Chapter 138 - 138 Chapter 133: Competing Visitors_i (1/2)

138 Chapter 133: Competing Visitors_i

Translator: 549690339 I

Charging seventy wen money to exterminate pests from an acre of land once, this business was actually quite good.

Moreover, Qin Niu provided top-quality service.

He could eradicate eggs, pupae, adult insects, and larvae all at once.

He dealt with not only locusts but also other pests.

Xu Zhenchang hired adult men to catch insects for him, paying eight wen money per person per day. Hiring twelve men to work for a day didn’t actually clear all the locusts from an acre of land.

It may look like child’s play for Qin Niu to catch bugs and locate their eggs, but that’s because his pest extermination skills, bug catching skills, and insect trace identification skills had all reached a considerably high level.

For others, being proficient in one of these skills would be awesome.

He had three, and one could imagine how formidable he was.

By dusk, he had brought back more than six hundred termites from the mountain, the weakest of which were above grade two.

There were also quite a few grade three termites among them.

He deliberately started exterminating pests from a field that backed onto a mountain.

Releasing all six hundred or so termites, Fourth acted as the marshal, with several grade three tiger-striped iron armor ghost ants serving as generals. They divided into groups and began their efficient operation.

In just over an hour, all the pests in that acre were completely eliminated.

This efficiency was very high indeed.

Qin Niu also harvested quite a few insect eggs.

He was looking forward to the day when the Ant Queen’s breeding skill would level up again, reaching over a thousand eggs laid per day; that would be wonderful.

However, being able to add a hundred termites a day was already quite good, enough to get some work done at least.

Xu Zhenchang was called over for inspection.

Carrying an oil lamp, he went down to the field for a careful examination and saw the ground littered with insect corpses and pupae that had been bitten to death.

Even the eggs had been crushed.

And they didn’t just exterminate locusts, but also leaf rollers, various noctuids, and other pests.

This carpet-style pest extermination was what he had always dreamed of but never achieved.

“Village chief, are you satisfied with the pest extermination effect?” Qin Niu asked as he saw him coming over.

“Extremely satisfied! It’s hundreds to thousands of times better than hiring someone to do the job. The efficiency is both fast and good.”

The worry that had been plaguing Xu Zhenchang for days was considerably alleviated.

The locusts were kept out of the village, nipping the problem in the bud. Now with Qin Niu’s thorough pest extermination, it also meant that his crops had a chance of being saved.

After that, Qin Niu stayed busy all night long.

In total, he exterminated pests from eight acres of land.

Each acre underwent carpet-style extermination, from flying adults to eggs, sweeping them all clean.

The six hundred or more termites became braver as the battle went on, seemingly tireless.

The endurance of insects was much stronger than that of humans.

Termites, being omnivorous creatures, also took the opportunity to replenish their energy during the extermination process; thus, they didn’t feel any fatigue at all.

This was only the first day. Qin Niu was somewhat worried. Moreover, many of the termites were working across fields for the first time, so he watched over them.

Tomorrow, they could carry out the work on their own.

Qin Niu just needed to show Fourth the fields once, and it could then lead the termite army to exterminate pests.

For eight acres of land, at seventy wen per acre, that was a total of five hundred and sixty wen money.

Nearly six pieces of silver money in income.

This was equivalent to a common farmer’s salary for two months.

Earning money through expertise was much easier than through hard labor.

For six consecutive days, Qin Niu helped Xu Zhenchang exterminate pests in the fields.

Over the course of six days, the number of his special termites increased from over seven hundred to more than thirteen hundred.

The number of grade three termites grew to thirty-four.

This explosive growth in strength made the entire termite army even more formidable.

Their pest extermination efficiency also greatly increased.

Initially, more than six hundred termites took over an hour to eliminate all the pests from an acre of land. Now, he could deploy over a thousand grade two and grade three termites to clear an acre in less than half an hour.

As they continued to engage in actual combat, their teamwork became more tacit, their experience richer, and their efficiency continually improved.

Each time he brought the termites down the mountain to exterminate pests, he would leave at least seventy or eighty special termites behind to maintain the operation and security of the entire Ant Nest.

He couldn’t afford to be preoccupied with sideline gains while other insects took advantage of the situation and destroyed his Ant Nest.

In the area around that large camphor tree, seventy or eighty special termites were fully capable of securing the Ant Nest. If enemies like centipedes or scorpions dared to invade, they would be reduced to food within minutes.

Especially those ferocious tiger-striped soldier ants, which were like bloodthirsty demons in existence.

Termites were defensive insects, but that didn’t mean they were docile or easy to bully.

They belonged to that typical type who didn’t start trouble but weren’t afraid of it either.

Occasionally, army ants discovered their nests and launched attacks. Still, the ferocious army ants usually came off worse in confrontations. Sometimes, even the Army Ant Queen might be counter-killed by the termites.

That morning, as Qin Niu was having breakfast, Xu Zhenchang came to seek an audience outside.

“Master Qin, this is your payment for helping with the pest extermination. A total of eighty-six acres were handled, amounting to 6020 wen money, which translates to six silver money and an additional twenty wen. I’m truly grateful. You have saved the livelihood of my entire family,” Xu Zhenchang said, his forehead creased much deeper than before.