Chapter 955: Am I a Beggar?

Chapter 956 Have I become a beggar?

Gu Ma took Ajie and Li Mo to the fruit forest of their tribe.

It is called a fruit forest, but it is actually an area in the center of the forest.

In the middle, there are particularly tall and straight trees with wide and stretched leaves, slightly curled, like huge bird claws. Not only does it look like a bird, but it also attracts birds, which is the origin of the name of the bird claw tree.

Between the leaves hang strings of light green fruits in strips.

These fruits are as thick as fingers and clustered, like some kind of natural ornaments.

Gu Ma led the tribesmen to climb the tree flexibly. They would approach and talk to the fruits.

"How is it? Are you ready? Not yet? Alas, you are really cowardly."

"Such a sweet voice, you are really a rare treasure, let me pick you off and start the next stage of reproduction."

"No, you are still too young and still growing, your voice is sour and vague, let's talk about it in a few months."

...

In the eyes of others, these ant keepers are like talking to themselves.

They carefully removed bunches of ripe fruits from the trees and put them into the backpacks on their backs.

Li Mo asked through his safety suit: "These trees can't survive in other places, right?"

"Yes, before I came here, many people from other civilizations had tried this."

Ajie reminded again: "Young Master Mo, this suit and protection must not be taken off, and you can't come into contact with the locals."

"Especially the women here."

The locals of Volut are passionate and bold, and develop very early. Many people who first came here easily got together with local women and indulged in lust, and as a result, they also got the Volut plague.

Outsiders don't have the body and resistance of the locals. If they get the plague, it basically takes a week from infection to death.

Even if they go back, they will be checked by the descendants of the gods and believers of Sedilia. They can detect symptoms keenly, and will immediately lock up the sick until they die and bury and burn them.

Li Mo said: "I'm not interested in women, I'm here to talk business."

His eyes stayed firmly on the bird claw tree.

Ajie felt relieved. Li Mo's appearance, dress and age are easy to be overlooked, but it seems that he came to investigate the family behind him.

"Brother Jie."

The other party's address made Ajie feel a little timid. If a young master was arrogant and domineering, he would feel more at ease. But the other party's calm and polite attitude made him a little unsure.

"Call me Ajie."

"Ajie." Li Mo said: "Why did the Cediliya believers open this passage?"

"This. They originally wanted to move the [Sediliya Stone Statue Array] back here. But that wonder is composed of stone statues, each of which is at least the size of a two-story house. Not only is it heavy, but it is also sunk into the ground. It is difficult to carry out large-scale excavation and transportation here. When you touch it, you can hear the ancient god's mumbling, which will make people mentally confused and weak all over."

Ajie said while observing the locals picking fruits: "They want to hire locals to carry it, but there is hunger here, and there are poisons everywhere, so it is not easy to move. Later, they gradually cooperated with our [Wanli Chamber of Commerce]."

Most of the Cediliya believers are fanatics, and they have mastered some strange rituals and spells from the ancient god's mumbling. Relatively speaking, negotiation and cooperation are their weaknesses.

After the president Albi reached an agreement with the descendant of the god Cautry of Cedilia, many merchants in the guild came here to test the waters, but until now, only Ajie has been running this trade route for a long time.

The reason is that the local ant herders in Volut are difficult to deal with.

Normal people are not recognized by them at all.

When Ajie talked about cooperation with Gu Ma, the leader of the fire ant tribe here, he was irritated by the other party's rude and arrogant attitude and arrogance.

It was as if I was begging them.

After all this time, I have become a beggar?

Ajie and Gu Ma started to fight after cursing.

The other party was also very martial and challenged him in a one-on-one duel.

In the end, Ajie did not beat Gu Ma, who was tall and strong and had the talent of strength and endurance, but he was highly regarded by the other party.

"Very good, very brave. You are very much like an ant-keeper. From today on, you are a friend of our fire ant tribe."

Gu Ma patted Ajie, who was wearing protective clothing: "You are a man. Those other outsiders, what can you say? You don't even dare to fight, what else can you dare to do?"

"We ant-keepers are not afraid of death, and our friends must be brave enough."

In this way, the two sides established contact and friendship.

It is difficult for normal merchants to open up wasteland here.

Looking back, Ajie also felt thrilling.

What if Gu Ma punched himself and seriously injured him that day, or the protective clothing was damaged that day, or even Gu Ma was unhappy and chopped himself off and threw him to make fertilizer for fruit trees...each of them is a dead end.

After going through the most difficult part, Ajie later exchanged the food bought from the Secret Art Kingdom for some local goods.

Local export goods include various leathers, local herbs and fruits, among which the fruits headed by [Bird Claw Fruit] are the most popular with buyers.

It can eliminate certain negative effects, has high practical value, and is sweet and delicious. It is a variety of fruit that the Yao tribe has never had before, and has become an expensive food in the Secret Art Kingdom.

However, the bird claw fruit only bears fruit twice a year, and it is difficult to preserve after picking it, so it is difficult to further increase the yield.

Li Mo was puzzled: "Why don't you consider preserving it by pickling it after picking it?"

"Mr. Mo, look."

Ajie motioned the other party to look under the tree.

There were several women with gemstone pendants hanging around their necks. They were spreading bunches of bird's claw fruit on bird's claw leaves, then gathering the leaves on a wide dustpan and lifting them to the open space nearby.

There were piles of wooden boxes.

Small fiery red ants crawled out of the beehive-like boxes, and soon they covered the bird's claw fruit and started biting.

Li Mo was thoughtful: "Are they processing fresh fruits?"

"You can say that."

Ajie said: "It seems that Mr. Mo has studied these. There are some tiny toxin particles in the bird's claw fruit. All the toxins are concentrated in those small black thorns and evenly distributed in the fruit. These fire ants are removing those poison sacs. At the same time, they will also remove some seeds, so that the bird's claw fruit can have the opportunity to grow into a tree in the soil."

"Fire ants are very poisonous. After they bite people, they will make people feel like they are burned by fire. The wound will continue to swell, and even bleed and the mouth and tongue will be paralyzed. In severe cases, it can also be fatal."

Ajie looked at the small and busy insects: "This is also the reason for the name of the ant people. In the place of Volut, different tribes will coexist with different ant colonies, mainly divided into two branches."

"One is to be with fire ants like the fire ant tribe here. Fire ants can protect fruit trees and will also attack creatures such as birds, snakes and monkeys that will eat fruits. But they recognize the breath of their own ant keepers and will not harm people here."

"Another branch is the seed ants. Seed ants usually move underground. They will store various seeds and plant those seeds. Seed ants will use toxins to distinguish suitable species, and many of the seeds they collect are very valuable for planting."

"Some tribes live with seed ants and obtain food through large-scale planting... It's just that it's far from enough because of the influence of hunger disease. People here will eat more and more, and they will become weaker and weaker, but they are very easy to get hungry."

Li Mo's eyes swept between the ant colony and the fruit in the winnowing basket, and then cast his eyes on the bird claw tree.

"You mean, after removing the poison sac, the bird claw fruit can be eaten?"

"That's right."

Ajie didn't hide this. His core business route was his friendship with Gu Ma, and other aspects were not worth mentioning.

At this time, three men came out of the house carrying small dark brown wooden barrels with lids on them. They walked cautiously to the other side of the forest.

Li Mo said, "Are they fetching water?"

"No. The barrels contain antidotes for sale."

"Oh? You have this ability?" Li Mo said casually, "Medicine itself is a necessity in many worlds, and you can also exchange a lot of food by making medicine, right?"

Ajie shook his head, "The number of antidotes is very small, and it can't make up for the gap, this bottomless pit."

"Is it difficult to find and plant medicinal herbs?"

"This... follow me, you will know when you see it."

Ajie followed him all the way to the other side of the forest ahead.

There were several men from the Fire Ant Tribe over there, bargaining with three outsiders.

The outsiders were tall, wearing white robes, bird-beak masks and black hats, and holding a cane as high as a person, like some kind of monk.

The masked man in the lead said, "We give as much food as the medicine weighs, this is the rule."

The man from the Fire Ant Tribe said, "These are the freshest medicines, just made by men, you won't suffer any loss. The medicine is strong, the effect is the same as before. Give more."

The other party did not give in, "Give as much medicine as you want."

Finally, the man from the Fire Ant Tribe was a little embarrassed, and wanted to say something harsh, but couldn't. In the end, he took off the dagger wrapped in cowhide from his waist, gritted his teeth and handed it to the other party.

The man on the other side took it, looked at it and put it away.

A masked man behind him took the wooden barrel and put it into a silver barrel behind him to cover it.

The other man's long staff in his hand hit the ground, and the soil suddenly bulged high, forming a giant earth element snake. The snake swallowed the silver barrel in one gulp, then lowered its head and let the two walk on its back.

When he saw Ajie, the leading man nodded slightly.

Ajie also nodded in return.

The other party left with the giant snake, and wooden carts filled with bags of wheat flowed out of the giant snake's body.

"Which world do these people come from?" Smart Li Mo has already seen the clues.

"They are believers of the Greek mythological god [Staff of the Cutting Slope], and the leader is the hero Fanel. They come here to buy medicine here."

Ajie saw that the man who used a dagger to make up the difference was now very happy and was pushing the cart back.

He said: "The core raw material of that special antidote is the blood of the ant-keepers, and it must be fresh blood, preferably from adult males. After some filtering and removing impurities, it is a usable antidote."

Li Mo was stunned: "Are they selling blood?"

"You have to survive and eat."

Ajie whispered: "This is the ant-keepers, but don't pity them, otherwise they will break off relations with you. When a person is penniless, dignity is his last treasure."

The ant-keepers are such a group of stinky and hard people.

Surviving in the poisonous pool of Volut.

Without this last bit of pride, they would have turned into human beasts controlled by their appetite.

In the evening, the men and women of the Fire Ants danced, beat drums, sang songs, and ate hot potatoes piled on the table.

Being full will make the ant-man forget all his worries and never worry about things that have not yet come.

Meanwhile, Ajie was finally able to get back to the car, take off his heavy helmet, and wipe the sweat from his face and neck with a towel. He relaxed his breathing a little and drank gulps of water.

In the passenger seat, Li Mo was still looking at the light in the forest, silent.

Ajie poured a sip of wine into his mouth and said, "We can go back now. Is it almost done, Mr. Mo?"

"Wait a moment."

Li Mo said: "I want to find out their living conditions and...whether it is worth helping them."

really.

Ajie didn't care: "Master Mo, I have to remind you that several gods have inspected this place, including the [Cepo's Staff] from Greek mythology, the [Mercy Maid] from Nordic mythology, and the [Mercy Maid] from heavenly mythology. Shen Nong]...are all famous gods, and they can’t solve the problem here. Don’t have high expectations.”

"That's them."

Li Mo said lightly: "We are different."

Ajie was stunned.

The other party emphasized again: "We Yao people are different."

Ajie felt envious when he saw the unabashed confidence and rightness in Li Mo's eyes.

When encountering disasters, normal people would stay away from them, but the Yao people like to search for and tame disasters. They even want to put natural disasters that destroy the world into the laboratory for dissection.

This is the Yao people who rely on the god Yao.

A superior person from the Kingdom of Secrets.