According to the climate, the maple forest should not look so exhausted and weak at the moment, like an old man surviving in the cold wind, with withered and wrinkled hands and feet, and more dead leaves shaking off in the wind.
Xie Xiaojuan didn't notice anything was wrong yet, so she continued to approach a maple tree that looked different with a special dagger.
"Look, Mimi, this one looks very different. The other tree trunks are all gray, but this one is brown. Why does it still have eyes?"
Su Mi pulled Xie Xiaojuan back and became alert every day.
At this time, Zhuangzhuang suddenly slid off the rabbit's back, pointing his little finger to a certain place on the tree trunk and shouting "oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Su Mi also noticed a different feeling. At this time, traces of gray cotton wool, which were extremely difficult to detect, began to float in the air of the forest.
She looked at the different-looking tree trunk again, and the tree suddenly changed its appearance again.
The original brown turned into gray again, and the "scars" that originally looked like natural scabs on the tree trunks also clearly transformed into what Xie Xiaojuan called "eyes."
"Everyone come back."
What she discovered made her skin crawl and make her feel sick.
"The 'eyes' on the tree trunk are the patterns on the moth's wings. That layer of color on the tree is all responsible for the discoloration of the moth's wings."
This tree was densely occupied by moths.
Xie Xiaojuan quickly picked Zhuang Zhuang up and said, "Mimi, what should we do?"
"I originally thought that it would be easy if there were only maple forests on this island. But now it seems that there must be some difficult mutant creatures on every island."
Su Mi was always ready to take Xie Xiaojuan and the others who were surrounding her into the space, but soldiers had been stationed at several entrances and exits, and they had not noticed anything unusual in the tree yet.
"I don't know if it's just this tree or if it's on every tree."
Zhuangzhuang was still restless in Xie Xiaojuan's arms and screamed "Aoao". They waited vigilantly for a long time, but the moths remained motionless.
"Sister, why don't they attack us?"
Su Mi is also very strange. Mutated creatures are usually very aggressive, especially when their territory is invaded, they will definitely launch an attack. But the soldiers have been on the island for a long time, and they even collected a lot of maple sap here without being attacked.
"Zhuangzhuang is so small, no matter how powerful he is, he can't control so many moths at the same time." As he said this, he threw a piece of spiritual water and sprinkled it on the tree trunk.
After being showered with water, the moths raised their wings and began to flap wildly. But it just doesn't leave the trunk.
Su Mi carefully approached and observed that the mouthparts under the heads of these moths were inserted into the tree trunks. The mouthparts looked transparent off-white, and brown liquid was transported upward from the bottom of the mouthparts and entered the abdomens of the moths.
Do they feed on maple sap?
"That's it." Su Mi breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Don't be afraid, these moths have formed a cyclical symbiotic relationship with the maple trees and will not attack us."
The sugar content of maple sap is very high. After smoking, you need to find a water source to clean the sugar in your mouthparts, otherwise your mouthparts will be stuck with sugar.
When Su Mi arrived, she knew that there was no inland lake near this island, and if moths wanted to drink water, they would have to fly to another adjacent island. The time spent flying is enough for their mouthparts to become sticky with sugar. Once they stick, they will end up starving to death.
Therefore, from the moment this group of moths chooses to suck maple sap, they can only continue sucking and let the liquid in their mouthparts continue to flow to ensure that their "straws" will not get stuck.
Su Mi used her feet to pull away the dead leaves on the ground, and Xie Xiaojuan exclaimed.
"Look, Mimi, there are many moth corpses on the ground."
There are layers of dead leaves on the ground, with the ones at the bottom rotting first. They are piled up layer by layer, and the top ones cover them, which also covers up part of the smell of humus.
The moth corpses are on top of this layer of humus.
Su Mi squatted down and cleared away the layers of dead leaves, then pushed aside some moth corpses and dug up a layer of humus.
The soil loosened, and oval, round and plump cocoons were buried in the soil under the humus.
"Is this the cocoon of these moths?" Xie Xiaojuan picked up a cocoon, then raised it and looked at the sky to observe it carefully.
"There really is something like silkworms inside. It should be the larvae of this moth, right?"
"Wow, sister, come and see, there are a lot of cocoons here!" Tiantian imitated Su Mi and squatted on the ground to dig hard. He held several cocoons in his little hands, but the color was not brown, but white and pink. , and black.
Su Mi put the few cocoons she had in her hands and the cocoons she dug out every day into the space and buried them in the black soil.
"See if there are any cocoons under other trees."
Seeing that there was no danger, Xie Xiaojuan put Zhuangzhuang back on the rabbit's back, and then began to squat on the ground and dig.
"Sister, there are only a lot of cocoons in the ground under this tree, and there are only a few in other places."
In the space, the cocoon that Su Mi had just taken in quickly burst open from the inside, and gray fat worms emerged from the soil. They also have a pair of wings hanging down on their backs.
When they were completely free from the soil, they began to lie motionless on the soil. But soon, as their wings dried, they began to flutter.
The moth looked dusty at first, but when it opened its wings, all the original gray color on its wings disappeared, reflecting colorful laser light in the sunlight. But the next second, the color of their wings changed back to gray again, and finally became the same color as the soil.
These moths also form protective colors that match their environment.
Xie Xiaojuan's exclamation interrupted her thoughts. When she came back to her senses, she saw that the dead leaves on the ground on the other side of the maple tree were bulging, and an exaggerated gray moth looked at them with a pair of dark eyes.
Zhuang Zhuang shouted excitedly, while Su Mi was wary and wanted to take everyone into the space first. This moth was much larger than her mutant golden cicada, and only a little smaller than the wild rabbit.
However, before she could make a move, the giant hare that was peaceful just now suddenly kicked off its hind legs and rushed directly towards the giant moth that emerged from the soil.
The giant moth was about to run away as soon as it spread its wings, its gray feather wings flapped, and the silky fluff in the air looked much more obvious.
"Cover your mouth and don't breathe in the fluff."
Su Mi didn't know if these fuzz were poisonous or if they would have any harmful effects on the body. But it’s never wrong to be careful.
The rabbit kicked its legs again and plopped down the huge moth that had already flown into the air. Then the huge rabbit's body pressed down on the moth, its front legs stepped on its wings, and it started to chew furiously.
Not to mention Tiantian and Xie Xiaojuan, even Su Mi felt sore after seeing this scene.
