Free Web NovelChapter 69: Chapter 69: Bitten Again
"I didn’t promise I would definitely give them to them, I just wanted to take this opportunity to go to the back mountain and see how many Red Giant Centipedes there really are."
"If there are many, I’ll catch one for them, and guarantee it’s just one."
Wang Hao looked at Su Zhenping with a pleading face.
"If they take it back and kill it, they’ll want us to catch another, and there aren’t that many Red Giant Centipedes for them. If this happens once or twice, they’ll decimate the population."
Su Zhenping still disagreed.
Wang Hao tried every trick in the book to persuade Su Zhenping, including offering all four hundred thousand yuan to him, but to no avail.
Su Zhenping understood that something as rare as Blood Ganoderma was not only encountered once in a thousand years, but also could detoxify all sorts of poisons, and its growth depended on the nourishment of toxins.
The highly toxic and extremely rare Red Giant Centipede was often found near Blood Ganoderma, which indicated that the Blood Ganoderma and the Red Giant Centipede complemented each other.
If they caught all the Red Giant Centipedes, it would surely affect the growth of the Blood Ganoderma, and it might even lead to its extinction.
"If you’re not going, then I’ll go by myself."
Wang Hao, of course, knew what Su Zhenping was thinking.
But Wang Hao had his own plan, feeling that passively guarding the Blood Ganoderma was not very meaningful.
Why not understand the symbiotic relationship between them and then cultivate Blood Ganoderma artificially? That would be the true way to protect them.
"You’re not afraid of being bitten to death by the centipedes!"
Su Zhenping stopped Wang Hao and said.
"I’ve taken Blood Ganoderma, remember?"
Wang Hao replied with pride.
"You..."
Su Zhenping was at a loss for words and after thinking for a while, he said,
"Alright, I’ll go with you."
Of course, Su Zhenping was not helping Wang Hao catch centipedes, but was there to supervise him, making sure he didn’t catch all the Red Giant Centipedes.
After all, Wang Hao was still young, unable to resist the temptation of outside money, and he might think of making a quick buck by catching all the Red Giant Centipedes, which would ruin his own Blood Ganoderma.
This time Su Lin didn’t follow them up the mountain, as she had to stay home to take care of Qi Shihan.
Ever since Qi Shihan accidentally discovered her mother’s affair with Li Guang, she had been living at Su Lin’s house, refusing to go back, and her mother hadn’t come to see her either, probably too ashamed to face her.
This put Wang Hao at ease, knowing that they could look out for each other, being of the same age, and they could also chat and gossip to distract themselves.
As night fell, Wang Hao and Su Zhenping set off into the mountain.
After the autumn harvest, the chill of the evening gradually crept in, and the number of mosquitoes in the mountains had dwindled, making the woods even quieter than before.
With the colder weather, the centipedes rarely came out to move around, making the chances of encountering them even slimmer, no wonder Wang Ming was so anxious for Wang Hao to find the Red Giant Centipedes.
After entering the mountain, Su Zhenping told Wang Hao to turn off his flashlight and follow the moonlight to find the direction of the Blood Ganoderma.
"How do we find it in this pitch darkness, why can’t we use the flashlight?"
Wang Hao asked, puzzled.
"Don’t you know how many eyes in the village are watching you? Everyone wants to know what you’re up to all day long. Do you want them to follow you and find the Blood Ganoderma?"
Su Zhenping said impatiently.
Wang Hao thought about it and agreed. There were many people in the village who were envious of him, as with the incident about the storage battery.
It seemed that he still needed to be more careful, so he gave Su Zhenping a thumbs up.
The two arrived next to a cave, surrounded by complete darkness. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Su Zhenping took out the Firefly Lamp he had prepared, which was enough to provide light in the darkness and was not easy to detect.
With the faint light, Wang Hao noticed that the area around the cave was teeming with centipedes, which were waking up to the noise.
"Squeak~"
Suddenly, the sound of a centipede emanated from inside the cave.
"There’s a centipede inside!"
Su Zhenping whispered, peeking into the cave.
He saw a centipede as thick as a wrist coiled up inside the cave.
"Oh my goodness, such a huge red giant dragon centipede, truly the cream of the crop!"
Seeing the centipede’s vivid red color and enormous size, Wang Hao almost cried out in amazement.
Normally, red giant dragon centipedes are quite small; the largest being only as thick as a thumb, and even one of that size could sell for four hundred thousand, so this excellent specimen must be worth millions.
"What are you thinking, kid? Don’t even think about messing with it, or you’ll suffer the consequences!"
Su Zhenping immediately saw through Wang Hao’s thoughts and warned him.
"Look at the bulge in the middle section of this centipede, it’s filled with eggs. If you touch it today, you might not make it down the mountain alive!"
"Is there really such a thing as a curse?"
Wang Hao was somewhat incredulous.
"Believe it or not, you can’t touch it."
Su Zhenping interjected firmly.
"This red giant dragon centipede can lay eggs only thanks to the spiritual aura of Blood Ganoderma. Looking at it, it should happen soon. Tell me, if someone killed your child just as it was about to be born, would you let them off?"
The analogy was rather far-fetched, leaving Wang Hao at a loss for a response.
"So what you’re saying is, without Blood Ganoderma, red giant dragon centipedes can’t lay eggs?"
Wang Hao asked curiously.
"I told you before, Blood Ganoderma and these poisonous creatures are interdependent; without the spiritual aura of Blood Ganoderma and the centipede’s venom to absorb each other, they would struggle to survive."
Su Zhenping explained.
Wang Hao finally understood why so many people in the lab had taken care of the red giant dragon centipedes and still couldn’t keep them alive; it wasn’t because of the soil, but because their survival needed the spiritual aura of Blood Ganoderma.
With Blood Ganoderma now so rare and nearly extinct, that was the real reason red giant dragon centipedes were on the verge of extinction.
"Uncle Su, to tell you the truth, I’m not capturing red giant dragon centipedes for the lab just to make money."
Wang Hao felt it was time to share his idea of raising centipedes with Su Zhenping because, with his support and understanding, future endeavors would likely go more smoothly.
"What else could you possibly do other than make money, kid?"
Su Zhenping was skeptical.
"I want to raise red giant dragon centipedes!"
Wang Hao declared decisively, shocking Su Zhenping with his firm stance.
"Now that you know how demanding it is to breed these creatures, how will you raise them?"
Su Zhenping asked doubtfully.
"That’s precisely why I want to use this red giant dragon centipede as a bargaining chip, to exchange for the technology to raise centipedes from the lab."
Wang Hao stated frankly.
Su Zhenping thought the deal seemed feasible after hearing it out.
They had Blood Ganoderma, which could ensure the breeding and egg-laying of the red giant dragon centipedes; what they lacked now was research into the centipedes’ living environment.
After all, once the little centipedes hatched, the bigger ones would ignore them, and the offspring would either become prey for other poisonous creatures or be eliminated by the challenging environment, resulting in an extremely low survival rate.
If the lab could research technology that guaranteed their growth environment, artificially breeding them wouldn’t be a problem anymore.
Moreover, once they started raising red giant dragon centipedes, the Blood Ganoderma would become an essential element for their survival, so Su Zhenping wouldn’t have to worry about Wang Hao having designs on it.
"I believe there should be more red giant dragon centipedes around here. Let’s search carefully; I’ll help you catch one."
After listening to Wang Hao’s plan, Su Zhenping felt he was becoming more mature and sensible and tacitly approved Wang Hao’s plan.
"Right on!"
Wang Hao danced with joy.
Su Zhenping quickly grabbed a couple handfuls of homemade insect repellent powder from his pocket. When he reached the grass next to the cave, he indeed found two red giant dragon centipedes, likely there to protect the one laying eggs.
With swift movements, Su Zhenping sprinkled one of the centipedes with the powder, and it immediately stiffened and stopped moving.
"Quick, put it in the bag!"
Su Zhenping grabbed the red giant dragon centipede and tossed it into a bag, then started to run.
"Ouch, my goodness."
Wang Hao carelessly stepped on the tail of a centipede, and it lifted its head and bit Wang Hao’s buttocks...
