Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 280 Ants Moving Mountains
Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei retreated repeatedly, and both saw the despair in the eyes of the two Type A new humans as they were engulfed by the massive black flying ant swarm.

The flying ants, like a tidal wave, surrounded the three people, surging and wriggling, making it unsettling to watch.

In the blink of an eye, the three once-proud new humans were reduced to nothing, not even bones.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei had already retreated far away.

Whether the flying ants were too far away to spot Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, or they were already full and no longer paid attention to the two remaining people, they remained hovering in place and did not fly towards them again.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei breathed a sigh of relief and stopped simultaneously.

"This is terrifying... We've fallen in there, I wonder if we can hold out?"

Lu Xi'an looked on, still shaken, and said.

Yao Wei said, "Don't take any risks."

"I'm not going to risk my life."

Lu Xi'an said, "Look at those few, their bodies are completely gone, not even a hair is left. They're not even as good as that woman."

"At least that woman still had her body, so we buried her."

"Ah."

Yao Wei thought it made sense.

If one day she were to die, she wouldn't want to die like this.

Only then did Yao Wei suddenly understand why that woman had asked her to bury her.

If they weren't buried, their eventual fate would probably be similar to these people...

Hmm...it's not even as good...

Yao Wei had seen all sorts of dead people before.

She said, "I'll go get the gun." With that, she turned and headed toward the small mound where she had previously been lying in ambush.

Yao Wei returned shortly afterward, carrying a sniper rifle in one hand and the dog in the other.

The drone flew overhead, controlled by the dog.

The drone, which had been prepared in advance, ultimately proved useless.

But no matter what, they won in the end and survived, and that's enough.

"Give me the sniper rifle."

After Lu Xi'an gave a signal, Yao Wei handed the sniper rifle to him.

Lu Xi'an raised his hand and held up his gun, looking through the scope. In the magnified view through the scope, there were countless black ants, crowding and piling up around one spot.

You need a magnifying glass to see it; it looks like there's a fuzzy texture moving inside.

However, a moment later, the downy hairs were covered by countless ants.

The ants hovered and piled up, growing bigger and higher until they formed a small mountain.

"That place, isn't it where their leader, Xuan Xiaocao, just died?"

Lu Xian asked.

"Yes."

Yao Wei replied.

Lu Xi'an said, "The queen ant should still be there, and that piece of fungal stone belonging to this group should also be there. The way they are acting now makes it seem like they are protecting the queen ant."

Yao Wei guessed: "Or perhaps... they were keeping warm together by using fungal stones?"

Lu Xi'an nodded and said, "That makes sense."

The cold wind was still howling, and in some places, icicles had already formed.

Lu Xi'an saw that many of the ants that were flying had fallen to the ground, stiff and dead. Judging from their appearance, they had most likely frozen to death.

These ants don't seem to be having a good time in this kind of weather either.

However, after the ants flew over and merged into the "ant mountain," the situation improved considerably.

I don't know if it's the effect of the fungal stones, or if they can keep warm by gathering together like this.

The answer to this question was quickly found.

The ant colony, which had swarmed into a small hill, suddenly began to wriggle violently, as if some internal tremor had erupted. As it moved, the edges bulged, expanded, and then opened up.

Something rolled out, like something excreted from a mountain of ants. It rolled to the side.

Then, not a single ant paid any attention.

The fuzzy spheres and the anthills were clearly separated, with neither disturbing the other.

The fungal stone was so easily discarded by the ants.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei exchanged a glance. Lu Xi'an said, "It seems they don't use fungal stones; they rely entirely on huddling together for warmth."

"Ah."

Yao Wei nodded.

Lu Xi'an picked up a stone from the ground, estimated the force, and threw it in the direction of the fungal stone.

He used just the right amount of force; too little and he might miss the fungus stone, too much and he didn't know if he would break it.

However, based on his extensive experience with fungal stones, he knows they are not so easily damaged.

So at just the right moment, the small stone hit the mushroom stone, causing it to bounce up and roll forward a distance.

The sudden commotion startled the flying ant colony. Many ants took flight with a buzzing sound, circled for a while, and, finding no danger, returned to the ant hill.

As a result, many more ants froze to the ground and died.

Lu Xi'an certainly wouldn't mourn the dead ants, and Yao Wei even asked, "Can these ants be stir-fried and eaten like river shrimp?"

"..."

Lu Xi'an was silent for a moment, then said, "I don't know, we'll have to see the dog."

Yao Wei then showed it to the dog, whose eyes lit up after seeing it, indicating that it could eat it.

Lu Xi'an: "..." There were enough supplies in the car, and he really didn't want to eat this.

He glanced at the fungal stone, then at the ant colony that was gradually calming down, and said, "The fungal stone is still a bit too close to the ant colony. If we go over there, it will definitely cause a reaction from the ant colony."

"I'll keep flicking the mushroom stones here, to flick them further away. You take the dog and bring the car over."

"Ah."

Yao Wei nodded and said, "Be careful."

"I know."

Lu Xi'an agreed, then picked up another stone and threw it towards the mushroom stone.

Yao Wei picked up the dog and turned to leave.

"puff--"

The stone hit the fungal rock, and the fungal rock rolled a distance before stopping.

And the ants on that anthill, inevitably, took flight, only to freeze to death in a number of them.

"Amitabha, sin, sin, sin."

Lu Xi'an mumbled a Buddhist chant, but what he really wanted was for as many ants as possible to die.

It would be best if they all died, then I would be free from trouble and safe.

However, the number of ants was so large that the number of those who froze to death was insignificant compared to the overall colony.

Lu Xi'an could only remain patient, continuing to pick up stones and throw them at the fungus stones, sending them bouncing even further away.

"Om-"

Many more ants from the colony took flight.

This time, the ant colony seemed to be getting impatient with Lu Xi'an's repeated harassment. They flew for half a day without returning and even expanded their flight range.

Lu Xi'an could only see a dark mass flying around, sometimes to the east, sometimes to the west, sometimes up, sometimes down, for a long time, as if searching for his whereabouts.

During this time, many more flying ants froze to death, falling in droves. But the flying ants ignored them and continued their search.

He had no choice but to remain still and observe for a while. Only after the remaining flying ants had fallen back into the anthill did he throw stones again.

This time, the flying ants flew for quite a while, but after flying back, the ant colony did not stop moving, and the entire ant mountain was mobilized.

Lu Xi'an saw that the ants in the group were all moving, to the point that the entire ant mountain was moving, and it even began to move in the shape of a mountain.

From a distance, it looks as if the entire mountain is covered with slender legs, supporting the dark, slender hills as they move westward.

Lu Xi'an was dumbfounded.

Are these ants getting impatient with being bothered and wanting to move away?!

But this is good too; like ants moving house, it saves them the trouble.

Moreover, I've never seen such a spectacular scene before.

Lu Xi'an watched quietly until the ants finished moving their nest.

These ants seemed truly fed up with being disturbed and insisted on going to a very far place. Lu Xi'an watched for a while, and the ant mountain had already been driven quite far, but it still showed no sign of stopping.

Even Yao Wei returned in her RV, and the ant hill was still moving.

Fearing the ants might move, Yao Wei parked the car a little further away before getting out and walking to Lu Xi'an's side.

She widened her eyes slightly in surprise when she saw the anthill move.

Lu Xi'an said, "They couldn't stand being harassed by me, so they moved away."

"But this is just right. Once they've finished moving them, we can go get the fungus stones. There shouldn't be any problems then."

Yao Wei nodded and said, "Yeah."

The two sat down together to watch the ants carrying the mountain.

Fortunately, by this time the ant colony had moved the ant mountain quite a distance and seemed to think it was enough, so they finally stopped.

However, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei did not act rashly.

Lu Xi'an picked up a stone and threw it again, partly to bounce the fungal stone further away for safety, and partly to test the distance after the stone flew over to see if the ants would still react.

They can only feel at ease if there is no reaction.

The results are gratifying.

The stone hit the fungal rock, and the fungal rock rolled even further.

The ant hill had settled down and remained motionless in the distance, as if it had truly become a small, dark mountain.

"Okay, you can go now."

As Lu Xi'an spoke, he went to the car and brought over the dog and the drone. He instructed the mechanical dog, "Dog, I'm going over there. If things don't look good and the ants start flying up and attacking us, immediately have the drone take off and use the laser to sweep them away."

Lasers should be more effective against those ants, right?

The dog wasn't in the car and didn't say anything, but its eyes lit up briefly, indicating it understood.

Lu Xi'an put down the dog and the drone and was about to leave when Yao Wei insisted on going instead.

This time, Lu Xi'an was adamant, and Yao Wei couldn't persuade him otherwise, so she had to let Lu Xi'an go instead.

She stayed with the dog and the drone, holding the drone in her hand, planning that if things got complicated, she could just carry the drone and charge over, letting the dog control it to fire.

She was nervous and stared intently at the camera, reminding Lu Xi'an, "Take a longer route."

Lu Xi'an turned back and smiled at her, saying, "Okay, I know." Then he actually listened to Yao Wei's words, walked around in a semicircle, far away from the ant mountain, and then walked to the mushroom stone and picked it up.

Yao Wei finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the ant colony remained unresponsive.

Lu Xi'an returned with the fungal stones and said with a smile, "Alright, mission accomplished. Now we have three fungal stones. If anyone uses a resonance gene scanner to examine us again and sees five red dots, they'll have to think twice before coming after us."

"Ah."

Yao Wei responded, but unexpectedly Lu Xi'an suddenly asked, "What did you say we were going to do after we finished fighting?"

(End of this chapter)