Chapter 162: Insect Eggs in the Water
After all, who wants to be woken up by mosquitoes at night, only to open their eyes to swarms of insects lunging at them?
After they split up, Moira Lynch opened the game again, entered the shop, and posted a message to buy Insect Attracting Grass.
Three stalks of Insect Attracting Grass could be exchanged for one Repair Aloe, an adult rooster, or ten eggs. She included a picture of the plant as well.
Taking advantage of the fact that others didn’t yet know the effects of Insect Attracting Grass, Moira planned to gather a large batch first.
After Kai York’s initial discovery, they started finding more Insect Attracting Grass, one after another.
In their yard alone, they found at least twenty stalks of Insect Attracting Grass.
Looking at the harvested Insect Attracting Grass, Kai York couldn’t help but say with lingering fear, "It’s a good thing we found these early. A few more days, and we would’ve had to abandon the house."
He wasn’t wrong.
Of the twenty-odd stalks of Insect Attracting Grass they found, the largest one was already beginning to turn a faint yellow—a sign that it was about to mature. They had found it just in time.
"Let’s go, we’ll head out and search for more," Hugh Finch said. "While most people still don’t know what Insect Attracting Grass does, we should gather as much as we can."
Moira Lynch and Kai York felt the same way.
As they headed out the door, they saw Shane Rhodes returning.
The moment Shane Rhodes saw the three of them, he knew what they were up to. He urged them on, "The higher-ups are planning a mass mobilization to clear out the Insect Attracting Grass inside and around the base. We need to be quick, or there’ll be nothing left to grab."
With that, Shane Rhodes immediately took out his Flying Device, showing just how serious he was.
Competing with the higher-ups for resources was no different from snatching food from a tiger’s jaws.
Chase Shepard was only turning a blind eye because it was Shane Rhodes’s group, and because they had provided so many valuable things in the past.
Besides, there were only four of them. How much could they possibly gather?
Moreover, Chase Shepard was more curious as to how Shane Rhodes and his group had found out about the Insect Attracting Grass in the first place.
Moira Lynch and the others headed straight outside the base.
Just as they expected, the amount of Insect Attracting Grass here was frightening.
From a distance, it looked like a roiling green sea of insects, enough to make one’s hair stand on end.
Moira Lynch drew a sharp breath, chanting to herself over and over, ’It’s not real. It’s not real.’
Some of the stalks were already turning golden-yellow, so Moira and her group picked these nearly mature ones first.
Sensing something was amiss, Moira stopped what she was doing, took out an alcohol stove, plucked four stalks of Insect Attracting Grass, and roasted them. She kept one for herself and gave one each to Shane Rhodes, Kai York, and Hugh Finch.
Five minutes later, a troop of well-trained soldiers arrived in the area.
They formed a single line and advanced, leaving no stalk of Insect Attracting Grass standing in their wake.
Moira and her group, who were just a short distance ahead, saw the soldiers’ systematic advance and couldn’t help but work faster.
Now they finally understood what Shane Rhodes meant when he said there would be nothing left to grab.
Against that kind of organized efficiency, it would be a miracle to beat them to it.
Fortunately, the Insect Attracting Grass was plentiful here. In just the last five minutes, they had already gathered a substantial amount—enough to last them for several months.
But just to be safe, they decided to try and gather a full year’s supply for everyone.
After the well-trained soldiers, the third wave to arrive on the scene consisted of the players, Talents, and ordinary people who lived in the base.
By the time this new crowd arrived, Moira’s group had already gathered most of what they needed, but they didn’t leave right away.
Since they didn’t know how long the insect plague would last, it was best to collect as much Insect Attracting Grass as possible.
Besides, many hands make light work. Having all the Insect Attracting Grass around the base completely removed was a good thing for them, too.
And so, working from morning till night, everyone pitched in, and with their combined effort, they finally cleared every last stalk of Insect Attracting Grass within a hundred-meter radius of the base.
Back home, Moira turned on the faucet to start cooking, but she quickly sensed a strange energy fluctuation coming from the clear stream of water.
She collected the water in a container to examine it closely and soon discovered it was filled with transparent eggs.
Some had already hatched, lashing their tails or paddling their limbs as they swam through the water, feeding on the other eggs that had yet to hatch.
"AH!!!"
The scream drew the other three over.
"What’s wrong?!"
Moira pointed to the basin of water in front of her. "Bugs," she said. "So many eggs."
The three of them leaned in to get a closer look. What had seemed like clear water was, upon closer inspection, teeming with countless newly hatched, unidentifiable insects and their eggs.
"Looks like this insect plague is even more dangerous than we imagined."
"All the open water sources are probably infested by now."
Seeing the grave expressions on Hugh Finch and Shane Rhodes’s faces, Kai York said, "Don’t we have Insect Attracting Grass? Eating that stuff kills any parasites inside us. So logically, even if we drink this water, we should be fine."
Shane Rhodes and Hugh Finch were speechless. He had a point, technically.
After eating the Insect Attracting Grass, they had a three-day period of immunity, almost like having a rabies shot.
"Then why don’t you lead by example?" Moira Lynch said to Kai York.
’Even with a three-day period of immunity, there was no way she was drinking that water.’
Kai York stared at the basin of "clear water" and gulped. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he could swear the bugs inside had already gotten bigger.
Fortunately, they had plenty of Water Storage Mushrooms on hand. Even without the base’s water supply, they wouldn’t go thirsty.
They wouldn’t be able to bathe as freely as before, but that was an acceptable sacrifice.
In addition to the water sources, the food in many people’s homes was also starting to get ruined.
Bags of grain that had been securely tied were suddenly found to be teeming with black insects.
A bag of rice opened just the day before was suddenly crawling with white, maggot-like worms. Even leftovers stored in refrigerators weren’t spared.
Reading these reports online, Moira’s first thought was of their own home.
With four of them in the house, they were more likely to not have enough food than to have any leftovers.
But even without leftovers, they still had a sizable stash of grains.
Shane Rhodes and the others had spent the last few days digging a cellar specifically for storage, but those insects were seemingly everywhere.
Just then, Kai York emerged from one of the rooms wearing a thick down jacket and gave the others a reassuring gesture.
Shane Rhodes explained, "We planned for this when we dug the cellar. All the food is vacuum-sealed, there’s a thick waterproof lining, we’ve spread quicklime around the perimeter, and we’ve even placed several Water-cooling Stones inside to keep it refrigerated."