Chapter 342: Artificial Cultivation of Azure Jade Butterfly Larvae—Brain-Eating Worms

"Thank you, Officer, for sparing our lives!"

"Yes, yes, thank you, Officer!"

Su Yang said coldly: "Don't thank me—first, find the people for me!"

The two hurriedly said: "We'll definitely find them, definitely find them!"

The group walked out of the Duchangda Sect, and Su Yang met with the commander of Dongcheng's city guard.

"Major, good day!"

The officer who arrived from Dongcheng was a Captain; upon seeing Su Yang, he immediately saluted.

"You all understand the situation, right?"

"We understand completely!"

The Beast Tamer from North City had already explained everything.

"Hmm!" Su Yang nodded. "There are many corpses inside—thank you for your help!"

After speaking, Su Yang led his men away.

The people kidnapped by the Shalang Gang were all hidden within Dongcheng, since that was their base of operations.

After walking over ten minutes, the group entered a factory.

The factory's security personnel were all ordinary civilians.

The Shalang Gang led Su Yang and his men into a remote warehouse, where two Gold-rank Beast Tamers immediately stepped out.

"Who are they?"

The moment they spoke, they were completely controlled by the Seven-Colored Illusionary Butterfly.

Then, seven Beast Tamers slowly walked out of the warehouse.

Their eyes were nearly vacant, like puppets being manipulated.

Su Yang instinctively sensed something was wrong.

Just guarding a few kidnapped children? A handful of ordinary adult men would be more than enough!

There was no need for such an elaborate setup.

Nine Beast Tamers guarding them personally—including two Gold-rank Beast Tamers… this force was far too extravagant!

Su Yang didn't believe Sha Sha Zihao, such a seasoned schemer, wouldn't know how to cut costs.

He sniffed the air and caught that familiar scent on one of the Bronze-rank Beast Tamers.

This was it!

No doubt about it!

"What are you doing with those kidnapped children?"

Su Yang turned and looked at the two Shalang Gang members who knew the truth.

The nine Beast Tamers guarding the warehouse could simply enter Mount Yandang, kill a few ferocious beasts, and earn far greater profits than kidnapping children!

This warehouse likely concealed a major problem.

"This…"

Both hesitated.

"Speak!" Su Yang said. "If you don't, I'll go in and find out for myself."

They glanced at Sha Sha Zihao, still under control, and finally spoke:

"It was the boss—he ordered us to cultivate the Brain-Eating Worms!"

Brain-Eating Worms?

Su Yang's face turned instantly ashen.

Even some of the Beast Tamers behind him, who knew what Brain-Eating Worms were, turned pale with dread.

The Brain-Eating Worm is the larva of the Azure Jade Butterfly, an extremely rare Gold-rank growth-potential psychic ferocious beast.

Pregnant female Azure Jade Butterflies prefer to hypnotize ferocious beasts, then inject their eggs into the beasts' brains.

The infected ferocious beasts awaken with no sense of discomfort whatsoever.

The Azure Jade Butterfly eggs hatch inside the beast's brain, secreting paralyzing toxins, migrating to the brain's core, consuming its tissue while replacing the neural center, gradually taking control of the beast and turning it into a true puppet.

Moreover, it uses the puppet as a springboard to parasitize the brain of the next ferocious beast.

Typically, one Brain-Eating Worm will pass through three hosts.

After parasitizing three hosts, it emerges from the host's body and forms a cocoon.

Waiting for the day it breaks free as a butterfly!

Generally, the higher the growth potential of the three hosts, the stronger the psychic talent of the Azure Jade Butterfly it becomes.

Thus, naturally occurring Azure Jade Butterflies strive to lay their eggs inside ferocious beasts with Gold-rank growth potential.

Over two hundred years ago, human scientists noticed that during parasitism, Brain-Eating Worms never consume the beast's core crystal—they remain fragile themselves.

So what, then, was secretly influencing the Azure Jade Butterfly's talent?

Did the brain of a Gold-rank growth-potential ferocious beast differ from that of a Silver-rank growth-potential one?

Scientists soon zeroed in on intelligence.

They first tried having Brain-Eating Worms parasitize psychic companion beasts, and found the resulting Azure Jade Butterflies were far stronger—up a full tier compared to those bred from ferocious beasts of equal growth potential.