Chapter 122 - Chapter 122: Chapter 117 Locust Plague Appears, Great (1/2)

Chapter 122: Chapter 117 Locust Plague Appears, Great

Progress in Medicine King Technique i

Translator: 549690339

After washing up and having breakfast, he hurried out the door with a basket on his back.

He had cultivated eight bees yesterday, and today he needed to check on them.

He made a special trip to his own millet field, where every millet seedling was adorned with at least two plump ears of millet.

They looked very robust.

His gaze swept over the millet seedlings in the east, and he sharply noticed some leaves had been nibbled on, leaving behind various-sized notches.

Each type of pest fed differently.

Some pests sneakily lurk on the underside of the leaves, sucking the juice from the stems and leaves. They like to bite a small hole on the veins of the leaves, sucking out the juice like vampires.

These are mostly larvae.

Very hidden, not easily spotted by farmers.

Other pests prefer to bite from the fleshier parts of the leaf, creating irregular holes.

But right now, he discovered the notches were bitten out from the edges of the leaves.

This indicated that the pests had powerful mouthparts; they could chew from the edges of the leaves towards the center, like a cutter, chewing uniformly in rounds.

After a careful examination, Qin Niu identified that these were traces left by locusts.

Then, on the ground, he found grains of brownish-black insect feces of different sizes. The feces were granular and their surfaces rather coarse.

He became even more certain that this was the work of locusts.

Steward Yan Qi had previously warned him about signs of pest infestations in several places.

There was also a flood recently, which would only exacerbate the pest disaster.

Qin Niu’s millet field had been rid of pests last time, and they were eradicated very cleanly at that.

He didn’t expect pests to have appeared again.

Moreover, from the chew marks on the leaves and the insect feces scattered on the ground, it was clear that these were not merely larvae, but rather there were many adult pests present.

Locust eggs take about half a month to hatch under the right temperatures.

If the temperature is low, it might even need more than 20 days.

After hatching into nymphs, they molt approximately every seven days. It takes about five molts for them to become adults.

It’s been less than a month since Qin Niu last dealt with the pests.

Logically speaking, even if there were locusts, there should only be second or third instar nymphs, not a large number of adults.

Where did all these adults come from?

Did they come from the fields nearby?

That’s possible, but the lands neighboring his poor soil were typically treated for pests every half a month to a month.

Although the growth of the crops in those fields wasn’t as good as Qin Niu’s, there were no obvious signs of pest damage.

This indicates that there were no conditions for locusts to reproduce in large numbers in a short amount of time.

Therefore, there was only one possibility: these locusts had flown in from elsewhere.

Locusts have a certain ability to fly, and when they have consumed most of the food in one place, they will migrate en masse.

Qin Niu had been busy with various affairs lately, and thus had not paid much attention to this plot of millet.

After discovering traces of pest damage, he quickly set down his basket and made a meticulous inspection of the field.

Many millet seedlings had leaves with nibble marks on them.

It likely happened in the last few days.

The nibble marks looked very fresh.

Plants have the ability to self-heal, and given a little more time, the wounds would heal themselves.

His cultivation experience wasn’t extensive, but his Insect Trace Identification skills were fairly good.

He could determine whether the pests were still nearby by the age of the bite marks on the leaves.

As he inspected the field, startled locusts occasionally jumped up and fled to other plants.

Some were even lying on their backs, mating.

If these weren’t dealt with, they would soon lay a large number of eggs in the field.

A female locust can lay more than two hundred eggs at a time.

This reproductive speed is super terrifying.

Under conditions of good temperature, humidity, and food, two hundred female locusts could reproduce to forty thousand nymphs in just about a month.

Imagine if those forty thousand nymphs were to reproduce again, that could be millions of locusts.

In other words, it would take at most two months to create a super locust disaster.

Qin Niu casually grabbed a locust.

It was quite large, about the thickness of an adult’s little finger. Green all over, this helped them hide.

The hind legs were strong and muscular, with serrated spines at the end.

When it pushed against Qin Niu’s palm, it was so powerful that it caused him a sharp pain. Brown liquid came out of its mouth, possibly because it had eaten too much and vomited it out with the effort.

“No, these aren’t ordinary locusts! Their mouthparts are not only stronger, but they also conceal two golden streaks beneath their ribs. This must be a new evolved species,” Qin Niu thought.

Qin Niu took out a cage and locked up the female locust.

Then he caught several more, all of the same species of locusts.

Their common characteristics were strong and powerful hind legs, highly developed mouthparts, and a body size that was a bit larger than ordinary locusts.

Moreover, their short-distance flying abilities were also very formidable.

Generally speaking, the stronger the insect, the quicker their digestion.

For instance, those termites Qin Niu was raising now consumed a lot more food due to their special species.

His millet should be ready for harvest in another ten days or so.

They couldn’t be ruined by locusts at this critical juncture. Moreover, if adults laid a large number of eggs in the field, it would definitely pose a serious threat to the next crop.

“Looks like it’s time to get rid of pests again!”

Last time, he only had one Grade Two Lightning Worker Ant available for pest control.

Now, he already had a large number of special ant breeds and even two Grade Three termites.