novelraw Chapter 758: Fat Chicken is Satisfied
Chapter 758: Fat Chicken is Satisfied
"Of course, anything I have is yours—except for my family members." Hao Yunlai was wide awake now, his mouth watering at the thought of the reward. He wouldn’t have accepted this mission if it weren’t for the rumor of a Mirror being involved and the promise of a fresh batch of vegetables and eggs as payment.
It couldn’t be denied, following the Mirror meant there was indeed meat to feast on. With Hao Yunlai’s special physique, Jing Shu’s sense of security was through the roof.
Jun Bao knew this was going to cost a fortune, so he sorrowfully gulped down three big bowls of rich mutton broth first. What a luxury, he thought. Even the hot pot’s base was authentic bone broth. He, as the ruler of Wu City, wouldn’t usually indulge in such extravagance, since every cow and sheep was a tagged strategic resource.
Of course, Jing Shu also sent a generous bowl of mutton soup mixed with bread, along with hot pot vegetables, to Old Doctor Zhang, who was painstakingly researching insects.
"Before Elder Zhang completes the analysis of the Tick’s weakness and devises a targeted strategy, let’s not act rashly," Jun Bao said while eating noisily, his words muffled. "However, we cannot afford to delay our journey either. I want to see how long it will take to get out of the area infested with mutated ticks."
Hao Yunlai wasn’t concerned about these matters.
"Hmm, there’s a large number of these mutated ticks, and the deeper we go, the more densely they’re packed. It seems to be a vast infestation. If they aren’t dealt with, Wu City’s subsequent teams won’t be able to get through, and we won’t be able to establish a base. But just waiting isn’t a solution either."
Jing Shu nodded. In my previous life, the problem must have been solved, but how? she wondered.
"Don’t worry. If all else fails, we’ll have Hao Yunlai jump down and try. Sometimes, when science can’t solve a problem, we have to resort to mystical methods," Jun Bao said, looking toward Hao Yunlai.
Hao Yunlai appeared indifferent.
Jing Shu pondered. It seems that whether I intervene or not, the problem will be solved... No, that isn’t certain. My rebirth has also triggered many butterfly effects. It’s hard to say whether such an incident even occurred in my previous life.
These mutated ticks were very strange. Theoretically, the rotten mermaids Jing Shu had should eat anything—Dark Creatures that, when driven by extreme hunger, would eat even dirt. Jing Shu had intended for the massive rotten mermaid to subtly consume the mutated ticks. But the result was... the rotten mermaid ate, yet it didn’t digest them.
This meant that the rotten mermaid chomped and gulped down the underground mutated ticks along with the soil. However, just a few hours later, the mutated ticks would slowly burrow out from various parts of its body and be excreted, as lively as ever and without any apparent ill effects.
Since the rotten mermaid’s body was entirely made of mud without blood or flesh, it didn’t align with the Ticks’ principle of seeking blood and flesh, so the Ticks left on their own accord.
In summary, the rotten mermaids didn’t care for the Ticks. Unless ordered by Jing Shu, they would rather consume soil. The Ticks, in turn, held the same indifference toward the rotten mermaids. To them, a pile of putrid mud with poor, foul-smelling air was not an appealing place to nest. Furthermore, they found burrowing extremely troublesome and energy-consuming.
It wasn’t that there was no impact at all. Some unlucky mutated ticks were inadvertently crushed to death during a rotten mermaid’s chewing, or accidentally crushed under the trampling of the large group, but their numbers were very small.
Consider this: a rotten mermaid can devour a person, gnawing them down to a skeleton in the blink of an eye and transforming them into nutrients within half an hour. How could such Dark Creatures, which have never encountered natural predators and will eat anything they come across, now be unable to digest a tiny mutated tick?
Not only the rotten mermaid, but even the Hulk—a type of slime-bodied Dark Creature known for its ferocious ingestion of previously feared insects—belongs to the assimilative ingestion category. The Hulk is composed of countless cells. When they transform into pools of liquid and envelop the insects, the insects that should die instead continue to struggle, seemingly in pain. However, even after a long time, they do not perish.
The Hulk’s energy cannot assimilate the mutated tick, but it can physically restrain the Tick.
After being strengthened, only a few Hulks can assimilate and ingest the Tick, but the process is very slow. Of course, the Tick can do nothing against the Hulk and isn’t even interested in it.
Jing Shu ate heartily from the pot, her brows furrowed in thought when suddenly, an idea struck her. The rotten mermaid has no stomach; its internal structure is just a pile of mud. It normally digests using the energy of its entire body. So, it seems that energy alone cannot digest the Tick.
The Tick could also be considered a new type of Dark Creature. Theoretically, after being strengthened by the space, the rotten mermaid should be able to digest any Dark Creature. Similarly, the Hulk, a being from the Fifth Space, ought to have a suppressive effect on lower-dimensional beings.
In that case... might the mutated tick belong to a higher-dimensional life form? That could explain why the Hulks and rotten mermaids are unable to ingest and digest these mutated ticks.
A higher-dimensional being implies higher-dimensional energy. This means that once the Magic Cube Space absorbs this energy, it can upgrade! These days, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find energy.
Jing Shu’s eyes lit up instantly, sweeping away her previous gloom.
But there’s not the slightest bit of energy fluctuation in these mutated ticks’ bodies, and the Magic Cube Space hasn’t even shown the slightest reaction, Jing Shu thought, shaking her head again. Even the smallest amount of dark energy used to elicit a response from the Magic Cube Space in the past.
Perhaps I have to delve deeper, but the deeper I go, the more dangerous it becomes... These mutated ticks aren’t as large as rotten mermaids. Such small creatures can burrow anywhere. The moment they enter a body, they can lay eggs and reproduce. If they burrow into the heart or brain, it’s game over. I might be strong, but I’m not invincible. I must be cautious, make comprehensive preparations, and never be careless. Life is the top priority.
Jing Shu looked towards Hao Yunlai, feeling that she must stay close to him these next few days. At the same time, she thought that even being wrapped up in several layers wasn’t secure enough and cast a somewhat strange look at the fat chicken.
That being said, although neither the Hulk nor the rotten mermaid could do anything to the Tick, and there wasn’t much conflict or mutual slaughter between the creatures, when the fat chicken entered the area, it became the natural predator of the Tick, fighting them fiercely.
Pecking hard, it moved with the speed of a woodpecker, and each time it managed to reap a rich harvest. It even swallowed the Ticks without chewing and, in the end, let out a contented chuckle. The fearsome Ticks seemed like ordinary bugs in front of the fat chicken.
Digestion certainly occurred, as could be seen by the fat chicken eating and excreting simultaneously, with a very high conversion rate.
For the fat chicken, Ticks were an extremely delicious food, even tastier than any other insect it had ever eaten. After eating, the fat chicken’s soul trembled with immense satisfaction, which was why its calls were so blissful.
What’s strange, though, is that even though it’s also a being of flesh and blood, with Chicken Blood in its veins, the fat chicken is not targeted by the vast number of Ticks. Even though the fat chicken’s body is nearly invulnerable, forceful scraping could still cause it to bleed. Yet, no Ticks approach it. In fact, wherever the chicken steps, the area around its claws becomes a vacuum.
Strange, isn’t it?