Day by day in the infinite game

Chapter 223 223. Travel in the Desert (Seventeen)

After curing the lovely social-phobic hedgehog family, Tang Qinqin planned to investigate the source of the parasite.

It is relatively common for one or two hedgehogs to get parasitic diseases. Almost no one in the entire hedgehog family is affected. This is a problem.

It means that at least one of the hedgehog's food sources is infected by parasites, and the key category to check is bugs.

"Little counselor, what do you usually eat, can you tell me? Although you are all back to health now, if you don't solve the root cause, you will still get sick if you eat infected food by mistake."

The little coward was the little hedgehog that Tang Qinqin picked up in the bushes.

Even though she was familiar with it, the little hedgehog still curled up timidly at every turn, too shy to speak.

"Ah, I'll take you to see it." Hearing that it was such an important matter, the little counselor didn't care about being nervous, and moved quickly with his four legs.

"Our favorite foods are ants and termites. They taste so good. We usually eat various insects and worms. Sometimes we also eat bird eggs, frogs, and lizards. We also like to eat sour and sweet foods. Sweet fruits for a change." When it comes to food, the little coward is full of treasures and looks cheerful.

"If we say that what we eat almost every day, it should be desert locusts and worms. They are our relatively stable food source."

The worms that the little coward mentioned are a general term that refers to many fairly small, somewhat slender, bare and soft animals that look like earthworms.

Worms are now divided into three major categories, flatworms, tapeworms, and ringworms.

Parasites such as hookworms, tapeworms, roundworms, pinworms, and nematodes that we commonly know are all worms.

Normally, hedgehogs have a wide range of diets, and their body mechanisms are able to resist a variety of poisons. These bugs, which are discolored to us, are just ordinary appetizers for them and will not cause any harm to their health. What an impact.

"Little Shitou, wake up," Tang Qinqin thought for a while, and slipped out Obsidian, who was very tired from dealing with the stupid wolf recently and was sleeping soundly at the moment, "Heaven will give you a great responsibility and give you a difficult task. You are responsible for investigating the nearby desert locusts and checking their health."

Obsidian's aura of getting up was pierced by the last two sentences, and the whole spider became excited.

Foodies exist regardless of species.

Tang Qinqin looked at the calm expression that I had seen through, watching Obsidian glide with spider silk and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

The little coward beside him had already widened his small black eyes, and his nose was up and down, as if he was considering whether the big spider just now was qualified to be on its menu.

After putting on his gloves and mask, tightening his cuffs and trouser legs, and putting on his boots, Tang Qinqin began to follow the little coward to collect the worms it pulled out.

These soft and slippery bugs made people's scalp numb unconsciously, and Tang Qinqin couldn't help but get goosebumps one after another.

"Little coward, is this delicious?"

"Yeah, it's delicious." The little coward whispered, stuffed one into his mouth, chewed it and swallowed it with a look of enjoyment.

It's like sucking a noodle.

The corners of Tang Qinqin's eyes twitched, feeling that he was committing pure self-abuse, and he quickly lowered his head to pick up the bugs on the ground.

After collecting almost all of them, Tang Qinqin began to examine the worms.

With the blessing of "clear eyes", she can clearly see the conditions in the bodies of these bugs.

It was found that almost all bugs contain parasites found in hedgehogs.

"Little coward, there's something wrong with these bugs." Tang Qinqin thought of the bug that he had just snuck in, and felt a little worried, so he threw a pill of insecticide at it.

"Chirp!" The little coward shivered in fright, grabbed the pill with his little paws and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Did you notice that these bugs are different from before?" This situation shouldn't have happened for a long time, otherwise the hedgehog family would have fallen apart due to various serious physical problems such as malnutrition.

"It's no different." The little coward looked confused.

In the end, Tang Qinqin got the answer he wanted from a few old hedgehogs.

"The taste is much worse, the bugs are bigger than before, but the taste is not as good as before."

The old hedgehog smashed his mouth and tasted it.

"It's been a hibernation period, and it's like this after waking up." It added, with regret in its tone.

The hibernation period of hedgehogs usually lasts about four or five months. They fall asleep in late autumn or winter months and wake up in spring.

In other words, it has been more than half a year since the worms started to appear. If not for the illness, the hedgehogs would have already begun this year's hibernation period.

But at present, we can only understand these situations. Tang Qinqin does not know what causes the strange parasites to appear in the worms.

She also analyzed the soil composition for worm activity and found no special problems.

Maybe there was a new parasite species in the soil that she didn't find?
I have heard that due to global warming, the permafrost near the Arctic Circle has thawed, and some ancient viruses and bacteria have begun to revive.

Could it be related to this?
Tang Qinqin currently has no evidence that the two are connected, and everything is just speculation.

"Little coward, when will you and your family start cat winter?" Tang Qinqin planned to proceed cautiously.

"Come on, I've filled my stomach in the past few days, and I'm going to hibernate after I've gathered enough strength." The little coward replied.

"Okay." Tang Qinqin nodded.

Now just wait for Obsidian to come back and see if Desert Locust is a problem.

……

The long-awaited Obsidian is having fun here.

So many delicious locusts!
Because this place is located in a desert area, the population is relatively sparse, and humans have relatively little intervention in the growth of plants. The green plants are basically green and pollution-free, and there are basically no pesticides and chemicals. Desert locusts eat healthily, and their meat is also healthy. How happy is Obsidian who "has never seen the world" in a big city!

In this era, who is not a delicate baby who pays attention to health care?
So after confirming that the locusts exuded the aroma of pure natural food, there was no problem, Obsidian rubbed his legs salivatingly, and quickly made a net to hunt, temporarily leaving Tang Qinqin behind.

When Tang Qinqin ran out of patience and was about to bring the coward to find out what was going on, it appeared in front of him, burping and dragging a large bunch of tied trophies.

Seeing this scene, Tang Qinqin was angry and funny.

Come on, looking at its posture shows that there is no problem with the desert locusts, and the hedgehogs can eat it with confidence.

Turning his head away from looking at Obsidian, who was so happy, Tang Qinqin took his trophies into the accompanying space.

"Next, don't eat worms before you hibernate. Everything else should be fine." Tang Qinqin told the little coward.

(End of this chapter)