The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Queen of Banded

Chapter 38: Queen of Banded!

Knocking.

Knocking.

And knocking again.

A few people were sitting around the net, each with a stone in hand, tapping incessantly... all one could hear was the clinking and clanking sounds. Ji You glanced over and thought to herself sarcastically: If outsiders saw this, they’d probably think these folks were gathered around cracking walnuts.

Walnuts?

Cough cough—

Let’s be serious.

She grabbed a stone and hurled it towards a particularly round and chubby Banded Butterfly.

Clang—

After the stone collided with the Banded Butterfly’s head, it was surprisingly repelled. The force of the impact flipped Ji You onto the ground.

The commotion caught everyone’s attention immediately.

”What happened?”

”You? Why did you fall?” Grandma Jenny asked with concern.

”I... I don’t really know,” Ji You scratched her head, stood up, dusted off her buttocks, and said, ”This Banded Butterfly is so chubby! Its head is so hard. My stone got repelled and even shattered.”

She found it odd and couldn’t help but look at the plump Banded Butterfly again. There it was, squatting in the net just as before, its round colorful eyes glaring fiercely at her. Ji You: ”...Goodness, it can’t be killed with a knock!”

Before anyone else could speak, Xie Chuanqiong stepped forward to inspect and then explained with a smile, ”You’re really lucky. This is the Banded Butterfly Queen. In every Banded Butterfly swarm, there’s only one like this.”

”Hiss?”

”It’s actually the queen?” Ji You was astonished! She leaned in curiously to inspect the queen, who looked similar to the other ordinary Banded Butterflies but was significantly larger, about the size of two ordinary Banded Butterflies. Its wings were more vibrantly colored, and its belly was bulging prominently, giving off a particularly fertile vibe.

”Is it really a queen?”

”I absolutely couldn’t tell before!” Ji You exclaimed.

Xie Lingzhi rolled her eyes silently, mumbling, ”Clueless!”

Ji You pretended not to hear Xie Lingzhi’s mocking comment as she dug at her ear.

Discovering a queen wasn’t the surprise; what was astonishing was the level of this Banded Butterfly Queen, which had already reached Peak 3, seemingly on the verge of breaking through to Level 4. After examining, Ryan explained to the group, ”Peak Level 3, close to breaking through to Level 4. It’s a surprise that you caught it. If it breaks through to Level 4, the Iron Pear Wood Silk wouldn’t be able to hold it.”

”Eh?”

”That powerful?”

”No wonder I couldn’t kill it with a stone.” Ji You suddenly realized, ”I’ll try my energy machete.”

As she was speaking, the queen seemed to sense the malicious intent in Ji You’s words. It spread its wings and beat them vigorously, expressing its raging anger.

Ji You raised the knife——

”Keep it.”

”The Banded Butterfly Queen fetches a good price,” Ryan interrupted her, saying, ”Its Material is worth a lot, more so when it’s alive. Many Mechanical Materials research institutions like to buy them. Selling it could fetch 20-30 thousand credit points.”

”Huh?”

”What?”

”How much?”

Ji You could hardly believe her ears. She blinked and then blinked again, pressing for clarification, ”Ryan, what did you just say?”

Ryan, not the least bit annoyed, repeated, ”A live Peak Level 3 Banded Butterfly Queen is quite difficult to capture. If sold to a research institution, it could indeed fetch 20-30 thousand credit points.”

”Huh?”

”Really?”

”I...” Ji You quickly stowed away her energy machete, but before she did, she instinctively gave the queen’s head a tap with the back of the knife and immediately grinned from ear to ear, saying, ”Oh my goodness! I was this close to knocking out 20-30 thousand credit points.”

”Lucky.”

”Phew, I stopped just in time.”

Thank God.

Thank God.

Thank God indeed.

This is worth at least 20,000!

20,000!

For a moment, Ji You couldn’t help but giggle foolishly, her eyes unblinkingly fixed on the Banded Butterfly Queen’s plump body, with a light in her eyes that was extremely gentle, as if she were a kind old Grandma, looking at her no-good granddaughter.

That look—

It’s hair-raising.

”Idiot!” Xie Lingzhi was speechless; she couldn’t believe she actually lost to such a fool?

Humiliating!

Utterly disgraceful!

Lea and Grandma Jenny both laughed, Lea almost unable to straighten up, holding her stomach, she said: ”You, stop making everyone laugh. You really must have forgotten, Ryan was right, the Banded Butterfly Queen is worth quite a bit of money.”

This information didn’t need to be looked up on the Star Network, it was covered in the textbooks Union students study from, including sections about the Banded Butterfly. The wings, legs, and the powdery substance on the wings of the Banded Butterfly Queen are all very useful. In particular, the powdery substance secreted on the wings is a type of neural substance, fragrant in smell and capable of numbing and befuddling, useful as medicine and as a weapon...

Many research institutes breed the Banded Butterfly Queen specifically to harvest this powder.

Following that, Lea explained in detail.

Ji You then understood—

Suddenly, she looked at the Banded Butterfly Queen with even more affection.

Everyone: ”...”

Now that they couldn’t just smack the queen dead and had to capture her alive, how to bring her back became the problem. Ji You couldn’t help but ask, ”So—how do we catch it?”

Ryan said, ”Leave it to me.”

With that, he took out a metal cage from his Space Button, and then two gloves. Only after putting on the gloves did Ryan reach out for the Banded Butterfly Queen. The Queen struggled furiously but was no match for Ryan’s overpowering strength and was quickly grabbed and locked in the cage.

It was only after hearing Sister Liya’s explanation that Ji You understood the paralyzing effect of the powder on the Banded Butterfly Queen’s wings; if she had been careless and touched its head earlier, she might well have ended up with her whole hand numb and without sensation—

Thank God.

Thank God.

Thank God.

After securing the cage, Ryan took off his gloves and handed it to Ji You, saying, ”Keep it safe.”

Ji You replied with a beaming smile, ”Thank you.”

Their luck this time was incredibly good; they not only got their lives back but also acquired an expensively priced Banded Butterfly Queen! It was like waking up from a dream with a smile; everyone picked up the pace, working even more swiftly.

Within five minutes, all the ordinary Banded Butterflies were dealt with.

It was only then that everyone truly breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone organized the Iron Pear Wood Silk again and tidied up, then roughly divided it based on everyone’s previous gathering efforts.

Xie Chuanqiong said, ”We have to thank You; otherwise, we might not have lasted until Ryan’s support arrived.”

Lea also said with a laugh, ”Indeed, I thought I wasn’t going to survive today.”

Grandma Jenny clasped her hands together repeatedly, ”Scared me to death, scared me to death...”

Xie Lingzhi sniffed, ”Hmph.”

Scratching her head, Ji You said with a grin, ”It wasn’t a big deal; just something I came up with in a moment of urgency.”

Xie Chuanqiong said, ”No! It’s not just something you came up with; the most important thing is that you were able to weave a net in such limited time.” None of the others present could have done that.

”Indeed. The net is ingeniously crafted.” Ryan normally wasn’t talkative, nor inclined to give compliments, but he was genuinely impressed by Ji You’s brilliant idea and her exquisite weaving skills.