Chapter 15 - 15 Chapter 14 Section 2 Insect Control Skill_1 (2/2)

Qin Niu watched as Fourth expertly led the way, leaving scent trails for the Ant Queen and young worker ants to follow.

They arrived under a relatively large camphor tree.

The old nest was some distance away, not too far, just over fifty meters.

For Qin Niu, it was only a matter of a few steps.

An adult termite could crawl about six meters in a minute.

For over fifty meters, they would need more than ten minutes.

Fourth climbed to the base of the camphor tree and immediately started ascending.

About two meters up the trunk, there was a scar left by a broken-off branch.

Every winter, when heavy snow falls, some branches would break off because they couldn’t bear the weight.

Camphor trees are brittle, and this broken branch was quite large.

It must have been two or three years.

You could see a big scar where the surrounding bark had naturally healed over, forming a thick layer of bark.

But the center was hollow.

Fourth climbed to a spot and then scraped a few times to reveal a small hole.

Judging by how familiar it was with the process, it had obviously discovered this cave a long time ago.

And it had made some simple coverings at the entrance to prevent other insects from taking over first.

“Did you dig this?”

Qin Niu communicated with it.

“There was originally a bug hole!”

“Then I dug it out some more.”

What a sly creature, having multiple bolt-holes! It seems I don’t need to worry about their new nest, with this new residence, they will be able to settle down quickly.

First, Fourth made sure the Ant Queen was well settled.

Then it organized five young worker ants to relocate the eggs from the old nest.

Qin Niu felt that there was no need to keep that centipede around any longer. It had caused a great disaster this time and almost wiped out Qin Niu’s entire termite colony, so naturally, it could not be let off lightly.

Following the trail it left behind, he searched for it.

He quickly arrived at the rock.

You could still see the termite bodies it had bitten to pieces.

The bastard, it wouldn’t be fair not to kill it considering the heinous acts it has committed.

Insect Trace Identification skill proficiency +0.01.

Qin Niu’s proficiency in this Insect Control skill had improved a little bit more.

Using the medicinal hoe in his hand, he pried open a three-to-four-hand-sized irregular rock. It was that kind of very brittle shale.

Centipedes almost never dig burrows.

They prefer hiding in such dark and damp places, especially under rocks.

As soon as the rock was lifted, he saw a deep red centipede half a foot long. Its head was red, and its body was covered with a thick, dark red carapace.

Startled, it immediately tried to escape.

All wild animals have their own set of survival skills. They judge whether the enemy is much stronger than them.

If they are outmatched, or if it is likely to result in mutual destruction, they often choose to flee.

A centipede is ferocious in nature.

But it’s not stupid.

“You think you can run?”

A fierce killing intent flashed in Qin Niu’s eyes as the medicinal hoe pressed down on its body.

It immediately turned to bite.

Unfortunately, biting the hard medicinal hoe was utterly futile.

“Die!”

He killed the centipede on the spot.

Qin Niu checked and found two newly born centipedes hidden under the soil.

Their length was less than an inch.

They were agile and equally ferocious.

Without mercy, he must eradicate the roots along with the grass. He directly killed both centipedes.

Otherwise, once they grew a bit more and separated from the larger centipede, they would pose a huge threat to all insects and ants nearby.

“The books say that feeding bugs with exotic flowers, fruits, and Spirit Herbs can help strengthen them. Especially for Insect Masters who cultivate poisonous creatures; they prefer to feed their bugs various poisonous insects or toxic plants to enhance their toxicity.”

He wondered if termites could eat these three centipede corpses?

If he hadn’t understood the insect language before, even if Qin Niu had shoved the centipede corpses into the Ant Nest, the ants wouldn’t have eaten them.

But now it was different.

He could communicate with them, ordering them to consume the centipede corpses to achieve evolution.

At this moment, Fourth was still leading five Young Worker Ants, toiling away with moving their home.

For them, moving was not an easy task.

It was a massive project.

Given their current weak state, choosing to dig a nest on the trunk of that large camphor tree was a very wise decision.

The height alone was enough to keep them safe from many predators.

“Fourth, I’ve already killed them!”

Qin Niu saw it as the foreman, assigning it any tasks that needed doing.

The Ant Queen is not the queen or ruler as humans understand it, but rather the core of an ant colony. When she’s hungry, she emits hunger pheromones, and the Worker Ants will consciously feed her. Should danger arise, the entire colony will protect the Ant Queen and the Breeder Ants.

Because as long as they survive, the species has hope for continuity.

In reality, the Ant Queen is just an egg-laying machine.

There’s no single ruler in an ant colony; it is a highly conscious community with clearly defined roles.

Even the King Ant is not a ruler either.

His sole responsibility is to mate with the Ant Queen, and the lifespan of a King Ant is often very short.

As for Worker Ants and Soldier Ants, they each have their own roles too.

Whether the Ant Nest needs to be expanded, the food reserves are insufficient, the young ants are hungry, the Ant Queen is hungry… as soon as any Worker Ant discovers these issues, they will consciously address them.

Soldier Ants, likewise, will naturally guard the nest.

Upon encountering invaders, they bravely engage the enemy until they repel or kill them.

If you had to pick a leader for this ant group, it would be the Ant Queen and Fourth.

At least that’s what Qin Niu believed.

They both possessed high intelligence, and having them issue commands was most beneficial to the entire colony.

The wisdom of the Ant Queen, at present, focused mainly on which Ant Queens to breed, and managing the numbers accordingly.

Fourth, on the other hand, was responsible for nest building, expanding, foraging, enemy defense, and caring for the newly hatched ants, among other tasks.

When Qin Niu threw the centipede corpses into the tree hole, Fourth touched the centipede corpses with its remaining antennae.

“Happy!”

“Pleasure!”

Fourth sent signals to Qin Niu.

It felt extremely vindicated that their great enemy had been killed by their master.

“Drag them into the hole, eat them,” Qin Niu ordered it.

“Yes!”

“Need time!”

“It’s very hard!”

Fourth obeyed Qin Niu’s command but also had its own thoughts.