Chapter 186: Chapter 150: Comparative Group Experiment of Thunder Light Water Scorpion
The Thunder Light Water Scorpion has a large head, with very large compound eyes, allowing it to see easily underwater.
It has a big appetite, needing to roam multiple places each day to fill its stomach.
On top of its head are two antennae like cables, and when it opens its mouth, spiral-shaped sharp teeth are revealed inside.
It has six legs, with sturdy and powerful front claws covered with hairs, which function like radars, helping the Thunder Light Water Scorpion sense the surrounding movements.
The tail of the male Thunder Light Water Scorpion is hook-shaped, resembling a plug.
In contrast, the female’s tail is square, like a socket.
The Sunflower Emperor eagerly fetched the Thunder Gall and the crystal core of the Ancient Lantern Fish, which are important experimental materials.
Ye Bai actually discovered a problem: what the Eye of Insight sees is only one possibility, and there are actually some deeper hidden evolutionary routes not yet revealed.
This time, he is taking the opportunity to test whether his thoughts are correct.
Although the Eye of Insight is powerful, relying too much on it might be counterproductive.
After all, the Eye of Insight is like knowing the answer in advance, and following its instructions generally results in an eighty to ninety percent success rate.
But this also wastes Ye Bai’s primary talent——Unforgettable.
This talent is best for conducting experiments, allowing Ye Bai to observe meticulously and discover clues.
Ye Bai divided into five groups, feeding the Thunder Gall and the crystal core of the Ancient Lantern Fish in ratios of three to seven, four to six, five to five, six to four, and seven to three.
To see if a miracle would happen, revealing hidden evolutionary routes.
Of course, to prevent the Thunder Light Water Scorpion from starving to death, Ye Bai also needs to release a large amount of night larvae.
Firstly, it allows Ye Bai to observe how the Thunder Light Water Scorpion feeds, noting how many night larvae it consumes in twenty-four hours on average.
Secondly, it is to observe how the Thunder Light Water Scorpion preys on night larvae.
As for where the night larvae come from, currently in the Jiaying River, casting a fishing net yields nine out of ten baskets full of night larvae.
This quality protein is in abundant supply, with members of the Pet Beast Union eager for people to take away all the night larvae.
However, Ye Bai knows that this cannot solve the problem fundamentally, unless night larvae are edible and taste good.
In such a case, this foreign invasive species could be eaten to near extinction, necessitating artificial breeding for the species to continue.
After all, the Yandong Region is known for being able to eat anything on land or in water.
Even a food called water cockroach is considered a delicacy, parboiled to remove the pungent odor, then fried in oil before being sprinkled with cumin and pepper salt, making it taste incredibly good.
Unfortunately, the skin of the night larvae is tough, with an unbearably sour and astringent taste.
They only need five days to evolve from larvae to Dark Night Mosquitoes.
Once Dark Night Mosquitoes absorb enough blood, they can produce the next generation, which takes three to five days.
Therefore, to intercept the Dark Night Mosquitoes, actions must be taken within these days, otherwise, once they absorb enough blood and form a Dark Night Mosquito army, it could lead to the bones of an entire small nation becoming white due to their outbreak, historically.
At the time, the leader Dark Night Mosquitoes transformed into the Four-winged Black Mosquitoes, a troublesome exotic beast that was ultimately destroyed with the use of nuclear weapons.
From the system’s intelligence, it appears that members of the Gu Poison Sect have been secretly supporting the growth of the Dark Night Mosquitoes.
It seems there will be a confrontation with the Gu Poison Sect soon, a sect adept at manipulating venomous insects.
Ye Bai made a call, and members of the Pet Beast Union caught a large number of night larvae.
Due to his outstanding performance at the meeting, he has been appointed as the deputy team leader of the epidemic prevention and control group, specifically coordinating the research on the evolution of Water Scorpions and the control work of Dark Night Mosquitoes.
The reason Ye Bai, so young, was given such an important job is because everyone believes Zhang Lingxue will assist from behind.
After all, Zhang Lingxue appointed Ye Bai to attend the meeting on her behalf; Ye Bai researching the evolution of Water Scorpions is virtually Zhang Lingxue researching the evolution of Water Scorpions.
In reality, Zhang Lingxue, busily dealing with inspections, is driven frantic, closing herself off in meditation day and night, even granting Ye Bai the control of the Secret Realm of the Burrowing Rat.
Now, Ye Bai finds it extremely difficult to meet Zhang Lingxue, let alone others, as she is likely to portray a "I’m busy, don’t bother me with any affairs" demeanor.
Ye Bai thought deeply and realized that Dark Night Mosquitoes and the Blood Pool are mutually dependent.
Dark Night Mosquitoes rely on the essence of blood to reproduce in large quantities, and the Blood Pool contains the essence of blood.
If resources are abundant, it might be possible to cultivate a two-winged black mosquito, but to nurture a four-winged black mosquito would require a vast amount of resources.
The tanks released by Ye Bai were very large, each with a space of two meters by two meters by two meters.
Each tank was equipped with at least four cameras, which were also shockproof.
This allowed for clear observation of the movements of each Thunder Light Water Scorpion.
Ye Bai also marked the backs of Thunder Light Water Scorpions from different groups with a marker.
The Dark Night Mosquito larvae varied in size, with the larger ones being the size of a fist and the smaller ones the size of a thumbnail.
Ye Bai placed a hundred Dark Night Mosquito larvae in each tank.
This allowed for a better record of the number of Dark Night Mosquito larvae preyed upon by Thunder Light Water Scorpions in a day. With objective data, Ye Bai could better advance his work and provide an explanation to the Cultivator Union.
The Dark Night Mosquito larvae flicked their tails agilely in the tank, moving at a decent speed in the water, displaying flexible movements.
And when they saw the Thunder Light Water Scorpions, they surrounded them as if they smelled blood like sharks.
The diet of the Dark Night Mosquito larvae was quite varied. They fed on dead branches, fallen leaves, and small fish in rivers. Even faced with the much larger Thunder Light Water Scorpions, they dared to engage in battle.
The Dark Night Mosquito larvae extended their syringe-like mouthparts, fiercely stabbing them into the body of the Thunder Light Water Scorpions.
Some Thunder Light Water Scorpions ignored the attacks of the Dark Night Mosquito larvae completely, opening their mouths wide for a swift suck, swallowing dozens of the larvae and chewing them with sharp teeth.
Their movements were so intimidating that the surrounding Dark Night Mosquito larvae hid fearfully, worried about becoming the next target.
Some Thunder Light Water Scorpions released arcs of electricity that spread throughout the tank, causing all the Dark Night Mosquito larvae to tremble, their bellies turning white as they floated to the surface.
The Thunder Light Water Scorpions reached out with their strong claws, grabbing a stunned Dark Night Mosquito larva and biting its head off.
Some Thunder Light Water Scorpions lazily summoned a small vortex in the tank, and the terrifying suction from the vortex pulled in the Dark Night Mosquito larvae before they could react, shredding their bodies.
With a suck, the Thunder Light Water Scorpions inhaled the dismembered pieces.
At this moment, Ye Bai noticed a fist-sized Dark Night Mosquito larva suddenly floating motionlessly on the water’s surface.
Its body seemed to be struggling internally.
A crack appeared on the back of the Dark Night Mosquito larva, and quickly it spread, growing larger, as if something inside was trying to emerge.
Soon, a pair of slender legs appeared, and a wet Dark Night Mosquito crawled out.
Before it could react, a Thunder Light Water Scorpion swallowed it whole, leaving only an empty larva skin drifting alone on the water.
The Thunder Light Water Scorpion had been observing this Dark Night Mosquito for a while and acted as soon as it emerged from its cocoon.
Ye Bai observed a detail at this point: the Thunder Light Water Scorpions seemed more interested in the Dark Night Mosquitos about to emerge from their cocoons than the larvae.
They even deliberately avoided attacking fist-sized Dark Night Mosquito larvae, instead eradicating the slightly smaller larvae.
Ye Bai watched them specifically target the freshly emerged, still flightless Dark Night Mosquitos.
The water tank was littered with empty larva skins, and Ye Bai realized his initial estimates had been low.
In just one hour, the male Thunder Light Water Scorpions consumed roughly six hundred Dark Night Mosquito larvae.
The female Thunder Light Water Scorpions consumed around five hundred.
Considering the digestion time of the Thunder Light Water Scorpions, a male could eat up to six thousand Dark Night Mosquito larvae in a day and a female around five thousand.
Ye Bai also noticed that these Thunder Light Water Scorpions were quite clever, preferring to save the Dark Night Mosquito larvae that were about to metamorphose into mosquitoes, swallowing them as soon as they emerged from their cocoons.
However, just as Ye Bai was about to proceed with the next step of the evolutionary experiment, he received a call from the Cultivator Union that called him away.
Before leaving, Ye Bai instructed Big Gray and the Sunflower Emperor to be ready to record, noting how many times they had thrown food into the tank and ensuring no Dark Night Mosquitos escaped.
Due to the urgency, it took Ye Bai less than ten minutes to reach the Cultivator Union.
President Liu and President Wang bore low spirits, their faces dark as ink, as if something had happened.
"Ye Bai, there has been a large-scale invasion of Dark Night Mosquitos in West River Province, and the situation is quite dire. A Special Inspection Envoy has already been dispatched to handle it."
"In various cities of our Yandong Province, small-scale appearances of Dark Night Mosquitos have also emerged. President Zhang now requires each city to devise a plan."
"Especially our Jiaying City, due to its proximity to West River Province, there’s concern some Dark Night Mosquitos might migrate from there."
"Therefore, we must come up with a countermeasure."
"The idea of using Dragonfly Exotic Beasts is a good one, but we currently have no way to form a large-scale dragonfly population, which poses our most critical issue now."