Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 159

Chapter 159
After the discussion ended, I lingered briefly until Bini, Cho, and Yo-hwa came back from the water, having rinsed away the residues from the bedbugs.

Perhaps because their bodies were damp, they started preening right away.
Scritch, scritch.
Slurp, slurp.

For centipedes, grooming always begins with the antennae.
True to form, Cho and Bini used their mandibles to grasp their own antennae, drawing them into their mouths to be meticulously cleaned.
Yo-hwa, too, brought her forelegs to her mouth.

Even as spiritual entities, having washed in the water, they now behaved exactly like ordinary centipedes and spiders tending to their bodies, using their mouths to lick themselves clean—not unlike a cat bathing itself.
However, unlike cats, centipedes don’t have fur to shed, making them even tidier creatures.

‘Ah, how fastidious they are.’

It’s a common error to believe centipedes and spiders are unclean, but that’s a significant misjudgment.
In truth, both are exceedingly hygienic animals. Centipedes, dwelling in moist environments, are susceptible to mold and therefore constantly maintain their cleanliness. Spiders, likewise, groom themselves routinely to avoid becoming sticky from their own silk.

It is typical for both centipedes and spiders to attentively clean their antennae and fangs after eating.
Since our little ones hadn’t eaten recently, we seldom witnessed this behavior, so I observed them with a captivated gaze.
It was an uncommon delight to see such large centipedes and a spider tending to their bodies with such delicate care.

‘Ah, how endearing. How lovely.’

I could almost grasp why parents feel compelled to document their children’s development.
I felt a profound regret at not possessing a phone or camera to preserve this moment, resolving instead to commit the sight of them grooming to memory.
It was a scene I dared not overlook.

As I stood watching, Seol’s voice abruptly broke my concentration.
“So-ryong, you mentioned we would start digging as soon as Bini returned.”

“Oh, right!”

I had become so absorbed in watching the children clean themselves that I’d forgotten entirely. It struck me then that we needed to excavate a protective trench around the settlement.
Since bedbugs typically shun water, I reasoned that encircling the village with a moat would serve as an effective barrier.
As they were not spiritual beings, but merely enormous bedbugs, they likely still followed the instincts of their smaller kin.

I swiftly turned toward Bini, intending to say, “Let’s start digging.”
“Bini? Oh…”
Skrch?

But as I turned to address him, my attention was caught by the sight of Bini’s antenna, gleaming and glossy under the light.
Bini was in the midst of his grooming ritual, and here I was, about to ask him to return to digging up soil, which made me hesitate.
He had just cleaned himself so thoroughly, and now I was requesting that he get dirty again.

‘Is this alright? I feel somewhat guilty for asking this of Bini.’
Bini had just finished tending to his right antenna and had moved on to the left when he glanced up at me, as if questioning why I had called.
Chit?

‘Well, it should be acceptable, shouldn’t it?’
Though slightly concerned, I concluded it was necessary and posed my request in a careful tone.
“Bini, I know you just finished cleaning up, and I apologize for asking… but could you help me with something? It’s not too demanding—just some digging.”

As I spoke, Bini’s antenna slipped from his mouth, and he glanced down at his body, inspecting himself.
Then, Bini’s form began to quiver faintly.
Considering his character, Bini was notably neat and orderly.
‘He just bathed and groomed himself, and now I’m telling him to do something that will make him filthy…’

***

Having nearly completed his cleansing routine, it was understandable that Bini might be irritated by my demand to dig.
Yet, because it was a request from his father, even if annoyed, Bini consented to proceed.

“Well, I suppose I’ll have to join the workers with shovels then… If we work all day, we should manage to finish.”
Skrch!

When Bini responded to my words with a sharp cry, it sounded as if he were retorting, “Did I say I wouldn’t dig?”
That was just one aspect of Bini’s endearing nature.

Thump, thump.
As Bini started burrowing into the earth, the soil swelled upward, reminiscent of a mole tunneling underground.
Soon, the ridge split open, forming a ditch-like channel.

While Cho and I observed from above, Bini emerged from the opposite end, and I signaled to Lee Tae, who was waiting at the starting position.
“Lee Tae! Now!”
“Understood, So-ryong!”

Lee Tae and the workers promptly began dismantling the remaining embankment near the Yangtze River.
The last of the dyke gave way, and water cascaded inward, rushing into the passage Bini had carved.
Splash, splash, splash.

The water, gathering force, carried surrounding soil with it as it surged toward the far side.
The flow followed the path Bini had dug, reaching the end and bursting through the thin earthen wall, pouring back into the Yangtze.
As the water calmed, the trench widened and its current stabilized.

The village, nestled at the mountain’s foot beside the reed fields, was now fully encircled by water.
Once the water had settled around the village, I noticed Hwa-eun approaching with several workers and Yo-hwa, having gathered some of the evacuees.
It appeared the trench work was finished.

Soon, Hwa-eun’s voice called out.
“So-ryong, it’s done!”
“Let’s head down! Cho, come along.”
Skrch!

As agreed prior to the digging, Hwa-eun brought Yo-hwa and a few others down with her.
Descending slowly, Hwa-eun guided us to the defensive line where we’d held off the bedbugs the day before and inquired, “This spot should work, yes?”
“Yes, going farther out could be dangerous, so that house there should be suitable.”

As we approached, Hwa-eun indicated an aged structure near where we had previously blocked the bedbugs.
Inside the house, Hwa-eun shut her eyes, lifted her nose, and began to sweep the area.
“Good. I believe they’re here.”

Hwa-eun was employing scent tracking, using her acute sense of smell to find where the bedbugs had concealed themselves.
After a short time, Hwa-eun pointed toward a bamboo wall within the house.
“There. In the wall gaps!”

At Hwa-eun’s direction, the workers moved forward cautiously, and from the spaces between the bamboo slats, bedbugs started to emerge.
By day, they hid in such shadowy crevices, and when humans approached, they detected the warmth and pushed their heads out.

‘Ah, is this the Tang Clan’s scent-tracking method?’
It occurred to me that if Hwa-eun hadn’t been checking the bodies for poison earlier, we might have located the bedbugs more quickly.
I promptly turned to Yo-hwa.
“Yo-hwa, deal with these pests!”
Kiss!

On my command, Yo-hwa shot out her silk and deftly extracted each bedbug, placing them one by one into a large sack woven from her web.
The collection of sample bedbugs was complete.

We were capturing these insects to test Hyang’s poison.
Given its incendiary nature, I suspected it might be highly effective against the bedbugs.
“Let’s take these back to the ship for now.”
“Understood, So-ryong.”

We had captured eight bedbugs in total.
With the squirming bedbugs secured in Yo-hwa’s silk bag, we made our way to the ship.

Upon arrival, I selected one bedbug and pinned it to a wooden board using a needle from the Tang Clan, as though preparing a specimen.
The bedbug writhed, but held fast by the needle, it was immobilized.
I promptly took some of the water Hyang had been in and carefully dripped it onto the bedbug’s abdomen.
Drip, drip.

Since a bedbug’s respiratory organs are on its underside, I thought application there would be most effective.
However, the bedbug displayed no response to the poison.
“Hm… What’s happening?”

This was a toxin potent enough to make me burst into flames, yet the bedbug showed no effect.
“Is it possible this only affects mammals?”
My initial thought was that the poison might be specific to mammals.
Certainly, some poisons lethal to humans have no impact on insects.
The notion that insects can safely consume toxic plants is not entirely true; some beetles, for instance, feed on poisonous mushrooms, so my suspicion wasn’t baseless.

But Hyang offered an alternative theory.
“Might the amount be too small? Since it was diluted in water, the poison’s potency could be reduced.”
She suggested that the dilution in water had weakened the effect.
Frankly, if that were true, the poison’s strength wouldn’t matter much, as it would be of limited use to us.
Hyang’s poison was available in small quantities, and if a concentrated dose was necessary, it would be challenging to employ.

“I’m not certain. Let’s attempt another test.”
We agreed to investigate further, so I took another bedbug and placed it beside the first.
This time, rather than using the water Hyang had been in, I took a stick, rubbed it against Hyang’s body, and applied it directly to the bedbug.
Yet, after waiting, there was still no reaction.

It was somewhat disheartening, but it seemed we would need to return to the clan and seek the elders’ counsel for a more thorough analysis.
It felt as though I was experiencing the poison’s effect, but it was doing nothing to the bedbugs.
“It appears the two of us won’t easily solve this here.”
“Yes, we’ll have to consult grandfather when we return.”

Though disappointed, I decided that even without the poison, we could remain safe until morning, so we should concentrate on surviving the night.
With that, I left the poisoned bedbug pinned to the board as it was, and returned the one exposed to Hyang’s water to Yo-hwa’s web bag, tossing it onto the deck.
And since there was a risk the bedbugs might traverse the water, I elected to sleep in the cabin that night.

After an exhausting day, I was nestled in the cabin using Bini as a pillow, finally sinking into a deep sleep, when a sharp odor wafted past my nose.
Chit chit!

Hearing the children stir, I opened my eyes to see blue flames leaping from the cabin table.
Fwoosh.
“What—what is that?!”

Looking closer at the source of the blue fire, I saw the bedbug, still fixed to the board, spewing blue flames from its mouth and abdomen.
But curiously, only the bedbug itself was burning.
Unlike when I had burned, the flames did not ignite the wood or anything nearby.
“This, this is…”

Hyang, who had been sleeping in the adjacent room, heard the disturbance and hurried in, her eyes widening at the sight of the burning bedbug.
Just then, I heard the alarmed cries of the crew outside the cabin.
“Fire!”
“Fire!”

As the blue-flamed bedbug, still pinned, shifted toward the door, something else on the deck also caught fire.
I dashed over, hurled the board into the water, and a crew member used a stick to bat Yo-hwa’s web bag from the deck, sending it into the river.
Mid-air, Yo-hwa’s web combusted entirely, and the eight bedbugs, now afloat, emitted flames for a time before sinking below the surface.

Watching them sink, I understood that the poison required a delay before taking effect.
Hyang, observing alongside me, remarked,
“It seems the poison needs more than three hours to activate. If that’s so, it will be difficult to use practically.”
Roughly six hours had passed since we applied the poison to the bedbugs.
As Hyang noted, the toxin was slow-acting.
But there was an error in her conclusion.
It wasn’t that the poison was impractical; it was, in fact, the ideal pesticide for our circumstances.

“No, this poison is perfectly suited for the situation.”
“Perfectly suited?”
At night, the bedbugs congregate in swarms, and at dawn, they cluster in dark places. If one were poisoned, like those in Yo-hwa’s bag, it would ignite a chain reaction, setting them all ablaze.
It was an ideal insecticide.

With dusk approaching, time was short.
I asked Bini to convey a message to Hyang, requesting additional poison.
Bini replied with a single word.
“Food.”
He likely meant that producing more poison would require more food.

As the crew piled dry reeds and bamboo in the village square, a great flame roared up, all of it drawn into Hyang’s mouth.
When the fire subsided, Hyang, her forelegs now longer, gazed up at me from where she held onto the rim of the water barrel.