Chapter 749: A Multitude of Poisonous Insects

The Platoon Leader opened the bag handed over by Che, opened it curiously, and took out a piece of transparent stone. He examined it carefully, but he truly could not find anything special about it. Yet, just by looking at it, he knew it was different from ordinary stones. It was a pity that, other than its appearance, they did not know if there were any deeper differences.

The Platoon Leader put the stone back into the bag and rummaged through it a few more times, discovering that the quantity was not small. Regarding this, he could only say: "It looks a bit like a clearer flint, and a bit like Glass, but it is somewhat brittle. I also don't know what kind of thing it is. The Prince must know, but I don't know what it can be used for. If it can only be used to make Glass, then it feels like it doesn't have much use."

Che also nodded in agreement: "That's right, it's just that I don't know what it can be used for. But as long as it is a different thing, we should collect it. If even one thing can be put to use, then that would be a great thing for Huaxia."

"That is indeed the case," the Platoon Leader said, and opened another bag. The green substance inside surprised him somewhat. He inexplicably had a feeling that this thing was very important. He reached out to touch it and picked up a piece, but with just a light squeeze, it immediately shattered into smaller stone fragments.

"Huh, this thing is a bit interesting. It's like soil yet not like soil, like a stone yet not like a stone. But I have a feeling, could it be some kind of ore?"

Che's eyes also lit up, and he said to the Platoon Leader with a smile: "Right? You also think so? I just feel it is very much like some kind of ore, it's just that I don't know what can be refined from it. It's a pity that the distribution of this stuff is a bit too scattered; it's basically all small pieces, a small patch here and there in the soil, unlike Coal Mountain, which is one big patch in its entirety."

The Platoon Leader solemnly tied the bag shut: "This is definitely some kind of good thing. I will take it with me when I set off tomorrow. Believe me, when I come back next time, I will be able to bring you some major good news."

Che indicated that he was also looking forward to it: "It still seems a bit barren here. Aside from Saltpeter, it would be best if there were some other things. I'm afraid farming will also be difficult. By the way, should we bring the people from the Agriculture Department over next time to survey the land?"

"It should be next time. Now that your construction progress here is so fast, we can send people over. After I go back, I will report it to the Prince. Of course, the engineering progress here will all be reported in detail."

The two chatted like this until the women brought over all the plants they had dug up. However, they were a bit afraid and did not dare to disturb Che and the others, in case they were discussing something important.

Che noticed the change in the others' expressions, turned his head, and discovered a group of women holding various plants in their hands and arms. He then said to the Platoon Leader: "How should we pack these? Are there any boxes or something?"

The Platoon Leader stood up at this time and said to Shaoyin: "Just find some boxes, fill them with some soil, and plant these Grasses and such inside. If they are still alive when we go back, wouldn't it be more convenient for the Prince to study them?"

Everyone thought that made sense, so they took the empty wooden boxes that had been cleared out, refilled them with soil, and planted those Grasses back in. The women were very obedient; the Grasses they dug up all had roots. Even if they didn't survive after being planted, they would still be fresher than if they were just brought over like that.

The women did not have much of a concept of plants, so they only dug up Grasses. They did not dig up those shrubs. Things like wolfberry that grew thorns grew year after year and would not die in Winter; they would treat them as a type of strange tree.

However, Che recognized all the shrubs here and knew that Huaxia had them, so he did not bring up the matter. While they were planting, Che was also watching. When he saw a certain type of Grass that looked very familiar and he was certain that Huaxia already had it, he directly had people throw it away. If he felt it looked familiar, then Changle Prince must have seen it before, so there was no need to go to the trouble of bringing it over.

After some picking and choosing, out of several dozen types of Grass, only a dozen or so were left. After planting, Che arranged for the women again: "Go fetch some water and pour some water on these Grasses. Dry soil might not keep them alive."

The women went off to fetch water again. This amount of work was no different from a stroll for them. They did not have any heavy work to do, and there was no great danger here. Large wild beasts, under the protection of the Soldiers, could not come over. The only things that could pose a threat to them were the snakes and poisonous insects hiding in the grass.

Up until now, they had not been bitten by snakes, but they had seen snakes many times. They could only stay far away from them and pray that the snakes would not attack them. Even the Soldiers did not have full confidence that they would not be ambushed.

Although they had not been bitten by snakes, they had been bitten by other poisonous insects many times. It was not just these women; other people had all been stung by scorpions to some degree. Fortunately, being stung by a scorpion only caused pain and swelling; one would not die. If one went out at night and turned on a Torch, there were scorpions reflecting light running everywhere on the ground.

To avoid being stung by scorpions at night, everyone would check their Tents for scorpions before going to sleep. Then, when sleeping, they had to pull the Tent shut tightly and use stones to press down the edges and corners to prevent scorpions from crawling in.

The quantity was too large, and they had no way to deal with it. Che sometimes thought, if only these scorpions could be of some use, turning waste into treasure. They couldn't possibly have everyone still guarding against scorpions when they slept after Xiao Town was built; that life would be too strenuous.

Before Che could tell the Platoon Leader about this, he saw him aim his Knife scabbard at the ground and then stab down fiercely. When he lifted the scabbard again, there was already a scorpion corpse on the ground that had been severed and mixed with the soil.

The Platoon Leader wiped his Knife scabbard with his hand: "There really are too many poisonous insects here. I have already seen several in just this short while. If it weren't for my Boot being thick and the boot shaft being long enough, I'm afraid I would have been stung."

Che was also helpless: "There's no way around it, this place is just like this. The scorpions here are ridiculously numerous. If you go toward places like the Xuanyuan Tribe, the leeches and water leeches are terrifyingly numerous."

To tell the truth, I am not that afraid of wolves. I can easily kill a wolf, but I am truly afraid of these insects. There are so many of them, and they are impossible to guard against—scorpions, centipedes, mosquitoes. There are also some large bees here; some of them build nests on the mud walls. A few days ago, one of our women was stung, and it was fortunate she ran fast enough.

She was only stung three times and was already vomiting from the poison. The team doctor didn't know how to treat it either. Fortunately, the person recovered. I really think he should go back to Huaxia to study, to see how to treat bee stings and scorpion stings. We can't just wait for death."