Chapter 154 Fruit Beetles
The people of the dense forest tribe can't stop talking about good things.
They talked about delicious prey, delicious wild vegetables, and sweet berries, all of which were very appetizing.
Jian Mo suspected that they had a talent for telling stories, which was why they described various ingredients so temptingly.
He Yi said, "Doctor Jian Mo, if you don't believe it, just stay for two more days. We will take you into the mountains and collect some of our special foods for you to take back."
Shu Tao said, "We usually don't let people from other tribes go to our forest. Doctor Jian Mo, if you want, we can take you into the mountains."
Jian Mo was still hesitating, but after hearing what Shu Tao said, he and Wu Jiong looked at each other.
They have been out for so long, it seems that it won't be a big deal to go back a day or two later?
The people of the Jungle Tribe have said so much, it would seem like they would be at a disadvantage if they don't go.
Wu Jiong held Jian Mo's hand and said to the people of the Jungle Tribe, "Sorry to bother you."
He Yi said enthusiastically, "There are a lot of ripe fruits in the wild in autumn. If you want to go, I can take you to taste a kind of fruit here called black sponge. It's the most delicious fruit in our area. I promise you will like it."
Jian Mo was tempted: "It sounds good."
He Yi: "Really? If you don't believe me, you will know when the time comes."
Jian Mo nodded vigorously: "Then we'll wait."
Shu Tao: "Let's make arrangements and go into the mountains tomorrow. Didn't you say you wanted those pain-relieving leaves? We'll pick more and dig two plants for you to take back and plant."
Jian Mo nodded repeatedly: "Thank you for your hard work."
Under the enthusiastic arrangements of the Jungle Tribe, Jian Mo and his group went into the mountains the next morning.
The climate here in the dense forest tribe is more humid and hot. There are many plants and insects in the mountains, and the risk of entering the mountains is relatively high.
However, it must be said that the products here are really rich. Not
long after entering the mountain, everyone began to roll up their sleeves to dig a kind of large stems - this kind of stem is soft, sticky, sweet, and tastes very good.
The people of the dense forest tribe are very familiar with the mountains and forests, and they took Jian Mo and Wu Jiong directly to find black cottonwoods.
Under the guidance of the dense forest tribe, they saw a huge fruit tree that was hundreds of meters high not long after walking.
Jian Mo looked up and saw that the branches were covered with black fruits that looked like jackfruits. Each fruit was very large and looked full and tempting.
Standing under the tree, they could smell the sweet fruity aroma. Even though Jian Mo had never eaten this kind of fruit, he could guess that this sweet aroma was the smell of black sponge.
He Yi introduced: "This is the black sponge. Don't be fooled by its ugly appearance. The flesh inside is delicious."
Jian Mo stared at the black sponge: "Do we need to climb up the tree and pick the fruit now?"
He Yi: "Yes! You wait under the tree, we can just climb up."
He Yi gave some instructions, took off the things on his body, turned back into beast form, and together with several beastmen who had turned back into beast form, they hugged the giant tree and began to climb up.
Their beast form was that of a giant badger, with a relatively slender body, but the way they climbed on the tree was still very shocking.
Jian Mo looked at the giant beasts on the tree, and felt a magical feeling in his heart. He estimated that only a tree this big could allow them to climb up directly.
The giant beasts climbed to the top of the tree in a few steps.
He, who had turned into a giant badger, leaned on it and shouted, "Doctor Jian Mo, we are going to throw the fruit down, you guys should move away."
The Asian beasts of the jungle tribe who were waiting on the ground pulled Jian Mo and said, "Doctor Jian Mo, let's step back to avoid being hit by the fruit."
Jian Mo quickly pulled Wu Jiong back.
After everyone retreated a certain distance, the giant badgers shouted, "Let's start throwing."
As they said that, the giant badgers threw down black sponges one by one.
The giant fruit hit the ground covered with fallen leaves, making a thumping sound, and then rolled along the ground for several circles.
Jian Mo took a closer look and found that the shell of the black cotton fruit should be very thick, so it didn't break even if it was thrown like this.
The giant badgers threw "bang bang" and threw more than 20 ripe fruits down. They then hugged the tree and slid down quickly.
The giant badger that He Yi turned into picked up a black cotton fruit with his claws, smashed it hard, and then held the black cotton fruit that was smashed into two halves in front of Jian Mo and Wu Jiong.
Inside the black cotton fruit were petals of mangosteen-like flesh. Jian Mo hesitated and rubbed his hands on his clothes, broke off one of the petals, and Wu Jiong also took half.
Jian Mo took a bite. The flesh tasted very sweet, and felt as dense, light and smooth as butter, with a unique fruit aroma.
He took two more bites, finished the fruit, and looked at the remaining black core in his hand.
Jian Mo: "This black sponge is so delicious, isn't it? Is it the specialty fruit here?"
The beastman next to him: "Yes, black sponge grows very slowly, and it is only found in our area."
Jian Mo put the core away: "How slow is it?"
The beastman pointed: "It seems that this black sponge tree has been growing for more than 30 years before it started to bear fruit."
He Yi, who had turned back into a human, interrupted: "It's not more than 30 years, it's more than 50 years. However, it has been bearing fruit for hundreds of years since it started to bear fruit, and it is still bearing fruit now."
Jian Mo looked up at the black sponge tree in amazement: "It's amazing. Can I take its core back and plant it?"
He Yi: "I should be able to, I'll ask the tribe leader later. I'm just afraid that you won't be able to grow it when you go back. OK Many tribes have exchanged black sponge kernels with us, but we have not heard of any tribe outside our area growing black sponge trees."
Jian Mo: "Why? Is it because the weather outside is colder?"
He Yi shook his head: "We don't know, anyway, it seems that it can't be grown anywhere else. Not only can't the fruit trees be planted, but even the fruits can't be taken out. Once the black sponge is picked, it will go bad in two or three days."
Jian Mo took another piece of black sponge and tasted the wonderful taste of the flesh: "That's a pity."
He Yi: "We think so too, but there is nothing we can do."
Then, He Yi said: "We have a kind of insect here that eats black sponge and can turn the fruit into sugar after eating, which is not bad."
Jian Mo: "Collect honey to make sugar?"
He Yi shook his head: "They either collect honey to make sugar or eat black cotton to make sugar."
Jian Mo had never heard of such insects: "Eat the pulp and spit out sugar?"
He Yi: "Yes, the sugar they spit out is different from other sugars. It's soft and delicious, but hard to find. They are very alert. Every time we find them, they move away. We can't find them in the old place."
Jian Mo became more and more interested as he listened: "Can we find them? You make me really want to see it."
He Yi grinned: "If others say that I'm too lazy to bother, Doctor Jian Mo, if you want to see it, you must find it."
Wu Jiong heard this and glanced over.
He Yi felt a chill on his neck and retracted his big teeth: "Look, look, look, now."
The people around him couldn't help laughing.
Everyone dispersed and wandered in the woods.
After searching for a while, an orc shouted in front: "Found it, it's on the tree!"
Jian Mo pulled Wu Jiong over and looked up at the tree with the orc: "Where is it?"
The orc: "Just under the first branch, there is a brown thing like a tree scar. Do you see it?"
Thanks to Jian Mo's current body transforming into an orc, his vision has improved a lot. He squinted his eyes for a long time and finally saw the scar that was a little smaller than a coin.
Jian Mo: "Is the bug under the tree scar what you are talking about?"
The beastman laughed: "That's not a tree scar, it's actually a bug."
Jian Mo understood: "Mimicry?"
The beastman: "What is mimicry? I don't know. I'll go up and catch the bug and then you'll know."
The beastman put the backpack on his back on the ground, conjured up his claws, jumped onto the tree, held the trunk with his claws, and climbed to a height of five or six meters in a few steps.
Then, he stretched out his slender fingers and pinched out the coin-like object, showing it to Jian Mo and Wu Jiong under the tree: "It's this insect."
Jian Mo looked at the insect still struggling between his fingers, and blurted out: "Isn't this a turtle ant or something?"
Some of the worker ants of turtle ants can evolve shield-like heads to block the entrance of the cave. It is very special. Jian Mo had come across related information before and had not forgotten it after all these years.
The orc shook his head: "We call it fruit beetles here. Fruit beetles can turn black cottonwood into sugar. As long as you see this kind of fruit beetle hiding on the tree trunk, you can basically be sure that there is sugar inside."
Jian Mo shook his head: "What is this called? My shell is my bowl, and my head is the sign of my death?"
Everyone in the jungle tribe laughed.
Another orc said: "Don't play around, take a look and see how much sugar is inside?"
Urged by his companions, the orc hugged the tree and reached into the small tree hole with his furry claws, trying to dig open the tree hole to get the sugar inside.
Seeing that he was struggling to dig, the others quickly climbed up the tree, took out the knife tucked behind their backs, expanded the tree hole in a few strokes, and then reached in together to dig.
The tree hole didn't look big, and the collection inside was not very rich.
Several people dug for a while and took out a few handfuls of shiny crystals.
Everyone came down from the tree, picked a few leaves, and put the crystals in their hands on the leaves, motioning to Jian Mo and Wu Jiong: "This is candy."
Jian Mo looked at the translucent irregular crystals and felt that it was like a frosted glass block.
He asked hesitantly: "Eat it directly? No need to cook it?"
An orc laughed: "No, we have been eating it for hundreds of years, it's really okay, don't worry."
Jian Mo smiled and took one, it felt soft and bouncy, put it in his mouth, and the rich fruity aroma instantly surged out, as if he was eating concentrated fruit juice gummies, very delicious, and the taste was also very special.
Jian Mo was amazed: "It's delicious!"
The people of the Jungle Tribe: "Yes, it's delicious, but it's not easy to find."
Another person interrupted: "It's not that hard to find. As long as you look hard, you can still find it. But don't count it. How many delicious things can you find in this time?"
Jian Mo thought about the food he encountered along the way, and felt that he really didn't count it.
Apart from other things, there are really a lot of delicious things in the forest of the Jungle Tribe - all kinds of soft stems, sweet berries, oily nuts, and plump small and medium-sized prey.
No wonder they have so many rotten teeth, they eat really well, and don't pay much attention to oral health, so it's normal that their teeth are relatively poor in the end.
In addition to black sponges and fruit gummies, the people of the Jungle Tribe also took Jian Mo and Wu Jiong to pick other sweet berries.
Just as the people of the Jungle Tribe said, the produce of this season is very rich, and there is a lot of food to be collected.
They followed and collected for most of the day, and the backpacks they brought were all full.
After picking the fruits, Jian Mo and his friends were going back. They
couldn't take the fresh berries with them, so the people of the Jungle Tribe replaced them with preserved fruits.
In the last pack, they packed up twelve baskets of supplies, including peppers, metal blocks, and various special products of the Jungle Tribe.
Shu Tao looked at the large backpacks placed on the open ground and suggested: "How about we take you back?"
Wu Jiong: "Thank you, but the Riverside Tribe is too far from here, and it's too tiring for everyone to run all the way there, so we can carry it ourselves. I'll carry four baskets, and the two flying beasts will each carry four baskets, so we can handle it."
Ying Ao, who landed beside him, chirped steadily, confirming what Wu Jiong said.
Jian Mo smiled and patted Ying Ao's leg, and patted Chi Chi's leg evenly, and said: "Then we'll go back first. Your teeth may not be very strong after being filled. If you feel uncomfortable, just come to our Riverside Tribe to find me anytime."
Shu Tao nodded.
He Yi felt very reluctant: "If only Doctor Jian Mo and you were closer to us, we could see you every day. Now, how long will it take for us to see each other?"
Jian Mo smiled: "Our two tribes are not close, but we have friendship, so we feel close in our hearts. It's not that far when we think about it."
He Yi grinned: "Doctor Jian Mo, what you say is really interesting."
Wu Jiong held Jian Mo's hand a little harder, and Jian Mo quickly corrected his attitude: "Then we will go back first, brush your teeth well, and pay attention to oral hygiene!"
Shu Tao: "Okay, we will remember this lesson."
Everyone helped Jian Mo and Wu Jiong put the backpacks on the two flying beasts and tied them up.
Wu Jiong turned back into a giant wolf, and everyone tied four backpacks on him. Jian Mo climbed on his back and waved to everyone.
Ying Ao and Jiu Jiu took a few steps, flapped their big wings and flew up, leading the way.
The giant wolf also ran, and the wind blew in their faces. They were finally going home with the wind.
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