Chapter 181: Enough for each person to have several plates
Looking closer, Zuo Shan discovered that the hole was about 10 centimeters in diameter, but its depth was completely unknown.
She remembered hearing that ant nests are afraid of water. If you pour a pot of water into them and flood them, all the ants inside will be doomed.
Back then, she had plenty of food and clothing, so she wouldn't be so bored as to persecute these little lives. But now it's different. Every mutated ant is protein to her, a source of nutrition.
She wanted to dig with a hoe, but she was worried that hundreds or thousands of mutated ants would swarm out and devour her like a mountain goat's leg.
Just as she was hesitating, she felt her watch vibrate. She checked it and saw it was Kang Zhenghao calling. As soon as she answered, he started yelling at her:
"Where did you run off to? Don't you know this is the outskirts of the area? It's dangerous to wander around alone! Don't think you're so smart just because you have some speed ability!"
To be fair, Zuo Shan wasn't angry at all. The fact that he yelled at her so angrily at least proved that he still cared about her as his guide, whatever the reason.
She wouldn't be pretentious or complain about how they had abandoned her to hunt down the wolves; after all, that was their mission.
As an adult, although it might be a bit dangerous for her to be alone in the wild, what wasteland scavenger hasn't had the experience of scavenging alone?
"Commander Kang, I've made a new discovery. I've found a mutated red ant nest, the very nest of those red ants that are gnawing on the legs of the ibex. Do you want to bring some people over to dig it up?"
"By the way, if there were a water-type ability user, that would be the most convenient. Just drown them with water. It's clean, convenient, and quick!" Zuo Shan said, as if showing off a treasure.
Now that Kang Zhenghao and the others have returned, she no longer has time to keep this ant nest to herself. She might as well share the information with them, which will not only earn her a favor but also allow her to reap the benefits.
After all, there were a lot of men around, so she couldn't be left alone as a young woman to deal with a swarm of ants with a hoe, could she?
After the location was shared, the water-type ability user sent by Kang Zhenghao quickly arrived at the ant nest, accompanied by two strength-type mercenaries.
Seeing the slight scratches on their bodies, Zuo Shan couldn't help but ask, "Did you find the wolf den? How many did you kill in total?"
"15 of them! Among them is a newly upgraded Tier 3 Wolf King. We used the laser cannon, but Vice Commander Kekang was still injured. Many of the other brothers were also injured, but fortunately, no one was killed."
"But this time, thanks to the wolf you lured out, it was startled and ran back to its den, otherwise we really wouldn't have had a chance to catch them all in one fell swoop." The short mercenary was a chatterbox and gave a very detailed explanation.
Zuo Shan was shocked to hear that there were 15. She had originally thought that the leader of the three that they had killed that day was the alpha wolf, but she didn't expect it to be the alpha.
She couldn't help but feel a lingering fear; if the wolf king had appeared that day, her entire family would probably have been wiped out.
After feeling frightened, she decided that she would not take her family to remote collection points again until she was strong enough, as taking such a risk was simply not worth it.
The water-type ability user continuously poured water into the ant hole. He was only at the second level, and his ability was not very strong, but the water flowing from his fingertips was as thick as a household water pipe.
The ant nest actually has several exits. Soon, within a radius of more than ten square meters, ants were frantically fleeing from four of the holes.
The two powerful mercenaries used melee weapons, one with a knife and the other with a sword, swiftly slashing at the panicked mutated red ants that had escaped.
Zuo Shan wasn't idle either; he used a hoe to knock one down in one go.
It feels a bit like bullying, and a little cruel, but this is a world where the strong prey on the weak; if you can't win, you might become the other person's food.
For example, if she hadn't used swift and decisive methods to scare off the pack of wolves that day, her whole family would have become their food.
There were simply too many ants, and a few openings were far from enough for all of them to escape. After only a quarter of an hour, some drowned ants began to surface.
Two mercenaries took out entrenching tools and began digging ant holes. They harvested over a thousand ants, some killed and some drowned. At that size, about ten ants would be enough to make a stir-fry, which would be enough for each member of the mercenary group to have several dishes.
At the deepest point, they discovered hundreds of crystal-clear ant eggs, varying in color and size.
The smallest are pink ones, about the size of a pea; the milky white ones are about the size of a gummy candy; and the largest are light yellow ones, about the size of a cherry. The larvae inside have already started to wriggle, and it looks like they are about to hatch.
Unexpectedly, the queen ant abandoned the nest and fled alone.
The mercenaries didn't bother tracking them, because their main target was these ant eggs. It's said that unhatched ant eggs are almost always low in radiation, and they're especially nutritious and taste great, so they can be sold for a good price.
After bringing back the spoils, Kang Zhenghao waved his hand and said, "Alright, that's a wrap!"
Zuo Shan then noticed that more than half of the twenty-odd mercenaries who participated in the siege of the wolf pack were injured, including three seriously injured and more than a dozen slightly injured.
It seems the patrol team isn't just getting paid for nothing; in these special circumstances, life and death hang in the balance.
The three seriously injured men were carried to the truck by the speed-generating ability user in the group. He made three round trips, and his speed even kept up with the others' walking speed.
Zuo Shan gained a new understanding of speed abilities; this person was only at the second level.
As the large group was about to leave collection point 21, Kang Zhenghao personally took action, randomly selecting a few sturdy branches and neatly cutting them off at the base with a golden blade, then having the uninjured people lift them onto the large truck.
"Is this enough?" he asked Zuo Shan after filling all the gaps in the truck.
"Huh? That's enough, everyone's injured. I was originally thinking of just letting it go about chopping firewood," Zuo Shan said, blushing slightly.
"I will definitely do what I promised you." Kang Zhenghao held his chin high, but Zuo Shan inexplicably felt that his arrogant appearance was not so annoying after all.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
