Entomologist in Sichuan Tang Clan Chapter 403

403
Cordyceps sinensis 1

Cordyceps sinensis.

If we interpret its meaning, it means bugs in winter and grass in summer.

Cordyceps sinensis is known as a strange creature that is a bug in the winter but a grass in the summer, but it is not actually a grass.

In fact, it is a type of Ascomycete and can be considered a type of mushroom.

Cordyceps sinensis was first discovered in the East and has been used as a medicine for a long time. In a previous life, it was known to be good for aging and was also called an elixir of immortality.

‘It was said to be more expensive than gold of the same weight.’

The reason I know about this guy is because he’s a bad guy who eats our insects.

So why are these guys called Cordyceps Sinensis?

Cordyceps sinensis was first discovered in the East.

The area where it was discovered was right here in the Himalayas, and it was given that name because of the special Cordyceps sinensis found only in this high Himalayan region.

Cordyceps militaris is called Cordyceps in the West, and there are about 750 species worldwide, but 200 of them have slightly special characteristics.

It is a parasite on insects, as if it grew directly from a grasshopper.

Cordyceps sinensis found in the Himalayas also has the same characteristics; its host insect is the larvae of the bat moth, which only lives in the high altitudes of the Himalayas.

The larvae don’t look anything special and look similar to silkworm larvae.

These guys hibernate underground, and when they hibernate in the soil infected with spores, the fungus grows inside their bodies and they die.

And when spring comes, a fruiting body grows from the head, making it look like a sprout has sprouted from the ground.

That’s why it got a name that means insects in winter and grass in summer.

-Tsurut. “Dad?”

A spirit that flashes at the call of the first.

I quickly came to my senses and answered.

I was so surprised by the fact that there were so many locusts buried under the field before my eyes that I lost my senses for a moment.

“Yes, Choya. If you look here, there’s grass growing on the head of this blind man. It’s like a mushroom. In the winter, it looks like an insect, but in the spring, it looks like grass has grown. That’s why it’s called Cordyceps sinensis.”

-Tsuru. “I see.”

-Char. “What a strange mushroom?”

Cho nods as if he understood.

When Yeondoo and the two guys nodded, I decided to ask Cho to bring Hwaeun.

“Choya, then would you go and call your mother? I think it would be good if you brought everyone over here.”

Since it was certain that some of the yellow worms we were looking for had transformed into Cordyceps sinensis underground, we needed to contact the main force.

-Tsururut. “Okay, Dad.”

I watched the grass kick up off the ground and disappear to one side, then squatted down again on the Cordyceps Militaris field.

While I was bringing in the main group of grasshoppers, I wanted to check with my own eyes whether the other ones buried there were actually grasshoppers, and also to find out what kind of grasshoppers they were.

This was because knowing what type of locust it was made it easier to determine things like the distance it moved and its size.

-Crack. Crack.

I took out the knife and dug up a few more Cordyceps sinensis.

And when we brush away the dirt, what we see is, of course, a grasshopper.

The fruiting body was rising up from the grasshopper’s head.

If so, judging by the number of fruiting bodies that had emerged in this field, it was clear that there were a considerable number of locusts buried beneath the ground.

‘Come to think of it, the elevation here isn’t that high, and it’s fall, so it’s not a season for Cordyceps militaris, is it?’

Yes, Cordyceps sinensis is originally found in highland areas between 3,000 and 5,000 meters above sea level, and around May. However high you can estimate, the place I am right now is below that, and it’s late fall.

It was a place and season where Cordyceps militaris, which uses bat moth larvae as its host, could not be found.

At first I didn’t think about it and just thought it was a jackpot.

“By the way, is that some kind of new Cordyceps militaris?”

I thought it might be something new if the season or location was not right, but I decided to think about that later and first check what species the dead thing was.

-Knock knock.

Let’s clean off the dirt from one of them, and you will see a yellow body and black spots.

The species was identified by the stain on its leg that was found when digging the ground.

“Are these desert locusts?”

The guy’s species is the Desert Locust.

The scientific name is Schistocerca Gregaria. They occur in large numbers in deserts and arid regions of northeastern Africa, Arabia, and southwestern Asia, and they were the worst of the locust swarms that occurred in large numbers.

Didn’t they say that some locust swarms can travel 150 km in a day, depending on the species?

It was these guys.

‘It just so happens that they’re the worst of the worst.’

Of all the guys, they’re the worst.

For some reason this group seemed to have died here, so we decided to take a closer look around before the first arrived.

I don’t know why they died in groups here, but I heard from Makgae that swarms of locusts were found several times.

This one looks like it’s been a few months since the grass has grown above it, so I decided to look for the most recent groups.

“Yeondoo, let’s take a closer look around.”

-Char: “I understand. Little Dragon.”

I took a closer look around from the air, focusing on the Cordyceps Militaris colony I first discovered, wrapped in green.

Then, another colony of Cordyceps sinensis was discovered nearby.

“Yeondu, over there!”

-Char! “I understand.”

“Hmm. The grass has stopped growing here.”

The grass has grown to a point where the fruiting body of Cordyceps sinensis is about the length of a finger joint.

It seemed like a later death group than the one I had first discovered.

The grass had grown less and the fruiting bodies of Cordyceps sinensis growing upward from the ground to spread their spores were much shorter than where they were first found.

“Here it’s the same grasshopper···.”

First of all, the type of locust is the same, the desert locust.

Why are they dying in groups?

When I thought it was something incomprehensible, Yeondoo looked at the Cordyceps sinensis field with me and tilted his head and asked.

-Shaa. “But Little Dragon. Does the blind man dig into the ground and die?”

Yeondu’s question was whether grasshoppers dig into the ground and die when they die, and because the question was so cute, I answered it while patting the guy’s head.

“Huh? No, when you die, just die. Who would want to dig into the ground and die?”

-Shaaah? “Then isn’t that a bit strange?”

Yeondu pointing to the Cordyceps sinensis that I was looking at with my tail.

My eyes lit up at Yeondoo’s words.

Until now, I had never thought it strange that the expensive Cordyceps Militaris had been discovered and that it had grown from the bodies of grasshoppers, and that, as Yeondu had said, the guys were buried in the ground, which was a very basic unnatural thing.

When locusts die, don’t they burrow into the ground in groups and die?

Bat moth larvae originally spend the cold winter underground, but locusts flew in from somewhere, so there was no reason for them to crawl into the ground.

It was really, really weird.

“It’s weird. It’s completely weird.”

-Char. “Is that so?”

“Is Yeondoo a total genius? Oh my, she’s pretty.”

-Shia. “Oh, my little dragon…”

The green-eyed boy was very embarrassed when I hugged him and stroked him roughly.

At that moment, I heard Hwa-eun’s voice in my head.

“Where is So-ryong now? I arrived at the place where Cho-rang is, but I can’t see him.”

“Oh, I’ll go right now.”

Perhaps Hwa-eun and her party arrived at their destination while we were searching.

I told Yeondoo to go back to where he was before.

“Yeondoo, I brought the people from Choga. Let’s go back to that location.”

-Shaaaa “I understand, Little Dragon.”

The place where Yeondoo returned and was wrapped up again.

There was a party going on there.

The children were gathered there, including Hwa-eun, Seol, Hoo-gae, Gil-jab, Hyung-nim, and Ji-ryong, wondering if they had gone looking for me because I was gone.

The men were digging up Cordyceps sinensis with excited faces.

Perhaps he discovered the Cordyceps Militaris that I had left behind earlier and realized that what was in the ground was Cordyceps Militaris.

“Oh my, what kind of fortune is this? Can I really dig it up? It’s something that So So-hyeop found?”

“Yes, the little dragon probably shared it too.”

“Huh! As expected, you can’t trust the rumors of the martial arts world. This is my first time seeing a poisonous flower, right? I heard that it’s beautiful, but its thorns are mercilessly sharp. Who are those guys who spread such rumors? This guy is going to die a very young death.

“She is a person with a pretty face as well as a kind heart, so I will spread the word again.”

Since the latter was praising Hwaeun, it seems that Hwaeun was doing a favor to the group, as there were a lot of them anyway.

I can’t say that I shouldn’t touch it because I found it, because there are so many of them and we’ve spent a lot of time together.

The two beggars were just standing next to each other when they got hit with a windfall.

“This is my first time with a bookworm, but since the appearance is similar, the effects will probably be similar as well.”

“Didn’t Lady Hwa-eun clearly say that there was no poison?”

“Haha. I should give this to my father-in-law.”

The women stood back and watched the men dig up the Cordyceps Militaris, perhaps because the Cordyceps Militaris had bloomed on the grasshoppers’ bodies.

“Why are men so excited?”

“Ah, Cordyceps sinensis is said to increase stamina when eaten. Gungbong.”

“endurance?”

“Yes, endurance.”

“Is that something to be so happy about?”

When told that stamina would increase, Gung-bong made a face as if he didn’t understand why that was such a good thing.

At her question, Seol-nu smiled brightly and put her arm around Gung-bong’s shoulder.

And then he whispered something in Gungbong’s ear.

“Endurance is strength···. Strength is also at night···. Men···.”

Then, Gungbong’s eyes widened, and after a while, he swallowed and looked at Hwaeun and asked.

“Excuse me, can I have some too?”

“Of course.”

‘No, why would you do that when it’s useless?’

Even if the person you’re dating doesn’t have a fiance, Hwa-eun and Eum-bong, who have other fiancees, are just sitting there, so why would they be greedy for that?

As he slowly descended with such thoughts, Seol Nui asked Gung Bong.

“Gungbong, but what are you going to use that for?”

Gungbong stops while digging for Cordyceps sinensis.

An awkward voice was heard.

“Um, I was trying to prepare in advance. Huh, you never know, right?”

If that was the reason, then I could understand, so when I nodded, the sound of the grass that found me crying.

At that sound, Hwa-eun looked at me and waved her hand.

-Tsuru. “It’s dad.”

“Little dragon.”

As soon as I set foot on the ground, Hwa-eun ran over and reported my kindness first.

“Little Dragon, I gave some gifts to my friends. Do you think they were okay?”

“sure.”

Haven’t I been using Hwa-eun’s things as if they were my own?

I’m talking about Sacheondangga.

So, that’s about it.

When I answered casually, Hwa-eun asked again with a smiling face.

“By the way, where have you been?”

“Oh, I found another Cordyceps sinensis field nearby.”

“Again? Cordyceps sinensis isn’t that cheap. This is amazing.”

“By the way, what about the kids?”

“Oh, they scattered nearby while looking for the little dragon.”

As expected, the kids went looking for me.

“Hey, Choya, Yeondoo, can you help me find them?”

-Tsuru. “Your dad.”

-Char. “I understand, Little Dragon.”

When I heard that the children had scattered to look for me, I asked Cho and Yeondoo to find the children and bring them back to me. As I approached Hwa-eun, Hwa-eun asked with a curious expression.

“By the way, why did the grasshoppers die here?”

Like me earlier, he seemed to be curious as to why the locusts died here, but there was something more important.

This is something I just found out.

“That’s a secondary issue, and this is a bit strange. Hwa-eun.”

“What is it?”

“I also heard this from Yeondoo, but it’s more strange that the grasshoppers are buried in the ground than dead here.”

“ah···.”

Then, Hwa-eun tilted her head at my words, and Seol, who was next to her, came over and asked with an expression as if asking what was strange.

“It was so cold that it hid underground to survive the winter and then died?”

Seol asked if the grasshoppers were trying to survive the winter because it was cold, but considering the grasshoppers’ habits, that was absolutely not the case.

Grasshoppers usually lay their eggs in the ground in the fall.

Then they wake up in the spring and grow.

Adults could only survive the winter in warm places.

Some of them survive the winter in a larval state, but the grasshoppers that have now turned into Cordyceps militaris are all adults.

So it was definitely not because I was trying to survive the winter or because it was cold.

Also, desert locusts are tropical locusts.

He wasn’t the type of guy to burrow into the ground because it was cold, and it had been summer a month or two ago, so it couldn’t have been cold.

“No. Blindness is something that can never happen, as the birds survive the winter only as eggs or young chicks.”

“Really? Then who killed the locusts and buried them in the ground?”

I nodded because, as Sister Seol said, that was the most convincing answer.

“Yes, I think so.”

“Who the hell is up here? How? Grasshoppers are so small, it’s hard to catch them.”

It was the moment when Sister Mak Seol’s questions had just ended.

The sound of something flapping its wings echoes, as if answering a question.

-Rrrrrrrrrrr.

Everyone was looking around, unable to tell where the sound was coming from as it echoed through the surrounding mountains.

Suddenly, a large, colorful grasshopper landed a few steps in front of Hougae, who was holding a handful of Cordyceps sinensis.

-Whoosh!

It was obvious that he was angry.