HLM -Chapter 1256 Into the Hot Oil

The locust plague had been dealt with, leaving only a few stragglers.

Putting the numbers aside, locusts were actually quite a resource for many people in Sunset Town, especially for Christians.

Historically, a real event had occurred: on November 21, 2004, millions of locusts swarmed into Eilat, a city on the Red Sea in Israel, devastating large amounts of crops and flowers in the southern city. The Israeli government even deployed planes to spray insecticide to control the locusts.

However, locusts were the only insects deemed edible by Christian scripture and Jewish law. Some Israelis seized the opportunity, catching locusts to cook at home. Several food websites even listed elaborate locust menus, including locust skewers, locust strips, and fried locusts.

In this way, what the government had anticipated as a disaster became a culinary feast. Later, the locusts moved eastward toward Jordan and Saudi Arabia, never again passing through Israel’s fertile northern regions, the Gaza Strip, or the West Bank.

It was an amusing lesson: the weak feared the strong, the strong feared the ruthless, and the ruthless feared death itself.

For many in Sunset Town, locusts became food too.

Sunset Town had a large Chinese immigrant population, mostly middle-aged or older, many with rural life experience. On a farm, locusts were an unavoidable topic of conversation—who hadn’t roasted locusts in the fields as a child?

Some of the New Zealand locusts were enormous, growing up to ten centimeters. While not as big as the Grassland Guardians’ giant sand crickets, they were still plump and meaty. Once people caught them and heard from experts that they carried no parasites, the cooking could begin.

Especially for the Māori—they didn’t care about parasites at all. Every household grabbed nets and went outside to catch locusts. Once caught, they were fried in a pan with butter and a touch of salt. Sweet or savory, they were all delicious.

At first, Wang Bo had been busy battling the locust plague and hadn’t thought about this. It wasn’t until he saw Atulu snacking on a box of fried locusts at work that he remembered he could make some himself.

After work, he took Dale to the wild to catch locusts. Forget the pastures and farms—the chickens, ducks, and geese had already eaten all the locusts there. They had to go further afield.

Driving to a patch of grass, Wang Bo gritted his teeth and said, “Don’t hold back later. Size doesn’t matter. Catch a locust, tear off its wings, and put it in the box. Got it?”

Dale hesitated, “Isn’t that too cruel?”

Wang Bo continued through gritted teeth, “Cruel? Do you even know how much damage your brother-in-law suffered this time?”

“How much?”

Wang Bo began listing indignantly, “Not even counting how many vegetables they destroyed, or how much pasture they ruined… I had to dismantle over a hundred thousand worth of fences just to let the chickens, ducks, and geese loose.”

“And the giant sand crickets—they were indiscriminately attacked by the chickens, ducks, geese, and purple swamphens. Almost all the crickets in the pasture that didn’t escape underground were eaten. Damn it, those were protective insects!”

Dale blinked, “How much damage are we talking about?”

Wang Bo said, “Let’s put it this way: in terms of Starry Rods, at least one to two million!”

“One to two million?!” Dale’s eyes went wide.

“Exactly! Converted to Barbie dolls, we’re talking tens of thousands!”

Dale growled, “They’re so evil! They must go into the hot oil!”

Many locusts still lived in the wild. Catching them was easy—Wang Bo had prepared some butterfly nets, which were just small mesh bags on sticks. Scoop a few and they were trapped.

The Commander and Political Commissar quickly understood what he was doing and flapped their wings to help. They targeted the larger locusts and imitated Little Meng’s dive attack—two or three attempts usually caught one.

The Commander proudly carried a locust back, “Ha! The Commander is skilled! Oh, the bug escaped!”

The locust wasn’t dead—once it opened its mouth, it spread its wings and tried to fly away.

But it wasn’t that simple. Little Meng was circling overhead. Seeing the locust attempt to flee, it swooped down with a “whoosh,” and the locust was split in two…

Little Meng was frustrated—it couldn’t really help. Every bite just cut the locust into pieces. Smaller ones were smashed to bits, impossible to catch alive.

The Commander, on the other hand, was talkative. Every time it caught a locust, it couldn’t help but chatter, allowing the locust to escape. Wang Bo was furious, but the Commander didn’t change, and in a while, hadn’t caught many.

The Political Commissar, however, excelled. Practical and diligent, it caught locusts quietly and effectively. Combined with Dale’s net, they quickly filled a box.

Zhuang Ding, Little Wang, the Princess, and the chubby cat brothers were also catching locusts, but Wang Bo couldn’t rely on them.

Zhuang Ding and Little Wang couldn’t handle it—their claws were too big, smashing the locusts to bits. The Princess was agile but ate the locusts herself instead of giving them to Wang Bo. The chubby cat brothers caught locusts but didn’t give them or eat them—they just played until the locusts were exhausted before moving to the next, endlessly entertained.

In less than half an hour, a large box in the car was full of locusts. Wang Bo whistled, and the kids immediately dropped their games and scrambled into the car, ready to go home.

Frying locusts was simple. First, he marinated them overnight in a brine, then sun-dried them for a morning. By noon, they were ready for the oil.

Wang Bo carefully researched online to ensure the locusts were parasite-free, then started frying.

Dried locusts fried quickly, turning golden in seconds. Sprinkled with cumin and salt, they were crunchy in the mouth and even more fragrant than beef or lamb!

Dale happily said to Eva, “Sister, this is really good! The teacher said it’s full of protein and fat.”

Eva’s face fell, waving her hand, “I’m pregnant. I can’t eat this.”

She couldn’t stomach the idea of eating insects.

Wang Bo tore off the wings and legs and chomped down with a “crunch crunch,” the rich oiliness combining with cumin and chili powder making them even tastier.

Since he had marinated them overnight, the saltiness had penetrated the locusts thoroughly.

Qingyang joined in. Wang Bo asked, “Don’t you find eating bugs disgusting?”

Qingyang sneered, “I’ve eaten stick insects and fried centipedes before. A locust? I’ve loved them since I was a kid. Back home, a pound costs thirty to forty yuan. Haven’t had much since graduating.”

Little Wang and Zhuang Ding didn’t eat raw locusts, but fried ones were devoured with gusto. Wang Bo didn’t feed them much—these wild kids had huge appetites, and even all the fried locusts weren’t enough for one round.