Daily Evolution from Mastering Tai Chi

Chapter 365 - 278: Mobilizing the Ant Army, Intimidating Hundreds of People (Part 2)

So controlling the ant queen and manipulating pheromones aren’t really good strategies.

Ants are incredibly complex creatures, and even to this day, humans haven’t fully understood the fundamental logic behind some of their complex behaviors.

Just when Wang Ye was deep in thought, he suddenly realized that the interaction of pheromones in an ant colony seemed somewhat similar to the operating principles of the brain. The essence of how the brain generates consciousness boils down to electrical signals being transmitted through countless brain tissues, forming complex information composed of various functions. But in reality, the brain is just a lump of slightly more complex flesh; it’s those countless electrical signals that create a miraculous biological awareness. If the ant colony, composed of thousands of ants, is imagined as a collective consciousness, would it be possible to use Mind Control on it?

Once he understood this point, Wang Ye immediately began experimenting with this hypothesis.

He abandoned the notion of focusing his consciousness on individuals and instead directed it towards the entire ant colony.

This ant nest roughly contained over a thousand Red Fire Ants.

Some of them had already left the nest to search for food.

But this didn’t affect what Wang Ye was going to do next.

With Wang Ye’s current sensory abilities, he could clearly "see" the flow traces of pheromones. In his eyes, this ant colony was like a highly sophisticated biological computer, with each ant being a line of code or a character, forming a normally functioning program. These ants might appear as countless individuals, but some invisible force was binding them together, creating a collective consciousness.

In this intentional imagination, the so-called "collective consciousness" became increasingly clear in his senses, as if it had formed into a tangible entity. Gradually, Wang Ye drilled his consciousness into this imaginary collective consciousness, and the next moment, his consciousness arrived in an empty and barren "collective consciousness domain."

This domain was completely different from an ordinary human Brain Domain. If an ordinary human’s Brain Domain is filled with various fleeting short-term memories and deeply ingrained long-term memories, then this "collective consciousness domain" was like a cosmos filled with countless extremely short-term memories, with innumerable points of light emerging and disappearing instantly, leaving Wang Ye unable to grasp them.

Usually, Wang Ye’s Mind Control involves altering all long-term memories of the target, making them completely loyal to him. But in dealing with a Brain Domain space filled with only short-term memories, he found himself at a loss.

However, regardless of the type of consciousness, instincts are an essential component, like the soil of the entire consciousness domain, determining the birth, demise, and development of all memories.

After a brief contemplation, Wang Ye began targeting the instinctual soil of this "collective consciousness domain."

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At this very moment.

In a tower somewhere.

Numerous men in black stood gloomily in a cramped room, their oppressive presence weighing heavily on the heart.

Among them, a bald man with a cold demeanor stood at the forefront of the black-clad individuals, asking in a deep voice, "You’re saying... Rein isn’t in the gang’s territory right now? Are you sure what you’re saying is true?"

It’s important to know Rein is currently the paramount leader of the Sloos Gang. Most of the gang’s battles are led by Rein himself, and you could say the Sloos Gang’s combat strength stems from Rein. In short, the Sloos Gang cannot be without Rein, just as the West cannot be without Jerusalem.

"I guarantee it’s true." A shifty-eyed man grinned and said, "From my observations, Rein is only in the gang for four to five hours a day, and the rest of the time, he is almost completely off the radar. Right now, everything in the gang is managed by that second-in-command."

The bald man pondered for a moment, lifted his hand, and instructed one of his subordinates to investigate the Sloos Gang’s territory. After a brief silence, the bald man continued, "Aren’t you afraid of facing Rein’s retaliation for informing the cops and also tipping us off?"

The shifty-eyed man chuckled and said, "Don’t worry, I’m aware of the risks. Rein has absorbed too many gangs in a short period. When the water overflows, I suspect even Rein doesn’t know how many people are under his control right now. Under such disorderly and unregulated governance, the gang could soon fall apart; it’s merely a flash in the pan."

This fact was something that the upper echelons of other gangs had somewhat guessed by now.

The brutal annexation method employed by someone like "Rein" may expand power and strength in a short time, but the side effects are evident. Not only do those annexed harbor resentment and pose a risk of betrayal, but the rapid expansion can also exceed the leader’s Control Ability, causing chaotic gang order and poor cohesion.

Therefore, the current stance of most gangs that haven’t suffered at the hands of Rein’s brutality is to observe rather than resist. After all, the Sloos Gang’s strength has swollen to an undesirable degree, and no one wants to be the first to stand out. However, some gangs have had their interests encroached upon and are eager to eliminate the threat. Such is the case with the gang led by the bald man at this moment.

About ten minutes later, the subordinate sent by the bald man returned to the tower and whispered something in the bald man’s ear.

The bald man’s expression gradually transitioned from calm to excitement,

though within that excitement lay a trace of inexplicable ruthlessness.

He raised his hand, signaling the hundreds of members behind him to follow him to the Sloos Gang’s territory.

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About half an hour later, the bald man led hundreds of his subordinates into a district within the Sloos Gang’s territory. At this moment, Terry and Little Jack immediately heard the news and likewise led hundreds of their men to confront them in the district.

"Are you planning to go to war with the Sloos Gang ahead of schedule?" Terry stood in front of hundreds, cautiously asking.

"Who do you think you are to threaten me?" The bald man laughed roughly, sneering, "Don’t think I don’t know, half a month ago, you Sloos Gang were just a small gang living off drug trafficking, and your current development is all thanks to Rein. And you, Terry, are just an incompetent fool. Now with the leader Rein absent, you are nothing!"

"You!" Terry’s pupils trembled uncontrollably, filled with rage.

"Enough talk," the bald man’s expression hardened, and he suddenly waved his hand, "Attack, take them all..."

But before he could finish his words.

A loud voice echoed in everyone’s ears.

"Who said I’m not in the territory?" The next moment, a man wearing a suit and a demon mask slowly emerged from the Sloos Gang’s crowd.

Anyone with clear eyes could recognize this sudden man as the recently legendary "Rein," because Rein’s most distinct feature was his pitch-black suit and the ferocious demon mask on his face.

The moment he appeared, everyone froze, for behind Rein was a swarm of thousands of red ants, flowing on the ground like a pool of blood, producing a dense "ch-ch-ch" sound, the sound of countless tiny legs moving rapidly — enough to make one’s scalp tingle.

It’s important to know that the number of ants in a nest can be staggering, typically what we see as just one percent of the entire colony. When all the ants from a nest emerge, it’s a grand spectacle, like a vast rolling dark cloud, capable of utterly consuming an entire person!