Chapter 218: Earth-Eating Silkworms and the Flower Boat Unreal City
John arrived at the inner city core area, respectfully bowing towards the place where Divine Envoy Bowen once resided.
He opened his mouth and said:
“Divine Envoy Karl, I have arrived.”
“Come in!”
“Yes.”
John responded and pushed open the stone door, which was somewhat heavy for him, and came before Karl, who was sitting cross-legged on a stone platform.
Some dust floated in the empty room.
Looking closely.
The dust seemed to swirl and spiral like galaxies in the air, occasionally sprinkling some onto the ground.
This is…
John’s eyes flickered slightly:
‘Divine Stone powder!’
‘Uncle Chim from the mine said that the Divine Stones mined in the past half-month have all been ground into powder. Is Divine Envoy Karl going to use them?’
“How is your cultivation of the breeding technique going?”
The question brought John back to his senses.
“Reporting to the Divine Envoy,”
he said in a low voice:
“I have grasped the basics, but I don’t have any flesh worms to experiment with, so I’m not sure to what extent.”
“Heh…” Karl chuckled lightly:
“You are quite clever. If you hadn’t given the flesh worms to your sweetheart back then, you would probably have succeeded by now.”
“Oh well!”
Waving his hand, he tossed out an object:
“This is an earth-eating silkworm that I have improved. I used the genes of flesh worms, ant queens, and a few other creatures.”
“You wouldn’t understand even if I explained it, so just try to raise it well.”
“This is the method!”
Karl flicked his finger, and a stream of light entered John’s forehead, transforming into some operating experience that was instilled into his memory.
“Mm!”
John only felt a heaviness in his head, as if a wooden mallet had struck it, and his body involuntarily leaned back.
When he recovered, he suddenly had some new knowledge in his mind.
This is…
Such a miraculous method!
“Yes.”
Steadying himself, he nodded firmly:
“I will definitely raise it well.”
The Unreal City is currently facing a severe food shortage. The flesh worms laid by the mother worms have all been chopped up and mixed with mud to be shared.
Even with the enhanced digestive abilities of the Unreal City inhabitants, they cannot extract nutrients from the soil.
Eating soil,
only gives people the feeling of a full stomach.
The earth-eating silkworm was about the size of a palm. According to the experience that Karl had transmitted, this creature was very delicate.
It could only survive in specific temperature and humidity conditions, and its movement speed was incredibly slow.
Therefore…
Someone had to prepare food for it.
Fortunately, just like its name, the earth-eating silkworm’s main food was soil.
The earth-eating silkworms in their larval stage needed to eat finely sieved soil. Mixing the fine soil with water to create a mud slurry of a certain consistency was its food.
Holding the ‘earth-eating silkworm,’ John quickly went to the city’s breeding room and adjusted the humidity and temperature.
He mixed water with soil and carefully poured it into the nest.
“Glub, glub…”
Bubbles rose in the mud slurry, and the plump, pinkish-white earth-eating silkworm rolled over and quickly contracted its body.
It had no mouth.
Its skin surface had many tiny holes, like tiny mouths, that absorbed the mud slurry.
Very quickly.
It had swallowed half of the prepared mud slurry.
“What a big appetite!”
John was not surprised but delighted. A good appetite meant it was healthy, and in just a short while, the earth-eating silkworm had grown a size larger.
In the following days, John took care of the earth-eating silkworm day and night, not daring to be negligent in the slightest.
One day.
The earth-eating silkworm, now the size of a human head, gently moved its body, and a layer of gelatinous substance appeared on its skin.
“Meat jelly!”
John’s eyes lit up.
This gelatinous substance was the nutritious product that could be consumed by humans, which Karl called meat jelly.
Carefully scraping off the meat jelly, he had harvested a full bowl on his first attempt.
“According to the knowledge in my mind, a mature earth-eating silkworm can secrete meat jelly four times a day, which is four large bowls, enough to provide the energy needed for a dozen people to survive for a day.”
“And its body will grow larger later, and the meat jelly production will also increase.”
John scraped off a bit of meat jelly with his finger and put it in his mouth. He carefully tasted it for a moment before slowly saying:
“There’s a slight meaty taste. No wonder it’s called meat jelly.”
A few days later.
With a sufficient supply of mud slurry, the earth-eating silkworm grew as if it had been inflated, and now it was comparable to a two-year-old child.
Each time he scraped off the meat jelly, he harvested a full twenty bowls!
Although it was far from enough to supply all the Unreal City inhabitants, it was already comparable to the cultivated flesh worms.
“Half a month.”
John held a carving knife, writing and drawing on a stone slab:
“For the first three to four days, someone needs to watch over it at all times, and it does not produce any jelly.”
“This is the larval stage.”
“The mature stage lasts seven to eight days. During this time, its body expands rapidly, and the jelly production also increases greatly.”
“Next…”
“Is the decline stage!”
Looking at the earth-eating silkworm in front of him, a complex emotion flashed in John’s eyes.
After taking care of it for over ten days, day and night without rest, he had developed some feelings for this thing.
***
But he knew.
The decline stage of the earth-eating silkworm came very quickly. Its short lifespan was the main reason it did not undergo mutations.
The once plump and pinkish skin had now become rough and tight, and it no longer produced jelly.
“Puff!”
Suddenly.
A crack appeared on the surface of the earth-eating silkworm’s skin, and then, as if it had been deflated, the plump, round earth-eating silkworm began to collapse inward, and its body shattered and scattered.
John did not wallow in sad emotions. He cheered himself up, pushed aside the earth-eating silkworm’s corpse and skin, and carefully picked up three tiny larvae from within.
The newborn earth-eating silkworms were only a few times larger than ants. If one did not look closely, they would even be overlooked.
Three days later.
The earth-eating silkworms had once again reached the size they were when John received them from Karl.
However, the newborn earth-eating silkworms were too delicate. Even with John’s meticulous care, one still died.
Four days later.
They began to secrete jelly.
Ten days later,
two earth-eating silkworms died, leaving behind five offspring. This time, John had experience, and four of them survived.
…………
John walked out of the breeding room. After not sleeping or resting for a long time, he was mentally exhausted, and his feet felt unsteady.
He stood at the door in a daze for a long time before slowly regaining his senses.
Rubbing his swollen head, he walked towards the reservoir.
“Mr. John!”
“John!”
“……”
Along the way, the city’s residents greeted him one after another, their attitudes warm, and some even had a hint of flattery.
They had all seen for themselves whose efforts had led to the recent sufficient food supply in the Unreal City.
Besides Divine Envoy Karl,
it was John!
“Joe!”
“Aunt Enpei!”
“Hello.”
John enjoyed the people’s attitude towards him very much. He smiled and waved to greet them one by one, and his exhausted spirit was lifted.
“Hey!”
“Yo!”
“Do it again!”
Shouts rang out from ahead.
John’s eyes lit up, and he quickly walked over.
“Abe!”
He nodded to one of the people in the field:
“Are you building another reservoir?”
“Yes.”
Abe was tall and had a simple, honest face. He grinned and nodded:
“Including this reservoir, there will be five reservoirs in the city. We will build a few more in the future.”
“Then drinking water will no longer be a problem.”
“Good!” John rubbed his hands together, his face full of excitement:
“That’s great!”
“I wonder if we can build one near my breeding room. You know, the earth-eating silkworms need a lot of water.”
“The next one is going to be there.” Abe said:
“Uncle Makin said that your breeding room needs to be expanded, and it’s very likely that it will be moved to a new location.”
“We’ll build the reservoir after the location has been decided.”
“Is that so?” John grinned, his face full of smiles:
“With water and food, we can survive even if we don’t leave the Unreal City.”
“Yes!” Abe nodded, his gaze turning towards the core of the Unreal City, his eyes full of reverence:
“It’s all thanks to Divine Envoy Karl’s gifts!”
“Mm.”
John nodded firmly.
He was now extremely grateful that he had met Karl in the wilderness, or the Unreal City would not be what it is today.
Not to mention the earth-eating silkworms, which were now able to steadily provide the daily nutrients needed by the city’s inhabitants.
And the reservoirs…
In the past, they could only hire others to build them at a high price. Now, Divine Envoy Karl had taught them the method of building them.
The new reservoirs had a better water storage effect and were more convenient.
“Look!”
At this moment, someone suddenly looked up at the sky, pointed a finger, and revealed a look of excitement:
“It’s the Flower Boat!”
“The Flower Boat, a mobile Unreal City, they’ve come to our place.”
Flower Boat?
John’s heart stirred.
He had heard the elders in the city say that in this world, there was a type of Unreal City that could move in the air.
The Unreal City was full of women, and they would travel to various Unreal Cities, using the women on the boat to exchange for resources.
The last time the Flower Boat came to the Unreal City was more than twenty years ago, before John was even born.
“I heard that the women on the Flower Boat get pregnant easily, and they have a way to shorten the pregnancy period to within three months.”
“The offspring they give birth to are also healthier.”
Someone muttered:
“Will the Flower Boat make a deal with us?”
