Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

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Chapter 3: The Hunt Begins

-Kwa-kwaang!

-Kwaang-kwang!

“Things are getting really crazy…”

The earth-shattering sounds jolted me awake in the middle of the night.

It had been four nights since the guests had set off to search.

From afar, near the rocky Mountains, began the sounds of crashing stones mixed with astonishing booms.

“I just told them to search casually, but are they throwing rocks now? Don’t these people know about environmental protection? They should protect the habitats so others can harvest too!”

Harvesting is about borrowing from nature for a moment, and habitats must absolutely be protected.

As urgent as it was because of my daughter, it seemed like about thirty people were determined to completely wreck the habitat.

“Wait, did they have explosives or dynamite or something?”

In this small village on Hainan Island, after waking up as an orphan’s body, I had lived by catching and selling snakes to survive in this mountain’s abandoned conduits, so I knew nothing about this era.

I had only thought it must be one of the Song, Yuan, Ming, or Qing dynasties.

Thus, the noises I was hearing now startled me somewhat.

Hearing something breaking and exploding that couldn’t possibly be made naturally was unnerving.

The sound now seemed like something that wouldn’t occur without gunpowder.

‘When was gunpowder developed in the Central Plains?’

Thus, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t that far back from my past life.

If giant centipedes that are larger than men really exist as the men say, then it must be another world altogether.

Amid those thoughts, I thought I should visit the habitat before dawn broke the next day.

I had to check how badly they had destroyed it.

Someone who knows the habitat should protect it; for those of this era, discussions about habitat protection might be a distant tale.

If even one little guy is around, I’d like to bring it back…

Centipedes are such fascinating creatures.

They said they could grow large enough to eat me, but I had once sought out a black mamba, so I wasn’t about to get scared off at this scale.

About an hour must have passed, right?

-Shaa.

Suddenly, a downpour began.

As the raindrops fell, the sounds of Bang and crash began to quiet down.

Now that it was raining, they probably couldn’t use gunpowder any longer, so it felt like everything calmed down.

Finally, it seemed I could finally prepare to sleep, listening to the sound of rain pouring down as a lullaby.

“Is it over?”

-Crrr crrr.

Right after, the sound of crickets chirping began coming from the jar where I kept them, and I decided to return to my bed for some well-deserved rest.

Soon, the heavy rain piled on, and the peaceful night in the mountain continued just like any other night.

*

-Huff-huff.

Exhausted and collapsed, the warriors of the Tang Clan.

The surviving warriors sprawled on the rocks, drinking the falling raindrops, while the scholar of Thousand Poisons, Dang Cheolsan, braced his broken arm against a bamboo piece.

“Is your arm alright?”

The voice belonged to Mandok God, Dang Cheolsan’s father.

With a smile amidst the rain, Dang Cheolsan replied.

His arm was broken, but now that they had caught the Blue-Spotted Centipede, he was hopeful about saving his daughter.

“Yes, it’s just broken.”

“I didn’t expect this low-level Blue-Spotted Centipede to be this fierce. If the rain hadn’t slowed it down, we might have all lost our lives.”

The smile vanished in response to his father’s words.

Indeed, his father was right.

Incredible speed and immense strength.

A skill to accurately sense the warriors’ positions even in the dark of night.

And venom so potent that anything it brushed against melted away.

Though it was recorded as a low-level creature, the Blue-Spotted Centipede was an extraordinary venomous being.

Even being warned to be cautious, two clan warriors had fallen to their demise due to the creature’s speed, and three others had succumbed to poisoning.

Fortunately, those three were saved by the use of Yellow Essence and his father’s Venomous Power, but if the battle had dragged on, who knows what might have happened to the rest as well.

He had tried to save a warrior from being ambushed, but even while wearing protective techniques, his arm had been broken instantly.

The Tang Clan’s Flying Dagger and secret techniques were rendered useless against its tough shell, and it was only because his father seized the opportunity while the creature was momentarily slow that they managed to crush its head and finally kill it.

“But we caught it, so that’s that. Now, let’s see how effective the Inner Dan to save our Hua Eun is.”

Beyond the exhausted warriors of the clan, Mandok God smiled as he approached the massive Blue-Spotted Centipede, sprawled out on the rock with its legs twitching.

*

-Shaa.

When I awoke in the morning, the rain showed no signs of letting up.

From what I had observed over the past few years, this was a season of heavy rainfall.

Sometimes there were downpours, and it could rain for days; the rain that began last night gave me the feeling it would last a while.

The sky was thick with dark clouds, and the rain was quite heavy.

At this rate, I’d have to postpone my plans to check on the habitat.

I had hoped to look at the habitat the people had wrecked after breakfast, but with the rain, venturing out was risky.

Living alone, if I caught a cold I would have to endure it for days, and then who would feed my cute little pets?

Breeders ought to take good care of themselves.

Breeders are the ones responsible for the creatures they raise.

Two more days passed in the morning.

-Tok. Tok.

An unidentified tropical bird was chirping beautifully from the roof of the abandoned conduit, and from the edges of the broken conduits, droplets of water were falling.

Finally, the sun made an appearance through the clouds, and the morning was filled with the sounds of birds and insects.

I had been eager to visit the habitat, and I was grateful that the sun was shining.

‘New Species!’

An adventure to find the Blue-Spotted Centipede that I had heard about, with its green spots.

It felt like today might be the day.

I hadn’t been idly doing nothing for the past two days.

I had made thorough preparations.

First, I prepared a relatively intact jar, strapping it in a pouch made from string, ready to carry on my back, and also crafted two torches from branches and a Fire-Kindling Technique.

Just in case, I might venture into a cave or something.

The Amazonian giant centipede or the Peruvian giant centipede, scientifically known as Scolopendra gigantea, was one of the largest centipede species around the world in my past life.

The peculiar trait of the gigantea was to climb cave ceilings and grab birds or bats, hence why I had prepared ropes and torches.

I wondered if large centipedes might have similar habits.

“Everything’s ready. Now let’s take a little trip!”

I strapped the jar to my back and quickly headed toward the rocky mountain to the west.

Crossing several streams swollen from the rain, I arrived at a not-so-tall rocky mountain.

Although the rain had washed away many traces, as soon as I reached the base of the rocky mountain, I could immediately see the havoc they had wreaked on the habitat.

From afar, the midsection of the mountain looked like it had been bombed.

Rocks were rolling down from halfway up the mountain, and the soil had been gouged out, with muddy water flowing down to the base.

“Oh! They’ve really made a mess of things.”

With the ground still wet, I carefully climbed the mountain to avoid slipping on the rocks.

Though I could look for the new species later, I needed to see how badly the habitat had been destroyed.

After about thirty minutes of climbing, I reached the midsection of the mountain.

I couldn’t help but shudder.

Reaching the midsection, I spotted something bright red wedged between the rocks…

This definitely looked like a centipede’s leg.

A bright red leg that seemed to be about 40 centimeters long.

It was a massive leg that looked roughly the thickness of a 100 won coin.

‘It was real!?’

Honestly, I was a bit skeptical about claims of them being big enough to eat me.

Insects and arthropods need a high concentration of oxygen to grow large, that’s common knowledge.

Hence, creatures the size of sparrows or cats or dragonflies the size of eagles could only exist in high-oxygen periods like the Carboniferous.

The oxygen levels in this era didn’t seem that high.

It was similar to how things were when I burned things in my past life.

But seeing that leg, I understood it finally.

If the leg was this size, it would definitely be big enough to eat me without a doubt.

Overwhelmed by the leg’s size, chills ran down my spine.

Just how large could the creature with a leg like this be?

-Swallow.

‘Should I turn back?’

No matter how enticing the new species was, the leg’s size made me wonder if I should retreat.

However, after a moment’s thought, I decided it was best to check for at least a small one after having come this far.

It felt impossible to raise one, but I still wanted to see one moving in action.

If I wanted to see a living one, today would be the best time.

Centipedes have minimal membranes, so when it rains, their bodies get easily wet, making it hard for them to breathe.

So, now that the rain had stopped, it seemed like the perfect time to search for them when they were most subdued.

Thus, I meticulously searched the area around where I found the leg and the nearby disturbed soil.

And after some searching, I managed to spot a somewhat crawlable hole through the loosened dirt.

“I think this might be the spot…”

Standing before the cave, I couldn’t help but hesitate.

Centipedes usually live solitary lives.

Since they have territories, they typically fight if they encounter each other.

But not every species is like that.

Particularly, the Korean giant centipede.

They tend not to fight even when in large groups.

So if the leg I found came from a centipede that came out of this hole, there could be others inside.

Or it might be empty.

If it were empty, it wouldn’t be an issue.

I’d still be a bit disappointed, but at least I got a leg.

But if there were other centipedes inside…

That would be slightly dangerous, no, very perilous.

However, my dilemma didn’t last long.

-Huff.

Soon, I pulled out my Fire-Kindling Technique and lit the torch.

Honestly, I should’ve learned to keep my curiosity in check while I was out searching for 10-year-old vipers in my past life.

‘Damn this curiosity. No, it’s the curiosity from my past life!’

-Froosh!

I got the torch lit and cautiously crawled into the hole.

Holding the flame in front gave me some sense of security.

The dampness from the rain-flooded cave made for a narrow crawl, about five meters?

The tunnel widened.

Just as the cave started to widen, I was hit with the musty smell of mold and then came upon a large cavity.

I stood up and began inspecting the ceiling.

I was worried a centipede might drop down.

Honestly, my legs were shaking.

After checking the ceiling, I shined the torch into the cavity.

Then, my eyes caught sight of something yellow, piled high in the middle of the cavity, about the size of a handball.

“Whoa!”

I couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.

Glistening with a sheen and perfectly round.

That handball-sized thing was undoubtedly an egg of the massive Blue-Spotted Centipede.