Player Reload

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, not to mention that 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.

"OK."

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 head 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 in to see the reptiles. Why don't 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 Bluetongued Skink, family Lizardidae). His eyes shone. After the clerk nodded in agreement, he reached out and touched it.

The blue tongue looks very simple, fat, with short legs, often sticking out a blue tongue, with a dreamy and not very smart expression.

The thin shop owner noticed Li Sheng wandering in front of the insect cabinet, and asked: "What kind do you want to see handsome guy? We have the domineering ones here, such as the giant stag beetle, the Chinese flat stag beetle, and the giraffe stag beetle.

The good-looking ones are the rainbow stag beetle, the two-spot red stag beetle, the white-striped green flower beetle, the Uganda flower beetle, and the giant flower beetle.

There is also a kind of beautiful and domineering red stag beetle of the Metarifu, which is very handsome."

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

This insect comes from Sulawesi Island and its surrounding islands in Indonesia. It has a thin body, a blue and purple carapace, and a metallic color.

Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the large jaws that are longer than the body, with spikes inside, like a pair of strange weapons, very beautiful.

Li Sheng resisted the urge to touch the stag beetle, rubbed his palms and asked, "Do you have Hercules beetle? Or South Sea beetle will do."

South Sea beetle is also called Atlas beetle, belonging to the genus South Sea beetle of the family Scarabaeidae of the order Coleoptera. It is mainly distributed in the tropical rainforests of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and other countries.

It has three strong and narrow antennae on its head, and its maximum body length can reach 140.63mm. It feeds on tree sap and has an extremely ferocious temperament. It can be called the king of beetles.

And Hercules beetle, also known as Hercules, is the emperor of beetles, with an exaggerated maximum body length of 184mm.

"We have long spears. The customs inspection of the scorpion beetle is very strict and it is not allowed to enter. However, there are insect societies in China that have obtained special breeding certificates and breed themselves."

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

"Can adults be used?"

From eggs to adults, scorpions need to go through several stages, eggs, first-instar larvae (L1), second-instar larvae (L2), third-instar larvae (L3), pupae, and adult emergence.

The whole process is very long, and the greatest fun is to raise the fat larvae until they pupate and emerge, and then break out of the cocoon to become adults. It feels like raising Pokémon.

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

People like Li Sheng who directly buy adults are actually a minority.

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

"You came at an unfortunate time. We don't have any. The growth period of the long halberd is long, and the life span of the adult is only half a year to a year."

The shop owner asked: "I have the pupa stage at most. Do you want some?"

"That's fine."

Li Sheng nodded. The pupa stage of the long halberd is about 40 to 60 days. Considering that he has just completed a round of [Gene Hunger] cycle, it is not so urgent. In addition, he also wants to test something.

"I'll get it for you."

The insect circle is not big, and it is rare to meet a fellow enthusiast. The shop owner is quite enthusiastic and took out a pupa nearly 16 cm long from the warehouse in the artificial pupa room.

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

Just when Li Sheng was about to pay, he saw Shao Wangshu coming over with two skinks. One is the eastern Queensland species, priced at 8,000, and the other is the northern species, priced at 4,000.

The two add up to 12,000, this is a big business!

The boss's eyes lit up, and he entertained Shao Wangshu with a hundred times more enthusiasm, explaining in detail how to raise blue tongues. Actually, it's nothing. This species is too stupid. It's just a walking kitchen waste bin. It can eat dog food and cat food.

When it came time to pay the bill, the happy boss waved his hand and removed a zero, exempting Li Sheng from paying for the pupa.

After leaving the door, Li Sheng held the box and scratched his head, "Uh, I took advantage of you this time."

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

Shao Wangshu held two plastic boxes and whispered, "Or maybe we can go somewhere else together in the future?"

"Where?"

"What do you think? Zoo? Cinema? Disney? Or a cruise ship."

Shao Wangshu was jumping in front, and didn't notice that Li Sheng suddenly turned his head and looked somewhere in the alley.

He smelled a familiar smell.

The smell of the Lord of Insects.