Chapter 191
“Chi——”
After feeling that there was no way to retreat, the mutant insect that had been hiding in the blue beard tree let out a shrill cry.
The scream was so sharp that everyone except Zhou Qi couldn't help but cover their ears.
The Blue Hu guards who tracked here were originally just following orders from their lord and had doubts about whether Blue Hu Lin was really attacked by mutant insects.
This is also the idea of some Lanhu people.
After all, they are not like Kang Kang who can communicate with the Blue Hu mother tree, nor are they like Lan Yunqing who can sense the mother tree's emotions.
During the entire tracking process, they felt like headless flies, wandering around under the command of a child who looked only a few years old.
It was not until the sound of insects chirped that the doubts in their hearts completely disappeared.
The Bluebeard Forest has really been invaded by mutant insects!
That insect is the culprit that causes the leaves of the Lanhu tree to turn yellow and wither, and is the murderer that endangers the livelihoods of thousands of people in Lanhu Town.
Be sure to catch it and destroy it!
This thought flashed through everyone's mind, but many times, things are not as simple as they imagined.
After a sharp explosion, the mutant insects could not find a suitable parasitic tree to move to. Under the huge pressure, they finally bit through the bark for the first time and jumped out of the blue beard tree.
As its body was exposed to the environment, the mutant worm, which was originally only the size of a finger, began to swell and grow rapidly.
During the more than two years that it had been lurking in the Bluebeard tree, this mutant insect had never actively eaten the tree, so its body had not grown much and fortunately it had not been discovered by the guardian of the Bluebeard tree.
Because the blue beech forest regulates temperature, there is no autumn or winter here all year round, which is very suitable for the growth of insects.
This mutant insect hid quietly in the dark, secretly sucking the vitality of the blue beard tree, and accumulated and stored this vitality in its body.
Because it feeds on vitality, the mother blue beard tree, which has recovered 60% of its health, will begin to decline again after being treated with a healing potion.
Of course, according to the previous speed of the mutant insects, this 60% of health should not be consumed so quickly.
However, the mutant insects have grown and are about to lay eggs.
It needs more vitality to supply its eggs. When these eggs hatch, they will devour the entire blue Hu forest and eat all the humans living here, turning this place into a real insect nest.
It will become the most powerful insect queen, with a huge clan.
However, all of this was exposed today! The blue beech trees, sprayed with a powerful insect repellent, could no longer harbor insect eggs; instead, they would be killed.
It was also discovered by the guardian of the Blue Hu Tree and faced siege by the guardian.
“Chirp!!! Chirp!!!”
The mutant insect screamed angrily and pointed its spear directly at Kang Kang who was held in Tang Yu'an's arms.
It’s all because of this damn human cub!
It’s all because of him!
At this moment, its body has grown to five meters high, and its entire body is dark blue in color, but it does not have the slightest aesthetic appeal. Instead, it makes people feel distorted and deeply frightened.
The mutant insect moved its huge body and opened its huge mouthparts to bite Tang Yu'an and Kang Kang.
Tang Yu'an was not frightened. He had been dealing with various giant insects almost every day in the other dimension for a year, and had long since developed a strong character that allowed him to remain calm in the face of danger.
When the giant insect swelled up, he hugged Kang Kang tightly and flew away quickly, while blessing each other with the light of blessing magic.
The giant insect failed to hit the target in one attack and wanted to continue chasing it, but suddenly a golden light flashed in the air.
A machete flew over from the side.
The mutant insect's open mouth was hit by the machete, and then the machete quickly stretched out, directly stretching its mouth open and blocking its entire mouthparts!
"Your opponent is me!"
Zhou Qi, holding another machete in his hand, leaped up and landed directly on the giant insect's head, and inserted the mutated metal knife in his hand directly into the giant insect's head.
The giant insect's hard shell was easily cut open by the mutated metal. The blade did not stop after it was completely inserted into the insect's body. Instead, it quickly extended like the machete before and penetrated deeply into the giant insect's body.
Zhou Qi gripped the hilt of the knife and stirred it around. At the same time, he mobilized the fire energy in his hand to penetrate into the giant insect's head through the hilt and ignite and explode in its cranial cavity.
“Chirp!!! Chirp!!!”
The giant insect let out a painful hiss.
It twisted and struggled, and with a casual sweep of its huge body, it uprooted the surrounding Bluebeard trees, and the wind it created was enough to blow away the Bluebeard guards.
Even so, Zhou Qi remained firmly fixed on its head, constantly mobilizing the power of fire to burn and explode within the giant insect's body.
Even though he was injured, he didn't care at all. Compared to the pain of having his flesh and blood burned by the fire spirit insects, what was this little bit of pain?
During the three months of devilish training in the other dimension, he relied on his strong will and self-healing ability to survive!
Finally, the giant insect let out a desperate scream and then raised its abdomen.
It wants the eggs to leave the body early, so that as long as even one egg hatches, they can come back again!
This is the last hope!
Lan Yunqing, who was watching the fight, saw this scene clearly. His face changed drastically, and he was about to attack despite his mentally exhausted body. However, the next moment -
At the same time as the mutant insects sprayed out eggs, the earth wall controlled by Zhou Qi also rose from the ground, blocking the sticky liquid that wrapped thousands of insect eggs.
Upon seeing this, Lan Yunqing quickly ordered the earth-type ability users among the guards to take action.
So with the combined efforts of the guards, the soil beneath the giant insect began to soften and collapse, instantly turning into a swamp-like mudflat. Earth walls also rose from the ground in the other three directions.
The mutated giant insect was wrapped in muddy soil, and the insect eggs ejected from its tail were blocked by the earth wall.
Above its head, Zhou Qi quickly retracted the machete in his hand, then he jumped back, and after the giant insect was deeply stuck in the mud and earth wall, he casually poured the fuel he had just exchanged on it.
The giant insect's struggles were getting smaller and smaller, but the insect eggs it ejected were wriggling in the soil, and it seemed that countless young insects would grow out at any time.
The stench of the giant insect's slime and the strong, pungent smell of fuel mixed together, making people feel nauseous.
Finally, after pouring fuel all over the giant insect, Zhou Qi casually threw a fireball.
"boom--"
The fuel started burning while the fireball was still in the air. The fire spread rapidly and finally burned the entire body of the giant insect.
Before the fire spread, Lan Yunqing had ordered people to create ditches and form firebreaks to prevent the fire from spreading.
At the same time, he also cut off the roots of the surrounding blueberry trees from this piece of land to prevent the larvae from lurking and eroding the roots.
As for the blue beard branches in this land, they could only be burned along with the giant insects and countless insect eggs.
The families responsible for protecting these blue beard trees couldn't help but shed tears when they saw this scene from afar.
But such sacrifice is necessary. If the insects spread, the entire blue beard forest will be destroyed in the end.
Crackling sounds continued to be heard in the woods, and gradually, the pungent smell disappeared, replaced by the smell of roasted protein.
Slurp——
The onlookers couldn't help swallowing.
In mid-air, sensing that the mutant insect's life breath had finally completely dissipated, Zhou Qi slowly landed on the ground.
His face was pale, but his eyes were as sharp as a knife.
His waist was straight and his whole body exuded a terrifying madness, as if no wind or rain could destroy him, and he dared to pounce on even the most powerful beast to fight.
The guards around him looked at him with awe, and even Lan Yunqing didn't dare to approach him for a moment.
Tang Yu'an, who had just escaped with Kang Kang on his back, flew back again.
He was not intimidated by Zhou Qi's aura at all, and directly grabbed his arm and looked at him.
"I'm fine." Zhou Qi said in a low voice, and the cold hostility and murderous intent in him also subsided. He became calm and restrained, completely different from the sharp character just now.
Tang Yu'an only believed what he saw with his own eyes.
Seeing that Zhou Qi had a lot of injuries on his body, he wanted to take him back to Store No. 5 for treatment.
"Brother Yunqing, let's go back to the store first." Before leaving, he greeted Lan Yunqing.
"Xiao Zhou, are you okay? Do you need a therapist?" Lan Yunqing asked with concern.
If it weren't for Zhou Qi, they would probably have to pay a huge price to get rid of this mutant insect.
Tang Yu'an shook his head and said, "It's okay, I can handle it."
"That's good." Lan Yunqing nodded. "I won't say much more about my gratitude. You guys go back first. I'll come find you after I finish dealing with things here."
"good!"
So Lan Yunqing waved his hand and directly transferred them to the edge of the town center. They only needed to walk a few steps to return to Store No. 5.
Mok was not in the store. Judging from the map, he was heading towards the battle site with several guards. It seemed that he heard the commotion and was about to run to provide support.
After putting Kang Kang down, Tang Yu'an quickly pulled Zhou Qi to treat him.
Pulling his hand and looking at his bloody palm, Tang Yu'an couldn't help but tear up even though he had seen it many times.
"Why do you always get hurt..."
He blew gently on Zhou Qi's wound, then took out alcohol and skillfully disinfected and bandaged it.
"You'll be well again soon." Zhou Qi said.
"But it still hurts." Tang Yu'an pouted slightly, feeling very distressed.
There was a gentle smile in Zhou Qi's eyes. This little pain was nothing to him. Instead, he enjoyed the care from Tang Yu'an very much.
"Did you see the fight just now?" he asked calmly.
"Yeah." Tang Yu'an nodded, "Brother Xiaoqi is super handsome!"
But at the end, he added: "It would be great if I could avoid getting hurt."
Zhou Qi's eyes curved slightly, with a bit of the joy and excitement of a young man. Of course, this emotion was hidden deep inside and was not easily revealed.
"Okay, I won't do that next time."
Hearing this, Tang Yu'an couldn't help but mutter, "You always say this..."
At this time, Kang Kang also came over and imitated Tang Yu'an's words just now, saying in a baby voice: "Knock... knock, so handsome!"
Tang Yu'an paused, then reached out and rubbed his head.
"Kang Kang is also great. Thanks to you this time. You helped a lot!" He was not stingy with his praise.
Kang Kang laughed happily, his little face flushed with health and loveliness.
“Knock knock knock—”
At this moment there was a knock on their window.
Tang Yu'an glanced at the map. "Huh? I don't see anyone outside? Who's knocking on the window?"
He stood up, walked over and opened the window, and saw that a branch of the blue beech tree had grown out of the gap between their shop and the house next door.
As he looked at it with doubt, the branches of the blue beech tree knocked against the wooden boards on the outer wall again.
The case is solved, it’s the mother blue beard tree!
Tang Yu'an looked at the branch of the blue beard tree, hesitated for a moment and asked, "Are you here to see Kang Kang?"
"Knock knock knock--" The branches of the blue beard tree knocked on the wooden board again.
Tang Yu'an didn't know whether his guess was right or not, so he turned around and hugged Kang Kang.
As soon as Kang Kang poked his little head out, the blue beard tree began to shake its leaves, making a rustling sound, as if it was extremely excited.
"October Mom!" Kang Kang also greeted it happily.
Then he started to mumble and babble, saying something to the blue beech tree branch that Tang Yu'an couldn't understand.
However, seeing how Kang Kang was happily communicating with it, Tang Yu'an finally confirmed that the Blue Beard Mother Tree was indeed looking for Kang Kang, and it seemed that it was simply looking for him to chat.
Tang Yu'an placed a table of appropriate height next to the bed so that Kang Kang could sit down.
The child lay by the window and chatted happily with the blue beard tree. Both sides were happy because they had made a new friend.
When Tang Yu'an returned to Zhou Qi, he had already treated the remaining injuries.
He breathed a sigh of relief and took out the diluted healing potion for him to drink.
Zhou Qi wanted to decline. After all, with his self-healing ability, there was really no need to waste the medicine.
But under the boy's stare, he still honestly took the healing potion and drank it, then looked at Tang Yu'an and smiled gently: "Did you add sugar in it?"
"No."
"Why is that a little sweet?"
Tang Yu'an blinked, took it back and tasted it himself.
"It's not sweet," he said.
"Oh, maybe I was wrong." Zhou Qi said nonchalantly.
Tang Yu'an looked at him strangely, but didn't take it to heart. After putting the bottle away, he sat down next to Zhou Qi.
"I didn't expect the Blue Hu tree to be infested with insects." Tang Yu'an looked at Kang Kang who was talking to the mother Blue Hu tree and couldn't help but say, "That mutant insect is really too cunning."
"It's all good now. The pests have been eradicated and the blue beech forest should recover soon."
But in this way, Lanhu Town probably won't need to buy food from outside, right? However, they have already opened a branch in Lanhu Town, so they can sell other things.
For example, transportation such as bicycles, and snacks such as candy and biscuits.
Zhou Qi looked at Kang Kang and the blue beech tree outside the window and said, "I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for Blue Beech Town."
"Hmm?" Tang Yu'an looked at him puzzledly.
"If the mother trees of the blue beard recover, they will return to their previous survival mode. Their ability to resist risks is really too poor."
Zhou Qi said, "If Lord Lanhu is clear-headed, he should continue to increase Lanhu Town's food sources. Otherwise, if something happens to Lanhu Lin again, they will face the same difficulties they faced today."
Tang Yu'an also felt that what he said made sense, but...
Looking at Kang Kang and the Bluebeard Mother Tree happily communicating, he also smiled and said, "Anyway, I think it's a good thing."
They saved the forest and the tens of thousands of people living here. How could that be a bad thing?
As for the problems that may arise in the future, haven't they happened yet? They still have plenty of time and opportunities to work hard to improve.
Zhou Qi nodded and discussed with him what to eat in the evening.
But before they could come to a conclusion, Lan Yunqing came over with a tired look on his face.
Although his face was tired, he was in good spirits, his eyes were bright, and there was an irrepressible smile on the corner of his mouth, which made him even more charming.
"It's all taken care of," he shared with the two teenagers.
Tang Yu'an was stunned for a moment before smiling and saying, "That's great. You've worked hard."
Lan Yunqing shook his head. "This little bit of hardship is nothing. The most important thing is that the mother tree is safe and sound!"
Zhou Qi looked at his radiant face, then looked at Tang Yu'an, and pursed his lips slightly.
"What are your plans next?" he asked.
"I have designated that area as a restricted area, and no one will be allowed to go there for a long time in the future," said Lan Yunqing.
They will also continue to spray insect repellent nearby to prevent any tenacious larvae from escaping.
"Oh right, that powerful anthelmintic..." Lan Yunqing asked, "Is it only obtainable through quests?"
Tang Yu'an thought about it and said, "Not necessarily. We can try to communicate with that adult."
"Very good!"
Lan Yunqing knew that although these two teenagers were young, they had much more experience than him, and the mysterious businessman trusted them more.
"Whatever the price, please feel free to ask!"
In addition to spraying near the giant insect remains, Lan Yunqing has decided to de-insect each blue beard tree every once in a while.
This crisis sounded the alarm for him and the Lan Hu people. In this wasteland, in addition to outsiders, there are also mutant creatures that can cause harm to the Lan Hu Lin.
They were just a little bit away from losing the mother tree without knowing it!
Hearing Lan Yunqing's anxious words, Tang Yu'an couldn't help but laugh and said, "Brother Yunqing, you can't do business like this."
Lan Yunqing was stunned for a moment, then said somewhat embarrassedly: "I will continue to work hard."
"Don't worry, we've said before that the mysterious businessman values every employee very much." Tang Yu'an said, "We will convey your request well, just wait for good news."
Lan Yunqing breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "We're planning to hold a bonfire party tomorrow night to celebrate. As great contributors to Lanhu Town, please be sure to attend!"
The help these three children provided to Lanhu Town has spread, and their deeds are being spread everywhere in Lanhu Town.
All the residents of Lanhu Town are very grateful to them. Even Mok was loved by them and is still on the road feeling the enthusiasm of the Lanhu people.
"Okay, we will go." Tang Yu'an agreed readily.
"Please feel free to mention the conditions you mentioned before. I, Lanhu Town, will do my best to fulfill them!" Lan Yunqing said solemnly.
"Yeah, I'll think about it and tell you when I think of it."
Then he sent Lan Yunqing out.
When he turned around and was about to enter the house, he saw Zhou Qi leaning against the door with his arms folded, looking at him with a dim gaze.
"Brother Xiaoqi?"
"Um."
Zhou Qi responded and turned to go into the house.
Tang Yu'an hurried to catch up, and just as he came to his side, he heard him say: "Lord Lan Hu has an outstanding appearance."
"Yeah yeah."
Hearing this, Tang Yu'an nodded in agreement, "He's really handsome!"
Feel like a character from a fairy tale!
Zhou Qi lowered his eyes and looked at the boy's expression carefully. He found that there was only pure admiration in his eyes, without any infatuation. He felt relieved a little.
"I'm going to cook. You should take a good rest tonight."
Looking at the boy's back as he ran into the kitchen, Zhou Qi felt his emotions changing and couldn't help but shook his head and smiled bitterly.
An An is still a child at heart, what is he thinking about...
He took a deep breath, suppressed those strange feelings, and then walked into the kitchen worriedly to see how Tang Yu'an cooked.
In the evening, they were planning to send Kang Kang back to Store No. 1, but the mother tree of the blue beard was too enthusiastic.
After dinner, it used the Blue Hulin's ability to transfer people and directly abducted Kang Kang away.
Tang Yu'an and Zhou Qi went to look for it worriedly. When Lan Maolin took them to find the mother tree of Lanhu, they saw that a swing had appeared on the mother tree at some point, and Kang Kang was sitting on it playing.
The guards around seemed to be hesitant to speak, and Lan Maolin also looked helpless.
The mother tree they cherished so much was tied to a swing and used for fun. This was absolutely unimaginable and unforgivable before.
However, this is the request of the mother tree of Bluebeard itself!
Seeing Tang Yu'an and the others coming over, Kang Kang smiled at them happily: "Brother, play!"
He pulled Tang Yu'an to sit on it as well.
The Bluebeard mother tree didn't mind and kept playing with them until late at night before sending them back.
When Kang Kang fell asleep on the bed, it stretched out its branches from the window and stayed with Kang Kang all the time, with no intention of leaving.
Tang Yu'an and Zhou Qi were helpless.
In this situation, it would be inconvenient for them to take Kang Kang back temporarily through the teleportation array. They could only wait a few days and be ready to take Kang Kang away completely.
They left Mok at Store No. 5 to watch over it, and then returned to the attic of Ping An Grocery Store through the teleportation array in the basement to retrieve today's message in a bottle.
When they returned to the basement, they looked up and found—
Kang Kang woke up at some point, climbed out of bed, and was lying at the basement exit looking down.
Store No. 5 was closed, and the protective barrier was always open. It was also retracted to the underground level, so in Kang Kang's eyes, it was naturally pitch black and he could not see anything.
He pouted, looking sad and scared.
I guess he woke up in the middle of the night and didn't see anyone familiar around him, so he got out of bed to look for them.
In order to avoid scaring him, Tang Yu'an took out a fluorescent fruit and slowly stretched it out from the basement.
Kang Kang was stunned for a moment, staring blankly at the fluorescent fruit rising higher and higher, slowly revealing Tang Yu'an's hand, and then his head.
When Kang Kang saw Tang Yu'an appear in front of him, he couldn't help but show a look of surprise.
"elder brother!"
"Kankang, we are back."
Tang Yu'an crawled out of the basement and carried him back to the bed. Zhou Qi also took off his shoes and crawled to the other side, pulling the quilt over them.
"Go to bed. We'll sleep with you tonight."
However, Kang Kang, who had already had a good sleep, was very energetic at this moment and couldn't fall asleep at all.
He stared at Tang Yu'an with his big round eyes and asked, "Brother! Lord, what is it?"
Tang Yu'an was just thinking about how to explain when he heard the child continue: "October's mother wants... wants me to be the lord!"
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