owlsbooks Chapter 186 Giant Insect Island in March
Chapter 186 Giant Insect Island in March
Under the azure sky lies an endless ocean.
You Nu Zhicheng sat cross-legged on Xiao Qing's back, and the giant dragonfly flapped its wings and flew over the sea for almost a hundred days.
Of course, he didn't rely entirely on Xiao Qing's dragonfly for these hundred days. Every now and then, he would summon another one to replace it.
Perhaps it was just bad luck. So much time has passed, and not only have we not found an island to settle on, but we haven't even seen a trace of the legendary continents and civilizations overseas.
"Sigh, we're still missing nautical charts. Oh well, we'll keep looking. If we have them, we'll find them eventually."
He muttered to himself, and at the same time picked up his pen, using the sun's position to calculate, combined with his own calculations and perception, carefully marking the latitude and longitude positions along the way in his notebook.
This planet isn't too big. Even if its back side is all ocean, once he figures out the latitude and longitude lines, in three to five years, his vision will be enough to cover every corner of the planet.
After noting down the new coordinates, he released the surveillance insects outwards from that point, as usual. These insects were aquatic variants he had bred by crossbreeding the original surveillance insects with water fleas, a process that consumed nearly 1,700 years of accumulated energy.
The purpose was to spread them across the sea, so that they could help them find islands and traces of overseas locations more quickly.
After doing all that, he looked down at his hands. His skin was rough from the sea breeze, and bits of insects remained under his fingernails.
For the past three months, he has basically survived on roasted insects. Occasionally he can catch some sea fish, but he gets tired of eating fish, so most of the time he can only eat the dried insects he has stored up.
He took out the insects, preparing to replenish his energy, when the monitoring insects he had released suddenly sent back a message.
We've found something!
Yu Nu Zhicheng perked up and patted Xiao Qing's head: "Over there, quick!"
Little Green let out a soft cry, adjusted its direction, and flapped its wings to fly away swiftly.
Before long, the color of the seawater below began to change, gradually changing from dark blue to light blue, and then showing a faint green tinge.
He stared at the sea, his gaze growing brighter. Finally, a thin white line appeared on the horizon. The white line grew clearer and clearer, gradually revealing its outline.
It's an island, a very big island!
A rare smile appeared on You Nu Zhicheng's face as he patted Xiao Qing on the shoulder and said, "Go downstairs, we've arrived."
Little Green folded its wings and began to descend.
As the altitude decreased, the entire island gradually came into view. The island was covered with extremely dense vegetation, but the appearance of the forest was unlike any he had ever seen before.
The trees were ridiculously tall, with any one of them exceeding a hundred meters in height, and their trunks so thick that it would take dozens of people to encircle them. Their leaves were as large as sails, swaying gently in the sea breeze.
Aburame Shisei chose to land on a beach at the edge of the island.
There's a small beach here, with a deep forest behind it and the azure sea in front. The beach is completely empty, without a single footprint, eerily quiet.
Xiao Qing landed steadily on the sand and folded her wings. You Nu Zhi Cheng jumped off its back, her feet sinking into the soft sand with a soft rustling sound.
"It's too quiet." He frowned, a hint of doubt rising in his mind. He crouched down, placed his hands on the sand, closed his eyes, and released his sensory insects.
Tiny insects crawled out of the cuffs, burrowed into the sand, and spread outwards.
After a moment, he opened his eyes: "There are indeed insects under the sand, a lot of them, but they're all sleeping... Strange, why aren't the insects here very active?"
He shook his head, deciding to leave it for now; it was getting dark, and he needed to find a place to stay first.
I originally wanted to use earthworms, but the sand and gravel under the beach were too saline and alkaline, and there were not many organic nutrients, so the earthworms brought from the mainland simply could not survive here.
There was no other way but to do it myself.
He took out tools from the sealed scroll, which had been prepared beforehand in Tangren Village. Then he walked to the edge of the forest, picked some small trees about the size of a bowl, cut them down, and dragged them back to the beach.
After several trips, he finally had enough materials. Building a shelter was not difficult for him; in less than two hours, a simple but sheltering wooden hut was erected.
He then dug a pit on the beach, lined it with waterproof cloth to create a water reservoir. Finally, he released iron-aluminum worms, preparing to extract fresh water from the seawater using an ionization method.
The biggest headache for me these past three months has been getting enough water. Although I had some stored in the reel, it wasn't nearly enough. Then I remembered a method I had learned before: using aluminum worms in conjunction with floating worms, which finally solved this major problem.
He formed a hand seal, causing the two types of insects to begin cooperating. By the time all this was done, it was completely dark.
Aburame Shicheng sat in front of the wooden house, gazing at the distant sea. Moonlight shone down, making the water sparkle, but the depths of the forest behind him remained deathly silent.
By this time, he already had a vague idea in his mind. His gaze fell upon the dark forest, and he released more insects, letting them scatter to act as eyes and ears.
"I need to go into the woods tomorrow and find something else to eat." He chewed on the dry, hard worms, already making plans in his mind.
The dried insects didn't taste very good, but he forced himself to swallow them anyway. After eating his fill, he lay down in the wooden hut, listening to the faint chirping of insects outside, and slowly closed his eyes.
He slept soundly that night.
The next day, Aburame Shisei was awakened by the sunlight.
When I opened my eyes, the sun was already high in the sky, and the light shone through the cracks in the wooden house, casting dappled spots of light on the ground.
He was a little surprised, not expecting to sleep so well, and sat up to stretch his muscles.
Stepping out of the wooden hut, he saw that the two types of insects had stopped working, and the reservoir was full of fresh water. He tasted it; it was alright.
He filled the water bottle to the brim, then collected the remaining fresh water into the sealing scroll. Having done this, he turned to look at the forest, a smile unconsciously spreading across his face.
The insects he sent out yesterday brought back news that greatly surprised him. The plants and insects here were ridiculously large, somewhat resembling the giant insect-infested Spirit Island from his memories, but he was certain that this was not Turtle Island.
"Xiaoqing, stay here and watch the house. Don't let it collapse."
"Yes, Master," Xiaoqing replied, then asked softly, "Master, you seem so happy because... you sensed other insects?"
"How could that be?" Aburame Shisei laughed. "Even if there are other bugs, you are my trump card."
After comforting Xiaoqing, he quickly walked into the forest. The monitoring insects had already discovered traces of a large number of giant insects, and he couldn't wait any longer.
Only upon entering the forest did I truly understand what "enormous" meant.
The grass was half a person tall, and its leaves were bigger than his face. The mushrooms were shaped like umbrellas, and several people could stand on their caps. The vines were as thick as arms, hanging down from the high tree canopy and swaying gently in the wind.
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the right front, getting closer and closer.
Immediately afterwards, the grass shook violently and a giant praying mantis, 5 meters long, emerged from the woods.