Chapter 392 - 214: Four-winged Cold Kun, Strike!
Chapter 392: Chapter 214: Four-winged Cold Kun, Strike!
There were a few benches here for tourists to rest, but they were empty at the moment.
Yang Qi sat down on the innermost bench, leaned against a large tree, and closed his eyes, enjoying a moment of peace.
A faint BUZZ suddenly reached his ears.
Yang Qi opened his eyes and saw a few yellow dragonflies dancing gracefully over a patch of grass not far away. They would hover for a moment, then abruptly change direction to catch tiny flying insects invisible to the naked eye.
Sunlight passed through the dragonflies’ transparent wings, refracting a faint golden halo.
Watching these nimble insects, an idea suddenly sparked in Yang Qi’s mind.
He glanced around.
This tree-lined path was in a remote spot. There were no security cameras, and the nearest tourists were over a hundred meters away with their backs to him.
Confirming that no one was watching, Yang Qi took something out of his Hundred Pouches Belt.
It was a bone xun—an ancient globular flute—about the size of his palm. It was grayish-white, with a smooth surface that glowed with the warm luster of jade.
This was the first beast-taming Magical Artifact Yang Qi had obtained. It was bound to a creature called the "Four-winged Cold Kun" and could control up to ten thousand of them.
He had possessed it for nearly three months, but Yang Qi still hadn’t figured out what a "Four-winged Cold Kun" actually was.
He only knew that playing the bone xun produced a melody inaudible to human ears.
He had tried it a few times in his dorm room before with no particular result, so he had set it aside for the time being.
Now, watching the yellow dragonflies flitting through the air, a thought flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning.
’Dragonflies... don’t they have four wings?’
’Cold Kun? Kun... chong? Insect?’
Yang Qi held his breath and brought the bone xun to his lips.
No sound came out.
But a silent melody, imbued with a special rhythm, transformed into invisible waves through the bone xun and quietly spread outward.
The next moment, a magical scene unfolded.
The few yellow dragonflies that had been leisurely flying in the distance suddenly beat their wings in unison. Like soldiers receiving the highest command, they changed direction and flew at incredible speed to surround Yang Qi.
One hovered above his left shoulder, another by his right ear, one above his head, and two more in front of and behind him.
The five dragonflies formed a defensive formation with Yang Qi protected at its center.
Their wings vibrated at high speed, emitting a soft BUZZ, their compound eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings.
The corner of Yang Qi’s eye twitched violently.
His heart, betraying his composure, began to pound in his chest.
Suppressing his excitement, he kept playing, switching to a different melody.
As the melody changed, the five dragonflies immediately shifted their formation. Switching from defense to offense, they lined up in a single file, their wing beats suddenly accelerating. With an unstoppable momentum, they headed toward the empty lawn ahead—
And charged!
They looked like a miniature air force squadron executing a surprise attack.
Yang Qi changed the melody again.
The charging dragonfly squadron immediately broke formation, fanning out and rushing into the nearby grove of trees with lightning speed in an encircling maneuver.
Their targets were the moths and mosquitoes flitting about in the woods.
Hunt!
Guard, Charge, Hunt.
Three melodies, three commands.
The puzzle that had troubled Yang Qi for nearly three months was, at this moment, solved!
The Four-winged Cold Kun are dragonflies!
And most likely, they were this exact type of common yellow dragonfly, most prevalent in summer and autumn!
The special melody played on the bone xun was inaudible to humans but could be received by dragonflies, allowing him to control those within a certain range and issue simple commands.
"Hunt"!
This command immediately made Yang Qi think of the system’s contribution point rules.
Mosquitoes were designated by the system as "Bloodthirsty Demon Crows." Eliminating one awarded 1 contribution point.
And dragonflies just so happened to be the natural predators of mosquitoes!
Yang Qi clenched his fists tightly.
Annoyance, excitement, regret... a mixture of emotions flooded his heart.
’It’s too late! I figured this out too late!’
It was late September, the transition from late summer to early autumn.
The dragonflies’ life cycle was nearing its end. Before long, they would disappear until next year.
If only he had discovered this secret two months earlier, in the height of summer...
During the day, he could have controlled an army of tens of thousands of dragonflies to hunt mosquitoes in all the water areas, grassy patches, and forests of the Zoo.
At night, he could activate the "Demon Extermination Array" to continue harvesting the stragglers and nocturnal flying insects.
The rate at which he would have earned contribution points...
Yang Qi could almost picture the system notifications flooding his screen.
Unfortunately, there were no "what ifs."
’I’ll just have to make the most of the end of summer and get as many as I can.’
Yang Qi quickly calmed down and brought the bone xun back to his lips.
This time, he played the "Hunt" melody.
The silent waves spread out from him like ripples in water.
At first, only a few nearby dragonflies responded.
But soon, as if in a chain reaction, dragonflies from further away also began to turn and converge on his position.
Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred...
In less than ten minutes, a dense swarm of yellow dragonflies had gathered around Yang Qi.
They hovered in mid-air, their wings vibrating with a dense BUZZ, like a golden cloud.
Yang Qi focused his intent again.
’Spread out! Hunt! Target—mosquitoes!’
BZZZ—
The dragonfly cloud instantly dispersed, turning into countless streaks of golden light that shot toward every corner of the park.
By the ditches, in the grass, through the woods, along the pond shores...
Any place where mosquitoes gathered became a hunting ground for the dragonflies.
[Congratulations, Host, for killing a "Bloodthirsty Demon Crow." Contribution Points +1]
[Congratulations, Host, for killing a "Bloodthirsty Demon Crow." Contribution Points +1]
[Congratulations, Host...]
The system’s notification alerts began to ring in his mind with astonishing frequency.
His contribution points began to jump rapidly, as if on fast-forward.
+1, +1, +1, +1...
The corners of Yang Qi’s mouth curled up involuntarily.
’This is so much more efficient than the Demon Extermination Array!’
However, the joy didn’t last long.
An hour later, the rate of increase for his contribution points slowed down noticeably.
Two hours later, it had almost completely stopped.
Yang Qi stopped playing, his brow furrowing slightly.
Through the bone xun’s connection, he could roughly sense the status and location of the controlled dragonflies.
He figured out the problem.
First, the Zoo itself was very strict about pest control.
The main areas frequented by tourists were regularly sprayed, so there were very few mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes were more numerous only in some remote areas, ditches, near animal drinking troughs, in small groves, and by the ponds.
Second, dragonflies have a limited appetite.
A single dragonfly can eat dozens or even hundreds of mosquitoes a day, but once it’s full, it won’t actively hunt anymore.
Third, and most importantly, dragonflies are diurnal insects.
They stop moving after dark and find a place to rest. It was already past six o’clock, and the sun was about to set.
These three factors combined caused the contribution point harvest to drop off rapidly after the initial burst.
...
Understanding the situation, Yang Qi calmed himself and didn’t feel discouraged.
If they hunted less today, they could continue tomorrow.
Finally, as darkness fell and the last batch of dragonflies "clocked out" and returned to their roosts, Yang Qi tallied his earnings. He had gained a total of over three hundred contribution points.
’Barely passable.’
’Time for the lottery!’
[Congratulations, Host, you have won: Nine Heavens Cloud Gold]
’Another one for improving Spiritual Root aptitude.’
’Not bad, not bad at all.’
’Next draw.’
[Congratulations, Host, you have won: Thousand-Year-Old Willow Wood Heart]
’Still for improving Spiritual Root aptitude.’
’Excellent.’
’One more!’
[Congratulations, Host, you have won: Stone Jade]
’Three draws, and all three were for improving Spiritual Root aptitude.’
"Looks like the system wants me to speed up my cultivation too," Yang Qi murmured.
...
Over the next few days, whenever Yang Qi had free time, he would play the bone xun and command the "Four-winged Cold Kun" to hunt.
However, he no longer summoned the dragonflies to his side.
Gathering them with such fanfare was both time-consuming and likely to attract unwanted attention.
And so...
At the edge of a small grove, a yellow dragonfly resting on a foxtail grass suddenly vibrated its wings. It shot out like a golden flash of lightning, made a sharp turn in the air, and precisely snatched an Anopheles mosquito that had just taken off from the grass.
On a rock by the pond, three dragonflies took off simultaneously. They surrounded a Culex mosquito hovering low over the water’s surface in a triangular formation, attacking almost at the same time, with the one in the middle delivering the final blow.
Beside the drainage ditch behind the wolf enclosure, five dragonflies formed a small hunting party, patrolling low along the channel and clearing out any mosquitoes in their path.
Within the area covered by the xun’s melody, it was as if a silent and efficient "mosquito extermination" mode had been activated.
The dragonflies no longer flew about aimlessly. Instead, like elite hunters, they carried out precise and rapid sweeps within their own designated "territories."
[Congratulations, Host, for killing a "Bloodthirsty Demon Crow." Contribution Points +1]
[Congratulations, Host...]