Receiving the signal, Heizai quickly crawled into the ant nest to convey Zeng Shen's will.
But a few seconds later, Zeng Shen received bad news.
[Danger! Danger! The host's actions have enraged the queen of the Mighty Ant Tribe. Your pet Heizai has been executed by the queen. Please flee immediately, or you will face her revenge, enslavement, exploitation, and use as a breeding tool. The consequences will be unimaginable.]
"Damn it!"
"That ant's got some nerve, executing my Heizai!"
"And she wants to turn me into a breeding tool?"
Zeng Shen was furious and decided to teach the queen a lesson.
He took a deep breath, bent down slightly, and blew hard at the top of the mound before him.
That breath was like a force-ten gale suddenly sweeping across flat ground.
Countless grains of fine sand flew off to one side from the ant nest, which countless ants had spent who knew how many days and nights building.
In the blink of an eye, Zeng Shen had blown a hole in it.
Inside the hole were plenty of ant eggs and countless worker ants scurrying everywhere, thrown into utter chaos.
Soon, however, the ants restored order and quickly moved the exposed eggs deeper into the nest.
Seeing this, Zeng Shen cast Eye of Observation on another ant. Once he confirmed it was an exotic beast, he cast Beast Taming on it.
[Congratulations, host! Taming successful. You have obtained a Swift Ant Beast. Casual believer +1. Congratulations!]
"Huh? No survival points this time?"
Zeng Shen exclaimed in surprise, named his new ant pet Heizai No. 2, and issued another order:
"Heizai No. 2, go fulfill your big brother Heizai's last wish. Tell the queen this is what happens when she executes Heizai. And tell her again that if she's willing to come out, submit to me, believe in me, serve me, and obey my commands, I can overlook her recklessness and give her more delicious food than she could ever eat. Otherwise, she'll feel a god's wrath."
Heizai No. 2 received the signal and relayed Zeng Shen's message to the queen.
But less than a second later, Zeng Shen saw Heizai No. 2 fleeing in panic. A dozen or so ants nearby suddenly seemed to go mad, chasing after him. They soon surrounded him and lunged in, biting until they formed a little black ball around him.
[Danger! Danger! The host's actions have enraged the queen of the Mighty Ant Tribe. Your pet Heizai No. 2 has been executed by the queen. Please flee immediately. Please flee immediately, or you will face her revenge, enslavement, and exploitation. The consequences will be unimaginable.]
"Damn it, so you want a fight?"
"Just because I haven't bared my fangs, you think I'm some harmless kitten?"
Zeng Shen rolled up his sleeves and frantically cast Beast Taming on more than a dozen particularly sturdy-looking black ants, one after another.
In an instant, a group of sturdy ordinary worker ants, along with one male ant with elite potential, became his pets.
"From now on, you're my new Heizai. The rest of you are Heizai No. 2, Heizai No. 3..."
Zeng Shen casually named his new ant pets, then assigned the male ant his position and gave him his orders.
"Heizai, take the female soldiers I've given you and storm that kingdom of women. Drag the queen out here for me, and I'll reward you with a few pretty female ants to have your fun with."
After making his generous offer, Zeng Shen cast Potential Empowerment three times, on the male ant Heizai, Heizai No. 2, and Heizai No. 3, using up his last sixty faith points.
After receiving Zeng Shen's signal and a cast of Potential Empowerment, the male ant Heizai seemed instantly pumped full of adrenaline, doubling in size.
Waving his mandibles, which were a size larger than any of the workers', he led over a dozen sturdy female ants charging fiercely into the depths of the nest.
Less than ten seconds passed.
Zeng Shen saw all the ants erupt into chaos, rapidly burrowing deeper into the nest.
At the same time, urgent alerts rang out in his ears in rapid succession.
[Danger! Danger! The host's actions have enraged the queen of the Mighty Ant Tribe. Your pet Heizai No. 4 has been executed by the queen. Please flee immediately. Please flee immediately, or you will face her revenge, enslavement, exploitation, and use as a breeding tool. The consequences will be unimaginable.] [Danger! Danger! The host's actions have enraged the queen of the Mighty Ant Tribe. Your pet Heizai No. 5 has been executed by the queen. Please flee immediately. Please flee immediately, or you will face her revenge, enslavement, exploitation, and use as a breeding tool. The consequences will be unimaginable.] [Danger...] [Danger! Danger! The host's actions have enraged the queen of the Mighty Ant Tribe. Your pet Heizai No. 15 has been executed by the queen. Please flee immediately. Please flee immediately, or you will face her revenge, enslavement, exploitation, and use as a breeding tool. The consequences will be unimaginable.]
Listening to the urgent alerts without knowing how the battle inside the nest was going, Zeng Shen knitted his brows. As though he were fighting a grueling battle himself, he felt an inexplicable anxiety rise within him.
After all, aside from the three Heizais he had empowered, whose deaths had yet to be reported, every other Heizai had fallen in battle.
And now he had exhausted all his faith points. If Heizai failed to drag the queen out, this heart-pounding battle would end in his defeat.
Then he would have no choice but to wait until tomorrow for the feral cats to contribute another batch of faith points before returning.
Suddenly-
A tangled black mass was squeezed out of a tunnel entrance.
Zeng Shen's brow instantly relaxed.
It was Heizai, using his enormous head to push a dense pile of black ant corpses out of a tunnel as wide as a chopstick.
Behind him, Heizai No. 2 and Heizai No. 3, who were slightly larger than the surrounding workers after receiving his Potential Empowerment, were carrying out a large white ant with a plump white abdomen, an elongated body, and two long white antennae on her head.
It was the queen.
"Hahaha!"
Zeng Shen laughed.
You little bitch, I finally dragged you out!
He immediately picked up a broad leaf nearby and placed it at the tunnel entrance, letting Heizai, Heizai No. 2, and Heizai No. 3 carry the queen onto it. Then he sent Heizai another signal.
"Tell the queen that if she submits to me, she'll have more delicious food than she can eat and a fine, warm, comfortable nest to live in. Otherwise, I'll squash her with one slap."
Receiving Zeng Shen's order, Heizai turned toward the queen and raised his enormous mandibles. Then the queen wriggled her enormous body, and a faint glow emerged from her surface and flew into Zeng Shen.
[Through both wisdom and courage, the host has offered the queen, chieftain of the Mighty Ant Tribe, an irresistible temptation. She has decided to follow you and obey your commands. Survival points +1000. Casual believer +1.]