Chapter 22 022 The Queen Ant
The ant colony had already gone far away, but Meng Qinghe's mind was still filled with the image of the dark ant swarm, and a chill ran down his spine.
The cat's small features were all scrunched up, making it hard to look at.
Meng Qinghe took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the chilling feeling in his heart.
She forced herself to recall the outline she had originally conceived, which did indeed include the concept of mutated animals.
According to her plan, the first to mutate would be aquatic creatures.
Those aquatic creatures, having long fed on the rotting flesh of zombies in the water, gradually began to mutate, but only in terms of increasing size and attack power.
Other mutated creatures were not mentioned in the early to mid-stages of the story, only appearing near the end.
Therefore, in the setting, the outbreak of mutated animals is sudden and rapid.
It gave the main characters no time to prepare, becoming their final and ultimate challenge.
"Is it because we're not the main characters that we encounter mutated animals earlier?"
Meng Qinghe pondered to himself, while the kitten's face was full of gloom.
What upset her the most was...
She clearly remembers that when she made a list of mutated creatures, she deliberately avoided ants, because ants were her childhood nightmare.
When she was very young, a jar of candy she treasured was overturned at some point.
By the time it was discovered, the jar was crawling with ants, densely packed and a dark mass.
The image still sends chills down her spine when she thinks about it.
Faced with her favorite candy, Meng Qinghe frantically reached out to shoo away the ants, only to have her finger bitten hard by an angry soldier ant.
Older people often say that ant bites don't hurt, but that's not true.
Furthermore, after being bitten by ants, the wound becomes red and swollen, and the pain is intense and burning, which is very torturous.
In short, ants became a persistent shadow over her.
Chi Yingdong's brows were also furrowed, ice-type supernatural power flowing between her fingers, she was also very troubled.
When she saw the entrance to the hole earlier, she suspected it was a mutated ant, and it turned out to be true.
These ants are not particularly strong individually, but what is terrifying is their endless numbers.
As soon as one wave is dealt with, a new wave immediately follows, making it feel like a never-ending war of attrition.
"Sister, every ant colony has a queen ant."
Xu Chuyao suddenly tugged at Chi Yingdong's sleeve, her eyes sparkling.
Xu Chuyao tried hard to recall the animal world videos she had watched before.
Every ant colony has a queen ant, and all the ants obey the queen's commands.
If they can find the queen ant and communicate with her amicably, things will be much easier to resolve.
Xu Chuyao said slowly, "Every ant follows the orders of the queen ant."
The little girl said very seriously, "My special ability is to communicate with animals. When we find the queen ant, we can have a good talk with her."
After speaking, Xu Chuyao raised her head and looked at Chi Yingdong with expectant eyes.
Looking at Xu Chuyao's innocent face, Chi Yingdong sighed inwardly.
Children's thoughts are simple; they don't think about so much.
The building has 45 floors, and they are currently on the 40th floor.
There are five more floors above, and they have no idea whether those five floors have been transformed into nests by ants.
Even setting aside how to find the queen ant in the colony, it's questionable whether she'd be willing to communicate.
Chi Yingdong thought of Qian Ruanruan. Although she had never witnessed Qian Ruanruan's strength, her lightning-type ability was the most powerful among other abilities of the same level.
Qian Ruanruan is trapped here; perhaps something even more terrifying than mutated ants is hidden in this building.
However, Xu Chuyao's idea is also the best one at present.
After considering it for a while, Chi Yingdong finally made a decision: "Let's give it a try."
Although the ants were numerous and impossible to kill completely, Chi Yingdong was not particularly calm.
She calmly assessed the situation.
The worst possible outcome would be that they would be attacked by ants.
But with her abilities, it wouldn't be difficult for her to break through with Meng Qinghe and Xu Chuyao.
However, it would be best not to disturb the entire ant colony.
Meng Qinghe heard footsteps again and reminded Chi Yingdong and Xu Chuyao to hide.
The two people and the cat held their breath, pressed tightly against the cold wall.
Soon, a line of soldier ants emerged from the entrance.
Chi Yingdong noticed a tear in the antennae of the leading soldier ant, which was the same soldier ant that had gone in earlier.
Once all the ants in the line had come out of the hole, Chi Yingdong noticed that the worker ants that had gone in earlier had not returned with the line; they had been left inside the nest.
Fortunately, the ants that remained in the nest were worker ants.
Compared to soldier ants, worker ants are practically defenseless.
After waiting for a while until the footsteps of the soldier ants completely disappeared, Chi Yingdong and the other two went inside.
Upon entering the nest, the sight before them astonished them.
The once neat office area has been completely transformed by the ants.
The interconnected tunnels were like a maze, the walls covered with sticky secretions, and the air filled with a sour, putrid smell.
Xu Chuyao looked at the passageway on the left.
For no reason, she just felt that they should take this path.
Xu Chuyao hesitated, pointing to the passage on the left, her voice barely audible, "Sister, can we take this path?"
Xu Chuyao felt very uneasy after making this suggestion.
She had previously said she wouldn't cause trouble, but now she's making demands on the itinerary.
Chi Yingdong gently ruffled Xu Chuyao's hair, his tone unusually tender.
“We are a team now. You are not a kid, you are my teammate. You can speak your mind if you have any opinions.”
For Chi Yingdong, every path is unknown, and it doesn't matter which one he chooses.
But since she brought Xu Chuyao along, Xu Chuyao is her teammate, and it's not appropriate for her to always be so timid and submissive.
And often, intuition can save lives.
The two people and the cat walked towards the passage on the left.
They traveled the road smoothly without encountering any danger.
At the end of the passage, two soldier ants stood like sculptures.
Chi Yingdong acted decisively, his ice spikes piercing the vital points of the gatekeeper soldier ants with pinpoint accuracy, all without making a sound.
The two soldier ants didn't even have time to sound the alarm before they froze in place, the light in their covered eyes gradually going out.
Chi Yingdong bypassed the soldier ants and went inside; the space inside was quite large.
This must be an ant hatchery.
Rows of computer desks have been transformed into incubation beds, with translucent ant eggs neatly arranged.
The worker ants work mechanically, constantly secreting nutrient solution from their mouthparts to coat the ant eggs, ensuring that the eggs can hatch successfully.
Even though the worker ants discovered them, they continued with their tasks.
They ignored the intruders, their eyes only on the eggs in front of them.
Chi Yingdong felt something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Logically speaking, although worker ants are not as aggressive as soldier ants, they should not ignore intruders in this way.
They seem to be controlled by something, only knowing how to mechanically perform the tasks assigned to them from above.
Meng Qinghe's gaze fell on the ant eggs; she was a typical coward who also loved to look.
These eggs are expanding at a visible rate, and the wriggling larvae inside can be vaguely seen.
Meng Qinghe's pupils constricted at this sight, and he buried himself in the crook of Chi Yingdong's neck.
Chi Yingdong had noticed earlier that the kitten was afraid of ants, but the kitten hadn't said anything.
He was desperately burying his head in the crook of her neck, probably because he was terrified.
There are only two paths in the incubator.
One path was the one they had come by, while the other was inside the incubation room, leading nowhere.
Chi Yingdong hugged the kitten tightly, walked around rows of incubation beds, and headed towards the inner passage.
Walk through the passageway.
Inside was still an incubation chamber, only it was an incubation chamber for insect pupae.
Chi Yingdong could still accept the scene inside the ant egg incubation room.
Upon seeing the larvae, Chi Yingdong felt a slight discomfort in his stomach.
The walls of the incubation chamber are covered with a web made of slime.
Ant pupae at different developmental stages hang on the web. Some pupae are quite deformed. The pupae are all black, as if they have been armored.
Chi Yingdong suppressed his discomfort and looked around.
A plaque was found under a wall covered with wire mesh.
The thick mesh obscured the words on the plaque, so Chi Yingdong took out a broom from his spatial storage and cleared away the mesh in front of the plaque.
Experimental Group No. 47.
Chi Yingdong was taken aback; this place had previously been a laboratory.
Something flashed through her mind, but the image passed by too quickly for her to grasp.
The two people and the cat walked along the dark passageway, passing several incubation rooms.
The air was filled with a damp, musty smell and the pungent odor of formic acid.
Meng Qinghe buried his head in Chi Yingdong's neck and shoulders, wanting to smell Chi Yingdong's scent to relieve his discomfort.
By burying her face in Chi Yingdong's neck, she could clearly feel the speed of the blood flow in his carotid artery.
And I could smell a faint, sweet fragrance.
This taste...
Meng Qinghe twitched his nostrils and took a careful sniff.
This fragrance is sweeter than the usual scent on Chi Yingdong.
Where did you get it from?
But it smells strangely nice.
Meng Qinghe buried his head even deeper.
But after smelling the smell for a while, she felt hot all over and her throat tightened.
poisonous!
The kitten couldn't resist sticking out its tongue and gently licking it.
In a corner where Meng Qinghe couldn't see, Chi Yingdong's steps froze.
The glands were licked by the cat's tongue, leaving a tingling, indescribable sensation that spread from my neck throughout my body.
Chi Yingdong gently patted the kitten's bottom, "Stop fooling around."
The embarrassment of being slapped on the butt brought Meng Qinghe back to her senses.
She abruptly turned her head, pressing her cheek against Chi Yingdong's shoulder, trying to hold her breath.
Chi Yingdong noticed the kitten's unusual behavior and gently patted its back to comfort it silently.
After walking through the passage, there is a large metal door at the end.
The electronic lock on the door had long since stopped working.
Previously, it required triple authentication of iris, fingerprint and password to enter, but now it can be opened silently with a gentle push.
Xu Chuyao was the first to push open the heavy door.
"We've arrived."
Chi Yingdong whispered a reminder to the kitten.
At that moment, she casually hung the flashlight somewhere, and the light instantly spread, illuminating the entire space.
Meng Qinghe poked her little head out from under Chi Yingdong's neck, her round eyes scanning the surroundings.
Chi Yingdong surveyed a spot, hung up the flashlight, and the room instantly became bright.
Meng Qinghe saw it more clearly now.
Despite being located in the heart of the ant kingdom, this place has miraculously retained its pre-apocalyptic appearance, showing no signs of being altered by the ants.
The lab bench is set with sophisticated instruments: an incubator, a centrifuge, a gene sequencer...
Each one is priceless; these devices alone are enough to prove the enormous amount of money invested back then.
Meng Qinghe couldn't help but wonder who invested in and built this laboratory, and what it was for research.
From the moment she entered the laboratory, Xu Chuyao's gaze was fixed on the giant ant on the operating table.
"it hurts……"
Xu Chuyao's voice trembled so badly it was almost incoherent, and her small hands gripped the fabric at her chest tightly.
Chi Yingdong turned to look at Xu Chuyao, "What's wrong?"
Just as Xu Chuyao was about to shake her head, a bottomless sadness surged towards her like a tidal wave.
Although it wasn't her emotion, it felt so real that it made it hard for her to breathe.
Xu Chuyao strode onto the operating table and lightly touched the glass cover with her fingers.
"Is it your emotions?" Xu Chuyao murmured softly.
That kind of despair of being imprisoned and studied.
Chi Yingdong, holding the kitten, followed Xu Chuyao's steps.
Meng Qinghe mustered his courage and moved closer to observe.
The queen ant inside the glass case had her eyes closed. Her wings had been deliberately broken in half, and the tips were nowhere to be found, leaving only a few remnants.
Those specially made chains cut deep into her chitinous shell, fixing her on the operating table in the position most conducive to laying eggs.
A small hole, about ten fingers wide, was made on the operating table. Whenever a glistening ant egg was expelled from her body, it would fall precisely into the hole.
As for which incubator this ant egg will be sent to, that remains unknown.
But this isn't some queen ant at all.
She was clearly an experimental subject who had been transformed into a reproductive machine.
Chi Yingdong noticed Xu Chuyao's unusual behavior and reached out to support her slightly trembling shoulders.
"Chu Yao?" Chi Yingdong called softly, her voice exceptionally clear in the empty laboratory. "Did you sense something?"
Xu Chuyao's pupils contracted slightly in the dim light.
As she gazed at the peacefully sleeping queen ant inside the glass enclosure, her heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand.
The dim light from the flashlight fell on the queen ant's carapace.
Having spent so much time on the operating table, her carapace had long lost its luster.
When Xu Chuyao turned to Chi Yingdong, her voice was clearly choked with sobs, "Sister, can we save her? She's in so much pain."
She instinctively grabbed the hem of Chi Yingdong's clothes, her fingertips turning white from the force.
Chi Yingdong's gaze fell on the ant queen's antennae, which were twitching slightly.
Even in its slumber, those slender tentacles still trembled unconsciously, like a drowning person's last struggle in the water.
Chi Yingdong had already suspected that these worker ants were being controlled, and now he was almost certain that the queen ant had awakened the superpower of mind control.
Almost there.
This is something Xu Chuyao needs to confirm for her.
"Can you sense the queen ant's emotions?"
Chi Yingdong vaguely sensed that Xu Chuyao had other supernatural energy fluctuations.
Xu Chuyao nodded, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.
As a superhuman capable of communicating with animals, the queen ant's mental power washed over her consciousness like a tidal wave.
Those emotions were too intense.
Despair is like a black tide, anger is like a burning flame, and there is an even deeper, suffocating loneliness.
Her temples throbbed as if someone were hitting them with a hammer.
“I can hear her crying.” Xu Chuyao said, tears streaming down her face. She pointed to her temple. “She’s crying here.”
As Xu Chuyao spoke, her trembling hand pressed against her temples.
Xu Chuyao's reaction further confirmed Chi Yingdong's conjecture.
The queen ant not only possesses powerful mental strength, but also actively establishes a connection with Xu Chuyao.
It's just that Xu Chuyao's special ability is not as strong as the ant queen's, which is why she was so deeply affected by the other party's emotions.
Xu Chuyao looked at Chi Yingdong pleadingly, "Sister, please help her."
At Xu Chuyao's pleading, Meng Qinghe also came over.
The kitten was quiet, only gently rubbing its head against Chi Yingdong's hand, its emerald green eyes filled with pleading.
Chi Yingdong was so angry that he laughed. The kitten-like look on his face clearly showed that he thought she wouldn't help, so he joined in pleading for her.
With the two little ones begging her, how could she possibly refuse?
Moreover, she was moved by the Queen Ant's current appearance.
Despite racial differences, it's impossible for anyone to remain indifferent to seeing a life confined to the operating table and forced into becoming a breeding machine.
The murky liquid was still slowly flowing in the tubes connected to the queen ant's abdomen, like some kind of malicious life support system.
"Knock knock".
Chi Yingdong tapped the heavy glass dome with his knuckles, the dull sound echoing in the space.
She estimated the thickness of the glass and wondered if it would be feasible to freeze it with ice and then break it.
Chi Yingdong pressed his palm against the cold glass.
In an instant, frost flowers bloomed from her fingertips.
Fine ice crystals spread across the glass surface as if they were alive, making a soft "crackling" sound.
The temperature in the laboratory plummeted, and even the white breath exhaled by Xu Chuyao condensed into fog in the air.
The moment the ice completely covered the glass dome, Chi Yingdong clenched his fist.
As Chi Yingdong clenched his fist, a crisp sound broke the silence in the laboratory.
The glass dome shattered instantly, and countless fragments poured down like a rain of crystals.
Without the soundproof barrier, the queen ant's painful groans could be clearly heard, the sound seeming to come from a very far place, trembling with an echo.
Xu Chuyao practically lunged at the operating table.
She grabbed the chains and pulled hard, but the chains only tugged slightly, and the part that held the queen ant's body in place remained completely still.
"Get out of the way."
Chi Yingdong's voice was calm and firm.
Xu Chuyao immediately stepped aside.
Chi Yingdong grabbed a chain and pulled hard, his muscles tensing instantly.
The entire operating table groaned and began to shake under the strain.
But these chains not only locked up the queen ant, but were also connected to the foundation of the entire laboratory.
Just then, Meng Qinghe had already walked around the operating table once.
She found the chain's latch, but it was behind the operating table, so much so that Chi Yingdong didn't notice it.
Meng Qinghe leaped lightly onto the operating table, her tail held high, and tugged at Chi Yingdong's trouser leg to show her the lock.
Meng Qinghe: "Meow meow meow meow."
This can be unlocked.
"Is there a latch?"
Chi Yingdong bent down to examine it and indeed found an old-fashioned mechanical lock at the intersection of the chains.
If it's a combination lock, there's a risk of it locking up completely after a power outage. Old-fashioned mechanical locks can be opened with just a key.
The two people and the cat immediately split up to search.
Chi Yingdong pulled open the metal cabinet against the wall, and stacks of documents poured out with a clatter.
While examining the documents, a gold-embossed contract caught her attention.
Investment Agreement for the Qiao's Group Biotechnology Project
Is the Qiao family the one she's thinking of?
Chi Yingdong turned to the last page of the contract, and the name Qiao Ying on the last page made her pause slightly.
Chi Yingdong started reading from the first page, and the first thing that caught his eye was the long string of zeros in the amount column.
This contract is worth hundreds of billions.
Qiao Ying actually invested all of Qiao's working capital into this research.
Chi Yingdong opened the contract and quickly skimmed through its contents.
The contract specified the purpose of the 100 million yuan: to develop the communication methods and power of ants.
Chi Yingdong finally remembered which branch office he had opened here was which one.
A company with advanced scientific research capabilities.
Chi Yingdong remembered asking her before what the company was used for research, and Qiao Ying's answer was that it was used to develop cervical viruses to benefit all Omegas.
Qiao Ying lied.
Looking back on his past life, Chi Yingdong belatedly realized that many things were not right.
Why was Qiao Ying able to quickly organize a group of talented and extraordinary people to work for her, even in such a dangerous apocalyptic world?
Even after the apocalypse, when the area was severely flooded, Qiao Ying was still able to get people to deliver fresh vegetables and meat to her.
If it weren't for the red moon on the day of the apocalypse, Chi Yingdong would have even suspected that Qiao Ying was related to this apocalypse.
But at least she can confirm that Qiao Ying knew the apocalypse was coming and had even studied genes ahead of time.
On the other side, Xu Chuyao anxiously searched every corner, but still couldn't find the key.
She closed her eyes and tried to reconnect with the queen ant's consciousness.
In a daze, she seemed to see countless glowing threads extending from the queen ant's body, one of which gently pulled her.
Xu Chuyao followed the guidance of the silk thread and walked forward, stopping in front of the instrument controlling the operating table.
Xu Chuyao squatted down and touched the bottom of the instrument with her fingers. Soon she felt an uneven spot.
She pressed down hard.
After a crisp click, the hidden compartment popped open.
A small, delicate brass key lay quietly inside.
"Sister, I found the key."
Xu Chuyao grabbed the keys and ran towards Chi Yingdong, her voice trembling with excitement.
Chi Yingdong took the key and noticed a deep indentation left by the key on Xu Chuyao's palm, showing how hard she had gripped it.
Chi Yingdong walked towards the operating table with the key in his hand. The moment the key was inserted into the lock, everyone held their breath.
“Clatter.”
The latch opened immediately.
Xu Chuyao practically lunged onto the operating table to unlock the chains.
She carefully removed the chain from the queen ant, then angrily threw it to the ground, the heavy metal making a dull thud as it fell onto the white tiles.
The chains were completely removed, yet the queen ant remained asleep, with only the slight rise and fall of her abdomen proving she was still alive.
Xu Chuyao gently stroked the queen ant's cold carapace, tears welling up in her eyes. "How can I wake you up?"
The laboratory suddenly fell into an eerie silence, with only the dripping of the liquid in the IV tubing.
Just then, the queen ant's antennae trembled almost imperceptibly.
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