15 Chapter 14 Section 2 Insect Control Skill_1

The battle seemed to have ended.

The ant colony had suffered heavy casualties.

Fortunately, the Ant Queen had not died amidst the misfortune.

Sensing the presence of her master, the Ant Queen slowly crawled out from the depths of the nest. Along with her came Fourth and five young ants born just yesterday.

It was apparent that Fourth was injured.

One of his antennae was broken, but the Ant Queen was safe and sound.

Qin Niu had seen the Ant Queen emerge from a sealed side chamber, thanks to Fourth's early foresight in digging this refuge.

Qin Niu lay on the ground, carefully examining the ground. It was a mess of dense, puncture-like footprints.

That was the work of the centipede.

Centipedes enjoy hunting at night, and the magnified ant colony likely caught its attention.

Or maybe the ten newly born young ants didn't know how to hide their scent and were discovered by the centipede.

This nest definitely couldn't be inhabited anymore.

Qin Niu's Insect Control level was still very low; he couldn't even communicate with his own ant colony.

He could only try to stare intently at the Ant Queen and then concentrate his mind, striving to use that hint of the mysterious power of the contract to communicate with her.

The Ant Queen, having survived the calamity, must have been terrified.

He could feel her soul trembling.

"You must find a new nest!"

Qin Niu conveyed this command to her.

Once, twice... he repeatedly sent the order to the Ant Queen through the thin power of the contract.

It was a kind of silent spiritual communication.

He had learned it from the Insect Control Books as well. Novices could stare at their pets and then focus their thoughts, frequently sending simple commands.

Theoretically, the simpler the commands sent during the first communication, the better.

After gaining experience in successful communication, one can slowly try slightly more complex commands.

Step by step.

Nighttime is when insects are most active, for instance, this Ant Queen prefers to lay eggs at night.

It's said that a mature Ant Queen, regardless of day or night, can lay eggs like a super egg-laying machine, producing one every two or three seconds.

Her current Breeding Skill was still elementary, allowing her only to lay eggs at night.

Moreover, she could lay only ten eggs per day.

The Ant Queen seemed to understand that her master was communicating with her. She waved her antennae and tilted her head slightly up, silently looking at Qin Niu.

Her vision was actually very poor; she could only see objects a dozen centimeters away.

She mainly relied on her antennae to receive information.

"Master… received!"

Finally, she responded.

Qin Niu's mind echoed with the Ant Queen's vague response.

She was like a baby learning to speak.

[You have successfully grasped Ant Talk and learned the skill to communicate with insect-type pets.]

With the appearance of the prompt,

Qin Niu checked his personal attributes.

Sure enough, a new skill had appeared in his ability column.

Insect Control category: Insect Trace Identification Beginner 0.02/10, Ant Talk Beginner 0.01/10.

Unbeknownst to him, he had already acquired two Insect Control skills.

This greatly advanced his step towards becoming an Insect Master.

Ant Talk was an essential skill for communicating with insect species.

Without a common language, one could not even command their own pets.

Now it was good, with the skill of Ant Talk, he could already communicate normally with the ant colony.

Reading more books did have benefits.

Too bad books were generally expensive, and there were very few professional books on Insect Control.

"Fourth!"

After grasping Ant Talk, Qin Niu tried to communicate with the injured Fourth.

Ant Talk proficiency +0.01.

"I'm here! Master!"

Fourth replied clearly.

It seemed his spiritual power was even stronger than the Ant Queen's.

Fourth had always been quite exceptional.

"Is your injury serious?"

Fourth waved his remaining antennae, the broken one reduced to a small stump, incapable of movement.

Or perhaps, even if it moved, it wouldn't be noticeable.

"Fourth doesn't know!"

He sent back the message.

"Are you seriously hurt?"

Qin Niu phrased the question differently.

This time Fourth understood his master's meaning.

"Not serious!"

"Just my sense of smell has worsened!"

He responded in two parts.

Probably still unaccustomed to communicating mentally with his master, so he could only answer in two parts.

"What food can help you heal?"

"Don't know!"

He was still unable to engage in such a complex conversation with Qin Niu.

Every time Qin Niu communicated with him, the proficiency in Ant Talk increased by 0.01.

This was quite good.

Just a thousand more conversations, and he could upgrade to the next level.

By then, he should be able to engage in more complex conversations.

This would also provide him with substantial help in raising other insect-type pets in the future.

"Consult with your mother and pick a new nest location."

He still didn't understand.

Qin Niu could only break down the message and send it several times.

Moving, choosing a nesting location, safety was most important.

This time he understood.

"A new home has already been chosen!"

Fourth led the way ahead, guiding the Ant Queen and the other five young worker ants to relocate.

The five young worker ants each carried an immature young ant out of the nest.

Termites have a characteristic behavior during relocation, first moving newly laid eggs and finally the hatched young ants and nymphs.

This was part of their survival wisdom, difficult for humans to comprehend.

Because of her swollen body, the Ant Queen moved quite clumsily. It's still manageable now, but Ant Queens that have grown for over a decade tend to be round and large, basically immobile.

Qin Niu watched as Fourth expertly led the way, leaving scent trails for the Ant Queen and young worker ants to follow.

They arrived under a relatively large camphor tree.

The old nest was some distance away, not too far, just over fifty meters.

For Qin Niu, it was only a matter of a few steps.

An adult termite could crawl about six meters in a minute.

For over fifty meters, they would need more than ten minutes.

Fourth climbed to the base of the camphor tree and immediately started ascending.

About two meters up the trunk, there was a scar left by a broken-off branch.

Every winter, when heavy snow falls, some branches would break off because they couldn't bear the weight.

Camphor trees are brittle, and this broken branch was quite large.

It must have been two or three years.

You could see a big scar where the surrounding bark had naturally healed over, forming a thick layer of bark.

But the center was hollow.

Fourth climbed to a spot and then scraped a few times to reveal a small hole.

Judging by how familiar it was with the process, it had obviously discovered this cave a long time ago.

And it had made some simple coverings at the entrance to prevent other insects from taking over first.

"Did you dig this?"

Qin Niu communicated with it.

"There was originally a bug hole!"

"Then I dug it out some more."

What a sly creature, having multiple bolt-holes! It seems I don't need to worry about their new nest, with this new residence, they will be able to settle down quickly.

First, Fourth made sure the Ant Queen was well settled.

Then it organized five young worker ants to relocate the eggs from the old nest.

Qin Niu felt that there was no need to keep that centipede around any longer. It had caused a great disaster this time and almost wiped out Qin Niu's entire termite colony, so naturally, it could not be let off lightly.

Following the trail it left behind, he searched for it.

He quickly arrived at the rock.

You could still see the termite bodies it had bitten to pieces.

The bastard, it wouldn't be fair not to kill it considering the heinous acts it has committed.

Insect Trace Identification skill proficiency +0.01.

Qin Niu's proficiency in this Insect Control skill had improved a little bit more.

Using the medicinal hoe in his hand, he pried open a three-to-four-hand-sized irregular rock. It was that kind of very brittle shale.

Centipedes almost never dig burrows.

They prefer hiding in such dark and damp places, especially under rocks.

As soon as the rock was lifted, he saw a deep red centipede half a foot long. Its head was red, and its body was covered with a thick, dark red carapace.

Startled, it immediately tried to escape.

All wild animals have their own set of survival skills. They judge whether the enemy is much stronger than them.

If they are outmatched, or if it is likely to result in mutual destruction, they often choose to flee.

A centipede is ferocious in nature.

But it's not stupid.

"You think you can run?"

A fierce killing intent flashed in Qin Niu's eyes as the medicinal hoe pressed down on its body.

It immediately turned to bite.

Unfortunately, biting the hard medicinal hoe was utterly futile.

"Die!"

He killed the centipede on the spot.

Qin Niu checked and found two newly born centipedes hidden under the soil.

Their length was less than an inch.

They were agile and equally ferocious.

Without mercy, he must eradicate the roots along with the grass. He directly killed both centipedes.

Otherwise, once they grew a bit more and separated from the larger centipede, they would pose a huge threat to all insects and ants nearby.

"The books say that feeding bugs with exotic flowers, fruits, and Spirit Herbs can help strengthen them. Especially for Insect Masters who cultivate poisonous creatures; they prefer to feed their bugs various poisonous insects or toxic plants to enhance their toxicity."

He wondered if termites could eat these three centipede corpses?

If he hadn't understood the insect language before, even if Qin Niu had shoved the centipede corpses into the Ant Nest, the ants wouldn't have eaten them.

But now it was different.

He could communicate with them, ordering them to consume the centipede corpses to achieve evolution.

At this moment, Fourth was still leading five Young Worker Ants, toiling away with moving their home.

For them, moving was not an easy task.

It was a massive project.

Given their current weak state, choosing to dig a nest on the trunk of that large camphor tree was a very wise decision.

The height alone was enough to keep them safe from many predators.

"Fourth, I've already killed them!"

Qin Niu saw it as the foreman, assigning it any tasks that needed doing.

The Ant Queen is not the queen or ruler as humans understand it, but rather the core of an ant colony. When she's hungry, she emits hunger pheromones, and the Worker Ants will consciously feed her. Should danger arise, the entire colony will protect the Ant Queen and the Breeder Ants.

Because as long as they survive, the species has hope for continuity.

In reality, the Ant Queen is just an egg-laying machine.

There's no single ruler in an ant colony; it is a highly conscious community with clearly defined roles.

Even the King Ant is not a ruler either.

His sole responsibility is to mate with the Ant Queen, and the lifespan of a King Ant is often very short.

As for Worker Ants and Soldier Ants, they each have their own roles too.

Whether the Ant Nest needs to be expanded, the food reserves are insufficient, the young ants are hungry, the Ant Queen is hungry... as soon as any Worker Ant discovers these issues, they will consciously address them.

Soldier Ants, likewise, will naturally guard the nest.

Upon encountering invaders, they bravely engage the enemy until they repel or kill them.

If you had to pick a leader for this ant group, it would be the Ant Queen and Fourth.

At least that's what Qin Niu believed.

They both possessed high intelligence, and having them issue commands was most beneficial to the entire colony.

The wisdom of the Ant Queen, at present, focused mainly on which Ant Queens to breed, and managing the numbers accordingly.

Fourth, on the other hand, was responsible for nest building, expanding, foraging, enemy defense, and caring for the newly hatched ants, among other tasks.

When Qin Niu threw the centipede corpses into the tree hole, Fourth touched the centipede corpses with its remaining antennae.

"Happy!"

"Pleasure!"

Fourth sent signals to Qin Niu.

It felt extremely vindicated that their great enemy had been killed by their master.

"Drag them into the hole, eat them," Qin Niu ordered it.

"Yes!"

"Need time!"

"It's very hard!"

Fourth obeyed Qin Niu's command but also had its own thoughts.