Chapter 130: Chapter 125: The Whole Village Catches Bugs_i

Translator: 549690339

Their mandibles had obviously become much thicker, but they were still much weaker than the Grade Two Green Ring Worker Bees.

The wings had turned green and became corpulent and wide.

They flapped powerfully and vigorously.

The six-legged pollen brushes and the pollen baskets on the hind legs had both become stronger, greatly surpassing ordinary Worker Bees.

No other significant changes were observed for the time being.

Upon inspecting the bee colony’s attributes, he indeed discovered that there were five new types of bees.

Grade One Giant Wing Worker Bee: five specimens, lifespan of 5 years, special abilities (can fly fast over long distances, pollen gathering efficiency +50%, moderate biting force).

Their abilities were obviously far weaker than those of the Grade Two Green Ring Worker Bees.

Their flying speed was also fast, but slower than that of the Grade Two Green Ring Worker Bees, and their maneuverability was much poorer.

Their efficiency in pollen gathering was fifty percent stronger than that of ordinary Worker Bees.

This meant that two Giant Wing Worker Bees could do the work of three ordinary Worker Bees.

Then, ordinary bees had very weak biting force, but the biting force of the Giant Wing Worker Bees had been somewhat strengthened. It felt like their biting force could match that of hornets.

Overall, not too bad.

He had not yet bred the kind of bee he wanted.

However, he was not disheartened; by slowly groping his way, he believed that he would succeed one day.

Compared to breeding Termites, breeding bees was more difficult due to their less diverse species.

Now that the Queen Bee had consumed the Banyan Tree Blood and survived the critical phase, he hoped that its evolution would bring some surprises.

“You assist the Grade Two Worker Bees in guarding the Queen Bee together.”

Qin Niu gave orders to the five Giant Wing Worker Bees.

They returned to the beehive in unison and lay on the outer area, keeping watch on the outside movements.

With seven Grade Two Worker Bees and five Giant Wing Worker Bees for protection, the safety of the Queen Bee was basically assured.

Tomorrow there should be another five new Grade Two Worker Bees successfully evolved, and ten new members will also emerge.

It’s just that the Queen Bee probably won’t be able to lay eggs these days.

He hoped that the bee colony would not become restless because of this.

“Xiao Nui, let’s head home!”

Qin Niu called out to Xiao Nui, who only did three things.

It constantly ate, and when it was full, it either lay lazily on the ground to sleep or to chew the cud. The last thing was to defecate to create fertilizer.

It used to defecate anywhere.

Since receiving Qin Niu’s reminder to bring its manure back home, it would wait to return to the cattle shed before defecating.

The creature was a bona fide manure-producing machine.

Not far from home, Qin Niu faintly sensed that a seemingly inconspicuous plant not far on the right side contained some energy.

In fact, all plants contain energy; the only difference is the amount.

Many plants are annuals that sprout in spring and die in winter.

Thus, the energy contained within them is very minimal.

There are also plants that, although long-lived, do not possess medicinal value, and the useful energy they contain is very minimal.

He immediately walked over.

It seemed that practicing the Medicine King Sutra was quite beneficial.

Previously, when walking in the mountains, he had ignored these medically valuable plants.

Now that his cultivation level of the Medicine King Sutra had reached Twofold Mortal, he was able to sense some special medicinal herbs with considerable efficacy.

The plant that had caught his attention was about one meter tall with no branches. On its stem, there were only two layers of leaves, which spread out like an umbrella.

Each layer consisted of five leaves.

In the middle of the topmost layer of leaves was a pouch-shaped green fruit.

Qin Niu sensed considerable energy from this plant.

He closed his eyes and felt the medicinal aura it emitted, which was very special.

Its medicinal aura was condensed and not dispersed, emitting in a straight column.

He only recognized common medicinal herbs and did not know this one.

He decided to dig it up and bring it back.

He immediately took off his basket, took out a hoe, and dug it out entirely.

The root was somewhat deep, and it took Qin Niu significant effort to dig out the entire plant.

After his cultivation level of the Medicine King Sutra rose to Twofold Mortal and he unexpectedly discovered a special medicinal herb, he was quite excited.

On his way to the Ant Nest, he consciously searched around.

Unfortunately, he found nothing else.

It seemed that even in the deep mountains, special medicinal herbs were still extremely rare.

Upon reaching the Ant Nest, Qin Niu selected over a hundred Termites and placed them into an Insect Jar, preparing to take them down the mountain for pest control.

His gaze fell upon the medicinal herb he had just dug up.

Would there be any changes if he let the Termites eat a bit of this plant?

Since the plant was so special, he thought it was worth trying.

He sprinkled a small piece of a leaf down and chose three different Termites to feed.

They were a regular Worker Ant, a Grade Two Lightning Worker Ant, and a Grade Two Tiger-striped Soldier Ant.

He originally wanted to try with a regular Soldier Ant, but he didn’t have any at the moment.

So he used a Grade Two Tiger-striped Soldier Ant for the experiment.

After eating, they didn’t seem to have any reaction.

Qin Niu didn’t pay them any more attention and went straight home.

Xiao Qing had already prepared dinner and was waiting for his return.

“Master, you’re back!”

Seeing Qin Niu return, she smiled happily to greet him.

“Hmm!”

Qin Niu remembered the medicinal herb he had dug up and directly took it out.

“Xiao Qing, do you recognize this herb?”

Xiao Qing looked at it closely, “It seems to be broadleaf rhizoma paridis, but the shape of its fruit is very special, resembling a folded lotus flower. I have never seen it before. Moreover, its stem has turned a grayish-brown color, indicating that it is very old, at least fifty or sixty years old.”

Despite her young age, Xiao Qing had ample experience identifying medicinal herbs.

After examining this herb, she provided some insights.

“Do you know its efficacy?”

Qin Niu asked again.

“Ordinary rhizoma paridis is cold in nature and slightly toxic; it can treat snake bites and insect stings as well as some injuries, swelling, and pain. Its effects are quite similar to those of the ‘seven-leaf one-branch flower.’ However, the one you dug up is a variant, and with the fruit resembling a lotus flower bud yet to bloom, it’s hard to judge its medicinal effects.”

Each profession has its own expertise.

Qin Niu admired Xiao Qing’s knowledge of herbs and her familiarity with pharmacology.

It would be a good idea to buy her some books on medicinal herbs for her to study the next time he went to the city.

Days passed by just like that.

After eating the leaves of the broadleaf rhizoma paridis, the three termites showed no changes.

Qin Niu was not discouraged, instead persisting in feeding them daily.

He hoped they would undergo some changes.

The Queen Bee’s evolution took longer than expected; it had been six days and it was still evolving.

But compared to the little turtle, this was nothing significant.

Ever since the last time the little turtle ate wild boar meat mixed with Banyan Tree Blood, it hadn’t emerged and seemed to be hibernating, not even blowing a bubble.

In these six days, Shuangfeng Village had undergone significant changes.

A plague of locusts appeared in the crops, crazily nibbling at the leaves and even the stems and fruits.

The Yan Family was the biggest landlord locally, owning more than a thousand acres of good farmland, and were extremely anxious like ants on a hot pan. It was said that not only the family’s servants were involved in exterminating insects, but even the twelve skilled farmers who were paid high wages had personally begun to catch the locusts in the fields.

Xu Zhenchang had already tried various methods of pest control to no avail.

For now, they could only use handmade insect nets to capture the locusts manually, but the efficiency was very low.

Because of this, he hired over a dozen villagers to help catch the locusts in the fields.

The wage offered was eight Wen Money a day.

Later, still finding the efficiency too low, he wanted to hire women and children from the village to help him catch insects.

But Wang Furen outsmarted him with quick action.

Wang Furen employed nearly thirty children and women to catch locusts in the fields.

The children were paid three Wen Money a day, while the women received five Wen Money a day.

Later, perhaps feeling that some people were slacking off on the job to earn an easy wage, Wang Furen changed his strategy. Regardless of whether they were men, women, elderly, or children, everyone who caught bugs in his fields would be paid by weight.

After the villagers caught a large number of locusts, they initially could take them home to feed poultry, and some even tried frying them as a dish. But now that Wang Furen was paying by weight, they were no longer allowed to take the locusts home.

Qin Niu’s acre of corn was nearing maturity.

Every day, he would let the termites remove the pests from the fields, but the sheer number of locusts was overwhelming.

The task of eliminating the pests took noticeably longer for the hundred or so termites each time.

Fortunately, the number of his special termites was increasing daily, and he could enlist more and more ant soldiers.

However, he couldn’t deal with the pests during the day.

A portion of the locusts from the neighboring fields would cross over into his fields, causing him much annoyance.

This situation couldn’t continue.

He went to the field and randomly picked an ear of corn to check its maturity.

It was almost fully ripe.

He estimated that it would take another four or five days before it could be harvested.

Harvesting now, because of the excessive moisture, not only would it easily rot and mold, not suitable for drying and storage, but it would also lead to a reduction in yield of more than twenty percent.

He decided to wait a few more days.

Since he decided to harvest the corn in a few days, he definitely needed to get the granary built ahead of time.

In previous years, an acre of land could yield up to two or three hundred pounds of grain at most.

After improvements in farming techniques this year, the yield could reach at least nine hundred pounds.

That was almost twice the total annual yield from last year.

And now, with his status as an Insect Master, he didn’t need to pay grain tax this year, meaning he could store as much as he harvested.

With so much corn, he definitely needed a granary for storage.

Back at home, the Tang brothers had already brought their workers and were busy. However, their number had clearly reduced over the past few days.

Affected by the insect infestation, some workers had taken leave to tend to their own crops.

“Master Tang, come take a break!”

Qin Niu called out to Master Tang, who was diligently laying bricks on the wall.

Wall construction was a skilled job; only the Tang brothers were qualified while the other laborers handled miscellaneous tasks.

“Alright!”

Tang Fang agreed as he climbed down from the wall.

“Master Qin, I know you must have something to tell me. The insect infestation these past few days has been severe. I’ve leased out all my land, so I’m not too worried, but many of the workers have asked for leave to take care of their own crops. I need to hurry and finish building the main house for you, otherwise I’m concerned the shortage of workers will affect the schedule.

Seeing you and your maid living in the shed, my brother and I want to get the house done sooner so you can move in.”

Tang Fang was very considerate in his work.

He was also empathetic about the inconveniences in Qin Niu’s current living situation.

“I plan to harvest the corn in the fields and bring it home in four days. Then, it will need to be dried before being stored in the granary. Do you think you could get the granary built for me first?”