The insects in my house are dragons.

Chapter 28 Nightmare

"Croak—croak—"

A weak, feeble croaking of frogs echoed from the swamp.

This swamp area, which is now mostly dried up, is home to the extraordinary mud frog.

"Ah Che, how is it?" Dr. Niu stood aside, observed for a moment, and then asked.

The notebook he used for taking notes was now in Yun Che's hands.

"Um..."

The notebook contained information about the mud frog.

[Name]: Mud Frog

[Attribute]: Water

[Race Level]: Intermediate Extraordinary

[Racial Skills]: Water Drain, Mud Shot, Frog Croak...

This time, Dr. Niu tried to let Yun Che observe and record, as a way to let him experience the work he would be doing in the future.

"I don't know if this will work." Yun Che hesitated before handing the completed notes back to the professor.

Dr. Niu glanced at it briefly, then nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad, very observant, and your deductions are also correct. However, there are areas that could be improved..."

He then told Yun Che about some things that could be modified, as well as things that needed to be noted and recorded during observation.

Record modification complete.

The sun was setting in the west, and the sky was already getting dark.

"No, we're going somewhere else, so we'll stay out tonight," Dr. Niu said in response to Yun Che's question.

"Living outside?"

Yun Che was somewhat taken aback upon hearing this.

The wilderness is inherently dangerous.

Although this area still belongs to Jianghuai City, the Beast Tamer Association of Jianghuai City conducts regular cleanups, so the safety level is relatively high.

However, the recent hot and dry weather and drastic environmental changes have made wild supernatural creatures restless, and the invasion of the black beetles into the Blue River breeding base is one of the best proofs of this.

The extraordinary creatures we've observed along the way have mostly been agitated, with a sharp increase in aggression and xenophobia.

Secondly, the wilderness at night is several times more dangerous than the wilderness during the day.

With only two people, figuring out how to keep watch at night would be a real problem.

"Don't worry." Dr. Niu smiled mysteriously and patted Yun Che on the shoulder.

He spends most of his time investigating supernatural beings; how could he not know that?

He led Yun Che to a relatively flat and open area with sparse trees. A few steps further out was Lanjiang.

"This is fine."

As Dr. Niu spoke, a summoning circle suddenly appeared beneath his feet, and from the Bridge of Contracts, a bird-like extraordinary life form flew out.

"Chirp?" Kongkong rubbed his eyes.

Yun Che also looked surprised.

Because this bird, which doesn't look very big, is actually a... mechanical bird!

"This is the Silver-Eyed Scout, a mechanical life form that also possesses flight attributes and is a mid-level lord-level race," Dr. Bull said with a smile.

Silver-eyed Sparrow?

This was truly an extraordinary creature that Yun Che had never seen or even heard of before—an extraordinary creature with both mechanical and flight attributes.

"I'm not very good at combat, but I do have some experience in self-preservation," Dr. Niu said with a self-deprecating smile.

"With it around, nothing can escape its eyes."

Yun Che was speechless.

Are there no combat-capable beings of mid-level lord races?

He simply doesn't believe it.

However, Dr. Bull's summoning of the Silver-Eyed Sparrow confirmed his previous conjecture.

Dr. Niu has been conducting field research for so many years without any problems, he must have some special skills.

The Silver-Eyed Sparrow, a mid-level lord-race pet, is clearly not Dr. Bull's only pet.

Since that's the case, Yun Che felt relieved.

"Chirp..." Kong Kong curiously climbed over to the Silver-Eyed Sparrow's side and waved its paws in front of it.

Hey Mud Monkey, are you there? Is anyone there?

No matter how the little guy tried, the Silver-Eyed Sparrow didn't make any move; its silver eyes seemed devoid of any emotion.

Just as Kongkong was about to reach out and "knock on the door," the Silver-Eyed Detective Sparrow suddenly moved, flapped its wings twice, and landed on a tree nearby.

Undeterred, Kongkong's little eyes darted around, and he climbed up the tree, returning to the Silver-Eyed Sparrow's side once more.

For the first time, a look of helplessness appeared in the eyes of the silver-eyed scout sparrow.

It flapped its wings and moved to another tree.

"Chirp!" Kongkong put her hands on her hips.

Hey!

I refuse to believe it!

On the other side, Yun Che and Dr. Niu had already finished setting up their tents, and as the sun gradually set, the two lit a campfire.

After the sun had completely set, the two people by the campfire had finished their dinner.

"Here it comes." Dr. Niu suddenly got up and ran to the riverbank.

Yun Che hurriedly followed, and saw...

Bright, star-like particles rise from the riverbank.

In the blink of an eye, it seemed as if a large number of tiny stars appeared on the riverbank, flickering on and off, which was quite a beautiful sight.

"This is... a star worm?"

[Name]: Starfly

[Attribute]: Insect

[Race Level]: Intermediate Extraordinary

[Racial Skills]: Insect Chirp, Insect Bite, Starlight...

"Yes," Dr. Niu said. "Their larvae are among the most extraordinary organisms that can respond best to changes in water quality and the environment."

"Have you noticed?" Dr. Niu suddenly asked again.

What did you find?

Yun Che paused, looking at the starfly hovering on the river in front of him, his brows slowly furrowing.

In my mind, I recalled the scene of observing the blue-feathered birds and mud frogs moving downstream of the Blue River.

After a long pause, he tentatively asked, "Are you sure the problem is in the river?"

The unusual behavior of the black beetle makes it hard not to think of the river.

However, the influence of the riverside cannot be completely denied.

Therefore, this field survey is not only to observe the changes in wild extraordinary creatures under drought conditions, but also to further determine the source of the problem and eliminate unnecessary interfering factors.

"That's right." Dr. Niu looked appreciative. Yun Che's answer showed that he had not only observed, but also kept thinking.

"Could it be some kind of powerful, extraordinary being?"

"We don't know for now, but we've confirmed the possible source of the problem, and the Beastmaster Association will handle it accordingly."

Actually, if it weren't for the fact that he wanted to mentor Yun Che, this matter probably wouldn't have needed Dr. Niu's investigation.

However, the abilities Yun Che displayed along the way truly satisfied Dr. Niu.

Night falls.

Although Dr. Niu had the silver-eyed bird-watching skill to keep watch at night, Yun Che still made a backup plan with Kong Kong for safety reasons.

Have the little guy spread out a lot of silk threads in the forest and around the tent, and finally gather all the silk threads together.

In this way, they would be able to detect any extraordinary creature that approached and tugged at the threads.

After making these arrangements, Yun Che and Kong Kong finally fell asleep.

...

midnight.

"call!!"

Yun Che, who was sleeping in the tent, suddenly sat up and began to breathe heavily.

"Chirp, chirp?" Kongkong, covered by a "sheet", heard the noise and rubbed his eyes.

What's wrong, Ah Che?

Yun Che wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face slightly pale.

What's wrong?

He didn't know either.

Mingming had been having a wonderful dream, in which he rode Kongkong, who had fully transformed into a dragon, soaring through the sky and becoming one of the world's top beast tamers.

He was having a good dream when suddenly it felt like someone pushed him from behind, and he fell off an empty back. The beautiful dream instantly turned into a nightmare, and the weightless feeling of falling from a great height woke him up in fright.

He touched the back of his neck, where the hair hadn't completely flattened.

The feeling of falling was so real, it didn't feel like a dream.

After a long pause, Yun Che finally spoke:

"It's nothing, just a nightmare..."

The voice just fell.

"唳!! 唳!! 唳!!"

A sharp, piercing bird cry suddenly rang out, like an alarm.

Upon hearing this commotion, both Yun Che and Kong Kong were startled.

The Silver-Eyed Sparrow's Alarm?

A discovery!

Without thinking twice, Yun Che grabbed Kong Kong and rushed out of the tent.

The moonlight shimmered on the river.

At that moment, an unusual wave surged up and approached the shore.

...

In the woods.

On the strangely turbulent river surface, a dark shadow silently watched from the shadows.

Its black mist-like energy gathered at an empty bottle in front of it. Finally, the black mist and the empty bottle slowly dissolved together, outlining a strange, curse-like symbol.