CH 53

Chapter 53: Mole Cricket Beast

All the mutated plants near the city had been eradicated, but after they drove the tank out, the vegetation became thick. Shi Qingyang thought about the ant nest and directly asked Gu Chang to drive in its direction.

Along the way, the plants became more and more dense, and there were more and more mutated beasts. However, when the beasts saw the armored vehicle appear, they either ignored it or ran away, and didn’t take the initiative to provoke it.

“Where are you going today?” Gu Changjin asked after he identified the navigation post standing on the roadside.

Vehicles could drive automatically within the city, but outside the city, it was difficult to tell where the road even was, let alone drive automatically.

The trails opened by the mobile towns that traveled between cities all year round were used by many people to identify the roads. In addition, the state would organize radiation energy soldiers to build navigation posts outside the cities. This kind of navigation post, which was dyed red and surrounded by plants that disgusted beasts, could often save people who got lost outside the city.

“Grandpa Gu, go further.” Shi Qingyang looked at the map.

“Going further? That’s a dangerous area.” Gu Changjin frowned slightly. If they left Spark City in the direction of Anhang City, then even if they left the safety zone, it wouldn’t be too dangerous because the most dangerous beasts on the road had been cleaned up by people coming and going. But their route this time was completely opposite to the direction of Anhang City.

“Grandpa Gu, let’s take a look at the area,” Shi Qingyang spoke.

“Alright, but be careful.” Gu Changjin continued to move forward. He didn’t think he would be in danger. He just worried that Shi Qingyang would be injured if he didn’t take good care of him.

Shi Qingyang smiled and didn’t say anything. He had gone on this road once. Ping Haiyan had said he would take him out of the city for training. At that time, Shi Qingyang was an ordinary student. He just wanted to become stronger one day and kill more beasts to avenge his parents. He had never thought that anyone would want to kill him…

There were few people here, and the road was impassable. When the armored vehicles advanced, they often ran over the mutated plants and made various sounds.

“Grandpa Gu, let’s get off here,” Shi Qingyang said, seeing the dense forest in the distance.

“Sure.” Gu Changjin nodded and parked his car in the grass.

After the plants and trees mutated, they also became much larger. In this dense forest, there were many trees that were the size of two or three people hugging in a circle. One mutated peach tree had outstretched branches covering a large area. Many ants and beasts were crawling around on it. The cry of cicadas was heard everywhere. People who were not strong enough would be afraid to get too close.

And as for real powerhouses, they probably wouldn’t care about a place like this? At a glance, one could see there weren’t any strong mutant beasts, that is, it was mostly ant beasts.

“There is probably an ant nest here, and nothing else,” Gu Changjin quickly concluded. Ant beasts were not well-liked because they were very common and of average value, that’s all. Once these guys came out, they would be very troublesome.

However, although annoying, these very common ant beasts had not been included in the ranks of mutant beasts that had to be eliminated.

These black ant beasts did not take the initiative to attack humans. Most of the time, they would eat the fruits and roots of mutant plants. Otherwise, they would also catch aphids and eat the bodies of other beasts. They would peacefully coexist with humans, clean up a lot of things, and be good practice hunting targets for people who had just left the city.

“Grandpa Gu, that ant nest is so big even a person could fit in there.” Shi Qingyang pointed to a mound in the middle of the dense forest and laughed.

“The ant colony is fairly small, and there are some termites. Those are the experts in building the ant nest. I once saw a photo of a termite nest, which was tens of meters high.” Gu Changjin sighed.

Shi Qingyang took a few more glances, snapped some photos, then took out a recorder and began to look for plants that Cheng Ran might use among the nearby mutated plants.

He often brought back some plants that couldn’t even be called medicinal herbs for Cheng Ran. However, after Cheng Ran played around with them, some things turned out to be useful, such as the flower seeds he brought back. Later, Cheng Ran dug out a lot of starch from them. Although the taste became worse after mutating, it could still be eaten after taking out the radiation.

Of course, it was very troublesome to just remove the radiation.

As Shi Qingyang walked around the ant nest, he collected a lot of plants. He saw more clearly the entrance of the ant nest, and even studied the surrounding environment. He took photos with a recorder and began to figure out which way to go in.

Gu Changjin watched him do his research, and his eyes twitched: “Shi Qingyang, don’t tell me you want to enter the ant nest!”

“Grandpa Gu…”

“There is nothing in the ant nest except ant beasts. If a group of ant beasts bite you, not even the dregs of your bones will be left behind!” Gu Changjin gnashed his teeth.

“Grandpa Gu, you know I cherish my life most and will never do anything that threatens my survival,” Shi Qingyang immediately said. The ant cave was really dangerous for him, but he found a mud cave where the ant beasts placed their eggs, so he just had to hide in that hole…

Gu Changjin also knew that Shi Qingyang was telling the truth. Every time he went out of the city, he prepared a lot of things. The past two years had been relatively peaceful, so it was fine even if Shi Qingyang went out of the city by himself. But in fact, Shi Qingyang would never leave the city without Gu Changjin accompanying him.

Such a careful person really wouldn’t do anything dangerous: “Just keep what I said in mind.”

“Grandpa Gu, do you think this grass looks similar to this?” Shi Qingyang smiled and immediately changed the subject. He held up the recorder in his hand and showed Gu Changjin the displayed image.

“Looks a bit similar. Take it back first.” Gu Changjin and Shi Qingyang started pulling up the grass around them.

Cheng Ran liked these things. Naturally, they had to work hard for him.

However, they had not worked long before they suddenly heard the sound of armored vehicles, along with the sound of combat and gunshots.

Such scenes were often encountered in the wild. Shi Qingyang and Gu Changjin had seen several groups along the way. It was probably someone hunting mutant beasts. But this time they also heard the voice of an acquaintance.

“Third brother, aim at the eyes and shoot. Seventh, you can save your rad-energy. Try to shoot! This guy is just the beginning! Second brother, drive faster!” Liu Qilin’s voice was very loud. It should be that she was using a loudspeaker.

They were probably hunting mutant beasts by kiting. After provoking the beasts, the armored vehicle drove slowly, leading the beasts to attack behind. Although many insects were very strong due to the mutation, their intelligence was very low. This method was very easy to use. Shi Qingyang appreciated it and paid more attention.

Sure enough, these people were using this method. Several armored vehicles drove in front, followed by two mole cricket beasts, one big and one small. The big one was female, and the small one was male. They were about one person long, one dark brown and one light brown, with sharp short hair. When they came near Shi Qingyang, the male mole cricket animal was dead, and the female mole cricket animal wanted to rush forward in a rage. Liu Qilin, who was originally standing on the top of the armored vehicle, suddenly triggered a blast. The mole cricket was blown up and immediately fell down.

Liu Qilin jumped down from the roof, took out the knife behind her back, and cut into the joints of the two mole crickets. On the one hand, she ensured that both mole crickets were dead. On the other hand, after such division, it was also convenient for them to ship.

After all this, Liu Qilin looked at Shi Qingyang and Gu Changjin: “Uncle Gu, Qingyang.”

“Aunt Liu,” Shi Qingyang greeted with a smile.

“You’re also out of the city today, I see. Are you looking for herbs? Are these herbs?” Liu Qilin was surprised to see the weeds they pulled up. Weren’t these weeds? They came to the danger zone just to pull up weeds?

“We don’t know very well ourselves,” Shi Qingyang laughed and casually said, and looked at the mole cricket beast next to him: “Aunt Liu has a bumper harvest today. Congratulations.”

“Not really. We’ll have a few more later.” Liu Qilin laughed. It was really good to catch two mole crickets today. If she made persistent efforts, she could give everyone under her control a big red envelope during the new year.

“Isn’t it? I remember the eggs of mole crickets were very valuable.” Shi Qingyang had just seen the two mole cricket animals. They both looked a little thin and stayed together, so it was obvious that they had just reproduced. However, the eggs of mutant beasts were generally expensive because they tasted very good.

“We didn’t find the mole cricket’s egg. It’s hard to find,” Liu Qilin said directly.

Shi Qingyang was helpless. Of course, he knew that Liu Qilin and the others had not found the eggs of the mole cricket beast. After all, they had just killed the mole cricket beast guarding the eggs. After the mole cricket beast mutated, it gradually changed from being indifferent to the eggs to being able to guard the nest. Therefore, if one wanted to get the eggs of the mole cricket beast, they had to kill the mole cricket beast first.

He said that just now, in fact, just because he wanted Liu Qilin to find the mole cricket’s eggs. He didn’t expect Liu Qilin to answer so honestly.

“Aunt Liu, where did you see these two mole crickets? There might be a mole cricket nest there.”

“Qingyang, finding the nest of mole crickets isn’t all that easy.” Liu Qilin said. She once wanted to find a mutant insect nest, but finally found that she had wasted a lot of time and had not found anything. Since then, she simply didn’t think about those things that might not be found.

“Shall we go and have a look?” Shi Qingyang laughed and said. Mole crickets were edible in ancient times. In the ancient books Cheng Ran found, they could also be used as medicine.

Although the description of two mole crickets in the prescription was completely different from those of these huge mole crickets, Shi Qingyang thought that the eggs of mole crickets should taste good and could be used for the new year.

“Alright, if you find it, you’ll get half of them,” Liu Qilin immediately said. Athough she thought it wouldn’t be easy to find the mole cricket’s nest, she believed in Gu Changjin.

However, after the words were said, Liu Qilin suddenly remembered that He Lan had told her to forge a good relationship with Shi Qingyang and Gu Changjin: “No, if you find it, it will be all yours.”

“We’d just eat it ourselves, we wouldn’t need much.” Shi Qingyang smiled.

After more than a year, he had learned something about He Lan and Liu Qilin. These two people with completely different personalities were already married.

In fact, they had always told others that He Ming was a test tube baby bred from Liu Qilin’s eggs with sperm obtained from the sperm bank, and who was finally conceived by He Lan. It was this method of conceiving their child that prevented him from being targeted by the Yang family.

Since Liu Qilin had said that she would give Shi Qingyang the eggs, she didn’t let other people follow her. After letting those people hunt beasts nearby, she took Shi Qingyang and Gu Changjin along to follow the traces of the armored vehicle alone.

The place where the mole crickets were found was not far away from the ant nest, but the terrain was a bit strange. Many mutant plants had fallen in this area. It looked like something had crushed them. Shi Qingyang frowned slightly when he saw this scene.

“You also think something is wrong here, don’t you? Doesn’t it look like it’s been crushed by a mobile town?” Liu Qilin asked. “I came here just because I found these traces.”

“Aunt Liu, is it the mobile town you’ve been looking for?” Shi Qingyang asked. He Lan, like him, had a grudge against the Yang family. After he got the news that Yang Haotai had been executed, he settled the matter in his heart. To his surprise, Liu Qilin had kept looking for the mobile town. “Yes, I’ve been looking for it.” Liu Qilin nodded, and thinking that always telling others wasn’t good, so she smiled awkwardly: “We’re here to find the nest of mole cricket beasts, let’s not talk any more on that.”

“Aunt Liu, can you tell me something about the mobile town?” At first, Shi Qingyang just listened to Liu Qilin mention it. Later, he didn’t find anything and let it go. But now he was suddenly curious.

“In fact, it’s not much. The people there are criminals. Young and attractive women will be asked to receive some guests, and women who start to grow old will be asked to get pregnant and have children. The radiation in the mobile town is relatively strong, so it’s difficult for women to get pregnant naturally. That’s why they always use in vitro to conceive girls… I was a result of a natural pregnancy, which was very rare. Before me, my mother once gave birth to a test tube baby, which grew up in the mobile town. That baby was bred from the eggs of the best woman and man’s sperm. She was a beautiful girl, but  when she was only ten years old, she was taken away. Later, my parents saw her body thrown outside… I didn’t grow up too pretty, but my parents always worried that I would be forced to take plastic surgery, and then they tried to save me. ” What Liu Qilin said was subtle, but was enough to fully illustrate that kind of life.

In fact, she was very lucky. Her parents loved each other, and she was a child that resulted from them both. Unlike other people, where the women often gave birth to other people’s children.

The forthright Liu Qilin’s expression became more and more gloomy: “All kinds of things could be bought there. Women, drugs. And we had no way to ask for help.”

Shi Qingyang had heard of such things before. How safe the city was, was how dangerous it was outside the city. This was the difference between heaven and hell. “Dn’t worry, those who break the law and commit crimes will be punished!”

“I will not give up. One day I will save those people.” Liu Qilin was very firm. Originally, with her qualifications, some people scrambled to marry her. She didn’t agree, and just lived for revenge.

“Aunt Liu, take your time. Your own safety is the most important.” Shi Qingyang also sighed, but his eyes were on the root of a dead tree. The mutant plants in this place thrived more than those elsewhere.

Shi Qingyang straightforwardly pulled out the grass that was more lush than other places, and a hole suddenly appeared on the ground.

Mole crickets would dig holes that were narrow at the top and wide at the bottom like wine bottles as spawning places, put a certain amount of food, and then block the holes with soil and weeds, or even put a piece of turf on them.

Because the hole below was sealed by mole cricket beasts using chewed broken grass and soil, it was easier for greenery to grow above their nests than over other places.

“Shi Qingyang, you are really good.” Liu Qilin regained consciousness and exclaimed, “He Ming left the city a few days ago, and  he only hunted enough for him to eat.”

“I learned a few things online.” Shi Qingyang turned on the searchlight on his head and looked inside. After confirming that the eggs below had not hatched, he looked at Liu Qilin: “Aunt Liu, can you go down and get the eggs? You’re smaller.” More importantly, after mentioning the mobile town, Liu Qilin’s mood was a little low, and having something  to do could divert her attention.

“Yes,” Liu Qilin immediately agreed.

Liu Qilin wanted to give all the eggs to Shi Qingyang, but Shi Qingyang only took two. He didn’t do anything this time. It was enough to take two back to Cheng Ran.

However, when he went back, he always felt a little uneasy, and did not know whether it was because of the mobile town mentioned by Liu Qilin.

At the start, they didn’t find that the Yin Family had a mobile town, but if the Yin Family really had a mobile town and had ways to get criminals, in this case, could those Yin Family who were exiled be sent to their own mobile town?

Although they took precautions and sent all the criminals to Yangtze City, where the Yin Family could not reach, it wasn’t surefire…

Shi Qingyang admitted that he had never put down his guard regarding the Yin Family, otherwise he wouldn’t be leaving the city accompanied each time by Gu Changjin. But it happened that the Yin Family hid so well that even with Xing Ou looking for the Yin Family, with Cheng Xuze supporting him, he still ended up finding nothing.

And what was more, Xing Ou’s ambitions were getting bigger and bigger…