“Little brother, from your tone, it sounds like you want to play with something big?” A middle-aged vendor wearing a baseball cap happened to overhear Zhou Qi’s words and immediately spoke to him.
“His ears are too sharp,” Zhou Qi muttered to himself, but still said,
“Do you have any fierce insects?”
“You’ve asked the right person. I have a few fierce ones in my shop. Those things can’t be displayed on this stall.”
The vendor said, stepping out from behind his stall and asking the owners of the surrounding stalls to help watch his, then he leaned closer to Zhou Qi and said,
“What do you go by, little brother? My shop is next to the park. How about you come with me to take a look?”
“My surname is Zhou. You can just call me Xiao Zhou.”
Zhou Qi thought about it. Since he had nothing to do anyway, and wandering around here wouldn’t lead to anything, he nodded and followed him.
Along the way, Zhou Qi learned a bit about this vendor.
His name is Li Ruhai, and he not only runs a flower, bird, fish, and insect market business,
but he is also a middleman, helping people resell various medicinal insects and rare creatures not found on the market.
“Hai-ge, what kind of insects usually have the highest demand on your end?” Zhou Qi curiously asked Li Ruhai.
“Currently, Centipedes and Earthworms generally have the highest demand on the market.
Centipedes, you see, can be used for medicine and also for making wine. Our Yingtian’s ‘Martial Arts’ wine is famous nationwide.”
Li Ruhai said, then changed the subject, “So, little brother, do you have connections in this area?”
Li Ruhai was indeed a middleman; his mind quickly turned, and he knew what Zhou Qi wanted to do.
“What are the market prices for these two?” Zhou Qi wondered.
If there was profit to be made, he could also rely on the Evolution Space to become independent, earn money, and rapidly plunder Evolution Points.
“Live Earthworms generally cost around 5-20 yuan per jin depending on their quality, and dried Earthworms are 80 yuan per jin.”
“Live Centipedes: priced per piece, 5 yuan each for those 15 cm or longer, 3 yuan each for 10-14 cm, and 1.5 yuan each for those 10 cm or shorter.
The Martial Arts Winery purchases Centipedes 20 cm or longer, paying 500 yuan per jin. Roughly 15 to 25 Centipedes that are 20 cm or longer make up 1 jin.”
Li Ruhai continuously educated Zhou Qi on the ins and outs.
The Martial Arts Winery purchases Centipedes 20 cm or longer, paying 500 yuan per jin. Roughly 15 to 25 Centipedes that are 20 cm or longer make up 1 jin.”
Li Ruhai continuously educated Zhou Qi on the ins and outs.
…
Zhou Qi thought about it and decided he could try raising Earthworms and Centipedes when he got home.
Soon, the two arrived at a shop with a sign that read “Insect Home.”
The place was near Yingtian Park, with few people around, and it was quite desolate.
“Xiao Zhou, you can look around first. I’ll go inside and find something,” Li Ruhai said, opening the door and inviting Zhou Qi in.
Zhou Qi acknowledged him and began to browse the shop on his own.
The shop wasn't very large, with black display shelves on both sides.
Tiered glass tanks on the shelves displayed various strange creatures that caught his eye through the glass.
On the left was the insect section, where colorful, large stag beetles opened and closed their mandibles among the branches, shiny rhinoceros beetles crawled upwards, and tarantulas quietly lurked in the corners.
On the right was the cold-blooded animal section, where emerald green bearded dragons lay under heating lamps, and corn snakes slithered along the withered branches in their glass tanks.
Zhou Qi walked to the insect section.
In the first row, a giant Centipede with a glossy black body, orange-red legs, a hard exoskeleton, and a pair of long, curved fangs on its head immediately caught Zhou Qi’s attention.
It was larger than Zhou Qi’s entire outstretched palm, easily over 20 centimeters!
A label on the outside of the glass tank read: Annam Giant Centipede.
Below it was an introduction: The Annam Giant Centipede is one of the top five fiercest Centipedes in the world in terms of both size and toxicity.
In the adjacent glass tank was a densely haired, brightly colored spider with a black body and legs, distinct orange-red markings, and eight legs that, when spread out, were the size of a human head.
The label on the outside of the glass tank read: Amazon Giant Bird-Eating Spider!
Its size limited it to catching birds; if this spider were any larger, it would become a man-eating spider.
Zhou Qi walked to another row, marked with “Ants.”
He saw a glass tank labeled Bullet Ant.
Inside were several giant ants, black in appearance, nearly the size of a pinky finger.
These ants resembled wasps but had no wings. They had solid bodies, stiff bristles, large, well-developed stingers on their heads, and organs in their abdomens that produced sound through friction.
“My Digging Ant, even after strengthening to a Five-Tier Ant, isn’t as big as these in their initial state,” Zhou Qi exclaimed in surprise.
This was like the species value in a game; a species with too low a species value, even after several reinforcements, could not be as strong as a Divine Beast in its initial state.
Zhou Qi turned to look at the adjacent glass tank. He recognized this one.
Even without looking at the tank’s label, Zhou Qi knew that with its red exoskeleton and powerful mandibles for cutting and firmly gripping prey on its head,
it was an Army Ant.
This was truly a Divine Artifact for producing troops; an Army Ant Queen could lay 30,000 eggs in a single day!
Now, his Digging Ant Queen, after being strengthened to a Five-Tier Ant Queen, could only produce 1,000 ants per day.
“Hai-ge, do you have an Army Ant Queen?”
Without time to look at anything else, Zhou Qi quickly asked Li Ruhai.
“Ah, Xiao Zhou, which one are you talking about?” Li Ruhai’s faint voice came from inside the shop.
Zhou Qi quickly walked over, “It’s the Army Ant Queen, do you have one?”
“An Army Ant Queen? That, I don’t have,” Li Ruhai said.
Before disappointment could well up on Zhou Qi’s face,
Li Ruhai continued, “If you want one, a friend of mine has one. I’ll ask him to send it over these next few days.”
“Alright, Hai-ge, what’s the price? I’ll reserve it now, and when it arrives, you can call me, and I’ll come pick it up,” Zhou Qi said, delighted.
“This item is quite difficult to acquire. To be honest, you can have it for 8,000 yuan,” Li Ruhai said after thinking.
“8,000?” Zhou Qi wasn’t too surprised by the quote.
An Army Ant Queen was indeed very rare, and what he had earned recently, plus what he had saved during his schooling, amounted to about 30,000 yuan.
After some thought, he agreed.
Subsequently, Zhou Qi also bought 10 Bullet Ants and one Annam Giant Centipede from the shop, totaling 2,000 yuan.
He also bought some Centipede larvae from Li Ruhai, about several hundred, all local Red Head Centipedes, priced at 200 yuan.
Finally, Zhou Qi drove his car from the park. After paying, he put the items into the trunk.
Li Ruhai gave him two glass tanks and a Centipede larva breeding box, so he wouldn’t have to worry about them crawling out.
As for the Army Ant Queen, it would be delivered in two days, and he would pick it up from Li Ruhai then.
This trip cost Zhou Qi a total of 10,200 yuan.
Zhou Qi couldn't contain his excitement. He started the car, ignoring the fact that it was already noon and his stomach was rumbling, and sped home.