Inside the secret passage, the three walked silently toward the room representing the queen ant.
The second woman's smile froze as she sidestepped the outstretched arm of the first woman.
“Just in case there’s danger,” she explained, “this way we can react faster.”
The reason was rather lame, but Number One didn't get angry. Instead, he nodded in agreement: "You're right, there will be danger."
They quickly found the place.
The door was half-open, and the sturdy iron bars inside could be vaguely seen. Outside the door was a pool of blood, oxidized to a reddish-brown color, and almost completely congealed.
A doorway was carved out of the wall near the door, the edges were roughly finished, but it was big enough for one person to pass through.
"They're gone," Number Three said. He walked around the pool of blood, pushed the door all the way to its limit, and peered inside.
At least within sight, there were no signs of a struggle. Near the door, there was a half-human-sized ant corpse lying on the ground.
The body was in a rather gruesome state; its neck had been twisted, and broken teeth could still be seen near its mouth.
"Ah, this..." Number Three paused for a moment, still in the mood for a slightly dry joke, "What do you think is the likelihood that this thing will break its own neck and die along with the wall?"
"They did it, didn't they?" The second woman stared blankly at the ant corpse, rubbing her arms as if she were feeling a chill. "Since they're so strong... let's not stay here. Let's go find them and meet up."
"Shall we meet up?" Number One asked quietly, but before he could say anything more, a hand silently reached out from behind him and snapped his neck cleanly.
A crisp cracking sound.
The corpse slumped to the ground, startling Number Two and Number Three. They belatedly turned around and stared blankly at Xiao Cheng and Fang He, who had suddenly appeared.
“He…” The second woman pointed to the corpse on the ground, forcing herself to remain calm, “Is he already…”
In fact, Xiao Cheng's response is no longer needed.
The corpse's skin quickly dried and peeled off, revealing black-armored ants with swollen abdomens. Then, the ant carcass swelled even larger and suddenly exploded, releasing a massive swarm of termites from the remains.
If they hadn't dodged in time, the swarm of termites would have landed directly on their faces.
The newly emerged termites are about the size of a thumb, with translucent bodies that look extremely fragile. They begin to gnaw on the remaining parts of the black-armored ants and grow at a visible rate until they are the size of an adult man's palm.
"Damn..." Xiao Cheng got goosebumps all over, and without thinking, she grabbed Fang He and turned to run. "What are you standing there for?! Are we delivering vegetables later?!"
Number Two and Number Three seemed to wake up from a dream and followed closely behind her, but they were actually struggling to keep up.
Termites had already begun to abandon the shriveled corpses and instead treated them as fresher food, quickly pursuing them.
And it wasn't just them; more and more termites swarmed in from different secret passages, like streams forming a river.
"Night has fallen! This is night!" Number Three shouted, slightly out of breath from running, and casually tossed two pieces of steamed bun behind him to slow down the termites running in the lead.
He took a slight breath and asked Xiao Cheng, who was far ahead, "Where are we going?!"
"The granary, where is the granary you found?!" Xiao Cheng slowed down slightly, waiting for the two to catch up.
“I remember, I’ll give directions.” The second woman adopted a completely different demeanor than before, her face expressionless as she quickened her pace, ran to the front, and swiftly turned into a hidden door.
The termite army was left behind by their maneuvering. Occasionally, they would encounter a few scattered termites on the road, but they posed no threat at all. Xiao Cheng and Fang He would punch them one by one and pin them to the wall.
"We should be receiving the Queen Ant's protection after completing the side quest," Number Three said, somewhat puzzled.
Xiao Cheng: "..." I'm sorry, the queen ant has passed away prematurely.
The four of them ran towards the room of Player One, and after confirming that there was no danger inside, they went in and closed the door tightly.
“But we can’t keep hiding here forever.” Number Three frowned slightly. He noticed the hesitant expression on Number Two’s face and pressed, “Number Two, what’s wrong? What do you want to say?”
"I...I..." The second woman took a few deep breaths to finally calm herself down, then pointed to the dark room, "Inside, if I'm not mistaken, there is at least one corpse inside."
To say it's a single body is actually a bit inaccurate.
It should be two and a half bodies.
Xiao Cheng carefully examined the two halves of the corpse that had been forcibly sewn together.
The skin had been peeled off, revealing bloody muscle tissue, but it was still barely possible to tell that these were number one and number four.
"The black-armored ants impersonated them, but fortunately, they didn't cause too much trouble. We can say that we've avenged them in a roundabout way."
Xiao Cheng said, turning his head to see the second woman's almost crying expression. He hesitated for a moment, then patted her shoulder comfortingly: "Well... please accept my condolences."
"So what's next?" Number Three asked, looking at Xiao Cheng. "In the current situation, the only way to survive is to cooperate."
"No rush, let's analyze the current situation first." Xiao Cheng looked up at the ceiling. Apart from the two tasks, no other comments appeared.
"Ants are a highly ordered species. In this anthill, the termites are clearly a level below the black-armored ants, both in terms of ability and origin."
"Let's make another bold guess: the black-armored ants are not at the top of the pyramid, which means we are very likely to face even more dangerous monsters."
“Termites drive out us outsiders. If we fit into the normal composition of the anthill, we can be considered soldier ants. As for No. 1 and No. 4, they died from black-armored ants and were both related to the granary, so they are worker ants.”
"From this perspective, at least some male and female ants have not yet appeared. In the worst case, there is a hidden queen ant behind them."
"This is what order is all about."
To put it more simply, there are two groups of ants in this anthill: one group, which is us during the day, and the other group, which is them at night. When night falls, we, who are out of order, are driven out.
"So the conditions for passing the level are obvious. Either kill their queen ant, or we create our own queen ant."
Hearing Xiao Cheng's words, apart from Fang He, the other two looked rather uneasy. They weren't without premonition, but hearing her clearly state these things still sent chills down their spines.
"...Your analysis is probably correct." Number Three gave a bitter smile.
The barrage of comments on the ceiling suddenly flickered.
[Main Quest 3 from Live Stream Users: Dawn Breaks]
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