Chapter 70 - Chapter 70: Chapter 65: A New Experiment i (1/2)

Chapter 70: Chapter 65: A New Experiment i

Translator: 549690339

It was surprising that Fourth quickly made arrangements after returning to the nest.

He left behind a Grade Two Lightning Worker Ant to lead six Soldier Ants in defense at the entrance of the nest.

He then led two Grade Two Lightning Worker Ants, six Swift Ants, and eleven Soldier Ants quickly to the battlefield.

One would have thought he would bring this powerful reinforcement troop to help the Grade Two Tiger-striped Soldier Ants attack those black stench ants.

He did not do so.

Instead, he maneuvered to about five or six meters away from the battleground and forcefully cut off the reinforcement path of the black stench ants. They split into two groups.

Fourth led six Swift Ants and one Grade Two Lightning Worker Ant to intercept the incessantly arriving reinforcements of the black stench ants.

The remaining Grade Two Lightning Worker Ant led eleven ordinary Soldier Ants to chase and kill the those black stench ants whose retreat had been cut off.

This was a bloody battle.

Ordinary Soldier Ants required five or six to deal with one ordinary black stench ant.

If it were a stench ant soldier, then the Grade Two Lightning Worker Ant would have to take action personally. Three ordinary Soldier Ants fought with a stench ant soldier — it was supposed to be a siege, but an opponent managed to bite off a leg with a single bite.

If it had been a one-on-one fight, that Termite Soldier Ant would probably have already fallen.

Qin Niu watched quietly.

Just taking Fourth out for a day led to such an incident, which further highlighted how important it was for an ant colony to have a Worker Ant with intelligence.

Those who seek war shall perish.

The two Grade Two Tiger-striped Soldier Ants were indeed powerful, capable of instantly killing the soldier ants among the black stench ants.

But they would eventually exhaust their strength.

The number of the black stench ant colony was as high as tens of thousands, fully capable of using a war of attrition to overwhelm them.

Fourth’s handling of an accidentally invading black stench ant was excellent.

He cut off the enemy’s retreat, eradicated them, and allowed them no chance to signal for help.

At this moment, the great war continued.

Fourth appeared very cautious and rational. He did not charge into the frontlines, but had the Grade Two Lightning Worker Ant block in front, and the six Swift Ants assist from behind.

He dealt with some that slipped through the net.

It was evident that his combat ability was roughly equivalent to the Swift Ants. His biting force fell short compared to the Swift Ants.

But his upper jaws had stronger cutting capabilities.

After all, he had integrated some traits of Soldier Ants.

About a quarter of an hour later, the black stench ants whose retreat had been cut off and who had lost their reinforcements were virtually wiped out.

Fourth commanded the two Grade Two Tiger-striped Soldier Ants and ordinary Soldier Ants to return to the nest.

He himself led the six Swift Ants to retreat.

He only left behind two Grade Two Lightning Worker Ants to continue intercepting the black stench ants.

Soon after, the two Grade Two Lightning Worker Ants also swiftly retreated.

Their speed was very fast, simply unattainable for the black stench ants.

In the blink of an eye, they had retreated back into the nest.

The two sides had disengaged from contact.

The black stench ants, having lost their target, appeared quite agitated as they searched for the enemy everywhere.

But the clever Fourth had already ordered a withdrawal and was not conduction a fight to the death with them.

In the end, the black stench ants carried away the bodies of their companions piece by piece.

Many people think ants like to eat the bodies of their kind, or that they carry the bodies of their companions back as a special ritual of corpse collection, both of which are ludicrous notions.

Ants carry the bodies of their companions because, even in death, their bodies still emit the scent of food pheromones.

That’s why they treat the bodies of their companions as ‘food* and bring them back to the nest.

But after being carried back, those food-signifying pheromones fade considerably after the commotion of the journey, and the pheromones of their own kind on the bodies become more prominent.

They will realize these are the bodies of their own kind and will not eat them.

Instead, they are transported to a special chamber designated for storing the bodies of their kind.

So, by a series of mishaps, they end up ‘collecting’ the corpses of their companions.

Seeing that the battle had ended, Qin Niu called forth a regular Worker Ant and a regular Soldier Ant and fed each of them a bit of the pale-green tree blood collected from the small tree covered with countless gray-white eyes.

He wanted to see what kind of changes this tree blood would bring to the Termites.

Having previous experience with feeding Ancient Banyan Tree Blood, he chose a conservative safe dosage when it came to the amount.