Moreover, Zebra was just a local here, and the cost of hiring him was incredibly cheap, not even enough for Ning Beichen and Liu Yilin to eat at a decent restaurant outside.
"Okay, sir, I can take you, but sir, do you need to go back to the village to rest?"
"Because this will be a long waterway, and it will take several days. We don't have enough food with us."
Zebra said happily upon hearing this.
He already owed Ning Beichen for this trip. Since he didn't dare to enter the Devil's Forest, he was prepared to take Ning Beichen even if Ning Beichen didn't pay him extra.
To Zebra's delight, Ning Beichen didn't blame him and even generously paid him more. Zebra naturally wouldn't refuse.
"No need. The Amazon rainforest is not short of food. We don't need to go back and waste time."
Ning Beichen said.
"Okay, sir, I need to find materials here to build a small wooden boat before we can set off."
Zebra nodded, feeling a sense of admiration for Ning Beichen.
The survival environment of the Amazon rainforest was extremely harsh. In the past, some tourists had come here to visit, but they couldn't last long before they gave up.
They either suffered from diarrhea and illness, were unaccustomed to the climate, felt extremely tired, or were frightened by the harsh environment of the Amazon rainforest.
Countless leeches, venomous snakes, scorpions, crocodiles, terrifying mosquitoes, and so on. If not for the indigenous people who were accustomed to living here, outsiders simply couldn't endure it.
"Alright, then go and build it. If you need any help, you can call me."
Ning Beichen didn't try to take over. He wasn't very knowledgeable about boat construction and didn't want to be an amateur leading an expert. Therefore, he simply handed the task of building the boat to Zebra.
Anyway, with his skills, even if the wooden boat Zebra made wasn't very sturdy, it wouldn't matter. Even if the boat sank, it wouldn't endanger Ning Beichen's safety. This was what it meant to be willful with strength.
Not long after, Zebra finished the small wooden boat. It was a small boat with pointed ends, capable of carrying at most two people.
Moreover, after the two of them got into the small wooden boat, the water level was only a fist's distance from the deck, no more than ten centimeters. This made Ning Beichen doubt if this thing could actually sail.
However, as the small wooden boat slowly sailed under Zebra's control, Ning Beichen finally felt at ease. Although it looked like it could capsize at any moment, it was very stable in Zebra's hands.
Ning Beichen also relaxed, half-closing his eyes and lazily enjoying the scenery along the riverbanks.
He also occasionally dipped his hands into the water to play. Ning Beichen's action immediately caused Zebra's expression to change drastically. He hurriedly told Ning Beichen not to put his hands in the water, as there were many piranhas in the water.
But as soon as Zebra finished speaking, he saw a piranha leap out of the water and pounce towards Ning Beichen's finger.
Its sharp teeth bit onto Ning Beichen's finger, immediately making Zebra think, "It's over." He quickly reached out to help, intending to remove the piranha biting Ning Beichen's finger.
But the next second, Zebra was stunned!
Because the piranha's teeth shattered on the spot, as if it had bitten onto a piece of steel and chipped its own sharp teeth.
Ning Beichen, whose finger had been bitten, was completely unharmed. His finger was intact, not even a scratch.
On the contrary, the piranha that had bitten his finger was now being played with by Ning Beichen, giving the impression that this was not a piranha at all, but a crucian carp that couldn't bite.
Zebra was shocked!
His eyes widened in disbelief.
No one knew these piranhas better than he did. Once bitten by a piranha, let alone losing a piece of flesh, at least a piece of skin would be torn. If a finger was bitten, the finger would almost certainly be lost.
But what had he seen?
He saw the piranha bite Ning Beichen's finger, but Ning Beichen's finger was fine, not even a scratch on the skin. Instead, the piranha's teeth had fallen out, and the piranha was now being played with by Ning Beichen, who could twist and shape it as he pleased, without any resistance.
"I heard these piranhas taste quite good?"
Ning Beichen asked Zebra while playing with the piranha.
"Yes... yes, they taste very good."
Zebra was in a daze now and didn't know what he was saying.
"Really? Then I'll catch a few more. That will be our food for later."
Ning Beichen's interest was piqued. This time, he didn't wait for the piranhas to take the bait. Instead, his speed was like lightning as he frantically grabbed at the piranhas in the water.
In a short while, there were more than a dozen lively piranhas in the narrow cabin, leaving Zebra dumbfounded.
Just now... was that catching fish with bare hands?
Zebra felt like he was going crazy. How could this be possible?
But the more than a dozen wriggling piranhas in the cabin clearly told him that what he had just seen was not a dream, but a reality.
What was Zebra thinking?
Ning Beichen couldn't be bothered to care. It was just catching a few piranhas. Let alone cultivators, even ordinary trained people could do it. There was really nothing to be surprised about.
Soon, half a day had passed. Ning Beichen asked Zebra to find a place to dock, rest, and eat something. After all, Zebra was a human, not a real zebra. He had been rowing for half a day, and Ning Beichen could tell he was tired.
Zebra carefully rowed the wooden boat to the shore, then dragged the boat out of the water. The two then found a place nearby to rest.
Ning Beichen set up a temporary camp and started a fire to cook the fish.
Regarding cooking, Ning Beichen really didn't dare to entrust it to Zebra.
The reason was that Ning Beichen had once seen Zebra chew some strange things, spit them out, and then use them as ingredients in his dishes. The "magical" scene was something Ning Beichen could not accept.
Although he knew this was the habit of local indigenous people and not done intentionally, Ning Beichen still couldn't accept it.
Soon, Ning Beichen set up the bonfire and began roasting the prepared fish over it.
While roasting, he squeezed some wild lemons he had picked here and sprinkled the juice on the piranhas, making their meat more delicious.
Zebra, on the other hand, had found some edible strange fruits from somewhere. Although these fruits looked unappealing, they were sweet and juicy to eat, like pears, serving as a rare after-meal fruit.
After eating and drinking their fill, Ning Beichen told Zebra to rest for an hour before setting off again. They had plenty of time, so there was no need to push Zebra to his limits all at once.