The three grown men gathered around the chopping board, staring at the large basin of ants, all of them feeling a little lost as to where to start.

In the end, it was Xia Huoqu who took action, chopping off the ant's head, cutting open its chest and abdomen, taking out two pieces of pale green and white ant meat, one large and one small, and placing them on the chopping board.

Xia Lunong moved closer and sniffed hard.

Xia Huoqu saw his nose twitching and asked, "What's the smell?"

"It doesn't seem to have any special smell." Xia Lunong took another deep breath and pinched the side of her face. "I've heard people say that ant eggs are sour, but this one is not at all?"

Yan Xinian said, "There are so many ants in the world, and not every species can secrete ant acid. Besides, they have become so big. If they can secrete ant acid, no animal can defeat them, and the entire ecosystem will suffer a fatal blow."

Xia Lunong thought about it and felt that it made sense.

No matter which direction the animals and plants mutate, they are restricted by the environment. Ants are so fertile. If they are still invincible, they will soon consume all the resources in an area, and they themselves will not be able to survive.

Xia Huoqu peeled the meat of the first ant. After the three of them sniffed it carefully, they felt that it was non-toxic and had no odor, so it should be edible, so they continued to peel it.

Soon, a whole pot of ant meat was peeled out and placed on a large plate. It felt quite crystal clear. If they hadn't seen the shells in the trash can, they couldn't imagine that such beautiful meat came from such an ugly insect.

Xia Huoqu put down the knife and said to Xia Lunong, "The rest is up to you. You decide how to deal with it."

Xia Lunong stepped forward, picked up the plate and smelled it again, but still felt that there was no odor. As for how it tasted, he couldn't guess at all.

He turned to look at his brother, "Then I will handle the meat in the usual way?"

"It's all right, do it your way."

Xia Lunong put some cooking wine, salt, and five-spice powder in it, then poured in some cooking wine, soy sauce, and oil, and mixed it evenly with chopsticks.

Then cut green peppers, red peppers, and add some ginger, garlic, and scallions, and the ingredients are ready. Heat

the pan with cold oil, pour the seasonings in and fry until fragrant, then pour the ant meat into the pot.

The hot oil quickly cooks the light green ant meat into white, and the ant meat also curls up and becomes elastic.

Xia Lunong continues to stir-fry over high heat. After making sure it is cooked, he also specially pours half a bowl of water into it, and boils it over high heat to collect the sauce.

It was their first time eating ant meat, so they had to make sure it was cooked thoroughly.

The soup in the pot bubbled and soon turned into steam, and the remaining soup became increasingly viscous.

Xia Lunong picked up a piece of ant meat from the pot, blew on it to cool it down a bit, then put it in his mouth and bit it gently.

The ant meat was tender, smooth, fresh, and chewy, with a little sourness, very light, and paired with the chili, it had a sour and spicy taste, and was very good with rice.

Xia Lunong looked down at the pot and felt that the ant meat was much better than he had imagined.

This ant meat was no worse than shrimp meat.

Yan Xinian was burning fire below, and seeing him standing there, he asked, "How is it?"

"I feel it's pretty good." Xia Lunong scooped up another piece with a spatula and handed it to him, "Brother Xinian, would you like to try it?"

Yan Xinian picked up the ant meat with two fingers. Because it was too hot, he had to toss it from his left hand to his right hand, flipping it back and forth, and quickly threw it into his mouth, looking up and blowing on it.

He breathed for a long time before chewing.

Xia Lunong observed his expression and asked, "How is it?"

Yan Xinian squinted his eyes, felt it carefully, and raised his thumb, "Very fresh and juicy."

"I think it's very fresh and tender, and we can put it on the list of ingredients for the base."

Yan Xinian nodded, "Next time we go out for patrol, bring back a few more of these ants and let the white building study them."

Xia Lunong was not interested in scientific research, so he nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

After he fried ant meat with eggplant and lentils, he had a dish of soybean and winter melon soup to cool off.

The three of them were at home, waiting for Kong Zhi to come back for dinner.

Kong Zhi came back when it was almost dark, holding something in his hand.

Xia Lunong saw that the thing in his hand was in the shape of a long strip, rolling and curling in his hand, and thought it was a snake, so she was shocked.

When she got closer, she found that the thing was yellow without phosphorus, with a round head and a round body. It was obviously a yellow eel!

"What a big yellow eel!" Xia Lunong quickly took out a bucket to put it in. "Where did you catch the yellow eel?"

"In the field." Kong Zhi threw the yellow eel into the empty bucket and motioned Xia Lunong to scoop water for him to wash his hands. "I just found it today. It should have swam into the field along the ditch to steal fish."

Xia Lunong looked down at the yellow eel in the bucket that was almost as thick as his wrist. He didn't know how long this guy had lived. It was a pity that he failed to steal the chicken and lost the rice, and he also lost himself.

Xia Lunong asked: "Where did this eel change?"

"It has two extra legs under its belly." Kong Zhi tilted the bucket to show him. "Apart from that, there are no other changes. It should be edible."

"Okay." Xia Lunong put the wooden basin on top of the bucket to cover it to prevent the eel from escaping. "Eels are hardy, so we can keep them for a few more days to get rid of the muddy smell."

Kong Zhi had no objection. After washing his hands, he went out to wash his face. He wanted to wash his whole body before going out to eat together.

Yan Xinian specially placed the plate of ant meat in front of him, smiling and saying, "Come and try the good stuff we got back today, it's very nutritious."

Kong Zhi looked up and glanced at him calmly, "Ant meat?"

"Hey, you are a very observant guy, aren't you? How did you know?" "

The garbage in the bucket was not emptied."

Yan Xinian said, "That's perfect, folk legend says that this thing can nourish the kidneys, you can try it."

Xia Huo said, "It's a far-fetched statement."

"It's just a legend, you'll know if you try it."

Kong Zhi looked up and glanced at Xia Lunong.

Xia Lunong followed with a wicked smile, a heartless smile.

Kong Zhi tasted a piece and said to Xia Huoqu: "It tastes good. Brother Huoqu, did you catch it today?"

Xia Huoqu: "Yes, I saw it when I was patrolling. I caught it and tried to add another dish."

Kong Zhi asked: "Is it difficult to catch? Do you want me to go with you to have a look?"

Xia Huoqu: "It's OK, not too dangerous. Just be careful to avoid its mouthparts and pinch it from the back. It's not dangerous if you're not surrounded by a large number of ants."

The two discussed ants.

Xia Lunong was very excited when she heard that there were ants everywhere outside and that there were ant eggs as big as half an ant.

Ant eggs are a famous delicacy. I wonder what the mutated ant eggs taste like.

Xia Lunong asked, "When will the protective belt be built? Can we catch more ants to eat when the protective belt is built?"

"Maybe in a while."

Speaking of ants, Xia Lunong thought of another delicacy. He turned to his brother and asked, "Brother, did you see crayfish in the nearby waters when you were patrolling?"

"I didn't look carefully, but there shouldn't be many." Xia Huo said, "No one is raising crayfish now, so it won't be easy to get some fresh crayfish."

"Whatever we can get is better." Xia Lunong said, "Let's get some back, and then we can stir-fry some spicy crayfish or something, and have a meal with wine, how nice."

Xia Huoqu said, "I'm not free now, let's wait for a while. Wait until the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, and take you out to play in August."

Xia Lunong calculated, "It's July 17th now, and this year's Mid-Autumn Festival in August seems to be almost October. Brother, this is too long, why don't we go after we pick the peanuts, then we will have some free time, just in time to go out and play, what do you think?"

Since going to Yacheng, Xia Lunong has been stuck in the base for a long time. His daily entertainment activities are usually reading novels and watching videos, which is very boring. He has wanted to go out for a long time.

Xia Huoqu is still thinking.

Xia Lunong looked at his brother and said tentatively, "If you guys are not free, I can go out with the collection team at the base. I think Lao Liu and the others are very reliable. I can also transform into a beast now..."

"Don't even think about it." Xia Huoqu raised his eyes and interrupted him, "You will probably be a drag if you go. It's best not to think about it. Then either you will be in danger or Lao Liu and the others will be in danger."

"Not that serious--" Xia Lunong didn't finish his words. Seeing his brother staring at him, he had to raise his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I promise not to act alone. Let's go out after we pick the peanuts, okay?"

Xia Huoqu said, "After picking the peanuts, washing them, drying them, and frying them in oil, complete these six steps and I'll take you out."

Xia Lunong calculated that it would take more than half a month to complete this set of steps.

Especially when drying peanuts, you have to see if the sun is out.

If you think about it this way, it's actually not much different from going out during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Xia Lunong raised his head and was about to protest, but when he saw his brother's expression, he swallowed his words of protest.

Forget it, I'll go out after frying the oil, and maybe I can go out again during the Mid-Autumn Festival by persuading his brother.

Xia Lunong was calculating in his mind, and he raised his head and smiled at his brother, "Okay, I think the peanuts are almost ready to be picked, let's go out and play after we're done with this period of time."

At night, his brother went to his former brother's house next door to sleep, and he and Kong Zhi were the only ones at home.

Kong Zhi took a shower first, and Xia Lunong took a shower later.

After taking a shower, Xia Lunong wiped his short flat head with a towel and came out. Seeing Kong Zhi reading an e-book on the sofa, she sat down next to him in frustration and said, "I shouldn't have told my brother that I wanted to go out tonight. I should have told you directly that I wanted to go out. Maybe we could go out in the next two days." His brother

would take care of him, but he didn't care much about Kong Zhi.

Maybe Kong Zhi is a bird of prey, or maybe his brother is more sensitive to the boundaries of identity.

Kong Zhi said, "There are a lot more ants outside recently. It's normal for Brother Huo Qu to worry."

Xia Lunong sat next to him with a big horse and a golden sword, with a towel on her legs, and sighed, "You guys always say there are a lot of ants outside, but I can't see them, so I can't judge the actual situation."

Kong Zhi raised his head and turned his eyes from the e-book to him.

Xia Lunong turned his head to look at him in surprise before he could say anything.

Kong Zhi retracted his gaze and said lightly: "Aren't we going to make a protective belt in a while? Qingzhuang will definitely have to take turns to go out by then, and we'll be able to see it soon."

"Okay, we'll have to wait for a while." Xia Lunong sighed, wiped her hair casually, and put the towel on the armrest of the sofa next to her, "I'm going back to sleep, you should go to bed early too."

"Well, good night."

Xia Lunong stood up, "Good night."

Xia Lunong quickly went back to her room to sleep.

He didn't see that Kong Zhi was sitting there, staring at the towel he used to wipe his hair for a long time.

It was a gray, slightly faded, and a little rough towel.

It was emitting a faint shampoo scent on the armrest.

The scent penetrated Kong Zhi's nose and firmly held his thoughts.

He lowered his eyes and was in a daze for a long time before he stood up and walked towards his room.