Chapter 173

The moment Su Jing's boots touched the plastic safety barrier surrounding the villa, a scorching heat made her pull her feet back—

Although the ground temperature has dropped from 60°C during the heat storm to 52°C, the water curtain in front of the protective netting is evaporating at a visible rate.

What made her heart sink even more was that, in the real-time monitoring footage from the communicator, a swarm of dark red Flame Ants was charging forward, stepping on a curtain of water.

The ants that had previously retreated at the slightest touch of water were now completely unharmed. Some even pressed their abdomens against the slippery plastic board and quickly crawled toward the bottom gaps of the protective netting.

"Su Jing! They really have mutated! I can smell that their 'resistance scent' is stronger, and the 'fear' of water is completely gone! There's also a 'heat scent,' as if they can absorb the surrounding heat, and water dries up as soon as it touches their shells!"

Little Jin crouched beside the surveillance camera on the protective netting, its tiny paws gripping the mesh, its dark eyes fixed on the fastest-moving red flame ants, a tense voice echoing in its mind.

"More than 30 have already climbed under the protective netting! They're gnawing on the thin strips of manganese crystals in the netting. Although they can't bite through them, if they keep gathering like this, they'll pile up into a mountain of ants and crawl in!"

Su Jing immediately bent down to observe—the mutated Crimson Flame Ants were nearly 1 centimeter larger than before, their carapaces gleaming with a glossy dark red sheen, and faint reddish heat mist swirling around the ends of their abdomens.

The water curtain that had just blocked ordinary ant colonies left only a brief water trail when it landed on them, evaporating in less than 3 seconds due to the heat emanating from their carapaces.

"Number 1, test the heat resistance of the red flame ants' carapaces! Number 2, turn the water pressure of the water curtain to the maximum and see if you can disperse them!"

Robot No. 1's temperature sensor was aimed at a Crimson Flame Ant crawling at the front, and the screen instantly displayed the following data: [Mutant Crimson Flame Ant (Tier 1 Enhancement): Carapace heat resistance temperature 80℃, water resistance increased by 300%, abdomen can secrete water-resistant oil, current movement speed 0.8m/s, 50% higher than ordinary individuals] .

After Robot No. 2 increased the water pressure, the water jet impacted the ant colony, only scattering the outermost few ants. The ants behind immediately filled in, forming an impenetrable ant wall, and continued to crawl towards the protective net.

"Water curtains are useless, and ordinary ice water won't work either. We need to lower the temperature to below 0°C to freeze their water-resistant oils in order to break their mutation properties."

Su Jing turned and ran back to the control room, opening the spatial transmission port—the stacked square ice blocks inside were shrouded in white mist. These were her previous reserves to cope with extreme low temperatures, and each block had been treated with her special ability, making them melt three times slower than ordinary ice blocks.

"Number 1, immediately remove the ordinary nozzles of the sprinkler system and replace them with atomizing nozzles;

Number 2, take 100 ice blocks from the space and put them into the furnace's 'ultra-low temperature ice melting' mode. Control the water temperature at -5℃; do not let it freeze, maintain it in a liquid ice-water state!

Robot No. 1's robotic arm quickly disassembles the nozzles, with metal parts piled up like a small mountain on the operating table. The atomizing nozzle has an aperture of only 0.5mm, which can turn ice water into droplets with a diameter of less than 1mm, covering an area three times wider than ordinary water curtains.

Number 2 then fed the ice blocks one by one into the furnace. When the low-temperature ice-melting mode was activated, a thin layer of frost formed on the outer wall of the furnace. Su Jing's fingertips glowed with a pale blue supernatural power, which she used to precisely control the temperature and prevent the ice water from freezing and clogging the pipes: "The water temperature is stable at -5℃! We can connect it to the sprinkler system now!"

The atomizing nozzles had just been installed when a dense rustling sound came from the direction of the protective netting—Xiao Jin's voice was urgent: "Su Jing! The ant swarm has piled up into a small mountain! It's half a meter high, and it's almost reached the middle of the protective netting! They're biting at the seams of the mesh, and the manganese crystal strips have already scratched it!"

"Activate low-temperature fog! Adjust the coverage area to 5 meters in front of the protective netting to form a fog wall!"

The moment Su Jing gave the order, Robot No. 2 opened the spray valve, and -5°C ice water passed through the atomizing nozzles, instantly turning into white low-temperature mist, like a barrier in front of the protective net.

As soon as the fog wall formed, the first few red flame ants crashed into it. Their rapid crawling motion suddenly froze, and the water-resistant oil on their abdomens instantly froze into white crystals. A thin layer of ice formed on their carapaces. Several ants tried to move their legs, but found that their joints were frozen, and they fell straight onto the plastic board.

"It worked! They're frozen!"

Xiao Jin jumped up excitedly, his inner voice filled with joy, "Make the fog thicker! There are still a few on the left that haven't gone in yet; they want to go around to the gap on the west!"

Su Jing immediately instructed Robot No. 1 to adjust the angle of the fog wall to cover the gap on the west side as well. The low-temperature fog formed a complete ring around the villa. The temperature detector showed that the temperature inside the fog wall dropped to -2℃, and the water droplets condensed on the plastic board turned into tiny ice particles.

The ant colony was thrown into complete disarray—most of the ants were trapped by the fog wall, frozen and unable to move. A few ants that tried to break out of the fog area were killed by Robot No. 5, who was waiting nearby, with laser guns. The pale red beams landed on the frozen ant shells and instantly pierced them.

Su Jing put on the mineral mecha arm, walked to the edge of the fog wall, and watched as a slightly larger queen ant (about 8 centimeters long, probably the core of the ant colony) tried to squeeze out through the gap in the fog wall. Its abdomen was still secreting water-resistant oil, but it was still slowed down by the low temperature.

"It's you." Su Jing's mecha arm extended a manganese crystal blade, pale blue energy flowing along the edge. She sidestepped the queen ant's mandibles as it tried to bite, and slashed at the queen ant's carapace—

With a "crack," the frozen carapace split open instantly, and the pale red demon core rolled into the icy mist. The communicator popped up: "[Killed the mutated Crimson Flame Ant Queen (Tier 1 Enhancement), obtained 1 mutated demon core, containing heat-resistant energy, which can be used to enhance heat-resistant equipment]."

In less than half an hour, the swarm of red flame ants inside the ring-shaped fog wall was cleared out—the frozen ants were collected by robots and can be used to extract heat-resistant oils later.

All the ants that could move were killed by laser guns or mining blades, and the demon cores filled two mini collection boxes.

Su Jing instructed Robot No. 2 to shut off the low-temperature fog, leaving only a small amount of ice water to moisten the protective net through ordinary nozzles to prevent any remaining ant eggs from hatching.

"Su Jing, the fog has cleared! The protective netting isn't damaged, but there was a layer of ice on the plastic panels, which is a bit slippery after it melted."

Little Jin ran over, its little paws covered in ice shards, and its voice in its mind was relaxed, "I just smelled around, and there are no other ant colonies left. They should all be cleared out by us."

Su Jing had just nodded when a pale green system notification suddenly popped up on the communicator in the control room, breaking the brief silence: [Stage Mission Triggered: Respond to the mutated monster crisis. Kill 100 Tier 2 monsters within 72 hours to obtain "Heat Resistance Fragments" x10. Collect all fragments to synthesize a "Tier 3 Heat Resistance Suit"]

Increases heat resistance by 50%, with no penalty for mission failure, but will lose the only way to obtain heat-resistant equipment.

She stared at the "heat-resistant fragment" in the prompt, her fingertips tracing the energy patterns on the mecha arm—

After the heat storm, the number of mutated beasts increased. The 52°C temperature was just the beginning. These 100 second-tier beasts were not only for the mission, but also to build up strength to cope with the extreme environment later.

Su Jing turned and walked to the equipment rack, inspected the mining blade and tracking laser gun, and took out 5 bottles of antitoxin from her space for later use: "Number 1 and Number 2, organize the villa's defense equipment. Number 3 and Number 4, stay at the villa and guard it. I'm going to the ruined city tomorrow to kill 100 second-tier beasts and get heat-resistant fragments."