Luo Wen harbored a vivid impression of the desert ants. Their hook-shaped mandibles, spring-like leaps, and their feces-spraying attacks had left a mark on his memory. Even now, he occasionally recalled those encounters, each time grinding his teeth in frustration, bitter over the storm that had swept him away, leaving him stranded in an unknown place. Would he ever return to exact vengeance for the gut-wrenching ordeal?
Fate, however, worked in strange ways. To his surprise, he encountered the kin of those ants here in this foreign land, presenting him with a chance to collect some interest in advance.
Luo Wen was no longer the weak creature of the past. His body had grown significantly larger, and his armor was much tougher. He decided to use these culprits’ kin as practice dummies for the Luo-style insect combat technique, giving them a firsthand lesson.
These Yellow Earth Ants were about the same size as he had been back when he was just the size of a fingernail. Now, however, his body had grown to resemble a small egg.
He quickly charged at the nearest Yellow Earth Ant. On the way, he counted their numbers—seven in total—currently arranged in a tight formation as they cautiously advanced toward him.
Without hesitation, he launched into the opening move of the Luo-style insect combat technique.
As his massive burrowing limb smashed down on the lead ant, its comically small, round eyes, perched on its equally laughable head, froze in shock. Combined with its long, eyebrow-like antennae, the sight was absurdly amusing.
But Luo Wen showed no mercy for its dazed expression. His burrowing limb struck true, and he immediately followed up with a second move. His mandibles, though relatively small compared to his body, were colossal when measured against the Yellow Earth Ants. They resembled two enormous guillotine blades.
Against an opponent of similar size, the second move aimed to sever their legs, crippling their mobility before slowly wearing them down. But against these much smaller foes, such elaborate techniques were unnecessary. Luo Wen’s mandibles clamped down directly on the first ant’s thorax, and with a slight exertion of force, the stunned Yellow Earth Ant was torn into two.
Luo Wen was unperturbed by this familiar move. He merely used his massive burrowing limbs to shield his eyes, allowing the ants’ acid-laced secretion to hit his armor. Wisps of white smoke rose where the fluid landed.
Since the last time he had encountered such an attack, Luo Wen’s acid resistance had significantly improved. The secretion that once posed a lethal threat now merely fizzled harmlessly on his armor.
As the smoke cleared, his smooth, polished armor gleamed brightly, unscathed and even shinier than before.
In a blur of motion, another Yellow Earth Ant was bitten in two. The final two ants, realizing their ranged attack was ineffective, leapt forward in a desperate bid to use their hook-shaped mandibles to latch onto him.
To be fair, these hook-like mandibles were highly effective against foes of a similar size, preventing their prey from escaping. Back then, these mandibles had caused Luo Wen no end of trouble, forcing him to abandon three segments of his abdomen to barely escape with his life.
But now, facing a foe several times their size—especially one like Luo Wen, with his smooth, chitinous armor—they couldn’t find any purchase, let alone immobilize him.
With a mighty swing, Luo Wen’s burrowing limb smashed down, crushing the comically round head of one ant. Fluids splattered everywhere.
He wiped the disgusting mess off his burrowing limb on the ground. Then, with a sharp twist of his head, he clamped down on the last Yellow Earth Ant, finishing it off with a crunch.
Luo Wen reflected with a sense of accomplishment. Despite spending much of his time digging, he was now far stronger than when he was newly hatched. Back then, he had fled on sight from Yellow Earth Ants, barely escaping death. Now, seven of them couldn’t last two moves against him.
He tidied up the battlefield, devouring all seven Yellow Earth Ants. Their genetic material had long been on his wish list. However, his current interest lay solely in their spring-like leaping ability.
As his body grew larger, his agility had inevitably suffered. The spring-like leap could make him more nimble in close combat.
As for their hook-like mandibles and feces-spraying attack, the former was too limiting. If he had rejected the Giant Mandible Soldier Ant’s formidable jaws, these hooks were even less appealing. The latter, though technically an acid mixture, was also of little use. After shedding most of his ant genes with the Brood Nest, he barely had any residual acid left, which was now mixed into his saliva. He couldn’t spare any to spray, making the ability redundant.
However, these Yellow Earth Ants could be valuable for breeding. Their combat strength far surpassed that of Black Ants. Even without incorporating other genetic materials, simply hatching larvae based on the Yellow Earth Ant template could boost the hive’s combat strength significantly.
But where had these creatures come from? This place was quite far from the desert, and for ants, even two or three hundred meters was a vast distance.
Could there be a Yellow Earth Ant colony nearby?
Glancing at the sky, Luo Wen decided to investigate the direction the ants had come from starting tomorrow.
These aggressive ants posed no threat to him, but if they continued to encroach, they could endanger the hive and the three ant nests.
Feeling content with his current life and hopeful for the future, Luo Wen wasn’t about to let these intruders ruin it.
He grabbed a tender branch, sipped some sap, and brought a piece back for Big Black. Although the hive’s current defenses rendered Big Black largely redundant, it had been a laborious task for the Brood Nest to hatch it back then. Luo Wen thought of it as keeping a pet dog.
Back at the hive, Luo Wen checked on the transport and digging teams, ensuring they had all returned. After an earlier incident when a transport team went missing and wasn’t discovered until the next day, Luo Wen had developed a habit of taking stock of the hive’s population each night.
Of course, the count was only approximate, as the bugs didn’t line up for inspection but rather scurried about chaotically. Luo Wen was also somewhat face-blind when it came to insects, making an exact count impossible.
Still, he could easily spot the loss of dozens. A few missing, however, would likely go unnoticed.
Finding nothing amiss, Luo Wen settled into sleep.
He was soon jolted awake by a cacophony of vibrations from the surface, triggering a deep sense of danger. This scenario felt eerily familiar. The last time he had been awakened by such vibrations, a sandstorm had swept through, accompanied by an ominous sense of peril.
But now, far from the desert, a sandstorm seemed unlikely. Yet the vibrations this time carried an even graver threat.