Our neighborhood has been transported again.

Chapter 32 Gray Sweet Potato

Picking up the damaged cage, Deng Guang gently bent it. The joints between the compartments were completely bent and could no longer be folded. "What a pity."

Qin Ziwen smashed the head of the spearhead viper with a stone.

Looking at the mangled flesh beside him, Deng Guang felt a pang of regret.

He went up behind and lifted the spearhead viper by its tail. The snake was as thick as an adult's arm. When he held his arm out, the snake's head drooped to the ground with some extra flesh still attached.

"What a pity, the venom glands seem to have been smashed. This meat is inedible and can only be used as bait in a trap."

Qin Ziwen recalled his previous biology knowledge: "I remember that snake venom is made of protein, and the venom is neutralized by boiling it in water."

Deng Guang picked up the snake carcass: "Will you eat it? I'll take it back for you."

Qin Ziwen coughed and said, "Then let's use her as bait."

Deng Guang put a small amount of snake meat into the cage, then placed the cage back at a distance and covered it with a layer of dead branches and aquatic plants. "It's a pity that the other cage is broken. I'll take it back later and see if I can fix it."

Qin Ziwu looked at the damaged cage in his hand: "Brother, the cracks in the cage don't seem that big, so it should still be usable."

Qin Ziwen shook his head: "What if we catch another snake in the net? What if it crawls out from the crack and bites you? We don't have any antivenom."

Venomous snakes and crocodiles are not the same. If you are bitten on the hand by a crocodile, you might only lose one hand if you are lucky.

If you get bitten by a venomous snake, it's not just your hand that will be lost.

Qin Ziwu thought about it and felt that his elder brother made sense: "Okay."

Qin Ziwen heard footsteps on the slope behind him.

Turning around, four people carrying buckets and fishing gear passed by on the path behind.

One of them turned his head, and the two looked at each other. He recognized him as Liu Changgen.

Liu Changgen seemed to have no idea that he would run into Deng Guang and his group here.

His gaze swept over the people below, and finally, he forced a smile: "Old Deng."

Deng Guang turned his head, saw that it was Liu Changgen, and said with a smile, "Hmm, are you guys planning to change fishing spots?"

"Yeah, there are too many people over there. I fished all day yesterday and didn't catch anything. I'm going to go downstream to check." Liu Changgen's gaze fell on the fish trap in Qin Ziwu's hand, and his tone was a little sour: "Is this a fish trap? Old Deng, you actually have such a good thing hidden away. I never saw you take it out when we were together before."

“It’s mine,” Qin Ziwen said.

"Yours?" Liu Changgen was surprised to hear this answer. How could it be yours? His gaze lingered on Qin Ziwen and the ground cage, and a strange sense of regret welled up in his heart.

If I had reserved the fishing spots for them a couple of days ago, they could probably use the fish traps now.

The man wearing a baseball cap to Liu Changgen's right raised an eyebrow. "Hey, young man, do you sell these fish traps?"

Qin Ziwen picked up the fish trap: "Selling! Fifty catties of fish, I'll get them to you right away."

Not only the man who asked the question, but also Liu Changgen's face darkened.

"Fifty pounds? Why don't you just rob someone?" The man in the baseball cap said in an unfriendly tone, sneering, "Do you know what fifty pounds of fish means? There are probably only a few families in the whole neighborhood who can put together that much meat."

Standing next to Qin Ziwen, Deng Guang thought to himself, "That's not necessarily true."

Those who participated in the first crocodile hunt each received several dozen kilograms of meat.

Liu Changgen thought for a moment and said sincerely, "How about ten catties of fish? A catty of fish can sell for six or seven yuan, and your fish trap isn't that big."

Qin Ziwen lost interest. "Your bargaining is pointless. It shows no sincerity at all. Forget it."

Liu Changgen bargained again, "Fifteen catties." Qin Ziwen was too lazy to pay him any more attention.

Liu Changgen took a deep breath, looked around carefully, memorized the location, and turned to leave.

I comforted myself inwardly.

Fish traps are just another hunting method, and they're not necessarily safe to leave outside. They could be destroyed by crocodiles in the river or stolen by others.
He thought with a hint of malice, "You'd better keep an eye on your cage 24/7, lest it get stolen one day."

As Liu Changgen's thoughts raced through his mind, he also memorized his surroundings.

Watching the four figures leave, Qin Ziwen narrowed his eyes.

Deng Guang warned Qin Ziwen, "Be careful, they might come to steal the cages."

Qin Ziwen thought of the harpy eagle and had an idea. "Hmm, I know."

Deng Guang blamed himself: "It's all my fault for misjudging people. I shouldn't have gone fishing with these Lius in the first place. Now your fishing net has been exposed."

Qin Ziwen comforted him, "It has nothing to do with you. Even if there was no Liu Changgen, there would be Li Changgen or Zhou Changgen. It's normal for others to see it. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. It will be released as usual tonight."

Deng Guang didn't ask what the method was, he just said, "It's good that you have an idea, I'll listen to you."

After hesitating for a moment, Deng Guang asked, "If he really agrees to take fifty catties of meat, will you sell the fish trap?"

Qin Ziwen replied without hesitation, "Sell it, of course I'll sell it."

That's fifty pounds of meat! If someone can produce that much meat, it would be foolish not to trade. I just wonder if meat traded this way will be included in the daily score. If it is, then he's found a little trick to boost his score.

After chatting for a while, the two arrived at the spot where they had fished the day before. Deng Guang took out the repaired fishing rod from the bag and handed it to them.

I fished all morning, or maybe the beginner protection period is over, because I only caught one small whitebait the size of my palm this morning.

Qin Ziwen's lower back ached from sitting for so long, so he got up and rubbed his lower back. After taking a few steps, his eyes fell on the leaves of a plant next to him, and they seemed somewhat familiar.

But I can't remember where I've seen it before.

After a moment of recollection, he suddenly slapped his forehead!
This looks like the "gray sweet potato" recorded in the plant guide.

Gray sweet potato: also known as "mud sweet potato", it is a tuberous plant that grows in muddy environments. Its leaves are inedible and slightly poisonous. Its tubers, which are hidden at the bottom of the mud, are edible, have a bland taste, are very filling, and can be harvested twice a year.

Although both have the character "薯" (shu, meaning potato) in their names, the leaves of this plant are completely different, and the exposed petioles are also quite different. The vine leaves are grayish-green, covered with fine hairs, and the leaves are five-pointed star shaped.

He found a short piece of wood to help dig, and soon a large bunch of gray, spherical fruits that looked like they were growing out of the soil were uprooted.

These spherical fruits have a rough skin with irregular ring patterns, making them look like stones covered in mud.

The plant he's holding has five tubers.

Perhaps because these things grow underground and few animals eat them, they grow very plump, each one the size of an adult's fist.

This one plant alone weighs about two or three pounds.

After some thought, I realized that if this thing could reproduce asexually using tubers like potatoes, it could definitely become a staple food in the future.

But right now I have too few sweet potatoes, and I don't have the right environment to grow them.

Unless you can use level 1 farmland at home, but level 1 farmland requires 400 square meters of open space.

Hopefully, I can get a few blank expansion cards soon.

(End of this chapter)