Chapter Six: The Army of Ants

Li Yunfei pushed off with his right foot and leapt to the left, dodging the ant’s deadly pincers. At the same instant, the blade in his left hand came down, landing precisely on the neck of the second worker ant.

A crisp sound echoed.

As expected, another swift decapitation.

Li Yunfei was about to dispatch the third ant when, unexpectedly, the last worker ant, without hesitation, turned tail and bolted frantically toward the ant nest, its speed suddenly surging.

Unable to catch up, and unwilling to risk charging into the ant nest, Li Yunfei had no choice but to let it go for now.

He walked back to the corpse of the first worker ant. Lying on the ground was a ten-cent coin. Li Yunfei’s lips twitched; this was just like a game—monsters actually dropped coins.

If coins could drop, perhaps other things might appear as well?

He picked up the coin, and as he willed it, the coin vanished. The money icon in the system’s inventory increased by 0.1.

Earlier that morning, Li Yunfei had put all his cash—3,238 yuan—into the system inventory. The system only accepted cash; bank cards were useless, the system didn’t recognize them.

He mused that he should withdraw more cash later and store it in the system, for convenience.

Only the first worker ant had dropped a coin; the second yielded nothing. Apparently, coin drops were probabilistic.

Though the legs of the two dead ants still twitched erratically and their antennae shivered violently, strictly speaking, they weren’t completely dead. Insects possessed astonishing vitality.

But once their health bar emptied, they were considered dead—the system’s rule. After decapitation, the health bars of both worker ants had instantly cleared, and the system judged them as deceased.

Ants lacked red blood cells and hemoglobin, so their wounds didn’t bleed bright red as mammals did; instead, nearly transparent fluid oozed out.

Thus, Li Yunfei needn’t worry about emerging from the dungeon covered in blood and terrifying others.

Suddenly, a pungent odor spread through the air. Li Yunfei tensed, scanning his surroundings, and quickly fixed his gaze on two stone hills. Calling out to the little fox, he dashed toward them.

Originally just two pebbles lying side by side, magnified many times, it became clear they were merely close—not touching.

Between the two stone hills lay a fissure, nearly two meters wide and thirty or forty meters long, forming a classic "Heaven’s Line" terrain—a narrow corridor.

Ants communicated via pheromones secreted by their bodies; comrades could distinguish the intended message by scent.

The third worker ant had received a pheromone signal: “Tough target, call for reinforcements.” That was why it had turned and fled.

Li Yunfei knew the ants would soon swarm out in force.

He needed a suitable spot to “block the spawn”—a monster farming point. The Heaven’s Line between the two stone hills was perfect.

After reaching the entrance, Li Yunfei breathed a sigh of relief. The little fox found a climbing spot and scrambled to the top of the stone hill.

Li Yunfei smiled and nodded. She took care of herself well; he wouldn’t need to worry about her safety while fighting.

He looked away and opened his character attribute panel, checking how much experience the two ants had yielded.

The experience bar, once blank at 0.04%, now glowed a faint dark yellow, having risen to 1.04%.

A single chicken gave only 0.01% experience; he would need to kill ten thousand chickens to reach level two.

But the ants in this dungeon each gave 0.5% experience; only two hundred worker ants would be enough to level up.

His heart burned with excitement. Previously, he’d doubted the system, finding it dubious for forcing him to kill living things.

But now, knowing that slaying ants made him stronger, his impression of the system improved dramatically.

He didn’t wait long. Soon, activity stirred at the ant nest—waves of ants streamed out, unending.

There were not only worker ants but also soldier ants, each about the size of a calf, larger than the workers.

The soldier ants’ heads were nearly twice the size of the workers’, and their mandibles were more developed and robust, reaching Li Yunfei’s abdomen in height.

It was easy to imagine: if a soldier ant clamped his abdomen, his guts would spill instantly.

The worker ants marched in neat ranks like a disciplined army, while the soldier ants darted along the flanks, patrolling.

Upon leaving the nest, they headed straight for the corpses of the two worker ants.

Li Yunfei’s heartbeat quickened; he swallowed nervously, unconsciously tightening his grip on his twin blades—his only reliance now.

Any living creatures, once gathered in formation—especially such orderly ranks—exerted tremendous intimidation.

In moments, the ants crawling out numbered over a hundred, including more than a dozen soldier ants.

Clearly, the soldier ants posed the greater threat.

Holding a position was impossible; he couldn’t last long here. As the ants flooded in, his space would be constricted.

Once Heaven’s Line was filled, it would be time for a tactical retreat. He would have to kill while moving, never allowing himself to be surrounded.

The coming battle would test his endurance severely—he wondered if he could hold out.

The ant swarm reached the corpses, pausing only briefly. Four worker ants lifted the bodies and heads, carrying them back to the nest.

The remaining workers turned, lining up and moving straight toward Li Yunfei. Two soldier ants rushed forward as vanguards.

Sweat began to bead on Li Yunfei’s palms; fortunately, he wore tactical gloves, so the sweat wouldn’t make his grip slip.

He retreated into Heaven’s Line, standing about two meters from the entrance, close to the left side.

The two vanguard soldier ants arrived in front of him, one after the other.

He repeated his earlier maneuver: as the soldier ant raised its head and its mandibles aimed for his abdomen, he stepped diagonally forward to the right, dodged the attack, and brought his right-hand blade down.

A sharp crack rang out.

This time, the blade didn’t sever the neck in one stroke; the soldier ant’s neck was much thicker than the worker’s—the health bar dropped by two-thirds.

Without hesitation, Li Yunfei followed up with his left-hand blade, finally severing the soldier ant’s neck.

A heavy thud sounded.

As the large head fell to the ground, several coins appeared out of nowhere, landing beside the corpse.

Li Yunfei had no time to collect the items—the second soldier ant was already upon him.

This one didn’t attack with its mandibles but planted its rear four legs and raised its front two high, stabbing at Li Yunfei’s chest and abdomen.

Caught off guard, Li Yunfei was startled.

His reflexes, sharper than ordinary people’s, saved him—instinctively stepping left to avoid the right limb, his right hand quickly brought the blade to parry.

A metallic clang resounded.

His blade had struck the soldier ant’s left limb, which was as thick as a child’s arm, tipped with sharp barbs. One stab could have been fatal.

After parrying the attack, Li Yunfei found himself on the ant’s left side.

He kept moving; military close-quarter combat always paired a block with a counterattack.

His right-hand blade parried, his left-hand blade rose and fell, striking the soldier ant’s neck.

The blade embedded in the neck; he pulled back forcefully, severing it without needing a second stroke.

This was one of the advantages of a recurved blade’s mechanics: its cutting power surpassed straight or backward-curved blades.