At this time, the snail was seen turning around for a while, as if it had determined the direction, and then moved towards a place, much faster than when it was alive. It seems that the lack of snail meat does not prevent the snail shell from also being a part of its body.

The puddles here were connected, but after all they were dry. Tan Xiao just confirmed it was feasible. After determining the direction, he immediately scooped it up and put it in the mineral water bottle he brought: "Positioning successful! Head west, release it into the water to drive the corpse when we get there."

Just in case, he also scooped up a few more snails from the soil layer for backup... ah no, bringing a few more friends home.

The driver was playing with his phone in the car out of boredom. After seeing that young man get out of the car, wander around a few times, not livestreaming, not taking photos, and not even taking out his phone, he just stood there for a while, and then actually found a puddle and squatted down... playing with water?

What's this??

After a while, he saw the young man get up and walk back. "Master, let's go, to the river bank in the west, a place with water."

The driver took a look, the young man's mineral water bottle also contained a snail, probably just picked up.

"Snails carry parasites." The driver reminded carefully.

"Oh, this is dead." Tan Xiao was stunned for a moment before answering.

The driver couldn't understand what he meant. He went to the place to play with water and pick up snail shells, and then left? When he drove west to the water's edge, he saw Tan Xiao get out of the car and go "play with water" again.

"I say, classmate, you're doing scientific research, right?" The driver shouted, feeling that he had finally figured out the answer. So he refused to put down his backpack in the car, there might be important instruments inside.

The driver felt he had figured it out.

"Ah yes yes." Tan Xiao pointed to the water and asked, "Do you know if there are any boats for rent here?"

"There are no boats here!" The driver looked at him in surprise, "Boats can't go down either, it's all swamps and shallow water on the sides, they will definitely run aground. If you want to take a boat, you have to change water areas, I'll take you to find one."

"Oh, no... I want to go to the middle there." Tan Xiao stared at the snail. The little snail was spinning in the water, the tip of its shell pointing to the west-south direction, eager to go in that direction, but it seemed to be invisibly pulled back as Tan Xiao was still here.

This was already a continuous wetland, and the figures of waterfowl could be seen, leisurely foraging, seemingly defenseless against humans.

— Tan Xiao couldn't identify what these waterfowl were, but under Kong Xuan's eager gaze, he tried his best not to look sideways.

Further in, there were deeper waters, but one had to pass through this large area of swamps and shallow waters.

"Going in to do research? Then wait a moment, I'll find a way for you." The driver was a local and knew much better than Tan Xiao what methods could be used. He took Tan Xiao into the car. As soon as the car started, the seemingly leisurely waterfowl immediately flew away a distance in alert.

Tan Xiao also discovered that as soon as their car or they themselves approached a certain distance, those birds would immediately fly away and retreat to a safe range.

The driver drove for another stretch and found the local farmers.

"Look, their reed boats can enter the swamp. After passing the swamp, you can release the wooden boat." The driver pointed to a strange-looking thing and said that this was a means of transportation suitable for wetlands, with huge propeller-like wheels, and a small wooden boat pulled by a rope at the back.

The driver talked to the farmer in the local dialect, pointed at Tan Xiao, and then the driver came over and asked, "He's asking where exactly you want to go. If you rent his boat, you have to listen to him once you get on."

Tan Xiao hesitated for a moment.

He knew that the farmer was considering safety, and the swamp section was also dangerous. For example, one had to listen to the guide, but he came here for a different nature of business, so he paused for a moment.

"Alright then." Tan Xiao thought to himself that he would agree first and then talk.

"That's fine then." The farmer put down the work at hand, "Little student, follow me."

"Classmate, I'll just wait for you in the car then." The driver continued happily watching short videos, since it was a chartered car, he would get paid for the day whether he worked or not.

The farmer was called Qian Ping'an, and his family had lived by Yunmeng Marsh for generations, relying on the water for their livelihood. He often took tourists, researchers, and journalists through the wetlands, so he started the machine with practiced ease.

The airboat made a loud noise as it broke through the muddy water and moved forward.

Tan Xiao was afraid to lower the snail in the muddy water where it couldn't be seen clearly, so when Qian Ping'an asked him where to go, he only said to keep heading west, and that he would give more specific directions once they reached the shallow water area.

Qian Ping'an was puzzled and didn't know why he was being so mysterious.

When they reached the shallow water area, they removed the tow and switched to a small wooden boat, while mooring the airboat.

"Master, can we just rent the boat? I have a few friends who want to come tomorrow, and we want to take the boat in by ourselves." Tan Xiao asked tentatively, as he was mainly scouting the route today, and it would be better to go in by himself once the route was clear.

"We can't just rent it out casually. I'll be responsible if something happens." Qian Ping'an looked at him in surprise, "What if you lose signal and encounter trouble, who knows where you'll end up rowing to."

"Iron Head said you're doing research. Are you researching birds or fish?" Qian Ping'an lit a cigarette. The "Iron Head" he mentioned should be the chartered car driver. He asked Tan Xiao again, "You don't look very old?"

Tan Xiao smiled, not daring to say that he was a minor. "Mm, not old."

As a result, Qian Ping'an became suspicious himself. "Let me see your ID card. You're not here to electrocute fish, are you?"

Tan Xiao: "..."

How did he even suspect that? Tan Xiao quickly denied it, "I... we're writers, looking for some inspiration." This wasn't really a lie, as he was here to capture inspiration to continue writing the "Classic of Mountains and Seas".

Qian Ping'an indeed believed him, muttering, "You should have said so earlier. If you're a writer, why do you want to drive your own boat? You're just making things hard for yourself at such a young age to write something..."

The two people that Tan Xiao and Qian Ping'an couldn't see exchanged glances, thinking that it seemed they would have to let 404 go through official channels to get a boat tomorrow, as today was too last-minute.

While Qian Ping'an wasn't paying attention, Tan Xiao lowered the snail into the water to observe the direction. He leaned over and saw a few characters carved on the bow of the boat, and couldn't help but read them out: "Little Fish Jerky?"

"That's the name of my boat." Qian Ping'an said leisurely, "I had it made by an old boat builder in the village. According to the old rules, the boat name is to be given by the master boat builder. When he was working, my family provided the meals, and we often made stir-fried little fish jerky with chili peppers, so he casually named my boat Little Fish Jerky."

"That's quite cute." Tan Xiao couldn't help but chuckle. So this little wooden boat had its own name, the Little Fish Jerky.

"That's because life is good now. In the past, boats were named things like Steamed Bun or Cabbage Soup." Qian Ping'an clicked his tongue. Even if the name given was unpleasant, the owner had to use it while holding their nose. Otherwise, people in the past didn't want to offend the craftsmen who worked for them.

Qian Ping'an had been in Yunmeng Marsh for many years and often hosted birdwatchers, so he was very familiar with the birds here and could basically serve as a birdwatching guide. He spotted some birds at a glance. "Look, those are bean geese over there."

After saying that, Qian Ping'an looked at Tan Xiao, only to see him looking in the opposite direction of where he had pointed, as if he would rather die than look at the birds. He reminded him strangely, "You're looking the wrong way."

"Oh, it's okay, there are nice things to see over there too." Tan Xiao said while gazing into the distance. You must be joking. He still needed the Peacock God's help to bring Sister Mu home, so he couldn't anger him now.

Qian Ping'an looked in the direction Tan Xiao was looking for a while, but there were only some reeds.

He didn't understand. Literary youths liked grass, it seemed. They were indeed too carefree. Qian Ping'an even suspected that what he wrote was also stream of consciousness.

"Alright, where to next?" Qian Ping'an asked, seeing Tan Xiao tilt his head to look into the water.

Tan Xiao calmly and openly used his corpse-driving technique, commanding the corpse to continue navigating for him.

The snail successfully located the position and resolutely pointed in a certain direction, wanting to rush forward with the current, but was hindered by their slow rowing, somewhat like a dog restrained by a leash.

After Tan Xiao finished looking, he pointed Qian Ping'an in a new direction.

"..." Qian Ping'an was completely baffled and also stretched his head to look, but there was nothing except water plants and snails.

He had been boating all his life and had never seen a tourist like this. No, what on earth was he looking at??