Chapter 353: Death Sahara (31)

Baby Corn was still young, not yet at maturity. It had learned all manner of things along the way, like splitting apart and disguising itself, and its body was far larger than other worms its age, but that was because of what it had eaten; rare delicacies that wild worms could never taste in a lifetime, things like ***’s Abyss energy and the Mountain God’s peach tree’s contaminated eyeball, all of which Baby Corn had sampled more than once.

This had given it an enormous body, a fat and powerful young Baby Corn, and passing itself off as the same species as the Star Borer Insect was at least plausible in terms of sheer size; female worms were generally larger and fatter than males, and the size difference between Baby Corn and the Star Borer Insect was still manageable.

The problem was that it hadn’t reached sexual maturity yet and couldn’t produce the scent that would actually move the Star Borer Insect. Even with the special fluid released by those great worms that gathered during sandstorms driving other desert creatures into heat, the Star Borer Insect under normal circumstances wouldn’t be able to smell anything from a juvenile Baby Corn.

But Wei Xun had Little Jade and Little Rose, two Mother Insects. Faking a scent was no problem at all.

What they really needed to think about was how to strike once the Star Borer Insect was lured out.

While he was turning this over, the shared hunting ground of the nine giant settlements came into view. The ground underfoot was no longer pure sand but a mixture of sand and soil, and trees resembling desert poplars grew densely across the area in great swathes. This was a true desert oasis, ten or more times larger than the one they had started in. Entering the hunting ground, the wind and sand eased considerably.

What had drawn so many desert creatures here was a shimmering lake at the oasis center. The Red Sand settlement’s hunting party made their temporary camp on the eastern side of the lake, right next to a rushing river; from outside the oasis the river was invisible, only the faint trace of an ancient riverbed buried under the stony ground hinting at its existence, the water flowing underground before surfacing in this low-lying oasis.

The giants’ arrival startled a group of small gazelle-like creatures that had been drinking at the river, but before long the gazelles crept back cautiously to drink again. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] The lakeside had too many giant desert creatures gathered around it and was too dangerous; the river was safer.

The Red Sand giants had no interest in the small creatures anyway. Animals that size were too small for them, like sparrows to ordinary people; compared to the giant desert creatures, the gazelles were thin-skinned and tender and would taste better, but eating them wasn’t worth the effort. Female giants ate big meat and drank deeply; small things like these were for male giants and juvenile giants to chase.

The sandstorm hadn’t reached its peak yet and the great worms hadn’t arrived. The female giants dropped lazily to the ground; those who were on friendly terms started picking through each other’s hair for symbiotic creatures, others sprawled out like dozing lions. With the sort of idle half-attention of people with nothing urgent to do, they watched the selection of appealing short male giants the chieftain had brought along start huddling together and whispering, apparently planning to catch some gazelles and river birds.

The female giants let out rough, hoarse laughs and gestured with their thick fingers as they gossiped, arguing over which of the short males was the shortest and most favored by the chieftain. Two quick-thinking, ingratiating females hopped up and planted themselves like towers on either side, herding the gazelles into a loose enclosure so the chieftain’s men and her daughter could play at hunting.

“These creatures look rather like gazelles. Should be edible, right?”

Tang Shuang and the others were having the same discussion. After days of nothing but dates and hot water, the young men were definitely missing meat. They should also be stockpiling provisions while they had the chance.

Cheng Tianbao was a little distracted, though. He wasn’t watching the oblivious little gazelles still gathered at the water’s edge; his gaze drifted over toward Wei the Boss and the others with undisguised envy. Captain Chen was over there too, which meant their captain’s strength had been acknowledged by Wei the Boss’s group, and he would be taking part in the monster hunt this time. Unlike them, who would only be going on logistics duty, hunting some food and water.

If only I could grow stronger…

Cheng Tianbao tightened his fist, exhaled slowly, and turned his attention seriously back to Tang Shuang to discuss the logistics. Support duty was an important part of things too. Metaphysics was a team with many years behind it and it valued teamwork above all; knowing your position and doing your job was something every new Metaphysics member was told repeatedly by the veterans, drilled into them again and again.

Half-Life Daoist had this same team mentality, which in practice manifested as him cutting Zhang Xingcang off cleanly when Zhang Xingcang raised a different idea:

“Whatever you say, I’m with Bai Xiaosheng. What Bai Xiaosheng says goes.”

The more tightly coordinated an operation, the more important it was for the group to have a single voice; that was how efficiency stayed high.

“But this thing he’s suggesting—”

Zhang Xingcang, rebuffed, had run out of arguments. He looked at the Dreamchaser dragon fidgeting in Bai Xiaosheng’s arms, knew the problem with the mental illusion was getting worse and worse, couldn’t afford to waste any more time, and finally gave in with resignation.

“All right, all right, I still think… ah!”

The main thing was, Zhang Xingcang felt Bai Xiaosheng’s plan was essentially the same as his own. The only difference was that Bai Xiaosheng had decided to hide inside the male worm that would be used to lure the Star Borer Insect, get swallowed into the Star Borer Insect’s belly, and then work from the inside out together with the others. Wasn’t that basically what he had originally proposed?

And he was physically stronger than Bai Xiaosheng and could hold out longer inside a worm’s body, surely.

“That’s what we’re doing.”

Yin-Yang Butterfly said impatiently, running a thumb along his blade, his fighting spirit rising. With agreement reached, everyone moved quickly. Zhang Xingcang took the Dreamchaser dragon and went to lie in wait on the other side of the river, away from where the Star Borer Insect might detect them early. After he left, Wei Xun briefly released the mental form merge and called out Little Jade and Little Rose’s mental forms directly.

Baby Corn burrowed out of the sand; all eighteen sections merged into one fat Baby Corn and it ‘leaned’ curiously against Wei Xun’s side, watching as Little Rose shifted to female form and shyly interlaced fingers with Little Jade. Little Rose was soft and timid, Little Jade confident and sharp; the two Mother Insects scattered their pheromones freely and generously, stirring up the creatures of the desert oasis until a restless undercurrent began running through them.

Under the pheromones’ influence, Baby Corn’s scent gradually changed; before long a ripe, restless presence was drifting from its whole body, sending out an ongoing and unmistakable signal.

In this Ancient Oasis scene re-enactment, Baby Corn and the Star Borer Insect were the only ones of the same species, which meant the Star Borer Insect’s options for a mate came down to Baby Corn alone. The restlessness affected even the Red Sand giants, but Wei Xun quickly merged with Little Rose’s mental form again and the chieftain’s authority bore down on the giants and kept them obediently at the river’s edge.

“Ready.”

Wei Xun signaled with his eyes, recalled Little Jade, and Half-Life Daoist immediately understood and went with Chen Cheng to lie in wait on the other side. Wei Xun quickly slipped into Baby Corn’s false mouth, taking the An-surnamed golden tokay gecko with him.

‘When the Star Borer Insect comes, it may do some strange things to you.’

Wei Xun communicated with Baby Corn: ‘Just resist as hard as you can.’

‘Baby Corn, Baby Corn is a little scared.’

Baby Corn honestly expressed a degree of fear and anxiety. It still didn’t know about the great worm’s nature, but encountering a fully grown, terrifyingly enormous worm, its first instinct would be flight; only its loyalty and attachment to its Father gave it the strength to resist the urge. Baby Corn tunneled through the sand, still murmuring quietly.

‘After resisting… run, run away?’

‘No, you have to get eaten by her. Of course, ideally you lure her out of the sand first and then get eaten.’

Zhang Xingcang’s earlier suggestion actually had merit; getting swallowed into the Star Borer Insect’s belly was the best way to take the Maria Butterfly fragment from it by surprise.

‘Eh? Eaten? Is it going to eat all of us, can, can it just eat a little bit?’

Baby Corn let out sad, frightened little whimpers, and in its distress gnawed on its own tendril for a moment, but with its clever little brain it quickly worked out the logic. Baby Corn quietly swallowed its Father down another section deeper.

Father is so smart and powerful; the Star Borer Insect definitely won’t dare eat him! [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Even if it eats Baby Corn it’ll surely stop at the section where Father is!

‘Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.’

Wei Xun reassured Baby Corn: ‘Once the Star Borer Insect is dead I’ll let you eat a big piece.’

‘Eat a big piece!’

Baby Corn was immediately fired up and tunneled through the sand with renewed energy. It could feel the Star Borer Insect below, and it was radiating a presence that made Baby Corn tremble with fear. But thinking about eating a big piece, Baby Corn was scared and hungry at the same time, and gathered its courage to whisper and bargain with its Father:

‘Baby Corn, Baby Corn is still scared. Can, can Baby Corn lick the super delicious thing first? Just one lick.’

The super delicious thing Baby Corn meant was of course the golden tokay gecko’s severed tail.

‘Go ahead.’

Hearing this Wei Xun laughed, and moved Baby Corn’s false tendril-mouth to the outermost position. Then he took out An Xuefeng, held the little creature’s small body, and dangled just the tail out like bait on a hook.

‘This is awfully risky…’

An Xuefeng’s voice was a little resigned; the small tokay gecko’s claws gripped Wei Xun’s fingers tightly. He had told Wei Xun earlier that as long as they were swallowed by the Star Borer Insect, taking the butterfly fragment wouldn’t be a problem. The real problem was that the Star Borer Insect had been fused with the butterfly fragment for close to ten years; it was a monster, and unlike the Puppet Master that was a different situation entirely. Tearing the butterfly fragment away from her would inevitably trigger terrible backlash and contamination.

This contamination would severely affect them and Baby Corn, and once the butterfly fragment was in hand, how to get out was the real problem. Wei Xun had said:

‘Don’t worry. Once the butterfly fragment’s effects kick in, the Silver Moon Killer and the others will definitely come charging over no matter what; even the Stargazer may not be able to hold them back.’

As long as the Silver Moon Killer arrived and could see a ‘golden tokay gecko’ that had been ‘swallowed’ by the worm with only a pathetic little tail tip still showing, surely he would summon every last ounce of his strength and split the Star Borer Insect open to pull them out.

The deeper they went, the closer they were getting to where the Star Borer Insect was. An Xuefeng stopped talking and pulled in his presence, so as not to be detected, and Wei Xun held his breath as well, waiting quietly.

Spring had come; season of renewal, season of worm mating… well, more or less. Winter was approaching in the outside world, but the Star Borer Insect could feel a fire-like heat burning inside it, growing more and more excited and restless. Especially with a fine young male worm drawing near, the heat in it was becoming unbearable.

Under ordinary circumstances it wouldn’t have looked twice at a male worm this short and slender; its usual admirers would have torn such a worm apart on the spot. But there were no other members of its species in this place, so what choice did it have? And its wound hadn’t closed either, the Return Journey Saber still lodged inside it; it needed to replenish its energy.

Nothing supplemented energy better than a worm of the same species. The Star Borer Insect decided to give this small one a chance: let a mating happen, and then eat it afterward to recover its strength. It had already dug out an enormous underground chamber and coated the walls with mucus, and now it waited lazily for the fine young worm to arrive.

When the other party arrived, the Star Borer Insect didn’t move; it simply stretched its body out and waited for the male worm to come court her, to come close.

Which left Baby Corn at a complete loss.

It crept cautiously forward… but the Star Borer Insect wasn’t doing the strange things Father had described at all. It wasn’t doing anything to Baby Corn.

What was it supposed to do now?

Baby Corn waited a while longer, saw the Star Borer Insect still wasn’t moving, and decided to just start resisting directly.

Rroarr!

Baby Corn launched itself ferociously forward, bit a great chunk out of the Star Borer Insect with all its strength, lashed it once with a tendril, then turned and ran with a mouthful of meat.