Whether Zhou Jie Feng violated the rules wouldn't be known until his body was found.
"We checked that place as soon as we arrived. We paid attention to the soil too. There were no ants at all, let alone other insects. Not a single one."
"I don't know where such a large ant came from."
Nan Yue looked at Zhou Jie Feng, who was walking ahead and constantly wiping his mouth. It seemed he had been deeply traumatized.
"If you put food on the ground, won't it attract ants?"
Nan Yue changed the subject. "You said you didn't see any insects in the cogon grass field?"
Gu Xiang Kai also found it strange. "None. No insects at all. We didn't even see centipedes, spiders, earthworms, or beetles."
"We didn't either."
Once Nan Yue mentioned it, Wen Xiang Yuan and Zhu Xi Ning recalled feeling something was off when they were picking the Ant-red Flowers.
Now that they thought about it, that was it.
Girls were more or less afraid of bugs, so when they knew they were going to pick flowers, the thought had crossed their minds.
Would there be bugs?
But there were no bugs all day, not even the small flying insects usually found on flowers.
They just hadn't thought much about it, so they hadn't noticed this strange point.
"How could there be no bugs..."
One could say the village had insect-repellent measures, but this was in the mountains, right next to a forest. It was impossible for there to be no insects at all.
Everyone felt a chill in their hearts. This could only mean that there was something even more terrifying here that had monopolized the ecosystem.
What exactly was inside the ant nest?
With these thoughts, the group walked back to the ant nest. It was quiet here. If they hadn't realized it before, they wouldn't have noticed that it was too quiet.
No insect chirps, no sound of wind. The silence was somewhat unsettling.
The man in the lead waved his hand, and everyone lit torches made of Ant-red Flowers.
The moment the flames ignited, a thick fragrance hit their noses, so pungent it almost made it hard to breathe.
Then they watched as the villagers began to thrust the torches into the holes.
The scavengers knew the upper holes were dangerous and stayed at the bottom, but none of the villagers dared to go up either.
It seemed that falling into the holes wasn't a first-time occurrence.
They smoked the nest for a long time. Nan Yue even saw thin smoke starting to rise from the top of the ant nest, proving that it was indeed interconnected.
The weather was already hot and humid, and with the torches lit, everyone was soon soaked in sweat.
Nan Yue felt that sensation of being watched again, a greasy gaze sticking to her body.
This time, it wasn't just Nan Yue who felt it. The other scavengers also noticed something was wrong, and even the villagers were uneasy, frequently looking back.
To everyone's surprise, after the torches finished smoking, a sound actually came from the cave. "Help... Help!"
The scavengers' eyes widened. Xie Roufen wasn't dead yet!
Hearing the noise, the villager threw a bundle of hemp rope into the nearest hole. Soon the rope went taut. The villagers pulled together and dragged Xie Roufen out.
Xie Roufen was covered in dirt and a foul-smelling slime. Her face was unrecognizable. She started crying as soon as she crawled out, clearly having been greatly frightened.
There was blood on her forehead, likely from the fall.
"Wahhh..."
The girls from her dormitory gathered around to comfort her while also trying to gather information.
"Are you okay? How did you fall in?"
Xie Roufen spat out the dirt in her mouth, looking at the slime on her body with disgust.
"I thought I heard something... and I slipped in without realizing. Then I hit my head. I only realized I had fallen into the ant nest when I woke up."
Xie Roufen wiped her face. "Thankfully you came to save me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to climb out with that slope."
She stood up and repeatedly thanked the villagers and the surrounding scavengers. She seemed very sincere, with two white tracks washed through the grime on her face by her tears.
"It's fine. It's good that you're out."
Li Jiao helped her brush the dirt off her clothes. "Did you see anything down there?"
Xie Roufen thought for a moment. "I think... no, nothing. There was nothing at all."
Everyone exchanged glances. That strange feeling returned.
What exactly was the boss in this mission... to be able to keep the ecosystem so clean.
Could it be some very small insect?
"Did you see any ants?"
Xie Roufen looked at Nan Yue, frowned, and shook her head. "No."
"I find it strange too. The underground was completely clean. Then what was the sound I heard?"
Everyone knew there must be something. Even if they couldn't see it, it definitely existed.
"Let's go. It's getting dark."
Nan Yue saw that the wound on Xie Roufen's head wasn't too serious. "Can you walk?"
Xie Roufen gritted her teeth and stood up. "I can."
Xie Roufen had crawled out, but the villagers' expressions were still not good. They urged the scavengers to hurry back to the village.
Fortunately, nothing happened on the way back. Suo Qisi and Ga Ya, who were waiting at the village entrance, breathed a sigh of relief when they saw them return.
Luo Liu was beside them. When he saw Xie Roufen, he practically bounced over.
"Great, great! It's good that you're okay!"
It was clear the villagers truly cared, and Xie Roufen's expression softened slightly.
Ga Ya stepped forward and circled Xie Roufen twice. She made a gesture, and Suo Qisi spoke haltingly.
"Ant nest... inauspicious. Stay in ancestral hall... tomorrow... exorcism."
Although it wasn't very coherent, everyone understood.
Suo Qisi meant that falling into the ant nest was a bad omen. Therefore, Xie Roufen couldn't stay in the small stone house with the others tonight. She had to stay in the ancestral hall alone, and the villagers would perform an exorcism ritual for her tomorrow.
Xie Roufen naturally didn't want to stay in some ancestral hall by herself. She talked to Luo Liu for a long time, but Ga Ya wouldn't budge.
She had entered the mission alone and had no teammates. She understood that in this situation, no one would likely dare to stay with her anyway, so she could only grit her teeth and agree.
"Village Head, what is in that ant nest? Our friend seemed to hear some noise before she accidentally fell in."
Suo Qisi must know something; otherwise, he wouldn't have brought the villagers to rescue Xie Roufen immediately.
Suo Qisi's face twitched, his flat features showing a hint of fear.
"Returning spirits... Ant God... returning spirits."
Ga Ya took Xie Roufen away to the ancestral hall, and the villagers brought food for the others.
Today's meal was quite simple: steamed buns and a bowl of some unknown dish. It looked like plant roots and stems, somewhat sticky and mushy.
Nan Yue gnawed on a steamed bun, not really wanting to eat it. She felt sticky herself, and even her breath felt humid, making her even less inclined to eat this mushy stuff.
Jiang Mingfu took a bite but surprisingly found the taste quite good.
"It's cool and refreshing, and actually quite sweet."
Hearing him, the others tried some as well. Nan Yue thought it was just average, so she didn't eat any more.
After dinner, everyone went together to the ancestral hall to find Xie Roufen. After all, they were part of the same team, and they also wanted to see what the ancestral hall was like.
Rate on N.U.
