The Ant Traitor

"Ant Queen, egg."

Compared to ordinary insects, Big Fool the soldier ant was actually very intelligent, because ordinary bugs found it difficult to use [Mental Link] to organize words.

After only one afternoon, Big Fool could already send System brief messages. Though he was far inferior to the Queen, he still counted as an insect of considerable intelligence.

Rather than being stupid, Big Fool was simply pure-minded and single-track, easily trusting others without question.

Big Fool the soldier ant firmly believed System's fabricated identity as an Ant Queen.

He believed himself to be System's child, so he carried out every command System gave him with meticulous precision.

"Go catch me an ant larva."

Taking the ant egg from Big Fool's mouth, System continued conducting new tests on him.

Stealing food from ordinary worker ants, entering the nest to steal food, bringing ant eggs and larvae out of the nest...

System steadily escalated his tests of Big Fool the soldier ant.

He discovered that even if he told Big Fool to commit suicide, or to enter the depths of the nest and assassinate the false Ant Queen, Big Fool would carry it out without a second thought.

However, System only issued those latter two commands before immediately stopping him.

There was no way he would actually let Big Fool kill himself. And as for assassinating the Ant Queen in the nest, leaving aside whether Big Fool alone could succeed, even if he truly did, it would bring System no benefit.

After picking out a crack between some rocks, System ordered Big Fool to carry food into it, then hopped away from the ant nest.

The sky gradually turned pitch-black as System explored the outskirts of the forest in the night.

Thanks to [Dark Vision] and his newly acquired ability, [Keen Vision], System's eyesight in darkness was now even better than his eyesight had once been during the day.

Furthermore, having inherited the Grasshopper Queen's mental strength, System could now use [Information Reading] continuously for over ten minutes—more than three times longer than before.

In fact, although System had gone out to forage at night in the past, this was his first true exploration.

The forest held countless mosquitoes and other insects at night. They danced through the air in swarms, seemingly engaged in a mating ritual.

Every few meters, spiders stood ready on their webs, while one or two toads with ever-swelling bellies would occasionally appear on the ground, flicking out their tongues to catch mosquitoes in the air.

The forest at night was dangerous and mysterious.

Before long, a small bat appeared in the sky, darting back and forth. System tensed, preparing to avoid this hunter of insects.

Yet before System could act, he realized the little bat seemed to have noticed him and had moved far away ahead of him.

System suddenly understood.

This bat, roughly his own size, did not see him as prey at all. Instead, it chose to keep its distance, clearly wary of him.

He was no longer that little grasshopper from before.

Ignoring the bat, System continued exploring the surrounding area.

There were many things System could hunt at night, but most were not what he wanted. If he merely wanted to hunt these insects, stealing from the ants was undoubtedly more efficient.

What System sought were still magical creatures he could eat, like slimes.

Along with inheriting the Grasshopper Queen's power, System had also gained many of her memory images.

The Grasshopper Queen's memories of gaining Mind Transfer, including that segment about the voice of the world, were hazy. But her memory of the plant that had allowed her to rapidly grow stronger was crystal clear.

Only after she ate that pale-blue fruit did the Grasshopper Queen begin walking a path different from ordinary grasshoppers.

But while System's idea was good, searching for magical creatures in the forest was like looking for a needle in the sea. After an entire night, System had gained nothing.

However, when dawn came and his exploration ended in failure, as he returned to the ant nest where Big Fool was—

System made a startling discovery. He had found a way to safely survive the winter.

With such an easy way to winter over, System no longer needed to seek magical creatures to quickly increase his strength. After all, finding a blue fruit like the one the Grasshopper Queen had eaten was like buying a lottery ticket—something one could only stumble upon by chance.

He only needed to prepare in peace and steadily raise his experience bar. In a little over ten days, he could undergo his third metamorphosis, and afterward he would be able to easily make it through the entire winter. Even if there were two or three months of snow, he would have nothing to fear.

This startling discovery came from Big Fool the soldier ant. Over the course of a single night, Big Fool had filled the rock crevice System had casually chosen yesterday with food.

The rock crevice System had designated was quite large for ants, with roughly the capacity of a can of cola from his previous life.

That Big Fool had filled it with food in just one night was not because he was particularly strong. In fact, ordinary soldier ants were merely larger in size; their ability to carry objects was even inferior to that of ordinary worker ants.

Big Fool was much the same as other soldier ants, equally terrible at carrying food. Even if ten of him worked all night, they could not possibly fill that rock crevice.

The reason Big Fool had filled the crevice with food was because he had mobilized the vast masses of worker ants!

When System came hopping back from afar, nearly a hundred worker ants were continuously moving about near the rock crevice he had designated.

Under Big Fool's command, the worker ants orderly deposited the food clamped in their mouths into the rock crevice.

The crevice was already full, so the worker ants continued piling food atop what was inside, while Big Fool strode grandly among them, occasionally directing the flow of moving workers.

Big Fool's performance had far exceeded System's expectations.

Having soldier ants command worker ants to transport food was something System, despite possessing human intelligence, had never considered. Yet Big Fool the soldier ant had thought of it himself.

Learning that Big Fool could mobilize ordinary worker ants, System immediately thought of countless possibilities, including a plan to use those worker ants to build a wintering nest.

With these ants skilled at digging, he would not only be able to build an underground nest with ease, but could make it exceptionally luxurious as well.

Originally, he had planned to dig a simple hole two meters underground—somewhere he could squeeze into and shelter from winter's cold.

Now, he could have these diligent worker ants dig a five-meter-deep burrow, then carve out room after room within it to serve as granaries.

System only needed to have Big Fool, the soldier ant, direct the worker ants to make the burrow spacious enough for him to move in and out freely.

As for filling the granaries, these hardworking worker ants could gather supplies as well. If they collected food too slowly, he could even have them carry it directly from the storerooms of their own ant nest.

Once winter arrived, he would not only avoid lying motionless as if hibernating, but could keep eating underground without pause, further increasing his strength.