1942, I lived on hunting

Old Jia almost dropped his jaw. No matter how small the boat was, it was still a boat, not a wooden basin. It was obvious how big the thing in the river could be.

"Master, can you tell me about this thing? When I was working on a ferry with my friends, this thing hit the bottom of the boat and damaged it. All the people on the boat fell into the river. Why do you think this thing hits the boat? Can it eat wood?"

Master Qin saw that Lao Jia was still trembling, so he could only comfort him: "Let me tell you about this thing, and you won't be so scared after I tell you the truth.

Some of us call this thing the Old Dragon King, some call it the River God, and some call it the Iron-Headed Dragon King.

The head and back of this thing are extremely hard. If you chop it on the head with a knife, it will leave a gap. The back is also covered with a hard shell, like a layer of armor worn by generals in the old days. Even a harpoon cannot penetrate it. So people want to deal with it? No way!

These guys usually lurk in the sand pits and holes of the backwater bay, quietly waiting for prey to approach. They open their mouths wide and suck small prey directly into their mouths. They can also use their hard heads to hit large prey, knocking them unconscious, and then tear them into pieces with their densely packed sharp teeth and swallow them into their stomachs.

These guys can live for a very long time, much longer than humans. They keep eating and growing, and it is possible for them to grow to two or three meters.

It is said that this fish likes to eat rotten meat, and the smellier it is, the more they like it. Every year when there is a flood, pigs, horses, cattle, sheep, or people are washed into the Yellow River by the flood, which is when they are most active. Another thing is pig heads. It may be that uncastrated pigs have a fishy smell, which is the favorite thing of these guys.

As for ramming boats, that is the cunning side of these fish. I guess, at first, some iron-headed dragon kings may have regarded boats as prey and rammed them head-on, but they didn't expect to scare the people on the boats. In order to ensure safety, the people on the boats offered pig heads as sacrifices. Later, these guys wanted to eat the sacrifices, so they rammed the boats. Some boats were damaged or capsized directly, and the people on the boats fell into the river and drowned. These guys can also eat carrion. Over time, these guys developed a habit of ramming boats.

Of course, this is just my guess. It could also be that they are protecting their young fish and attack anyone who dares to approach the young fish."

"Master, I am even more scared now that you said that. There are some big creatures like this in the Nima River. Aren't you afraid?"

Master Qin chuckled, "Afraid? Who wouldn't be afraid? Aren't you afraid that I can throw the boat to the river? Hehe! When you are poor to a certain extent, you won't be afraid. If your stomach growls with hunger, will you still be afraid of them? By then, you will probably just hate yourself for not being able to catch those big guys and sell them for money. How can you still be afraid?"

"Then do you still dare to go to Huishui Bay? Someone asked us to retrieve the body?..."

"I can't make this deal, but that's okay. This deal was risky in the first place, and the money wasn't much. I took it for the sake of my fellow villagers. This time I have a good excuse to shirk it..."

…………

If you walk along the river often, you will get your feet wet. The next year, Lao Jia fell ill and did not go on the boat. Master Qin went to retrieve the body alone, but he never came back.

After Lao Jia recovered from his illness, he searched the backwater bay for several days but could not find Master Qin's body. Everything is determined by fate and cannot be controlled by man. Lao Jia bid farewell to the corpse-retrieving business and returned to his old job of fishing. Later, he did other things, but none of them made money. After he was in his forties, he gave up the idea of ​​getting married and having children and lived a life of taking things one day at a time.

Li Hao said that he wanted to see what the Iron-headed Dragon King looked like and asked Lao Jia if there was any way. Lao Jia said that as long as you have money, it is not difficult.

The two went to the market and bought a pig's head. The pig's head didn't look very fresh, and the color had changed, but the price was very cheap. Lao Jia was very happy and said it was just right for him, and the key was that it could save him some money!

The two men carried the pig's head back to Lao Jia's boat. Lao Jia loaded some rotten wooden boards and purlins he had fished out of the river, as well as some hemp ropes, into the boat, and then drove the boat with Li Hao to Huishui Bay.

When they arrived at the place, Lao Jia first moored the boat to the shore, then built a rack with wooden boards and purlins, hung the pig's head on the rack, and towed it to the backwater bay with a small boat.

Then the two men went ashore and stared at the pig's head on the shelf without blinking.

The pig's head was half submerged in the water, spinning with the wooden frame in the backwater. Driftwood and branches kept drifting into the backwater, gathering in the backwater and floating slowly in circles.

After more than an hour, Li Hao's eyes became sore and dry from staring, and he couldn't help but lose his patience. "Old Jia, is this reliable? Will this thing work? Why is there no movement?"

Lao Jia made a gesture to keep quiet, signaling Li Hao to be patient.

I waited until the sun set and the sky was getting dark, but the water surface was still the same horrible look, with only some garbage floating around, and there was no change at all.

Li Hao felt that Lao Jia was deliberately fooling him, so he stood up and stretched his arms and legs. He was about to tell Lao Jia that it was getting dark and time to leave. At this moment, something strange happened. First, various fish jumped out of the water frantically, especially the big carp with golden bodies, which drew a dazzling light against the backdrop of the setting sun and splashed water.

Just as Li Hao was marveling at this spectacle, Lao Jia shouted in a low voice: "Here it comes!"

A huge monster broke through the water headfirst, leaped out half of its body and attacked the rack with the pig's head hanging on it.

At this moment, Li Hao was stunned and even suffered from gigantic fear.

What a magnificent creature it was! Its dark brown half was at least three meters long, its smooth back reflected the light of the setting sun, and its whole body exuded a primitive and wild beauty.

Li Hao couldn't see its tail, so it must have been extremely powerful. He just twisted his body slightly, and his huge head hit the wooden frame tied tightly with hemp rope.

The wooden frame was like paper and shattered. The pig's head disappeared with a splash as the giant object entered the water, leaving only circles of ripples on the surface.

Li Hao used to watch some foreign exploration programs, especially the one about Jerry who caught big fish around the world. He learned that many giant creatures actually live around people, but people know very little about them. For example, the giant stingray, according to the largest individual caught, can grow to more than four meters long, but people don't know it exists. It was not until the 90s and 00s that people discovered - WTF! There is such a big guy in the river at the doorstep, and the key is that this thing has a spear-like stinger on its tail. If it pierces a person, it would be a life worse than death!