54 Chapter 54
◎Ali personally testifies that ant eggs are delicious◎
Chapter 54
The cat, whose size was comparable to that of a giant tiger, looked in their direction after hearing the sound of stones.
Everyone who heard the stone's cry at first and turned around to look over felt a chill in their hearts.
"Shitou, are you sure this is your Ali?"
The uncle carrying the stone happened to be in the center of the giant cat's sight at this time. Feeling that he was being locked, he felt uncomfortable all over.
He felt like he was being targeted. If he made any wrong move, the giant cat that was looking in his direction would rush towards him and either crush him or open its bloody mouth at him.
There is some basis for the fact that cats were called tigers’ teachers by the old people in the past.
In the past, people ignored their fighting ability because of their small size, and instead thought they were cute.
Think about the cats I used to see in the village hunting mice, fishing in the water, and catching birds in trees.
This is no longer ordinary combat power. If they were to encounter a pack of wolves in the mountains, they could still hide in a tree. But if they were to encounter Ahri, they might not be able to hide in the tree and would be directly picked off.
It’s like a meal delivered to your door!
After hearing the man's words, Shitou had no time to reply. Ahri, who was originally some distance away from them, was already heading towards them.
Obviously, its actions showed them that it was indeed Ahri.
"Ali, come quickly! These ants are so fierce! They've already bitten me twice!"
Seeing Ali approaching, Shitou complained as if he had met his parents, not noticing that his uncle, who was carrying him, was being stared at by the big cat's eyes and was sweating profusely.
As the distance got closer, after hearing what Stone said, Ali didn't continue to listen to Stone's narration, nor did he have any intention of making contact with the two-legged beasts in front of him. He directly clapped his claws at the ants on the ground.
These ants have strong defenses. Although Ahri couldn't kill them with one claw, she was able to bury them in the ground.
A cat's claw slapped out on the ground, which had become hard and compacted due to Wu Hun's special ability.
Under the claw marks, the mutant ants embedded in the ground were struggling to wave their bodies, as if trying to turn over from the embedded state. Unfortunately, Ali looked at the two bloody holes bitten on the trouser legs that were lifted up by the stones, and had no intention of letting them go.
Seeing that they couldn't move, Ahri stretched out her claws, dug them out, and slammed them into the ground again.
Seeing that Ahri had a solution, the group of people nearby didn't waste any words and led the mutant ants that were besieging them towards Ahri.
Although Ali was not familiar with these people and had only seen them from afar when she recently returned to the village, she did not object when she saw their actions. She used her claws to smack the mutant ants they attracted into the mud.
Its strength was so great that the ground was soon full of potholes. However, the good thing was that the mutant ants' armor shells were smashed to pieces by its slapping action. At this time, the ants were already dead.
Seeing that there were no more mutant ants around, Tang Rufeng finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, in order to prevent any ants from escaping the net, he decided to take people to check the area carefully before dealing with the mess.
"Shi Tou, could you please ask the dogs to help look for any survivors? We'll also look around carefully ourselves."
After hearing Tang Rufeng's words, Shitou, who had been put on the ground and was running towards Ali, stopped running and nodded towards Tang Rufeng with a serious look on his face. "Brother Rufeng, don't worry, I will tell the dogs!"
Seeing that everyone around her had something to do, Xiao Ling'er had just used up her special abilities and there was nothing she could do to help. So she walked towards Ali like a stone.
"Ali, where did you go the past two days? I couldn't find you in the village."
Shitou held Ali's big cat head and rubbed it hard on the cat's forehead.
"I'm going down the mountain to look for my little brother."
Ali didn't waste any words and simply summarized what he did after coming down the mountain in one sentence.
Just as Ali said this, a rustling sound came from the bushes beside the path behind him.
Shitou didn't sense any signs of vigilance from Ali, and knew there was no danger, so he turned around to look over out of curiosity.
After a while, a huge snake head appeared in sight.
The opponent's body shape seemed to be similar to Ahri's, and had undergone unusual changes. The only good thing was that there was nothing wrong with the opponent's brain, and he could still communicate with the stone.
"Ah! Is that Xiao Hei's mother?"
The first thing Shi Tou did when he saw the other person was to pull out Xiao Hei, who he had been carrying with him, from his sleeve and ask Xiao Hei.
After hearing what Shitou said, the person who was drilling through the mountain in their direction paused, a little confused.
What's going on with this little human? Shouldn't I just ask it directly? Why are I asking its little cub?
It’s really hard to understand children’s thoughts.
Ali didn't understand why Shitou asked this, but it made no difference, so Ali didn't care. She meowed and signaled the other small animals in the village that Shitou had brought out, like the puppies, to go find the mutant ants.
"These little animals in the village aren't very good at fighting. I don't like to bring them with me when I go up or down the mountain. Did Shitou bring them out to play?"
After arranging the little animals, Ali turned around and asked Shitou.
"...Uh, not really. It's mainly because these little animals in the village are the only ones who obey my orders."
Shitou scratched his head awkwardly and explained.
"The little animals that come down from the mountains can talk to me, but they don't listen to me. They say they have a boss and don't want to stay with me."
Shi Tou said this, somewhat helplessly.
The small animals that came down from the mountains couldn't stay in the mountains, so they found the relatively safe Daxi Village to settle down. Their fighting power is slightly stronger than those animals in the village.
However, they have little contact with humans living at the foot of the mountain. Although they can communicate with stones, they are unwilling to obey the stones' commands.
"Okay, got it."
Ahri turned his head and glanced across the mountain with a sharp look in his eyes.
The two of them went down the mountain. The ones who couldn't stay on the mountain and went to the village must be the younger brothers who had crossed the mountain.
So it is understandable that it is dissatisfied with the mountain.
Xiao Hei, who was held in Shi Tou's arms, had not seen his mother for a long time. After hearing Shi Tou's question, he first looked in the direction of the mountain peak, and hissed in the direction of the mountain peak.
After confirming that it was his mother, he headed towards the ground, approached the mountain, rubbed against the big snake, and then returned to the stone.
Although snakes don't have as strong emotions as humans, they still have some. They will miss each other if they haven't seen each other for a long time.
After a brief time together, Shitou seemed to remember something. He rubbed Ali's head and asked Ali.
"Ah Li, you said you went down the mountain to look for my younger brother, did you find him?"
When Shi Tou asked, the people who had just gone to the surrounding area to look for mutant ants that might have escaped had also returned.
As soon as I came back, I heard Shitou asking Ali this question. Everyone was looking at me with surprised eyes, as if they were very surprised.
The village chief's Ali hasn't been seen wandering around the village for a while. They all thought that the cat was getting bigger and bigger and was getting tired of staying in the village, so it was ready to go to the mountains to be the king of the mountain.
Unexpectedly, he didn't go to the mountain to be the king of the mountain, but went down the mountain to find his younger brothers.
"Found it. It's behind us. It's running slowly, so we haven't found it yet."
Hearing Shitou's question, Ali gently turned his head, which was a little uncomfortable from being rubbed by Shitou, but he did not struggle and just answered Shitou's question in a muffled voice.
"They have a very good sense of smell. Even if we walk fast, they can keep up with us."
As he spoke, Ali gave a brief explanation.
Just as it finished speaking, a series of rustling sounds came from the bottom of the path, accompanied by the dull sound of animals' claws and hooves stepping on the ground.
"Well, they've caught up."
Ahri turned around, looked in the direction of the sound, and explained to Shitou.
The short time they spent here was enough for the animals following slowly behind to reach them.
The slow-moving animals that Ali mentioned were, in the eyes of Shitou and others, a group of wild animals of unknown origin running wildly towards the mountain, stepping on the flying dust.
In the flying dust, Tang Rufeng also saw a giant tiger that was about the same size as Ali.
It's a real tiger! Not Ahri, a giant cat that has mutated and grown in size to resemble a tiger.
"My goodness, what kind of ancestors did Ali bring back from our mountain?"
Tang Tang hurriedly opened the protective shield that he had put away earlier, and stared in amazement at the group of wild animals rushing towards him.
"Are there such animals at the foot of our mountain?"
Tang Rufeng was surprised when he saw it for the first time, but after being surprised, he thought about whether there was a zoo in the town at the foot of the mountain.
No!
The town at the foot of the mountain is too small to handle such business.
Have these extremely dangerous wild animals appeared in the mountains before?
No!
The mountain is not a wildlife conservation area. The people moving around are all villagers from the surrounding area. There may be some smaller wild animals, but slightly more dangerous ones are unlikely to appear here.
After confirming this idea, Tang Rufeng looked at Ali with a strange look.
Since there are no wild animals of these types around here, how did Ali find these animals?
He really underestimated Ahri's determination to be the boss!
The brief time they spent standing here thinking was enough for the animals to reach them. When they were at a certain distance, the animals seemed to be preparing to continue rushing forward. Ahri was afraid that they would not be careful and rush onto Shitou and the others, so she meowed in their direction.
Then an even more bizarre scene appeared in front of Tang Rufeng and others.
The animals that seemed to be running very fast just now gradually slowed down after hearing Ali's voice.
Finally, he stopped only ten meters away from them, and then just looked at them without moving forward.
"Wow, Ahri is really amazing!"
Shitou was very excited when he saw Ahri commanding the animals. He stood beside Ahri and started clapping. His eyes were full of excitement. He didn't feel any fear at all because he was standing in front of the group of beasts without any cover in the way.
Clapping and clapping, he was so happy.
"Brother Shitou, can you understand what those animals say?"
Xiao Ling'er was lying on an uncle's shoulder before, but now she is standing on the ground. Seeing Shi Tou's appearance, she came up to Shi Tou and asked softly.
"Yes, don't worry, they don't mean any harm, they are all very well behaved!"
When Shitou heard Xiao Ling'er's words, he turned around and began to explain to her.
But his explanation was no different from no explanation.
He was the only one present who could understand what the animals said and perceive their emotional logic. Others could only guess a little from their actions.
Seeing the stone like this, it is hard not to believe it.
"Okay, then we need to stay here for a while. Stone, do you think we should let Ahri stay here and wait for us, or let them go up the mountain first?"
Seeing this, Tang Rufeng could only put aside his worries temporarily and trust Shi Tou.
"I want to stay with Ahri."
Shitou hadn't seen Ali for several days. When he heard Tang Rufeng asking him to make a choice, he would of course choose to stay with Ali.
"Okay, then be careful."
Seeing this, Tang Rufeng nodded.
"Let's dig the soil now. We've checked the surroundings and there are no mutant ants leaking out from the ground. The molten iron in the ant nest underground has cooled down now, so we can dig it up and see if there are any mutant ants left."
Tang Rufeng said this and turned to walk in the direction where Wu Hun had poured molten iron before.
"Okay, let's do it together!"
After hearing his arrangements, Wu Hun and others followed without any intention of objecting.
They came out originally to deal with the mutant ants. Now that the situation has reached this point, it is normal for them to dig thoroughly underground and eliminate the last possible hidden dangers.
Only by doing it carefully the first time can you avoid making the same mistake again due to negligence later.
Although they don't know now whether the mutated ants on the mountain are only the one in front of them.
As of now, this is the only nest that has chosen to nest near them and pose a threat to them!
When looking at it from the ground, I already predicted that the underground ant nest would be very large. After all, the size of ants has increased, so it is normal for them to need a larger space to move around underground.
I just didn't expect that the nest of these ants would be so big.
Just digging it out took them a lot of effort.
If Wu Hun had not put molten iron into the ant nest before, which had now solidified, they would probably have misjudged the size of the ant nest and dug too little space.
"I was wondering why we only managed to fill it up after using up all the iron we brought this time. It seems the anthills here are just too big."
Wu Hun dug and sighed as he looked at the ant nest he and his team had dug out, which was made of iron and had layers upon layers, like a work of art.
He knew he would face danger when he came out this time, so before he came out, he carried as many iron blocks as he could with him, and he carried a lot on his shoulders alone.
But after filling the ant nest, he had very few iron blocks left to attack the ants, and could only fight the ants in hand-to-hand combat. It can be seen how much molten iron he spent on filling this ant nest.
There really wasn't much iron left for him to use!
"It's okay, Brother Hun. When we get back, we'll take this ant nest back. You can break it into iron blocks again and use it later."
Tang Tang squatted and dug at the ant nest while talking to Wu Hun.
They had been squatting next to the ant nest and digging for a long time. Tang Tang had been holding up his protective shield for a long time. Seeing that his men had been digging for so long and had not seen a single living surviving mutant ant, he relaxed a little.
She was feeling a little tired of holding up the protective shield, so she put it away.
But when she turned around to talk to Wu Hun, her hands did not stop moving. As soon as she made a digging motion, she felt a sharp pain in her hand.
"Wow! Oh my god, there's still a survivor!"
Tangtang dug up the Easter egg.
The entire ant nest is protected in the center, and the best position is the queen's nest. At this time, the queen is already dying due to the previous molten iron pouring and the scorching heat around her.
But even if it is about to die, it is still a mutated queen ant and still has some vitality.
In such a short period of time, it laid more than a dozen ant eggs, as if it was sure that it could not survive, so it wanted to leave some survivors for its own tribe.
It didn't expect that these humans were so cunning. They had already poured the molten iron in. The survivors in the ant nest had already found a way to escape from the ant nest. They had already searched the ground and would turn the entire ant nest upside down to dig it out.
Now it is facing the final excavation by humans. The queen ant, who is only breathing her last breath, lays an ant egg and is about to die. It just so happens that the unlucky Tang Tang digs up her Easter egg.
Of course, take a bite.
Compared with the worker ants who had fought with Tang Rufeng and others outside before, the queen ant's attack power was obviously insufficient. After biting Tang Tang and being thrown out by Tang Tang subconsciously, the last breath it had left was also lost.
"Dead."
Hearing the sound, Captain Qing came over and took a closer look at the queen ant. After making sure that the queen ant had been killed clearly, he turned around and returned to Tang Rufeng.
"Why……"
Tang Tang covered his bleeding hand, made a bitter face, and opened his protective shield again.
"I'd better hold on like this. Just when I was about to take a break, I got a bite. Is this ant staring at me like this!"
Tang Tang was speechless. He walked forward and lightly kicked the queen ant, who was already dead.
Only after she was sure that the other party had no chance at all did she dare to go up.
"You're just unlucky. It's okay. Remember what happened next time."
Tang Rufeng smiled and said something to comfort Tang Tang.
Then he walked forward, stood where Tang Tang had just stood, and looked down at the small hole dug by Tang Tang.
This was obviously where the queen ant lived before. At this time, there were only traces of activities of other ants and the corpses of dead ants in this small pit.
What caught Tang Rufeng's attention the most were perhaps those ant eggs that still looked very fresh.
"These should be the ones that were laid later and are still alive. I'm not sure if the other ant eggs are still alive, so let's take them back together."
As Tang Rufeng spoke, he reached out and dug around the side of the queen ant's nest, making sure that the nests nearby were full of ant eggs. Then he spoke softly.
Just as he said this, Ali, who was originally watching their actions with Shitou on the other side, seemed to smell some fragrance, took a few steps, and came to Tang Rufeng.
A big cat's head suddenly came close to him. Tang Rufeng was a little scared at first, but after he reacted, he rubbed his face against Ali's cheek.
"Did Ahri smell something?"
As Tang Rufeng spoke, he reached into the ant nest underground, dug out a still warm ant egg, and brought it to Ali's lips.
The ant eggs were still warm, not because the ants inside were still alive, but because they had been heated by Wu Hun's molten iron and were now half-cooked.
The eggs of the mutant ants are not small and look similar to turtle eggs. It is not certain whether they can be eaten by humans.
But the animals don’t have to worry, because Ali and the others have their own judgment system, especially after the mutation. The mutated animals with intelligence are very smart, such as Ali and his Huidou.
If it wasn't edible, Ahri wouldn't even come over.
Seeing the little thing being put to his mouth, Ali didn't mind that it had been half-cooked by these two-legged beasts. He rolled his tongue and put it into his mouth.
It is crispy when you bite it, and a mellow aroma with spiritual energy emanates from your mouth.
tasty!
As soon as Ali took a bite, his eyes began to light up.
These mutant ants feed on animals and plants with spiritual energy. They will not eat anything without spiritual energy. Of course, the queen ant eats the best, so that she can lay better ant eggs.
Now these ants have not been born yet, and the eggs are full of accumulated spiritual energy, which is the nourishment for the growth of those mutated little ants.
Unlike those plants that grow unpalatable to protect themselves, these mutant ants do not have this awareness. All they care about is whether the spiritual energy is sufficient to support the birth of the mutant little ants.
And now, eggs with so much spiritual energy, like the fruit tree at the end of Daxi Village, are all good things!
Tang Rufeng never took his eyes off Ali's face when he was feeding him ant eggs.
At this moment, seeing the obvious appetite on Ali's furry face, and his shining eyes staring at the ant eggs in the underground ant nest, as if he wanted to claw them himself, what was there to not understand?
"Shitou, come and help collect the ant eggs. Let's pick them up together. These are good things!"
Tang Rufeng turned around and shouted at Shitou. It was obviously inappropriate for him to stop Ali who really wanted to eat these ant eggs at this time.
But it’s different with Shitou. When Shitou tries to collect Ahri, he will definitely not snatch it away. Instead, he will squat beside her and watch. Shitou will not ignore Ahri either. While collecting the food, he will definitely put one or two into Ahri’s mouth.
As Tang Rufeng expected, the stone was replaced and squatted at the place where he had just squatted to collect ant eggs.
They collect ant eggs by the rocks, and after noticing Ahri's shining eyes, they secretly put one or two into Ahri's mouth.
The man and the cat ate secretly, thinking they were being unnoticed.
Tang Rufeng saved the remaining ant eggs and let Ali eat what she wanted willingly.
Everyone is happy.
A few people were digging an ant nest while secretly glancing in the direction of Stone Ali. Seeing that they were all behaving well, they lowered their heads and continued with their work.
The subsequent work went smoothly, and during the process, several ant egg nests separated by ants were discovered. Tang Rufeng left them for Shitou to collect.
As for him, the only ant eggs he actually collected from the beginning were the dozen or so that were definitely laid by the queen ant at great risk of her life.
He wanted to take them back and ask his godmother if he could raise them. Since these ant eggs tasted so good and contained so much spiritual energy, could they become a sustainable resource?
But this was the only idea he had in mind right now. After all, they had gone through so much trouble to eliminate those ants before, so they would definitely not do something that would be thankless.
As long as his godmother denies his idea, he will not continue.
If I really insist on my own ideas and hatch these ants, and finally I can't control them, it will cause trouble to the villagers and give my godmother something to do, which would be bad.
It was already evening when they came out. They fought a battle in the middle, and when Ahri came to clean up the mess, the sun had already set and the sky was dark.
At this time, all the ant eggs have been collected and the ant nests have been dug up. It is already dark and we can only observe the surroundings with the help of lighting equipment.
"Let's go, it's almost time to go back."
Tang Rufeng took a flashlight and looked around the bumpy ground they had dug. After making sure that there was no problem, he spoke up to greet them.
【Author’s words】
When Ali bites the tiny ant eggs, is it the same as when we bite the popping pearls in milk tea?
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