After a deeply unfriendly exchange, the two sides engaged in a fierce battle. Initially, the fight was evenly matched, but since this was the enemy’s home turf, reinforcements kept arriving in droves.
The arrival of a Giant Mandible Soldier Ant quickly turned the tide. This specialized combat unit charging into a battlefield full of Worker Ants was like a strongman rampaging through a kindergarten—utterly unstoppable.
The Soldier Ant rampaged through the transport team, meeting no resistance and quickly leaving them in shambles.
Although the bugs produced by the Brood Nest used Black Ants as their template and looked identical to them, there was a critical difference. Unlike the scouting Worker Ants from the original ant colony, which would retreat when outnumbered, the bugs from the Brood Nest fought to the death.
As a result, the entire transport team was annihilated.
Luo Wen didn’t notice anything amiss until the second day after the incident.
The night of the brawl, Luo Wen returned to the Brood Nest with the excavation team after dark. The Black Ants in the Brood Nest were numerous enough to be noticeable but not overwhelming, numbering around a few dozen. Since they were all busily working, Luo Wen didn’t immediately notice the absence of a dozen or so ants. He simply enjoyed some nectar, checked on Big Black, and retired to his small chamber for rest.
It wasn’t until the next day, after waking up and preparing to take a headcount, that Luo Wen realized the transport team had not returned the previous night. His heart sank—something had gone wrong.
Reacting quickly, Luo Wen thought things through and pinpointed the oversight that led to this disaster. He deduced the situation with about ninety percent accuracy.
Luo Wen didn’t alarm them. Instead, he erased any traces they could follow and laid down new pheromones, redirecting their search toward the direction of Ant Nest No. 2. Whether the scouts from both sides clashed wasn’t his concern; he had successfully distanced the Brood Nest from the incident.
He continued to the exit of the smuggling tunnel. Along the way, Luo Wen spotted many scouting Worker Ants, but by then, he had swapped his identification pheromones, so even if they encountered him, it wouldn’t matter.
The battle marks at the tunnel entrance confirmed Luo Wen’s suspicions—a large-scale skirmish had occurred. Although the battlefield had been cleaned up, the lingering pheromones bearing messages like “Enemy,” “Alert,” and “Combat” revealed much about what had happened.
Instead of entering the tunnel, Luo Wen climbed to the surface and casually strolled into the ant nest. Inside the brood chamber, he found the transport team—or rather, their dismembered remains scattered as various components.
Luo Wen sighed, unsure if Black Two or Black Three were among the casualties. All Black Ants looked the same to him, and with their numbers steadily increasing in the Brood Nest, he had long lost track of who was who.
However, he felt no sorrow. Maybe in the distant future, as his memories as an insect accumulated, they might suppress his human memories. But for now, Luo Wen, newly transformed into a bug, retained his human soul and perspective. It was difficult for him to feel emotional about a few ants.
He never considered these ants his kin; they were tools. He hatched and fed them purely to make his life more comfortable. His sigh was more about self-reflection and frustration over the loss of so many tools due to his lack of foresight.
After having a meal in the brood chamber, Luo Wen didn’t linger. He left the nest and returned home.
Ant Nest No. 1 was too dangerous for now, so he decided not to send anyone there for the time being. This would allow the ants there to rest and stockpile supplies.
His focus shifted to Ant Nest No. 2. The smuggling tunnel there, built in a patrol blind spot, was much safer. With a little overtime work, it could be completed in a day or two. The Brood Nest’s food reserves were still sufficient to last for that duration without issue.
Back at the Brood Nest, Luo Wen adjusted the configuration of the eggs at the Brood Nest. This time, the eggs were based on the Black Ant template but enhanced with Burrower Ant traits, adding a pair of digging limbs.
Transporting supplies on the surface was far too dangerous. Luo Wen needed a specialized digging team. He planned to excavate an underground tunnel linking Ant Nest No. 1, Ant Nest No. 2, and his Brood Nest. This would mitigate the risks of surface transportation.
In the future, he envisioned connecting Ant Nest No. 3, No. 4, and even more nests into an expansive underground network. Digging alone wasn’t feasible, as it contradicted his core goal: eat, sleep, and evolve while lounging. He wasn’t about to work himself to death for his tools.
Although Luo Wen had this idea earlier, he hadn’t been in a hurry to act on it. He wanted to wait until his prior experiments proved successful before reallocating resources.
The recent setback forced him to accelerate his plans. Fortunately, the previously configured eggs, while not yet hatched, remained vibrant and full of life. It seemed only a matter of time before they hatched into larvae.
This gave Luo Wen the confidence to move forward with his plans—the viability of the eggs confirmed the feasibility of the modifications.
With a team assembled, Luo Wen led the untrained excavation crew to work. For now, he did most of the digging, while the ants were responsible for transporting excavated soil out of the pit and reinforcing the tunnels.
Two days later, the smuggling tunnel at Ant Nest No. 2 was complete. With his forged identification pheromones, Luo Wen infiltrated the brood chamber, dug a temporary path to connect with the tunnel, and began transporting food.
The Brood Nest’s food reserves steadily increased. Luo Wen dug two additional storage chambers, confident they would eventually come into use.
Time passed smoothly, and the newly hatched larvae from Big Black’s modified eggs emerged. These larvae resembled the White Grubs Luo Wen had first encountered upon arriving in this world.
Seeing them triggered a wave of nostalgia. Those White Grubs had been immensely helpful to him, tirelessly assisting with tasks and enduring his treatment without complaint. When his teeth weren’t fully developed, they would even gnaw through tree roots for him. They were truly good bugs.
Not long after, the larvae from the second batch of modified eggs, which incorporated Burrower Ant traits, also hatched. These larvae looked similar to ordinary ant larvae, with only subtle differences.
During this time, the Brood Nest’s population steadily increased. The losses to the transport team were not only replenished but surpassed.
With a larger workforce, Luo Wen and his ants re-excavated the smuggling tunnel for Ant Nest No. 1. This time, the tunnel directly connected to the Brood Nest from underground.