strictlysupreme Chapter 56: Invading Fire Ants?!
Chapter 56: Invading Fire Ants?!
The buzzing of wings echoed as Ye Zhi led the way with her slender body flapping her membranous wings. Beside her, the little brown bee-mantis warrior, who had just been named Huo Yun, followed at a distance, seemingly still somewhat fearful.
"I will tell my divinely given seed to stop rejecting your presence, and you can still hang on the lid of the insect trap to catch the attracted flying insects, just like before."
"It's a carnivorous plant that has risen to become a divine gift. It's a bit greedy, but it's actually very easy to talk to. As long as you throw the food you can't finish back into the trap and leave it something to eat, it won't reject you. It was because you ate too cleanly that it started to have murderous intent towards you."
"Don't worry, my ant colony can be controlled and won't attack you," Ye Zhi tried to comfort the little guy who was even smaller than him.
Whether it had an effect or for some other reason, Huo Yun vibrated her wings and moved slightly closer to Ye Zhi, emitting a somewhat aggrieved mental energy:
"I have been flying for many days and nights in a row. I have eaten very little during this time. I was so hungry that I was attracted by the scent of food from the Force. I found that it was the scent of your divine seed, Leaf-Woven Ant King, so I simply ate here to recover my strength."
"You've been flying for a long time?" Now it was Ye Zhi's turn to be surprised. "Yes, we don't have common brown mantises around here. Where did you come from?"
"Over there." Huo Yun pondered for a moment, then raised her catching foot and pointed in a direction. Ye Zhi's gaze followed the catching foot and saw that it was to the north.
"You came from the mountains?" To the north are mountains, the territory of the mountain ant kingdom. The "Brown Ant King," who once intervened in the war between the tree ant kingdom and the fierce ant kingdom, is an affiliated force of the mountain ant kingdom.
"No, it's beyond the towering mountains... that swamp." Huo Yun pondered, her mental fluctuations still carrying a hint of fear. "There, ants fight, there are flying abilities everywhere, and burning flames..."
"On the other side of the mountains, the Twisted Swamp, the brutal Fire Ant Kingdom?" Ye Zhi was startled, thinking of what Hong Yuan had told him before about the forces near the Tree Ant Kingdom. Among them, to the north of the Mountain Ant Kingdom was a large, wet swamp known as the Twisted Swamp.
"Brutal Fire Ants? Yes... they're in my inherited memories." Huo Yun tapped her antennae. "But I don't recognize the ones that fight the Brutal Fire Ants; they're not in my inherited memories."
"Do you remember what it looks like?" Ye Zhi instinctively sensed something was wrong and looked at Huo Yun, the little brown bee mantis warrior beside her.
"It's somewhat like a ferocious fire ant, but not quite... and also somewhat similar to a black fire ant, with a large red spot on the front of its abdomen." Fire Cloud's antennae retracted slightly, as if somewhat fearful. "The end of its abdomen is black, and in front of the red spot is a smooth, deep red, just like... a living flame."
"!!" Upon hearing Huo Yun's description, Ye Zhi was suddenly startled.
The last memories of my past life flooded my mind: the flat, green lawn, a scene that should have been beautiful, was now marred by countless mounds of brownish-red soil, resembling ugly sores on the once-flat grass.
Beneath the honeycomb-like structure on the surface of the mound, which could be terrifying to those with trypophobia, lies a striking crimson, glossy exoskeleton, with a crimson head and thoracic segment, and a black abdomen with a bright orange-red spot, resembling a leaping flame.
That was an invincible fire that had burned across several continents, a notorious world-class invasive species, a demon with deadly alkaloids and neurotoxins, the invading red fire ants, and also his funeral procession in his previous life when he was still a human, Ye Zhi.
The excruciating pain, like being burned by flames, and the agony of anaphylactic shock lingered in his mind, impossible to forget. At this moment, the figure Huo Yun described gradually overlapped with the last glimpse he had of her in his previous life.
"Leaf-Woven Ant King, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine, please continue. Are you sure there are only two types of fire ants at the scene?" Ye Zhi asked slowly, trying to calm herself down.
"I couldn't see clearly. The ground was covered with flames caused by my abilities. The light-colored, brutal fire ants and the dark-colored fire ants were attacking each other like madmen. I kept running and running, flying for three days and nights before I finally escaped the swamp and reached the mountains."
"But the scent of those worker ants... the Leafweave Ant Queen, their scent is even stronger than that of the Cinnabar Ant Queen's worker ants."
The worm king is a first-instar lord, which means that this ant king, which is suspected to belong to the invading red imported fire ant tribe, is at least a lord-level ant, and may even be a king-level ant.
Judging from Huo Yun's description, the brutal fire ant kingdom may have broken out in battle with the ant tribe that is suspected of invading the red fire ants. Considering the kinship between the two sides, it may be a civil war within the kingdom.
Ye Zhi suddenly felt a sense of inexplicable fear. If the invading fire ants defeated the brutal fire ants, would this uncontrolled expansion of the prairie fire then spread its devastation further south, to the mountain ant kingdom, or even... the tree ant kingdom?
Thinking it over, the towering mountains to the north of the tree ant kingdom blocked the army's way south, while the mountain ant kingdom, which inhabited the mountains, had the king-level Sorrowful Archback Ant King in charge. If the invading fire ants wanted to advance further south, they would have to first conquer the mountain ant kingdom, this natural barrier.
Ye Zhi's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, eased a little. She turned to Huo Yun and said, "Yes, the information you provided is very important. If no one of your kind on the Cloud Continent is willing to take you in, I will ensure your safety in the Tree Ant Kingdom."
Huo Yun flicked its antennae, seemingly lessened by the conversation, and moved closer to Ye Zhi.
Ye Zhi didn't pay attention and just kept flying forward. The mound planted by the "Chimera" had already appeared in front of her, and a wave of doubt had already come from the mental connection.
"Ye Zhi, you're finally back! Where's that little thing that stole my prey? Oh, it's back too? Ye Zhi, kill it for me!"
Although she couldn't directly hear the divine seed's telepathic message to Ye Zhi, Huo Yun clearly sensed that the primal force fluctuations emitted by the "Chimera" carried a trace of killing intent, and immediately flapped her wings to distance herself from Ye Zhi.
"We can't kill it." Ye Zhi shook her antennae. "The Black Ant King wants to trade it for the Primal Stone. With the Primal Stone, the Black Ant King can become stronger and bring you back more food."
"If we don't kill them, we'll eat even more? Then we won't kill them." The emotions transmitted by "Chimera" instantly reversed. "Should we raise them and fatten them up before exchanging them for Primal Stones? Ye Zhi, tell him that he can continue to stay on my Bug Cage."
"Don't worry, I make it hunt and always leave some in your insect cage."
Ye Zhi transmitted her mental energy, then turned around and waved her tentacles, calling out, "Huo Yun, you can continue to stay on the insect trap of the God-given Seed. It has allowed you to share some of the prey."