“New York is a very beautiful place, but I still plan to leave. Maybe I’m not suitable for staying in a city for too long, right?

To say something very embarrassing, Mr. Tolstoy, sometimes I always wish I didn’t know so many things, know so many people, and participate in so many stories.

Because I know one thing: the more I understand this world, the more I will know the cruelty and sadness behind its beauty. And I am just a fool who is not strong. I have no way to pretend to be indifferent to myself after realizing it, nor can I

Ways to change the current situation of this world.

The worst thing is that although I am a traveler and a quick passerby of this city, this country, and this world, there is no way to convince me not to love every place I go.”

Kitahara and Kaede stopped writing and were slightly lost in thought at the words on the letter. They looked at the blue sky in the distance. There were birds spreading their wings and flying out of the woods. The chirping sounds of the clear and distant echoed each other, just like the fields flowing here.

The river water is generally clear.

"Sigma." After a brief trance, he slightly bent his orange-gold eyes and shouted loudly, "Be careful of being dragged down by the fish you caught!"

"No way! I don't believe... Well, I can catch such a big fish here."

Sigma, who was sitting on the bow of the boat, raised his head, biting into a sausage sprinkled with shredded cheese, holding a thick-looking freshwater fishing rod in both hands, and muttering vaguely with a bit of unwillingness to admit defeat.

"Are you sure? As the largest river in North America, 80% of all fishing records in the United States were broken here."

Kitahara Kaede supported his chin with one hand and glanced at the shadow floating vaguely under the water. He couldn't help but have a smile in his eyes and said in a brisk tone.

But Sigma still shook his head stubbornly, biting into the sausage in his mouth and chewing it with some difficulty, staring unblinkingly at the buoy in the water that remained as calm as a mountain despite the weather.

The traveler just smiled at this and had no intention of further persuasion, but continued to write his letter to Tolstoy. He was still very relieved about Sigma, and he had only teased him a little bit.

"Even though I have some not-so-good memories of New York, I still like New York and the people I met in New York. Whether it's the little detective Ellery and his brother I told you about in my letter before, or Ou

·Mr. Henry, or Jean. And everyone in the group who is lively.

Of course, there are also the vendors selling apple cakes in New York City, the wandering orioles singing songs at night, and the street singers playing guitar on the street... Different people make up the various forms of living beings in this city -

—Although there are still many bad places, it is indeed a vibrant young city.

Now that I have arrived at the Mississippi River, just as you comforted me before, I plan to relax a little - for example, fishing on this river? The situation of invasive species has been so bad recently that it is no longer possible.

Fishing is restricted. May God not let a two-meter-long alligator gar or a four-meter-long crocodile drag both Sigma and me down.

Of course, I personally feel that the two of us can only fish for the Asian carp that are almost overrun here. To be honest, these guys are so fat that they hardly look like fish...

As an Asian, I didn't even recognize it. Can you imagine a koi carp that is more than one meter long and about 40 centimeters wide? That thing is like a ball. When I caught it, I almost gave it away with a shaking hand.

It fell back."

When Kitahara and Kaede wrote this, they couldn't help but sigh, and moved their eyes to the side. What they saw was a one-meter-long snow-white koi with black spots, and a red-bellied white koi about 80 centimeters long.

Carp. There are also a few Asian carps with large and sparse scales and a bit disgusting fatness.

No wonder Americans don’t plan to eat Asian carp to curb their invasion in the Mississippi River. This obviously belongs to the category of mutated organisms, right?

I heard that the U.S. government has become so helpless with this group of carp that it is trying to counter violence with violence by introducing alligator gar, but I always feel that this is hurting the enemy by a thousand and doing harm to itself...

The traveler looked at the large pile of fishy-smelling Asian carp next to him with subtle disgust in his eyes, and wondered

I'm thinking about using these fish as bait to catch other carnivorous fish.

If a few crocodile gar are caught, it can be regarded as improving the local ecological environment. But the prerequisite is not to be dragged into the water by the ferocious large creatures... Well, if he remembered correctly, it seems that Sigma took a small fish before

To use as bait?

He was thinking about the group of ferocious fish in the Mississippi River, ranging from alligators to sharks, no, ferocious mammals and reptiles, and wrote quickly in his hand:

"But considering your mood, I won't take pictures of these guys for you. Well, remember to thank me. And the chocolate you gave me last time, can you bring me some more? In return

, how about I treat you to some American toffee?

Also, spring has already arrived here. I’ll send you a flower with this letter. When it blooms in Moscow, remember to send me one too. Also, don’t always send me sunflowers.

, every time I took it out of the package, because there were too many bumps on the road, the sunflower seeds were scattered all over the floor, and in the end they all turned into fried melon seeds in the pot.

Of course, fried melon seeds are indeed delicious. (laughs)

Forever and forever my friend

Kitahara and Kaede

April 13, 2014"

Kitahara and Kaede finished writing the letter and did not rush to seal it. Instead, they buried their cheeks in the crook of their arms, narrowed their eyes and smiled slyly, as if they had seen Tolstoy far away in Russia read this letter.

He looked helpless, and the slight sadness that had arisen at the mention of New York also dissipated.

Although he gradually learned to take care of others during the trip, he still habitually showed his childish side when facing Tolstoy, relying on the distance between the envelope and thousands of rivers to make fun of him confidently.

Hold each other.

Maybe it's because they met too early, and the traveler fell in love with this person who had an overly gentle personality before he had time to learn how to love with his new identity in this world?

Kitahara and Kaede folded the letter and stuffed it back into their breast pockets, and stuck their pens in their chests. They were happily thinking about how many years it would take to reach Russia, and what kind of gifts they should prepare for each other by then.

“Kitahara—this fish seems a bit big!”

At this moment, Sigma's urgent voice, which seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, interrupted Kitahara and Kaede's thinking of "should I give them the film from my camera?" and they looked over in surprise.

The young man is gritting his teeth and exerting strength from his waist. He holds the curved fishing rod firmly with both hands and presses his feet against the fender of the bow. He is wrestling with the big fish in the river. Not far from the bow, the water surface

There was a violent splash of water rolling on top, and you could tell at a glance that there was a big fish struggling and trying to break the line.

Fortunately, considering the size of the fish in the Mississippi River, the quality of the fishing rods and fishing lines bought by Kitahara and Kaede were not low, otherwise they would have been broken long ago.

"Isn't it a pole that swings from side to side?"

Kitahara and Kaede stood up and picked up the dip net placed beside them. They glanced at the fish that was obviously pulling in two directions with Sigma, and shouted to each other.

"Well! It's not the '8' figure swimming you mentioned before, Kitahara! It's just pulling back!"

Sigma gritted his teeth and replied loudly. He didn't even prepare to pull the fishing line. He just tried his best to prevent the fish from running away. However, because the other party suddenly relaxed his strength, he staggered a few times and almost fell over.

The fish, which was at least one meter long, was suddenly pulled closer to the side of the boat because of this relaxation.

At this time, the traveler also came to the side of the boat, reached out to support Sigma, and at the same time held the net, carefully looking at the shadow that was obviously approaching.

The most important part of catching fish with a net is the fish head, not the fish body or tail. Because compared with the latter two places, the fish head is not flexible, and the fish has a blind spot in the field of vision directly ahead. Even if it is aware of

When turning, the rest of the body will often hit the net, or even rush forward directly onto the net.

Sigma leaned on Beihara and Feng without saying a word. Knowing that this was a good opportunity to reel in the fishing line, he quickly reeled in the line several times to stabilize the position of the fish on the side of the boat, and then continued to move in place.

Stalemate with this big fish.

wait until you see fish

When the fish hit its head, Beihara and Feng's eyes lit up obviously. They took advantage of the other party's approach to the boat and fished the fish's head, scaring the fish so much that it jumped forward and entered the net about two meters long.

, trapped and unable to move.

"thump!"

It swung its tail vigorously, splashing a large amount of snow-white waves, which wetted the clothes of the two of them a lot, and angrily regarded this as its final revenge.

"Okay, everything should be fine now. Sigma, please help me pull it out."

Kitahara and Kaede exhaled and watched with some amusement as the fish opened its mouth wide, revealing its sharp hooked teeth. It looked like a water monster in the lake.

Thanks to the fact that this boat took into account the nearby swamps and other terrain, it is not too big and the position above the water is not high, so this fish can be fished with a net on the boat.

"Okay!" Sigma wiped the water from his face and looked at the trapped carp with a bright smile on his face. He was obviously very satisfied with the prey he had just caught.

Whether he looks good or not is one thing, but when he meets Marquez, Edgar Allan Poe and the others in the future, he can also say that he has caught a fish over one meter long!

Look at who still thinks of him as a child. Being able to catch such a big fish shows that he is actually very powerful!

"Kitahara, I dreamed of Garcia yesterday."

Sigma narrowed his eyes and helped pick up the net. As if he had thought of something, he said with bright gray eyes and a lively voice.

"What did you dream about?" The traveler asked curiously while using the lever principle to press the end of the metal handle of the net to lift the fish out of the water.

"I dreamed that he was playing the recorder in a sea of ​​trees."

Sigma let go of his hand, lay down on the railing, coughed, and turned his head to the side with some embarrassment, looking at the struggling black Asian carp: "It actually sounds pretty good."

"Pfft, is that so?"

Kitahara and Kaede smiled, and a soft smile appeared in their orange-gold eyes, seeming to recall the scene when Marquez played the recorder and Sigma came to him asking for earplugs.

"Do you miss him very much?" he asked.

"Ahem, there's no—"

Sigma seemed to have been exposed to something, and subconsciously shrank his hands, but in the end he stabilized his mind, turned his head and deliberately prolonged the syllables, trying hard to express an indifferent attitude.

While the two men were talking and picking up the fish, another splash suddenly arose in the river, and it seemed more powerful than the previous one, almost like an arrow leaving the string.

He rushed to the fish he had picked up and bit the fish into two pieces in one bite.

After eating it in two or three bites, it struggled violently in the net for more than ten seconds, tore a hole in the net and ran away.

The two of them were silent for a moment as they looked at the running black shadow. They both recognized what the strange-looking fish was—a crocodile gar.

After all, this guy's appearance is so iconic that it's hard to recognize him once you see him.

"At least we've caught it, right?"
To be continued...