Entomologist in Sichuan Tang Clan Chapter 348

348
“Male?”

“Are you saying they are all male?”

“They’re all male?”

“Is this all? By the way, how can you tell the difference between male and female, Little Dragon? No matter how much I look at it, I can’t tell. It’s different from animals, so no matter how much I look at it, I can’t tell.”

People ask whether all the dead songbirds found here and there are male.

Seol’s sister kept asking how they could tell the difference between male and female, so she asked Ji-ryong.

“Ji-ryong, would you please light a fire for me? I’m going to teach you how to tell the difference between male and female.”

Since we are all martial artists and can raise our eyesight, we don’t need fire, so we didn’t light a fire.

However, raising the eye power only makes it possible to see better in the dark, but it does not mean that you can see clearly, so I asked Ji-ryong for a light.

My sister and I can see much more clearly through the Myoaam Night View, but other people can’t.

To teach the difference between male and female, we needed to look closely, so fire was needed.

“Are you talking about the method of distinguishing between male and female?”

But Ji-ryong asks again.

He suddenly looked at me as if he was asking why I was trying to tell the difference between male and female, so I smiled and answered.

“All the ones I’ve found are male, but there might be some females, so I’m going to spread out and check them out. But to do that, don’t you think I need to learn how to tell the s*xes apart?

“I need a bright light to tell the difference between males and females, so I’m asking for a light. If all the dead ones in the village are males, there’s a lot we can learn from that.”

“Oh, I understand.”

Only then does Ji-ryong ask Eumbong for a favor.

“Eumbong, come out and gather the branches.”

“all right.”

“I’ll help you too, Ji-ryong.”

“Thank you, Miss Seol.”

At my request, Ji-ryong and his sister, Eumbong, gathered branches.

As the twigs gathered, he took the incense burner out of his bosom and quickly lit it.

-Wow.

As the flames rose again in the place where only ashes remained and the surroundings became brighter, he began to explain while holding in his hand a songbird that had been turned over on a leaf.

“The way to tell the difference between a male and a female horse is very simple: check their stomachs. Now, look carefully.”

I turned the body of the guy I was holding in my hand over.

Then, I noticed a cute, round body with many legs and a unique leg structure.

“I think it’s a bit similar to our kids.”

“Yeah, but this side seems a little rounder.”

Hwa-eun and Seol-nu have been saying that Cho, Hyang, Bin-i, and No-rae-gi are similar, but that is really sad.

Centipede and Millipede.

The fox and the songbird.

Although their Korean names are slightly different, the two have similar English names and are similar enough to be right next to each other in the species classification.

But if you ask if they are really similar, then absolutely not.

First of all, all the foxes belonging to the Genus Genus are carnivores, while all the foxes belonging to the Genus Genus are herbivores.

Those belonging to the Jin River are rough and ferocious carnivores that eat other insects, but those belonging to the Songgi River are mostly herbivores, and their main food is rotting plants.

Of course, there are some that eat the carcasses of dead animals, but their staple food is still plants.

Because it is a herbivore, its personality is really kind and gentle.

However, he has the disadvantage of being timid.

Is that all?

Even their appearances, which are considered similar to ordinary people, are completely different, and what is especially different is their legs.

While the civet’s legs are structured to protrude from the sides of its body, the songbird’s legs start from the middle of its abdomen.

The legs are shaped like a triangle, and are spread out to both sides in the middle to support the body.

Also, unlike a civet, its legs are not all separate, but rather its four legs are arranged in an X shape, as if they were a bundle.

So, they’re really different guys, except for having more legs.

“No. They are completely different. Anyway, look at this ship. Do you see the legs lined up here?”

“Yeah. It looks like four legs are tied together.”

“That’s right, Sister.”

“It’s gross, but really amazing.”

When everyone was looking at the legs of the songbird at my words, Hwa-eun, who was looking at the legs, tilted her head and said.

“Huh? This is the only place that doesn’t have a bridge?”

“I see. Is this the only place that doesn’t have two legs?”

I was going to tell her, but Hwa-eun discovered that the bridge was empty first.

Seol Nui and Eumbong looked amazed when they saw that.

“Why don’t you have legs?”

“Did you fall?”

That’s understandable, the bridges are arranged like this: XXXXXXXXXX.

Because it was arranged like this: XXXX＊〈 XXXXX, not far from the head.

Among the legs arranged in an X shape, there were only two rows in the middle, so there were no halves.

The bridge pointed again to the empty space and said:

“Do you see that round protrusion on the stomach in front of that empty space on the bridge?”

“Ah… that round thing?”

“Hey, look. Little Dragon. What is that?”

“What is that?”

The three of them were staring at the ship of the songgi with their heads together, without letting Ji-ryong see, and he continued his explanation with a sinister smile.

Because I could have predicted how at least two, if not three, would react.

“That’s it… the symbol of the male? Hehe.”

“Male symbol?”

“A male symbol?”

Hwa-eun and Eumbong blinked, not immediately understanding what was meant by a male symbol.

“Hoooo… Is that it?”

When Seol-nu, who had figured out what it was, whispered in their ears, the reaction I had expected came out right away.

“Eek.”

“Uh, that’s it?”

Hwa-eun and Eumbong were surprised and then embarrassed, and they looked at the distant mountains for no reason and kept fanning themselves with their hands.

Yes, most male songbird species have an empty row of legs between the fourth and tenth segments from the head.

It’s not like it fell off or anything, it’s just that part of the leg is empty.

The reason is that there is another very important bridge(?) attached.

The male’s genitals are located on the abdomen near the head, which is why the legs are left in a row.

If we compare it to a human, would it be something with genitals attached to the neck or chest?

This is because, while the raccoon’s reproductive organs are located at the end of its tail, the songbird’s reproductive organs are uniquely located at the head.

Once the explanation was over, I asked everyone to do something to ease the awkward atmosphere.

“Then, would you please check all the dead guys scattered around? Also inside the village, thoroughly.”

“Okay, Little Dragon.”

“Okay, okay. Okay.”

At my words, everyone scattered around and I looked around at the guys who were left behind.

Then, when I substituted the case where all of them were male, I started to realize one by one things that I hadn’t noticed before.

“Isn’t this really interesting?”

The facts I discovered brought a smile to my face.

***

After about an hour, the people who had disappeared into the village returned one by one and gave me the answer I wanted to hear.

“So So Hyeop, all I saw were males.”

“Little Dragon, everything I saw was male and female.”

“Little Dragon, everything I saw was like that too.”

“Me, me too.”

Hwa-eun and Eumbong are embarrassed because they have only been checking the male genitals for a long time.

He smiled at everyone’s answers and said:

“I see. I thought so.”

Then, Ji-ryong asked with a curious expression on his face about my answer.

“But you said there’s a lot to find out if they’re all male. What is that? So, so, so.”

“Ah. Is that it?”

Of course, we found out a lot.

But before answering that, I decided to move on and explain the basic information I found out from the dead guys.

This was because, in addition to the fact that these guys were all male, there were additional facts discovered from their bodies.

What is it?

First of all, the fact that they were all male and adults.

“Before I answer that question, there’s one more thing I found out from these dead guys, and I’ll tell you that first.”

“Oh, what is it?”

“What is that, Little Dragon?”

“These guys are male and they are all adults. That means they are fully grown and can reproduce.”

“fledge?”

“Yes, that’s because they are grown men who can act like men.”

“Oh, I see.”

Ji-ryong was fine before, but he was flustered by my direct explanation.

Judging from the way she reacted after almost dying while kissing me, I felt like she was still in the same situation as me.

‘Still comrades!’

First of all, as I said, these guys are all male.

And all of them are fully formed.

Individuals that are fully grown and capable of reproducing.

What can we learn from this?

First of all, we could tell that these guys were not born through mass breeding.

“I will explain this with these two things: male and adult.

“Usually, the Maruks lay eggs in the village manure or rotten plants and count their numbers. The ones born then are a good mix of males and females.”

“Yes, that would be right. After all, you don’t know whether a person is a boy or a girl until they are born.”

“Yes, but they are all male?

That means these guys weren’t born in this town.

If they were born in the village, there should have been a mix of males and females, but since they are all males and adults, it means they came from somewhere.”

The reason why this explanation is possible is this.

If these guys are the result of normal mass breeding, there should never be only males.

Songgi are those that suddenly grow from rotten manure or leaves.

This is because songbirds quickly lay eggs and multiply even when there is only one female or a male and female pair that have finished mating.

When eggs are laid in a snail, it is common for males and females to be born randomly, but are all of these dead ones male?

That means all the guys born are male. That’s nonsense.

At least the dead ones should have been a decent mix of males and females.

Among reptiles, the s*x of eggs such as turtles and crocodiles is determined by the temperature at which the eggs are hatched.

When the temperature is high, they all become females, and when it is low, they all become males, and that is how the gender is determined.

So, it is possible that all of those guys are male, but the songbirds are born with a suitable mix of males and females.

But only males were born?

This is something that can never happen, so it means that only males were selected.

This could be said to mean that the Taoist priest lured only the males into the village with something.

And the way to do that is probably pheromones.

Why?

There were no sub-adults or juveniles, so that was the only way to detect adult males.

When a person of the opposite s*x they like appears, they confess their feelings regardless of whether they are a man or a woman.

However, when the songbird becomes an adult, the male responds to the female’s pheromones and searches for the female.

So, the only way to attract adult males separately is to use the female’s pheromone.

“And most female insects, when fully grown, attract males with a unique scent, so I guess that’s the method the Taoist used.”

“Oh, you lured a fully grown male with the scent of a female?”

“you’re right.”

“then?”

Ji-ryong’s eyes sparkle as if he noticed something.

He nodded and continued his explanation.

“Yes, I can think of three or four cases. First of all, if the Taoist is someone who knows how to extract and use the scent of a female Maluk. However, after listening to what the village chief said earlier, I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Why?”

“If incense was used, the Taoist should have taken the lead, but didn’t you say that the Taoist followed the demons? There’s nothing in the talisman, and it doesn’t seem like he did anything when he put it on, so I don’t think that’s true.”

“So what’s left?”

“I also thought that maybe it was some kind of martial art that imitated the scent of a female, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Likewise, it is because the Taoist moved late.”

I wondered if he had learned a martial art like the Beastly Heart there, but the village chief said that this place was rotten, so I had a more certain suspicion.

“Well, you may have learned the same martial arts as me, but there is one thing that makes me even more suspicious.”

“What is that, Little Dragon?”

“What is that?”

When everyone waits for an answer to what I say.

-Tsrrrr!

-Kissit?

The children who had been hidden in the forest appeared across the now burned-out campfire.

That was because I whispered to the crowd and told them to bring everyone over here.

Among the children who appeared, I asked Bin-i.

“Bina, let’s dig near this campfire.”

I thought there would be something similar to Queen Maruk.