Chapter 9

Faber in Sachun Tangja - Chapter 2 (9/187)

Blue-spotted Centipede 2

"What!? Is that true?"

"Do you think you know where it is?"

The two men asked in shocked voices, their faces disbelieving.

If this were my past life, they would never have dared to ask such questions or show such expressions. I thought, Faber's reputation from my past life must really be dead.

I was the man known as a walking encyclopedia of venomous snakes, insects, and poisons.

'Ah, this never happened in my past life... Come to think of it, it's not that my reputation is dead, but that I really died... Damn...'

It's not that my reputation is dead, but that I am truly dead.

Shaking off the bewildering reality, I answered the two men.

"Yes, well... If it's a large centipede, I naturally think I know where it might be."

"Eh, where do you think it might be!?"

"Right, where could it be!?"

The men looked at me, eager for me to tell them quickly where the creature might be, but I decided to ask them which direction they had searched.

I wanted to confirm if they had checked the place I suspected.

There are various species of centipedes, each with slightly different habits and preferred environments.

"By any chance, can you tell me which direction and when you searched?"

They looked at each other and the old man nodded.

The old man then explained the areas they had searched over the past few days.

"We searched the north and east from here. We mostly searched during the day. In the north, we focused on the riverbank..."

The north of the Dao Guan would be the riverbank, and the east would be the jungle.

I could understand why they had been wandering for days.

A giant centipede would certainly not like such places.

Moreover, during the day, it would be extremely difficult to spot even a glimpse of a centipede.

"So, it's natural that you didn't find it."

"What? Naturally? Is there a reason for that?"

I could give dozens of reasons, but I decided to explain it simply.

This isn't the time to explain professional knowledge.

"Yes, while centipedes are often found in dark and damp places, and it's easy to think they are commonly found in dense vegetation, not all centipedes prefer such places."

Centipedes are somewhat unique creatures.

Centipedes belong to the class Chilopoda in the subphylum Myriapoda of the phylum Arthropoda.

As ectothermic animals, centipedes have a unique habit of territorial activity and require hiding places.

An interesting fact is that most insects have smooth bodies with a waterproof layer that naturally repels water droplets.

However, centipedes have a weak waterproof layer and breathing pores on their exoskeleton, so they do not like places with a lot of water.

They need a humid environment but dislike places with too much water.

On the other hand, because they have many legs, they cannot survive for long without water.

Therefore, the probability of a large centipede settling in a jungle or riverbank where it cannot hide its large body is low.

"Do you mean that centipedes don't like to be in places like rotten tree crevices?"

The old man's voice indicated that he found it hard to understand.

He seemed to have some basic knowledge of centipedes, so I decided to explain why they couldn't find centipedes in such places.

"Some small centipedes are found in such places, but didn't you say it was a large centipede?"

"That's right."

"Centipedes do like damp places, but too much moisture is actually bad for them. Moreover, centipedes like to hide, and large bodies do not fit well in the fallen trees of the jungle or the small rocks by the riverbank. There are no hiding places."

It's easy to think that centipedes, which are often found on damp soil, love very damp places, but that's only true in well-ventilated external environments.

In fact, when breeding centipedes, if the humidity is too high, they can die from fungal infections.

"Right, then where could it be!? If we find the blue-spotted centipede in the place you tell us, I will greatly reward you!"

The people now looked at me with hopeful eyes, thinking my explanation finally made sense.

I pointed west with my finger and answered.

"I think you should look at the western rock mountain."

Centipedes usually rest under warm rocks during the day and move around at night.

***

The red sunset was fading, and the heart of Tang Cheshan, the head of the Sachun Tang family and the Heavenly Poison Scholar, was also burning.

The sun was setting again today.

"Lord, could the young hero's words be wrong?"

The cautious question from the leader of the Poison Blood Squad made Tang Cheshan look at him intently.

It had been twenty days since they entered Hainan Island.

Four days since the mysterious young hero emerged from the Dao Guan.

Tang Cheshan had come out of the collapsing Dao Guan and, without rest, had been searching the rock mountains during the day and the boundary between the rock mountains and the river in the evening with the martial artists of the Sachun Tang family.

Everyone had pinned their last hope on the story told by the young hero.

"If it's a large centipede, it will need a lot of water. Check between the rock mountains and the river at night when the centipede is active, and check under the large rocks of the rock mountains during the day.

Centipedes warm their bodies under hot rocks during the day and use that warmth to move at night."

'Is the young hero's words wrong...?'

The martial artists, lined up behind the leader, looked exhausted.

The martial artists, covered in sweat and dirt, sent desperate looks for rest.

They were very tired and struggling, yet not a single complaint.

Perhaps because they understood his heart.

Tang Cheshan decided to allow the martial artists of the family to rest.

They needed to eat dinner, and it seemed impossible for the martial artists to search any further today.

"Let's rest for today. We need to eat dinner. Send a message to Father."

"Understood, Lord."

-Whistle.

Soon, the message was sent, and the martial artists began to rest on the slopes of the rock mountains.

"Phew. I'm dying."

"Finally, we can rest. I hope the young hero is right. Why can't we see this centipede?"

"Yeah, the young hero seemed quite smart."

The reason Tang Cheshan, the head of the martial force, the Poison Blood Squad, and his father, the Ten Thousand Poison God, Tang Wusheng, came from far away in Sachun to Hainan was for his daughter.

His daughter, Tang Huaen, was one of the most outstanding talents in the history of the Tang family.

At the age of eighteen, she had reached the first-class level but fell into a state of madness due to her greed for poison techniques.

The madness caused by poison techniques is both a mental demon and a form of poisoning.

Because it was poisoning caused by madness, even his father, the Ten Thousand Poison God, could not detoxify his daughter, and she was slowly dying of poisoning in Sachun.

The elders and his wife were using their inner energy to block her meridians and infuse her with vital energy to slow the progression of the poison, but it was only delaying her death.

She was gradually dying as the poison seeped into her bone marrow.

The last method to save her was to obtain the inner core of a poisonous creature to forcibly elevate her martial arts level.

This inner core would not only elevate her martial arts level but also neutralize the poison in her body.

For this reason, the Tang family had commissioned the Open Sect and the Hao Sect to gather information on poisonous creatures scattered throughout the Central Plains and dispatched martial artists to search all possible locations.

They searched the dense forests of Yunnan where a two-headed snake was seen and the forests of Guangxi where a human-faced spider appeared.

But all in vain.

In the end, the last place they found was Hainan Island, which seemed to have the highest possibility.

A few years ago, an herbalist reported seeing a large centipede with blue spots in the forests of Hainan Island.

A large centipede with blue spots, while not among the top ten poisonous creatures of the Central Plains, was definitely the blue-spotted centipede, which forms an inner core, and the description matched the records in the Tang family's secret book, the World's Poisonous Creatures.

After entering Hainan Island and securing the herbalist's testimony, they finally began searching near the abandoned Dao Guan.

Following the advice of the mysterious young hero, they searched the rock mountains during the day and the boundary between the rock mountains and the river at night, but after three days, they found nothing, and Tang Cheshan's heart was burning.

'Is the heavens abandoning Huaen, the most outstanding talent in the history of the Tang family?'

Soon, the remaining half of the martial artists and his father, the Ten Thousand Poison God, Tang Wusheng, gathered where Tang Cheshan was, and Tang Wusheng asked with a desperate look.

"Did you not find it today?"

"Yes, Father... Did you not find it either?"

"..."

They already knew from each other's expressions that there was no progress today, but the meaningless question continued out of desperation.

His daughter's condition was such that she could barely last three months, so such questions were inevitable.

They needed to find it within at least ten days, and the dwindling days were causing both Tang Cheshan and his father, the Ten Thousand Poison God, great distress.

"Father, what about searching the south tomorrow? Since we found nothing, we should change the search area..."

Tang Cheshan, giving up on the young hero's advice, asked cautiously.

He wanted to search as many places as possible in the remaining days.

Since it seemed unlikely to find anything more in the western rock mountains, he suggested checking the south, which they had not searched yet.

"Nothing was found... Indeed, nothing... Yes!? Nothing!?"

Shaking his head, Tang Wusheng suddenly answered with a joyful voice, as if he had realized something.

"Yes! That's it! How could I not realize that! Yes! This is the place!"

Despite not finding any traces of the blue-spotted centipede, his father's declaration that it was definitely here made Tang Cheshan wonder if he had sensed something.

"Did you find or sense something?"

"No, I didn't sense anything or find any traces."

However, the answer was strange.

He had not sensed anything and found no traces.

"Why?"

"That's why I feel it's here."

"Huh?"

Confused by the answer, Tang Cheshan tilted his head, and his father asked in return.

"What traces did you find in these rock mountains over the past four days?"

"No, no traces. No animal droppings or any signs... Could it be!?"

As they talked, a thought suddenly came to mind.

"Yes. Does it make sense that there are no mouse droppings or bird feathers in these vast rock mountains? I just realized it too!"

Thinking about it, there were indeed no signs of any animals in these rock mountains.

There were no signs of deer, roe deer, or wild boars.

Not even a single mouse was seen.

And then, at that moment.

Just as they were about to start a fire and prepare dinner.

The flat rock where the martial artists were starting a fire suddenly trembled and was thrown far away.

The rock disappeared, and a strange, spine-chilling sound began to come from the hole that appeared.

Under the completely set sun.

A strange sound coming from a hole just large enough for a person to crawl into.

Soon, in the dim hole, under the rising moonlight, something slowly poked its head out.

A massive body and numerous legs.

Blue spots on the back, shimmering in the moonlight.

"That's it!"

That was the blue-spotted centipede recorded in the Tang family's secret book, the World's Poisonous Creatures.

The poison droplets falling from the blue-spotted centipede's venomous claws turned the green grass black and withered.

Tang Cheshan immediately shouted to the Tang family's martial artists.

"Everyone, be careful! It's the blue-spotted centipede!"

Just as the young hero said, the blue-spotted centipede was really under the rock.

"Really under such a rock mountain?"

"I'm an expert in this field. I'm sure of it."

"An expert?"

The seemingly absurd answer from the young hero suddenly came to mind.