Free Web NovelChapter 387: Chapter 387: Encounter with a New Species
When Wang Hao arrived at Su Zhenping’s house, he found the courtyard door wide open with no one inside. He called out a couple of times, but when no one responded, he let himself in and headed straight to the backyard.
The basement where the centipedes were raised was in Su Zhenping’s backyard, and Wang Hao thought Su Zhenping might be inside the basement at that time.
As soon as Wang Hao stepped into the backyard, though, something felt off. The place was gloomy and made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
At that moment, Wang Hao began to panic, thinking something bad might have happened.
He had just reached the doorstep of the basement when two particularly large centipedes darted out as he opened the door, lunging at Wang Hao’s face from the left and right.
Fortunately, Wang Hao was quick and managed to grab the heads of the two centipedes.
Upon closer inspection, these weren’t the Little Red Giant Centipedes at all but closely resembled the ones that had escaped from the ancient tomb.
How could these venomous centipedes be in Su Zhenping’s house? Wang Hao couldn’t help but frown.
"Who’s there? Who let you in? Do you have a death wish?"
Finally, Su Zhenping’s voice came from inside the basement.
"Uncle Su, it’s me, Wang Hao!"
Wang Hao quickly responded, and at the same time, he closed the basement door to prevent more poisonous centipedes from escaping.
"You’ve arrived just in time. Come and help me catch these centipedes and put them back!"
Upon hearing it was Wang Hao, Su Zhenping’s face lit up with relief, and he quickly waved Wang Hao over. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"What... exactly happened here?"
Wang Hao sensed something was wrong, as the basement was in complete disarray, and the Lingzhi, which had previously grown from the ground while the Little Red Giant Centipedes were being raised, had disappeared.
"First help me get these centipedes into the box, and then I’ll explain everything to you slowly!"
At that moment, Su Zhenping was frantically trying to catch the centipedes on the floor and had no time to attend to Wang Hao.
Wang Hao also saw the large box that Su Zhenping referred to, surrounded by those venomous centipedes that they had encountered in the ancient tomb.
Without any further thought, Wang Hao hurried to help catch the venomous centipedes and put them into the box.
After all the commotion, Su Zhenping was already drenched in sweat from the effort.
"Uncle Su, what on earth happened here?"
Wang Hao asked in surprise, pointing at the box.
"I caught them and brought them here!"
After gulping down a big mouthful of water from his cup, Su Zhenping began to speak.
"And what about the Little Red Giant Centipedes and the Lingzhi?"
Wang Hao asked, puzzled.
"The Little Red Giant Centipedes were all bitten to death by these larger centipedes. Without the Little Red Giant Centipedes, the Lingzhi naturally withered away."
Su Zhenping sighed.
Wang Hao was also dumbfounded after hearing this.
"Then why did you catch these large centipedes to bring them back?"
"Do you think I wanted to? I had no choice. For some reason, many of these big centipedes appeared in the mountains. Their size was one thing, but they also specifically preyed on the smaller centipedes and other venomous creatures on the mountain."
"If I didn’t catch them all, I’m afraid all the mountain’s Little Red Giant Centipedes would have been eaten by them!"
Su Zhenping said with a frown.
Wang Hao could see that Su Zhenping was also quite helpless about the situation.
"I think I’ve seen these centipedes before; they must have crawled out from the ancient tomb."
Then Wang Hao recounted in detail the origins of these centipedes to Su Zhenping.
"No wonder it was so strange, I tried to drown them, but they just wouldn’t die!"
Su Zhenping couldn’t help but exclaim.
It was normal that they couldn’t be drowned. These venomous centipedes lived in ancient tombs with no air circulation, so naturally, they could also survive underwater.
"Can’t we just burn them with fire? Even if they can’t be burned to death, chopping off their heads would surely kill them, right?"
Wang Hao still didn’t understand why Su Zhenping didn’t just kill those centipedes but instead caught them straightaway.
"I’ve tried all the methods you mentioned."
Su Zhenping said leisurely.
"The moment I use fire, those poisonous centipedes will emit a toxic gas that contains extreme poison. Do you want to poison everyone to death?"
They’re that dangerous? Wang Hao had never imagined that.
"Then we could chop them into pieces, surely they wouldn’t survive that!"
Wang Hao suggested.
"You’re being too naive. Did you see any other living creatures in my courtyard when you came in? Was there even a single ant?"
Su Zhenping asked earnestly.
"Yes, I also found it strange. What’s going on?"
Remembering the eerily quiet atmosphere in the backyard upon his arrival, Wang Hao felt a sense of strangeness deep inside.
"The blood of these poisonous centipedes contains extreme poison. If it seeps into the soil, not just animals but even plants wouldn’t be spared."
Su Zhenping was sighing continuously, clearly overwhelmed by the centipedes and at a loss for what to do.
Wang Hao was shocked. Normally, centipedes only had poison in their saliva. This was the first time he had heard of centipedes with venom in their blood. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
But from the scene in the backyard just now, it was clear Su Zhenping wasn’t lying.
"Not good!"
Wang Hao suddenly slapped his forehead.
"What now, making such a fuss!"
Su Zhenping was startled and gave Wang Hao a glaring look.
"The centipedes I saw in the ancient tomb the other day were far more than these; there must be many more on the back mountain now!"
Wang Hao said anxiously.
"Those poisonous centipedes feeding on the Little Red Giant Centipede is a minor issue, but if they encounter fiercer wild beasts and get bitten, wouldn’t the entire back mountain become barren?"
Thinking this, Wang Hao’s face immediately darkened.
"How many of these poisonous centipedes did you actually see that day?"
Su Zhenping also became tense. This was no small matter, and if they didn’t clean up these poisonous centipedes, the Little Red Giant Centipede and the Blood Ganoderma on the back mountain could be finished.
"If we were to catch all of them, I reckon even two boxes like yours would hardly be enough."
The more Wang Hao spoke, the grimmer his expression became.
"This is really bad!"
Su Zhenping let out a long sigh, not having filled one box yet, and there were already hundreds in it.
From what Wang Hao said, there must be at least six or seven hundred of these poisonous centipedes left on the mountain. The Blood Ganoderma was certainly doomed.
"What are you standing around for? Hurry up and check the mountain!"
Seeing Su Zhenping looking clueless, Wang Hao grabbed him and ran towards the back mountain.
The two of them jogged all the way to the back mountain, but as soon as they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Wang Hao stepped on a poisonous centipede and was bitten.
The Heart of the Dragon energy within Wang Hao’s body sensed the venom entering and immediately converged on the wound to start breaking down the toxin.
Wang Hao clearly felt that even with his enhanced energy, the toxin was very slow to break down.
Based on his previous experience with poisoning, the venom from that single bite was enough to kill three cows. If an ordinary person was poisoned and didn’t receive the antivenom serum in time, they would have no choice but to wait for death.
"Hurry, let’s go check on the Blood Ganoderma!"
Seeing that the poisonous centipedes had spread to the foot of the mountain, Su Zhenping’s face turned deathly pale as he rushed towards the location of the Blood Ganoderma...
