Chapter 67: Dead Leaf Locust’s Weakness
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
But Gao Peng was not the type of person with a low-class sense of humor. His area of focus was a little different from the norm.
To be able to seriously injure themselves by falling from great heights meant that the vision of these creatures was not so good. It also meant that the intelligence of these creatures was definitely not that good either. A normal person would remember and learn a lesson after getting injured just once.
In the cage the Voracious Golden Toad gave an unsatisfied humph, Guu!
One of the technicians hurriedly took out a bunch of frozen river shrimp from the freezer. This toad had a horrible temper, especially when it was hungry.
“Voracious Golden Toads have a huge appetite. They can eat ten meals a day, and over 50kg of food each meal,” Director Chen explained to Gao Peng.
Gao Peng nodded.
Then he thought of the battle that was going on in the north of the city. Gao Peng’s expression changed a little.
“The military wants to use Voracious Golden Toads to deal with the Dead Leaf Locusts?” asked Gao Peng.
Director Chen nodded. This was nothing worth hiding. “That’s right, the military wants us to research ways to greatly improve the grade of Voracious Golden Toads. Based on the natures of the animals, toads are the natural enemies of locusts. Furthermore, these toads have such a voracious appetite.”
“Voracious Golden Toads are evolved from Horned Frogs, if I’m not wrong?” said Gao Peng.
“Yes.”
“Horned Frogs are very greedy eaters, and can be said to be overly greedy. They spend most of their time in the state of hunger and will try to eat anything that is smaller than them. Many Horned Frogs end up stuffing themselves to death,” said Gao Peng, his eyes looking deep and contemplative. “Voracious Golden Toads should be of earth attribute right?”
“Hm? Yes.” Director Chen looked over at Gao Peng. He saw that he had entered his work mode. As expected of the person he had high hopes for.
Gao Peng walked over to the side of the cage, bent forward slightly and placed his right hand on the grilles. The nearby technician thought that this was dangerous and wanted to stop Gao Peng, but was stopped by Director Chen with a wave of his hand.
In the cage, the Voracious Golden Toad was wolfing down the river shrimp. It did not pay attention to Gao Peng who had approached it.
The Voracious Golden Toad ate by using its large mouth to swallow its food whole. It then slowly began to chew and digest the food. It possessed teeth that were actually rather sharp. They were closely packed in three rows on its lower jaw.
After finishing its food, the Voracious Golden Toad’s eyes slowly looked around and finally locked on to Gao Peng.
Guu?
Gao Peng had taken over the roasted Dead Leaf Locust that the technician had brought over. Two locusts were skewered onto a metal wire. They were roasted golden brown and still tender on the inside. There were even bits of fennel leaves sprinkled on top.
“Voracious Golden Toads like to eat fennel,” the technician had explained.
Gao Peng gently waved the skewer in his hand around. The toad’s eyes followed the skewer as it moved.
Then, Gao Peng took a bite of the Dead Leaf Locust right in front of the Voracious Golden Toad’s eyes. He had oil dripping from his mouth.
“Ah, so fragrant. The sauce is rich and fragrant, there’s just the right amount of oil in the fresh meat wrapped by a crispy exterior. I give this roasted locust a ten out of ten!” Gao Peng praised the technician’s cooking with a thumbs-up.
The technician was flustered. That was for the Voracious Golden Toad, mind you! Why would you steal a toad’s food? Can’t you see that the toad in the cage is looking at you angrily?
In the cage, the Voracious Golden Toad really was glaring at Gao Peng with its eyes red with anger.
Locusts were one of its favorite foods, and so was fennel.
How could you eat my food?
You’re inhumane!
Guu! Guu! went the Voracious Golden Toad as it began bashing against the cage. It began jumping and sending the cage into the air along with its jumps.
Its eyes began to display a vicious glint, showing malicious intent.
“But there’s a bit too much fennel. The taste is a bit too strong. Not really to my liking,” said Gao Peng, sounding a bit regretful. He then tossed the food into the cage.
In a blink of an eye, the Voracious Golden Toad opened its mouth wide and lunged forward, leaving a blood-red after image.
The skewer vanished. Even the metal wire was swallowed up by the toad.
Crunch, crunch.
The metal wire was twisted and broken to pieces before being swallowed along with the roasted locust into the belly of the Voracious Golden Toad.
After eating, the toad looked at Gao Peng coldly before silently turning its back to Gao Peng.
“This fella got angry. It probably has an owner already and a Blood Contract as well,’ said Gao Peng with a chuckle.
If that were not the case, there was no way it would have stayed obediently in the cage even though it was that hungry. This was the behavior of a trained monster.
“To be able to even eat the metal wire, the Voracious Golden Toad must have a very powerful stomach or it would not be able to digest that,” mumbled Gao Peng to himself.
He suddenly thought of something and asked Director Chen, “Which aspect of the Voracious Golden Toad does the military wish for us to improve? Is it their appetite or their defense? Or is it their offense or their jumping ability?”
Director Chen went dizzy with confusion. Wouldn’t just looking for a way to evolve the Voracious Golden Toads be enough? How is it possible to actually choose the path of evolution?!
“If there is some idea of what to achieve it would help with my thought process. Actually, even if you do tell me the preferred path of evolution, I can make no promises that I will succeed. I can only try my best,” said Gao Peng humbly.
“The military would like to improve the Voracious Golden Toad’s defense and its ability to digest things. These are the two main areas, but of course improving its offensive capabilities can be good as well.”
Director Chen waved him over, “Come, look over here. These are the results of my research. I have found that the Voracious Golden Toad has a rather decent affinity for two attributes: earth and fire.”
Fire creates earth. In addition to that, the Voracious Golden Toad was also an earth-type monster. Having an affinity for these two attributes would not be surprising.
In Gao Peng’s vision, the data table only visible to him read:
[Monster Name]: Voracious Golden Toad
[Monster Grade]: Normal
[Monster Level]: 19
[Monster Attribute]: Earth
[Monster Weakness]: Wood
At the same time, Gao Peng brought up the table of a Dead Leaf Locust from his memory. This was the data of a random locust he saw on television.
[Monster Name]: Dead Leaf Locust
[Monster Level]: 4
[Monster Grade]: Normal
[Monster Attribute]: Wood/Sand
[Special Characteristic]: Locust Storm (Effect: when a swarm of Dead Leaf Locusts exceeds a billion individuals, they will create a sandstorm. Within the sandstorm, the level of all Dead Leaf Locusts will be increased by one level as long as it is within the limits of its current tier)
[Monster Weakness]: 1. Fire-type 2. Golden Sword Bamboo leaves are effective as a repellant against Dead Leaf Locusts, as they hate the smell of the Golden Sword Bamboo. Dead Leaf Locusts will die immediately from consuming Golden Sword Bamboo leaves.
Gao Peng knew about Golden Sword Bamboos. They were not extremely rare or precious, but they were not exactly common either.
But most importantly, there were no large plantations of this plant anywhere near Chang’an. If they wanted to use this to protect the whole of Chang’an, they would need a horrifying amount of Golden Sword Bamboo.
Such a method would not exactly tackle the root of the problem either. The Dead Leaf Locusts would definitely not be stupid enough to eat the Golden Sword Bamboo leaves on their own.
To actually eliminate the threat, they still had to exterminate all of these locusts. The initiative lied in the hands of humanity.
Fire type. It seems that the best way is to evolve the Voracious Golden Toads, and to have them develop the fire attribute as well.