Chapter 52

"Great harvest! Meow!"

Holding the two bottles of golden, pure wild mountain honey in his hands, Wenlong couldn't help but speak to himself happily.

However, although the honey had been collected, Wenlong still needed to find another ingredient, the bitter bug.

At this moment, Wenlong was somewhat glad that he had bought some collection tools from the general store in Mirard Village before. Among these tools was an insect net used for catching insects.

"Bitter bugs should be around here, right? Since they're not high-level insects, they shouldn't be too hard to find... meow."

So, while putting the collected honey into his backpack, Wenlong began to search for the traces of bitter bugs.

Wenlong still remembered that when he played the game before, places with insects would definitely have a yellow-green fluorescence. Such places were generally where various insects coexisted. Therefore, using an insect net usually allowed him to catch several different types of insects.

After walking in the forest for a while, Wenlong indeed found some yellow-green fluorescent spots in a low shrub.

"Alright, it should be here. I wonder if there are any bitter bugs..."

Wenlong tightly held the insect net and cautiously approached the area with the yellow-green fluorescence, afraid of startling the insects and causing them to escape.

Approaching slowly without making a sound, when he was close enough to reach with the insect net, Wenlong raised it and suddenly swung it down!

"Don't run, meow!"

With this swing, Wenlong immediately saw several moving objects jumping and trying to escape in the insect net. However, Wenlong didn't give these insects a chance. After the insect net completely caught the insects in the grass, he used his other hand to press the opening of the net, slowly pulling it back, and then used a semi-transparent bag to catch the insects from the net, pouring them all into the bag.

Only then did Wenlong have time to carefully observe the contents of the bag.

"Let me see... what kind of insects did I catch..."

Through the semi-transparent bag, the most noticeable was a type of insect with yellow-green fluorescence, which was the same yellow-green light Wenlong had seen from a distance.

"This should be a light bug," Wenlong thought, "Although it's not a bitter bug, light bugs are also important as ingredients. I'll keep them for future use, meow."

Under the yellow-green light, Wenlong gradually saw the appearance of the other insects in the bag.

One looked like a worm, not moving, and was said to have a lifespan of 1000 years, making it extremely resilient. Wenlong knew this should be a type of insect called the "immortal bug."

"An immortal bug, I remember it's used in some high-level recovery items. No matter, I'll keep it, meow."

Continuing to identify the insects in the bag, Wenlong finally found a type of insect that looked like a beetle.

"This should be a bitter bug, right? It's said to be extremely bitter, even to the point of reducing a player's health... meow."

Wenlong remembered that in the game, some players would use the fact that eating a bitter bug would reduce their health to self-harm, in order to trigger skills that could only be activated at low health.

However, most of the time, bitter bugs were used as ingredients for potion-making. Although eating a bitter bug alone would reduce health, mixing it with honey and then eating it could effectively counteract the bitterness and activate the special medicinal components in the bitter bug.

"One, two, three, only three bitter bugs..."

Wenlong carefully counted the number of bitter bugs in the bag and found only a pitiful three, which was far from enough to mix with the large amount of beaver meat.

"Looks like I'll have to catch them in other places..."

So, Wenlong continued to search the forest for grass with yellow-green fluorescence and used the same method to catch the insects... By the time Wenlong had collected enough bitter bugs, over an hour had passed.

"It's about time to head back, meow."

Looking at the number of bitter bugs in the bag, Wenlong nodded in satisfaction.

In total, he had collected about thirty bitter bugs. Not only that, the bag also contained eighteen light bugs, twenty immortal bugs, and five spider nests.

Although he might not need the other items immediately, based on his knowledge of the game, these were all important materials for synthesizing various practical items. These items would likely play a crucial role in hunting high-level monsters in the future!

"Better to be prepared, right? Collecting what might be useful in the future is never a bad thing. As the saying goes, 'If you don't plan for the long term, you'll have problems in the short term,' meow!"

When Wenlong returned to the riverbank, he found that Catherine had almost finished roasting the meat. From the quality of the meat, it was clear that she had followed Wenlong's instructions: besides the fully cooked meat for their lunch, the rest was half-cooked.

"Mr. Cat, the meat is ready!" As soon as she saw Wenlong return, Catherine greeted him enthusiastically.

"Good job!" Wenlong couldn't help but praise her, then asked, "Did any other wild animals attack while I was gone? Meow?"

"No, only two large wild boars came to the river to drink water, and I chased them away!" Catherine said with a hint of pride.

"Large wild boars... you're not afraid of such beasts anymore..." Recalling how Catherine had covered her eyes in fear at the sight of a large wild boar a few days ago, now she could easily chase away two of them, Wenlong felt quite pleased.

"So, Mr. Cat, what did you catch in the forest?"

Looking at the glowing bag in Wenlong's hand, Catherine couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Want to see? It's good stuff, meow!" As he said this, Wenlong held the bag in front of Catherine's eyes. At this close distance, Catherine finally got a clear look at what was in the bag.

"Bugs... bugs! Ah!" Catherine suddenly screamed and quickly moved back, putting several meters of distance between herself and the bag in Wenlong's hand.

"Ha ha..." Wenlong laughed mischievously, "Why are women so afraid of bugs, meow?"

"Ugh, Mr. Cat, you're bullying me!" Catherine pouted, looking as if she had been greatly wronged.

"I'm not bullying you. As a hunter, you'll eventually have to hunt monsters like bugs. You need to learn how to deal with them, meow. And these are really good things! We'll need them in many places in the future, meow!" Wenlong said very seriously.

"Really? Is that so?" Although Wenlong explained very seriously, Catherine still seemed a bit skeptical.

"Of course, now I'll show you!"

Saying this, Wenlong used a simple pair of tweezers made from two pieces of wood to pick out a beetle-like insect from the bag.