Our neighborhood has been transported again.

Chapter 104 Forest Mayflies

Back in the living room, Qin Ziwen took a hairdryer to the solar panel battery, dried his hair and body, and changed into clean clothes.

A level 1 tailor shop requires a 5x4 area, and there are no tailors available right now, so there's no rush.

However, this fishpond can raise more fish, and there is a growth boost; the more fish you raise, the faster they will reproduce.

While our community is right by the river and fish resources are plentiful, we should raise more fish.

[Level 1 Fishpond: Level 1 fish comfort, Level 1 fish growth increase]

However, if you want to buy fish in large quantities, you can't do it alone, and catching fish with fish traps is too slow.

We still need to find a way to acquire live fish.

After making up his mind, he summoned the harpy eagle and prepared to take it to the rooftop to see if the cards in the mountain cave had refreshed.

As I went upstairs, I ran into Zhao Pu, who was coming downstairs.

“Mr. Qin,” Zhao Pu said happily, “I was just about to look for you. Oh, is this a harpy eagle? It’s grown so much in just a few days.”

Qin Ziwen chuckled, "Let's go to the rooftop?"

“Okay.” Zhao Pu followed, and the two went to the rooftop. Qin Ziwen put his phone into the harpy eagle’s chest, then whispered some instructions in its ear before the harpy eagle flew into the sky.

Zhao Pu glanced enviously at the eagle's retreating figure.

What an intelligent and perceptive pet! It can even fly. It's the only one in the whole neighborhood. With its phone on its chest, it becomes a scout in the sky—it's practically cheating!

Qin Ziwen asked, "Dr. Zhao, if I want to buy some live fish in the neighborhood, do you have any connections?"

"Live fish?" Zhao Pu's expression hardened. "Mr. Qin, you may not know this, but since yesterday, a strange insect has appeared in the river near our community. This insect is very aggressive and attacks various creatures in and around the water. Fewer people are going to the river now."

"Insects in the water?" Qin Ziwen found the connection between these five words rather strange.

There are some aquatic insects in the water, but they are mostly food for fish.

Zhao Pu said, "Yes, this kind of insect is very large, almost a meter long, and it looks a bit like a mayfly larva. It is completely black and has two large mouthparts at the front. Someone killed this kind of insect and put it at the entrance of the community. I went to see it, and it looks a bit scary."

Listening to Zhao Pu's description, Qin Ziwen felt a sense of familiarity for some reason.

"Let's go down and check." Qin Ziwen looked up. It wouldn't take the harpy eagle long to come and go. He would wait for it to return upstairs.

Not long after, the harpy eagle flew back.

Upon returning, the harpy eagle kept calling out urgently, as if it had been frightened.

Qin Ziwen quickly checked and found that it had no injuries or signs of a struggle.

"what happened?"

Upon hearing Qin Ziwen's voice, the harpy eagle buried its head in his chest and whimpered incessantly.

"Alright, alright, sweetie, let me see." I gently patted its square head, took out my phone, and checked the video recording.

After the harpy eagle took to the sky, it encountered the black falcon again. However, this time the black falcons were smarter. They just circled at a distance and did not get close. There was no conflict between the two sides.

The harpy eagle then came to the cave entrance, stood quietly, and kept adjusting its posture to make the camera capture a clearer image.

"Huh." Qin Ziwen saw three points of light flash and disappear in the depths of the cave.

Apart from one white light, there were two golden lights; the gray light from yesterday had disappeared.

It seems that if the cards at the altar are not taken away on the day of the event, new cards will be refreshed the next day.

But why are there three points of light this time?

He pressed pause and selected 0.5x playback speed.

The two golden lights were found to be not too far apart, with a white light in between them.

But as he repeatedly dragged the progress bar, he discovered from other angles that the golden light spot did not seem to overlap with the white light spot, but was located further behind.

Suddenly, the two golden spots of light disappeared for a moment, and he frowned.

I paused the video and watched it several times, then a chill suddenly ran down my spine.

Holy crap, that looks like an eye!

Qin Ziwen handed his phone to Zhao Pu so he could take a look.

Seeing Qin Ziwen's constantly changing expression, Zhao Pu became curious. After taking the phone to check it, his expression went from relaxed to frozen, and finally he turned to look at Qin Ziwen.

"Mr. Qin, this looks like the eye of some kind of animal."

“You think so too.” “It’s mainly the shape, and also, here, its head seems to have turned, and the positions of these two golden dots have changed. It seems to be looking out of the cave.” Zhao Pu pointed out a key point that Qin Ziwen had not noticed.

After watching it several times as Zhao Pu pointed out, Qin Ziwen found that it was indeed so.

The golden dot of light moved for a fleeting moment.

Turning to look at the harpy eagle, and seeing the trembling little creature, Qin Ziwen finally understood why it was so nervous.

"Don't be afraid." That's what he said, but Qin Ziwen's heart sank.

Although the image is dark and it is impossible to see how big the eyes belong to, the location of the altar can be roughly determined by comparing the distance between the eyes.

It can be roughly deduced that the creature inside is definitely the largest one they have encountered since arriving in this mysterious forest.

This reminded him of a creature described in the illustrated guide: the Stone Cave Giant Toad, a long-lived toad species that lives for over two hundred years.

They live year-round in deep mountain caves, feeding on birds, beasts, and insects, especially insects. Their size increases with age, and the older they get, the more they prefer to hibernate. They reach adulthood at thirty years old, and as adults, they have an average body length of 3.6-5.0 meters, a shoulder width of 1.7-2.2 meters, and a weight of 1850-4000 kilograms.

Although he had never seen it alive, it was definitely the largest creature he knew.

Even the adult cave giant toads in the illustrated guide don't have such a wide interocular distance.

Thinking of the giant toad in the stone cave, Qin Ziwen was surprised. The cave on the mountainside did seem to fit the giant toad's living environment.

However, the mysterious entity deep within the cave has awakened, and it is right next to the altar. Going to the altar to retrieve the card is now extremely dangerous.

I wonder if it was disturbed by my entering the cave a few days ago.

However, given the level of danger, it's not surprising that highly dangerous animals inhabit the vicinity of this advanced altar.

After all, the giant boar and the crocodile leader only dropped two ordinary cards after being killed, while the high-level altar dropped both red function cards and advanced building cards. If it only dropped the bats in the cave that were not very aggressive and the black falcons outside, it would really not be worthy of the altar's high drop rate.

Qin Ziwen pondered, "But it's not a good idea for it to keep guarding the altar. We need to think of a way to lure it out."

Today it's just a white expansion card, not a high priority.

First, collect more fish, vegetables, and plants.

While cards are important, other things are also indispensable.

Zhao Pu said, "Mr. Qin, do you want to buy the fish?"

Qin Ziwen nodded: "Yes, didn't you say there were insect corpses at the South Gate? I'm going to go take a look."

Let's go home first and put the harpy eagle back home.

Then, together with Zhao Pu, they put on masks and arrived at the South Gate.

A number of neighbors gathered around, most of them wearing masks. Some stood there for a few seconds, then quickly left after getting a good look at the insect.

"This bug is so ugly."

"It looks fierce, with such big jaws, one bite and it would probably tear the flesh off."

"It's not just about tearing it off. You don't know, I heard that this thing can even eat hippos, let alone people."

"Does anyone recognize what kind of insect this is?"

"Who would recognize this? There's no such thing on Earth."

"Hey, don't you guys think this looks like a mayfly?"

"Mayfly? Aren't those flying on water? They don't even have wings."

"I'm talking about mayfly larvae, before they grow wings."

Taking advantage of a quieter time when there were fewer people, Qin Ziwen went up, took a picture, and then came out.

After looking at the photos, Qin Ziwen was taken aback. What a coincidence!

He might not recognize other animals, but he had just seen this one the day before yesterday, and he had even told Du Yu about it himself.

This is the forest mayfly recorded in the illustrated guide.

He was quite impressed with this insect.

Because other animals in the encyclopedia only have one picture, but this thing has two: one is its aquatic form, and the other is its adult form with wings.

The aquatic forms of the insects look remarkably similar to those in the photo.

(End of this chapter)