Chapter 6: Sending the Insect Back Home

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"I think we should send it back," Huang Qucheng immediately said. Although it might be considered an honorable thing for someone else to have discovered the talent of a caregiver, in the Su family, it was a matter of shame.

The Su family was one of the several major clans that had risen due to unusual weather conditions over the past century. After years of development, they had become a formidable force in the Spirit Nation. They owed much of their current stability to the Wind Controllers in their family.

In the natural world, to create rain, snow, thunder, and other weather phenomena, clouds were essential. However, these clouds, formed by water-based abilities, couldn't generate natural weather movements on their own. They needed Wind Controllers like those from the Su family to manipulate the movement of the clouds, thus forming natural weather patterns.

Over the years, the Su family had produced over three hundred Wind Controllers, with more than sixty still alive. However, the family faced a significant problem of having a thin line of succession.

By the time of the sixtieth generation of the clan leader, they only had three heirs: the first son of the main branch, Su Yu; the first son of the second branch, Su Zhan; and a girl from the third branch, who was born with a weak constitution and thus eliminated from the candidate for the clan leader.

Su Yu, the firstborn of the main branch, had been highly anticipated since birth and was considered a shining star among his peers due to his exceptional talent. However, when he reached the crucial age of twenty, he unexpectedly discovered his talent as a caregiver.

Being a caregiver was completely contrary to being a Wind Controller, which meant that Su Yu could no longer become a Wind Controller.

The sudden news caught everyone off guard, causing the stocks of several companies controlled by the main branch to plummet in just a few days. The Su family promptly announced the succession of the second branch's son to quell the crisis.

Now, this once-promising individual with caregiver talent found himself exiled to the 112th Wind Domain Alliance base by the Su family. While Qin Yan's status might not involve him in the conflicts between the main and second branches, the situation had changed.

Before this, he received a signal from the second branch: "Don't interfere."

Naturally, Qin Yan was unwilling to get involved in this matter. No one wanted to get involved in such an unlucky situation, and he knew it was not a good start. The current Su Patriarch seemed to favor the main branch and even considered the main branch's potential in caregiver talents, which was why they were granted permission for their thunderstorm plan.

Qin Yan and Geng Xin immediately looked at Huang Qucheng, asking if he would go.

Huang Qucheng's eyes flickered with panic, and he instinctively tried to refuse. "No, team leader, I can't go. You're the team leader, not me."

Qin Yan stood up, his tall and dark-skinned figure, always roaming around the caregiving base, didn't look young despite being only in his forties. His hair was graying from the laborious and exhausting work.

He patted Huang Qucheng's shoulder. "This is not the time to shirk responsibilities," Qin Yan said earnestly. "Besides, this insect is also an asset of our alliance. It doesn't count as a formal contact, right?"

"Team leader..." Huang Qucheng hesitated.

"And there's no need for one of us to go," Geng Xin interjected. "Whoever found it can take it back."

Qin Yan and Huang Qucheng immediately looked at Geng Xin. Can we do that?

Why not?! Soon, Shen An received a reply.

"I'm sending it back?" Shen An doubted if she had misheard.

"Caregiver of Area 86, we apologize for the inconvenience. Due to thunderstorms, our drones cannot accurately reach Area 87, and we are currently short of personnel to repair the isolation net. We can offer you the use of a commuting vehicle for three months as a reward if you're willing to undertake this extra task."

The offer of a commuting vehicle was mainly considered because Area 86 and Area 87 were among the largest areas, and they were not considered good areas due to scarce resources. So, providing a commuting vehicle was meant to encourage them to complete the task quickly, making sure they didn't delay it.

Moreover, a commuting vehicle would be a useful tool for caregivers later on, and it was priced at only five thousand yuan in the marketplace, available for rent or purchase. The team managed to accomplish such a large task with the minimum cost.

Shen An's eyes lit up at the offer of a commuting vehicle. It would save her a lot of time, like a timely help in dire need.

"I can deliver it back, but are you sure this larva belongs to the caregiver of Area 87?" Shen An asked again. Shouldn't they be more eager to get it back if they lost it?

"According to the location data on the larva, it indeed belongs to the caregiver of Area 87. You see, not every caregiver can adapt quickly, and we need to give new members enough patience. We're grateful for your help, and the command center appreciates your kind gesture."

Shen An could sense a relieved tone from the other side, as if they had just completed a very profitable deal. But then she thought of something else; earlier, she had seen some schoolchildren, and the "new member" they mentioned might be referring to them.

After confirming, she asked if it was possible to deliver it tomorrow, and the other side gladly agreed. With a cheerful atmosphere, both parties hung up the call.

This time, the commuting vehicle arrived even faster, making Shen An feel like it was dispatched the moment they were on the call.

Shen An excitedly opened the glass box. The strawberry that was sleeping when she returned had woken up now, but she wasn't sure if it was because they disturbed it.

She popped open the glass box, but her joy quickly faded. She was a bit puzzled as she looked at the cotton-white tree leaves she had carefully laid out in the morning; two-thirds of them remained untouched.

It ate, but only three or four leaves? Were the leaves not fresh? After all, preparing so many servings of leaves for the staff, it was impossible to guarantee their freshness. Or perhaps the strawberry had already eaten enough when it was allocated?

If it weren't for seeing the strawberry alive and proud, Shen An would have suspected that the bug was sick.

Anxiously, Shen An scanned the data:

Name: Silver Moon Leopard Phoenix Butterfly Larva

Nickname: Strawberry (198237420)

Growth Cycle: 15 days

Stage: Larva

Attributes: Water - 31

Fire - 0

Metal - 0

Wood - 5

Earth - 0

The attribute only increased by 1? One serving of level one cotton-white tree leaves can increase attributes by 2-4 points, depending on the caregiver's and bug's talents, so why only 1?!

Shen An twitched her lips. It seemed that some of the things said in the chatroom were reliable, such as assigning bugs based on the caregiver's talent, and the area number representing the caregiver's ranking in terms of talent.

So, among the one hundred caregivers in Area 112, she ranked 86th? In other words, she was among the bottom 14.

Shen An then pointed her phone at the bug she had picked up from the ground.

Name: Silver Moon Leopard Phoenix Butterfly Larva

Nickname: 198237421

Growth Cycle: 15 days

Stage: Larva

Attributes: Water - 16

Fire - 0

Metal - 0

Wood - 0

Earth - 0

Shen An was stunned. The data of the wild bug surprised her even more. Didn't it eat so many leaves? Did it eat them for nothing?

This confirmed her suspicion. The further back in ranking, the worse the bug's talent.

Shen An looked at the bug staring back at her, feeling a bit speechless. "Were you thrown away because you're so bad?"

Meanwhile, the bug she had picked up from the ground had eaten most of the leaves in her backpack during her journey back. She was left with only eighteen leaves, which she had snatched from the other party.

"However, you've eaten over thirty leaves, and your attributes are only 16?"

Shen An started questioning her life choices. It seemed that even if she had unlimited money and tried to invest in this bug, it wouldn't improve much.

Shen An sighed lightly, not out of disappointment, but because she was more accepting of reality than her peers. According to talent attributes, she ranked among the lowest, so she didn't expect to get a bug with high talents.

Since she had accepted the reality, she decided to do her best within her limitations, which was her usual life attitude.

She organized the feeding box, cleaned the leaves, and cut them into thin slices carefully. She then laid them out neatly inside the feeding box. Strawberry crawled up at a snail's pace and started chewing slowly on the first mouthful. Its slow speed surprised Shen An, who had seen other bugs eat ravenously.

Shen An sighed again. She learned from the phone call with the command center that each bug had a specific position, and it couldn't be changed.

The bug on the table looked even more pitiful because Shen An didn't leave any tender leaves for it.

"You've eaten enough," Shen An said, citing the clear instructions in the caregiver's manual that a larva of the Silver Moon Leopard Phoenix Butterfly should eat between five to fifteen tender leaves in one feeding. Without considering what it ate before she found it, it had already eaten more than enough from her backpack.

The larva seemed even more pitiful after hearing Shen An's words, even "looking" at her with a touch of grievance.

Shen An was certain that the bug had eaten enough, and as it was going back tomorrow morning, she didn't want any unexpected incidents.

Inside the small cabin, besides a fixed feeding box that couldn't be moved, there was also a portable feeding box that caregivers could carry, designed to test which leaves the bug preferred.

Shen An found the portable feeding box as instructed and prepared to put the bug she had found into it, but the bug suddenly disappeared.

Shen An was dumbfounded. Where could it have gone in such a short time? She searched around but couldn't find it. Frowning, she didn't want to waste any more time here as she planned to start reviewing her studies.

Shen An opened the desktop screen and checked the recorded data. She quickly found the bug in the trash can, happily eating the not-so-fresh leaves she had discarded after feeding it strawberries.

The sight of its ravenous eating made Shen An doubt her life choices once again.

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