"Ha-ha, it worked."
Zeng Mo laughed heartily. After looking at the palm-sized black ant queen, he ordered the black ants to crawl over.
"From now on, the ant queen commands that your entire race submit to her, forever obey her orders, and serve her. Whatever she wants, she may have. Whatever she wants you to do, you must do without condition."
The black ants quickly carried out the queen's command.
Nothing happened.
The queen moved her enormous body, and countless black ants came crawling over. A sharp chirp rang out as the ant swarm surged toward her.
Zeng Mo narrowed his eyes. The queen released a strange cry, and the ants halted.
The swarm appeared before the queen. They raised their heads and seemed eager to eliminate the black ants.
However, the queen merely moved her enormous body slightly. The ants hesitated, then all stopped moving.
Immediately afterward, among the black ants, one ant suddenly grew several times larger. Its body emitted a white glow filled with wisdom, and it slowly entered the passage.
[Congratulations, Overlord. Under the command of the psychic ant queen, all psychic ants have submitted to the ant queen and now serve you. Survival Points +5500.]
[Congratulations, Overlord. You have obtained 550 psychic ant followers. Faith +5500.]
"Ah, that's great."
"I collected them all at once. Of the 550 psychic ant followers, apart from the five queen ants, the rest are all male ants."
"Not only that, all the faith that the queen consumed has returned. I've gained a total of 6500 Survival Points."
"Just like that, I have 9230 Survival Points."
"I'm only 770 Survival Points short of the next ten consecutive draw."
Zeng Mo was delighted. He had never expected to be so lucky. In just a short while, he had gained more Survival Points than he had during the past three days.
As expected.
His previous judgment had not been wrong. The fastest way to obtain Survival Points was to find a wise race and turn them into his followers.
He had struck gold.
Zeng Mo looked around. Seeing no one nearby, he quickly summoned the Gate of Divinity and fixed its location at Jadeite Valley.
In the blink of an eye, the Gate of Divinity, three meters high and one meter wide, appeared beside him.
Zeng Mo concentrated. Using his will, he made the Gate of Divinity before him shrink until it was only as large as a palm. Then he ordered the black ants, "Ant queen, have all the psychic ants with bodies that emit white light enter the light ring and leave through it."
After receiving the command, the black ants quickly gathered around the queen, carrying out their master's will.
The queen received the order and moved her antennae slightly.
In an instant, the hundreds of psychic ants shining with white light began moving behind the queen. They formed a long black dragon and headed toward the Gate of Divinity.
[Warning! The Overlord's faith contains a trace of divine energy. Upon entering the Gate of Divinity, it will last for approximately ten years. Its speed will gradually decline and it will eventually decay.]
The queen was startled by the sudden message. Zeng Mo also heard a familiar warning, but soon afterward received a reassuring prompt.
[Divine Attribute: Divine Network Connection. The Overlord's believers will receive a trace of divine energy from the network, allowing them to survive normally within the divine realm.]
"Phew, fortunately there's a divine network. It lets the believers enter the divine realm in advance."
Zeng Mo took a deep breath, then turned to the black ant queen and said, "When it's time to fulfill your promise, take the ten male ants you like most and come with me. I need you to name them."
The black ant queen received Zeng Mo's instructions and turned toward the depths of the ant nest.
Nothing happened.
Behind the queen were seven psychic wings, resembling those of a small queen ant. Three of them carried three young queens on their backs, while the other four carried egg-shaped ant cocoons. Slowly, they crawled out through the passage.
"Ha, this little fellow is quite playful. It didn't leave any of the smaller ones behind." Zeng Mo smiled. Then he said, "All right. I've had enough of these ant queens as well. Since you want them, I'll arrange it for you."
Immediately, Zeng Mo selected ten male ants among the ten thousand psychic ants with wings. He named them and sent them away.
The rest were left behind.
He then left the remaining psychic ant queens under the command of the black ant queen.
After receiving the command, Zeng Mo selected ten male ants that were slightly weaker and named them.
The remaining psychic ants were given to the black ant queen to arrange.
He asked the black ant queen to bring the ten male ants into the Gate of Divinity and have them serve as servants of the queen.
He wanted the black ant queen to turn them into servants of the psychic ant queen. Zeng Mo would then use them to issue his own commands.
Everything was arranged in an orderly manner.
About fifteen minutes passed.
Zeng Mo stood among the psychic ant queens of the wise race and took out a bag of honey. He poured it around the queen's nest. He also had the black ant tribe living fifty meters away set up a safe camp.
Afterward, Zeng Mo closed the Gate of Divinity and went to the nearby labor platform, where he ordered the construction of an ice-cold five-liter bucket of mineral water. He piled some soil around the nest and sat down to rest.
In the blink of an eye, the ant nest collapsed. The ants in the black soil crawled out one after another.
Zeng Mo stretched his waist.
[The Overlord is unafraid of death. Amid the encirclement of the rapidly multiplying ants, he broke through the siege, carried a bucket of water, and killed a large number of rapidly multiplying ants. Survival Points +5770.]
Hearing the system notification, Zeng Mo once again walked over to the edge of the large pit and kicked the bucket of water into the nearby ant nest.
However, this time, the system notification did not sound.
Zeng Mo turned around and opened the Gate of Divinity.
Because he knew that the remaining ant swarm was the race that had survived the end of the world for three years, the system had determined that it was a living race. The ants he had killed with the water were also part of the swarm, so he estimated that he would not receive any more Survival Points.
As he walked away,
the surviving ant swarm, with the queen present, once again gave birth to a new generation of ants. With the queen's nourishment, a new queen emerged, and under the nourishment of a year's worth of divine energy, a new wise race and new eggs began gestating in the Gate of Divinity.
Naturally, all of this happened after Zeng Mo left, and he knew nothing about it.
At this moment, he was walking outside the botanical garden. After walking a short distance, he sent a message to Yu Lin and Feng Ying, asking them to go to the place they had agreed on and wait for him.
As a result, before half an hour had passed—twelve-thirty—Liu Fang sent him a message.
"Are you free? Are you available at noon?"
"What's wrong?" Zeng Mo replied.
Liu Fang quickly sent a voice message. "At noon, I want you to accompany me to receive that award and attend the signing ceremony with me. I need you there to take a group photo and write your name."
"Sure, no problem."
Liu Fang responded with a photo of the address, adding the exact location.
Zeng Mo took a look. It was the city's largest recruitment and human-resources firm, located near Jinhai Plaza.
"That area seems to be very close to where Yu Lin swiped her card earlier. Let's go take a look tomorrow."
Zeng Mo chuckled. He then sent the picture to Yu Lin.
The result came almost instantly.
Zeng Mo was stunned for a moment, but the voice message he had sent to Liu Fang was quickly answered.
"Husband, why did you go there? Feng Ying and I are at the performance hall, watching a show."
"Wife, it's already twelve-thirty. Have you eaten lunch?"
"Husband, I just chose a good place with Yu Lin. There's a delicious traditional restaurant nearby. Wait for us there. As for lunch, I'm not very hungry either. Zeng Mo and Feng Ying were busy performing, so we only ate some snacks. My stomach is already full."
Zeng Mo replied, "All right. Then choose the place carefully. I'll go to the black market and eat something. After we watch the martial arts performance, I'll wait for you at the studio tonight and we can have dinner together."
"Wait, husband. What kind of strange color is your stomach?"
"Ah?" Zeng Mo froze. He immediately withdrew the voice message, and Liu Fang sent another voice message.
"Mmm, husband, let's eat."
Zeng Mo smiled helplessly.
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