212: Chapter 129, Doubt_1 212: Chapter 129, Doubt_1 Faced with the scattered locust swarms, everyone had no choice but to act separately.

After a night’s rest, the battlefield had shifted from outside the province to inside it.

In order to chase after the locust swarms, Hudson once again had to “race with the bear”.

Based on the information provided by the Gryphon Cavalry, Hudson had to race eighty miles to finally intercept one locust swarm.

What’s frustrating was that they couldn’t find the Insect King in it.

Infuriated, Belsden’s eyes turned red, while he continuously darted in and out of the swarm with his gravity field.

No matter how hard Hudson tried to discourage him, Belsden only stopped when the locusts scattered and fled.

Looking at the dead locusts, Hudson didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy.

They deserved their short lives, they were tireless troublemakers.

Why couldn’t they have just stayed in Qiaomu County for the decisive battle?

Even if it meant battling all night, Hudson had accepted that.

As long as the bear could withstand it, he wouldn’t back down.

If worst came to worst, he’d just sleep on the bear’s back.

With the blessing of Earth Guardian Magic, he was assured safety.

Now, the scattered locusts swarmed across the Southeastern Province, and each team was considerably distant from the others.

The distance could vary from several miles to hundreds, which greatly increased the difficulty of the chase.

What’s even more frustrating was even after running hundreds of miles to catch up with the locust swarm, they couldn’t find any trace of the Insect King.

All that effort was for nothing, and the next step was to search for another swarm.

Hudson was prepared for this circumstance.

Yesterday, they had captured and killed more than a dozen Insect Kings, so there were very few left.

Whether these intelligent creatures would dare to venture into the Southeastern Province was still an open question.

Even with the Locust Lure Medicine, the attraction wasn’t as lethal to the Insect Kings that had evolved into Magical Beasts.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any need for all the stress, the Governor’s Mansion could simply disperse the Locust Lure Medicine and let them march to their deaths.

It’s only attracting ordinary locusts, which is of no benefit to the overall situation and is not economical either.

After all, the effect range of the potion is limited, while the breeding speed of locusts is virtually limitless.

Under normal circumstances, a female locust can lay dozens of eggs at once, which can hatch in just over twenty days.

However, if an Insect King appears, this rate can be further catalyzed.

Not only does the rate of egg-laying multiply, but the hatching time is also reduced to two days.

If the Insect King isn’t killed, a locust army of hundreds of billions could be formed in a short period of time.

Based on the current rate of hunting locusts, it might not even be able to keep up with their breeding speed.

After two full days of hectic work, they only managed to capture a single Insect King.

This pace was unacceptable not only to Belsden but also to Hudson.

Fortunately, they weren’t alone in this.

The situation wasn’t much better for the other powerhouses.

The high-stress battles were not yielding the rewards they wanted, and everyone’s morale suffered a significant blow.

As the locust disaster spread further, affecting their own lands, the others could no longer endure it!

After the first representative bid farewell and left, the others followed suit.

While it’s integral to capture the Insect Kings, the most urgent matter was to take care of themselves first.

If an Insect King was spotted, they could request assistance nearby.

Given the substantial rewards, everyone would be willing to lend a hand.

Hudson was no exception, he decisively asked Governor Piers for leave.

As for the issue of rewards, apart from the gold coins for Insect King bounty, the other dealings would have to be slowly negotiated in private.

This wasn’t an urgent matter.

Once the locust disaster was extinguished, they would have enough time to negotiate.

All in all, the operation was more successful than expected.

Capturing eight Insect Kings, the public reward was 8,000 gold coins.

The resources that could be exchanged in secret would only be more than this.

Especially since “capturing alive” was Caesar III’s command, considering his style, he would not likely let everyone work for nothing.

The specific rewards were unknown, but there would certainly be a payoff.

If not, Caesar III’s reputation amongst the lower nobility wouldn’t be as good as it is now.

Upon entering Layton County, Hudson immediately sensed something was wrong.

Despite being in the southernmost part of the province, the locust disaster was even more severe than other regions.

The main force of the Locust Army had been severely damaged by the Governor’s Mansion expert teams, and the scattered swarms were hunted by the assembled forces of the Noble Lords on the route, logically they should be even fewer upon entering the hinterlands.

Without pausing to investigate the reason, Hudson and the bear picked up their pace.

As for the locusts along the way, Belsden naturally took care of them.

As an ambitious bear, Belsden aspired to become a great ranch owner.

According to his plan, he intended to raise ten thousand sheep, ten thousand cattle and ten thousand beehives.

Then, he’d have endless beast milk and honey and roast meat every day, thereby reaching the pinnacle of a bear’s life.

Locusts, undoubtedly, were the arch-enemy of a ranch owner like the bear.

Every wrongly killed and sparely left one was a threat.

Under the cover of the gravity field, not only did the locusts on the route encounter disaster, but other small insects also perished along with them.

If they didn’t accidentally injure some flowers and plants, it would have been perfect.

With the natural insect-killing bear around, they no longer had to worry about pest threats.

Seeing the smoke rising from different points along the route, Hudson heaved a sigh of relief.

Clearly, the Noble Lords hadn’t given up yet, meaning the situation hadn’t completely collapsed.

The unharvested crops were basically ruined.

But as long as the Locust Extermination was timely, they could still save the autumn sowing.

Although the harvest for this season wasn’t much, it was better than having nothing.

By the time they could harvest the spring crop the next year, everyone could make a full recovery.

Of course, this was an ideal scenario.

Those who had experienced a locust disaster knew that it often lasted for “a decade after a single disaster”.