Chapter 31: The Enemy Reappears
The Brood Nest lay deep underground, a depth difficult for ordinary ants to reach without specialized digging limbs. To address this, Luo Wen constructed a temporary nest above the Brood Nest. This structure served not only as a logistics hub but also as a decoy—the first line of defense for the true nest.
The distance between Ant Nest No. 1 and the Brood Nest was about fifty meters, roughly the same length as the smuggling tunnel leading to Ant Nest No. 2. With his prior experience, this project posed no challenge for Luo Wen.
After spending some time completing the tunnel, the Brood Nest resumed siphoning food from Ant Nest No. 1. With two nests supplying resources, the Brood Nest’s food reserves began increasing visibly. The hatchery became fully stocked, and even the storage chambers Luo Wen had excavated earlier started filling with food.
From then on, Luo Wen’s daily routine consisted of hauling enough food from both nests to meet the transport team’s capacity for the day. After that, he expanded his scouting range.
Time passed, and Luo Wen’s body grew significantly larger, now comparable in size to the “War God” Black Beetle he encountered before. Although he lacked the massive mandibles, his combat strength was enough to handle a Soldier Ant in one-on-one combat.
His bulk now exceeded that of Soldier Ants, and his rounded physique made their slender frames appear feeble in comparison. Apart from their sharper mandibles, Soldier Ants resembled oversized Worker Ants. Without the advantage of size, they were no match for Luo-style insect combat techniques.
Near Ant Nest No. 1, Luo Wen set a trap and, with a large team of minions, ambushed a Soldier Ant. After some effort, he successfully killed it, acquiring its genetic fragments.
At this point, the Brood Nest housed over 200 adult Black Ants, with more than a thousand eggs, larvae, and pupae combined. Notably, the second batch of modified Black Ants with Burrower limbs had all pupated, while the first batch of Black Beetle larvae remained in the larval stage. However, these larvae had grown much larger than most adult Black Ants.
Considering the source of their genetic template and their eventual adult size, this was understandable.