player reload

Chapter 9 Flowers and Birds
Saturday morning, Zishan Flower and Bird Market.

After locking the Phoenix bicycle, Li Sheng clapped his hands and looked up at the plaque on the archway of the Flower and Bird Market.

In the past, he would work in a dessert shop, but now that the dessert shop is gone and he doesn't want to waste time, he might as well come to the Flower and Bird Market.

Check to see if there are any insects that can be used as targets for the next round - lest [Gene Hunger] suddenly breaks out one day and you are caught off guard.

The genes of grassland pavement ants enhance muscle explosive power.

The genes of the Chinese broadsword mantis endow it with a freely retractable bone blade.

So which insect should you choose next? Orthoptera crickets with excellent jumping abilities? Coleopteran beetles with hard exoskeletons? Or even the tenacious cockroach Xiaoqiang?

Thinking casually, Li Sheng suddenly saw a somewhat familiar figure, "Classmate Shao?"

Shao Wangshu, wearing a white dress and a straw hat, was sitting outside a coffee shop in the Flower and Bird Market, drinking an iced American. She was surprised to see Li Sheng appear, "Classmate Li Sheng? What a coincidence."

"Yeah, what a coincidence."

Li Sheng scratched his hair. Yin City is so big. If he hadn't seen Shao Wangshu sitting here in advance, he would have suspected that Shao Wangshu was following him. "Are you coming to visit the flower and bird market too? By yourself?"

"You're not alone. My butler is here too."

Shao Wangshu pointed behind him. The housekeeper who was flipping through a fashion magazine not far away noticed her gaze and waved her hand in this direction.

Well, being able to afford a full-time housekeeper proves that Han Letian is right - Shao Wangshu's family is indeed rich.

However, as said in "House of Cards", proximity to power can make some people think they have power, and proximity to wealth can make some people think they have wealth. No matter how rich others are, it has nothing to do with him.

Li Sheng was calm and asked casually: "Are you here to buy flowers?"

"Well," Shao Wangshu nodded, "The garden... well, I mean I just moved here and it's a little empty. I want to buy some flowers to fill it up."

She paused for a moment and added with a somewhat sad tone, "My mother also used to like to grow flowers."

Before, not always.

Li Sheng keenly caught the deviation of the words, but Shao Wangshu himself did not say anything further, and he would not continue to ask, and casually said: "Do you want to go shopping together?"

As tablemates, the two will get along for a while in the future. Moreover, Shao Wangshu has just moved to Yin City. As a local, he should lead the way both emotionally and rationally.

Alas, when he mentioned leading the way, Li Sheng thought of Officer Wang from the community police station in the past - every year at the beginning of the anti-pornography campaign, the experienced Officer Wang would list all the illegal shops in the city on a map.

"Okay."

Shao Wangshu's eyes lit up, he took another sip of coffee, hurriedly put down the cup, picked up the small bag, and followed Li Sheng without paying.

The housekeeper not far away sighed when she saw this, and hit her forehead with a newspaper while complaining, "Wei Caiyan, Wei Caiyan, why did you find this job?"

He also stood up, scanned the QR code to pay for himself and Shao Wangshu, and slowly followed the two people who left.

Tulips, peonies, peonies, roses, azaleas, hydrangeas, forget-me-nots
Looking at the colorful flowers and smelling the fragrant fragrance along the way, I felt naturally relaxed.

Li Sheng also responded to Shao Wangshu's request and took a lot of photos for her with her mobile phone - given his photography skills and the girl's appearance, the photos were pretty good.

"You like taking pictures?"

Li Sheng asked casually after noticing that the other party's phone was full of photos.

"Yeah." Shao Wangshu took the phone and walked forward, saying with some embarrassment: "I think photos are the silhouette of human life. Everyone dies three times. The first time is physical death, when the heart stops beating. The brain no longer functions.

The second time is death in a social sense. When the funeral is completed, the deceased's social role and interpersonal relationships officially end.

The third time is to be forgotten. When the last person in the world who remembers the deceased dies, that person no longer exists at all. "

Shao Wangshu jumped in front of Li Sheng, turned around and smiled brightly at him, "That's why I like taking pictures and painting. This way, when I die one day, the silhouette of my life will continue to exist. Even if no one remember me."

As an energetic high school student, it's strange to always talk about death.

Li Sheng blinked and didn't know how to answer, so he could only respond casually and introduced some of the city's specialties and a fly restaurant that was unknown to outsiders but tasted pretty good.

After turning a few corners and ordering some flowers, we finally arrived at the destination of our trip to the flower and bird market—a reptile shop called [Cute and Exotic Pets].

"I'm going to go in and see the reptiles. How about you stay outside for a while?"

"It's okay, I'm not afraid."

Shao Wangshu followed Li Sheng into the pet store with curiosity on his face. He saw that the store was medium in size and had several rows of glass cabinets.

A row of cabinets holds corn snakes, king snakes, hognose snakes and other snakes.

A row of cabinets holds lizards such as bearded dragon lizards and leopard geckos.

A row of cabinets holds spiders such as Orange Babu, Jin Zhijian, and Solomon. And the various types of insects that Li Sheng is most concerned about.

"It's so cute!"

Shao Wangshu's attention was attracted by a round blue-tongued skink (genus Blue-tongued Skink of the family Lizardidae). His eyes shone. After the clerk nodded in agreement, he reached out and touched it.

Blue Tongue looks very silly, fat and short-legged. He often sticks out his blue tongue and looks like he is wandering and not very smart.

The skinny shop owner noticed Li Sheng wandering in front of the insect cabinet, and asked, "Which handsome guy do you want to see? The ones we have here include the Giant Ji Dou, the Chinese Big Flat Spade, and the Giraffe Spade Beetle."

The good-looking ones include the rainbow stag beetle, the two-spotted red stag beetle, the white-striped green beetle, the Uganda flower beetle, and the rafflesia beetle.

There is also a nice-looking and domineering Metarifo slender red spade armor, which is particularly handsome. "

The shop owner opened the glass cabinet, took out a stag beetle and put it in his hand.

This insect comes from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and its surrounding islands. It has a slender body and a blue or purple carapace with a metallic color.

Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the large jaw, which is longer than the body and has spikes inside, like a pair of strange weapons, very beautiful.

Li Shan resisted the urge to stroke the stag beetle, rubbed his palms and asked, "Are there any giant stag beetles? Or maybe a southern stag beetle?"

The Atlas worm is also called the Atlas worm, and it belongs to the genus Coleoptera, family Scarabidae. Mainly distributed in the tropical rainforests of Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and other countries.

Its head has three strong and long narrow tentacles, and its maximum body length can reach 140.63mm. It feeds on tree sap and has an extremely ferocious temperament. He can be called the king of the insect world.

The giant beetle, also known as Hercules, is the emperor of the beetle world, and its maximum body length can reach an exaggerated 184mm.

"There are halberds. Customs inspections of pocket insects are very strict and they are not allowed to enter. However, there are also insect societies in China that have obtained special breeding certificates and breed them themselves."

The store owner nodded and said, "Do you want L1, L2 or L3?"

"Is it okay for adults?"

The worm needs to go through several stages from egg to emerging adult: egg, first instar larvae (L1), second instar larvae (L2), third instar larvae (L3), pupa, and emerging adult.

The whole process is very long, and the greatest pleasure lies in raising the fat larvae until they pupate and emerge as adults. It feels like nurturing Pokémon.

After they emerge as adults, they can also be artificially bred to pursue larger, stronger, and more handsome offspring.

There are actually only a few people like Li Sheng who buy adult insects directly.

Not only because adults lack the pleasure of breeding, but also because adults are more expensive. Some individuals with excellent bloodlines and close to the extreme body length can be sold for tens of thousands.

"It's unlucky that you came here. There just aren't any. The growth period of the halberd is long, and the adult lifespan is only half a year to a year."

The shop owner asked: "I have at most people in the pupa stage here, what do you want?"

"Alright."

Li Sheng nodded. The pupal stage of Changji lasted for about 40 to 60 days. Considering that he had just completed a cycle of [Gene Hunger], it was not that urgent. Plus he wanted to test something.

"I'll get it for you."

The insect circle is not big, so it is rare to meet someone with the same hobby. The shop owner is quite enthusiastic and takes a pupa from the warehouse that is nearly 16 centimeters long and installed in an artificial pupa chamber.

While packing sawdust for Li Sheng, he kept talking about how noble the ancestral lineage of this halberd was.

Just as Li Sheng was about to pay, he saw Shao Wangshu walking over with two skinks in his arms. One is the eastern Queensland variety, priced at eight thousand, and one is the northern variety, priced at four thousand.

The two add up to 12,000, this is big business!
The boss's eyes sparkled, he entertained Shao Wangshu with a hundredfold enthusiasm, and explained in detail how to raise blue tongues. In fact, it’s nothing. This species is so stupid. It’s like a walking garbage can and can eat both dog and cat food.

When waiting to pay the bill, the happy boss waved his hand and wiped out a zero, freeing Li Shengju's money.

After leaving the door, Li Sheng held the box, scratched his head and said, "Well, this time I get the benefit of you."

"Hehe, just treat me to a cup of milk tea next time."

Shao Wangshu carried two plastic boxes and whispered: "Maybe we can go shopping in other places together in the future?"

"Where?"

"What do you think? A zoo? A movie theater? Disney? Maybe a cruise."

Shao Wangshu skipped ahead and didn't notice that Li Sheng suddenly turned his head and looked somewhere in the alley.

He smelled a familiar scent.

The scent of the Worm Lord.

(End of this chapter)