I've already reached the Nascent Soul stage, and you're saying I didn't time travel?

Chapter 140 Shocking Reveal! The World Is in Anger!
The next day.

As soon as the live stream started, the chat was flooded with comments like a waterfall:
"What do I do! What do I do! I was tricked into having sex with a cicada mother last night, how can I find him?!"

"Holy crap, what's with the first comment?!"

"I'm really curious, how exactly does the cicada mother manage to deceive men into having sex? Shall I take you to bed to see a cicada mother?"

"Shouldn't we observe how cicada mothers lay their eggs and learn through hands-on practice?"

"So the correct procedure should be to have sex once, then eat the man, and then have a large number of offspring on the spot?"

"Is it possible that the person was eaten by the cicada nymphs before they even finished having sex?"

"No, why are you guys actually discussing this? The highest bid is $150 million for the Cicada Mother. Just how confident do you have to be to think you can get it in one shot? That's more than a ton of gold!"

"So, did anyone successfully complete the deal?"

"There should be more than a dozen deals that have been reached so far. Through tweets on the Internet, we know that Pfizer, Roche, Novo Nordisk have all acquired Cicada Nest. Among the top billionaires, Daniel and Alfonso have also acquired it. The small country that provided diplomatic immunity has also acquired it. In addition, there are also reports of governments such as the United States and Russia acquiring Cicada Nest."

"I heard that Alfonso's cicada nest came from the Great Qian Dynasty, worth 250 million US dollars! Even if you win the 5 million jackpot in the lottery, it would take a whole year to win! Who the hell is this lucky guy?!"

"Dude, you have to pay taxes on lottery winnings, so you should win the jackpot every day for over a year."

"Two hundred and fifty million is probably the most expensive bid so far, but I heard that a cicada nest will be added to the upcoming auction, which might break the record of two hundred and fifty million."

"Outrageous, absolutely outrageous! No wonder so many conflicts and tragedies have broken out all over the world. Warlords are going to war over cicada nests, and even drug lords are starting to organize people to loot cicada nests. The whole world has become a little unrecognizable to me."

"This is just the beginning. Just wait and see! Sooner or later, Qi Shen will turn this world upside down and lead everyone down a path they never imagined."

"Please, Qi Shen! Slow down your pace, don't leave me, Zhongdeng, behind!"

……

At this moment, Qi Xuan was rapidly advancing through the forest on Sunday, his figure like a phantom, almost impossible to see clearly.

Unfortunately, the tracking tokens have an expiration time limit. I burned a whole set yesterday afternoon, but still couldn't catch up.

Fortunately, he won another lottery ticket last night, and he burned it again this morning. He had to try to track down Zhao Laosan's vicinity before the tracking talisman burned out.

Otherwise, it might be very difficult to find out later, unless you get lucky and draw another tracking talisman.

But these things aren't so easy to win.
So now Qi Xuan and Sunday are really putting all their effort into tracking them.

The morning was basically spent huffing and puffing on the road on Sunday.

Even after the live stream ended, netizens didn't stop there; they all flocked to the United Nations auction website.

Now, the United Nations holds auctions every few days as exploration on the island continues.

With the intelligence provided by Qi Xuan, the support of advanced equipment such as satellites and drones, and the exploration experience accumulated in the early stages, the small island was increasingly occupied by humans. Almost every day there were new discoveries, new spiritual plants, new demonic plants, and even new demonic beasts.

Apart from troublesome underground monsters like the Spiked Earth Crocodile, other creatures, including the Stone Iron Beast, have also been brought under human control.

However, for monsters like the Stone Iron Beast, which are extremely rare, unique in nature, and of great research value, the exploration team did not directly hunt them down by force. Instead, they designated a large area on the island as its habitat and set up observation and research groups to conduct relevant research.

Of course, there are also difficulties that humans cannot solve for the time being, such as the misty forest occupied by the four-armed people, and a few special areas that have caused significant losses to the exploration team.

In addition, many plants and animals, including spirit plants and demon plants, have been included in the research list. Almost all research institutes with a little reputation around the world have joined this research feast, and as time goes by, they will surely produce more and more amazing results.

While many major powers were doing their best to research and explore, smaller countries that were unable to participate in the research put their assigned spiritual objects and plants up for auction to exchange for the funds they needed. This was the most important reason why the auction could continue to be held.

However, today's auction was clearly different from the previous ones.

This is because the final item in today's auction was temporarily replaced with a cicada nest, which has generated a lot of buzz.

A massive influx of viewers from around the world flooded the auction website, pushing its popularity to a new peak.

The spiritual plants and objects that once amazed countless viewers at the auction now only evoke feelings of anxiety.

As the agonizing time ticked by, the complete cicada nest, the final item to be auctioned, was finally brought to the high platform.

Seeing the cicada nest, which was only the size of a head, countless viewers were amazed, as this was the first time many had ever seen a cicada nest in its entirety.

"So this is what a cicada's nest looks like. For some reason, it looks a lot like bird's nest."

"This is much more precious than bird's nest; even pure gold isn't as expensive as this."

"Although this cicada nest is built in a rather messy way, it inexplicably exudes a kind of beauty. Ah! Damn, the beauty of money!"

"Is it possible for me to make a bird's nest, paint it black, put a small adult cicada inside, and sell it as a cicada nest?"

"Are you kidding me? Do you really think everyone else is stupid? They can't even recognize such an important cicada nest?"

"While the fools are still making sarcastic remarks, the smart ones are already searching for similar-colored tree branches on Taobao."

……

Netizens chatted incessantly, and as the auction progressed, the bids at the scene rose higher and higher.

Ultimately, the cicada nest was acquired by Ji's Pharmaceutical Company from Shanghai, a major metropolis, for $350 million.

While many people were marveling at the record-breaking price set by Chanchao, they also belatedly realized that such a price would probably never be seen again.

As time goes on, the number of cicada nests being dug up will only increase, and the price will inevitably continue to decrease as the number increases.

Perhaps in another month, ten million or even several million US dollars could buy a cicada nest.

However, it cannot be said that the major pharmaceutical companies or top billionaires who are buying at high prices now are fools. If they could be the first to develop a drug similar to Youchanling Liquid and launch it to the market in time, they could earn back not just hundreds of millions of dollars, but billions or tens of billions.

The question is, who can take the lead and grab the most profitable piece of this blue ocean market?
Viewers were unaware of the process, but as the afternoon livestream began, they started debating the method for creating the elixir.
"From the current perspective, the preparation of the Netherworld Cicada Elixir should be quite simple. Even if we don't have enough spiritual plants and the key cultivation treasure, the Nine Aperture Spirit True Plate, the elixir secreted by the Netherworld Cicada itself has the effect of treating [Bone Disease]. In other words, as long as those pharmaceutical companies are willing, they can purchase enough elixir and, even without filtration, launch it on the market as a drug. This should be the simplest research and development plan."

"This isn't even filtered, and it's supposed to be a research and development plan? From a scientific point of view, first you need to separate the cicada vesicle fluid, then screen and find the components that are effective against [osteophyte disease]. After identifying the components, you need to find a way to synthesize them. After the synthesis is achieved, you need to carry out large-scale industrial production. Only then can you be considered to have truly produced the relevant drug. Moreover, this process omits all the necessary stages, including side effect screening and clinical trials. Basically, it will take at least three months."

“We all know that the medicinal effects of cicada nectar are closely related to the spiritual plants consumed. Although we don’t have enough spiritual plants right now, we can try feeding it with various plants and animals to see the effects of different nectars. Perhaps we can create different types of cicada nectars. If we can further analyze these cicada nectars, we might eventually be able to develop a drug that can completely cure bone disease.”

"There are actually quite a few problems with the development of the Cicada Elixir at this stage, and the biggest problem is the disease itself. We don't have any patients with [Bone Growth Disease] at all, so we don't know anything about this disease. Even if we were to isolate the effective components from the cicada elixir, we wouldn't know which ones are truly effective. We can't fight a disease in a vacuum, can we?"

"Although we don't have any patients right now, it would be disastrous if patients did appear! So many immortals couldn't withstand it, how could we low-level martial artists or even ordinary people possibly withstand it? If you ask me, we can just extract the cicada venom, concentrate it, and sell it. Anyway, it's all for backup medicine, so everyone should keep some on hand. When the [Bone Disease] breaks out, at least we can survive the first wave."

"To be honest, there are patients. Have you forgotten the four-armed man on the island? He is a clear patient. If we capture one, we should be able to isolate the pathogen of [Bone Disease] from him, and then develop targeted drugs and prepare the Ghost Cicada Elixir in advance."

"Damn, you're making it sound like a four-armed idiot is just standing there for you to catch. That thing is a terrestrial deity! A terrestrial deity that has mutated after death! Let alone capturing it intact, even killing it isn't that easy. What if we end up triggering the [Bone Disease] prematurely and spreading it globally instead of catching it? That would be an unforgivable sin!"

"Dealing with the four-armed men can wait. As everyone's cultivation improves, we will eventually find a way to capture them. The most important thing at this stage is to find a way to increase the production of cicada nectar. The more we produce, the more effective we will be in dealing with the [Bone Disease] even if it breaks out on the spot."

Moreover, the greater the production volume, the more experiments and research institutions can conduct, thereby uncovering all possible answers and shortening the time required to develop a true cure.

"According to Qi Shen, cicada sap is produced by secreting insect eggs. In other words, to obtain enough cicada sap, one must continuously kill adult cicadas to encourage the cicada mothers to lay eggs and secrete cicada sap."

"It's not enough to just kill adult cicadas. We also need to cultivate the strongest batch of adult cicadas, encourage them to mate with the cicada mother, and make the cicada mother secrete cicada fluid with a higher concentration and stronger medicinal effect."

"In other words, we need to kill the adult cicadas while simultaneously feeding the remaining adult cicadas a large amount of highly nutritious food. So, what kind of food should we feed them? Pork, beef, or mutton? Or something else?"

“There are still differences between pigs, cows, sheep and humans. In my opinion, it would be better to introduce humans. Humans can supplement human medicine, and the effect might be more effective.”

"Oh right, right, so you have to kill all of humanity before you can make the potion, right?"

"I've heard a rumor that someone has taken the sap of a cicada mother, and it's said to be extremely potent, almost indistinguishable from spiritual herbs and medicines. It's speculated that the adult cicadas have eaten too many people and absorbed too much blood and energy, causing the sap they produce to become a kind of essence of blood and energy. Even if it can't be used to treat diseases, it's still a thoroughly potent tonic."

"Don't spread rumors! I would say that eating cicada nectar can enhance male virility, making it easy to sleep with a hundred women in one night."

"That cicada mother will probably be captured and become a protected animal." "Hopefully, Qi Shen can successfully find the Nether Cicada Elixir, at least so we know what that thing looks like and what its characteristics are, so we can develop targeted research in the future."

"Sigh, this is too difficult. Not to mention that we haven't found the third son of the Zhao family yet, even if we did find him, he might not have the Netherworld Cicada Elixir on him."

"Where there's a will, there's a way! Keep it up, Qi Shen!"

……

Qi Xuan is indeed working hard.

There's nothing we can do if we don't refuel.

Because we've run out of tracking tokens.

But he still couldn't find Zhao Laosan's whereabouts.

The good news is that before the tracking tokens ran out, the changing direction allowed them to roughly pinpoint the area where Zhao Laosan was located.

The bad news is that the area was quite large, roughly ten kilometers in radius, and before further investigation could be conducted, the tracking talisman had already burned out.

Now, all he can do is try his best to thoroughly investigate all clues within this ten-kilometer radius.

If all else fails, we must dig up every inch of land and find that Zhao Laosan who is hiding!

The afternoon's live stream was spent in constant searching.

After the live stream ends, netizens can go back to work, have fun, practice their skills, or enjoy themselves.

However, at that moment, a shocking piece of news suddenly surfaced online—

The Free Congolese armed group, the Free Congolese Army, dumped 20,000 corpses into the nest of the cicada to extract cicada sap!

The news has shocked the world!
According to secretly filmed videos provided by war correspondents, the bodies dumped at the scene included, but were not limited to, those killed in battle, the critically wounded and dying, bodies that had been buried recently, prisoners of war from hostile armed forces, and even some poor and homeless people.

In response to this unprecedented humanitarian disaster, countries such as the United States, China, and Russia immediately issued strong condemnations and imposed economic sanctions on the armed forces involved and their supporters. The UN Security Council also quickly passed a resolution authorizing the intervention of regional military forces.

……

Ituri Province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Adumbi Gold Mine, Block 9.

At the heavily guarded but anxious Free Army headquarters, Commander Kazenbe is receiving a distinguished guest from the West in a safe house:

"...So, according to you, as long as we hand over the cicada venom extracted this time, you can gradually lift the economic sanctions against us, mediate for us internationally, and secretly provide us with a large amount of arms and economic aid?"

CIA agent Nosis said with a smile:
"Your Excellency Commander, as you said, economic sanctions and military intervention are indeed terrible, but with us mediating on your behalf, we can at least ensure that your power will not be greatly impacted. You will still be the supreme commander, holding great power and enjoying wealth and honor."

Even in the worst-case scenario, if your armed forces are unfortunately defeated by the enemy, we can prepare a way out for you, ensuring that you can live out the rest of your life in peace and security in the Lighthouse.

All you need to do is hand over the cicada sap, which is of little use to you. We haven't even asked you for the cicada mother, which shows our sincerity.

How can you make me trust you?

Kazenber's cold, hard face was filled with suspicion:

"How can you guarantee that after you collect the cicada nectar, you won't break the contract and take advantage of our misfortune?!"

Nosis smiled and placed a slip of paper on the table:

There are two addresses here.

“As long as you send someone there, you will immediately find three spiritual plants at the first address that are worth up to three hundred million US dollars and can be sold at any time.”

"At the second address, you will find some weapons that we accidentally lost, including grenades and rocket launchers."

“This is our way of showing our sincerity; you can also consider it an advance payment.”

Kazenbe was about to pick up the note when Nosis suddenly reached out and stopped him, saying calmly:
"Your Excellency Commander, please be aware that if you take this advance payment but fail to provide us with a satisfactory answer, then an outcome that no one wants to see may occur."

Kazenbe coldly snatched the note.

He then gave the address to his trusted confidants.

Before long, the Royal Guards who went to search the scene brought back the answer.

Upon learning the truth about the spiritual plants and weapons, Kazenbe's expression immediately softened.

Following amicable negotiations, the freshly extracted cicada venom was solemnly handed over to Nosis by Kazenbe.

After completing the mission, Norsis did not delay and immediately rushed to the nearest military base under the escort of special forces members. Once at the military base, the batch of cicada venom would be transported back to the country as quickly as possible. At that time, whether the cicada venom would enter laboratories or be used by major pharmaceutical companies would depend on the decision of the higher-ups.

Watching Nosis drive away, Kazenbe asked his trusted aide:

Where are Da Mao's men?

"I just contacted them; it's about 40 kilometers away."

"Go back to the cicada nest and rearrange it. Pour the cicada nectar back in and make it look like it was just extracted."

Just as his confidant was about to leave, Kazenbe asked again:
"By the way, when will France and Britain arrive?"

"They should be able to arrive before tonight."

"Remember to miss their meeting time."

"I will follow your orders."

"What about the Great Qian Dynasty?"

"Still no contact has been received."

Kazenbe hesitated for a moment, then continued:

“They’re not coming, but we can’t not go! Send a sample of cicada venom to their embassy.”

The confidant hesitated and said:
"But that would leave only five portions. Wouldn't that be enough to bribe everyone involved?"

"madness!"

Kazenber reprimanded sternly:

"Even if we don't give any to the rest of them, we absolutely cannot leave anything out of Daqian! Send someone to deliver it to me immediately!"

The trusted confidant quickly agreed.

But at that moment, the guards responsible for watching over the cicada nectar suddenly rushed over:
"Commander, something terrible has happened!"

"What's up?!"

"I can't wait any longer," Kazenbe asked impatiently.

Three portions of cicada sap have been stolen!

"What did you say?!!"

(End of this chapter)