novelraw Chapter 413 - 364 Ant Nest
Chapter 413 - 364 Ant Nest
"Jun Qianzi was best known for his achievements in engineering and construction. However, what he himself most enjoyed researching were various kinds of insects."
Pu Liuxuan’s face softened with a reminiscent expression as he slowly said, "He was fascinated by all sorts of insects. In his first year after enrolling at the Academic Palace, he used the money earned from writing articles for the *Natural Science* journal to buy a glass cabinet as tall as a man. He placed it in his dormitory to observe the insect ecosystems within.
Later, when taking Agricultural Science classes, he specifically asked the teacher for an extra plot of farmland, which he then filled with weeds.
After school, while other students went to Chang’an City for food, drinks, and entertainment, he would be alone in the garden. Holding a large drawing board and humming a tune, he would sketch images of insects: ants, bees, butterflies, mantises, beetles, and even spiders, dung beetles, and moths, which most people despise.
At that time, I shared a dormitory with him. Watching him make insect specimens every day, I also learned a great deal by proximity.
For example, cicadas cannot hear low-pitched sounds at all; they can only hear sharp, high-pitched ones. The white-fronted high-legged spider is docile and well-behaved, entirely beneficial to humans—it’s non-toxic and preys on cockroaches, flies, moths, and crickets. When a beehive is invaded by hornets, the bees will swarm the intruder, forming a ball around it and essentially cooking it alive with their collective body heat.
He often told me that insects, seemingly weak, dull, and lacking intelligence, are far smarter and more important than people imagine.
Without maggots to decompose corpses and dung beetles to break down feces, our world would soon be overrun with filth. Without flies and bees to pollinate flowers, our world would quickly have no flowers blooming, no fruit bearing, and even our crops would fail to grow. Insects operate by strict principles; for survival and reproduction, they are capable of sacrifices and efforts beyond human comprehension."
Pu Liuxuan paused, then continued, "He liked insects a great deal, but he also loved Yu Country and Yu Country’s citizens. That’s why, when droughts and floods were frequent, he chose to set aside his hobby and dedicate himself to engineering and construction, a field he wasn’t particularly fond of."
Li Ang appeared pensive. Such detailed information could only come from Pu Liuxuan, Jun Qianzi’s once-close friend. The Academic Palace had long ago expunged Jun Qianzi’s student records and destroyed all paper trails of his existence there.
"Let’s get back to that expedition into the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains," Pu Liuxuan sighed. "At that time, we had just brought a major flood under control and were about to graduate from the Academic Palace. We were young, arrogant, and brimming with ambition. Relying on our Cloud Patrol Realm cultivation, we ignored the Academic Palace’s regulations, dismissed our Desert People guides, and secretly ventured deeper into the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains. As expected, we got lost."
He spread his hands. "The deeper we went into the Desolate Mountain, the stronger the barbaric aura became. Every tree was at least a hundred meters tall, its branches densely interwoven with blood-sucking vines. Above the canopy, hundreds, even thousands, of man-eating birds circled. The underbrush concealed countless venomous insects; a single drop of their poison was potent enough to kill an entire town’s population. In the streams lurked giant golden pythons, their scales patterned like the solitary eye of a giant. Everywhere, there were alien creatures so bizarre they defied comprehension. The canopy was so dense it blocked out the sky, so we lost all track of time. We only knew we’d been wandering in the dense forest for a very long time. We didn’t see many wonders, but we nearly died."
Pu Liuxuan rolled up his sleeves, showing Li Ang the dense network of old scars on his arm. His voice was tinged with complex emotions as he said, "At one point, we truly believed we would die in the Desolate Mountain. We even half-jokingly agreed that if one of us perished, the other would have the right to... well, to use the body for sustenance to escape. That was likely one of the few reliable food sources deep within those mountains. In our delirium, we stumbled upon an ant nest."
"That ant nest was made of mud and sand, standing as tall as a four or five-story building. Surrounding it were numerous injured and bleeding Exotic Beasts, each radiating a powerful aura. According to the Academic Palace’s standards, any one of them would be classified as a Level 1 Demon Beast, capable of unleashing chaos and bloodshed in Yu Country, tearing through armies as if they were nothing. Yet, they merely watched each other warily, remaining silently around the ant nest, as if... queuing."
"Intimidated by the imposing presence of these creatures, Jun Qianzi and I dared not move. We remained rooted to the spot, observing carefully. We then noticed the Exotic Beasts taking turns to approach the ant nest, where they would kneel and allow swarms of ants to crawl onto their bodies."
"The ants would suck the pus and blood from the Exotic Beasts’ wounds, use natural silk threads to stitch the injuries, and even clean dirt and parasites from their hides. The entire process was silent and orderly."
"Only then did Jun Qianzi and I realize that this was a ’Peace Zone’ within the Desolate Mountain. The Exotic Beasts had an agreement with the ants: the ants provided medical and sanitation services, and in return, the Exotic Beasts guaranteed the ant nest’s safety. The weak ants and the powerful Exotic Beasts had achieved a form of collaboration."
"When Jun Qianzi and I approached the nest, ants climbed onto us as well. They stitched our wounds, removed tiny insects from our skin and clothes, and even offered us clean, sweet water."
"I marveled at the extraordinary scene, but Jun Qianzi, with his existing fondness for insects, perceived something far deeper."
"The millions upon millions of ants inhabiting this nest weren’t a single species but comprised over three hundred different varieties. This was exceedingly rare. As far as Jun Qianzi knew, ants communicate through scent, and it was unusual enough for different species not to attack each other on sight, let alone coexist in the same nest."
"Furthermore, he observed that the various ant species in the nest hailed from all corners of the known world, each with distinct roles and responsibilities."
"For instance, leafcutter ants, native to the South Sea, were cutting leaves in the Desolate Mountain’s forests to cultivate fungi for feeding larvae. Big-headed ants from the Central Plains handled nest construction and cleared pebbles and fine sand from its interior. Weaver ants from Tianzhu were responsible for producing silk. And honey ants from the Western Regions specialized in storing honeydew."
"Jun Qianzi was astounded by this. But what shocked him even more was discovering that the nest also housed a species of black fetid ant. This particular ant had only been brought back to the Central Plains from the Endless Sea by an Academic Palace scientific expedition team two hundred years prior."
"This type of fetid ant possessed highly developed olfactory organs and could secrete different scents to convey various meanings. You might have read about them in *Exotic Beast Taxonomy*—Dr. Du’er, who first discovered this species, dubbed them ’the smartest ants.’ Before Dr. Du’er brought them to Yu Country, this species was completely unknown on the mainland. And in this giant ant nest, their role was that of the ’brain.’ These fetid ants were distributed evenly throughout the nest, secreting scents with diverse meanings to command and coordinate all the other ants."
"Based on the nest’s volume, the construction speed of the worker ants, and the depth to which the nest extended underground, Jun Qianzi determined that this ant nest could not be more than one hundred and seventy years old. This timeline corresponded with the arrival of the fetid ants, making the answer quite evident."
"Human maritime exploration and activities had brought these different ant species to the depths of the Desolate Mountain. In human lands, these ants, even the hardiest among them, struggled merely to survive. A heavy downpour, the crushing wheels of a cart, or even water poured by mischievous children was enough to destroy their nests—to say nothing of the myriad perils lurking deep within the Desolate Mountain."
"However, when all these different ants converged, their collaboration and division of labor were so effective that they could compel even the formidable Exotic Beasts to submit."