Chapter 9 - 9 Chapter 9 Advanced Combat Skills, Playing Dead to Preserve Life_1 (2/2)

If the young ants were malnourished or there was insufficient food, they might starve to death or suffer from poor development.

With the larvae undergoing their final molt and metamorphosis, their bodies gradually matured and developed.

At this point, they become adult ants.

They already possessed the ability to forage or defend the Ant Queen and the nest.

Currently, all five larvae had molted multiple times and reached the final stage, indicating that the Ant Queen had taken very good care of her five children.

After watching for a while, Qin Niu began to collect humus from around.

The entire mountain range was like an inexhaustible treasury filled with extremely rich resources.

However, to obtain these resources, one must have sufficient professional skills.

For instance, collecting humus for fertilizer.

If the fertilization skills are weak and one haphazardly collects the top layer of humus, the fertility effect will be very poor.

With Qin Niu’s intermediate-level farmer fertilization skills, understanding how to select the right kind of fertilizer needed for the next growth period of the corn, he could achieve a very good effect.

At least, judging from the growth of the corn seedlings in his acre of land, his water and fertilizer management was excellent.

After collecting a basketful of humus, he prepared to carry it back to the field first.

Later, he would come back to chop a few loads of firewood.

It was a good opportunity to practice the Slash Martial Skill while chopping wood.

In this dog-eat-dog world, having a powerful martial skill was akin to having a gun in the modern civilized world.

Meeting unreasonable bullies and robbers, one could use martial skills to teach them a lesson at any time.

Before leaving, he felt somewhat uneasy about the Ant Queen and decided to check on her again.

Now, at this crucial final moment, there was nothing he could do to help. Only when the five larvae metamorphosed into adult ants could they go out to find food to feed the Ant Queen.

Approaching the nest, he peered inside from the small hole.

Qin Niu immediately panicked.

The Ant Queen lay motionless on the ground, her six legs slightly gathered, her body slightly contracted.

This was clearly a posture of death.

“It’s over, it’s over, I didn’t expect it to still not make it to the last moment!”

Qin Niu slumped to the ground, feeling powerless.

All the efforts and hopes of nearly a month dissipated in this moment.

He was unwilling to accept it, yet he had to face this reality.

Why was it so difficult for a female Breeder Ant to become an Ant Queen and successfully establish a Termite Kingdom?

“No, that’s not right, if a contracted pet dies, I would feel a stabbing pain in my head, but I didn’t feel it this time.”

Qin Niu had a sudden realization, suddenly aware that the Ant Queen might not be dead.

This Ant Queen was different from others; it had a fake death skill.

Could it be feigning death right now?

He immediately checked the properties and status of the Ant Queen.

Female Milky White Ant (Ant Queen)

Level: Grade Two Isoptera Insect, Upgrade Experience 100/1000

Lifespan: 4.2 years

Energy: 0

Skills: Breeding Onefold 0.05/10, Fake Death Onefold 2/10

Talent: Medium Intelligence

Its fake death skill proficiency had risen from 1 to 2, it must be feigning death.

Why would it feign death?

Usually, it would only resort to this tactic when facing an enemy too strong to defeat, using a feigned death to escape a crisis.

But there were no enemies invading its nest now!

After thinking for a moment, a glint of understanding appeared in Qin Niu’s eyes.

The Ant Queen’s feigned death was likely to reduce bodily energy consumption to the lowest level.

Because its energy had dropped to 0.

Yes, that must be it.

Frogs and snakes hibernate to lower their energy consumption, hiding in warm underground caves to survive the cold winter.

Termites did not have the hibernation skill, but their fake death skill must have a similar principle behind it.

Only the limit of the fake death duration was much shorter than hibernation.

Qin Niu lay down outside the nest to observe the Ant Queen in the hole once more.

It still looked the same, in a state resembling death.

At this moment, the larva with the darkest color began to move.

This excited Qin Niu.

“Hurry up, your mother is about to starve to death!”

He was genuinely anxious.

Unfortunately, the larvae’s final molt was not as easy as imagined, but a very lengthy process.

The larva moved a couple of times, then stopped again.

It remained curled up in a slumber.

Watching this, Qin Niu felt frustrated, as though he could be worried to death.