Chapter 38: The Kingdom Of Ants
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Wei Huo went on with his journey. He found a black cat chewing on a rat along the way; it was a giant cat about the size of an Alaskan Malamute1. The rat was not small either, it was as big as an adult cat.
The giant cat did not notice Wei Huo at all when he walked past them. That was not unusual.
As Wei Huo went back to traveling alone, his title ‘The Loner Neglected By God’ seemed to have come into effect. Even when he was right behind some animals, they did not sense his presence at all.
Wei Huo guessed that his presence was stronger when he had animals or humanoids by his side.
Now that Wei Huo was back to being alone, his passive ability was being put to use.
However, the success of this ability depended on probability. Although 70% was pretty high, it was still possible for Wei Huo to be discovered by animals, such as the black cat next to him right now.
Wei Huo was just walking by when the black cat seemed to have felt something behind it. It turned around and jumped when it saw Wei Huo. It jumped about seven to eight meters high and landed on a tree branch.
The black cat which jumped on the tree branch had its fur stood up while growling at Wei Huo after taking a good look at him.
Wei Huo was dumbfounded. “…”
‘How did that have anything to do with me!?’
The black cat continued growling at Wei Huo mercilessly with its claws out.
Wei Huo was annoyed. “If you’re that courageous, come at me! You probably wouldn’t anyway.”
Wei Huo was confident in his capabilities. Just as he said that the black cat jumped towards Wei Huo the next moment with its claws reaching for his face.
Wei Huo was left speechless. “…”
He underestimated the stubborn cat.
Wei Huo extended his hand and pressed the black cat onto the ground. He then pinched the back of its neck causing the black cat to be immobile.
Soon after that, it began crying as it stared at Wei Huo with its watery eyes. It was trying to escape.
Wei Huo smiled and let it go.
Only the strongest could afford empathy, and most of that empathy was to avoid trouble in the future. That was why Wei Huo chose to let it go.
As Wei Huo loosened his hand, the black cat quickly ran away. Not once did it look back as it rushed into the bushes and moments later, he could no longer hear any rustle.
At this very second, there were sounds coming from the Ant Tower ahead of him. Wei Huo looked over and found that a huge group of ants was charging towards him. They surrounded Wei Huo quickly. Each ant was about as huge as an Alaskan Malamute. They encircled Wei Huo and kept using their antennae to sniff Wei Huo’s scent.
Wei Huo realized what was going on. The rustle just now must have attracted them.
Ants did not have eyes or ears. They communicated only with their scents. Their language was made of various combinations of scents. They even left trails of their scents on the ground as a guide.
They discovered Wei Huo after detecting his scent. Although Wei Huo’s passive ability was effective, it was no match for the crowd of ants in front of him!
If one or two ants could not discover him, would three or four ants not do the trick?
The ants surrounded Wei Huo and hesitated.
They kept emitting their scents and attempted to communicate with Wei Huo, but he did not know what they were trying to do.
One ant which was unique walked over eventually and tried to communicate with Wei Huo. Unfortunately, Wei Huo did not understand it.
Moments later, the ant charged over and attempted to lift Wei Huo, but it underestimated Wei Huo’s weight. Although ants could lift objects that were a few times heavier than them, they could not lift Wei Huo at all.
After nearly 200 years of physical training and Qi Cultivation, Wei Huo’s cell density was terrifyingly high. His horrifyingly high body mass had greatly increased his weight, making it impossible for the ant to lift him.
Wei Huo patted the ant’s head, and it loosened its hand. These ants had all evolved to the point where they were using their four rear legs to walk, and their two front legs as hands. That was why they could now use tools.
Truth be told, Wei Huo felt like he was an alien arriving at some weird planet. The ant in front of Wei Huo seemed as if it wanted to communicate with Wei Huo, but unfortunately, Wei Huo did not know Ant Language, and neither did he have antennae. He could not communicate with them at all.
If Wei Huo did not have his follicles emitted his scent, the ants would not have found him.
Anything that did not emit scents was as good as non-existent to the ants. It was similar to how humans assumed things that could not be seen, felt, or smelled as non-existent.
Although Wei Huo had problems communicating with that ant, his nose gradually learned to identify simple scents. Moreover, he could see what the ants wanted to do from his Social Feed.
‘Demonic Ant 10086 is attempting to build a friendship with you.’
Wei Huo was left speechless. “…”
The name 10086 definitely felt familiar.
It was indeed true that no humans ever used numbers as their names, but who decided that it was absurd to do so?
Could someone not have 0086 as their first name and 1 as their last name?
Wei Huo was unclear about why these Demonic Ants were not hostile towards him. They seemed as if they treated him as a Demonic Ant that did not know how to communicate. That unique Demonic Ant even brought Wei Huo back to their anthill.
Wei Huo was even more confused. Were they not worried that he could be a spy to destroy them from within?
Soon after that, Wei Huo laughed at himself. There were at least tens of thousands of Demonic Ants at their headquarters. How could they even fear a loner like him?
But truth be told with his current powers, he could definitely destroy the anthill. If he had found the queen ant’s location, battling it one-on-one would not be hard.
Just as Wei Huo was deep in thought, an ant that was passing by gave both the guiding ant and Wei Huo a drink each. The drink was stored in a stone bowl. Wei Huo tried it and found it kind of sweet even after being watered down.
Wei Huo thought about the days before the time halt. Many consumers had disliked sellers who were watering down their juices and many complaints were lodged as well.
Water was the source of life. If you are still unhappy after having a watered-down drink, you have no common sense. The sellers were concerned about your health!
Wei Huo carried his sweet drink into the Demonic Ant’s tall tower. He then realized that the tower was merely used as a ventilation mechanism for them. They actually lived underground and dug tunnels that extended in all directions. Even Wei Huo could detect the different scents left on various paths.
That Demonic Ant took Wei Huo to a huge cave. The cave was filled with stones of all sizes, and each stone was emitting a different scent. An elderly Demonic Ant was standing in the middle of that pile of stones as it carefully emitted its scent onto the stones, and it was using different scents interchangeably.
That gave Wei Huo an impression that… Was it writing?