"Grandpa Lu, since there are also these mutated poisonous ants near our community, and they've even killed people, let's quickly install this steel protective netting as a precaution!"
Xu Lai made her decision without even thinking.
While the windfall was important, the lives of their entire family were even more important.
"Yes, yes, Lai Lai is right, this matter should be addressed sooner rather than later!"
Having witnessed the horrific scene of Meng's husband being bitten to death by mutated poisonous red ants, Song Qiu'e still feels terrified just thinking about it.
"That's right, I'll go back and replace this steel protective netting right away!"
Grandpa Lu and Li Qingya realized this and quickly got up and went home.
To install this stainless steel protective net on the window, the original screen net needs to be removed.
Fortunately, both the screen window mesh and the stainless steel protective netting are hinged. You can simply use both hands to hold the screen window mesh and use a little force to remove it, and then install the stainless steel protective netting.
Fortunately, these things are usually mass-produced, and the screen window sizes are generally the same.
Clean the stainless steel protective netting, the lower screen mesh, and the upper stainless steel protective netting.
These three processes were completed in less than an hour and a half.
The rest of the time was spent sorting out and organizing the other good clothes, pots and pans, rice cookers and other items that everyone had collected in the morning.
The next morning, Xu Lai and the others had breakfast and the three families agreed to go to the commercial street from the previous day. However, as soon as the four of them went downstairs, they saw a man and a woman running towards the entrance of the apartment building with terrified expressions.
"Help! Help! Man-eating ants are coming! Big ants are eating people..."
They ran and screamed at the top of their lungs, oblivious to the fact that their shoes had fallen off, as if the Grim Reaper with a scythe was coming after them to claim their lives.
"A giant ant? It eats people?"
Hearing the two men's roars, Xu Lai and the others were taken aback.
Even with those mutated poisonous ants, Xu Lai had only ever seen them bite people and kill them; she had never seen them eat people.
Could it be a mutated ant swarm?
Thinking of this, Xu Lai got goosebumps all over her body. Her father glanced at her and immediately shouted, "Run! Go home and lock the doors and windows!"
As they lifted their feet to turn around and run upstairs into the apartment building, they saw swarms of dense, red ants rushing towards them from afar like a tide.
Their bodies are agile, and their red shells shimmer with an eerie light in the sunlight.
Each ant closely follows its companion in front, forming a long line that stretches as far as the eye can see.
In an instant, those who were stunned by the sight stood there dumbfounded until they were surrounded by the swarm of ants, and only then did they realize that the situation was dire.
But by then it was too late; the swarms of red ants had instantly crawled all over their bodies from their feet.
"Ah, help..."
Before those people could even utter a sound of "ah," they were visibly devoured by the red ants, leaving only skeletons.
This is terrifying!
Li Qingya, who was a little timid, was so frightened by what she saw that she covered her mouth with her hand and her legs felt like lead, and she couldn't move.
"Qingya, run!"
Xu Lai and Xu Haiguo, one holding Li Qingya and the other holding Grandpa Lu's arm, flew into the apartment building.
The four of them used all their strength to rush upstairs, knock on the door, enter, and close it in one smooth motion.
"Quick, close the windows tightly! A swarm of mutated red ants is coming; they'll eat people!"
As soon as they got home, Xu Lai and Xu Haiguo shouted loudly at their family members.
Not only the windows, but also the gaps in the two security doors at the entrance and the outermost door were tightly sealed with three layers of heat insulation cotton and tape that they had prepared in advance.
In addition to the explosion-proof glass itself, the windows also have a layer of sturdy stainless steel protective mesh inside.
Having done all this, Xu Lai and Xu Haiguo, who had witnessed firsthand how acquaintances were instantly devoured by mutated, poisonous red ants, leaving only skeletons, collapsed onto the living room floor, utterly exhausted.
Perhaps driven by the human instinct for survival, Xu Lai and her father forced themselves to persevere after witnessing the horrific scene.
The Xiao family next door and the Lu family in Unit 2, 904, sealed their doors and windows just like the Xu family, following the method they had discussed yesterday.
Time passed second by second, and for the Xu, Xiao, and Lu families, who had witnessed the extreme terror of these mutated poisonous red ants, it felt like an eternity.
Xu Lai and his family split into several groups, with one person guarding each of the four rooms and the living room. They carried electric batons in one hand and a bottle of insecticide in the other, in case the mutated red ants crawled into their home from unexpected gaps.
"Shh, shh..."
The sound of the mutated ants crawling was like the sound of sandpaper rubbing metal; the sound grew clearer and clearer as it approached.
"Ah! Help! Quick, close the window..."
"Don't come any closer, don't come any closer, oh, it hurts..."
Within five minutes, screams echoed from downstairs.
"Watch out, everyone! Mutant ants are climbing up here!"
Half an hour later, Xu Lai, who was watching from the living room balcony, saw swarms of mutated red ants rapidly climbing up from the bottom of the living room glass door.
Xu Lai could even see the mutated, poisonous red ant, no bigger than half her thumb, crawling upwards while its armor-like mandibles tried to bite through the glass.
It's unclear whether it was because the ants could see her inside through the glass, or because they could smell human scent.
Xu Lai even saw them perch on the transparent windowpane, staring at her for a moment before quickly increasing the speed of their biting motions with their sharp mouthparts.
"Is this the instinct of poisonous ants? Or has their intelligence increased further after they mutated?"
Thinking about this, Xu Lai got goosebumps all over her body.
In the instant Xu Lai was thinking, a swarm of ants had completely covered the transparent glass of their balcony.
The once bright living room suddenly dimmed.
Fortunately, the explosion-proof glass and doors and windows they replaced before the disaster were sturdy enough that no matter how many ants gnawed at them, the glass and doors remained undamaged.
"Oh no! Mutant ants have crawled in through the drain pipe hole of the room's air conditioner!"
Grandpa Xu, Xu Haiguo, Song Qiu'e, and Xu Chao, who were guarding the room, shouted loudly when they saw ants crawling in through the gaps in the air conditioner drain pipe.
"Quickly shock them with a stun gun, then spray insecticide into the drainpipe!"
Seeing that nothing was wrong in the living room, Xu Lai loudly explained the solution while quickly coming up with a brilliant idea. She took out a piece of insulation cotton from her storage space and cut it into four pieces the size of a bowl with scissors.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com