Rowan decided that no matter what, he would suppress his curiosity this time and absolutely refuse to go out and watch the commotion. Last time, he had already been "sent away, a thousand miles away." With the danger feeling so strong this time, who knew what kind of trouble he might stir up if he went out?
Five minutes later, Rowan cautiously crawled toward the surface.
He didn't want to explain himself. All he could say was that his curiosity had been too strong, and he hadn't been able to overcome it.
But as soon as he crawled near the Transfer Station above, he realized it had been invaded. The fine hairs on his body picked up the sound of countless unknown creatures crawling through the passage.
Could the Ant Nest have been invaded? After thinking it over, he decided that was impossible. He went undercover every day for a while, carrying food, so if they had made any major movements, he would have noticed. Besides, the Black Ants weren't smart enough to put on an act in front of him and deceive him into letting down his guard.
That meant they were outsiders. For some reason, Rowan thought of the Earth-Yellow Ants he had encountered that evening, and his heart tightened.
He had to poke his head out and take a look. Otherwise, he wouldn't even know what the enemy was, leaving him far too passive.
Rowan cautiously opened a small hole in the passage connected to the Transfer Station and peered inside. Sure enough, it was packed with Yellow Earth Ants. Could they have come for revenge?
That couldn't be. He had only killed seven Worker Ants who were scouting ahead. Was that really enough to bring an entire army to his doorstep? Were those seven scouts important figures? Princes or princesses of some ant empire? Damn, that would be way too melodramatic. Compared to that, Rowan thought it was much more likely to be a coincidence.
Regardless, the enemy was far too powerful to provoke for now. There were hundreds of Yellow Earth Ants in the Transfer Station alone, but compared to the tremors coming from the surface above, they were only a tiny fraction of the force.
Rowan guessed there had to be at least ten thousand Yellow Earth Ants on the surface to cause such powerful tremors. If only a few hundred had passed by, he wouldn't have felt a thing this deep underground.
Without attracting the attention of the Yellow Earth Ants in the passage, Rowan quietly pulled his head back.
Luckily, the Transfer Station had originally been built as a decoy—a Fake Insect Nest.
Connecting directly to the Ant Nest was somewhat dangerous. If they slipped up and the Ant Nest discovered them, it could follow the passage back. If the passage connected directly to the Insect Nest, they would be in constant danger and at a serious disadvantage.
So they had made this Fake Insect Nest above the Insect Nest. It served as a waystation for food, and it also provided a measure of cover.
Every night, after the Transport Team and Excavation Team returned from outside, they erased every trace of the passage connecting the Insect Nest to the Transfer Station, then filled it back in.
If an Ant Nest tried to launch a surprise attack, simply following the passage would never lead it to the Insect Nest. If it kept searching, it might even end up at another Ant Nest.
That was called redirecting the trouble elsewhere. But now, the one who might have served as the trouble's target had changed. Still, the diversion could work. All Rowan could do was pray that the Ant Nest could withstand the Yellow Earth Ants' invasion. Otherwise, he would have to find a new Granary.
Back in the Insect Nest, Rowan was no longer in the mood to sleep. He focused all his attention on sensing what was happening above. Fortunately, the countless tremors were far away from him. The Yellow Earth Ants hadn't discovered that an Insect Nest was hidden below.
The tremors from above continued for a long, long time, until Rowan was almost numb to them.
If the Yellow Earth Ants weren't putting on an act and weren't just pacing back and forth above the Insect Nest, then their numbers had to be enormous—hundreds of thousands, or even over a million.
Rowan didn't think they were putting on an act. For one thing, there was no point. For another, he could feel that the tremors were constantly moving from one end to the other. That meant the Yellow Earth Ants were heading in one direction and hadn't turned back.
He realized he had underestimated them. Even someone like him, who could take out seven Yellow Earth Ants in an instant, would be swallowed up by the army in seconds if he appeared on the surface now. He wouldn't stand a chance.
So Rowan sensibly ordered all the insects in the Insect Nest to stop working, rest where they were, and make no sound.
In the dark tunnels, the insects were like machines with their power cut. They all fell silent. This made the place even quieter, and the tremors and scraping sounds from above grew clearer.
Rowan couldn't imagine how enormous a nest, or how abundant its resources, would have to be to support such a massive army of ants. He felt somewhat relieved that insects had no fear. Otherwise, they would probably have already suffered mental breakdowns.
Time passed, and the tremors above gradually stopped. The ant army had finally passed through. But Rowan stayed quiet, waiting for them to go farther away.
A long time later, Rowan finally got up. The ant army should have gone far away by now. His tiny Insect Nest wasn't worth their making a U-turn to attack.
Though he already had a guess, he still crept upward with great care. He first approached the Transfer Station. There was still a little movement inside. Some Yellow Earth Ants might not have kept up with the main force and had been left behind.
Rowan didn't go in to investigate. He circled around the Transfer Station, continued upward, and quietly emerged from the ground.
The day-night temperature difference here wasn't as great as it had been in the desert. It didn't frost over at night, but it was still very cold. The two cold, clear lights in the sky cast a hazy glow over the land.
The ground looked as if something had plowed through it. The Yellow Earth Ant army had perfectly demonstrated what it meant for a great army to pass through, leaving nothing behind. The vegetation here had once been fairly dense, but apart from a few sturdy trees, everything else had vanished.
At a glance, it seemed as though the sky itself had risen several feet.
The desolate scene nearly made Rowan think he had returned to the desert.
Several Yellow Earth Ants were still lingering in the distance, seemingly searching for something. Their eyesight was poor, and they hadn't noticed Rowan. But even if they had, their numbers were too small to hurt him.
After glancing around, Rowan didn't stay long on the surface. He turned back to the Transfer Station and dealt with the Yellow Earth Ants trapped inside one by one. Then he headed toward Ant Nest No. 1.
The few scattered Yellow Earth Ants along the way couldn't cause him any trouble. They couldn't even slow him down.
Their individual strength was beneath his notice now. But once their numbers passed a certain threshold, Rowan would have no choice but to run.
This experience had truly shown him the power of a swarm, but he scoffed at it. Relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm an opponent showed no tactical skill whatsoever.
In terms of technique, it was even far inferior to Rowan's Combat Technique.
As he thought that, the amount of ant acid his mouth secreted suddenly increased for some reason. Could it be because he had eaten too many ants?
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