Chapter 201 - 196 Mr. Yan is going to feel the paint
Qin Niu stared at the locust army charging towards him with fierce momentum, the number of termites he had summoned was over two thousand five hundred.
The one thousand that had newly molted into adult insects were still evolving.
It would take at least two to three days before evolution was complete and they could join the corps.
Once they joined, Qin Niu’s termite army’s combat power would increase exponentially.
You see, the weakest of those one thousand termites before breeding were already Grade Two termites. After breeding, they were bound to advance to Grade Three termites.
Old Master Huang could bring four thousand Grade Three army ants to confront Qin Niu.
In the past, that would have seemed quite formidable.
Now, Qin Niu could mass-produce over a thousand Grade Three or higher termites in just one day.
In only four days, he could match many years of accumulation by Old Master Huang.
The greatest charm of breeding insects lay in just this.
As long as you raise the queen well, your strength would increase exponentially like a snowball.
At the initial stage, just breeding one Grade Two termite would already make one happy for several days. After accruing for two to three months, one might have only over two thousand Grade Two termites. Now, one could have over a thousand Grade Three termites in a day.
As the Ant Queen continued to level up in the future, this snowball would keep growing bigger and bigger.
Even laying tens of thousands of ant eggs-per-day would be only a matter of time.
If by that time the Ant Queen had grown to Grade Five or Grade Six, the weakest of the larvae it produced would probably be Grade Three.
“Fourth, can you handle that leading big locust?”
Qin Niu had always favored such high-grade goods; capturing it would later become an advanced supplement for breeding an Ant Queen or Queen Bee.
Given its size, it was not much smaller than a Grade Four Corpse Bee.
No matter how worthless, it was probably a Grade Three bug.
The Ant Queen might not need this kind of food any longer, but it was quite suitable for breeding the Queen Bee.
“It should be no problem, I can try!”
Fourth seemed to be born without knowing the meaning of fear.
It would dare to fight no matter how powerful the enemy it faced.
“All ants, heed my command: aim for those leading locusts only; ignore the ordinary locusts.”
Qin Niu issued the combat order.
A general has a sword, not to slay flies.
It was completely unnecessary for them to deal with ordinary locusts. The Yan Family would only pay for special locusts.
Qin Niu took a cursory look and saw no fewer than fifty special locusts within sight. All of that was money.
When they entered the first line of defense set up by Qin Niu, the first one to suffer was that leading extra-large locust.
The creature’s body was thick like a bird’s.
Fourth’s antennae had already targeted it.
This extra-large locust was quite remarkable, managing to fly a good five to six meters before Fourth brought it down.
Qin Niu had already prepared a net, capturing it and then placing it into a separate cage.
He had to save it for detailed study.
Other special locusts, almost as soon as they got in line, were either taken control of or directly fell to the ground from the sky, painfully hopping and rolling around.
The termites surged forward in an instant and bit them to death.
Let alone Fourth and the Grade Three iron-armored tiger-pattern ants breaking their armor, even the regular Grade Two termites’ powerful bites were far more than they could handle.
In the blink of an eye, all the leading locusts were subdued.
Just as Qin Niu was preparing to carefully study that extra-large locust, another wave of even more ferocious locusts arrived.
This time there were three extra-large locusts.
Fourth could only handle one.
Qin Niu himself would deal with one, leaving the remaining one for the Golden Toad to handle.
The Golden Toad’s strength was beyond doubt, but it could only handle insects on the ground. As for those flying in the air, it simply couldn’t reach them.
As they entered the first line of defense, Qin Niu had already prepared the net.
Unexpectedly, that locust was extremely vigilant.
Aware of a human ahead attempting to attack, it immediately increased its flying altitude.
Qin Niu could only watch helplessly.
On the other hand, the Golden Toad easily downed an extra-large locust, swallowing it whole in one gulp.
“You idiot, why’d you eat it! I could have exchanged it for silver money with Young Master Yan.”
After being scolded by Qin Niu, the Golden Toad immediately began scratching its head with its two short legs, preparing to regurgitate the locust it had swallowed.
“Forget it, if you’ve eaten it, there’s no need to spit it out again.”
Qin Niu stopped it.
Waiting for it to spit it out, covered in mucus, it looked disgusting.
There was no need for that.
“Can you handle that escaped gigantic locust?”
“Quack!”
It had already leapt into action, jumping seven or eight meters in a single bound.
It felt even stronger than Qin Niu had imagined.
By then, Fourth had successfully captured another gigantic locust. Qin Niu quickly netted it and locked it in a cage.
His pets were all very impressive; it was only him, the master, who had messed up, letting that gigantic locust escape.
Specialization is key.
To deal with insects, you still have to let the insects take action.
Fortunately, the Golden Toad was super impressive; it was also the nemesis of most insects.
It soon captured the escaped gigantic locust.
This time, it didn’t eat it but held it in its mouth.
“Well done!”
Qin Niu gladly accepted the trophy it brought back; the gigantic locust was not dead but had already lost half its life.
It was powerless in front of the Golden Toad.
Using an Advanced Contractual Talisman to subdue the Golden Toad felt worth it.
Qin Niu estimated that even if stronger insects came, the Golden Toad would still be able to deal with them.
Even more, Qin Niu suspected that the Golden Toad could easily kill the Corpse Bee’s General.
But that couldn’t be concluded lightly; he had to try it to know.
The venom of the Corpse Bees was extremely dreadful, and the Golden Toad might not withstand it.
The second wave of locusts was more numerous than the first.
More than a hundred leading special locusts were captured.
Qin Niu’s basket now contained over three hundred special locusts.
Three gigantic locusts were also locked in a cage.
These three gigantic locusts had special patterns on their bodies and extremely developed mouthparts. It was suspected that they even had the ability to chew through hard tree bark.
After a preliminary appraisal, these gigantic locusts proved to be Grade Three insects.
They looked big, but they were somewhat ‘bloated,’ and their strength and grade were only Grade Three, which was different from reaching Grade Four.
“The harvest tonight is not bad, if another batch comes, making three or four Silver Money would not be a problem.”
Qin Niu waited quietly.
His Termite Army stood ready for battle.
He waited until dawn, and no new gigantic locusts appeared.
Even the number of special locusts had decreased significantly, and only a few more were caught scattered here and there.
The Yan Family eldest son came over early in the morning to inspect the front line.
“Master Qin, was it calm last night?”
“There were two waves of locusts in large numbers that attacked the defense line, but luckily they were ultimately held back by me. Including the special locusts captured during the day yesterday, they’re all here.”
Qin Niu lifted the basket up in front of Young Master Yan.
The latter took a glance at the pile of locust bodies in the basket; his face twitched twice.
“This is too frightening! In one night, there were so many special locusts.”
You could hear a bit of pain in his voice.
A special locust body was worth ten Wen Money; such a big basket was worth at least three to four Silver Money.
No matter how big the Yan Family’s business was, it couldn’t sustain such losses!
And this was just the insect corpses from one day and night.
Heaven knows when the locust disaster will stop; if the number of special locusts keeps increasing, the cost of pest control alone in one day might be enough to suffocate the Yan Family.
Qin Niu noticed the expression on the face of the Yan Family eldest son.
He didn’t say anything.
Pest control was a mutually beneficial cooperation. If the Yan Family was reluctant to spend the money, they were well within their rights to try other Insect Masters.
But it was Qin Niu’s Termite Army that had the capability.
Otherwise, by last night, the Yan Family’s defense line would have been breached.
Ten Mo Sang Masters could not hold it.