Chapter 677: Colony of ants
After walking for around ten minutes, Bai Zemin could not help but frown slightly as he led the rest. They had been walking for at least a kilometer and a half at a brisk pace from the point of view of an unevolved human, keeping their guard up at all times, but so far they had not even seen a single ant or any other species of enemy.
Had all the ants died? Or maybe there was no one at home?
Just as such thoughts were going through his head and Bai Zemin was turning the corner as all that lay ahead was a wall of stone and earth, his steps stopped dead in their tracks as he found the answer right before his eyes.
A green-colored weaver ant was walking calmly in the direction of Bai Zemin"s group. Its body was about one meter tall and its antennae were as long as the body of a grown human, but the most terrifying thing was undoubtedly its powerful legs that with every step they took left small cracks in the ground and whose destructive power was more than enough to tear a military vehicle into pieces.
The weaver ant and Bai Zemin froze at the same time and used their eyes to measure each other for a second as somehow neither of them expected to see the other party in this place.
But the weaver ant was the first to come out of its daze when it saw more humans suddenly appearing around the corner. The creature that was actually a First Order scout soldier immediately opened its mouth wide, preparing to let out a furious shriek with the intention of alerting the nest of the enemy invasion.
Bai Zemin"s expression changed slightly as soon as he noticed the weaver ant"s intention and without even a second thought he dashed forward. His body exploded with over 1000 points of Agility and like a shadow appearing and disappearing he closed almost 100 meters distance in an instant.
The weaver ant was about to fulfill its purpose when it suddenly felt as if two huge and frighteningly powerful hooks were forcing its mouth shut. By the time its eyes cleared, the creature saw the human from before disappearing and appearing right in front of it and forcing its mouth to close.
The scout soldier, despite being a First Order existence without its intelligence fully developed, its instincts were at their peak. Therefore, after realizing that it would not be able to squeal, it immediately began to move its antennae to communicate with its comrades with the intention of pa.s.sing on the information.
Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+
It was right at that moment when two arrows of burning red fire illuminated the pa.s.sageway and before the weaver ant"s antennae moved more than an inch they were turned into scattered ashes after being hit by both elemental arrows.
Bai Zemin let out a small sigh of relief and without hesitation hit the weaver ant on the head hard enough for its body to collapse unconscious on the ground.
The weaver ant"s body fell to the ground and a small b.l.o.o.d.y wound appeared above its head, but it was clearly alive. Bai Zemin turned just in time to see Feng Tian Wu putting down her right hand, indicative that she had just activated a magical skill.
"Good job. For a second I forgot about the antennae." He nodded toward her.
"It"s nothing." Feng Tian Wu nodded as well.
Bai Zemin did not linger and immediately looked at Little Snow, who was looking at the weaver ant with s.h.i.+ning eyes. The big white dog was restless and her eyes darted back and forth between the mutant ant and Bai Zemin at the same time as her drool dripped like a waterfall from her mouth.
Seeing the white mutant dog that he had picked up from the street years ago looking at him as if asking for forgiveness, Bai Zemin couldn"t help but chuckle and nod.
Little Snow immediately put all hesitation aside and turned into a white shadow, das.h.i.+ng forward at full speed as if she could not wait for a second longer.
In an instant, the weaver ant"s blood dyed the ground green but it was quickly stored by Bai Zemin in the liquid storage pearl.
The eyes of Little Snow sparkled with excitement after claiming the life of the First Order existence and used her head to rub against Bai Zemin as if she was thanking him in the only way she knew how.
Although Little Snow was a level 25 mutant beast and had not yet broken into the First Order, the defense of the weaver ants was among the lowest of all mutant creatures and was as weak as that of a normal human so the claws and teeth of the big white dog were more than enough to take care of one of them that had already been reduced by Bai Zemin.
Actually, Bai Zemin had been paying attention to Little Snow for all these days; from the moment she reached level 25 when they were in the forest. While he wasn"t 100% sure of his theory, Bai Zemin believed that Little Snow probably needed to hunt down a certain number of First Order existences since he had caught her secretly watching with a certain desire and hunger specifically for First Order soul evolvers and other mutant creatures of the same power scale.
Therefore, he had decided to test his theory and in the process, help make the Soul Power of Little Snow as pure as possible before she officially stepped onto the path of evolution.
With the appearance of the first weaver ant, a First Order soldier, the group was now sure that they at least seemed to be walking in the right direction even though it was actually the only visible path. At the same time, each and every one of them had a new level of respect for Bai Zemin who managed to identify the enemy they faced this time with masterful precision.
After making sure that the weaver ant had no Soul Stone in its head, Bai Zemin drained all the blood from its body and ripped off its legs as they were good material for forging new equipment intended for attack.
"Let"s get moving." He ordered and immediately took the lead again. "Let"s pick up the pace a bit."
Little Snow, excited, stopped eating the weaver ant"s flesh and ran off after him. She seemed eager and started acting all flirtatious and innocent as if she wanted to get his favor all for the sake of having a chance to devour another good quality prey.
Bai Zemin knew that after the first run-in of his group with a weaver ant it would only be a matter of time before the whole colony would know of their arrival so this time he was moving at a speed of 60 km/h as that was the speed at which everyone present could keep up with him without using up too much Stamina.
After several turns and circles, entering and exiting into new pa.s.sages, Bai Zemin had knocked out more than twenty First Order weaver ants. Each and every one of them was handed over to Little Snow and Meng Qi.
Moreover, his group was not idle either as there were more than a few occasions when they met First Order soldier rank weaver ants leading small squads of a hundred or so Uncla.s.sified worker and scout ants.
Approximately thirty minutes later, Bai Zemin stopped in front of what appeared to be a lugubrious-looking stone room. The room had no door, it was more like an extension of the cave as it was built into the wall.
He noticed large amounts of excrement and white bones belonging to other mutated creatures, even a few human bones in there; including small, fragile bones clearly belonging to children.
"These d.a.m.n ants!" Huang Tian gritted his teeth and his whole body trembled as he said with anger, "They don"t even spare children.... This is the difference between them and us after all!"
All of those present were soul evolvers who had gone through certain tests and examinations before Wu Keqian accepted them into his power regime in the Chinese Renaissance faction, therefore, while they were not saints, at least each and every one of them had a certain line that they never crossed nor did they plan to cross. Then, seeing the bones of children there, the collective anger naturally began to grow.
Bai Zemin surveyed the surroundings of the room silently, noticing that apart from the excrement and bones there were also pieces of torn cloth and dirty shoes.
"Let"s go on." He said after standing up.
They all followed him in silence. Most of them slowly could not help but notice that the person leading them was clearly angry even though his expression was indifferent and indecipherable.
But how could they not notice it? Bai Zemin almost completely changed his ways compared to the moment he entered the nest. He went from playing it safe and defensive to becoming the wolf that sneaks out to hunt its prey during the night.... and, of course, those who followed him became the pack of wolves that gladly and happily devoured anything that crossed their paths.
Arriving at a crossroads with three different paths, Bai Zemin did not even hesitate when he ordered in a deep voice: "Bing Xue, you go with Liang Jing and Cai Jingyi to the right side. Chen He, Sun Ling, and Wu Yijun, the three of you will lead another team on the left path. Except for Feng Tian Wu, Nangong Lingxin, Meng Qi, Little Snow, and Zeng Yun, the rest of you divide into two and follow the orders of the six people I named at the beginning."
Zeng Yun took a step forward and said in a clear voice, "Team Leader, only the five of us will be advancing together with you along the middle path?"
"That is correct." Bai Zemin said and asked, "Any problem?"
Zeng Yun chuckled and shook his head, "No, actually I"m eager to try."
Bai Zemin smiled slightly and said in a serious voice, "Everyone, we will meet in this place in thirty minutes. If something bad happens somewhere, any of you can launch a powerful attack against the wall to call for help and I will be there as soon as possible."
After making sure everyone understood his words, Bai Zemin took the three evolved women, the evolved man, and the white mutant dog down the middle path.
As they advanced down the middle path, Meng Qi looked over her shoulder and could not help but frown when she saw Feng Tian Wu following them from behind.
She approached Bai Zemin and whispered softly, "Big brother, why did you bring this woman? You could have chosen anyone else after all."
Bai Zemin was surprised for a moment before smiling bitterly in his heart. Although Meng Qi was speaking softly, the levels of Nangong Lingxin, Feng Tian Wu, and Zeng Yun were much higher than their current level 29 so they were naturally able to hear her words loud and clear.
In fact, looking over his shoulder for a moment, it was not hard for Bai Zemin to notice how Feng Tian Wu"s expression changed for a moment before she recovered her usual stoic expression.
On the other hand, Zeng Yun and Nangong Lingxin looked at Feng Tian Wu with surprise. The two of them could not help but wonder what kind of history there was between Bai Zemin and his sister with the beautiful and powerful fire mage of the Feng family since they apparently knew each other from before and the memories did not seem to be pleasant.
Bai Zemin continued to move forward, and as he looked straight ahead, he said in a clear voice for all to hear and understand his thoughts:
"Nangong Lingxin possesses defensive and offensive skills capable of blocking and returning enemy attacks of great power, Zeng Yun is a mage with outstanding crowd control skills, and lastly, the magic attack power and fire skills of Feng Tian Wu are excellent for taking out large numbers of enemies at the same time. That"s why I brought you all with me, since you all in your own way can play a great role without getting in my way."
Hearing his words, a flash of weird light shone in the eyes of Feng Tian Wu. At the same time, she could not help but feel more bitter than anything else after hearing Bai Zemin praise her openly and without any prejudice in his voice.
The more indifferent Bai Zemin acted as if he really had nothing against her and as if he did not know her at all, treating her as he treated any other soul evolver, the more Feng Tian Wu felt uncomfortable in her chest.
Be that as it may, Meng Qi also understood her big brother"s thoughts upon hearing his explanation. Meng Qi couldn"t help but blush a little as she realized that perhaps she was the only one who still kept the past present so she quickly decided to change the subject a little bit.
"Big brother, what about me then? You"ve said the good point of the three of them but not mine." Meng Qi puffed out her cheeks in an adorable pout and acting like a younger sister wanting to be pampered.
Bai Zemin didn"t know whether to laugh or cry seeing the usually mature Meng Qi acting like this. He ruffled her silky hair a bit and said with a faint smile, "If any magic circle appears, the only person I can trust is naturally you. This is a field where even I can"t step into."
"Hehe!" Meng Qi immediately felt a little pleased with herself and smiled happily as she nodded.
Woof!
"Mm?" Bai Zemin turned to his left and said in confusion, "Little Snow, what"s wrong?"
Woof!
Little Snow looked at him with her bright blue eyes wide open and even put out her tongue cheerfully as if she was waiting for something.
"Mm?" Bai Zemin looked at the big white dog in confusion.
"Pffft-" Nangong Lingxin could barely contain the urge to laugh and said in a choked voice, "Team Leader, you might want to praise your pet a little?"
Bai Zemin immediately realized what was going on after listening to Nangong Lingxin and seeing Little Snow"s bright eyes he couldn"t force a smile on his face.
"Of course, our Little Snow is very skillful at hunting those mutant ants, moving as fast as lightning. She"ll definitely be of great help since she"s about to evolve."
Woof! Woof!
The big white dog barked twice low enough not to alert anyone and her eyes shone brightly, clearly satisfied with what she was hearing.
This time, Nangong Lingxin really couldn"t hold back the urge to laugh and had to cover her mouth so as not to make too much noise. But she was not the only one as Zeng Yun and Meng Qi were the same and even Feng Tian Wu had a trace of an amused smile on her face.
Bai Zemin shook his head and continued to lead the small group.
On the way, they ran into more weaver ants compared to the past, in just five minutes and while occasionally exchanging a few words with each other they had already hunted down more than 300 weaver ants among which there were 5 soldiers.
It seemed that little by little they were approaching the core of the ant colony.