Chapter 8 Becoming Skilled at Crab Handling_1

There were several Compsognathus colonies on the island, their habitats not far from each other - the small island could only accommodate so much. Interactions between colonies were frequent. For the dinosaur colonies with no natural predators and plentiful food, conflicts were few and far between. Instead, they had cooperated under certain circumstances.

For instance, once after a storm, an injured dinosaur that was probably the size of a mature cow — the memory is a bit fuzzy — with a large shield on its head drifted to the island. It was constantly harassed and attacked by the Compsognathus. Unable to pierce its skin, they targeted the dinosaur's wounds, tormenting it until it eventually succumbed to death.

The skeleton is still in the forest, half-buried under mud due to wind and rain.

For Yan Fei, his days were spent satiating his hunger and thirst and resting, blending into the dinosaur colonies at night.

He wasn't certain if the colony he had joined was the same one from before. To him, all the Compsognathus looked alike, harder to differentiate than chickens — at least chickens had different colored feathers, while these Compsognathus were almost the same shade of yellowish-gray with barely distinguishable green spots — like green tree sap mixed with dirt.

While the other Compsognathus were foraging for food, Yan Fei, influenced by his experience the night before, was cautious not to consume the same things they did. Among the Compsognathus, he was the only idle one, thus he spent his time wandering aimlessly.

This, however, enabled him to discover several previously unnoticed features of the island.

For instance, there were smaller animals on the island. He had never noticed them – worms in the soil, etc. Even in the face of the Compsognathus colonies, these small creatures nonetheless managed to survive, although they would perish at the slightest hint of exposure.

Most of his time, however, was spent on the run.

Having familiarized himself with the Compsognathus' body, Yan Fei had an uncanny experience. It felt as if a load had been taken off him, making his legs feel springy and his whole body light, making his running sprees rather enjoyable. He ran along the beach, through the forest, on the rocks, on low tree branches and strange plants. He could even manage a few steps up the vertical trunks of big trees.

This, however, was nothing compared to the original Compsognathus. As long as the tree trunk wasn't vertically upright, they could negotiate it with ease. They could run anywhere, fearless and unkillable as they were. They could even jump straight down from a tree without any problems.

Having run with the Compsognathus all night, Yan Fei didn't return empty-handed, bringing back a couple of Compsognathus eggs to taste. His decision from the day before, about not eating Compsognathus eggs, hasn't changed. He just wouldn't rely on the eggs as his main food. Trying them occasionally wasn't a big deal.

Yan Fei had learned a lot from his two days of running with the Compsognathus. These dinosaurs, which appeared to be about the size of a rooster, were far more formidable. It was no wonder that the blade he used to chop meat was now full of notches, the Compsognathus' bones were simply too hard.

That explained their phenomenal jumping capabilities. Chickens have wings, but Compsognathus only had two legs, which acted like springs, enabling them to leap effortlessly and traverse any terrain. Even when killed for meat, they were impressive. Once, he made a braised meat dish with chicken and Compsognathus; their meat was tough (taking longer to tenderize than the old rooster he'd bought) but tasted good and was highly nutritious — so much so that he had a nose bleed.

While feeling sleepy, in his hazy state, Yan Fei saw a figure entering. Opening his eyes, he saw it was Yang Qian. This boy, gritting his teeth in pain, shuffled his way over and found a place to sit, "Yan Fei, your parents haven't been back these two days, right?"

In a faint voice, Yan Fei replied, "They have been, but only once a week. They are only free on the weekends."

"Oh," Yang Qian hummed, looking even wearier than Yan Fei. "I have to hide at your house this afternoon. My Dad's back. Somehow, he found out I watched a movie. If not for my grandma telling me to run, he would have beaten me to death! My ass is so sore right now, I can't even touch it..."

Yan Fei laughed. He was wondering why the guy was sitting so weirdly. But he just laughed it off, "That's why I don't like living with my parents! They're too intrusive. You can hang out at my house for now. When you're feeling better this afternoon, we can go and play by the river!"

These days, children who didn't get disciplined were either orphans or neglected by their parents. Yan Fei himself had been beaten plenty of times. His grandfather was the strictest, one time when they were back in their hometown, the villagers had caught a cattle thief and beat him from night till dawn. His grandfather pointed at the thief and said to him, "If people find out you've been going to the small island, you'll be beaten just like this." The tragic part was that the cattle thief was beaten to death in the end, which scared Yan Fei so much his appetite was affected for quite a while.

Kids needed to be disciplined if they misbehaved, damaged household items, tattled to their friends, let the teacher complain to their parents, embarrassed their parents in public - all of these instances warranted punishment. Depending on the household situation and parent's temperament, the tools for punishment could vary: a broom, feather duster, regular bamboo stick, wooden plank, belt, etc. There were also different modes of punishment: single male, single female, mixed gender, and so on.

In short, these were the making of the "Iron Child" generation.

So, neither of them was disturbed by the incident of corporal punishment; they were already accustomed to it! In the afternoon, when Yang Qian's buttocks were not as sore, both of them headed to the river.

Sancha River Town was an ancient town, well-preserved with green trees standing on both sides of the surrounding soil walls, surrounded by a river on three sides. The two boys walked and played around the town walls, occasionally knocking cicadas off the trees, heading towards the river under the scorching sun.

They stripped down and jumped into the river.

In any era, people could always find ways to entertain themselves, such as searching for crabs in the river.

Yang Qian couldn't swim. He could only doggy paddle in the shallow water near the river bank and watched enviously as Yan Fei swam to the other side of the river to catch crabs.

This stretch of the river has a sandy beach on the side from the town, and underneath the water is also sand. Only on the opposite side, where the water is deeper, there is mud.

Yan Fei waded through the water, looking back and forth underwater in search of some flat, round mud holes. After feeling around a few times, he felt unlucky and called out to Yang Qian, "Don't go into deep water. I'm going to see what's upstream. This place has been tapped out."

In the upstream stretch, there's an endless Forest of Gangchai stretching along the shore. Few people go there, unlike where he is now—a place where people often come to bathe—where you basically can't find crabs anymore.

The snake population around the forest was higher and folks with a slight timidity wouldn't dare venture there. Seeing Yan Fei head towards it, Yang Qian shouted urgently: "Don't go that way, be careful of the snakes!"

Yan Fei waved it off: "No worries! Haven't you heard from the workers in the South that people there eat snake meat!"

Yang Qian was envious of Yan Fei his ability to flail his arms about. Ignoring his words of caution, he climbed onto the shore and started fumbling around in his clothes that were left on the beach.

Underneath the Forest of Gangchai, the water was full of thick roots. Yan Fei's crab-catching skill was actually quite mediocre—Nobody wanted to play with him because of his previous "socializing" scope was small, mainly because no one wanted to play with a fool. Even later, when he didn't seem like a fool, the bad impression was already deeply ingrained and couldn't be reversed in a short time —everyone's impression of him started to change about a year or two ago.

With no one to play with, naturally, no skill could be developed. But, today he felt guided by some kind of divine assistance. He looked at the roots—perfect scenes for a horror film if they were magnified— and he immediately found his target. Then, extending his hand for a feel, whoa! He already had a catch!

He cautiously held the crab with his fingers, and clutching the shell with his index finger and thumb, he managed to catch a large crab.

By this point, Yang Qian was already in the water, about waist-deep. Seeing Yan Fei pull a crab out, he was incredibly excited, "Bring it here, bring it here. I have a rope."

He wasn't well-versed in swimming, but he was experienced. While skillfully tying the crab with the rope, he murmured, "This crab, the color has changed, it's an old one and quite big too!"

Yan Fei had already started swimming to the other side of the river: "You don't come over here anymore, the riverbed here is all filled with mud."

Yang Qian waved his tied-up crab in the air: "You continue to catch them, watch out for snakes. I have experience; this depth is just right. If it gets deeper, I probably won't be stable. Amazing, who could have guessed that you're such an expert at catching crabs ..."

He saw Yan Fei pull out another crab.

Yan Fei felt astounded. A single sweep would tell him if there were any crabs inside the hole. One feel, and he could pull out a crab. When the hole felt wrong, 90% of the time there was a snake inside. When he saw a hole that looked like it hadn't been inhabited by crabs for a while, it was usually a deserted hole…

Actually, it wasn't intuition or any such thing. He wasn't at the level where he could locate his prey or perceive danger instinctively. Since he began his transformation into a Compsognathus, he found that he could eat more, his fitness levels improved drastically and his senses became more acute. With the augmented observational capabilities and dexterity, catching crabs felt like child's play.

By this point, Yang Qian was already in awe, waving a large strand of crabs and yelling, "Yan Fei, Yan Fei, that's enough, that's enough. We're out of rope!"

Guessing that he'd done this "logistics" work quite often before, not only did he carry a rope, but also he was extremely adept at tying crabs, not wasting an inch of rope, stringing up the flailing crabs neatly.

Yan Fei waved to him, then found a rotted stick and jabbed it into a hole he suspected had a snake in it.

The feeling transmitted from the end of the stick, totally different from jabbing into mud, told him: he was right!

After jabbing a few times, the moment he pulled the stick out, a greenish-grey water snake slithered out of the hole. Before it could decide whether to flee or fight back, Yan Fei flicked his wrist and the unlucky snake was sent flying.

Ever since he mastered the seventy-two changes, not only did his crab-catching skills get better, but his reflexes improved significantly!

He wasn't entirely foolish, at least knowing that he wouldn't have been able to flick a moving water snake like that in the past.

The final flick of the water snake left Yang Qian literally starry-eyed.

Faced with Yang Qian's look of awe, Yan Fei was nonchalant, striving to maintain a casual air, as if he considered his skills no big deal. Inside, a tiny voice was cheering Yang Qian on, "Keep going, keep going. Shower me with your awe and compliments..."