At this point, Wu Liang estimates that it is almost done.

So he sprinkled the last layer of salt on the floating corpse and the completely deflated insects, and wrapped all the exposed parts of the body with linen cloth, put on a gas mask on his face, and even covered his leather shoes.

After putting on a layer of salt, he stepped into the white circle made of fine salt and squatted in front of the floating corpse to check the situation up close.

At this moment, except for the big bugs that deflated, all the small bugs that originally clung to the big bugs like fluff had disappeared.

In order to find out what kind of state these big bugs were in before they were entangled in the abdominal cavity of the floating corpse, Wu Liang did not take them out easily, but chose to sort these entangled big bugs in the abdominal cavity of the floating corpse.

Come on.

This is also a careful job.

It is necessary to find the source one by one and separate them one by one. If you are impatient or use too much force, you may tear it off, or make it change its original state.

This took about ten minutes.

These big bugs have been sorted out by Wu Liang. At this moment, they are neatly arranged and stretched like strips of kelp, and the other end is still connected to the abdominal cavity of the floating corpse.

"There are fourteen in total..."

Wu Liang counted them and kept the number in mind.

At this moment, the length of these big bugs can be seen clearly. The longest one is almost two feet, and the shortest one is up to one foot.

However, this length may be slightly different from that in the fresh state. It can only be said to have a certain reference value. After all, during the process of being dehydrated by refined salt, their length should also be slightly reduced.

After doing this, Wu Liang finally turned his attention to the other end of them that was still connected to the abdominal cavity of the floating corpse.

When he separated these big bugs just now, he had already noticed that the connection between these big bugs and the inside of the floating corpse's abdominal cavity was much closer than imagined, and it was impossible to pull them off with a gentle tug.

And this is despite the fact that these big bugs have basically lost all signs of life at this moment.

It can be judged from this that these large bugs should not be adsorbed in the abdominal cavity of the floating corpse like most molluscs, but most likely it should be a more reliable and special method.

With this conjecture, Wu Liang lowered his body slightly and looked into the abdominal cavity of the floating corpse from a lower angle.

"Son."

Dian Wei didn't know when he had lit a torch. Upon seeing this, he immediately stretched the torch forward in a tacit understanding, trying his best to cooperate with Wu Liang to see more clearly.

Unknowingly, red flaming clouds appeared on the horizon.

The sky is gradually getting dark, and it looks like it will be night in half an hour at most.

Wu Liangze had long been accustomed to this kind of tacit understanding that transcended ordinary people, and he still leaned forward unhurriedly to check the situation in the abdominal cavity of the floating corpse:

The other end of these large bugs does not seem to be attached to the soft tissue of the floating corpse, but is entirely attached to the vertebrae and ribs. This is also the difference between them and most molluscs.

At least as far as Wu Liang knows, common mollusks such as conches, snails, slugs, and earthworms basically feed on soft tissues, and their bones are still too hard for them.

It doesn't have such a good mouth at all, let alone one that can still cling firmly to the bones after losing all signs of life.

With such questions.

Wu Liang observed more carefully the connection between these big insects and the floating corpse bones... No!

These big bugs don't seem to be clinging to the vertebrae and ribs of this floating corpse, but more like they have directly drilled the other end into the bones?

In order to prove that I was not wrong.

Wu Liang immediately picked up one of the big bugs and pulled it slightly while continuing to observe the place where the two were connected.

This time he could see more clearly that the other end of the big bug was indeed not attached to the surface of the bone, but directly connected to the inside of the bone through a small hole.

What makes Wu Liang even more puzzled is that the human vertebrae are a structure that is connected one by one. There are some small gaps between each section. If this insect wants to get into the vertebrae,

Internally, these gaps are undoubtedly the most labor-saving shortcuts.

But this insect didn't take such a shortcut, but instead forced a small hole through an unknown method in a complete spinal vertebra?

It should be known that the vertebral bones have a protective effect on the human body, so the strength and thickness are stronger than those of most other parts of the bones. And just drilling this small hole is absolutely necessary for a mollusk like this.

No small project!

Wu Liang couldn't help but think of the beaks at the front of those little bugs that resembled bird's beaks.

I have to say that the mouth is slightly similar to that of a woodpecker. Woodpeckers can easily dig holes in trees... Could this be the secret weapon of these bugs to drill holes in bones?

With these in mind.

Wu Liang has moved his hand forward a lot, almost grabbing the place where the big bug connects with the vertebrae, so as to avoid breaking the bug's body during the pulling process.

Then he began to apply force evenly...

"puff!"

With a soft sound, the other end of the big insect was completely pulled out from the vertebrae by Wu Liang.

At the same time, a deep red viscous liquid flowed out of the small hole in the vertebrae. It may be the bone marrow in the vertebrae, or it may be the secretion of a large insect.

In order to prevent there from being invisible little bugs inside, Wu Liang immediately grabbed a handful of refined salt and sprinkled it on the red viscous liquid, and also used some refined salt to forcefully rub it on the small hole.

After doing this, Wu Liang carefully observed the big insect.

Sure enough, a beak-like head was found at the end where it drilled into the vertebrae.

Not only does this head have a sharp and hard mouth, it also has small, saw-like teeth inside.

And around the mouth, there is a circle of small tentacles that look like ivy's feet, and the ends of the small tentacles are small round cake-shaped suckers... At first glance, this shape looks like a blooming flower, but

The red stain on it looks particularly bloody and cruel, just like the aliens or virus monsters that appear in some later science fiction movies, making people feel numb in their scalp unconsciously.

Compare this.

This kind of big bug seems to be basically the same as those small bugs except for its size. Some of the differences in details may be because those small bugs are too small to see them all clearly.

"Sir, what on earth is this? Why does it look so weird?"

Yu Jiyi still has a lot of curiosity even at his old age. He joined the Hu army for this reason before. He is a model of learning through old age.

Everyone also looked eagerly at Wu Liang and the big bug in his hand, with expressions on their faces that were both curious and fearful.

"have no idea……"

Wu Liang shook his head, but added, "But what I have seen so far reminds me of something similar to it, but that thing usually lives in the ocean and should not appear in inland rivers like the Yellow River.

, and the kind of thing I'm thinking of shouldn't grow this big."

"Sir, although the Yellow River is an inland river, it is only fifty miles away from the mouth of the sea. It's only fifty miles. Things in the ocean may not flow upstream to get here, right?"

Yu Ji immediately put forward his own idea after hearing this, "And as far as I know, some marine fish will go upstream and enter inland rivers for some reasons. Just like migratory birds flying in the sky, they fly between the north and the south every year.

Migrate between places.”

"What the old gentleman said makes sense..."

Wu Liang suddenly woke up as if from a dream.

Even in later generations, many marine creatures will regularly enter inland rivers for breeding and food, even if they will be killed by black bears during this period and the risk of being stranded will continue.

And this big bug is obviously very interested in human corpses.

If wars and frequent floods cause a sharp increase in the number of corpses washed down by the Yellow River, these big bugs will naturally be attracted... Didn't Big Dog say before that in the waters near the "Fairy Mountain" they are about to go,

Do hundreds of floating corpses often gather together? This is undoubtedly an irresistible temptation for those who are interested in human corpses!

But even if this problem can be explained in this way.

What's that body type?

The thing Wu Liang thought of was definitely not that big. Some branches were similar to those small bugs he had eliminated. The small ones could even be seen with the help of some magnifying tools.

But then again, that was only a discovery of later generations.

There is nearly two thousand years between the end of the Han Dynasty and later generations. Such a long time is enough to change many things. Some species will gradually disappear in the process, while some species will quietly evolve to continue in a form more suitable for this world.

These are all natural selections in nature, and humans probably don’t know enough about them. After all, even in later generations, scientists are still discovering new species...those species have actually always been there, and some of them may have a history of existence.

It is older than the dinosaurs, but it has not been discovered or taken seriously by humans for a long time.

Platypus, lamprey, horseshoe crab... these are all living examples. For them, dinosaurs are just passers-by who briefly appeared on the earth.

Therefore, is it possible that the big bugs he discovered now are actually a branch of what he was thinking of, but due to the influence of the environment, this larger branch gradually became extinct, and later generations only discovered those that were smaller and easier to survive.

Species that came down?

There are countless such examples in nature...

"Sir, please tell us first what exactly you have in mind. If you don't tell us, everyone will only become more curious, right?"

Yu Ji urged with an expectant look on his face.

"Yes, youcai brother, you can tell me first, right? We will analyze it with you."

Zhuge Liang also said eagerly.

"Gentleman, tell me, tell me, our ears are pricked up."

Zhen Mi nodded her head like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Um."

After thinking about it just now, Wu Liang also understood that his idea might have entered a dead end, so he finally said to everyone, "What I was thinking of was actually a thing called 'bone-eating worms'. This kind of thing has a long history and usually parasitizes the human body."
To be continued...