Fatal Strike: Paladins Mercenary Road

Chapter 838 Harvest
Mountain Eagle remained on the roof until Razer led the villagers to lower the fishing net into the ice cave and, after successfully guiding it with leverage in the middle, he finally climbed down from the roof with his rifle on his back…

At this moment, Xiao Wan also led several children out of the igloo and watched as the Inuit men began to close the net.

The fishing net, which was nearly 50 meters long, was definitely too heavy to pull by manpower. Fortunately, the mountain eagle brought a generator, and several Inuit men with strong hands-on skills dragged two winches from their homes and then fixed the winches to the ice with long rivets.

After they powered on the electric winch, the fishing net had been submerged for an hour.

When Razer and his men returned, the winch began to slowly turn, the steel wire gradually tightened, and the rope connecting the steel wire was pulled along, slowly pulling one end of the fishing net out of the ice hole.

Mountain Eagle had only ever seen winter fishing on television, but had never witnessed it in person…

As one end of the fishing net slowly emerged from the water, the mountain eagle, sensing something was wrong, approached to investigate and then shouted, "Stop! Stop the winch! There are too many fish; the net is stuck!"

"Make a ramp, make a ramp, otherwise the fishing net can't be pulled out..."

The people surrounding the ice cave were also stunned. Dozens of large, silvery-white fish were tumbling around in the fishing net that had only one head sticking out, even causing a traffic jam.

These Inuit people also engage in winter fishing, but they do it at the very beginning of winter, when the ice is only 40 or 50 centimeters thick...

This was their first time going online in such harsh, frigid conditions, and the experience was quite a shock.

As the Inuit seemed unsure of what to do, Razer grabbed a chainsaw, started it up, and rushed to the side of the cave entrance, forcefully cutting along the stepped edge of the ice cave...

Then a quick-thinking guy grabbed a chainsaw and joined in, and soon they carved out a slope about 80 centimeters wide in the 1.7-meter-deep ice...

"Okay, pull hard..."

As Razer jumped onto the ice and issued the command, the two winches started turning again, and at the same time, more than a dozen Inuit men rushed forward and began to pull hard on the net ropes...

When the fishing net had been pulled out about 4 meters, Razer decisively called a stop, and then directed the Inuit villagers standing nearby to go down and collect the fish...

There are too many fish, and they're too densely packed!

Mountain Eagle recalled a documentary he had seen about winter fishing at Chagan Lake, and even the head fisherman's catch in that documentary wasn't this exaggerated...

The layers upon layers of large fish almost tore the fishing net apart; the enormous burden brought by the fish even made the net unable to withstand the strain.

The Inuit people had clearly never seen anything like this before. The first thing they did upon receiving the order was jump to the side of the ice cave and begin deftly removing the fish from the nets and tossing them aside...

Large fish that are still lively and jumping when they come ashore will freeze in a dozen seconds after falling into the snow.

The scene of the harvest is always exhilarating. While the group was busy, Shanying also jumped to the side of the ice cave with his wife and children and picked out more than a dozen big fish with plump bellies.

Unlike the others who simply tossed the fish aside, Mountain Eagle deftly cut open the fish's belly with a knife after the children had picked it off, taking out the roe and swim bladders and putting them in a large basin.

Seeing that Xiao Wan, who loves eating fish, kept glancing at him from time to time, Shan Ying thought for a moment and then said with a smile, "Why don't you stay here tonight too?"

I'll make you some spicy braised fish maw, and a salmon platter too. Aren't you worried about the kids? Well, come and experience it with us..."

Xiao Wan looked a little troubled and said, "Then what about the family?"

Mountain Eagle waved his hand and said, "Do you think other people can't survive without us? Let them figure it out themselves. Our family can have a quiet couple of days."

You look thinner lately, but you seem more energetic. However, you don't feel something's off to your skin. I'll have to go out of my way to get you something good to eat.

Xiao Wan punched the babbling eagle, looked at the full catch of fish, and nodded, saying, "Then let Tessa work a little harder. Have the griffin and cardinal stay and help out tonight. Otherwise, I'm really worried about you taking care of four kids by yourself."

Mountain Eagle nodded indifferently and said, "Whatever you say, our family must have something good to eat today."

"Have Griffin and her friend go back and bring back plenty of seasonings and vegetables. Tonight we'll stew a pot of spicy fish roe, and also make a fish soup hot pot with some vegetables and fish slices."

Xiao Wan nodded vigorously and said, "I'll go back. They don't know what you need..."

After saying that, Xiao Wan stood up and called to the griffin and the redbird. The three of them rode two snowmobiles and quickly returned to the cabin.

After watching them rush into the snowstorm, the mountain eagle turned around and carried the fish roe and fish maw, which smelled fishy, ​​into the igloo to prevent them from freezing...

Then, they found several salmon and black cod that were nearly two and a half feet long in the catch. They immediately removed their heads and tails, cleaned them, sliced ​​them on the spot, plated them, buried them in clean snow, and then put them on the roof of the ice house for flash freezing.

While the mountain eagle was busy, the others were already working like crazy. The large fishing net, which was over 50 meters long, required them to quickly clean out the big fish every few meters it was pulled up...

Razer, the legendary hunter, had never seen a single net haul up so many fish in his entire life...

It was a complete frenzy! When the net was about halfway up, we had already caught nearly 2.5 tons of fish. This was only because the mesh was so big that some small fish got through; otherwise, the catch would have been even greater.

Everyone at the scene was caught up in a strange frenzy. Only after Mountain Eagle calmed down and used the cicada to investigate did he roughly figure out the cause of the fish catch explosion.

The excessively thick ice surface compressed the fish's activity space. The lake itself is only about ten meters deep, and after freezing, not only was the space compressed, but the oxygen content in the water also decreased.

The mountain eagle could clearly detect that although a number of large fish had been caught in the fishing net, schools of fish were still gathering around the ice cave. Even when people on the shore were pulling in the net, some silly big fish were still running into it.

After all the fishing nets were finally hauled up, Razer quickly tallied them up and excitedly approached Mountain Eagle, saying, "At least 5 tons of fish! We'll cast another net tomorrow, enough food for the next month..."

"Damn, why didn't I try this before? The fishing yield is amazing in this kind of weather!"

Upon hearing this, Mountain Eagle chuckled and said, "Is 5 tons really that much?"
I know there's a place called Chagan Lake at Dongda University. They use 2000-meter-long fishing nets to pull up about 250 tons of big fish at a time.

"If you can protect this lake and fish in a controlled manner, then every single net you catch in winter will be enough to feed your whole village until spring."

Razer didn't care about Mountain Eagle's 'bragging'. In his understanding, unless it was a large trawler at sea, it was impossible for land fishermen to catch so many fish in one net.

However, since it was Mountain Eagle who made the suggestion, Razer didn't call him out on his boasting. So he simply nodded and said, "Once your investment is finalized, I'll organize a team to protect the Great Lake, and we'll do a job like you said every winter."

Seeing Razer's condescending attitude, Mountain Eagle said irritably, "You don't believe me?" Razer spread his hands and said, "Of course I believe you..."

Looking at the perfunctory look on Thunder Serpent's face, Mountain Eagle rubbed his nose and said unhappily, "I know you don't believe me. How about this, you ask someone if this big lake is for sale?"

"If the state government is willing to sell, I'll take over this big lake, and then I'll demonstrate what real winter fishing is like in my own fishpond."

Razer looked at the ostentatious Mountain Eagle and shook his head, saying, "I agree that you want to buy land, but there's no need to buy this lake."

Alaska law stipulates that natural resources such as lakes cannot be transferred to private individuals.

However, as indigenous people, we enjoy special rights to use this large lake.

I heard your wife mention your Alaska travel plans. My daughter actually tried it too. The building you stayed in was built to accommodate tourists.

My daughter had no experience, so her attempt failed.

However, I think you have a good chance of succeeding, so you could buy a few plots of land near the Great Lake.

This year's snowstorm will definitely affect many areas. With the state government lacking funds, land prices will drop significantly, making land purchases very cheap!

This time, Mountain Eagle didn't refuse outright. After thinking for a moment, he said, "You should have your daughter discuss this with my wife. Since we've decided to build the camp here, buying more land shouldn't be a big problem if the price is right."

I support purchasing natural resources, but it all depends on my wife's opinion, since the Alaskan business is hers.

She definitely wouldn't like to see me bypassing her and throwing money at this; it would diminish her sense of accomplishment.

Razer couldn't understand the complicated relationship between the Mountain Eagles, so he decisively waved his hand and said, "I don't understand these things. Let my daughter talk to Mrs. Lee. I'm willing to help with anything that benefits the indigenous people."

Razer glanced at the sky, then urged the villagers who were collecting the large fish to hurry up and send a batch of fish back. He then looked at Mountain Eagle and said, "Do you need me to stay and help tonight?"

The mountain eagle bent down and grabbed a large, still-alive fish. He cut off its head with his dagger, then threw the blood and entrails onto the surrounding snow. Shaking his head, he said, "No need. I just wanted to play with the kids. The wolves might not even come..."

Razer didn't waste any time. It was already afternoon, and it would be dark in less than two hours. He had to quickly organize the villagers to send as many fish as possible back, and leave the rest here as bait for the mountain eagles.

Just as everyone was busy with their own tasks, the roar of airplanes filled the sky, followed by Yulia's voice coming through the radio...

"Boss, the C-27A transport plane has arrived. They're preparing for the airdrop. I suggest setting the drop zone on the frozen lake..."

After listening, Mountain Eagle decisively pressed the radio button and said, "I'll set up markers to make it easier for the planes in the sky to identify them, so they can drop more accurately..."

Also, when will Black Hawk arrive?

Yulia paused for a moment, then said, "The National Guard Black Hawk pilots refused to take off in the bad weather; they may have to wait until the snow lightens before they can fly over."

"Fuck, what the hell is this? It's just snowing..."

Sensing Yulia's predicament, Mountain Eagle decisively said, "Have lawyer Tommy Black contact those pilots..."

The Black Hawk helicopters in Alaska are all custom-made models; I don't believe they haven't experienced this situation before.

I gave them extra money, 50,000 yuan each, to have them send the plane and supplies to me.

Upon hearing that the boss was willing to pay extra, Yulia decisively said, "I'll contact them right away. It shouldn't cost that much; ten thousand yuan per person should be enough."

National Guard pilots are simply unwilling to take risks without compensation; offering them money would be a different story.

The mountain eagle didn't know how it felt...

It's like the Red Cross issuing aid; you can't just donate money, you also have to give the volunteers team-building funds so that they can deliver the aid to the designated people.

This is absolutely infuriating, but there's nothing you can do about it!

After cutting off the radio, Mountain Eagle rode his snowmobile, carrying smoke grenades and beacon lights, to a location about two kilometers from the igloo. After contacting the crew of the cargo plane via radio and setting up the smoke grenades and beacons, he decisively returned to the igloo.

Soon he saw several small dots fall from the sky, and then the parachute opened, and like a few dandelion seeds, he slowly fell into the ice of the lake.

The 'dandelion' made a lot of noise when it landed, and its landing point wasn't very accurate either...

There were only four groups of supplies airdropped, but only two groups landed on the ice, while the other two drifted into the woods on the west side of the lake.

And to make matters worse, the most important weapons and ammunition were in those two sets of supplies.

Mountain Eagle couldn't very well conjure up a large quantity of weapons and ammunition in front of so many people like a magician.

Without these things, it would be impossible to provide aid to other villages and enable them to maintain their ability to defend themselves.

Looking at the location of the supplies dropped on his tactical computer, Mountain Eagle glanced at the sky and helplessly asked Razer to send someone to help him first, to send the supplies that had fallen on the lake back to the cabin...

As for those that fell into the woods, we'll have to take people to retrieve them tomorrow during the day.

Hearing the crew members repeatedly apologizing over the radio, Mountain Eagle shook his head helplessly and said, "It's alright. You guys are already better than those useless National Guard soldiers for being able to fly over here."

"We'll see how the weather goes tomorrow. If conditions permit, send another airdrop."

"yes sir!"

As the mountain eagle heard the roar of airplanes in the sky gradually disappearing southward, he rubbed his hands together, then pulled a few children who had helped him collect the fish back to the igloo...

"Wash your hands, everyone. I'm going to cook something delicious for you tonight..."

(End of this chapter)