CH 61.2

That is, if there were people selling airplanes...

Money that does not enter the market has no value.

Chu Guang admired his masterpiece for a while, then turned to leave the shelter, returned to the surface, and began to ponder about the glass jar he got from the merchant.

Ants the size of big fists, which were squeezed into a ball in a glass jar, waved their legs indiscriminately, looking for an exit.

One of the iron-backed ants with its face facing outward was the most energetic, using its pincer-shaped mouthparts to hit the inner wall of the glass jar repeatedly.

However, the inner arc surface of the glass jar was too slippery, nowhere for the bite to grip. No matter how strong its bite force was, it still would not be able to do anything. It could only struggle anxiously against the transparent "wall".

Chu Guang was not interested in insects, but he wanted to know how this little thing became the natural enemy of mutant leeches.

After all, even the baby mutant leeches were much larger than their size.

Therefore, Chu Guang went to players who were fishing by the lake, borrowed a baby mutant leech, picked an ironback ant that looked vigorous and energetic, and put them both in the same bottle.

Then something interesting happened.

The mutant leech did not immediately attack the prey in front of it, but tentatively stretched its mouthparts forward.

Just when the edge of its mouthpart was about to reach the ironback ant, the mutant leech suddenly retracted like having received an electric shock. It then twisted its plump body and moved to the other side of the bottle as if hiding away from something.

The ant's reaction was also very interesting. It seemed to realize that there was a big guy near it.

But it didn't panic at all. It neither attacked immediately nor turned to escape. Instead, it moved around the inside of the bottle while waving its antenna.

What is it doing?

Could it be...

Chu Guang, who was squatting on the ground and observing, stroked his chin. Suddenly, a trace of suspicion appeared on his face.

"I see……"

"It should be looking for a companion."

He seemed to guess the reason why this kind of ant could restrain the mutant leech.

When Chu Guang was about to further verify his conjecture, players who were watching not far away whispered to each other.

"What is the administrator doing?"

"I don't know, he seems to be playing with ants."

"I saw him ask for a baby leech from those fishing players. Does he want to watch the ants fight with the leech?"

"Uh, why does he have such a strange hobby?!"

Ya Ya, who was walking towards the granary with the mushrooms, happened to hear the conversations of nearby players. She felt chill behind her back and couldn't help shivering.

Lee, leeches?

How could anyone play with such disgusting things?!

This is too creepy...

...

After several repeated controlled experiments, Chu Guang finally verified his conjecture.

First of all, leeches have no eyes and rely mainly on smell to search for prey. Mutant leeches are the same, and because of their more sensitive sense of smell, they are quite sensitive to the ants’ scents.

After the ironback ant discovered its prey, it did not choose to attack immediately, but like other ants, immediately released pheromone and told nearby companions that there was a fat sheep here so they would attack together.

Although the digestive secretion of mutant leeches could corrode most prey, it was almost ineffective against ironback ants. Even if the ant was swallowed as a whole, it would not be digested at all. Instead, it would chew its way out from the inside.

Therefore, this fear of natural enemies has almost been written into the gene of mutant leeches, so that when they smell the pheromone released by the ironback ants, they almost instinctively run away, the kind that dare not look back.

"... The case is solved."

"It’s really because of this stuff."

Looking at the translucent gelatinous substance the size of a nail in his hand, Chu Guang squeezed it lightly, reminding him a bit of spoiled sago.

This was the pheromone gland of the ironback ant, which grew under its butt and could be pulled off without much effort.

After removing the pheromone gland of the big ant, Chu Guang threw it back into the bottle again.

This time, the performance of the mutant leech was much more courageous.

After several probes, it probably felt that the smell on this thing was not very similar to its natural enemy, so it finally mustered up the courage to swallow the prey in one bite. Then, its body wriggled like waves.

About five or six minutes passed.

The baby mutant leech, which had previously been squirming, suddenly stopped moving.

Chu Guang poured it out of the bottle and dissected its stomach with a knife.

The ant inside had been suffocated to death, but there was still a piece of meat on its mouth, which was probably torn off from a certain part of the baby mutant leech's body.

This small injury was not enough to kill the leech. The fatal blow may be the formic acid injected into the leech or something like that.

"It's unrealistic to get rid of the leeches in its lair."

"But if the pheromone gland extracted can be used to disguise people as the natural enemy of the mutant leech... Wouldn't it be possible to clear the lair of the mutant leech without any injuries?!"

Realizing this, Chu Guang's face was suddenly filled with excitement. The look in his eyes changed when he looked at the glass jar aside.

‘It’s a jackpot!’

‘20 kg of blue umbrella mushrooms can be exchanged for 2000 chips, if I can harvest 200 kg…’

‘Of course, 200 kg may be a bit exaggerated.’

‘But there should be no problem with 100 kg, right?’

‘It's a pity that these ironback ants are all worker ants and that there is no queen that can reproduce, otherwise, my players will be able to harvest the mushrooms inside the mutant leech lair every day!’

"... I have to find a player with high proficiency in gathering skills to do this job."

Chu Guang's gaze began to cruise around the outpost, looking for the lucky one.

Suddenly, his eyes stopped on a player not far from the granary.

Ya Ya!

Chu Guang's eyes lit up at the moment he saw this player.

‘I almost forgot her!’

‘If I remember correctly, this player named Ya Ya has the talent "Toxin Intuition", and all the Blue Umbrella Mushrooms would emit green light in her eyes.’

Other players might need light sources when entering the mutant leech lair, but this player had her own night navigator when she entered the lair. It would be very easy for her to harvest mushrooms.

Feeling the gaze of the administrator, Ya Ya, who had just completed the punishment mission, shivered all over.

Her intuition allowed her to predict the danger in advance.

However, at the moment when she was about to run away, Chu Guang predicted her prediction and stepped forward to trigger the mission.

"Have you completed your punishment mission?"

Hearing the sound coming from behind, Ya Ya looked back cautiously, looking at the administrator and said tremblingly.

"Mh... Mhm, I just completed it. I’ve already handed in 100kg."

Chu Guang nodded.

"That’s great. From now on, your status will be restored to Resident. In addition, I have a glorious and arduous task for you."

If it was normal, Ya Ya would definitely be happy. After all, who would not love triggering hidden missions?

Maybe it can also increase the NPC's favorability!

However, since just now, her right eyelid was twitching repeatedly, telling her that there might be a big trap waiting in front of her.

"I may not be able to do it. Can you find someone else—"

"Believe in yourself, you can do it, and this task can only be done by you!"

Without giving Ya Ya a chance to refuse, Chu Guang interrupted her with a serious face, and after a two-second pause, he continued.

"I will give you a bottle of special powder, and you need to apply it over your body."

"It can ensure that you enter the mutant leech's lair without incident. What you have to do is collect the mushrooms that emit green light inside."

Ya Ya’s eyes almost teared up, especially after hearing the words "mutant leech lair". She was so startled that she almost lost her connection.

"Then with that, then will I be able to come out without any incidents?"

Chu Guang said in an affirmative tone.

"Theoretically, it is possible."

Ya Ya: "???"

In theory?!

Chu Guang didn't give her a chance to protest and continued.

"Don't worry, the success rate is as high as above 90%. Even if you fail, you will die in a special mission. There will be no punishment other than the resurrection CD."

There is still punishment, alright!

The most unbearable thing to do is to wait for the respawning CD!

Ya Ya said pitifully, "Can you also get rid of the respawning CD?"

Chu Guang paused for two seconds, selectively ignoring her words.

"The content of the mission is very simple. You have 10 minutes of absolute safety time and 20 minutes of relative safety time."

"After entering the lair, you need to avoid the leeches, and collect the blue mushrooms that emit green light."

"Before the time is over, you need to collect as many of them as possible."

"For every kilogram of Blue Umbrella Mushroom——"

"I will reward you with 4 copper coins and 5 points of contribution!"