The Eclosion

Luo Qiu was at a loss, so he posted this problem onto the internet, “What do you do if you see a large insect eating a huge mantis?”

However, no netizens were bored enough to answer him.

Anyway, the insect had finally achieved his revenge, thus Luo Qiu breathed in deeply, breaking the silence, “Would you like some water? The water in the river is clear and clean…”

The insect stared blankly at him. As soon as he looked down and saw what he had done, he jumped away in fight, then rapidly scrambled to the river bank and vomited into the river.

After a long while, the insect finally managed to get two sips of water. He then composed himself and then walked over to Luo Qiu and You Ye slowly, “Thanks, for, helping, me, get, revenge.”

Luo Qiu nodded, “No problem, You Ye and I just kept our part of the agreement we made. Now that your enemy was dead, what can we do for you next?”

Since a whole night hadn’t passed yet, this meant the deal had not been completed, therefore Luo Qiu had no right to accept the jade token as the transaction fee yet.

Unless the buyer himself said that the deal had been completed.

But Luo Qiu wanted to end the deal earlier, so he asked, “The mantis is dead, so do you have anything else you’re afraid of? Nobody seems to come to such a desolate place.”

“Protect, me, till, the, sun, rises.”

“Ok…”

Luo Qiu’s reply reassured the insect monster. “Thank you.”

That was the only fluent sentence the insect ever said.

Next, the insect took off his black coat and revealed his extremely ugly body. The wound on it was much more serious than yesterday.

The insect turned back, walking towards the bank step by step. Luo Qiu had a premonition that an unforgettable event would occur next.

The insect soaked himself in the ice cold river water. He then looked up at the new moon high in the sky. His ugly body expanded to its greatest extent, then gradually contracted back.

Luo Qiu was still unclear what the insect would do, but he felt that something was amiss.

Then the huddled body shrunk…or it might have dried up. Luo Qiu wasn’t sure, thus walked closer to the insect without realizing it.

This time during midsummer, the pebbles around the bank gave off a wondrous beauty, shining brightly like dark blue gems.

As for the insect monster, he was surrounded by a bright yellow light flowing about like a stream of golden liquid.

“It was absorbing the essence of the water and the moon.”

You Ye said, “Master, it was preparing to break free of his cocoon, and step into a brand new stage of life.”

“Yes.” Luo Qiu just nodded. He understood You Ye’s answer.

The protection he required was for evolving into a butterfly.

Time passed in the silent forest, occasionally with a light breeze. Mother nature seemed to looking forward to the birth of a butterfly.

Luo Qiu lost track of time, immersing himself in that wonderful moment.

Only when the new moon set and the sky turned dark, did he hear a dull sound…the cocoon was breaking.

“But…it seems like he can’t get out.” Luo Qiu frowned.

In normal case, though it was a hard process, a butterfly should still be able to break out of their cocoon based on their natural instincts.

But as Luo Qiu said, the wings of the insect monster were hidden in the cocoon, thus were not able to extend and break the shell.

“It’s too weak…” You Ye shook her head, “It won’t be powerful enough even though it absorbed the essence of water and the moon. If it was a round moon, the insect would get more essence and grow stronger.”

Weakness…

The polluted food he ate contributed to his weak body.

Suddenly, Luo Qiu breathed in deeply and walked to the huge cocoon, breaking the gaps as he tried to help the insect. “Hopefully this will help you, but you have to struggle and try your best to come out.”

Next, a pair of weak wings emerged from the broken cocoon and extended in the wind.

There were 4 symmetrical pieces of light green and purple wings waving slightly.

Luo Qiu felt relieved after seeing this and stepped back a little. Next would be the change of the insect's body in the cocoon.

You Ye sat down on a round stone beside Luo Qiu at the bank.

“I got it.” Luo Qiu said excitedly and waved his cellphone.

You Ye gazed at the cellphone screen. It showed several butterflies with the same wings as the insect, “The golden…what butterfly?”

“The golden teinopalpus imperialis.” Luo Qiu smiled, “Even an ordinary golden teinopalpus imperialis is considered an endangered species, let alone a monster golden teinopalpus imperialis.”

“It’s so beautiful,” You Ye said in awe.

Luo Qiu then walked forward and smiled, “It’s better to observe it closely.”

Luo Qiu was too impatient to wait for the birth of a new golden teinopalpus imperialis.

Would the insect monster be the same size as an adult after it came out of the cocoon, just like the really huge mantis?

Finally, the cocoon totally broke, and bright light emitted from the inside.

A pair of fair delicate hands stretched out softly and broke apart both sides of the cocoon.

Luo Qiu’s jaw dropped in amazement….it was not large, and quite different from what the insect monster used to be. Instead, the one that showed up in front of him was a lady with butterfly wings.

What was going on?