The Brocade Tortoise Shell and the Iron-Eating Insect

The next morning, the sun shone brightly, the dew was glistening, and the breeze was gentle – a rare and beautiful day.

Zhongyi couldn't sleep well last night; she couldn't sleep soundly and even woke up once in the middle of the night.

Zhong Yi thought to himself, "It seems I should buy a Dream Cat to keep by my side."

Like the Substitute Doll and the Cleaning Mouse, the Dream Cat is one of the three major household beasts.

Compared to cleaning mice that can only clean with their disproportionately large tails, the Dream Cat, a domestic animal that can improve the sleep quality of other creatures around it through its own mental power, is undoubtedly more useful.

Compared to ordinary people, beast tamers who have fought in secret realms are more likely to be mentally stressed or frightened!

Sweet Dream Cat is considered the best companion for aiding sleep, but the shop I like doesn't sell Sweet Dream Cat.

Although Sweetie is a domestic animal, it is not cheap.

Even a less desirable Dream Cat can cost over 10 Alliance Coins.

In addition, the Dream Cat is very delicate and not suitable for group keeping, so shops that do not have a creator to take care of it generally do not sell Dream Cats.

After washing up, Zhongyi changed into a refreshing blue and white color-blocked tracksuit. As soon as she opened the door, she saw Hongji standing at the door.

Hong Ji hadn't changed much in appearance since last night, but the moment Zhong Yi saw her, he sensed that she was different.

Before Zhong Yi could even ask a question, Hong Ji handed him a blood-stained pouch.

He had a hesitant expression on his face, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

Zhong Yi quickly pulled Hong Ji into the room and sat her on the bed, listening to Hong Ji recount what had happened in the middle of the night, sounding somewhat guilty.

The more Hong Ji spoke, the more Zhong Yi frowned, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

Zhong Yi was well aware of Zhong Chenghuai's strength. How could a beast tamer whose natal beast taming essence was damaged be a strange opponent?

Fortunately, I made a contract with Hong Ji yesterday through the Soul Seed, which gave Hong Ji the ability to fight.

Otherwise, all the living beings in the entire shop would have been slaughtered by the strange creature that suddenly arrived yesterday.

There's absolutely no chance of seeing the sun today!

Seeing that Zhong Yi frowned, Hong Ji's voice grew softer and softer as she spoke, and she even showed a wronged expression on her face.

The food was practically served to me, how could I resist eating it? ╥﹏╥...

Just then, Zhong Yi suddenly looked up and looked at Hong Ji very seriously.

"You did a great job, Hong Ji!"

Just as Hong Ji was recounting her experience from the previous night, Zhong Yi had her reveal the monster she had devoured.

Upon seeing this strange beast, Zhong Yi was startled once again!

After investigating, Zhongyi learned about the strength of this monster. It was a monster with both flesh and curse attributes, only one step away from the fantasy rank.

Even though Hong Ji created a new history in the history of beast taming by being a silver-rank ordinary beast, she was clearly not qualified to fight against such a strange creature.

If Hong Ji hadn't immediately devoured the strange creature, giving it time to recover, she would have been killed instead.

Hong Ji was initially afraid that Zhong Yi would criticize her, but upon hearing Zhong Yi's praise, a smile immediately appeared on her face.

"Hong Ji, did you completely devour this monster last night?"

Hong Ji said with great certainty upon hearing this.

"Master, it's so delicious, I can guarantee there won't be a single crumb."

"I've even sucked up every last bit of his breath."

Hearing Hong Ji's answer, Zhong Yi still went to the courtyard to take a closer look before she could finally relax completely.

Zhongyi gave Hongji some instructions.

"Don't mention what happened last night to anyone. From now on, when I'm around, ask me before you order anything."

"If I'm not here, you can make your own choice."

Zhong Yi, who had returned to the room, opened the blood-stained storage bag.

Inside the storage room, besides some miscellaneous items, there were only four valuable things.

Although there are few valuable items, each of these items is extremely valuable.

The first item was a potted Monstera deliciosa, about one meter tall.

This potted Monstera deliciosa is growing extremely vigorously, with its sturdy vines clinging to a wooden stake as thick as a calf.

Many of the aerial roots, resembling serpents, have pierced into this sturdy wooden stake.

Each leaf with its split back features three colors: white, yellow, and green, evoking a strong sense of summer.

The Monstera deliciosa is a large plant-based animal with extremely high value.

If this Monstera deliciosa is planted on an outdoor wall, it will quickly cover the wall and climb all the way up to the roof.

Monstera deliciosa is very easy to grow, and the distribution of the three colors of the newly grown leaves is random.

Like opening a blind box of oil paintings, this makes the Monstera deliciosa (a type of variegated foliage) very visually appealing.

With sufficient sunlight, watering is all that's needed to ensure rapid growth.

This Monstera deliciosa, which has grown to over three meters tall, will have one or two leaves wither every month.

These dried leaves contain an extremely rich amount of wood element, making them excellent materials for creators to concoct wood element potions.

Each leaf, if properly preserved, can fetch around 12 federal dollars.

Because it requires no daily maintenance, it beautifies the environment and generates nearly 20 federal dollars in revenue each month.

It's no exaggeration to say that the Monstera deliciosa is a money tree!

The second item was a rusty iron box. The box itself looked extremely inconspicuous, but when opened, it contained three beetles, each about half the size of an adult's palm.

These three beetles looked quite ordinary, their frosted shells covered in iron filings, making them appear dirty.

But Zhongyi recognized the three beetles as iron-eating beetles at a glance!

A type of insect-like beast that can produce refined steel after devouring iron ore.

Iron-eating insects can maximize the metallic properties of steel by consuming refined steel produced from iron ore.

For example, ferromanganese refined by iron-eating insects can achieve more than twice the hardness and sharpness of ordinary refined ferromanganese.

The three iron-eating insects sensed Zhong Yi's presence and retreated to a corner of the iron box, raising their forelimbs in an attack posture.

If Zhong Yi dared to put his hand into the iron box at this moment, he would definitely be attacked by these three iron-eating insects.

Upon seeing this, Zhong Yi's face showed not anger but joy.

The fact that the iron-eating insects react in this way indicates that they have laid their eggs in a corner.

Zhong stared intently behind the three iron-eating insects and saw that there were indeed densely packed, translucent insect eggs piled up in the corner.

Iron-eating insect eggs are extremely difficult to hatch; even with careful nurturing from a creator, only 3 to 5 out of 100 eggs will hatch.

The market price of a single iron-eating worm is around 60 federal dollars. In fact, the high price has little to do with the efficacy of the iron-eating worm itself.

The price of refined ferromanganese, which has had its metallic properties stimulated by iron-eating insects, is three to four times higher than that of ordinary refined ferromanganese.

Ordinary refined manganese iron costs only a few hundred federal dollars per kilogram, while it would take an iron-eating worm about half a month to produce one kilogram of refined manganese iron by consuming manganese iron ore.

The real reason for the high price of iron-eating worms is related to their potential.

Iron-eating bugs can evolve into silver-eating bugs if they are specially induced during the promotion to silver quality.

Silver-eating insects devour silver ore, producing refined mithril that can be used by craftsmen to create precision artifacts.

Refined mithril can easily fetch a high price of 50 Federal Credits per kilogram on the trading post.

Zhong Yi was so surprised because, as the creator of the game data, he had a way to ensure the hatching of the Iron-Eating Bug eggs and knew how to induce the Iron-Eating Bugs to evolve into Silver-Eating Bugs.

The three iron-eating insects and their eggs inside the tin box are worth around 300 million federal dollars.

But in Zhongyi's hands, it can create immeasurable value!