, let alone his, which had been enhanced hundreds of times.
"Ah~!"
A scream came from behind. Chu Mingcheng felt it came from inside the house, but he had no time to look back now.
The saltwater crocodile, having missed its first attack, didn't return to the water as it normally would. Instead, it crawled forward two steps and bit at the boiled chicken again.
After all, the smell of food was dangling right in front of its nose; how could it give up so easily?
Chu Mingcheng would nimbly retreat before each of its attacks, step by step, luring the saltwater crocodile away from the pond and completely onto land.
The opportunity was coming!
His concentration sharpened. As the saltwater crocodile bit again, he threw the boiled chicken.
The saltwater crocodile instinctively adjusted its position and bit down on the chicken leg.
However, the next moment, before it could even swallow, a pair of powerful hands pressed down on its mouth.
It immediately tried to resist, but its entire head was held down, and it couldn't lift it at all.
Its four limbs struggled, and its body began to twist. But the next moment, Chu Mingcheng adjusted his position and pinned it with his knee.
The three-meter-plus saltwater crocodile could still barely manage to use its death roll while being suppressed by him. This crocodile was not only a size smaller but also a whole lot thinner. It was completely overpowered.
"OH MY GOD!" The homeowner was dumbfounded. Living in the northern region of Australia, he had seen many crocodile hunters, but this was the first time he had seen one so fierce.
Seeing that Chu Mingcheng had successfully subdued the saltwater crocodile, Noah quickly went over and tied its mouth with a rope.
Looking at the saltwater crocodile, its mouth held shut and unable to open, its head bobbing up and down as it tried to break free, he looked at it with pity.
"This poor thing. All that meat for just a small chicken leg, not even the whole boiled chicken."
"Nearly thirty thousand Australian dollars for a chicken leg not worth five cents. Cheng, in your words, you've made a killing!"
Chu Mingcheng laughed at his words. "Maybe this little girl is a bit shy. I'll save the boiled chicken and give it to you for dinner tonight."
Noah looked at the ferocious-looking female saltwater crocodile and its sealed mouth, then nodded. "Alright, she does seem a bit shy, she's not even talking anymore. But thanks, I don't like boiled chicken!"
With the saltwater crocodile subdued, the homeowner immediately came forward with a torrent of thanks, praising Chu Mingcheng as the most formidable crocodile hunter he had ever seen.
At the same time, several people walked out of the house: a woman with two children, followed by a fair-skinned, pretty young girl who looked eighteen but was probably only fourteen or fifteen.
That sharp scream from earlier probably came from this young girl.
Foreign young girls seemed to be quite bold. In front of her family, she asked Chu Mingcheng for his contact information, not noticing that her father's face had turned green.
"Focus on your studies!" Chu Mingcheng said with a smile and a wave of his hand.
A pretty, fair-skinned young girl was indeed very appealing, with a hint of maturity amidst her youthfulness, especially with her tall figure and good development. But singing in a jail cell for a few years was not for him.
Afterward, he and Noah used the crane to lift the three-hundred-plus-jin saltwater crocodile into the back of the truck. After saying goodbye to the homeowner, they left directly.
Back in the city center, they first submitted the video for review. Chu Mingcheng had the five thousand Australian dollars sent directly to his card.
Then he and Noah went to the trading market to sell the saltwater crocodile.
The trading value of a female saltwater crocodile was surprisingly much higher than a male's. This crocodile was bought by someone from a farm for thirty thousand Australian dollars. Chu Mingcheng immediately paid Noah his seven thousand share.
An easy twenty-eight thousand earned, with costs of probably less than a hundred. It was pure profit.
One successful hunt greatly increased Noah's confidence. After Chu Mingcheng went back to rest, he immediately submitted the saltwater crocodile video he had filmed two days prior to apply for a hunt.
The one he applied for was a saltwater crocodile a little over two meters long. Logically, a crocodile of this size would not be approved.
However, this saltwater crocodile had appeared in a small river near the city. Although there were warning signs by the river, any saltwater crocodile found there each year would be cleared out by crocodile hunters. This was an unspoken agreement between the City Council and the crocodile hunters.
Over the next two weeks, with Noah's assistance, Chu Mingcheng successfully hunted three more saltwater crocodiles.
None of these three crocodiles exceeded three meters, so he successfully captured all of them alive with his own strength.
After deducting Noah's share, he had earned a total of sixty-three thousand Australian dollars.