The Fish I Catch Can Level Up

Chapter 262: The End of the Australia Trip

The wait was going to be long. It would take Noah at least ten hours to arrive.

Chu Mingcheng took out a long steel pole and sat in the car, on guard against any approaching carnivores—mainly other crocodiles.

The morning passed without incident, which was a slight relief.

He took out a loaf of bread to fill his stomach, took a sip of water, and felt a pang of regret when it came to food.

Every time he hunted saltwater crocodiles, he basically just ate various types of Western bread to get by. Thinking about it, going out to sea for fishing was much more comfortable. At least he could cook whatever he wanted.

He'd thought the afternoon would pass quietly as well, but unfortunately, the dead saltwater crocodile had finally attracted the attention of its own kind.

Another saltwater crocodile was walking this way, step by step. It looked to be over four meters long.

This was not a good sign. It seemed he'd be busy this afternoon.

Chu Mingcheng picked up the long steel pole and came to stand in front of the giant carcass.

The approaching crocodile's vision was very poor, but it still spotted the dark figure blocking its path. It immediately opened its huge mouth and lunged forward.Crocodiles are sprinters over short distances, but it depends on the individual.

A four-meter-plus saltwater crocodile is basically wide-bodied and obese. It's already impressive if their four limbs can support their powerful build. Fast movement?

Not happening.

The fast ones are those around two meters, when their weight hasn't yet become a burden.

Therefore, Chu Mingcheng didn't even dodge, striking it hard on its weak spot—the nose—with the pole.

This blow didn't just hurt; it also frightened the crocodile.

Of course, Chu Mingcheng hadn't used his full strength. He was afraid that a full-force blow would break the crocodile's nose and completely provoke its ferocity due to injury. Hitting it hard enough to make it hurt and scared was sufficient.

The saltwater crocodile flinched, then opened its mouth and snapped randomly, but it only bit empty air.

Chu Mingcheng continued with a few more blows, and the effect was outstanding. The crocodile, now in pain and afraid, finally stopped advancing and turned to lumber back the way it came.

Its little steps were much faster than when it had arrived.

Time slowly passed, and it wasn't until the sun was setting in the west that the transport truck Noah had called finally arrived.

Chu Mingcheng stuck the long pole in the ground and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally.

He'd beaten off quite a few crocodiles that afternoon. One particularly stubborn one had even chased him after being beaten, forcing him to nearly smash its skull.

It was a good thing the pole was wrapped in steel. If it had been solid, he probably could have taken out one with each blow.

He couldn't knock out the big ones, but with his current strength, the smaller ones were really no problem.

"Wow, this is a real beauty. I have to get a picture with it." As soon as Noah got out of the car, he immediately went over to the crocodile and had someone take a photo.

"Hurry up. I really want to go back, shower, and sleep right now," Chu Mingcheng urged when he saw him dawdling.

Northern Australia is close to the equator and much hotter than Melbourne. This place basically has no seasons—just one word: hot.

The saltwater crocodile had been dead for about ten hours. If they didn't hurry and lift it onto the transport truck and put it on ice, the meat would start to rot.

Noah, who had been prying open the crocodile's mouth, gave an embarrassed laugh at his words and immediately, along with the transport truck driver, lifted the saltwater crocodile onto the truck.

The pickup had a crane, and with the help of a few adult men, the crocodile was successfully moved into the transport truck in short order. Then the group drove back to the city.

Chu Mingcheng sat in the passenger seat, eyes closed, resting. His nerves, which had been tense all afternoon, could finally relax.

It was already past two in the morning when they returned to the city. They went to a hotel, got a room, and slept until past ten.

Chu Mingcheng and Noah first went to the City Council to submit the video for review.

As he'd expected, although the video had a few minutes where the saltwater crocodile wasn't in frame, the specific killing process was all there, so it was successfully approved.

Then the saltwater crocodile was taken to the trading market. A six-meter-plus specimen was indeed a rare sight.

Its weight alone reached 2,323 jin, and it sold for a total of 73,000 Australian dollars.

Noah got nearly 15,000, and his face was wreathed in smiles.

Getting this nearly 15,000 Australian dollars was really too easy, which left him with no more objections to Chu Mingcheng's previous profit-sharing proposal.

Although this saltwater crocodile had died somewhat ingloriously—having been ambushed while it slept.

But even with an ambush, not everyone could take it down with a single spear.

He now had only one assessment of Chu Mingcheng: a born hunter.

Therefore, in the subsequent crocodile hunts, Noah was very cooperative.

With a shotgun and a clear division of labor, their efficiency was much higher than before.

Later, Noah even specifically found someone to monitor the City Council. As long as they took a video to apply, they could get the approval for 100 Australian dollars, which further improved their efficiency.

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

Noah had made a fortune during this period. Excluding the 300,000 from the king crabs, he'd earned 330,000 Australian dollars just from hunting saltwater crocodiles.

Chu Mingcheng naturally earned more—sixty-seven thousand this time.

Only half more than Noah, mainly because most of the time the saltwater crocodiles were killed directly with a shotgun, so he didn't have to fight them hand-to-hand.

But the partnership had to end. It was already July 15th, and Chu Mingcheng needed to work on the experience points for his Aquatic Species Codex.

Although Noah was reluctant to see him go, he could only accept the parting.

Having earned over 600,000 with Chu Mingcheng, he no longer had any thoughts of continuing to be someone's assistant.

Of course, Noah still didn't think of himself as the main force.

He was already very satisfied with the money he'd earned, so he planned to have some fun and enjoy a few days of freedom.

His wife and child had returned to Greece at the beginning of July. Once he returned to Melbourne, he wouldn't be able to cut loose anymore.

In addition, a major event had also happened in China during this period. The domestic military had once again come to the Taiwan Strait for exercises.

The last exercise had opened up the Taiwan Strait, so the fishermen along the coast of Fujian no longer had to worry about being randomly arrested by Taiwanese authorities.

And these exercises successfully opened up the sea area east of Taiwan.

This meant that domestic fishermen could share the fish-rich waters with Taiwanese fishermen, which was definitely good news for Chu Mingcheng.

Originally, to go deep-sea fishing for tuna, he had to go to Dongsha, because only there was a small chance of encountering bluefin tuna.

Now that the waters east of Taiwan were open, the probability of encountering bluefin tuna there was even greater.

With the saltwater crocodile hunting over, after saying goodbye to Noah, Chu Mingcheng began searching for various aquatic creatures he'd never encountered before in Australia.

For about ten days, he was changing locations almost daily.

Finally, he returned to Victoria and caught the Australian national treasure, the Murray cod, in the Darling River.

Unfortunately, the sale of this fish was mainly farmed stock, otherwise Chu Mingcheng might have had some commercial ideas about it.

In about ten days, he'd spent over 5,000 Australian dollars, but the experience points for the Aquatic Species Codex had reached 33.

It had risen to nearly half. The upgrade of his system couldn't be measured in money and time, so Chu Mingcheng felt this time was well spent.

After all, whether he'd come to Australia again in the future was still unknown.

Buying a ticket back to China, Chu Mingcheng boarded the plane and said goodbye to the Australian winter.

The seasons in the southern hemisphere are the opposite of the northern hemisphere. Here, June to August is winter.

However, during his time in Australia, he'd almost only worn short sleeves, mainly because the winter here was like late autumn in Xiamen, only a little cooler at night.

On July 27th, at 10:30 in the morning, Chu Mingcheng walked out of the airport with his suitcase.

Just then, a familiar voice rang out.

"Ah-Cheng, here, here!"

Chu Mingcheng looked in the direction of the voice and saw Jiang Luoluo waving at him with a radiant smile.

She was wearing a white shirt today, a high-waisted short skirt on her lower body, and her snow-white, slender legs were on full display—very eye-catching.

Her delicate feet were wrapped in a pair of yellow mid-calf socks, and she wore black and white sneakers.

Her hairstyle was simple, just a high ponytail. Because the sun was too strong today, she'd also put on a baseball cap.

Youthful and beautiful, she was almost indistinguishable from a university student, making the men and women walking out of the airport frequently glance her way.

Such a beautiful girl is my girlfriend. It was worth it for me to stay faithful to her in Australia.

Chu Mingcheng showed a bright smile, pulled his suitcase, and quickly came to her, then opened his arms.

Not having seen each other for nearly two months, Jiang Luoluo could no longer hold back her longing and threw herself into his arms.

The two of them didn't care about the surrounding gazes at all, hugging each other tightly.

"Ah-Cheng, I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too," Chu Mingcheng said gently, holding her.

But the next moment, an inappropriate thought suddenly popped into his mind.

Chu Mingcheng, who was holding Jiang Luoluo, suddenly felt a little embarrassed and touched his nose. His brain, having been deprived for so long, was starting to act up. He immediately let her go.

Alright, it was mainly because it was hot holding her in the summer heat. They'd cool down in the air-conditioned house later.

"Let's go back first. It's too hot outside."

"Okay, the car is parked over here." Jiang Luoluo didn't notice anything, took his hand, and walked toward the car.

Along the way, her words hardly stopped, constantly asking Chu Mingcheng what he'd been doing in Australia.

Even if she'd already heard some of it on the phone, she still asked now.

Chu Mingcheng wasn't impatient and roughly told her about catching the king crabs, but the hunting of saltwater crocodiles was changed to fishing for tuna.

Returning to Jiang Luoluo's house, he casually set his suitcase aside and collapsed on the sofa.

After returning to China and relaxing, he suddenly felt a bit tired—mainly mentally.

Jiang Luoluo had specially ordered some dishes from a Chinese restaurant, then opened his suitcase and helped him unpack and organize, looking like a capable wife.

Chu Mingcheng was lying on the sofa, but his eyes were always on her as she bustled about, and he felt a surge of emotion.

Jiang Luoluo used to only know how to dance and wasn't good at almost anything else.

She'd called for housekeeping to clean the house, most of her clothes were washed by the washing machine except for those that had to be hand-washed, and she didn't know how to cook at all.

Now, although she still didn't cook much, she'd learned how.

And in terms of other housework, she'd obviously improved considerably.

The change in a woman after she has someone she truly cares about is really remarkable.