Assassination

During this period, Rowan had nothing better to do, so he used the Scout Spider as a genetic template and added the Big Eye gene, specifically dispatching them to patrol the cliff walls and scout the desert above the cliffs.

Just a few days ago, he received news that the yellowish-brown ant legion had appeared on the desert again. Because the Scout Spiders' reports were extremely vague and unclear, he hurriedly climbed to the top of the cliff to observe and gather intelligence himself.

Peeking his head out from the cliff wall, his big eyes, having grown for hundreds of days and nights, could now clearly observe an area within a radius of fifty meters.

At this moment, more than twenty meters in front of him, dense masses of yellowish-brown ants were piling and trampling over one another, passing before Rowan's eyes like a murky, yellowish-brown torrent.

The army changed direction as it neared the cliff, rolling away into the distance.

Rowan watched for several hours before the entire army had passed. Meanwhile, the desert, which had regained its lush greenery after a period of rest, became empty and desolate once more, leaving only scattered yellowish-brown ants that had failed to keep up with the main force wandering about.

Rowan finally understood how the scenes he had witnessed while traveling across the desert had come to be. These yellowish-brown ants treated the entire desert as a hunting ground, sweeping through it every so often.

No wonder this region, despite being located not too far above the underground river, always appeared so barren.

At the same time, the sheer number of those yellowish-brown ants made Rowan secretly click his tongue in awe.

He compared them to the insects in his Insect Nest; over ten thousand insects piled together actually only formed a small lump that didn't take up much space.

Then, thinking of the rolling yellow dust that stretched beyond the horizon, moving continuously for several hours...

Rowan couldn't fathom how many yellowish-brown ants it would take to create such a scene, but he believed that if it could be quantified, the final number would be incredibly long.

When he first saw that sight, Rowan had already planned to move, but although the strength of the Insect Nest had grown significantly, he believed the outcome would be no different than before if they faced the yellowish-brown ant legion.

Later, he discovered that the yellowish-brown ants would not approach the cliff, and considering his underlings had already mastered the divine skill of eating dirt, the worst-case scenario was simply to go into seclusion underground for a few days when the army arrived and emerge only after they had left.

Coupled with the various limitations of relocating the base, he abandoned the idea. Furthermore, he harbored an ambition: to one day lead his insects to face the yellowish-brown ant legion head-on and avenge the humiliation of being disemboweled and forced to flee his home all those years ago.

Oh, wait, that was wrong; Rowan wasn't a vengeful person. This thought was merely about seeking justice for the vast flora and fauna of the desert.

Therefore, to gain the strength required for revenge—ahem, to better seek justice—the military force had to be expanded. Thus, the Insect Nest had to be further developed, and clearing out the surrounding ant nests was imperative.

As for talk of being hardworking and uncomplaining or having rendered great service, there was naturally no need to mention it again.

Today was the day the army would set out, and the primary goal was to clear the four surrounding ant nests first. By taking down one nest per day, plus the subsequent cleanup of the battlefield and tallying of spoils, he aimed to finish within a week.

Although the Insect Nest could already crush a single ant nest in terms of troop numbers, a proper battle plan was still necessary to minimize unnecessary losses.

The battle began with a sneak attack; over a dozen Spy Ants altered their pheromones, passing through unimpeded to break directly into the location of the Ant Queen.

This was a tunnel-like chamber with a massive Ant Queen lying in the center. It looked like a Worker Ant magnified dozens of times, only its abdomen was long and distended, marked with beautiful yellow ring-shaped patterns.

Four strong Soldier Ants were on guard around it, while several Worker Ants lined up to feed the food held in their mandibles to the Ant Queen.

A few other Worker Ants were busy carrying away the eggs the Ant Queen had just laid.

The sudden intrusion of a dozen ants into the room clearly caught the attention of the Soldier Ants, but after probing with their antennae and finding nothing unusual, they paid no more mind.

The Spy Ants were modulated based on the standard Worker Ant template, with the addition of gene segments for pheromone alteration, catapult-start, and formic acid spraying.

However, that was only the old version.

Several Spy Ants approached the Ant Queen with food in their mandibles, pretending to feed it.

Meanwhile, the other Spy Ants dispersed, each approaching one of the four Soldier Ants.

Although the Soldier Ants were slightly agitated by the approach of the Spy Ants, they took no drastic action, allowing the Spy Ants to crawl onto their bodies.

In an ant nest, trampling over one another was a normal occurrence, especially since the Soldier Ants were larger and more accustomed to being stepped on.

After crawling onto the backs of the Soldier Ants, the Spy Ants slowly extended a tape-measure-like proboscis from their mouths, which straightened out until it became like a steel needle.

It then pierced through the gaps in the Soldier Ants' armor, and the Soldier Ants remained completely unaware.

After the last great battle with the spiders, when configuring the new version of the Spy Ants, Rowan had wanted to equip them with some toxic weaponry.

Because their role was infiltration, intelligence gathering, and acting as a special unit of assassins to decapitate key targets at critical moments.

Although Rowan sometimes wondered if it was overkill to go to such lengths with insects—was it really necessary to play such complex games with low-intelligence creatures?

Later, he thought of the Black Armored "War God" that had been schemed to death, the Poison Spider that had been swarmed and killed without a chance to fight back, and that vast, endless army of yellowish-brown ants.

After careful consideration, he felt that while the insects might not be highly intelligent, their instincts honed over long periods and their evolved "black technologies" still required serious treatment.

Anyway, since he was idle, creating multi-unit coordination could just be for his own amusement.

However, during the actual modulation, he discovered that the spider's venom required its pair of chelicerae to function. Rowan himself had only been able to use venom-injection attacks after growing a new pair of chelicerae.

Worker Ants were smaller, and there was no room on their heads to configure another pair of chelicerae. Even if he forced it, the chelicerae would likely be stunted and tiny, which might be fine for dealing with units of their own size.

But if they were to deal with larger units, such as Soldier Ants, their tiny chelicerae might not even be able to pierce the Soldier Ants' armor.

Moreover, the current role of the Worker Ants was to provide long-range support and auxiliary attacks; they didn't really need enhanced melee capabilities.

Furthermore, configuring that gene segment to produce eggs would consume a significant amount of extra energy, making it too cost-ineffective compared to its utility.

Thus, Rowan recalled the original Camouflage Bug, a classic example of the weak overcoming the strong.

And although its needle-like proboscis had significant limitations, this method of seeking out weaknesses, using poison, and injecting death was unexpectedly well-suited for the Spy Ant's role as an assassin.

And so, the scene of the Spy Ants assassinating the Soldier Ants unfolded before his eyes.

Suddenly, the Soldier Ants seemed to sense something; the four of them began to roll and struggle almost simultaneously. Their bodies seemed to lose coordination, unable to even stand, until they finally curled up and trembled incessantly, looking to be in extreme pain.

The Black Armored Beetle had died without even realizing it, passing away silently, because although the Camouflage Bug was also thin and weak, its body length was comparable to the Black Armored Beetle's, making them barely a match in the same weight class.

But the size difference between the Spy Ants and the Soldier Ants was simply too vast, a gap of several times over. The venom the Spy Ants produced and stored was not enough to kill the Soldier Ants in one strike.

However, this was already enough; large swaths of muscle within the Soldier Ants' bodies were being melted. Although they weren't dead yet, they could no longer control their bodies and had lost their ability to fight.

In their current state, they were far worse off than the Black Armored Beetle, which had died without pain.

This is a niche genre; I hope everyone will add it to their collections and vote to show your support.