Zhou Qi continuously retreated, leaving ample space for the Army Ant Queen.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for successfully enhancing a Five-Ranked Army Ant Queen, promoting her to a One-Order Apostle, and gaining the talents: Super Body Reproduction, Rapid Growth, Mental Network, Mental Power, Faith Crown, Thought Imprint, Advanced Nesting, and Advanced Defense Enhancement."
"Ding! The Five-Ranked Army Ant Queen can directly reproduce One-Order Army Ants."
In the dim cave, the Five-Ranked Army Ant Queen's body length reached one meter sixty.
Her carapace was as hard and cold as obsidian, gleaming with a metallic luster and inscribed with mysterious patterns.
Her head was small, and her purple, jewel-like compound eyes flickered with a faint light, observing everything around her.
Her thick antennae constantly swayed, sensing the outside world.
Her abdomen was oval and massive, its surface covered with fine, tough bristles, indicating a significant improvement in her reproductive System.
Her legs were robust, covered with sharp barbs, leaving deep marks on the ground with every movement.
Her highly raised mandibles could reach Zhou Qi's waist.
Zhou Qi stared in shock at the Army Ant Queen, enhanced to Five-Ranked; this enhancement was truly earth-shattering.
Looking at the light screen, on the Dependents panel:
Apostle: Five-Ranked Army Ant Queen
Rank: Composite Lifeform (Mother Insect Life)
Race: Army Ant
Gene: Intermediate Army Ant Queen Gene
Life Essence: Carbon-based Life
Talents:
Five-Star Talents:
Faith Crown: The more dependents she reproduces, the stronger her Mental Energy becomes.
Mental Power: The stronger her Mental Energy, the stronger her Mental Power.
Four-Star Talent: Super Body Reproduction
Three-Star Talents: Mental Network, Thought Imprint, Rapid Growth
Two-Star Talents: Advanced Nesting, Advanced Defense Enhancement
Life Strength: 10
"Intermediate genes, five-star talents, 10 points of Life Strength—this is terrifying!" Zhou Qi looked at the light screen, his eyes filled with disbelief.
The Army Ant Queen not only possessed all the talents of a Digging Ant Queen but also two new five-star talents.
These two five-star talents, combined with the Five-Tier Ants' other talents, offered immense developmental potential.
Super Body Reproduction increases reproductive capacity tenfold, and the reproduced One-Order Army Ants provide Mental Energy to the Army Ant Queen; the stronger her Mental Energy, the stronger her Mental Power.
With a Life Strength of 10, it's likely that no life form on Earth can contend with her in battle.
"Is this still a carbon-based organism?" Zhou Qi looked at the Army Ant Queen's shiny black shell.
"Swish!" He pulled out his hunting knife and fiercely struck the Army Ant Queen's back shell.
With a clatter, Zhou Qi felt a sharp pain in his hand, and his hunting knife hummed in protest.
Yet, the spot where he had just struck the Five-Ranked Army Ant Queen's back showed not even a white mark.
This 10 points of Life Strength is too exaggerated; even bullets probably can't penetrate it, Zhou Qi secretly marveled.
Moreover, the Five-Ranked Army Ant Queen possesses two major five-star talents.
Undoubtedly, as the Five-Ranked Army Ant Queen reproduces more, her Life Strength can further increase.
Zhou Qi looked at the Army Ant Queen's ferocious body, liking her more and more as he observed.
At this moment,
The Army Ant Queen's abdomen heaved violently, followed by a rustling sound.
Dense, quail-egg-sized, white, elongated eggs poured out from beneath her, spreading like a white tide and rapidly filling the surrounding space.
Soon, the white Army Ant eggs piled up.
Seeing the Army Ant Queen's state, Zhou Qi immediately ordered his other dependents to find food.
Zhou Qi watched the eggs on the ground slowly grow larger, as if some energy was emanating from within the cave.
The white inside the eggs gradually diminished, revealing the black outlines of the ant bodies within.
Zhou Qi observed for nearly an hour, and the first eggs laid by the Five-Ranked Army Ant Queen had already hatched, with One-Order Army Ants crawling out.
Each was two centimeters long, about the size of a broad bean.
Normal Army Ant Queens reproduce cyclically, with two peak periods per year.
Each peak lasts for several days, during which tens of thousands of eggs are laid daily, with no further egg-laying during the remaining time.
However, the enhanced Army Ant Queen, with sufficient nutrition, can reproduce ten thousand One-Order Army Ants daily.
Zhou Qi watched as more and more One-Order Army Ants hatched around him, and following the Army Ant Queen's command, they either went out to forage for food or began to build nests in the surroundings.
He then retrieved the evolution origin point from where it was placed with the Five-Ranked Digging Ant Queen and repositioned it in the cave.
He named it Second Base!
Zhou Qi got up and exited the cave.
He watched the One-Order Army Ants outside, carrying shrubs and branches disproportionate to their bodies with their mandibles.
They secreted a sticky fluid from their mouths, covering the cave entrance layer by layer.
Zhou Qi then prepared to leave, walking not far.
He looked back at the now concealed cave in the distance, feeling a surge of motivation.
Confucius said, "The past is like a flowing stream, never ceasing day or night."
Time flew by.
October 14, 2016
Current Evolution Points: 97650
In just 5 days, the Evolution Points had surpassed 90,000, even after some had been used.
The One-Order Army Ants were indispensable.
Zhou Qi had been busy with the Centipedes and Yellow Mealworms in the greenhouse these past few days.
Inside the breeding greenhouse, on the left side, ants meticulously moved feces and transported wheat bran in the Yellow Mealworms' feeding boxes.
On the right side, the Centipede breeding boxes had increased from 4 to 20.
Recently, Zhou Qi thought of a new method: sending the Centipedes enhanced to Five-Ranked to White Snake Mountain to initiate recruitment.
Currently, there are 30 Centipedes enhanced to Five-Ranked, and they can bring back 3000 Centipedes in a single day.
Now, Zhou Qi's side is breeding as many as nearly 20,000 Centipedes, most of which are already adult Centipedes.
Finding food for these Centipedes was a real headache for Zhou Qi.
The Centipedes kept increasing, but the Yellow Mealworms had not yet laid eggs.
Zhou Qi specifically had the Five-Ranked Army Ant Queen dispatch a batch of One-Order Army Ants solely to find food for these Centipedes.
Therefore, Zhou Qi is now eagerly awaiting the Yellow Mealworms to reproduce quickly; once their breeding period is over, they can be used to feed the Centipedes.
Otherwise, he truly feared that if this continued, the insects in White Snake Mountain would be depleted.
As night approached,
A long line of creatures, carrying their respective offerings, arrived at the greenhouse under the cover of night when no one was around.
They deposited the insects on their heads into the Centipede breeding boxes, including Earthworms, grasshoppers, locusts, and so on.
There was even a One-Order Army Ant, whose mandibles were clamped tightly onto a small mouse that was still kicking its legs.
No matter how the mouse struggled, it could not escape the powerful mandibles.
Zhou Qi was in the greenhouse, scrolling through short videos while watching the constantly refreshing Evolution Points on the light screen.
Nine o'clock at night.
Evolution Points exceeded six digits for the first time.
Zhou Qi did not hesitate and immediately upgraded the Evolution Space.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, your Level 2 Evolution Space has been upgraded to Level 3 Evolution Space."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have gained an Animal Enhancement Slot and a Plant Enhancement Slot, with the current limit being one each."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have gained a Talent Enhancement Slot, allowing you to extract the talents of Apostle-level dependents for your own use."