To the south of the Brood Nest lay towering cliffs, while lakes and rivers hemmed in the east. Even so, with the west and north connected in a fan-shaped expanse, the swarm’s territory expanded rapidly as the three armies pushed forward.
Day by day, Luo Wen continued dispatching hundreds of Queen Ants to oversee and develop the new territories.
The swarm’s scale was steadily growing, yet it remained far from capable of directly confronting the Yellow Earth Ant Legion head-on.
The days stretched on in monotony. Without internet, phones, games, or newspapers, and not even a creature to converse with, loneliness loomed over Luo Wen. Gradually, the reports from the three armies, delivered every three days, became the highlight of his otherwise dull existence—the sole reprieve in his barren life.
Unfortunately, while the Queen Ants possessed some intelligence, it was only relative to the simple-minded Worker Ants and Soldier Ants. Their reports were terse, devoid of richness or intrigue, and failed to bring Luo Wen any satisfaction.
As boredom gnawed at him, Luo Wen began to fear that without some kind of diversion, he might succumb to depression. Sometimes, he found himself staring at the distant lake surface from a tree trunk, even contemplating trying to swim to see if he could evolve the ability to breathe underwater.
Luckily, reason still held sway over his impulses, narrowly restraining these self-destructive thoughts. But as his restlessness grew, his rational grip began to erode.
Just as Luo Wen felt he might succumb to his reckless whims, a message from the northern army brought good news: they had encountered Red Ants once again.
The Black Ants, though diligent, were disorganized and weak. They posed no threat and served only to replenish the expeditionary forces’ food stores when discovered. For this reason, the destruction of countless Black Ant nests by the three armies was considered trivial and unworthy of reporting.
To prevent mishaps, Luo Wen had specifically instructed the Queen Ants to notify him immediately upon spotting Red Ants, retreat 500 meters, and establish camp while awaiting his arrival.
The Queen Ants faithfully executed his orders. Given how far the northern army had advanced, this newly discovered Red Ant colony was undoubtedly unrelated to the remnants of the earlier one. It signified a new Red Ant nest.
Luo Wen had been yearning for something to shift his focus and pull him back from the brink of despair.
However, the Red Ants’ lifestyle and population density meant each nest required a vast area to sustain itself. This explained why it had taken the northern army so long to find another nest.
Thankfully, though delayed, the opportunity had finally come. Luo Wen wasted no time, setting off immediately.
On the journey, Luo Wen’s thoughts turned to the Yellow Earth Ants, whose behavior resembled that of the Red Ants. Both were nomadic predators. If a Red Ant colony of merely hundreds of thousands needed such expansive territory, how vast must the Yellow Earth Ants’ domain be to sustain themselves?
Perhaps they didn’t simply scour the area every few hundred days but instead maintained a constant state of predation, moving along a predetermined route that took hundreds of days to bring them back to the cliffside region.
Luo Wen shuddered at the thought. If this were true, how many troops would he need to amass to exact revenge?
Lost in thought, Luo Wen’s eight long legs carried him forward in a sprint. At over 60 centimeters in body length, his raised legs made him more than a meter tall, dwarfing ordinary Worker Ants, which now seemed like mere specks before him.
Yet this growth came with limitations. His newly evolved oxygen supply system had reached its maximum capacity. Any further growth would render it unable to sustain his body.
Once again, Luo Wen faced a bottleneck, urgently needing new genetic fragments for reference.
The riverside environment, dominated by ant species, offered little in the way of diversity. He could only pin his hopes on the other two armies deeper inland to uncover something new.
After traveling approximately three kilometers, Luo Wen passed a Swarm Base, the furthest outpost to date. Beyond this point, he was stepping outside the swarm’s controlled territory.
Initially, Luo Wen thought the northern army would be just ahead, but even after advancing another two kilometers, he still couldn’t locate them.
At first, he suspected he might have gone the wrong way. Yet the faint pheromone markers along the route confirmed otherwise. Then, he wondered if the northern army had already been wiped out. But there were no signs of a battlefield or a recent skirmish.
The forest here was exceptionally lush, and it seemed to have rained recently. Water droplets occasionally fell from the leaves above, striking Luo Wen’s carapace with a refreshing chill.
The ground was muddy, with puddles forming in some areas—impassable barriers for ordinary Worker Ants, but easily traversable for Luo Wen with his current size.
The pheromone markers along the path had also been diluted by the rain, with some completely washed away by puddles. Fortunately, Luo Wen’s elongated antennae, enhanced by his growth, allowed him to maintain his bearings despite the challenges.
Still, he slowed his pace. Venturing so far beyond the swarm’s territory without finding the northern army was troubling, and caution was warranted.
Although he doubted anyone would set a trap specifically for him, he tensed his muscles, prepared to flee at a moment’s notice.
Advancing cautiously, Luo Wen covered another two kilometers. Night was falling, and a light drizzle began to descend from the sky.
While faint pheromone markers still lingered in the air, their identity verification signals appeared genuine.
However, Luo Wen himself was adept at altering such markers. He had once used this technique to confound the Red-Black Ant Coalition, leading them in endless circles. There was no guarantee someone—or something—wouldn’t attempt the same trick against him now.
Moreover, he was nearly four kilometers beyond swarm territory. Typically, a Queen Ant would be deployed as soon as the army advanced, to claim the land, provide logistical support, and facilitate communication.
Would they really send a few Messenger Ants to crawl several kilometers back to swarm territory alone?
The Messenger Ants, being ordinary Worker Ants, lacked his resilience. The dangers along the way were far too numerous for them to survive.
As Luo Wen pondered these concerns, convinced he had stumbled into a trap, reality delivered a sharp slap to his assumptions.