Chapter 1344 Tough (1/2)

The Nganasan worked swiftly, braving the dangers of the wind and the waves. They had managed to hide twenty to thirty daggers that way.

The areas where they had dug in the daggers were by the water, at the border of the ice layer. With the wind blowing and the waves hitting, it was extremely dangerous to stay in that area. Hence, they had to work fast.

As the wind grew stronger and the waves got taller, the impact on the ice layer created some noise. Ping, ping, it went.

Seeing the daggers were poking out of the surface of the ice, Li Du understood their method of killing the seals.

The seals had a soft stomach. When they moved along, they had to stay on the surface of the ice. Hence, when they crossed the areas with the daggers, they would be quite literally cut up.

As the seals had a thick layer of fat around their body, there were not many nerves in those outer layers. Hence, they would not feel the pain, but would soon die from losing too much blood.

Li Du said, ”I know of such a method of hunting. However, it was used to hunt alligators. I never thought anyone would use it for hunting seals.”

Big Ivan looked at him strangely and asked, ”Alligators? You've seen people using this method to kill alligators?”

Li Du shrugged and said, ”I've never seen it with my own eyes, but I've read about it in books.”

Big Ivan shook his head. ”No, boss, what you've read is false. You can't use that method to hunt alligators.”

Li Du asked him, ”Why not? Alligators have tough skin on their backs. Isn't it a clever strategy to target their stomach?”

Big Ivan continued to shake his head. ”First, alligators crawl. They have strong limbs and their body does not stay on the ground. Besides, alligators are most valuable because of their skin. That method would damage it. Most importantly, alligators have very sensitive skin on their stomachs. At the tiniest cut there, they would feel the pain.”

Hearing that, Li Du paused for a minute before saying, ”Could it be that the information I've read is wrong?”

Big Ivan replied, ”Definitely wrong. Most people shoot or net the alligators to hunt them. They would trap the alligators around their neck before dragging them up to the land to kill them.”

When the Nganasan were done setting up their traps, they came over and waved to them, gesturing for them to leave together.

Soutar Nasang took the effort to explain the reason for what they did. Big Ivan translated and said, ”That's tough labor. They have to risk the dangers from the wind and waves, and they have to get the job done quickly.”

”Why?” Li Du asked. ”Can't they do it when the weather is milder?”

”That won't do. On days with mild weather, the seals would stay by the shore or in the waters. They would not go deep inland. Besides, on usual days, the waves would not cover the daggers. The seals would be able to spot the traps and avoid them.”

”They also have to act fast because they won't know when the seals will actually come up from the water. When the seals realize that there are strangers in their vicinity, they might attack. They could easily kill a man.”

After that, all they could do was wait. The hardest part of all was preparing the traps.

The bunch of men drew their furs tighter around themselves and kept their heads low. They shivered in the cold wind as they watched the seals from afar.

Li Du asked, ”Can they go back and wait? Then, after a while, they can return to check out the situation. In any case, the dead seals won't be able to run off.”

”They can't run off, but they will be eaten. When the seals are wounded, they will lose a lot of blood. There are sharks in the sea and polar bears on land, and also Arctic foxes, Arctic wolves and predator birds in the sky. All of these animals love seal meat.”

The long wait had begun. The waves that were slapping on the shore created a huge amount of splash. It was able to hide the daggers that poked out from the ground. When the waves rushed back to the sea, the daggers poked out. Slowly, they turned into razor-sharp icicles with a steel core.

Only a small part of the dagger protruded above ground. It was done that way because the seals were not dumb either. If the dagger remained too easily visible, the seals would notice it and avoid the traps.