Closer to Revealing My True Self
Chapter 188 - 156: It’s Difficult to Transition from Luxury to Frugality_1

Chapter 188: Chapter 156: It’s Difficult to Transition from Luxury to Frugality_1

At dusk, Feng Yi went to the cafeteria to settle for a dinner he was not too thrilled with, and upon returning to the dorm, he encountered a roommate.

The roommate looked surprised to see Feng Yi and quickly walked over.

"Chen Wei, from Gui City, I arrived a day before you," he said.

Feng Yi shook hands with him.

"Feng Yi, just came from Yang City today."

Chen Wei was slightly excited to meet Feng Yi. "I know you! The one who specializes in catching big snakes, I’ve seen the news from Yang City. They say you’re the one who caught the ’Little Green Dragon’ in Rong City?"

"That was me." Feng Yi saw no need to keep it a secret since it was already known internally.

Anyone who could join the python hunting team would definitely have done their homework on their team members. In the end, the community wasn’t that large, and whenever a new name popped up, there was bound to be some investigation and inquiries among one another.

Besides, the few times Feng Yi caught snakes, whether during scientific research or later on in Rong City and Yang City, had sparked plenty of discussion within this small circle.

In this tight-knit community, Feng Yi was considered a newbie with real strength and a main player in the current python hunting team, so he was certainly on many people’s radar.

Chen Wei was only a few years older than Feng Yi and was also a hands-on type of talent. He was one of those who was expected to actively participate in the snake-catching operations of this python hunting team. His background was similar to Tang Kui’s, with a family that owned a breeding farm and early exposure to snakes.

"I can handle small to medium snakes, venomous ones and pythons alike. Anything under three meters is within my experience, and I can handle it solo. Between three and four meters, I’ll consider it on a case-by-case basis, might give it a go. Anything over four meters, I generally don’t touch." That was Chen Wei’s self-assessment, and he was very confident about it.

It wasn’t that he lacked the skill, but his physical strength couldn’t keep up when it came to big pythons; he simply didn’t have the power for it, which could easily lead to a disaster. He had his sights set on smaller specimens for the Florida python hunt.

His excitement upon meeting Feng Yi stemmed from the fact that he couldn’t handle the larger pythons himself.

"I’ve confirmed with the people from the Joint Conservation Bureau, those two big pythons in Yang City, you handled them all by yourself! And one of them, you caught at night in the water! Do you have some kind of family secret technique?"

"No, just a bit of talent," Feng Yi answered sincerely.

A family secret technique?

Nothing of the sort. Of course, catching snakes was all about instinct!

Chen Wei wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not, but at least on the surface, he seemed convinced. "Pythons are just one big muscle, controlled by a simple-minded little brain. The technique to catch them is pretty straightforward. But you can’t just rely on technique to catch big pythons! We seem similar in build, so why such a huge difference in strength? Come on, let’s have an arm-wrestling match."

Chen Wei rolled up his sleeves, ready to arm-wrestle with Feng Yi.

One minute later.

Chen Wei massaged both of his wrists, his face filled with disbelief.

He couldn’t believe that he lost to Feng Yi using just one hand!

"I totally believe it now; you are exceptionally gifted! Your physical condition is insanely good! Your family genes must be quite something!" Chen Wei exclaimed.

Seeing Chen Wei rubbing his wrists, Feng Yi didn’t want to make it seem too easy, so he also started massaging his hand, pretending that he had exerted a lot of effort and that his wrist was overburdened.

After rubbing for a bit, he realized he was massaging the wrong wrist—not the one he had exerted force with—and quickly switched hands.

Luckily, Chen Wei didn’t notice, and Feng Yi managed to change wrists without changing his expression.

Not wanting to dwell on the topic of being "exceptionally gifted" or his "python-catching techniques," Feng Yi asked about the other two roommates.

"Oh, those two? They’re really busy guys, hardly ever seen around during the day. The guy in that room is Brother Zhai, Zhai Yiyu. He’s got a bit of a reputation in the circle; you must have heard of him. If he’s not in the dorm, he’s probably out for practical training. He arrived yesterday too. The one in the other room is Teacher Huang, who’s more on the theoretical and technical side, the kind who sticks to the laboratory and isn’t like us..."

Feng Yi didn’t know much about these two, as he hadn’t been involved in this community before and therefore didn’t recognize them. He only began to learn a bit about them after joining some expert groups.

Zhai Yiyu, from Jing City, a second-generation scientist with some online fame for his science outreach, was a talent with both practical and theoretical skills. Both of his parents were researchers in key laboratories, and he was the type who struck out on his own to establish a reputation early on, far from the comfort zone where his pedigree might have left him.

The other roommate, Teacher Huang, was Huang Xin from Ya City, a researcher in a key laboratory for amphibians and reptiles, with a focus on theoretical and experimental techniques.

According to Chen Wei, Huang Xin hadn’t had any teaching duties before, but he started to mentor students this year, which substantially increased his workload. He came to the python hunting training program several days in advance to train, during which time he had to write papers and also review his students’ papers.

"Teacher Huang stayed up late last night editing papers for his students, and after some kind of aggravation this morning, he said he wanted to go out and buy some tea to lower his blood pressure and cool his fire," Chen Wei smacked his lips. "That’s why I couldn’t be a teacher; I just don’t have the patience for it."

As a senior and someone who arrived early, Chen Wei also briefly informed Feng Yi about the training base here.

"This training base in Hai City is a large-scale comprehensive one. If you want to do specialized training in snake-catching, you still need to go to specialized training bases, like the ones we have in Gui City, and also in Ya City. It’s pretty warm this season in Ya City; they conduct direct outdoor training, simulating jungles and wetlands. However, these aren’t very relevant to us since we’re not lacking in practical skills. The main purpose of training here is to supplement some theoretical knowledge."

"Have you ever caught an alligator?" Chen Wei asked.

"No," Feng Yi replied.

"Then you need to go to the training room and practice a bit. The python hunting activity is in January, it’s still the dry season in Florida, at that time the alligators have less mobility, and they basically only stay near water sources. Be careful and generally there won’t be any issues. After all, there’s a difference between the gharial and the true alligator; the temperament of the Chinese alligator from the Mi River is relatively more docile. But just to be safe, you still need to make some preparations, you can practice at the training facility."

Gharials belong to the family Gavialidae, like those from the Mi River or the Yangtze alligator.

The true Crocodylidae is the real deal when it comes to alligators, the notorious gulf alligators, Nile crocodiles and so on all belong to the true alligators.

Compared to those ferocious true alligators, people are less guarded against the broad-faced, short-snouted gharials.

"Hmm, I saw online that you can reserve a training ground, you need to book a day in advance," Feng Yi replied.

"Recently, there are a lot of people going to the training grounds, we arrived rather early, so we also need to book in advance. Training Ground #1 has smaller alligators. I went to Training Ground #2 today, but I don’t recommend #2," Chen Wei said.

"What’s wrong? Aren’t the alligators at Training Ground #2 big enough?" Feng Yi asked. He saw on his phone that the alligators at #2 were over two meters, almost three meters, which is quite large.

"It’s not that reason. The alligators at #2, they like to roll too much."

As he spoke, Chen Wei took out his phone to show Feng Yi the photos and video he took today.

"Today when I went to #2, I approached the alligator, analyzing its blind spots for attack, then suddenly it began rolling, from one end of the training field to the other, completely disrupting my train of thought."

Feng Yi looked at his phone.

In the video, a robust and hefty Chinese alligator from the Mi River was rolling like a drum, without any obstacles in the way and with no stops in-between, rolling so smoothly.

Besides their famous death roll during hunting, alligators also roll as an evasion strategy; there’s also variation among individuals. The Chinese alligator from the Mi River at Training Ground #2 probably belongs to an atypical individual.

"With this kind of alligator that rolls at any moment, if you loop a rope and toss it into its mouth, before you can even pull tight, it’s rolling would securely tie up its own mouth. No sense of accomplishment!" Chen Wei concluded, "If you want to practice, reserve Training Ground #3 or beyond. #1 and #2 are for novices to play around with."

Feng Yi made note of all these suggestions.

Chen Wei was so enthusiastic towards Feng Yi for two reasons: first, he admired that Feng Yi could catch large pythons, and second, they both favored practical skills. Those people who dealt with theory and technology would talk about genetics, protein structures, impact factors of papers and the like—Chen Wei couldn’t get a word in.

Chatting with Feng Yi was different, aside from discussing food and drink, it was all about catching snakes and alligators.

Around ten at night, Feng Yi finally met his other two roommates, but they were busy and didn’t chat much.

The other three roommates, who were also part of the team, would be staying at the training facility for a few days before heading to Florida together. There was no rush to get emotionally attached.

After returning to his room, he munched on two compressed biscuits, did his washing up, and tidied a bit before lying down. Not having to write papers was really nice.

But he was having some trouble sleeping. Usually, at this time, sleep would come as soon as he hit the bed. Here, however, sleep stumbled its way to him.

Having gotten used to his big pancake-like bed, he found it a bit uncomfortable sleeping on a regular bed.

The single bed here was only 1.2 meters wide, feeling restrictive, preventing him from stretching out.

Transitioning from luxury to austerity is tough!

He still needed to get used to it, as it would be like this for over a month.

For now, he would keep his tail tucked away.

Before coming here, he had shed his skin at home, and now Feng Yi had even more control over his tail, not having to worry about it bursting out in the middle of the night.

This was unrelated to the size of the bed.

In a single bedroom, once the door was locked, there was no worry of someone else seeing it.

But!

When the tail came out, his body was in its original state, and the weight was different!

Feng Yi wasn’t worried about frightening anyone, he worried about collapsing the bed!

Getting up in the morning, he couldn’t rely on his usual tail flick.

One flick of the tail and the bed would be ruined, and even the floor might cave in.