Chapter 296: Su Mei Fish

Animals of the same species all look alike, making it difficult for people to tell individuals apart.

But Yun Jiao was different. She could distinguish the unique auras of people and animals.

This sea eagle was clearly the same one from the other island—the one that had dropped its prey because it was too big to hold on to.

And now... this familiar scene.

"You’re so silly."

Though she said that, Yun Jiao was eyeing the large fish it had caught.

The sea eagle was a size larger than when they first met; it was a mature, full-grown bird now.

Which just went to show how big a fish must be to make a sea eagle this size unable to hold on to it.

"A Qingyi? No, that doesn’t seem right."

Yun Jiao crouched down to get a closer look, but the sea eagle was wary of her. It dragged the large fish aside with its talons, moving it a little farther away.

"Hey, don’t be so stingy. I’m not going to take it for free. We can trade."

By now, she could clearly see the fish beneath the sea eagle’s talons. It wasn’t a Qingyi, but a Su Mei Fish, which was even more valuable.

The Qingyi and Su Mei Fish look very similar, but the Su Mei Fish has very thick lips and a protruding hump on its head, like the God of Longevity.

Its color was a vibrant blue-green.

This was a deep-sea fish, a rare find.

Previously, Yun Jiao and her dad had specifically tried to find one, but they ran into some tuna and gave up the search. Afterward, Yun Jiao never went out of her way to look for one again.

She never expected to run into one today, and from a bird of all things.

This Su Mei Fish was quite large, probably around ten pounds or so.

"How did you even catch this?"

’Isn’t this thing a deep-sea fish? This sea eagle must have some kind of weird buff.’

"I’ll trade you. Look, you can’t carry this fish away right now anyway, can you?"

"CHIRP..."

"I’ll go fishing for you right now."

Yun Jiao invited the sea eagle to come to their boat.

But the sea eagle didn’t understand, so she simply reached out and picked it up.

The sea eagle struggled, but Yun Jiao firmly subdued it.

She held the sea eagle in one hand and the still-flopping Su Mei Fish in the other.

She took a shortcut to where their boat was docked. Her dad and the others were still busy, so Yun Jiao didn’t bother them.

She just found some bugs and other things on the island to use as bait.

She took out her fishing rod, baited the hook, and cast her line.

After being placed on the boat, the sea eagle didn’t leave. It was hard to tell if it was unwilling to give up its prey so easily or just curious about the boat.

Yun Jiao glanced at the sea eagle strutting around the deck, then sat down calmly on the boat.

Soon, she felt a tug on her fishing rod. It wasn’t a strong one, and she easily reeled the fish in.

It was a beltfish, about two fingers wide, which was considered small for its kind.

But that was fine; Yun Jiao planned to use this beltfish as bait.

When the sea eagle saw Yun Jiao use that strange contraption to pull a flopping fish from the water, it waddled over to her side. It tilted its head, watching with great curiosity.

Yun Jiao used a small knife to cut the beltfish into pieces and tossed one to the sea eagle.

The sea eagle didn’t stand on ceremony. It pinned the piece of meat down with its talon and began to eat.

The fish she caught using the beltfish meat were clearly much larger.

Yun Jiao’s second catch was a seven or eight-pound sea wolf.

It was ferocious.

She tossed it onto the deck, and before she could even do anything, the sea eagle pounced. It pinned the sea wolf’s body with its talons and pecked down hard.

Once the sea wolf’s struggles subsided, Yun Jiao retrieved her hook and continued fishing.

The sea eagle circled the sea wolf, chirping happily.

This was a fish it could carry!

Its talons gripped the fish, ready to take flight, when it suddenly saw Yun Jiao pull up another one.

The sea eagle: !!!

’It was shocked. Is hunting this easy for these wingless two-legged beasts?’

So the sea eagle was no longer in a hurry to leave. It stayed by Yun Jiao’s side, watching her use the beltfish meat to catch four or five more fish.

The fish she caught were all cheap, common types, but in the animal kingdom, things weren’t measured by price—they were measured by quantity!

So much prey!

Yun Jiao pointed at the fish. "I’m trading all of these for your one fish. It’s a good deal for you, right?"

She put a small hand on her hip, holding the fishing rod in the other, and tilted her chin up with an expression that said, ’You’re making a huge profit here.’

"CHIRP! CHIRP!"

The sea eagle happily circled one fish, then circled another.

It was like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar. It was like Christmas had come early.

It got greedy, trying to grab a fish in each of its talons to take away.

But the weight of two fish was considerable. As you might expect, it couldn’t even get off the ground.

The sea eagle looked dejected. Being able to see the food but not take it back... it was truly heartbreaking for a bird.

"So silly. Just take one back first and then come get another. Besides, with so much food, can you even eat it all today?"

Yun Jiao huffed. "If you can’t finish it and it goes bad, it won’t taste good anymore. Then you’d just be wasting food."

"Chirp, chirp..."

The girl and the bird chattered back and forth, though who knows what they were really saying.

In the end, the big bird decided to eat its fill right there, then take one large fish it could carry back with it to eat slowly.

So it stopped rushing and started pecking at one of the fish.

With each peck of its sharp beak, it tore off a piece of flesh.

Voices came from off the boat. Yun Jiao padded over to take a look and saw that her dad and the others were back.

They had brought back two large bags of mussels.

They were probably planning to take all these back to eat.

"Dad."

Yun Linhai was very surprised to see Yun Jiao on the boat.

"Jiaojiao, what are you doing here?"

Hadn’t she gone off to another part of the island?

The sound of flapping wings echoed as a large bird flew down and landed on the boat’s railing next to Yun Jiao.

"Holy cow, what is that thing!"

With its wings spread, the sea eagle was quite large. It was a bird of prey, after all.

Shen Xiuyuan and the others were startled by the sudden appearance of such a big bird.

Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe were surprised as well.

The sea eagle tilted its head back and forth, its sharp eyes staring at the people on the shore as if assessing how dangerous they were.

Yun Jiao patted its head.

"Don’t you go making any trouble."

Although birds of prey wouldn’t normally clash with humans without a specific reason.

’But this guy doesn’t seem too bright. What if it thinks this is its territory, sees my dad and the others boarding the boat, and decides they’re invaders? What if it just attacks them on a whim?’

’One swipe of those talons, and it would probably pierce right through their shoulders.’

"Chirp, chirp."

As Yun Linhai and the others boarded the boat, the sea eagle flew a little farther away.

It clearly didn’t want too much contact with other people.

It found a large fish to its liking, flapped its wings to circle once in the air, and then suddenly dove. With a snatch of its talons, it successfully grabbed the fish and flew away.

As it left, it called out to Yun Jiao several times.

’It would leave the other fish with the little cub for now. It would come back for them next time.’

"Is that a sea eagle?"

Yun Jiao nodded and went to get the Su Mei Fish.

In the boat’s cabin, there was a foam box filled with ice, specifically for storing large and valuable sea fish.

"Dad, look!"

Yun Linhai’s eyes widened. "A Su Mei Fish!"