Chapter 17 Burning Ants
In the aftermath of the great crisis, besides the mutations in animals and plants, there emerged a terrifying mutated force: the insect army. Mutated grasshoppers could grow to half a foot long, easily devouring all vegetables; mutated wasps were the size of sparrows, and in swarms could sting and kill those with superpowers; mutated mosquitoes were highly venomous, and a single bite could cause a swelling the size of a bowl.
Among them, the mutated ants are the ones that strike fear into everyone's heart; no one survives their passage.
Who could have imagined that these tiny ants, before the crisis, would mutate and grow dozens of times larger? With their increased size, they needed more food. These mutated ants are indiscriminate in their consumption, relentlessly pursuing anything edible. Moreover, they have a clear division of labor, are organized and disciplined, and any living creature they target is doomed.
Jiang Rong's expression was grave. He quickly covered Jiang Xiaoheng's mouth, afraid that his son's voice would attract the attention of the mutated ants. After gently closing the door, Jiang Rong picked up his son and ran home.
As soon as he entered the house, he immediately switched on all the door and window switches and removed all the smelly fruit from the kitchen. Ants have a keen sense of smell and can easily find their way there by following the scent.
After doing all this, Jiang Rong was still uneasy. He turned on the home security camera, and the camera in the southeast corner of the courtyard clearly showed the scene outside. The Jiang father and son had not attracted the attention of the mutated ants, who were gathered around two mutated wild boars feeding.
A swarm of dark red ants covered the wild boar, and within minutes, the bones were exposed in the areas with less meat. The rustling sound of the ants gnawing at the boar came from the monitor, making Jiang Rong, who witnessed this scene, feel a chill run down her spine.
He had considered the issue of mutated insects when the house was first built, so he installed screens on the windows and doors, and also protected the pipes leading to the outside. However, these protections could only keep out lone mutated insects, not large swarms. The ventilation ducts, in particular, while well-hidden for humans, were easy for insects to find.
Now he hopes the mutated ants will finish eating the wild boar and leave quickly, instead of lingering outside his yard.
The thought had barely formed in his mind when he heard the fairy's cheerful voice, "One~ two~ three~ three~ three~"
The little fairy could only count to three; counting higher was too difficult for it. Hearing its cheerful voice, Jiang Rong had a bad feeling: "Little fairy, what are you doing?"
The little fairy tried to express her joy to her owner, but she stammered and couldn't articulate it clearly. So she simply opened her mind to her owner, letting him witness her spectacular hunting moments.
A line of mutated ants entered the courtyard following the direction Jiang Rong and her group had taken. Each ant in this line was the size of a peanut. Their heads and abdomens were dark red, and their large skulls had mandibles like fire tongs. Every few steps, they would stop, their antennae twitching incessantly.
Just as the ants were preparing to scatter and explore, the fairy suddenly exerted her power. To deal with such small prey as ants, the fairy used even smaller and finer stingers. With a few whooshing sounds, one ant after another was pierced by the fine stingers and pinned to the spot.
The fairy-like girl boasted, "Jiang Gong~"
Jiang Rong praised, "Little fairy, you're amazing. Thank you."
The smug cactus once again tilted over and hung on the west wall of the yard, determined to keep a close watch on the yard and prevent any ant from crawling into the house.
But how can one cactus deal with millions of ants? Once the ant army attacks the yard, the little fairy will be in dire straits.
Jiang Rong picked up the water glass and brought it to his lips. If he wasn't mistaken, these ants were just the vanguard. Their arrival meant that Jiang Rong's yard had already attracted their attention.
Judging from the current situation, things are beyond repair. There are only two options left. The first is to lie down and wait for the ant army to break through the house and eat the father and son and their stockpiled goods; the second is to exterminate this group of mutated ants.
He wasn't the type to sit idly by and wait for death. In the two days since he chose to jump out, he didn't hesitate to choose the latter. But how could he, all alone, deal with the mutated ant colony?
On the screen, the wild boar had turned into skeletons, and swarms of mutated ants lingered around the remains like a tide. They sometimes piled up, sometimes scattered, seemingly searching for something.
As darkness fell, Jiang Rong, with the help of the monitor's excellent night vision capabilities, clearly saw the ants' movements. They gradually moved from the mountain path to Jiang Rong's field, then piled up and huddled together. More ants followed from the mountain path, and soon a dense swarm of mutated ants appeared in the vegetable garden.
Seeing this, Jiang Rong's eyes were full of surprise: Is this... preparing to spend the night?
Seeing his father sitting in front of the computer with a strange expression, Jiang Xiaoheng picked up his beloved Leleduo (a type of Chinese snack) and placed it in front of his father. "Dad, are the pigs outside scary?" Jiang Xiaoheng only saw two wild boars and did not notice the mutated ants on their bodies. At this moment, he only thought that his father was having a headache because of the mutated wild boars.
Jiang Rong quickly turned off the computer screen to prevent his son from seeing the terrifying scene on the monitor. Looking at his son's worried face, he reached out and pinched his cheek. "It's okay, they'll only stay outside for a while. They'll leave tomorrow."
Jiang Xiaoheng was skeptical. "Really?"
Jiang Rong laughed and said, "Yes, think about it, it's so hot outside, even pigs are afraid of the sun."
Jiang Xiaoheng chuckled, repeating "Even pigs are afraid of the sun" before toddling to the living room. Once there, he suddenly turned around and said, "Dad, I want to watch Team Meow Meow again."
Jiang Rong was now much more at ease. He got up and walked towards the living room. "Okay, but it's agreed that you can only watch two episodes."
After the power went out, neither the TV nor the mobile phone received a signal. But this didn't stop Jiang Xiaoheng from watching cartoons, because Jiang Rong had made ample preparations. He copied many cartoons and documentaries onto CDs, which he could simply insert into the player whenever he wanted to watch them.
He also prepared supplementary teaching materials and videos for his son from kindergarten to university. His study was full of books, and the father and son could spend years reading them without doing anything else.
The familiar theme song from the animated series played from the television, and Jiang Xiaoheng stared intently at the screen. Jiang Rong said, "Son, Dad needs to work for a while. You and Lele watch TV and don't bother me for now."
Jiang Xiaoheng nodded obediently, "Okay! Dad, go ahead and get busy."
Confirming that his child's attention was entirely focused on the television, Jiang Rong skillfully went into the kitchen and picked up a large storage box. He pushed open a door next to the refrigerator, revealing a staircase leading downstairs. Once the main door in the southeast corner was closed, this staircase was the only direct route to the first and second basement levels.
After turning on the switch on the stairs, the lights downstairs came on. Thanks to the exhaust fan, the basement wasn't stuffy at all. The layout downstairs was immediately apparent: tall shelves were filled with goods, and even the space between the shelves was crammed with items; an unsuspecting person might mistake it for a large supermarket.
Jiang Rong crossed the basement level and headed towards the spiral driveway. Soon, dozens of professional gasoline drums appeared before him, each one saturated with gasoline. He had devised quite a few methods to stockpile this gasoline.
The oil drums were well concealed; even when I walked right up to them, I couldn't smell any gasoline. Jiang Rong picked up a drum of gasoline and placed it on a small trolley to the side, then went downstairs to the second basement level and brought up a case of bottled soda.
After pouring the soda into the storage box, Jiang Rong had several empty soda bottles. He then carefully transferred the gasoline from the gasoline can into the bottles, filling them more than halfway, and then tightly sealed the bottle openings with gauze.
A simple fire extinguisher is thus made. To use it, simply light the gauze and throw the soda bottle out. The gasoline inside will flow out the moment the bottle breaks, and it will explode upon contact with the flame.
Jiang Rong made a whole box of [unspecified items], and after finishing them, he placed them in the cardboard box that originally contained soda. Of course, [unspecified items] alone couldn't deal with all the mutated ants; he had to think of another method. He loaded the opened gasoline cans onto the cart, and then placed a sharp military shovel on the cart.
After getting ready, he dragged the small trailer up the spiral walkway and parked it behind the iron gate. Behind the gate was his car, and Jiang Rong opened the door and sat in the driver's seat.
He folded his hands behind his head, and the image of ants piling up in the surveillance footage flashed before his eyes.
No matter how ants mutate, they haven't lost their essential nature. At night, ants return to their nests to rest. If mutated ants can't return in time, they will huddle together for the night. They will surround the most important ant in the center of the colony to protect it from external dangers. In the darkness, the ants cannot see and therefore will not move.
This habit proved to be a great help to Jiang Rong. When he saw the ants huddled together, he already had a plan in mind for how to deal with these annoying ants.
It's not dark enough yet. In a few hours, after the ants have fallen asleep, he will give them a big gift.
At 10 PM, the operation was scheduled to begin. The large iron gate slowly opened a crack, and Jiang Rong, wearing night vision goggles and pulling a small cart, walked out. The world changed color under the night vision goggles, and it took some getting used to at first glance.
Jiang Rong looked towards the southeast window, where the roller blinds completely blocked out the room, preventing any light from getting in. She then glanced in the direction of the fairy; in the night vision goggles, the fairy's blue-gray attire blended perfectly with the surrounding environment.
The little fairy leaned against the courtyard wall: "Engineer Jiang?"
Jiang Rong raised her left index finger to her lips, "Shh—"
The little fairy learned a new word, "Shh".
After dragging the small trailer to the jujube tree, Jiang Rong could clearly see the mutated ants huddled together in the middle of the field. The ant swarm was over a meter in diameter. Although he had been mentally prepared by watching the monitor, seeing it with his own eyes still gave him the creeps.
The ants were just asleep, not dead. The huge ant ball emitted the occasional clanging sound of their mandibles colliding, incredibly eerie in the darkness. Jiang Rong felt goosebumps rise on his back. He rubbed his hands together, then picked up the entrenching tool from the wheelbarrow and tiptoed into the field.
He was going to dig a trench near the ant ball and then pour gasoline into it. After surrounding the clump of ants with gasoline, he would then use a gun to send them on their way.
The closer you get to the ant ball, the louder the ants' sounds and movements become. The black and red ants slowly wriggle, and the clicking sound grows louder and louder.
Jiang Rong didn't dare get too close; he stopped two meters away from the ant ball. After the first shovelful, he turned to look at the ant ball, and seeing that the ants weren't making any unusual movements, he started shoveling with abandon.
Digging is a skilled job, and the soil, which had been exposed to the sun for several months, was incredibly firm. However, Jiang Rong's physical condition had also improved significantly, and with the help of an entrenching tool, he dug very smoothly.
Two hours later, a trench one foot deep and one foot wide appeared on the outside of the ant ball.
Now it was time to pour gasoline into the ditch. Jiang Rong thought that one bucket of gasoline should be enough to fill a circle around the ditch, but half a bucket of gasoline was only enough to fill half a circle before it was gone. He had to go back home and get another bucket of gasoline.
The smell of gasoline made the ants very uncomfortable, and the ant colony became restless. Some ants had already crawled out of the colony. Jiang Rong didn't care about anything else. He unscrewed the cap of the gasoline can and poured it all over the ditch and the ants that were crawling towards them.
After pouring all the oil out of the bucket, Jiang Rong quickly grabbed the gun from the cardboard box, lit it, and shouted, "Let's go!"
Two ants landed steadily in the ant colony. With two soft "booms," the gasoline in the trench was ignited, and huge flames and thick smoke shot into the sky. The scorching flames surrounded the ant colony, and the gasoline-soaked ants became the fuse, igniting a large number of their companions.
The mutated ants inside the flames made a clicking sound as the giant ant ball disintegrated. The panicked ants scattered haphazardly, trying to find a way to survive.
Outside the flames, Jiang Rong kept igniting the guns in his hands. With each gun thrown from the box, the fire in his eyes grew brighter: "Get lost!"
Author's Note:
The habits of the mutant ants are based on those of army ants in the Amazon rainforest. If there really is an apocalypse, I think mutant insects and mutant fungi are the most terrifying.
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