The Beastkin Gather

The western plains.

Gorzan looked at Gobad across from him and said in a deep voice, “I clearly said that the day we met again would be the day one of our heads would be severed and rolling on the ground.”

Gobad snorted, his tone filled with helplessness. “As things stand, what other choice do we have?”

High Chief Gorzan and Gobad, the leaders of two beastkin tribes, stood in direct confrontation, each leading their respective forces.

Even as they stood face-to-face, neither hid the wariness in their eyes, their words sharp and confrontational. Yet, this very scene held an extraordinary symbolic meaning.

For it meant that the power struggles among the beastkin tribes that had played out on the plains for so long were finally drawing to a close.

Gorzan frowned and spoke in a heavy voice, “The movements of those monsters are strange. They aren't simply raiding; they are like a swarm of locusts, intent on devouring this land entirely.”

Gorzan was practically the spokesperson for the forces under the deity Uria.

For the sake of Uria, who had bestowed this opportunity upon him, he had led his people to continuously annex surrounding tribes, already becoming a massive threat in the eyes of the established powers.

Gobad remained highly guarded against Gorzan's words, replying coldly, “This is merely a temporary truce. I still do not trust you. Before those monsters arrived, you lot were the ones bringing chaos to this land.”

Gobad, who remained constantly wary of Gorzan's words, was precisely the leader of those established, hardline tribes that feared the rapid expansion of Uria's forces and had banded together for survival.

The two major forces had originally fought endlessly for hegemony over the plains, but the emergence of the ant colony sweeping across the vast plains had completely overturned everything.

Now, they no longer had the luxury of fighting a war of tribal unification.

Whether it was Gorzan's faction or Gobad's tribe, as long as they were targeted by the ant colony, they would be indiscriminately swept away and devoured by an army of tens of thousands of ants.

Hundreds of beastkin and thousands of livestock had already fallen prey to the ant colony, becoming their sustenance.

Gorzan looked at Gobad and said seriously, “At the very least, we share a common enemy. There is no doubt about that.”

Gobad remained silent for a long time before finally nodding heavily. “...Very well. The enemy we must prioritize destroying above all else is those monsters.”

In this manner, a near-miraculous consensus was reached.

As representatives of both sides, Gorzan and Gobad firmly shook each other's calloused hands, sealing a truce agreement: suspend all internal conflicts and place the fight against the ant colony above all else.

Just as the forces of the Church of the Goddess of Light in the south were building high walls and doing everything they could to push for internal reforms to combat the ant colony, the various factions across this land were undergoing similar transformations one after another.

【The Queen Ant perceives that the beastkin forces are continuously gathering and growing stronger】

Completely unaware of all this—or rather, even if they knew, it wouldn't change their actions—the ant colony was still sweeping across the plains, devouring everything edible along the way.

【The Queen Ant realizes that the migratory colony she leads has fundamental differences in many aspects from the main nest's colony, and must carve out a completely different path of evolution】

In the quiet room, Lin Miao sat alone on the sofa, staring at the screen invisible to others. Watching the records on the screen stop, he couldn't help but sigh in a low voice, “...Isn't this speed a bit too fast?”

The migratory colony was indeed worlds apart from the previous main nest colony.

They did not build nests to settle down, so mobility was of utmost importance, and it also placed extremely high demands on the endurance of individuals.

And the one who realized this and made targeted adjustments was precisely the Second Queen Ant.

This Second Queen Ant, who was originally a clone of the First Generation Queen Ant Elise, was now growing at a speed that far surpassed Elise's.

After all, she had inherited the entire dataset of the ant colony, including all the accumulated experience from Elise. As a latecomer, it was only natural for her growth rate to be extremely rapid.

Lin Miao pondered to himself: 'Looking at it this way, I need to take this into consideration as well.'

Only by understanding the differences between the two ant colonies could he provide them with the most appropriate assistance.

As long as he placed materials that could bestow new abilities to the migratory colony into the terrarium, once Elise devoured them, she would share the corresponding genetic data with the Second Queen Ant.

Lin Miao wondered: 'What kind of materials do they actually need?'

He rose from the sofa, walked over to the terrarium, and looked down inside.

Inside the terrarium lay a swimming crab and a shrimp, both of which had already lost all signs of life.

These were organisms on a completely different level from insects, possessing fundamental differences.

Previously, he had bought these two creatures, which were still barely clinging to life, from the supermarket and put them in. The result, as expected, was no surprise.

Elise had devoured the crustaceans, but had failed to digest and absorb their abilities.

To master crustacean genes, more time was still needed.

【The servants perceive the counterattack of the beastkin】

What Lin Miao and the ant colony needed now was more data and more resources.

He wasn't sure if describing it as “impeccable timing” was appropriate, but the system prompt that had just popped up told Lin Miao that an opportunity to make up for these gaps all at once had arrived.

On the Divine Net forum, a user suspected of being a beastkin deity had posted:

[God of War: Once their numbers grow even larger, there will be absolutely no hope left. We must reduce their numbers as much as possible right now.]

Immediately following was Hestia's reply:

[Goddess of Light: My apologies, but I already have my hands full just defending the high wall.]

Lin Miao saw this conversation on the Divine Net forum.

Just as Hestia had said, the forces of the Church of the Goddess of Light were holding fast to the southern high wall, refusing to budge even half a step.

Lin Miao thought to himself: 'That may be true, but it's not like the ant colony lacks the strength to attack them.'

Hestia probably thought that with the ant colony shifting its attention elsewhere, she would be able to catch her breath, but things would in all likelihood not go as she wished.

The only reason the ant colony was temporarily sparing the high wall was to split off a new colony to operate independently, while giving the prey in this “trap” some time to grow, so they could harvest even more sustenance in the future.

The war would never stop; it was just that the battlefield had split from one into two.

Looking at the footage sent back by the aerial scouts, Lin Miao thought to himself: 'However, the beastkin are truly determined this time.'

On the screen, the scale of the beastkin army was extremely massive.

The beastkin army, whose total numbers even exceeded those of the migratory colony, was currently advancing in two routes toward the migratory colony.

Their momentum made it clear that they intended to launch an all-out assault from the very beginning, pulling the ant colony up by its roots.

【The servants believe that this is an excellent opportunity】

Yet, far from avoiding the battle, the ant colony actively surged forward to meet them.

They seemed to have calculated everything long ago, intending as always to use this war as an opportunity for the ant colony to evolve and grow further.

This was especially true for the migratory colony, which had so far only devoured a small number of fleeing enemies, abandoned livestock, and wild animals.