Chapter 99 Eight-mouthed Insect
Jian Mo was able to cure the seriously injured Shu Guang, and several nearby tribes were shocked.
Hearing that Jian Mo had returned, several tribes came from far away to inquire about him, and after listening, they were full of praise.
Jian Mo couldn't help but feel bored after hearing so much praise from others.
He dragged Wu Jiong into the forest to collect, leaving early and returning late every day, so that everyone who wanted to find him would come back empty-handed.
After repeating this several times, fewer people gradually came to find him.
Now it is the end of spring and the beginning of summer, and the food in the forest is really abundant, especially plants. In this season, all parts of plants can basically be eaten, and occasionally insects can be caught from plants to eat. With
abundant food, everyone has more delicious food.
Let alone others, even Jian Mo's family has different ingredients every day. In addition to drying or pickling for storage, the excess food can also be fed to Jiujiu and Tuotu.
They still have eight Tuotu at home, one male and seven females.
The females have already had cubs, and they look healthy. It won't be long before they have more Tuotu and milk, and then the recipe can be further expanded.
Not only their family, but also the Riverside Tribe has developed well this year.
During this time, everyone took the time to make two rounds of metal tools and two pools of paper. Jian Mo estimated that if there was more paper, they might be able to take it to the Jintuo Tribe to exchange for metal blocks.
Papermaking is much easier than pottery firing, and the cost-effectiveness is much higher. If they can switch, the advantages will definitely outweigh the disadvantages.
Speaking of papermaking, Jian Mo had previously thought about whether to add some lime to soak the bark. Adding lime should accelerate the decomposition process of the bark.
Later, he thought that what they lack the most now is time, and there is no need to improve the quality of paper. This quality of paper is enough to cope with most of their life scenarios.
Thinking of this, Jian Mo suppressed the idea.
Lime is also difficult to burn, so it is better to save a little.
On this day, the giant white wolf transformed by Wu Jiong was carrying Jian Mo back. When the patrolling beastman saw them, he chuckled twice and said, "Just now, the beastman from the Hongqi tribe came and is waiting in the clinic."
Jian Mo knew there was something hidden behind the smile: "What's wrong with you?"
The patrolling beastman said, "I was bitten by a bug."
Why did he look like that after being bitten by a bug?
Jian Mo looked at the patrolling beastman with tears in his eyes and said, "I see. We'll put down our things and go over."
The patrolling beastman said, "Okay. They've been waiting for a while, they shouldn't mind waiting a little longer."
Jian Mo was the only serious doctor among the nearby tribes. If he minded, there was nothing he could do.
Jian Mo nodded: "We'll be there soon."
After returning home, Jian Mo found the medical kit and said to Wu Jiong: "Why don't you go to the fields by the river and pick some herbs that can clear away heat and detoxify? Apply them to the beastman after you finish the examination."
Wu Jiong: "I'll take you there first, and then go pick some."
Jian Mo: "Okay, pick more. There's not much medicinal oil left. We'll bring some back to make medicinal oil later."
The two of them gathered everything and rushed to the clinic.
Jian Mo immediately saw the beastman who came to seek medical treatment - the other party was using the beast form, with fiery red fur all over his body and three tails behind his buttocks, which was very distinctive.
It was a beastman from the Hongmao tribe. After hearing the movement, he turned around to look.
The red beast was accompanied by his companions. When they heard the noise, they all turned their heads to look.
Jian Mo saw at a glance that the red beast in the middle had a swollen mouth and eyes. The funniest thing was his ears.
The tops of his pointed furry ears were swollen like a ball, and they were so heavy that his ears couldn't stand up.
Jian Mo took a look at the drooping and depressed giant beast and almost laughed out loud.
Jian Mo adjusted his expression behind the mask, coughed lightly, and said hello: "I'm Jian Mo, I'm here to take a look."
The young people around the giant beast greeted him one after another: "Doctor Jian Mo."
The giant beast also greeted him weakly: "Doctor Jian Mo, thank you for your help this time."
Jian Mo waved his hand: "Let me take a look at the injured area first. What kind of insect bit you?"
The giant beast: "Eight-mouthed insect."
Jian Mo had never heard of this kind of insect before, and he looked at Wu Jiong beside him in confusion.
Wu Jiong received his gaze and explained tacitly: "This kind of insect bites people very painfully, and it refuses to let go after biting. The wound will swell up badly, as if it was bitten by eight mouths, so some people named it the eight-mouthed insect."
This name is really special.
Jian Mo nodded slightly and went to the side of the giant beast to check.
The red leopard beast lay down.
Jian Mo soon discovered that the most swollen part was not his face or ears, but his butt.
The butt of this red leopard beast that looked like a fox and a weasel was almost swollen to one and a half pieces, and even the hair seemed to have shrunk into the flesh.
Jian Mo pressed it gently and found that the head of the insect was still on his butt, and some adult insects were also left.
This is easy to understand. Insects like ticks and bees will leave the parts they use to attack on the wounds of their prey, continuously releasing toxins to cause the greatest damage.
The red leopard beast trembled when Jian Mo pressed it, and looked very painful.
Jian Mo said apologetically, "I'll check it first, it will be done soon. Is the fang firmly embedded in the flesh and generally can't be pulled out?"
The red beast nodded, "Yes, it is very difficult to pull out, so I dare not pull it out myself."
Jian Mo: "What will happen if you don't pull it out? Red, swollen and rotten?"
The red beast: "Almost. I have been stung before. If there were only one or two wounds, I could just get through it. This time there are too many wounds, I don't think I can survive. Hiss - it really hurts, I don't dare to change back to human form."
Jian Mo picked up the tweezers: "I will try to pull out its fangs completely."
The red beast responded dully, and his companions looked at Jian Mo expectantly.
Jian Mo invited the red beast to the open space in front of the clinic, and specially asked him to pose in a position facing the light, and then pulled out the places that he could reach first.
The eight-mouthed insect is a bit like a tick, but not exactly the same as a tick. Its fangs cannot be pulled out by rotating them. Instead, they must be shaken left and right and pulled out slowly.
Jian Mo showed the extracted fangs to the Red Leopard Beast and his companions.
The Red Leopard Beast said bitterly: "Yes! It's this fang! It tortures me to death."
Jian Mo stared at his butt: "In fact, it would be better to shave the hair in the relevant parts."
The Red Leopard Beast looked at Jian Mo in embarrassment: "Can I not shave? I haven't found a partner yet."
Jian Mo: "Then I will try to find a partner carefully."
The Red Leopard Beast nodded repeatedly: "Okay, thank you for your hard work."
Jian Mo climbed onto the Red Leopard Beast and slowly helped him pull out the fangs one by one.
After the fangs were pulled out, the wound left behind obviously formed a blood hole, which was very red and swollen.
While helping him pull out the fangs, Jian Mo cleaned the wound with a cloth dipped in soapy water.
Most poisonous insects have acidic venom, so soapy water can help relieve the pain of the wound, but in the end, you still have to apply medicine.
After becoming more skilled at pulling out the fangs, Jian Mo's speed increased a lot. He went through the whole body of the red fang beast, pulled out the fangs, applied soapy water, and then applied herbal medicine.
The red beast finally didn't feel the pain anymore: "Thank you, Doctor Jian Mo, I feel so comfortable after the extraction."
Jian Mo had just applied medicine to his ears: "It won't hurt after the extraction, right?"
The red beast: "It doesn't hurt if I don't move it, but it hurts if I move it."
Jian Mo: "Then don't move it, let it heal slowly."
The red beast took a long breath: "Okay."
Only then did the guy remember and told Jian Mo: "Doctor Jian Mo, my name is Jinghuo, and I'm an orc from the Hongbao tribe."
Jian Mo smiled: "I know you're an orc from the Hongbao tribe. How did you get this injury?"
Jinghuo: "Don't mention it, I found a silverleaf tree and saw sugar juice flowing out. I came out and tried to lick it, but a large group of eight-mouthed insects flew out and stung me all over. I couldn't run away even though I wanted to. They kept chasing me and stinging me."
Jinghuo's companions laughed at him, "Who told you to eat alone? Now that the eight-mouthed insects are here, there's no one to share the firepower with you, right?"
Jinghuo: "I don't want to eat alone, I just want to try whether the tree juice is sweet. If it's sweet, I will definitely tell you. Even if I don't tell you, I will tell Fang Jiang."
His companions couldn't stand it anymore, and one of them patted his belly: "Tsk."
Jian Mo, who was standing next to him, figured out that Fang Jiang was the sub-beast man that Jinghuo liked.
After checking Jinghuo again and making sure there were no missed fangs, Jian Mo said, "Take the soap and herbs back with you. Wash the affected area with soapy water every morning and evening, then apply the herbs. It should be healed in a few days."
Jinghuo nodded repeatedly: "Thank you, Doctor Jian Mo."
Jian Mo smiled: "You're welcome."
All the fangs on Jinghuo's body had been removed, so he didn't have to worry about wrapping the fangs in his flesh when he turned back into human form, so he turned his back and changed back into human form.
After putting on the fur skirt and fur sandals, Jinghuo asked awkwardly, "Doctor Jianmo, what do you want as a reward?"
Jianmo thought for a moment and said, "Carry ten pieces of hardwood for me."
Jianmo gestured, "A piece of hardwood of this thickness will do. I'll carry it after my injury heals."
Jinghuo quickly bent down and broke off a piece of grass. Following Jianmo's gesture, she broke the grass to the right length and said, "I understand."
After that, Jinghuo and her companions thanked him again and prepared to return to the Hongqi tribe before it got dark.
After watching their backs leave, Jianmo and Wu Jiong walked home side by side.
Jian Mo: "I've never heard of the eight-mouthed insect before. Is it a bug that is unique to the Hongluo tribe? And what are the silverleaf tree and the sweet tree juice?"
Wu Jiong: "It's not a bug that is unique to the Hongluo tribe. There may be eight-mouthed insects in the territory of this tribe, but they are rarely seen. As for the silverleaf tree--"
"The back of the leaves of this tree are silver, so it is named this way. It usually looks nothing special, but when it is bitten by a bug, it will secrete sweet sap, which is wrapped in the bark and tastes very good."
Jian Mo's eyes lit up: "Is the sap of this tree sweeter, or is the juice boiled from the pink tube flower sweeter?"
Wu Jiong: "The sap of the silver leaf tree is much sweeter, almost as sweet as malt sugar."
Jian Mo immediately said: "Isn't that syrup?"
Wu Jiong: "Almost."
Jian Mo's heart was moved.
It is not easy to get sugar in this era.
They know where the honey sparrow's nest is, but they can't go there every month. They can go there at most once a year.
The juice boiled from the pink tube flower is a little sweet, but it can only be regarded as syrup, and the sugar yield is very low.
Flour candy made from flour grass may be a more stable source of sugar, but it consumes too much flour grass. It is not easy for them to go outside to cut some flour grass, and it is even more troublesome to grow it.
Jian Mo asked: "Are there many silver-leaf trees outside? Are there eight-mouthed insects where there are silver-leaf trees?"
Wu Jiong: "There are more silver-leaf trees, but they are just a few here and there, not a big forest, and eight-mouthed insects are even rarer. If you want to go, I will take you to see it tomorrow."
Jian Mo nodded repeatedly: "I think it's okay. Tomorrow we will wear hats and masks and wear thicker clothes to avoid being bitten."
Gang Gang Jinghuo's ears were swollen, which was too miserable.
Wu Jiong: "Not really. The eight-mouthed insects don't fly very fast. The orc from the red beast might have been bitten and ran into the dense forest in a panic. He couldn't escape and was bitten so badly. You can see there are many red and swollen marks on his body, and his claws are a little worn out. He must have been trapped somewhere at the time."
Jian Mo thought about it and felt that it was true: "That's too tragic."
The next day, Wu Jiong, who turned into a giant wolf, took Jian Mo out early and went straight to the forest where silverleaf trees grew.
He was very familiar with the nearby forest and quickly found the first silverleaf tree.
An adult silverleaf tree is up to thirty-four meters tall, with a very straight trunk and a crown growing high on the top of the tree, far from the ground.
Jian Mo looked up for a long time and found that he had seen this kind of tree before.
However, the silver leaf tree has no edible parts, grows very tall, and is very difficult to climb. People like him who are not good at climbing trees have never tried to climb up the tree to see it.
Jian Mo: "So this is the silver leaf tree."
Wu Jiong: "That's it. This silverleaf tree is intact, it should not have been bitten by the eight-mouthed bug."
Jian Mo looked up and tried hard, but his eyesight was a little poor, and he could not see anything: "Then let's go to see the next tree?"
Wu Jiong: "I'll take you there."
Their luck was a little bad today. The next tree was not bitten by the eight-mouthed bug, and the next tree was not bitten by the eight-mouthed bug either.
It was too troublesome to find specific things in the forest, so Jian Mo had to suggest hunting and gathering first. If they encountered a silverleaf tree on the way, they would look for it, and if they didn't, forget it.
They walked all the way to the forest with silverleaf trees. They walked for a whole day and did not encounter a silverleaf tree that had been bitten by the eight-mouthed bug. The two backpacks were full, and some of them contained a kind of leaves that the tuo beast particularly liked to eat.
Jian Mo also picked up some silverleaf tree leaves, intending to use them as bookmarks.
The back of this kind of leaves is shiny silver, just like a piece of handicraft, and looks pretty nice.
The harder it was to find a silverleaf tree bitten by an eight-mouthed bug, the more curious Jian Mo became, and for a moment, he even competed with it.
These days, they could have taken time to hunt or something, but Jian Mo had no interest in it and just wanted to find silverleaf trees.
After searching for several days in a row, Jian Mo finally saw a silverleaf tree bitten by an eight-mouthed bug.
This kind of bitten tree is really too conspicuous. There is a huge tumor on the trunk, as if a balloon was stuffed under the bark. Even though his eyesight is not as sharp as that of the orcs and sub-orcs, he can see it at a glance.
Jian Mo excitedly pulled Wu Jiong's hand and jumped a few times: "The bulge on the tree is filled with sweet sap, right?"
Wu Jiong looked up: "Yes."
Jian Mo: "Then how do we take it out? Just poke the bulge and let the sap flow out?"
Wu Jiong: "No, the sap inside is wrapped by a thin layer of bark. I'll cut it off."
Wu Jiong said, and climbed up directly.
The bulge was more than ten meters high on the trunk of the tree. Wu Jiong climbed to the place in a few steps, pulled out a dagger from his waist, cut the bark, and slowly took out the bulge.
The bulge that was taken down was more like a balloon. As long as the bark was gently punctured, the sweet juice inside should flow out.
Jian Mo stared at the bulge, and Wu Jiong asked, "Do you want to taste the sap inside?"
Jian Mo was very tempted, but finally refused: "Forget it, we didn't bring a bucket with us. If we puncture it, the sap inside will probably flow out, which is a waste."
Wu Jiong: "Then let's go home and taste it."
Jian Mo: "Okay, let's see if there are other bulges?"
There are bulges here, which means there are eight-mouthed insects nearby, and we should be able to find other bulges.
Wu Jiong: "Let's go, there are a few silver leaf trees in the northeast."
The two walked and searched, and they really found a few bulges as big as watermelons.
When Wu Jiong took the bulge off, Jian Mo held it carefully and could feel the liquid inside flowing slowly.
I don't know if it's because the sap is thicker.
They searched for a whole day and found six bulges in total.
Two of the bulges were broken. Jian Mo tasted them and found that the sap inside was as sweet as honey and as sticky as honey.
No wonder Jinghuo would risk being bitten to drink the sap.
Jian Mo carefully placed the two broken bulges in a backpack padded with large leaves. They walked very carefully along the way, and not much sweet juice leaked out of the two bulges.
The large leaves are not poisonous, and Jian Mo did not recycle the sweet juice that leaked out. Instead, he took it directly to Jiujiu's nest and gave it to Jiujiu as a snack.
Jian Mo planned to pour the remaining sap into the jar, collect it and enjoy it slowly.
The concentration of this sweet juice is too high. He was worried about whether to heat it up. Now it seems that it is completely unnecessary.
Sugar water and salt water with such high concentrations will form high osmotic pressure, and it is difficult for bacteria to survive in them.
Jian Mo hummed a song and cut open the bulges one by one.
When he cut open the fourth bulge, Wu Jiong suddenly stopped him: "Wait, the sap in this bulge seems to be bad."
Jian Mo quickly moved the bulge away from the pot and lowered his head to sniff: "No way?"
As he said, he really smelled a subtle smell of alcohol.
Jian Mo quickly found a large ceramic basin and cut open the bulge.
Once it was cut open, the sap inside was slightly turbid and low in concentration. It didn't feel sticky. It didn't taste like honey, but like soaked honey water. At the same time, a smell of alcohol came to my nose.
Jian Mo: "How could this happen?"
Wu Jiong pointed to a hole on the bulge and said, "Maybe when the sap just flowed out, it was eaten by the eight-mouthed insects. Later, dew got in. The bark slowly grew well, and the sap inside became like this."
Jian Mo: "That's too much of a coincidence."
Jian Mo looked at the half basin of sweet water and was reluctant to pour it out. He hesitated for a moment: "I'll taste it."
Wu Jiong: "It should be undrinkable."
Jian Mo: "Try it, and pour it out if it's undrinkable."
Jian Mo said as he took out a spoon without water or oil, scooped half a spoonful, and drank it gently.
The sour and sweet taste of wine spread on the tip of his tongue. The sap inside seemed to have really fermented. It might have fermented into vinegar during a period of time, and fermented into wine during another period of time, so the taste was so strange.
Wu Jiong grabbed his wrist: "Be careful."
Jian Mo: "I just licked a drop, and it seemed to be really okay. You can try it too."
Wu Jiong also drank a little from his hand.
Jian Mo said: "Right, it tastes like wine and vinegar, without any mixed taste."
The human tongue is very sensitive, and the orc tongue is even more sensitive, so there shouldn't be any mistakes.
Wu Jiong: "It shouldn't be poisonous, but it just doesn't taste very good."
Jian Mo: "Maybe it fermented improperly outside. I'll try to save it first and see if I can save it?"
Jian Mo went upstairs to find the jar where they stored the snow fruit wine.
They brewed several jars of snow fruit wine over the winter and had almost finished drinking them. Jian Mo did not wash the jars, but just wanted to use the snow fruit wine as a starter someday.
After Jian Mo found the jar, he wanted to pour the sap into it, but after thinking for a while, he said, "I'd better heat it up to kill the bacteria inside before pouring it in."
Wu Jiong nodded in agreement, "This is indeed safer."
Jian Mo: "When the wine is brewed, we can catch a small animal to taste it for us, or let the male tuk-tuk taste it directly. We can drink it when nothing else." Jian
Mo was still very cautious about food safety. Anyway, the male tuk-tuk had been mated and was not of much use for the time being.
However, that is a matter for the future. They should brew the wine first.
I hope they can succeed, otherwise it would be a waste of this jar of sap.
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