Chapter 153
The moment Su Jing's finger touched the zoom button on the monitoring console, the scene on the screen made her pupils shrink—
The black dots on the main road in the suburbs are no longer scattered, but have converged into a dark red tide, surging toward the villa at a visible speed.
As the camera zooms in, each red flame ant becomes clearly visible: its 5-centimeter-long body gleams with an oily crimson hue, its eyes gleam with ferocity, its tiny legs moving rapidly, the dense swarm of ants trampling across the road.
Even the cracks in the asphalt were filled with ant bodies, and the communicator simultaneously popped up: "[Detected Tier 1 monster 'Crimson Flame Ant', estimated number 5000+, 300 meters away from the villa's outer protective netting]".
"Number 1 and 2, keep the laser guns on standby. Number 3 and 4, immediately activate the external spray system and set the water pressure to maximum!"
Su Jing's voice rang out in the control room, showing no sign of panic.
She strode to the transmission point, grabbed the mining blade from the shelf—the pale blue blade gleamed coldly, the manganese crystal energy injected during the forging process still flowing through it.
Little Jin followed closely at her feet, its dark eyes fixed on the monitor screen, its little paws clenched tightly, its inner voice urgent: "So many ants! They're running so fast! What if they rush in?"
"No, they're afraid of water; the spray can stop them." Just as Su Jing finished speaking, the sound of splashing water came from the monitor—
Simultaneously, the sprinkler belt outside the outer protective netting was activated, with dozens of water jets spraying from the nozzles, forming a 1-meter-high water curtain in front of the protective netting. Fine water droplets splashed onto the ground, forming a slippery water belt.
When the first group of red flame ants rushed to the water curtain, they recoiled as if scalded by the water droplets. Several ants that tried to rush through slipped and rolled on the wet ground, and were overwhelmed by the ant swarm behind them. The dark red ant tide stopped in front of the water curtain, as if blocked by an invisible wall.
"It works! The water really can stop them!" Little Jin jumped up excitedly, his mind filled with surprise.
But the next second, it suddenly wrinkled its nose, its ears stood up, and its little paws clung to Su Jing's trouser leg. The voice in its mind instantly became tense: "Su Jing! There's a different smell! It's from the mountains to the north! Much fiercer than ants! It's...it's the smell of a more powerful monster!"
Su Jing felt a chill run down her spine—the mountains to the north were only 5 kilometers from the villa, and Xiao Jin's ability to communicate with monsters made it exceptionally sensitive to dangerous auras. Since it said it was even more ferocious, it was definitely not comparable to a first-order ant colony.
She immediately gave the order into the communicator: "Number 5, retrieve the surveillance footage from the northern mountainous area and zoom in for a thorough investigation!" At the same time, she gripped her mining blade tightly, her gaze returning to the ant colony on the monitor—
The red flame ants in front of the water curtain began to change their strategy. They piled up together, trying to use their bodies to form an "ant bridge" to cross the water. The bottom layer of ants was soaked by the water, but still held on to the ground tightly. The dark red ant pile rose at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Number 1, Number 2, aim the laser guns at the ant mound and fire!" Su Jing ordered.
Robot No. 1 raised its mechanical arm and fired a laser gun. The pale red laser beam shot towards the ant mound. With a "sizzle", the topmost Crimson Flame Ant was instantly burned to a crisp. The ant mound collapsed, and the scattered ants fell into the water pipe, struggling to get up.
Robot No. 2 switched to a mechanical blade, the metal blade gleaming coldly. Whenever an ant slipped through the net and circled the edge of the water curtain, the mechanical blade would precisely slash it down, splitting the ant's body in two. The pale red demon core from its abdomen would roll off, and Robot No. 5 would immediately pick it up with a specially made collection box, which would quickly accumulate a layer of tiny demon cores.
Su Jing wasn't idle either—a slightly larger Crimson Flame Ant (like a queen ant guard) broke through the weak point of the water curtain, crawled over the plastic board, and rushed towards the control room.
She dodged the ant's attack by sidestepping, and the ore blade, imbued with pale blue energy, slashed down. With a "crack," the ant's shell was easily cleaved, and the demon core popped out from its abdomen. She reached out and caught it, feeling a subtle energy fluctuation at her fingertips. Her communicator notified her: [Obtained Tier 1 Demon Core x1, which can be used to enhance supernatural power].
"Su Jing! The surveillance cameras in the mountains have footage!" The display screen of Robot No. 5 lit up, showing a small path in the mountains. Several gray insects, twice the size of Crimson Flame Ants, were crawling rapidly. They had black patterns on their shells. The communicator popped up: [Detected Tier 1 monster "Stone Pattern Insect", quantity 10+, moving towards the villa].
Little Jin leaned closer to the screen, her little nose wrinkling even more: "That's the taste! Their shells are so hard, harder to kill than ants!"
"Number 3, increase the water pressure of the sprinklers on the east side to ensure the ant colony can't get through; Number 4, install plastic panels on the protective netting on the west side to prepare for dealing with stone beetles!"
Su Jing quickly adjusted her deployment, her gaze sweeping over the struggling Crimson Flame Ants on the monitor—a layer of ant corpses had already piled up in front of the water curtain, and although the remaining ants were still trying to break through, their momentum had weakened. Each sweep of the laser gun could clear out a whole swarm, and the collection box already contained more than 200 demon cores.
The system chat area of the communicator was in chaos: "China-Wang Qiang" posted a short video showing several red flame ants crawling into the crack of his door, his child crying, and him trying to drive them away with boiling water but failing.
"Does anyone have a way to get rid of ants?! Ants have invaded our home!" The message from "US-Lily" was even more desperate: "Our sprinkler system is broken, and the ant swarm has invaded our shelter. Some people have already been bitten!"
Su Jing glanced at it but didn't reply. Instead, she asked No. 5 to check the water pressure of all the sprinkler systems: "The remaining ant colonies won't last long, but the stone-patterned insects in the mountains are the real problem. We must prepare in advance."
As the sun completely set, the Red Flame Ant colony on the east side finally collapsed—most of the ants were killed by the laser, and the few that tried to escape were blocked by the water curtain and could not get close to the protective net.
Su Jing had the robot clean up the ant corpses and collect the remaining demon cores. She then took the mining blade and walked to the western protective fence. Xiao Jin followed beside her, its voice in her mind filled with determination: "I will keep an eye on the direction of the mountains and let you know immediately if there is any movement!"
Su Jing stroked its head, looking at the darkness of the distant mountains, knowing in her heart that this ant swarm was just the beginning, and that the stone-patterned insects in the mountains and the impending 55°C heatwave were yet to come.
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