Chapter 109 - 102: Forest Giant Mayfly
Back in the living room, Qin Ziwen took a hairdryer to the solar panel’s battery, dried his hair and body, then changed into a fresh set of clothes.
The Level 1 Tailor Shop required a 5x4 area. Since he didn’t have a tailor right now, there was no rush.
The Fish Pond, however, could be used to raise more fish. With the growth boost, the more fish he raised, the faster they would breed.
While the Gated Community was right by the river and fish were plentiful, he should raise as many as he could.
[Level 1 Fish Pond: Level 1 Fish Comfort, Level 1 Fish Growth Boost]
But if he wanted to acquire a large number of fish, he couldn’t do it alone. Relying solely on the Earth Cages to catch them was too slow.
He had to find a way to buy live fish.
After making up his mind, he summoned the Beaked Eagle, planning to take it to the rooftop to see if the Card in the mountainside cave had refreshed.
As he was going upstairs, he ran into Zhao Pu, who was coming down.
"Mr. Qin." Zhao Pu’s face lit up. "I was just about to look for you. Huh? Is that the Beaked Eagle? It’s gotten so much bigger in just a few days."
Qin Ziwen chuckled. "Heading to the rooftop?"
"Sure." Zhao Pu followed him. Once they reached the rooftop, Qin Ziwen placed his phone on the Beaked Eagle’s chest, whispered a few instructions in its ear, and the eagle took to the sky.
Zhao Pu watched the Beaked Eagle’s retreating form with envy.
’Such an intelligent pet, and it can fly, too. It’s the only one in the entire Gated Community. Strapping a phone to its chest turns it into an aerial scout. It’s practically cheating.’
Qin Ziwen asked, "Dr. Zhao, if I wanted to buy some live fish within the Gated Community, do you have any leads?"
"Live fish?" Zhao Pu’s expression hardened. "Mr. Qin, you might not be aware, but starting yesterday, a strange type of bug appeared in the river near the Gated Community. They’re very aggressive and attack anything that enters or lives in the water. Fewer people are going to the riverbank now."
"Bugs in the water?" Qin Ziwen found the combination of those three words a bit strange.
There were aquatic insects, of course, but they were usually food for fish.
Zhao Pu said, "Yeah, that’s right. These bugs are huge, almost a meter long. They look a bit like mayfly larvae, completely black with two large mandibles at the front. Someone killed one and left it at the entrance to the Gated Community. I went to take a look; it’s pretty terrifying."
Listening to Zhao Pu’s description, Qin Ziwen felt a strange sense of familiarity for some reason.
"I’ll go take a look later." Qin Ziwen glanced up. The Beaked Eagle wouldn’t take long for a round trip, so he’d wait for it on the roof.
Before long, the Beaked Eagle flew back.
Upon its return, the Beaked Eagle wouldn’t stop screeching, its cries urgent as if it had been frightened by something.
Qin Ziwen quickly checked it over but found no injuries or signs of a struggle.
"What’s wrong?"
Hearing Qin Ziwen’s voice, the Beaked Eagle buried its head in his chest, whimpering nonstop.
"Alright, alright, calm down. Let me see." He gently patted its blocky head, removed the phone, and reviewed the video recording.
After taking flight, the Beaked Eagle had encountered the Black Falcons again. This time, however, the Black Falcons had learned their lesson. They only circled from a distance without getting close, and no conflict occurred between them.
The Beaked Eagle then arrived at the cave entrance, standing quietly and constantly adjusting its position to give the camera a clearer view.
"Huh." Qin Ziwen saw three points of light flash for an instant deep inside the cave.
There was one white light and two golden ones. The gray light from yesterday was gone.
’It seems if the Card at the altar isn’t collected, a new one will refresh the next day.’
’But why are there three points of light this time?’
𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
He pressed pause and selected 0.5x playback speed.
He noticed that the two golden points of light weren’t too far apart, with the white point of light located between them.
But as he repeatedly scrubbed through the timeline, he discovered from other angles that the golden points of light didn’t seem to overlap with the white one. Instead, they were located further back.
Suddenly, the two golden points of light vanished for a moment. He frowned.
He paused the video and, after watching it a few times, a chill ran down his spine.
’Holy shit, those look like eyes!’
Qin Ziwen handed the phone to Zhao Pu for him to take a look.
Seeing the changing expression on Qin Ziwen’s face, Zhao Pu grew curious. He took the phone, and as he watched, his own relaxed expression froze before he turned to look back at Qin Ziwen.
"Mr. Qin, these... they look like the eyes of some kind of animal, don’t they?"
"So you think so, too."
"It’s mainly the shape. And here—it looks like its head turned. The position of the two golden points of light shifted a bit. It seems to be looking out of the cave." Zhao Pu pointed out a crucial detail Qin Ziwen had missed.
After watching the part Zhao Pu indicated several times, Qin Ziwen saw that he was right.
The golden points of light had moved at one point.
He turned to look at the Beaked Eagle. Seeing the little guy trembling, Qin Ziwen finally understood why it had been so agitated.
"Don’t be afraid." He said the words, but his heart sank.
Although the video was dark and he couldn’t see the size of the eyes’ owner, he had a rough idea of the altar’s position. By comparing the distance between the eyes...
He could roughly infer that the creature inside was, without a doubt, the largest lifeform they had encountered since arriving in this mysterious forest.
This brought to mind a creature described in the bestiary: the Stone Cave Ancient Giant Toad, a long-lived species of toad that could live for over two hundred years.
It lived year-round in deep mountain caves, feeding on birds, beasts, and insects, with a particular fondness for the latter. Its size increased with age, and the older it got, the more it favored hibernation. They reached adulthood at thirty years, with mature specimens averaging 3.6-5.0 meters in length, 1.7-2.2 meters in shoulder width, and weighing 1850-4000 kilograms.
Even though he’d never seen one alive, it was definitely the largest creature he knew of.
’But even an adult Stone Cave Ancient Giant Toad from the bestiary wouldn’t have eyes this far apart.’
The thought of the Stone Cave Ancient Giant Toad surprised Qin Ziwen. The cave on the mountainside did indeed fit the toad’s natural habitat.
However, the mysterious creature deep within the cave had now awakened, and it was right next to the altar. The danger of retrieving the Card had just skyrocketed.
’I wonder if my trip into the cave a few days ago disturbed it.’
But considering the risk, it was only natural for a highly dangerous animal to be living near this Advanced Altar.
After all, killing the giant wild boar and the alpha male crocodile had only dropped two ordinary Cards. In contrast, that Advanced Altar had yielded a Red Function Card and an Advanced Building Card. If the only threats were the non-aggressive bats inside the cave and the Black Falcons outside, it really wouldn’t match the altar’s high drop rate.
Qin Ziwen mulled it over. ’But letting it guard the altar indefinitely isn’t a solution. I have to find a way to lure it out.’
Today’s Card was just a white Expansion Card, which wasn’t a high priority.
’First, I’ll focus on collecting more fish, vegetables, and plants.’
Cards were important, but other resources were also indispensable.
Zhao Pu said, "Mr. Qin, you want to buy fish?"
Qin Ziwen nodded. "Yes. Didn’t you say there was a bug’s corpse at the south gate? I’m going to go take a look."
First, he went home to drop off the Beaked Eagle.
Then he and Zhao Pu, wearing masks, headed to the south gate.
A crowd of neighbors had gathered there, most of them wearing masks. Some people stood for a few seconds, got a clear look at the bug, and then quickly left.
"This bug is so ugly."
"It looks vicious. With pincers that big, a bite would probably tear your flesh right off."
"Tear it off? You have no idea. I heard these damn things can even eat hippos, let alone people."
"Does anyone know what kind of bug this is?"
"How could anyone know? We don’t have these things on Earth."
"Hey, do you guys think this looks like a mayfly?"
"A mayfly? Don’t those fly over the water? This thing doesn’t even have wings."
"I’m talking about a mayfly larva, the form before it grows wings."
Qin Ziwen waited for a gap in the crowd, stepped forward to snap a photo, and then backed away.
After backing away, he looked at the photo and froze. What a coincidence.
He might not recognize other animals, but he had just seen this thing two days ago. He’d even described it to Du Yu himself.
This was the exact Forest Giant Mayfly recorded in the bestiary.
His impression of this bug was particularly deep.
This was because while other animals in the bestiary had only one picture, this thing had two: one of its aquatic form and one of its winged adult form.
And the aquatic form looked remarkably similar to the bug in the photo.
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