Beauty and the Beasts

Not long later, the black dots in the sky clearly became more densely-packed. It was so dark that even the sunlight almost couldn’t shine through, and the light rays gradually became fainter.

Many beastmen ran out, slapping at the bugs in the air. The children also jumped around, grabbing and biting, pouncing everywhere.

“Why are there so many of them?”

Bai Qingqing vaguely felt that things were amiss. A few bugs flew toward her. Bai Qingqing was scared of bugs the most and thus hid behind Parker.

Parker patted the bugs to kill them, lowering his voice and speaking in a solemn tone, “This is an insect plague. Normal armored grasshoppers live independently, and if they gather to a certain density, the friction from their wings brushing each other will mutate them. They’ll be able to reproduce rapidly and will eat any animals. When an insect plague happens, all the animals in an area would often be wiped out. It’s a forest plague.”

Bai Qingqing understood it. She asked, feeling unsettled, “Do they eat people?”

“If one is targeted, of course, they will. Quickly go back, and be careful not to be bitten. The reason they reproduce so fast is that they lay eggs in animals’ bodies. They’re also smart and will pick out soft animals. Females and children are their preferred targets for laying eggs.”

Parker spoke really quickly and carried Bai Qingqing up, running back home in huge strides.

When Bai Qingqing heard that, her body instantly stiffened, and she curled her body, having a strong urge to hide into Parker’s body.

After returning to the bedroom, Parker sealed up all the holes in the bedroom, shutting Bai Qingqing up. He then went out to seal up all the openings he could in the stone castle before leaving to kill bugs.

Bai Qingqing could still hear the buzzing sounds outside, and her skin turned numb uncontrollably, feeling the shivers.

The snake-shaped Curtis was laying in the grass nest in the corner, emitting a sluggish feeling. He raised his head to look toward Bai Qingqing, then turned into his human form.

Bai Qingqing quickly walked toward him, seeking some security. Curtis pulled her into his arms and said helplessly, “It seems that I’ll have to postpone the skin shedding.”

“You found out?” Bai Qingqing asked, her face pale. “Have you encountered an insect plague before?”

Curtis patted her head to console her, but his words worried and scared Bai Qingqing even more.

“I did. It happens about once every ten or twenty years.”

“How is it? Would there be many deaths?”

Bai Qingqing’s face turned even paler. The scenes of various horror films she watched couldn’t help but appear in her mind.

Bai Qingqing’s body started trembling. She felt that this time around, she had really entered the scene of a horror film.

Even if it wasn’t a horror film, there was no lack of similar phenomena in life. The most commonly seen one would be for houseflies.

After almost every housefly was killed, there’d be maggots in their bodies. This would be a case where eggs had been laid in their bodies. If the housefly wasn’t slapped to death, the bugs would still break out from their bodies after they grew up.

Even the human body was often a site for parasitic weapons to live in. However, that rarely threatened their lives. Against this insect plague, it was a trifling case in comparison.

It wasn’t just horrifying. The most crucial thing was that it was too disgusting.

Bai Qingqing had never expected that such a horrifying event would threaten her. To think that there was such a horrifying event in this world. It was terrifying, and she didn’t dare to go out anymore.

Curtis found this amusing. He didn’t expect Bai Qingqing to be given a scare and hugged her even tighter.