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“You, village chief, workharder than anyone else! You rented eighty mu of land from the Yan Family, didn’t you?”

“Heh heh, how can I compare to you! I’ve got a whole family with mouths waiting to be fed; if I don’t work for a day, I start getting anxious. You’re different, with your iron rice bowl, drawing a government salary every month.”

Although Xu Zhenchang seemed to be playing the sympathy card somewhat intentionally, what he said was also logical.

A farmer’s economic income relies entirely on working the land; without work,

where would the money come from?

Insect Masters are a different story entirely.

Even a low-ranking Insect Master gets a fixed salary every month. It’s

equivalent to being on the public grain ration.

Even if Qin Niu didn’t farm, he’d still have food to eat and live much more comfortably than the vast majority of farmers.

“That may be so, but being an Insect Master isn’t an easy job. With the current unstable situation, who knows when we might be conscripted by the

government to defend the borders.”

The Black Tiger Gang had implemented a talent registration and management system and issued monthly salaries, naturally expecting something in return.

There’s an age-old rule of maintaining troops for thousands of days to use

them at a critical time.

Once you’re enlisted, you enjoy all kinds of preferential treatment from the government, but when war breaks out, you can’t be a deserter or hide like a scared turtle. How could there be such a good deal?

“By the way, did you notice any outsiders entering the village?”

Qin Niu asked in a hushed voice.

“Haven’t noticed! But I’ve been in the fields since early morning, and I haven’t gone door-to-door to ask around. Does Master Qin need me to check it out?” “There’s no need to conduct house-to-house searches, and that would be too dangerous anyway. The Insect Master Association has issued a notice, saying that the situation is rather tense lately and that you, as village chief, should be extra cautious. If outsiders come into the village, you can report them to me immediately, and officials will come to handle it.”

Qin Niu pondered silently to himself.

Could it really have been a monster beast that entered the village last night and went directly into the mountains?

It was not an impossibility.

If only ordinary monster beasts were roaming around, the Black Tiger Gang could deal with them. If a dangerous fiend made an appearance, they would surely report it to the Immortal Sects and ask them to send an Immortal Master to capture the beast.

“I also heard some similar news. I heard that two Insect Masters hired by the Yan Family, one died, and the other disappeared. It’s a good thing you didn’t go, Master Qin; otherwise, it would have been really dangerous.”

Xu Zhenchang nodded solemnly.

Recent undercurrents were stirring, and anyone with a modicum of vigilance

could detect it.

Xu Zhenchang was closely connected to the Yan Family, so it wasn’t surprising that he could get hold of such information.

As they were talking, there was a commotion in the wheat field nearby.

Qin Niu was on high alert.

Could it be that the powerful individual who entered the village was hiding in

the wheat field?

That would surely be quite demeaning for them.

“When insects wreak havoc, Black Tigers run amok. As calamity strikes, Insect

Masters rise…”

Zhang Banzui, reeking of alcohol, stumbled out of the wheat field.

It turned out to be this old drunkard who, having drunk too much the previous night, had accidentally wandered into the wheat field and lay down to sleep there.

Zhang Banzui often took the sky as his blanket and the earth as his bed.

“Ah, Zhang Banzui, why lie in my wheat field of all places? Do you know how hard it was for me to grow this little bit of wheat? I—”

Seeing Zhang Banzui staggering out of the wheat field, Xu Zhenchang’s cheeks twitched with grief.

With this drunkard lying in there for a night, he surely must have ruined a lot of wheat.

“Heh heh, village, village chief, hello!”

Zhang Banzui’s cheeks were flushed, his face sporting a foolish smile, and he was still clutching his precious gourd that he never let go of.

It always seemed to contain an endless supply of alcohol.

“Village chief, don’t scold him. Zhang Banzui’s had a tough life too, living alone without children. His settling in our village was fate. We should try to treat him kindly.”

Qin Niu intervened to stop Xu Zhenchang from lashing out.

As his strength and wealth increased, he had grown more understanding of the suffering of the poor.

They say poverty breeds cunning while wealth breeds compassion.

That was probably the stage he was in now.

Confronted with these lower classes, he felt a deeper sympathy.

“All Niu, heh heh, Ah Niu is the good one!”

Zhang Banzui, holding his liquor gourd, glanced drunkenly at Qin Niu and then stumbled off.

Watching him actually head toward the direction of the mountains, Qin Niu thought about how the strong visitor had entered the village and hadn’t come out since, possibly still lurking in the mountains or at Xie Laizi’s house. Zhang Banzui was a drunkard, and what if he stumbled upon them, wouldn’t that be courting disaster?

“Zhang Banzui, you’re going the wrong way! That’s the path leading into the mountains, your home is at the entrance of the village, you should walk in that direction.”

Qin Niu quickly ran over, steadied Zhang Banzui, and pointed him in the right direction.

“All Niu is so kind! Hehe…”

Muttering these words, Zhang Banzui walked toward the direction of the

village entrance.

There was always something odd about Zhang Banzui, yet he always managed

to predict accurately.

Last time he said a disaster of insects would come, and sure enough, not much later, it really happened.

Now the Black Tiger Gang’s territory had already started to descend into chaos. What did Zhang Banzui mean by the last half of his sentence about calamity coming and the rise of Insect Masters?

Could it be that the Insect Masters are about to flourish?

In these years, the status of Insect Masters had always been somewhat awkward, brutally suppressed by Beast Tamers.

Even Plant Mastery experts were doing better than Insect Masters.

Fortune changes like the seasons; in this world, there is nothing permanent. Insect Masters had once flourished, but afterward, had gradually declined. In fact, it’s similar for any profession; as long as there emerged a group of top-notch experts, they could quickly lead the trend of an era.

Qin Niu had been busy in the fields all morning, and the efficiency of the Termites at weeding was quite remarkable.

They gnawed and devoured the sweet, juicy soft roots, and naturally, the weeds couldn’t survive.

The Soldier Ants, now too powerful, became restless with inactivity.

It was a rare occasion for a mole cricket or a frog to emerge in the fields, only to be immediately besieged by them, toyed with like a cat with a mouse.

Qin Niu had not heard any news about outsiders entering the village.

And he had not seen anything unusual.

The sound of horse hooves he had heard last night was definitely correct, faint and swift. It was a mount even superior to a black charger.

A person who possessed such a mount was definitely not a weakling. Moreover, the timing of this person’s arrival was also very delicate. Just as Wu Hao was dealt with by Qin Niu, that very night the visitor entered the village.

And they chose to enter the village in the dead of night.

He really couldn’t believe that the person wasn’t one of the high-ranking experts from the Nine Insect Gang.

When there are too many coincidences in one matter, then it’s not a coincidence anymore; it’s a deliberate action.

After returning home, Qin Niu remained secretly vigilant of the movements within the village.

The little mountain village was as peaceful and serene as ever.

A day quickly passed.

He had wasted an entire day staying at home. If he had cultivated under the Ancient Banyan Tree, his cultivation level would have certainly made considerable progress.

And so the cultivation of the Termites was delayed as well.

Every day, a thousand new Termites would be added, all requiring his cultivation.

At night, the village was peaceful, and outside the house, it was quiet as a mouse.

The people had already entered their dreamlands early.

Qin Niu, however, sat cross-legged in his backyard, cultivating. He had already taken out the Diamond Ink Turtle from the well.

Its size had grown quite a bit.

It was now almost as big as the bottom of a water bucket.

Its shell shone with a glossy black, and upon closer inspection, countless fine golden lines could be discerned. The defense of its shell seemed to have increased significantly.

The night passed uneventfully, and the high-grade mount that had entered the village seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Including the person on the mount, there was no trace to be found.

Qin Niu decided to send out a swarm of bees to scout the area tomorrow.