“Ah, no, wait. Hyang, spit it out for now. Ptooey ptooey. Quickly.”
I was startled and immediately asked where she had caught the bug, but that was the wrong question to ask first.
As a father, I was worried that Hyang might get bitten and hurt by the bug, so I told her to spit it out. Hyang quickly spat out the bug she had in her mouth.
The bug was about the size of an egg, with a translucent white body, antennae, and short legs.
It was significantly enlarged, but it was definitely a bug I knew well.
‘That’s a termite!?’
It was definitely a bit plump and large, but it was unmistakably a termite.
What Hyang had brought over was a white ant, or baiyi as it’s called in Middle Kingdom.
‘But there are no trees here, so where could it have come from?’
As I was blinking in surprise at the fact that Hyang had brought a termite, I suddenly heard her thoughts in my mind, which I had forgotten to ask earlier.
‘Daddy, there are lots of them over there! Hyang saw them!’
‘Ugh!’
Even though I was shocked about where Hyang had gotten the termites from, I couldn't help but freeze for a moment because of her ridiculously cute voice.
A father’s heart attack from his daughter’s cuteness.
I mean, how could any father maintain his sanity in moments like these?
We may fight and have one of us leave the house to break my mental state, but this kind of crazy cuteness is one of the joys of raising a daughter.
‘Wait, in this situation, why is she so cute?’
Shaking off the cuteness, I asked again.
“W-Wait, where is it?”
I had thought Hyang was laid-back, but she seemed to be quite efficient when it came to work.
As if determined not to miss the question, Hyang immediately pounced on the termite she had spat out and knocked it out before wriggling her way to the red rock peak.
Then, she headed toward the rock root near the base of the peak and, looking back at me, shouted.
I quickly crouched down where Hyang was pointing, and beneath the low rock roof was a hidden space.
The cleverly concealed crack in the rock revealed a hole, and as Hyang had said, several termites poked their heads out from within.
‘Oh my!’
A shiver ran from my head to my toes at the sight!
I blankly stared at the numerous towering rocks around me.
Then, the over hundred red rock peaks began to look different from before.
Now, I could see exactly what those peaks were.
These red peaks weren’t just simple peaks.
The countless red rock peaks rising in this basin weren’t just regular peaks; they were all clearly termite nests.
And I quickly realized what kind of creatures they were.
Termites are generally known to live in wood, but not all termites live in wood.
‘These must be the same ones as cathedral termites!’
The scientific name Nasutitermes triodiae.
Commonly known as Cathedral Termite.
The termites in front of me were definitely a species closely related to the Cathedral Termite, also known as the "church termite."
Cathedral termites are native to the desert regions of Australia, and there’s a reason why they’re named that.
They build towering structures that resemble famous European churches designed by architects like Gaudí, such as the Sagrada Familia.
These creatures build high towers because such structures are ideal for heat and air circulation.
The cathedral-like termite mounds may look like random piles, but they are actually highly scientific buildings.
Being desert-dwelling creatures, these termites suck in cool air through ventilation holes when it gets hot, and guide hot air out through tall chimneys.
And when night falls and the temperature drops, they seal the holes at the top to minimize heat loss.
‘Six millimeter-long cathedral termites building six-meter-high mounds... Since the one Hyang brought was about six centimeters, I guess it’s proportional...’
The reason their mounds are so large is that they’ve built bigger ones in proportion to their size.
“So-ryong, is there anything else over there? All I see are similar peaks.”
“Ryo, did you find anything? It’s just more of these peaks.”
When I realized the red rock pillars were termite mounds, Hyang and Seol quickly approached and asked.
“Did you find something?”
Then, I heard a voice from above, a question from Shintu.
“Did you find something?”
“I did find something....”
“Found something?”
“Yeah, well...”
Instead of answering, I pointed to Hyang, who was tossing the termites she had pulled from the hole, almost like she was picking white hairs from her father’s head.
The termites had been injected with a little poison and were now lying unconscious, unable to move.
I could feel Hyang’s excitement, as if she was trying hard to impress everyone.
“W-What is this?”
“What is this, Ryo? Hyang, what are you doing? What keeps coming out?”
“Hyang, what is that?”
The three of them, startled by the large termites, stared wide-eyed.
Even Shintu’s disciple, Yeong-ryeon, joined in, eyes wide as they looked at the termites.
“What is this?”
“This is...”
‘But what do I call them?’
I had found something, but now I had to name it. But structures like cathedrals or basilicas didn’t exist in the Middle Kingdom.
I was thinking about what to call them when a great idea suddenly struck me.
‘Oh, that’s right!’
“Buddhist Stupa White Ant (불탑백의)!”
When I thought about it, there were only stupas built in temples that resembled these structures in the Middle Kingdom.
I have to admit, it was a pretty solid translation.
Just like Cathedral Termites, the name had a religious meaning, which made it perfect for the setting!
It was truly a perfect translation, fitting the local context.
“Buddhist Stupa White Ant?”
“Buddhist Stupa White Ant?”
They asked, confused by the name, as they looked at the red peaks.
I knocked on one of the peaks, which was actually a termite mound, and spoke.
Tap tap.
“I thought these were just red rock peaks, but I was wrong. These are all termite mounds. The entire peak is a mound for these termites.”
“What!?”
“The entire peak is their home!?”
“Really? The whole peak?”
People started backing away from the giant termite mounds in surprise.
I nodded and confirmed.
“Yes, this entire massive peak is actually a mound for the Buddhist Stupa White Ants.”
“Then these things...”
When I explained the true identity of the red pillars around us, I suddenly heard Hyang’s sharp cry.
“H-Hyang, no! Step back!”
She had been working hard to impress me, but she must have thought I was scolding her.
I quickly lifted Hyang onto my shoulder and said, “No, I wasn’t scolding you. It’s just that those bugs are dangerous, so we need to be careful.”
The bug that had poked its head out of the termite mound was a soldier termite.
It seemed that the worker termites had been disappearing, so the soldier termites had emerged in their place. I could hear their jaws clicking loudly.
That’s why I had hurriedly shouted at Hyang.
If she had rushed in and fought with the soldier termites, she could have been seriously hurt from their bites.
Though I didn’t think Hyang would be easily harmed because of her agility, I couldn’t afford to be careless. After all, if she were distracted by the hard silk of the Heavenly Silkworm or tried to block the soldier termites’ powerful jaws, she could still be in danger.
To make sure Hyang didn’t feel bad, I gently scratched the termite's jaws and head while giving her lots of praise.
“You did well, Hyang. You found the termite, didn’t you?”
“Oh, Hyang found it? Our Hyang is so smart, isn’t she?”
After quickly complimenting both Hyang and Hwa-eun, Shintu pointed at the soldier termites poking their heads out of the hole and the unconscious worker termites in front of them, asking, “So, these are the ones that threaten the Heavenly Silkworm? Then what about the food?”
It seemed that his question about the food was prompted by the soldier termites’ appearance. Since I had mentioned that if we found the creatures threatening the Heavenly Silkworms, the food would probably be nearby, he was asking about it now.
“Hmm... we’ll have to check that now.”
“Check? What do you mean by that?”
I was about 99% sure that the Heavenly Silkworms were related to the termites.
After all, many creatures live symbiotically or parasitically with termites or ants.
I took the box I had grabbed from Shintu earlier and smiled as I said, “With this.”
I gathered up Cheo-hwa and Yo-hwa and headed first to the highest peak in the center of the basin. To understand the food of the Heavenly Silkworm, I thought it would be best to hatch one of their eggs, and the oldest peak seemed like the right place to do that.
We made our way toward the largest peak in the center of the basin and found the ventilation hole Hyang had discovered earlier.
“We need to find a hole like the one from earlier.”
“Got it.”
“I understand.”
“So-ryong, here!”
I ran over to Hwa-eun’s voice and found the hole, hidden just like the last one.
Kneeling down to look into the hole, I saw the termites sticking their heads out again.
“Then let’s check it. We need to blow some internal energy into it, right?”
“Yeah,”
Following what Shintu had told me, I took one of the remaining eggs from the box, now only three left, and placed it on my palm.
I began to blow internal energy into the egg the size of a ping pong ball.
Immediately, the egg began to change color.
The inside of the egg turned blue, and soon, a white larvae broke through the shell and jumped out.
It was an unusual one, with its osmeterium (the horn-like protrusions on its head) constantly extending.
After seeing only dried-up ones before, seeing a live one made me exclaim in awe.
‘Ohh! It’s so cute!’
Its plump, white body was the epitome of cuteness.
While the O-gongi were cute, the Heavenly Silkworm had a natural cuteness unlike any ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) other.
The soft, squishy feel of its segments, and its unique wriggling movements, made it incredibly adorable.
“So-ryong?”
“Ah, yes!”
I was so absorbed in the cuteness of the Heavenly Silkworm that I momentarily lost focus. At Shintu’s call, I snapped back to reality.
I placed the newly hatched Heavenly Silkworm a little further away from the termite mound.
For a moment, it seemed to look around, but then, noticing the termites, it quickly started crawling toward them.
Strangely, as it approached the termites, its osmeterium began to change shape.
What had been horn-like protrusions spread out and flattened, becoming like yellow leaves.
The termites immediately rushed toward it, licking the yellow "leaves" between them.
It was then that I began to get a rough understanding of the Heavenly Silkworm’s ecology.
‘Ah! The Heavenly Silkworms must have an ecology similar to that of the twin-tailed butterflies!’
The Heavenly Silkworms seemed to have an ecological relationship similar to the twin-tailed butterflies.
The ecology of twin-tailed butterflies is quite unique.
After mating, the adult twin-tailed butterflies lay their eggs near the nests of the Matsumura tail-feeding ants. When the eggs hatch, the ants carry the larvae back to their nests.
The larvae of the twin-tailed butterfly produce honeydew from their posterior glands, which the ants love.
In exchange for food, the ants feed the larvae and even feed them their own young.
It seemed like the Heavenly Silkworms might share this kind of ecology. Indeed, the termites that had sucked honeydew from the yellow leaves of the silkworm larvae quickly took them into their nest.
“So-ryong, the ants took the Heavenly Silkworm away!”
“Wait, no, So-ryong! Those things took the Heavenly Silkworm away!”
Hwa-eun and Shintu seemed shocked that the termites had taken the Heavenly Silkworm, but there was no need to worry.
This was exactly what I had expected, and we were going to dig the ground anyway.
Assuming the Heavenly Silkworms had an ecology like the twin-tailed butterflies, we needed the Buddhist Stupa Ants to raise them, which meant we needed to dig and catch the queen ant.
‘The last time, the army ants were dangerous, and we couldn’t catch them because they died, but the Cathedral Termites help with farming and aren’t dangerous, so they’re perfect!’
I smiled at Shintu and asked, “Elder, do you dig well?”
“Dig? Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I think we need to dig.”
“Wait, you’re supposed to protect them! How could you not even figure out what this is after all this time?”
Shintu grumbled at the suggestion of digging, but I was going to give him a reason why he’d have to dig after all.
“No. I’ve figured out everything I needed to know.”
“You figured it out!?”
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Shintu’s eyes widened in surprise when I said I had figured it out.
I pointed to the ground beneath us with my finger and said, “Yes, of course. But digging is necessary for the Heavenly Silkworms.”
“Of course, right?”
“Didn’t you see? The Buddhist Stupa Ants took the Heavenly Silkworm away. This means that there are probably lots of cocoons and Heavenly Silkworms hatching underground.”
“What!? What did you say!?”
Shintu’s eyes widened, and he looked at the red pillars.
He seemed to realize that the treasure he had longed for might be buried under the ground.