Poison

【Your servants are highly satisfied with this great victory and the various spoils of war.】

Lin Miao looked at the real-time footage from the system and murmured softly, “...That's good then.”

In the city that had been completely razed to the ground, not a single living person remained.

The ant colony never left slaves behind, nor did they accept captives.

Whether people wept and begged for mercy, threw down their weapons to surrender, or resisted to the bitter end, the final outcome was the same. In their eyes, all were merely food, mere rations.

They had absolutely no interest in glittering gold, silver, jewels, or things that looked like magic scrolls, nor did they set fire to the city.

Instead, they ransacked every single household, even turning the livestock pens upside down, looting every scrap of edible food until nothing was left.

“Harbingers of doom!”

The name those panicked people had cried out in terror still echoed clearly in Lin Miao's ears.

Lin Miao knew all too well that if the ant colony was the harbinger of doom in people's mouths, then the doom they spoke of originated from him, the god of the ant colony.

“After this, to what extent will they evolve?”

On the screen, the ant colony was marching back in a grand procession, carrying countless chunks of meat—meat that, not long ago, had been living human beings.

It had to be said that the human faction completely wiped out by the ant colony this time did possess a fair amount of strength.

Judging by their attitude and behavior, they had clearly encountered this battle suddenly and without any preparation. Yet even so, they had put up a decent fight against the ant colony, which was significantly stronger than before.

Whether it was defending by the city walls or employing shamans and warriors like the goblins, there were also quite a few powerhouses here who could use magic and surpass human limits.

However, even having reached this level, there was still an insurmountable gap in overall combat power between the two sides.

In Lin Miao's eyes, this ant colony was born for war.

From eggs, larvae, pupae, to rapidly growing into adults, once they broke from their shells, they immediately became combat assets.

This meant that even with equal numbers, the ant colony's base combat strength was fundamentally different from a human force, which had to filter out the old, weak, women, children, and ordinary people who had never learned combat skills.

【They are sorting the food, prioritizing feeding the highest-quality rations to the Queen Ant.】

Aside from a few who were fortunate enough to escape, the ant colony had killed hundreds of people in this war, turning them all into food.

And these food supplies were prioritized for the Queen Ant and the larvae waiting in the nest.

They were born with the ability to sense whether food contained special energies like magic power.

Relying on this ability, they graded the food they obtained.

The best parts were reserved for the Queen Ant, followed by the growing larvae.

As for the ordinary meat devoid of any power, it was shared among the ordinary worker ants.

To the ant colony, these deceased ordinary humans were no different from the fish food and mealworms Lin Miao tossed into the terrarium.

Lin Miao felt a strong premonition that the Queen Ant was about to evolve again.

Having consumed all the spoils, the Queen Ant began molting once more, living up to all the resources invested in her.

【Hive Mind Hub: Upon reaching a certain stage of growth, the Queen Ant will simultaneously assume the role of the brain, enhancing the computing capacity of the entire colony.】

Having completed her Tier 2 evolution, the Queen Ant's body grew even larger, and her exoskeleton underwent minor changes in form.

But for the Queen Ant, who always remained in the safest core area of the colony—the egg-laying chamber—appearance was never the most important thing.

What mattered most was her brain.

Already possessing the largest body in the colony, through successive evolutions, she was transforming from a mere egg-laying machine into a true queen of the ant colony.

【The Queen Ant is thinking.】

The best proof was the prompt right before his eyes.

This pop-up message clearly indicated that among all individuals in the ant colony, the Queen Ant was the first to awaken self-awareness.

【The Queen Ant realizes that the changes happening to herself and the colony are not natural phenomena. However, she cannot find the root cause. The only clue is the existence that watches over them from above the heavens.】

Once, they were nothing more than minuscule creatures acting solely on instinct.

Whether the surrounding environment suddenly changed or their survival food source shifted, the scope of their responses and actions was extremely limited.

But once the Queen Ant began to possess higher-level thinking capabilities, everything started to quietly change.

And the most obvious evidence of this was their initial awareness of Lin Miao's existence.

“...Hm?”

Lin Miao shifted his gaze from the system screen to the terrarium in front of him.

Seeing a few worker ants raising their heads, constantly gazing up toward the sky at the opening of the tank, he couldn't help but chuckle.

Lin Miao casually tossed a few mealworms into the tank. They scrambled to hunt them down, but even so, they would occasionally look up toward the sky, a movement that never truly stopped.

This step of evolution they had completed was precisely the birth of an intense curiosity toward the existence of “Lin Miao.”

What exactly were they thinking? Honestly, Lin Miao couldn't help but feel a strong sense of curiosity in his own heart.

【The colony has requested the Queen Ant to breed a new Queen Ant.】

Of course, having gathered so many spoils of war, it wasn't just the Queen Ant—who received the lion's share of resources—that grew.

Along with the Queen Ant's growth, the entire colony had also completed an overall upgrade and development.

Lin Miao watched everything unfolding in the nest with great interest.

The colony was requesting the Queen Ant to create a brand-new egg-laying machine.

【The colony has determined that it can now sustain more individuals.】

The ant colony, which had already established its sphere of influence in the otherworld, knew very well that there was a vast land completely different from their original home, along with countless new resources.

Therefore, they intended to further expand the scale of the colony. They even wanted to breed a new Queen Ant.

In any case, the Queen Ant was fundamentally a part of the colony.

In the real world, multi-queen ant kingdoms existed as well, so this was not an unusual concept for them.

“Well, this is getting interesting.”

Lin Miao raised an eyebrow and muttered to himself.

Yet at this moment, upon receiving the colony's request, the Queen Ant made a different choice.

She tampered with the genes of the soon-to-be-born new Queen Ant.

Lin Miao used his Insight ability on the exceptionally large egg newly laid by the Queen Ant. When he saw the abnormal status prompt that popped up, he found it utterly absurd and couldn't help but let out a dry chuckle.

【Growth Impediment: Due to genetic defects, brain development will be severely delayed.】

The Queen Ant preserved the newborn Queen Ant's reproductive capabilities but placed heavy restrictions on other aspects.

She wanted this newborn Queen Ant, who was essentially a replica of herself, to be nothing but an egg-laying machine for the rest of her life, with absolutely no chance of ever threatening her position.

【The Queen Ant firmly believes that only by concentrating resources on herself can the colony achieve better development.】

“It's already starting?”

Lin Miao couldn't help but utter an exclamation of awe.

He didn't know if this was a survival instinct etched into her very bones, or a desire spawned by her newly evolved brain.

After all, instincts that humans would perceive as incredibly cold and selfish were already commonplace in nature.

But right now, Lin Miao hoped it was the latter.

If this behavior wasn't driven purely by instinct, but rather because their intelligence had elevated to the point where they could harbor desires and scheme, then it was truly something to look forward to.

Lin Miao stared at the terrarium, quietly anticipating in his heart.

He looked forward to the day when they could truly communicate. In all likelihood, the first one capable of communicating with him would definitely be this first-generation Queen Ant.

Lin Miao couldn't help but wonder if they, too, were anticipating the arrival of that day just as he was.

【The egg of the newborn Queen Ant has been transferred to a brand-new nest. Meanwhile, a brand-new class of warrior is about to be born.】

The ant colony did not pause for a single moment, preparing for yet another leap forward.

And the newly born ants breaking through their cocoons would be one of the main forces of this leap.

The Queen Ant had preyed upon the fire ants Lin Miao had previously introduced, completely absorbing their genetic information. After refining and modifying this brand-new class, they now possessed the ability to spray acidic venom, just like the fire ants.

Before this, the small ants relying on numerical superiority, as well as the soldier ants serving as living chariots with their massive bodies, had already proven their worth.

It was the same when fighting the goblins; as long as they could close the distance and engage in close-quarters chaos, the ant colony's combat power could utterly crush the opponent.

However, when facing endless ranged attacks from enemies, they always had to pay a heavy price in casualties.

In Lin Miao's view, the vast majority of their losses occurred while charging through enemy ranged attacks.

With the addition of this brand-new type of ant, this shortcoming could finally be remedied.

What's more, once the new Queen Ant hatched and began laying eggs, the losses from the previous war would be recovered in the blink of an eye.

【To refine stronger toxins, your servants crave food containing venomous properties.】

“They need... poison?”

Seeing this prompt, Lin Miao froze for a moment, then quickly understood.

His ant colony wanted far more than just this.

Although there were venomous individuals among the magical beasts they had previously hunted, their numbers were far too small.

To form and deploy a venomous ant unit on a large scale within a short time, they would need a massive source of toxins.

And they were desperately searching for a way to strengthen the colony's combat capabilities.

If they were left to find it on their own, the expansion speed of the venomous ant unit would likely be miserably slow.

“Should I just buy some formic acid for them to try?”

A wild idea flashed through Lin Miao's mind in an instant.

He knew very well what that substance, commonly known as formic acid, was. The wild idea was to get some formic acid, which was already treated as a chemical agent.

If they were just ordinary ants, Lin Miao would definitely scold himself for having such an absurd thought. But these were monsters that had already broken past species limits and were still continuously evolving even now.

“Colony, let me see where your limits lie!”

With the mindset of giving it a try, Lin Miao ordered some formic acid solution online.

He believed that an experiment of this level would no longer shake the current ant colony.

After all, they were already existences crowned with the resounding title of "harbingers of doom" in another world.

“Lin Miao, send me the latest file of the warehouse materials inventory.”

In the office, his boss's voice suddenly rang out, interrupting Lin Miao's train of thought.

“Do you need it right now?”

While looking at the Divine Net system interface that only he could see, Lin Miao sneakily glanced at the online shopping order window open on his computer screen. Hearing his boss's words, he hurriedly switched screens in a flurry.

“Yeah, I heard the contaminated zone Team Three is conquering this time is a bit special,” his boss replied casually with a nod.

Even though these twenty years were called the era of great change, with many things in the world turned upside down, this was still an orderly modern world. Being able to buy such chemical reagents from the comfort of his home still felt somewhat surreal to him.

A few days later, his hands felt inexplicably light as he unboxed the package.

Unpacking the delivery, Lin Miao held the bottle containing the formic acid solution. He carefully placed a tiny glass bowl inside the terrarium and poured a very small amount of the chemical into it.

【Your servants are confused.】

Since their awakening as Lin Miao's servants, this was the first time something that was neither food nor a biological specimen had appeared in the terrarium.

They were already accustomed to the food and ant specimens Lin Miao fed them, but faced with this bowl of unfamiliar liquid, they showed clear confusion.

【They instinctively sense that this is highly toxic, yet your servants still summon their courage. For this is a gift bestowed upon them by the Great One who watches over them.】

Even so, the ant colony took action.

Armed only with their absolute, unreserved trust in Lin Miao, they began to step forward to drink the bowl of unknown, highly toxic liquid.

Lin Miao's heart couldn't help but pound.

Even though the creatures in the terrarium were just fingernail-sized, insignificant beings, receiving such passionate and pure trust from them felt surprisingly good.

“Ah...”

Lin Miao couldn't help but let out a soft cry.

Just then, the ants that had been the first to step forward and drink the poison began to twitch in unison, subsequently collapsing to the ground, lifeless.

Lin Miao couldn't help but sigh, thinking that even for them, such a reckless method was indeed not going to work. But right at that moment—

【The colony has completed learning the information of the highly toxic substance and is adjusting the intake concentration.】

Without the slightest hesitation, the ant colony immediately dispatched a second batch of ants.

They began to control the dosage of their intake, gradually feeling out the concentration of toxin their bodies could withstand.

They themselves were conducting an experiment.

For this, a large number of ants had already died. Yet the venomous ants in question, as well as the entire colony, had absolutely no intention of stopping for the sake of evolution and growth.

The anticipation of their growth, the imagination of the impending results...

Countless emotions intertwined at this very moment.