Chapter 168: Give It to Them
Hearing Hugh Finch’s words, Moira Lynch and the others visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
The group continued forward for a few more minutes. The number of insects here had clearly increased.
They peeked their heads out from a patch of tall grass, and the scene before them made their eyes widen.
Not far away, a massive crater had appeared, filled to the brim with water.
But that wasn’t the most important part. The most important part was that, above this crater, a blue jellyfish was growing.
At that moment, Moira Lynch finally understood why her psychic probe had registered it as a mushroom, yet not quite a mushroom.
Kai York took the Learning Machine out of his Space Power and began scanning the giant blue jellyfish.
Meanwhile, information about the blue jellyfish from Patience was already playing in Moira Lynch’s ear.
[Blue Momo: A giant blue plant that resembles a jellyfish. Mildly toxic. It feeds on insects and various types of carrion. It can grow up to a hundred meters, and the liquid secreted from its surface is highly adhesive.
Its vines possess immense elasticity.]
It was obviously unrealistic for the four of them to keep something this huge for themselves. Besides, even if they did, the Blue Momo was useless to them. It wasn’t edible, and what’s more, it was poisonous.
In the end, Moira Lynch and the others decided to hand this troublesome thing over to the base and let them deal with the headache.
After all, judging by the size of an adult Blue Momo, the one before them could only be considered a baby.
But before that, operating on a "since we’re already here" mentality, Moira Lynch chopped off four vines from the Blue Momo—one for herself and each of the other three. She also collected a good amount of the slime secreted from the Blue Momo’s surface.
Chase Shepard was incredibly fast. Ten minutes later, an attack helicopter slowly descended from the sky.
Chase Shepard and his men got off the helicopter, and the instant they stepped out, they were swarmed by countless insects.
Moira Lynch and her group grabbed their sprayers, sprayed each of the newcomers down, and rescued them from the insect swarm.
Chase Shepard looked at the mountain of insect corpses at his feet, then at the sprayers on the backs of Moira Lynch’s group, his eyes gleaming.
When the insect plague first showed signs of starting, the scientists at the base had studied it. They discovered that commercially available insecticides weren’t completely useless against these insects, but their effect was extremely limited.
Furthermore, over time, the insects could develop a resistance.
Someone suggested using more toxic pesticides.
But if they chose more toxic pesticides, while it would kill the insects, the land and water sources would be further contaminated, and it could also harm people. So, the proposal was rejected as soon as it was made.
Now, people at the base were trying to create an insecticide using Insect Attracting Grass, but the results were not ideal.
Seeing what Moira Lynch’s group had done, and then looking at the insects on the ground that were deader than dead, wasn’t this exactly the result they were looking for?
Plus, Shane Rhodes had just sprayed him directly. This meant the liquid in the sprayer was harmless to humans but lethal to insects.
"So, Young Rhodes, what’s that you’re all carrying on your backs?" Chase Shepard asked, smiling like the Big Bad Wolf trying to trick Little Red Riding Hood.
Although Moira Lynch was very familiar with Chase Shepard, she rarely negotiated with him directly. For this kind of thing, the group’s unspoken agreement was to let Shane Rhodes handle it.
As for the matter of the Insect-attracting Grass Seeds, they hadn’t planned on hiding it from the start.
After all, it couldn’t be hidden forever. Someone was bound to find out eventually; it was just a matter of sooner or later.
After learning that the sprayers on their backs were filled with nothing more than water soaked with Insect-attracting Grass Seeds, Chase Shepard had a look of utter disbelief on his face.
"It’s that simple?"
"If you don’t believe it, you can have your men try it out," Shane Rhodes said, then went on to explain the situation with the Blue Momo.
Chase Shepard looked at the massive blue creature.
"The timing is perfect. The base has started collecting insects, but aside from the few edible types, the rest are either toxic or have corrosive body fluids. They’re a real pain to dispose of."
Can’t bury them—it pollutes the soil. Can’t burn them—it pollutes the air. And if you pile them up in one place, they’ll just attract more insects over time.
"This Blue Momo appeared at just the right time."
Chase Shepard clapped Shane Rhodes on the shoulder. Ever since he’d met them, these young people had been full of surprises.
You could say that, other than SoySauceDrunkard, the person Chase Shepard most liked to hear from was Shane Rhodes.
Because Shane Rhodes generally only called him when something significant was happening.
Like the previous insect plague, the Insect Attracting Grass, and now the Blue Momo.
"But there’s one thing I’ve always been curious about. How do you all know so much?"
Caelus was undergoing massive changes—that was a fact everyone accepted. But Shane Rhodes and his group were always the first to find a breakthrough solution to the challenges.
For instance, the Extremely Hot Mushrooms during the extreme heatwave, the Insect Attracting Grass, and now this seed-infused water.
It was now almost certain that these young people held a secret he knew nothing about.
"I know you have your secrets, and you don’t want to talk about them. But you’ve seen the situation on Caelus. I hope you can step up and share this responsibility with us."
Shane Rhodes looked at Moira Lynch. After all, the item belonged to her, so she should have the final say.
"Give it to them," Moira Lynch said with a nod.
’In truth, I’d had this idea ever since I got Patience, but I gave up on it back then because of my concerns.’
’Now, this item isn’t coming from SoySauceDrunkard, but from me. That seems like a good alternative.’
’Since Caelus will have to integrate with the interstellar community in the future, learning the interstellar language and its script is essential.’
’After all, they are strong, and we are weak. We can’t expect them to make a special effort to learn our language just to communicate with us.’
"We’ll give you the item when we get back. We still need to use it right now."
With that, Moira Lynch took the Learning Machine and led Shane Rhodes and the others away.
Watching them leave, Chase Shepard had a sudden realization. ’So I had it all wrong. That young woman is the one who actually calls the shots in this group?!’
After his shock subsided, Chase Shepard became even more curious about the item Moira Lynch had mentioned.
After the last "game," Timothy Murphy had reported to him that he had personally witnessed Shane Rhodes and Kai York communicating with people in the game.
The two were speaking a language he couldn’t understand.
There were only two possibilities for this situation.
First, Shane Rhodes and his group were aliens in disguise.
The second possibility was that they had learned an alien language through some method.
It now seemed it was the second one.
He thought about the tablet-like device Moira Lynch was holding before she left.
Thinking back on it now, the screen of that tablet seemed a bit too thin.