Chapter 9: Flowers and Birds

Saturday morning, Zi Mountain Insect and Bird Market.

After locking his Phoenix-brand bicycle, Li Cheng clapped his hands and looked up at the market’s archway sign.

In the past, he would go to a dessert shop for work at this time, but now the dessert shop was gone, and he didn’t want to waste time idly, so he decided to stroll through the insect and bird market.

To scout for any insects that could serve as his next absorption target—so he wouldn’t be caught off guard if [Gene Hunger] suddenly flared up.

The genes of the prairie pavement ant enhanced his muscular explosive power.

The genes of the Chinese giant mantis granted him retractable bone blades.

What insect should he choose next? A cricket from Orthoptera with exceptional jumping ability? A beetle from Coleoptera with a hard exoskeleton? Or even the resilient cockroach from Blattodea?

As he idly pondered, Li Cheng suddenly spotted a familiar figure: “Shao classmate?”

Shao Wangshu, wearing a white dress and a sunhat, sat outside a café in the market sipping an iced Americano. She was equally surprised to see Li Cheng: “Li Cheng classmate? What a coincidence.”

“Yeah, what a coincidence.”

Li Cheng scratched his head. Yin City was so big—if he hadn’t seen Shao Wangshu already seated here, he’d have suspected she was following him. “You’re here to browse the insect and bird market too? By yourself?”

“Not alone. My butler came too.”

Shao Wangshu pointed behind her. The female butler, flipping through a fashion magazine nearby, felt the gaze and waved over.

Uh—being able to afford a full-time butler proved Han Letian was right—Shao Wangshu’s family was indeed extremely wealthy.

But as House of Cards said, approaching power makes some people mistakenly believe they possess power; approaching wealth makes some people mistakenly believe they possess wealth. No matter how rich others were, it had nothing to do with him.

Li Cheng remained calm and asked casually, “Here to buy flowers?”

“Mm,” Shao Wangshu nodded. “The garden—ah, I mean, my new home is still empty. I wanted to buy some flowers to fill it.”

She paused slightly, adding with a touch of sadness, “My mother used to like keeping flowers.”

Used to. Not always.

Li Cheng keenly noticed the word choice, but since Shao Wangshu didn’t elaborate, he didn’t press further. “Want to browse together?”

As desk partners, they’d be spending time together for a while. Besides, Shao Wangshu had just moved to Yin City—he, as a local, should naturally show her around.

Sigh. Just thinking about showing someone around reminded Li Cheng of Officer Wang from the community police station—every year when the vice crackdown began, experienced Officer Wang would map out every illegal establishment in the city.

“Sure.”

Shao Wangshu’s eyes lit up. She took another sip of coffee, quickly set down her cup, grabbed her small bag, skipped paying, and followed Li Cheng away.

The female butler nearby sighed, tapped her forehead with a newspaper, muttering, “Wei Caiyan, Wei Caiyan, how did you end up with this job...”

Then she stood up, scanned the code to pay for both herself and Shao Wangshu, and slowly followed the departing pair.

Tulips, peony chrysanthemums, peonies, roses, azaleas, hydrangeas, forget-me-nots.

Walking past the colorful array of flowers, breathing in their rich fragrance, his mood naturally lifted.

At Shao Wangshu’s request, Li Cheng used her phone to take many photos—his photography skills, combined with her looks, produced quite decent results.

“You like taking photos?”

Noticing the phone filled with photos, Li Cheng asked casually.

“Mm.” Shao Wangshu took back her phone and walked forward, slightly embarrassed. “I think photos are snapshots of a person’s life. Everyone dies three times. The first is physical death—heart stops, brain shuts down.

The second is social death—when the funeral ends, the deceased’s social roles and relationships officially conclude.

The third is being forgotten. When the last person who remembers the deceased passes away, that person ceases to exist entirely.”

Shao Wangshu skipped ahead of Li Cheng, turned around, and smiled brightly at him. “So I like taking photos, I like drawing. That way, when I die someday, my life’s snapshots will still exist—even if no one remembers me.”

For a vibrant high school student, constantly talking about death was strange.

Li Cheng blinked, unsure how to respond, so he just murmured a few vague replies and recommended some local specialty dishes and hidden, slightly shabby but delicious fly-infested eateries.

After turning several corners and selecting some flowers, they finally reached the destination of this insect and bird market trip—a reptile pet shop called [Mengmeng Exotic Pets].

“I’m going in to look at the reptiles. Want to wait outside?”

“It’s fine. I’m not afraid.”

Shao Wangshu, full of curiosity, followed Li Cheng inside. The shop was moderately sized, lined with several rows of glass cabinets.

One row held corn snakes, king snakes, pig-nosed snakes—all Serpentes.

Another held frilled lizards, leopard geckos—all Squamata.

Another held orange baboons, golden straight-line spiders, Solomon spiders—all Araneae.

And, most importantly to Li Cheng, various insects.

“It’s so cute!”

Shao Wangshu’s attention was drawn to a plump, round blue-tongued skink (genus Tiliqua, family Scincidae). Her eyes sparkled. After getting the clerk’s permission, she reached out and touched it.

The blue-tongued skink had a dopey face, chubby and short-legged, often sticking out its blue tongue with a vacant, dim-witted expression.

The slender shop owner noticed Li Cheng lingering by the insect cabinets and approached. “Sir, what kind are you looking for? We have imposing ones: the Giant Hercules Beetle, the Chinese Giant Flat Horn, the Giraffe Stag Beetle.

Beautiful ones: the Rainbow Stag Beetle, the Two-Spot Red Stag Beetle, the White-Striped Green Flower Beetle, the Uganda Flower Beetle, the King Flower Beetle.

And there’s the Meitliver slender red stag beetle—both beautiful and imposing. Extremely handsome.”

The shop owner opened the glass cabinet and pulled out a stag beetle, placing it on his palm.

This insect came from Sulawesi Island and nearby islands in Indonesia. Its body was slender, its carapace shimmering metallic blue and purple.

But the most striking feature was its mandibles—longer than its body, spiked inside, like bizarre weapons, incredibly beautiful.

Li Cheng suppressed the urge to touch the beetle, rubbed his palms, and asked, “Do you have Hercules Beetles? Or Atlas Beetles would do too.”

The Atlas Beetle, also called the Hercules Beetle, belongs to the genus Dynastes in the family Scarabaeidae. It’s mainly found in tropical rainforests of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

It has three long, sturdy antennae on its head, reaching a maximum body length of 140.63mm. It feeds on tree sap and is extremely aggressive—known as the king of stag beetles.

The Hercules Beetle, also known as Dynastes hercules, is the emperor of stag beetles, reaching a maximum body length of an astonishing 184mm.

“We have Hercules Beetles. Stag beetles are strictly regulated by customs—no imports allowed. But domestic insect societies have obtained special breeding permits and breed them locally.”

The shop owner nodded. “Do you want L1, L2, or L3?”

“Can I get an adult?”

Stag beetles go through several stages from egg to adult: egg, first-instar larva (L1), second-instar larva (L2), third-instar larva (L3), pupa, then adult.

The entire process takes a long time, and the greatest joy lies in raising the chubby larvae until they pupate and emerge as adults—like raising Pokémon.

After emerging, you can also artificially breed them to produce larger, stronger, more handsome offspring.

People like Li Cheng who buy adults directly are rare.

Not only because adults lack the breeding joy, but also because they’re more expensive—some with superior lineage and near-maximum size can cost tens of thousands.

“You came at a bad time. We just sold out. Hercules Beetles have long growth cycles, and adults only live six months to a year.”

The shop owner asked, “I have pupae here. Interested?”

“Fine.”

Li Cheng nodded. The Hercules Beetle’s pupal stage lasts about 40 to 60 days. Considering he’d just completed a [Gene Hunger] cycle, he wasn’t in a hurry. Plus, he wanted to test something.

“I’ll go get it for you.”

In the small stag beetle community, finding a fellow enthusiast was rare—the shop owner was enthusiastic. He retrieved a pupa nearly 16 centimeters long, housed in an artificial pupation chamber.

While packing wood shavings for Li Cheng, he enthusiastically detailed the pupa’s noble lineage.

Just as Li Cheng was about to pay, he saw Shao Wangshu walking over holding two skinks—one was the eastern Queensland variety, priced at eight thousand; the other was the northern variety, priced at four thousand.

Together, they cost twelve thousand—that was a real sale!

The owner’s eyes sparkled. He greeted Shao Wangshu with a hundredfold enthusiasm, explaining in detail how to care for blue-tongued skinks. In truth, there wasn’t much to it—these creatures were so docile they were basically walking kitchen waste bins, eating dog food and cat food alike.

When paying, the delighted owner waved his hand and waived the price of Li Cheng’s pupa.

Outside, Li Cheng held the box, scratching his head. “Uh, thanks to you this time.”

“Hehe, next time just treat me to a milk tea.”

Shao Wangshu carried the two plastic boxes, whispering, “Or maybe we can go explore other places together sometime?”

“Where?”

“What do you think? The zoo? The cinema? Disneyland? Even a cruise ship.”

Shao Wangshu skipped ahead, unaware that Li Cheng had suddenly turned sharply, staring into an alleyway.

He smelled the familiar scent.

The scent of the Insect Lord.

(End of Chapter)