Gu Ma took Ajie and Li Mo to the orchard of their tribe.
It is said to be a fruit forest, but it is actually an area in the center of the forest.
There are exceptionally tall and straight trees growing in the middle. The leaves are wide and spread out, slightly curved, like giant bird claws. It not only resembles, but also attracts birds, which is also the origin of the name of the bird's claw tree.
Strings of light green fruits hang between the leaves.
These fruits are finger-thick and clustered, like some kind of natural jewelry.
Guma and his tribe members began to climb up the tree flexibly. They will move closer and talk to the fruit.
"How's it going? Are you ready? Not yet? Oh, you guy, you are really courageless."
"With such a sweet voice, you are a rare treasure. Let me pick you off and start the next stage of reproduction."
"No, you are still too young, still growing, and your voice is sour and vague. Let's talk about it in a few months."
…
In the eyes of others, these ant-men seem to be talking to themselves.
They carefully removed the bunches of ripe fruits from the trees and put them into the baskets on their backs.
Li Mo asked through the safety suit: "These trees can't survive in other places, right?"
"Yes, before I came here, many people from other civilizations had tried this."
Ajie reminded again: "Young Master Mo, you must never take off these clothes and protection, and you must not have contact with the locals."
"Especially the women here are not allowed to be touched."
The locals of Volut are passionate and bold in style and develop very early. Many people who came here for the first time found it easy to get involved with local women and indulge in lust, and as a result, they also contracted the Volut Plague.
Outsiders do not have the physical strength and resistance of locals. If they get the plague, they will die within a week.
Even if he goes back, he will be inspected by the descendants of Sedilia and his followers. They were keenly aware of symptoms and would immediately lock up the sick until they were dead, buried and burned.
Li Mo said: "I have no interest in women. I am here to discuss business."
His eyes were fixed on the bird's claw tree.
Ajie felt relieved. Li Mo's appearance and age are easy for people to overlook, but it seems that he is here to inspect for the family behind him.
"Brother Jack."
The other party's claims made Ajie a little frightened. If a young master was arrogant and domineering, he would feel more at ease. But the other party's calm and polite attitude made him a little unsure.
"Call me Ajie."
"Ajie." Li Mo said, "Why do Sedilia believers open this passage?"
"This. They originally wanted to move this [Sedilia's Stone Statue Array] back. But that wonder is composed of stone statues. Each one is at least the size of a two-story house. Not to mention, it is also trapped in It is underground, and it is very difficult to excavate and transport it on a large scale. When you touch it, you will also hear the ravings of the ancient god, which will make people crazy and weak."
While observing the locals picking fruits, Ajie said: "They wanted to hire locals to carry them, but there was hunger disease here, and there were poisons everywhere, and it was difficult to move. Later, we [Wanli Chamber of Commerce] ] Cooperate step by step.”
Most of the followers of Sedilia are fanatics, and they have mastered some strange rituals and spells from the ancient gods' whispers. Relatively speaking, negotiation and cooperation are their weaknesses.
After the guild president Albi reached an agreement with the Sedilia divine descendant Courtree, many businessmen in the guild came here to test the waters, but until now, only Ajie has been running this trade route for a long time.
The reason is that the local ant-people in Volut are difficult to deal with.
Normal people don't get their recognition at all.
When Ajie discussed cooperation with Guma, the leader of the fire ant tribe here, he was offended by the other party's rude and arrogant attitude and arrogance.
It was as if he was begging them.
After doing this for a long time, I’m here to beg for food?
Ajie and Guma started fighting after they exchanged words.
The other party is also very good at martial arts, so he challenged him to a duel with Inuchi.
In the end, Ajie was unable to beat the tall, powerful and endurance-talented lone horse, but he was looked down upon by the opponent.
"Very good, very brave. You look like the Fire Ant Man. From today on, you are our friend of the Fire Ant Tribe."
Gu Ma patted Ajie, who was wearing protective clothing: "You are a man, what can other outsiders say? You don't even dare to fight, what else do you dare to do?"
"We ant people are not afraid of death, and our friends must be brave enough."
In this way, a connection and friendship were established.
It is difficult for normal businessmen to open up land here.
Looking back, Ajie also found it thrilling.
What if Gu Ma punched himself that day and seriously injured him, or if his protective clothing was damaged that day, or even if Gu Ma felt unhappy and chopped himself up to make fertilizer for fruit trees... either way would be a dead end.
After going through the most difficult part, Ajie later exchanged the food purchased from the Secret Art Country for some local products.
Local exports include various leathers, native herbs and fruits, among which fruits such as bird's claw fruit are the most popular among buyers.
It can eliminate certain negative effects, has high practical value, and is sweet and delicious. It is an unprecedented variety of fruit in the Yao people, and it has become an expensive food in the country of secret arts.
However, the bird's claw fruit only bears fruit twice a year, and it is difficult to preserve it after being picked, making it difficult to further increase the yield.
Li Mo was puzzled: "Why not consider picking it and preserving it by pickling?"
"Young Master Mo, look."
Ajie motioned to the other party to look under the tree.
There were several women with gem pendants hanging around their necks. They were spreading bunches of bird's claw fruits on bird's claw leaves, then gathering the leaves on a wide dustpan, and then lifting them to the empty space aside. on the ground.
There were wooden boxes stacked there.
Small fiery red ants crawled out of the beehive-like box, and they soon covered the bird's claw fruit and began to bite.
Li Mo thought thoughtfully: "Are they processing fresh fruits?"
"You could say the same thing."
Ajie said: "It seems that Master Mo has done some research on these. There are some tiny toxin particles in the bird's claw fruit. All the toxins are concentrated in those small black thorns and evenly distributed in the fruit. These fire ants are in Take out those poison sacs. At the same time, they will also take out some seeds, so that the Bird Claw Fruit can have a chance to grow into a tree in the land."
"Fire ants are very poisonous. After they bite, people will feel like being burned by fire. The wound will continue to swell, even bleed and the mouth and tongue will be paralyzed. Severe cases can lead to death."
Ajie looked at the small and busy insects: "This is also the reason for the name Ant Man. In Volut, different tribes will coexist with different ant colonies, and they are mainly divided into two branches."
"One is to stay with fire ants like the fire ant tribe here. Fire ants can protect fruit trees and will also attack birds, snakes, monkeys and other creatures that eat the fruits. But they recognize the scent of their own ant people, and they don't It will hurt people here.”
"There is also a branch of seed ants. Breed ants usually live underground. They store various seeds and plant those seeds. Breed ants use toxins to identify suitable species, and they collect many seeds. All are of great planting value.”
"Some tribes live together with species of ants and obtain food through large-scale planting... Just because of the effects of hunger disease, it is still not enough. People here will eat more and more, and the more they eat, the weaker they will be, but it is easy hunger."
Li Mo glanced between the ant colony and the fruits in the dustpan, and then turned his attention to the bird's claw tree.
"You mean, after removing the poison sac, the bird's claw fruit can be eaten?"
"That's right."
Ajie is not secretive about this. His core business route is his friendship with Guma, and other aspects are not worth mentioning.
At this time, three men came out of the house carrying small dark brown barrels with lids on them. They walked cautiously to the other side of the forest.
Li Mo said: "Are they fetching water?"
"No. The barrel contains antidote for sale."
"Oh? Do you still have this ability?" Li Mo said casually: "Drugs themselves are necessities in many worlds. You can also buy a lot of food by relying on medicines, right?"
Ajie shook his head: "The amount of antidote is very small. If it can't fill the gap, this bottomless pit will be like this."
“Herbs are hard to find and grow?”
"This... come with me, you will know after you see it."
Ajie followed him all the way to the other side of the forest ahead.
There are some men from the Fire Ant tribe over there, bargaining with three outsiders.
The outsider is tall, wearing a white robe, a beak mask and a black hat, holding a staff as tall as a person, like some kind of monk.
The masked man in charge said: "How much medicine weighs, how much food we give, these are the rules."
The men in the fire ant department are on the edge: "These are the freshest medicines, just made by men. You won't suffer. The medicine is strong and the effect is the same as before. Please give more."
The other party refused to budge: "I will give you as much medicine as you want."
In the end, the man from the Fire Ant Department was really embarrassed and wanted to say harsh words, but couldn't. Finally, he took off the dagger wrapped in cowhide from his waist, gritted his teeth and handed it to the other party.
The person opposite took it, looked it over and put it away.
A masked man behind him took the barrel and put it into a silver barrel behind him to cover it.
The long staff in the other person's hand hit the ground, and the soil suddenly rose up, forming a giant snake of earth element. The big snake swallowed the silver bucket in one gulp, then lowered its head and let the two people walk up its back.
When he saw Ajie, the leading man nodded slightly.
Ajie nodded in return.
The other party left with the giant snake, and wooden carts filled with bags of wheat flowed out of the giant snake's body.
"Which world do these people come from?" The clever Li Mo had already figured out the clues.
"They are believers of the Greek mythological god [Cepo's Staff]. The leader is the hero Fanel. They came here to buy the medicine here."
Ajie saw that the man who used the dagger to pay the difference had a happy face and was pushing the cart back.
He said: "The core raw material of that special antidote is the blood of the ant-man, and it must be fresh blood, preferably adult male. After some filtration and removal of impurities, it is a usable antidote."
Li Mo was stunned: "Are they selling blood?"
"You have to live and you have to eat."
Ajie said softly: "These are the ant people, but don't pity them, otherwise they will break off relations with you. When a person is penniless, dignity is his last treasure."
Ant-men are such a group of smelly and tough people.
Survive in the poisonous pool of Volut.
Without this last bit of pride, they would have turned into humanoid beasts controlled by appetite.
In the evening, the men and women of the Fire Ant Club danced, played drums, sang songs, and ate hot potatoes that filled the table.
Being full will make the ant-man forget all his worries and never worry about things that have not yet come.
Meanwhile, Ajie was finally able to get back to the car, take off his heavy helmet, and wipe the sweat from his face and neck with a towel. He relaxed his breathing a little and drank gulps of water.
In the passenger seat, Li Mo was still looking at the light in the forest, silent.
Ajie poured a sip of wine into his mouth and said, "We can go back now. Is it almost done, Mr. Mo?"
"Wait a moment."
Li Mo said: "I want to find out their living conditions and...whether it is worth helping them."
really.
Ajie didn't care: "Master Mo, I have to remind you that several gods have inspected this place, including the [Cepo's Staff] from Greek mythology, the [Mercy Maid] from Nordic mythology, and the [Mercy Maid] from heavenly mythology. Shen Nong]... are all famous gods, and they have no way to solve the problem here. Don’t have high expectations.”
"That's them."
Li Mo said lightly: "We are different."
Ajie was stunned.
The other party emphasized again: "We Yao people are different."
Ajie felt envious when he saw the unabashed confidence and taken-for-grantedness in Li Mo's eyes.
When encountering disasters, normal people would stay away from them, but the Yao people like to search for and tame disasters. They even want to put natural disasters that destroy the world into the laboratory for dissection.
This is the Yao people who rely on the god Yao.
A superior person from the Kingdom of Secrets.
(End of chapter)
