Old Friend in the Mine, Dragon Corpse Beetle
Recently, a miner has been wandering around the Cao family's mine.
Moreover, the other party was always drunk, and as soon as he finished work, he would use that pitiful amount of ore to exchange for a bowl of cheap wine to eat.
This man was Fang Shu. He was drinking only to conceal his true intentions.
Because his recent behavior was so different from that of ordinary miners, he wandered around every day and could no longer keep a low profile as before, so he simply disguised himself as an alcoholic.
As expected.
Seeing that he was drunk every day and occasionally asked about treasure hunting, everyone assumed he was just another delusional fool.
The miners and miners had seen plenty of people like this who wanted to get rich quick through mining, and they all thought it was just a joke and didn't think much of it.
Every time Fang Shu finished work and chatted with them, these miners and miners would laugh and say:
"Boss Hu is here!"
Did you find any good ore today? Or did you manage to get enough capital to open a shop?
Fang Shu didn't argue with these people. He pretended to be a mine owner who hadn't yet become rich. He kept bragging to them and subtly trying to find out all sorts of information about the mine from them.
After a while, he feigned a hint of impatience and said, "When I become rich, don't say I didn't help you guys out!"
"Hahaha!" The others were even more delighted to see this and burst into laughter several times.
This day.
Fang Shu work as usual. He hadn't seen the Gold-Seeking Insect in the mine for four or five days, nor had he found any trace of them. He couldn't help but wonder if he had looked in the wrong place, or if his "Beauty Insect Stratagem" was simply not going to work.
He pondered to himself, "According to the book, the Gold-Seeking Insect is both male and female, and can reproduce on its own if there are no other insects. But if there are other insects, it will definitely mate with other Gold-Seeking Insect to produce offspring... This shouldn't be the case."
After four or five days of making no progress, Fang Shu lost interest and began to feel that he had wasted too much time here.
At the liquor stalls, as the weather grew colder and a cold rain fell last night, more people were drinking, but the atmosphere was somewhat subdued compared to the previous few days.
When everyone saw "Boss Hu" return looking dejected, like a wilted eggplant, they assumed he was about to give up on his grand ambitions. After laughing for a while, they went back to drinking and chatting.
Fang Shu mingled in the crowd, then suddenly his gaze shifted, looking towards a corner of the crowd.
There he saw a familiar face.
The other person had no money to buy wine, so he just huddled in the crowd, craning his neck to look at the wine stall and smell the aroma of the wine, seemingly hoping to get some of the wine dregs at the bottom of the vat to eat.
This person was quite disliked by the other drinkers:
"Go away, get out of here!"
"You rotten ass, don't spoil our drinking mood."
The man, after being spoken to like that, dared not say another word. He simply lowered his head, clenched his buttocks, and moved a few steps to the side.
This man was none other than Tian Tianquan, the boatman who had come to Tian Tianquan Guling Town Fang Shu.
No one knows when, but this person has fallen so low as to come to the mine to dig for ore.
Furthermore, Fang Shu looked at Tian Tianquan's appearance and found that the other party was not even a miner, but had been sold to the mine and become a mining slave. He just didn't know whether he had signed a long-term contract of one year or many years.
Fang Shu was momentarily moved and glanced at Tian Tianquan a few more times.
But he didn't meddle in other people's business. He was just a "miner" himself, and going up to get to know the other party and start a conversation would only ruin his plans.
After a while of drinking...
The miners and miners scattered like crows, some returning to their cages, others going into their tunnels, and a new batch of black crows flew in and landed in front of the liquor stall to buy wine and eat.
That night, Fang Shu, while following the insects, finally noticed something amiss!
He wandered over to a corner that a miner had casually mentioned, and suddenly the Tagalong Insect wiggled and lay down on the rock wall.
After shaking its body, the insect drew circles in front of Fang Shu, as if to inform him of something.
"The same scent?!" Fang Shu shifted slightly as he clearly saw the insect circle.
He quickly stepped forward, letting the Tagalong Insect follow the lingering scent a few more steps.
The scent seemed to linger for long; the Tagalong Insect crawled along the rock wall, quickly leaving a clear line.
Fang Shu followed the worm trail deeper into the mine, where he encountered some crevices. He used his pickaxe to pry open the crevices and saw a few grains of Gold-Seeking Insect droppings hanging on the rock wall.
This sign thoroughly delighted him. "There really are insects here!"
For several days in a row, the gloom of having accomplished nothing vanished from him, replaced by a surge of energy and boundless anticipation.
However, the more he realized there were insects there, the more Fang Shu stopped digging. He even cleaned up the surrounding area to prevent others from seeing the insect droppings.
The next two or three days.
Fang Shu simply stayed inside the mine, never leaving, and intensified his efforts to scare away insects.
Since he never reappeared at the liquor stall, the other miners didn't think he had reformed or had struck it lucky; they simply assumed he had died in the cave.
The miners and drinkers sighed in disappointment, saying, "With Boss Hu gone, we've lost one of our favorite sources of entertainment."
However, the Tian Tianquan that used to beg for leftover wine dregs quickly replaced Fang Shu and became the new source of amusement for the local wine stalls.
"Hey! You rotten ass! I heard you used to be a pimp, why did you stop?"
"Heh! I know about that. He was sold into the brothel when he came here. The people there said so."
"Yes, yes, this guy had a fellow villager who was considered the second-best guy at their brothel. But this guy tricked his fellow villager into selling him to a rich woman, who almost ruined him... He offended the brothel, so he got sold into the brothel too."
In the freezing cold, the shivering drinkers found amusement, and the atmosphere suddenly became much more lively.
Fueled by alcohol, their faces flushed, and they temporarily forgot the hardships of mining in this place, filling the air with a joyful atmosphere.
On the other side...
Fang Shu within the mine, Fang Shu felt a surge of excitement.
But his body remained as still as a stone, quietly crouching in a corner, having not moved all night.
Its heartbeat was weak, and its breathing was barely perceptible, like that of an old tortoise.
The only thing moving in this tunnel was the Tagalong Insect disguised as Gold-Seeking Insect.
That Tagalong Insect wanders around here, occasionally spinning in circles as if posing for attention.
A faint odor wafted from the Tagalong Insect through the dark wind blowing through the tunnel.
Finally.
A faint Golden Light emerged from a crevice in the rock wall at the end of the tunnel. At first, it was weak, but after confirming that there was nothing unusual about the place, the Golden Light suddenly became brighter, about the size of a bean, and flickered.
This object is the Gold-Seeking Insect hidden here.
It was finally caught by Fang Shu!
Once it was safe, the Gold-Seeking Insect couldn't wait to pounce and fly into the air to accompany the Tagalong Insect.
Its full appearance also appeared in Fang Shu's eyes. It looked different from the flesh worm described in the book. Its whole body looked like a sharp tooth, somewhat like a beetle.
This caused Fang Shu, who was usually calm, to slightly waver in surprise, his gaze revealing a hint of emotion.
According to the "Dragon-Seeking Gold-Finding Art," the mature form of the Dragon-Seeking Gold-Finding Insect, though possessing a physical appearance, resembles a corpse beetle and is also known as the "Dragon Corpse Beetle."
However, when it is born, it looks like a strip of meat, an earthworm, or a maggot. Only after it has eaten enough spiritual ore, especially after it has obtained "Dragon Qi" and has devoured the dragon's corpse, will it change and grow into various shapes depending on the part of the dragon's corpse it has devoured.
Furthermore, fresh dragon corpses are often not available for this creature to consume.
The dragon carcasses that the Gold-Seeking Insect feed on are often limbs, bone fragments, or even fossils. Therefore, mature Gold-Seeking Insect usually transform into beetle-like creatures.
The Gold-Seeking Insect that appeared before Fang Shu was shaped like sharp teeth, and it looked remarkably similar to the mature corpse beetle described in the "Dragon-Seeking Gold-Finding Art"!
"Could there really be the remains of a dragon here?" a thought crossed his mind.
Lost in thought, Fang Shu's heart was churning with turmoil, but his demeanor remained even more composed and restrained.
The Gold-Seeking Insect flew to the side of the Tagalong Insect, and at the Tagalong Insect's invitation, the two beetles circled and flew together.
Perhaps because it had never seen this insect before, the Gold-Seeking Insect was completely unaware of anything amiss and was utterly captivated by the Tagalong Insect.
Wherever the Tagalong Insect flies, it flies too, extremely obedient, chasing after the Tagalong Insect's tail.
Before long, the two insects flew to Fang Shu's face.
Fang Shu lowered his eyelids, his gaze concealing its intensity.
Instead of rushing to catch it, he suddenly opened his right hand, and another insect flew up and crashed into the Gold-Seeking Insect.
The two insects collided, Gold-Seeking Insect immediately became crooked and wobbly.
But when it discovered that the one that bumped into it was also an insect, it flew into a rage and began to show off its power in front of the Tagalong Insect, chasing after the strange insect and biting it without flinching.
But as the fight went on, Gold-Seeking Insect was displaying its skills, it found itself dizzy. It seemed to be drunk, and it was flying erratically.
It finally realized something was wrong, its lust subsided, and ignoring the beautiful insect that had been following it, it swayed and slipped away, burrowing into the rock wall.
The second insect that Fang Shu released was none other than the Sleepy Insect.
Watching the Gold-Seeking Insect disappear into the rock face, Fang Shu showed no impatience; instead, the anticipation in his eyes grew even stronger.