Harrison rowed the inflatable boat, stopping with Austin about thirty meters out on the water. The fishing machine powered on, emitting a faint buzzing noise that was a bit grating. Colby grew restless, nudging his head impatiently. A few minutes later, Caleb, watching through binoculars, exclaimed excitedly, "There's fish! Really, they're jumping out of the water!" Nadia took the binoculars and spotted fish leaping out of the water. Before long, they were floating belly-up. Everyone stayed in one spot for about ten minutes before moving to another area with the inflatable boat. Nadia inflated the rubber shaft and rowed over with a mesh bag in hand. Colby led the way, paddling eagerly with his paws.Fish floated belly-up, drifting with the current. The four of them, each in a rubber shaft, paddled around to gather the fish and scoop them into bags. The fish were sizable, mostly three to five pounds, with some reaching up to seven or eight pounds. The reservoir housed various types—grass carp, silver carp, common carp, crucian carp, black carp, and tilapia. With the rain pouring steadily, the group spread out to fish, though it was hard to see one another clearly. The reservoir stretched over thirty or forty acres. As rainwater kept flowing in, water poured out, carrying many fish downstream. If it hadn't been for this disaster, the reservoir could've yielded hundreds of thousands of fish—a true bonanza. But the fishing machine drained a lot of power; it wouldn't be usable many more times, and eventually, the overflow would carry away all the fish—a real shame.As she stuffed the fish into the bag, Nadia took the opportunity to touch the water, secretly sending the fish into her domain. Colby's eyes widened as he watched the fish vanish from her hands—she was doing magic again! Under Nadia's training, Colby had learned to stay on guard whenever she performed her "tricks." He immediately started scanning the surroundings, keeping watch. They swam and fished, and in less than an hour, they'd filled a burlap sack—about eighty to ninety pounds' worth. Austin's parents worked diligently, filling up two bags themselves. From a distance, Caleb shouted, "Hey, you two slow down! Fish are getting swept away!" Harrison and Austin continued fishing, with eight bags already piled up under the trees—around seven or eight hundred pounds. No fish to eat was a problem, but a mountain of fish was also a dilemma. How would they haul it all out? "How about we just bring a few hundred pounds every day?" Austin fretted. "The fishing machine's battery won't last much longer." "Can it be recharged?" "It can, but where would we find a charging spot?" Harrison suggested, "Let's trade the fish first, then see if we can get a recharge." They were thinking of Sharp Moron. Nadia had no objections, so they decided each would carry a bag of fish down the mountain and make the trade. There was more fish than they could carry, so someone would have to stay behind to guard it. Considering both age and strength, Nadia was the clear choice. After watching Harrison's group disappear and confirming no one else was around, she loaded the remaining four bags of fish onto the dinghy, paddling to the center of the reservoir and turning the fishing machine back on. In just a few minutes, fish began floating belly-up all over the surface. Nadia brought out a large net, scooping up the fish from the surface into her domain. The reservoir teemed with fish, and her timing was perfect. Each round yielded around two or three hundred fish. Running the machine five times, she collected about two thousand fish, amounting to several thousand pounds. When the fishing machine's battery died, Nadia took a solar-powered battery pack from her domain. After it was fully charged, she did another haul. At least twenty thousand pounds of fish were safely stored this time. She recharged the fishing machine halfway, then paddled along the reservoir's edge, picking up plenty of dead fish swept over by the current—about three more burlap bags.About half an hour later, Colby perked up, signaling he heard something. Shortly after, she heard Caleb and the others approaching. They arrived at the meeting point and spotted the extra bags. Caleb asked in surprise, "Nadia, where'd all this fish come from?" "When you all left, I scouted along the reservoir and found a good haul," Nadia explained. She then asked, "Did you make a deal?" Caleb seemed both pleased and frustrated. "They want the fish but can't take this much. They're only offering one pound of rice for every two pounds of fish and can only exchange two hundred pounds of rice at most. The rest will have to be bartered for other goods." Fair enough—supply and demand dictated the price, and fish was generally cheaper than pork. With food supplies dwindling, prices had soared. Moving eight hundred pounds of fish at once was tough. Nadia asked, "So what's the plan now?" Other goods included medicine, canned food, salt, oil, clothing, and various odds and ends. Harrison was willing to pitch in. "If anyone's in dire need of food, I'll trade my share for medicine, canned goods, or salt and oil." Nadia didn't mind. Unit 1803 definitely needed food—the three of them ate like horses. The Hadid Family needed food even more, so she and Harrison split their shares with Unit 1803 and the Hadids. The Hadids opted for broken rice, which would increase the quantity, as they had a whole family to feed. Nadia then asked the real question, "Should we keep fishing?" "Yes, absolutely. How could we not?" Letting food go to waste is a surefire way to get cursed!Marilyn had already made up her mind. "If they don't want the fish, we can eat it ourselves. We can make fried fish, crispy fish, dried fish, or pickled fish." There were, in short, a hundred ways to prepare it. On the way back, Marilyn took a shortcut and noticed a large patch of wild kudzu in the valley. She suggested they could dig it up later, grind it down, and extract kudzu starch to supplement their food supply. Nadia was speechless. The creativity of human survival truly knew no bounds. With their plan set, they restarted the fish harvester. They fished and scooped as they went, but Caleb frowned. "Is it just me, or does it seem like there are fewer fish?" Nadia took a deep breath. It's not me; I didn't take them all. Harrison explained, "The ultrasonic waves affect the fish. When they sense danger, they'll swim away with the current." That made sense. Animals had a natural instinct to avoid danger. Besides, they had already caught more than enough, and now they had to figure out what to do with it all. After several rounds of fishing, they managed to haul in over a thousand pounds before calling it quits. Caleb reeked of fish to the point where he could barely stand his own smell. "Let's finish processing these first, and then we can figure out how to recharge." No one disagreed, so after filling their stomachs, they lugged the fish down the mountain. They found a shortcut, which made the journey a lot easier. After several trips, they'd hauled all the fish back to the villa with over a thousand pounds remaining after their trades. Taking the fish back to their community wasn't an option—doing so would draw too much attention to the Hadid Family.Nadia exchanged a glance with Caleb and then suggested processing the fish at the villa. The Hadid Family was all for it. "That's a great idea." So, Nadia and Marilyn stayed behind to clean the fish while the four men took a portion to trade. Marilyn handed her a butcher's knife, and Nadia squatted down to scale, gut, and chop the fish. Colby grabbed a particularly juicy fish and happily chewed away at it nearby. The propane they'd hidden in the villa after making meat sauce last time wasn't much, but it would be enough to fry some fish. Pretending to search for supplies, Nadia went upstairs and brought down the propane stove and some oil, salt, and other essentials from the fireplace pipes. Marilyn was astonished, breaking into a smile. "You young folks sure know how to find things."They didn't have much oil, but it would be enough to fry a few batches before the others returned. Marilyn had a knack for frying, so Nadia continued cleaning the fish. The smell of crispy fish filled the air, but every piece in the pan seemed a little overdone, and Marilyn didn't look like she planned to pull them out anytime soon. Nadia carefully suggested, "Won't over-frying make it inedible?" "We need to dry it out completely," Marilyn replied. "In this weather, moisture will make it spoil fast, so it won't last long otherwise." Health wasn't exactly a luxury; survival and a full belly came first. Nadia understood. Preservation was a real issue. Since she had options, Nadia preferred not to eat overly dried fish. "Colby loves fish, so I'll keep my share lightly fried." Marilyn was surprised. With so many fish, how could she possibly eat them all?