“Let’s get out of the car and check the situation over there,” Yue Zheng pondered for a moment. They weren’t necessarily looking for survivors; with Tianyou and Xu Song, they could sense the presence of any people. However, since there were insects in the area, and their numbers weren’t too large, it provided a good opportunity for both of them to practice their skills.
“Be careful,” Mother Xu expressed her concern from inside the car. She retrieved two motorcycle helmets. “Carry these, just in case. Getting bitten by those creatures is no joke.”
These creatures were different from others; Mother Xu had never seen a post-mutation insect horde before and assumed that the insects were similar in size to their own pet jade bees. If you were bitten by one of them, it would certainly be unpleasant.
Xu Song and Yue Zheng stepped out of the car, not wearing the helmets. It took some convincing to make Mother Xu abandon the idea of making them wear the helmets.
They weren’t far from the original base, and the silence in the surroundings was only broken by the muddy roads that were once trampled by human activity.
The two men cautiously advanced. As they approached the base, they began to smell a foul stench.
Xu Song hesitated for a moment before realizing what he was smelling. When he had previously used his psychic powers to scan the area, he quickly detected the presence of insects, and the odor had been so repugnant that he hadn’t thoroughly investigated. As a result, he didn’t pay attention to what those things on the ground, beneath the insects, were.
But upon reflection, this had been a former base that had been occupied by the insects…
“Inside, there should be… corpses,” Xu Song reluctantly voiced the word. “Corpse” was a nicer term. His face looked somewhat unpleasant, but he resolutely walked forward.
“Don’t rush,” Yue Zheng guessed the source of the odor and surveyed the area. He selected a high point and suggested, “Let’s wait for them to come out on their own.”
He picked up a rock and threw it at an abandoned vehicle not far away, and the collision between the stone and metal promptly drew out some “current residents” from the base.
Leading the way were some mutated flies. Xu Song couldn’t identify their species, and he didn’t want to. Anyone who saw a large group of strange flying insects like this heading their way would likely have a knee-jerk reaction to swat them with something like a fly swatter.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Pouches? They have pouches too?” Xu Song was momentarily taken aback and then met Yue Zheng’s bright eyes. The fact that the fire hadn’t directly incinerated these pouches was amazing!
“Rustling” sounds drew the attention of both of them, and a swarm of ants, cockroaches, and other ground-dwelling insects emerged from the ruined makeshift base. They were rushing toward the two men.
At this moment, Xu Song was no longer disgusted by them. He rolled up his sleeves and his eyes sparkled. “This is so much easier than hunting!” Their battles were indeed fierce. As long as they found a location where mutated creatures had settled, they could return with a bountiful harvest. However, dealing with the excess of what they hunted could become troublesome.
When they were in the base, it was fine because any surplus game could be processed for the official authorities in exchange for points, and some could be kept for their own consumption. But now that they had left the base, what would they do with the surplus game? With the weather warming up day by day, if they hunted a large quantity of game at once, they wouldn’t be able to process it all!
Not to mention, each of them had to consume nearly three insect pouches per day. However, the amount of meat from a single animal exceeded what they could eat in a day, even with their entire group!
Even if they found a way to preserve the excess game by drying it, there wasn’t enough space in their vehicle to store everything.
Therefore, their initial plan was to return to the base after each hunting trip and complete a mission to balance things out. But now, since they had discovered that the insects also had pouches in their bodies, and Xu Song’s fire-based ability could not only incinerate the game but also preserve their pouches, it was like a godsend for their small team.
Earlier, even when Xu Song followed everyone on hunting trips, he only dared to target the animals’ necks. How could he have known that his fire wouldn’t affect the pouches? Additionally, the reproductive capabilities of insects were multiple times that of mutated creatures. Their large numbers and their potential threat to both humans and the environment made it a big relief for Xu Song and Yue Zheng, who had been considering how to handle the game they hunted in the future.
Now, they only needed to come to a relatively developed abandoned city from time to time and burn the insects, which would help maintain a balance between their consumption and supply. As for the game, they could consume it fresh, avoiding the wastage of resources, and it didn’t carry the same emotional burden as killing mammals (killing insects and killing mammals were two different concepts, with the former driven by a noble sense of cleaning up the natural environment, and the latter carrying the burden of a bloody massacre).
In the car, Mother Xu prepared dinner for the group. If it weren’t for Tianyou’s ability to sense Xu Song and Yue Zheng’s situations, she wouldn’t have been able to stay in the car with peace of mind.
They waited and waited, and even after dinner was ready, more than two hours had passed since they left. Those two rascals still hadn’t returned?!
“Dinner’s ready. Why haven’t they come back?” Mother Xu’s voice came through the lily leaf in Xu Song’s pocket, snapping him out of his excitement. “Ah, I forgot! We’re coming back now!”
Forgot? What could they have been so busy with that they forgot to come back for dinner? Mother Xu was puzzled as she set the table.
Xu Song and Yue Zheng returned quickly. Although their psychic energy was somewhat depleted, Xu Song was incredibly excited at this moment. Both of them had removed their coats, which they were now cradling in their arms, and these coats were bulging and filled with something.
“What did you find?” Mother Xu was taken aback as she looked at what they were holding in their arms.
“Good stuff!” Xu Song placed his massive package on the ground. Inside, the previously unstable pouches in various colors like moldy green, earthy yellow, and reddish-brown tumbled onto the ground.
“Are these… pouches?” Mother Xu was astonished, looking at the pile of things that could easily trigger arachnophobia, shivering and rolling up her sleeves.
“Yes! They’re from inside the insects! We just found out that when I burn the insects directly, I can leave the pouches behind! We got so excited that we forgot the time,” Xu Song explained.
Mother Xu’s face turned green instantly. Not many people could remain calm when facing a large swarm of insects, especially with the two huge bundles on the ground. “You’re courting death! Weren’t you supposed to go to an area where there weren’t many insects?”
Xu Song had no idea why his mom was so upset. He answered honestly, “Well, there weren’t that many, and when we found out we could burn pouches from inside the insects, we decided to head to the city area. The harvest was quite good! After burning them again tomorrow, we won’t need to come back for a long time!”
Furthermore, considering the reproductive capabilities of these insects, the next time they returned, the insects would have multiplied into a vast horde. It was like a never-ending energy pouch treasury!
Mother Xu was furious and poked her son’s forehead, saying, “So many! Each bag probably has thousands in it! Are you trying to get yourself killed? Even if you can handle them, couldn’t you have at least told me before you went? You’re not afraid of being buried alive by them, but I’m worried they might start eating you! Do you want me to sleep peacefully at night or not?”
Xu Song only then realized that he should have informed his mom and mentioned that his fire-based ability was their natural enemy. After all, what couldn’t his fire ability conquer? Oh, right, those damn fish in the water were the only exception.
The pouches on the ground, even for most of the mutated insects whose sizes had increased, weren’t excessively large. Moreover, there were still insects with abilities whose sizes hadn’t changed.
The smallest of these pouches were no larger than a pinhead, while the largest ones were only two-thirds the size of an average mutated ability pouch.
After prodding her son enough, Mother Xu pointed to one of the larger pouches on the ground and asked, “How big was the insect that had this one?”
Xu Song, who was feeling the pain from all the prodding, honestly answered without thinking, “It was about a meter long.” Upon hearing this, Mother Xu, incensed, went in for another pinch.
Fortunately, Yue Zheng, who was compassionate towards his wife, intervened and helped calm down the situation, guiding Mother Xu to sit and eat.
Despite the disgusting nature of the insects, could they really hinder people from eating? After the apocalypse, this group of people had seen and experienced so much. Mother Xu was just slightly worried. She had heard about the horrors of the insects during her conversations with others in the base through the wristwatch chat. As soon as she saw so many pouches, it was natural for her to be afraid. Poor Xu Song, his forehead had turned red from all the poking.
The number of pouches was indeed astonishing, and it was fortunate that Yue Zheng’s vision had reached a remarkable level, allowing him to pick up all of them without missing a single one.
They filled their respective energy crystals with energy. Since the size of these pouches was small, it took several or even dozens of them to fill a crystal completely. At home, they had some energy pouches from mutated beasts they had previously hunted. Mother Xu insisted that they keep the insect pouches away from her when she slept to avoid nightmares.
So, they decided to keep the pouches from mutated creatures separately. They specifically distributed some to Abu, the ostriches, and carried a few with them. Even the places where Achi and the Grasshopper often stayed were equipped with some pouches.
I agree with Mother Xu! the idea of all those insects give me the shivers.
Sweet…bug pouches…just not tasty…hahahahahahaha
Awww I really hope City B doesn’t fall. And that they go back to help with the insects there