Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 285 Taming the Ants
However, Liu Hua and Tang Er did not squat down. When they arrived, Lu Xi'an saw that they were sitting on the two cloth bags at the back.

This is the food they brought on their journey, all packed in bags. Some of it can be eaten directly, while others can be grilled over a fire.

Two bags sandwiched a bucket, which contained water, about half of which had been used.

After stopping the car, Chai Xin hurriedly jumped out and shouted happily, "Big brother and big sister!" He jumped right in front of Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

When Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei looked at Chai Xin again, the girl seemed to have really reached the age of growing taller. She had grown quite a bit taller, and her face was indeed fairer and smoother, giving people a feeling of being reunited after a long separation.

"long time no see!"

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei both laughed.

Of the four great joys in life, meeting an old friend in a foreign land is one. Now, in this place, to meet a good friend from elsewhere truly brings me joy.

Luo Ping jumped out of the car and said, "Big brother and sister, it's been a long time. I didn't bring you any food this time, so I brought some eggs. Please don't mind them."

After he finished speaking, the back door opened, and Tang Er took out a large basket of eggs, which were all placed on the kind of racks that the old tree had woven before, so there was no need to worry about them breaking.

Lu Xi'an was slightly surprised: "So many?!"

Luo Ping chuckled and said, "Yes, Old Tree is quite something. One of our people went out and picked up some earthworms by the river to feed the chickens. He saw them and took the earthworms."

"He came up with a plan, leading us to dig an open-air toilet, where we composted and raised earthworms. We fed the chickens with the earthworms, and Liu Hua gave the chickens energy every day, saying it would soothe their emotions, lift their spirits, and help them grow better."

"You know what, Old Tree's method really works. The chickens in our area are growing really well now, laying lots of chicks and eggs."

"The key is that we still have earthworms, so we don't have to worry about feeding the chickens."

"And if there are more chickens, we'll have meat to eat!"

"When there were too many chickens, we killed and ate the fake roosters in the coop. They were so big, one was enough for us to eat."

"As soon as the male is taken away, a new fake rooster will appear. These things are really good, lots of eggs, lots of meat, and they're easy to raise! We're even planning to give a brood of chickens to the county seat of Shanyang to raise separately."

"We did a deal with Lao Tang's side. We also used fake roosters, and we also got several horses."

"We no longer need to pay for driving or walk between Shanyang County and the base; we travel by horse."

So, at the 923 Institute base, not only is there freedom to eat eggs, but also freedom to eat meat, and even a dedicated shuttle bus service is available.

Lu Xi'an couldn't help but exclaim, "Amazing! Old Tree alone played a bigger role than all of us combined!"

Chai Xin jumped off the car and nodded repeatedly when he heard Lu Xi'an say this, saying, "Yes, yes! Grandpa Tree is amazing! Grandpa Tree even gives us lessons and teaches us to read!"

Lu Xi'an was slightly surprised: "He can actually do this?"

Luo Ping said, "We need someone to teach us, right? We finally have so many books, we have to start learning them."

“At first, I taught him everything. Later, Lao Shu listened to me and slowly recalled many of the characters he knew. So he learned and taught at the same time, and taught me together.”

"To be honest, I was actually learning and teaching at the same time, letting the artificial intelligence on the screen teach us."

"Thanks to that, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to learn it. And thanks to you guys, big brother and sister, without you getting those books, we wouldn't have gained so much knowledge! They're really great stuff!"

Lu Xi'an said, "It's good that it's useful. You can digest it slowly. Everyone can grasp some knowledge and use it in their future lives and development."

"Let's look at this first."

As he spoke, he pointed out the ant hill in the distance to Luo Ping and the others.

As the severe cold passed and the ice and snow melted, the ants in the anthill began to stir again. In the past few days, many cracked hard shells had appeared on the ground, which had peeled off from the surface of the anthill after the ice and snow melted.

After the shells made of ant corpses peel off, new ant corpses fill the gaps.

However, the newly blocked areas retain some activity, and the black balls formed by ants emerge from these areas, roll down from the anthill, and go in search of food.

Looking over, everyone could see ant balls rolling down and ant balls rolling up, laden with their catch.

These flying ants seem to have developed this habit: even when the weather is not so cold, they still gather into ant balls when they go out to find and carry food.

They scatter and fly, covering the sky, so they probably only appear when they are about to launch an attack.

Lu Xi'an explained the situation, characteristics, and past achievements of these ants to Luo Ping and the others, who listened with wide eyes.

After Lu Xi'an finished speaking, Luo Ping couldn't help but exclaim, "Good heavens! These ants are so fierce?! They actually managed to eat the Type A ants controlled by the Type C new humans alive! That's terrifying!"

Tang Er said, "If we encounter these things and a conflict breaks out, wouldn't we be doomed? I'm not even a Type A New Human yet..."

Lu Xi'an said with a smile, "Tang Er, don't underestimate yourself. Your breathing and every movement are much better than before."

Tang Er said, "This is all thanks to my daily practice according to that booklet."

"Then keep exercising."

Lu Xi'an said, "That booklet is very powerful; we've verified it. We don't have Type C, yet we can fight on par with Type A under Type C's control. Looking at you now, if you practice more, you might be able to catch up with Type A."

"And with Liu Hua's support, surpassing the average type A is no problem."

This was all the truth, not a single word of falsehood. They had indeed seen extraordinary progress in Tang Er. Afterwards, if they gave them the fungal stones and let them practice, the difference between Tang Er, this half-Type A New Human, and a regular Type A New Human wouldn't be so significant. Tang Er quickly thanked them, saying he would work hard.

Afterwards, Lu Xi'an asked Liu Hua to try to control the swarm of ants, but this was not an easy task.

To control this swarm of ants, you must control the queen ant. But there are too many ants, and the queen ant is hidden deep among them. How can you easily find her?

Liu Hua tried several times, but all attempts ended in failure.

Left with no other option, Lu Xi'an had to bring out the dog to perform the scan. The dog provided the definitive selection through the RV's audio system:

"The queen ant is located in the very center and bottom layer of the colony. She is much larger than the worker ants, and her size and length can occupy half of the bottom layer structure."

Everyone was surprised: "It's that big?"

Luo Ping exclaimed without even trying, "Wow, it's so big! No wonder it needs so many male ants to serve it!"

Lu Xi'an said speechlessly, "The worker ants that the dog was talking about are the 'workers' ants, not the 'male' ants! Get that straight."

Luo Ping replied, "Pretty much, pretty much. Worker ants can become male ants too! Aren't humans the same? I understand! I understand!"

Lu Xian: "..."

You know a hammer!
However, he was too lazy to explain. Seeing that Liu Hua was focused on looking at the ant mountain, he didn't say anything so as not to disturb her.

Then, the ant mountain suddenly began to wriggle, just as Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei had seen before, and moved towards the car that Luo Ping and the others had driven.

Upon reaching the car, countless ants flew out from the anthill, turning it into a black, empty shell.

Liu Hua stepped forward and lifted the anthill shell. Inside the empty shell, a huge, motionless worm came into view.

"Is this the queen ant?"

Lu Xi'an asked, "With such a large queen ant, where did Xuan Xiaocao hide before?"

Liu Hua said, "After I controlled the queen ant, I felt that I understood something—this queen ant was already dead. It had grown too big during this time and could no longer move."

"So it gave birth to a new queen ant, right under its body. The new queen ant is also under my control."

As she spoke, she removed the dead, large "worm," revealing a tiny larva underneath, only about the length of an index finger—much smaller and easier to carry.

Liu Hua picked up the queen ant larva and put it in her pocket.

"Okay?"

Luo Ping asked.

"Yes, that will do."

Liu Hua said something, then added, "Can we temporarily place the other ants on the roof of the car?"

Luo Ping said, "No problem, you can decide on the ants."

"Ah."

As Liu Hua spoke, she tried to move the empty shells of the ant hill onto the roof of the car. However, she wasn't strong enough, so she had to ask Tang Er for help.

After Tang Er carried the anthill shell up, all the ants flying around crawled inside.

When Lu Xi'an looked again, he saw that the lower part of the anthill had been covered with something secreted by the ants, which was firmly stuck to the roof of the car.

"That's incredible!"

Lu Xi'an couldn't help but admire it. As he spoke, he took out the fungal stone he had obtained from Xuan Xiaocao and handed it to Luo Ping, saying, "And this is for you. This was obtained from Xuan Xiaocao."

"With this, you can increase your abilities. With the help of the booklet, becoming stronger will be no problem."

After saying that, he took out Chai Xin's piece and stuffed it directly into Chai Xin's hand, saying, "And this one, Chai Xin. This one is the most effective for type D. Take it and practice hard."

Chai Xin asked, "And what about you?"

Lu Xi'an laughed and said, "Don't worry about us, we have another one, which we got from the sea before. Oh, by the way, soak the fungal stone in water for a day and it will be ready to use to heal injuries. But only New Humans can use it, ordinary people can't."

"I know, it's the same as fungal stones!"

As Luo Ping spoke, he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "Big brother and sister, you guys are really amazing! You managed to collect so many good things along the way!"

"I've gone out so many times, but I haven't gained as much as you have in just one trip."

Compared to you guys, all those miles I walked before were completely wasted!

Lu Xi'an said, "How could it be a wasted trip? A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step... Well, you probably don't understand this saying, but anyway, you can temper your mind and refine yourself along the way."

"Furthermore, if we hadn't traveled so far, how would we have had the chance to meet? And where would we be today?"

Luo Ping was slightly taken aback, then grinned and said, "That's right! Big brother, you're right. You're really amazing!"

(End of this chapter)