East Gorteau Republic

Led by Meruem, the Chimera Ants arrived at the Ant King's original base in the source material—the East Gorteau Republic. To be honest, Meruem could have chosen another country, or even remained in NGL. But fewer than one in ten humans remained in NGL. If the Chimera Ants wanted to expand, NGL was obviously not a good choice. Although Meruem had previously told Netero that he bore no ill will toward humanity, that had been complete nonsense given the circumstances. And even if Meruem truly had no ill will toward humans, would humanity really let him go? The answer was: heh.

Compared to other small countries, the East Gorteau Republic was much easier to conquer. First, its military strength was quite poor. Second, it had no Nen Users worth noticing, or even moderately capable ones. Against the ant army now led by Meruem, it was practically a slaughter. To exaggerate a little, even a single Squad Captain could have captured the East Gorteau Republic's palace. Moreover, the country's current leader was merely a puppet substitute. The true leader had retired long ago, and his subordinates were nothing more than a bunch of fools. They could bully ordinary people, but they were useless against Nen Users. Of course, the palace was well built and looked quite comfortable to live in. Most importantly, this country had no Rose Bomb. Other nations might possess such weapons capable of dealing a devastating blow to the ants, and Meruem did not want to take that risk. Thus, the East Gorteau Republic became a fine choice.

"Wu Tian, I appoint you Prime Minister. From now on, you will be responsible for daily affairs. The administration of our ant race will be entrusted to you." After easily dealing with the East Gorteau Republic palace guards and occupying the palace, Meruem sat upon the presidential throne and began assigning official positions to the Squad Leaders. Wu Tian was the old turtle who had once looked like a butler.

"Thank you for Your Majesty's trust. This old servant will certainly devote himself fully to the task." The old turtle's eyes curved into slits with delight. He was clearly very satisfied with his position. Well, even when he was not smiling, his eyes were practically slits anyway.

"Blair, I appoint you Royal Physician. You will be responsible for treating all wounded warriors of our Chimera race." The next to receive an appointment was the octopus from the source material who possessed some medical ability.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Compared to the old turtle, the octopus was noticeably more indifferent. Ants loyal to the Queen still harbored some resentment over the Ant Queen's death. But under the Queen's orders, and because Meruem truly possessed the ability to lead the Chimera Ants toward greatness, these Queen loyalists continued to follow Meruem. As time passed, however, these ants would eventually become loyal to him. After all, in the source material, if the Ant King had not been bloodthirsty or slaughtered indiscriminately, and had not been directly responsible for the Ant Queen's death, then basically every ant would have obeyed him. At least, that was what they showed.

"Bihorn, I appoint you Commander of the Imperial Guards. You will be responsible for the vigilance and protection of our entire ant race. The safety of our Chimera race will depend entirely on you." Although the Imperial Guards had nothing to do with a Supreme Commander, and a great general had little to do with the duties of a security officer, the Chimera Ants did not understand such things. Wasn't mixing things up fashionable these days?

"Thank you for Your Majesty's grace." Bihorn, the old bull said to possess the greatest brute strength among the Chimera Ants beneath the Royal Guards, was delighted by this position, which he did not quite understand but sounded incredibly impressive. Look, look! The first two had four characters, but mine has six! Bihorn even flexed his muscles, but shriveled up again when he saw Youpi standing beside the King. Clearly, the old bull who claimed the greatest brute strength in the world had compared strength with Youpi before. Naturally, he had been utterly crushed.

"Peggy, I appoint you Grand Scholar of the Cabinet. You will be responsible for teaching knowledge to our entire ant race. Do not disappoint me." The owl Peggy was the chameleon's adoptive father in his previous life and had appeared in the source material as a scholar. His Nen ability was unknown, though sadly, he had been instantly killed the moment the King appeared. Appointing him Grand Scholar therefore put him to proper use.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. This servant will absorb all the knowledge of human society and teach it to our ant race." Peggy spoke with the solemn expression of an old scholar. He had also been one of the first Squad Leaders among the Chimera Ants to think of giving every ant a name.

"Cheetu, Kolt, Meleoron, Ace, Bloster." The remaining five Squad Leaders received different positions. Leopard Kite, the foolish leopard, became Chief of the Reconnaissance Corps because he ran fast. Put plainly, it was a scout unit. The chameleon Meleoron and the mantis Ace were assigned to the Anbu, with Ace serving as its minister because his combat strength was high. The lobster Bloster became Minister of Artillery, responsible for long-range strikes in battle. Kolt became a Sky General, responsible for aerial combat units. As for the Ant King's Royal Guards, they had no need for official positions. They were Meruem's personal guards.

"Kolt, stay behind. The rest of you may leave. Remember tomorrow's Nen training." Meruem kept Kolt behind, as he had been absent-minded all along, and dismissed the other Squad Leaders to rest. The so-called Nen training was meant to teach these Squad Leaders the proper use of Nen, preventing some of them from taking the wrong path—like the leopard in the source material, who abandoned his speed advantage for a ridiculous barrier-based game.

"I know where your younger sister is." Back at the Ant Nest, Kolt had not left like the other Squad Leaders, but neither had he intended to leave with Meruem. The Queen he cherished most had died. In his previous life, he had died protecting his younger sister. Protection was the obsession that had carried into this life. Yet ironically, after being reborn, he had treated the Queen who had eaten both him and the sister he had protected as someone worth guarding even at the cost of his life. The Queen had died, and he had lost both the one he protected and his reason to live. Unlike the source material, little Kite had not appeared, and Kolt did not know where to go. Perhaps giving up on himself and dying silently in the end would have been his fate. But Meruem was a transmigrator. Naturally, he knew that Kolt's younger sister had also been reborn as an ant, and he knew exactly who she had become.

Those words—I know where your younger sister is—restored most of Kolt's memories of his previous life. In the end, hope ignited within him, and he chose to follow Meruem's footsteps. Yes, Kolt had finally remembered the one he wanted to protect: his young sister.

"King." Kolt was indeed the first to speak. Who would have thought that Kolt, known for being stern and rigid, would become so impatient and flustered upon hearing news of his sister? Sure enough, ants had feelings of their own just like humans.

"Soldier Ant Reina." Meruem slowly spoke the four words.

Seeing Kolt hold Reina as he wept loudly, Meruem felt countless emotions well up inside him. Ants and humans were actually the same. They cried, laughed, grew angry, and felt sorrow. They wept when heartbroken and laughed loudly when happy. Once upon a time—or rather, in their previous lives—they had also been human. Since they had become ants in this life, they should live even more brilliantly. Perhaps leading the Chimera Ants to dominate the world was not a bad idea either.

"Um, Squad Leader, could you please not do this?" Unlike Kolt, who had completely released his emotions, Reina had no idea what was happening. A lofty Squad Leader had suddenly rushed before her for no apparent reason, then inexplicably hugged her and burst into tears. It left her thoroughly flustered. That was right—Reina, who had followed Hagga's group and left in the source material, had not left this time. Compared to the Squad Leaders' side, following the King was naturally much safer. Besides, Meruem had always kept an eye on this little Soldier Ant. Even if Reina had truly wanted to leave with Hagga's group, Meruem would have brought her back. This was an excellent way to win hearts. Gaining a Squad Leader's complete loyalty with just one Soldier Ant was a bargain no matter how one calculated it.

But siblings were siblings. Even though their memories of their previous lives had nearly vanished entirely, the same blood still flowed through their bodies. Their lingering memories allowed them to recall each other once more. Although they had both lived fairly happy lives in the source material—Reina returned to her hometown, while Kolt found a new person to protect, the reincarnated Kite—the sister and brother might never have been able to meet again. But in this life, because of Meruem, they were able to reunite. Perhaps their ending would not be as happy as it had been in the source material. Was that good or bad? Perhaps only heaven knew.

"Then let me become even stronger. Let me lead this adorable group of subordinates and conquer the world. Let's see how far I can go this time." Alone in the palace, Meruem took out a severed arm. It belonged to Netero, Chairman of the Hunter Association. Meruem slowly raised the severed arm. Behind him appeared a huge red figure with horns atop its head, radiating an ominous aura as it opened its mouth wide. Meruem slowly placed the arm into the monster's mouth. This was Meruem's unique Nen ability, which he had named—Taotie.

From then on, every ant entered intense special training. Born with bodies and talents stronger than those of humans, the ants could become powerful with only a little training. Even Soldier Ants were no exception. Their intelligence might not have matched that of ordinary humans, but their thoughts were far simpler. Other than a very few Soldier Ants, nearly all of the Nen abilities they developed were Enhancement Type. In contrast, not a single Corps Commander or Squad Leader was an Enhancement Type Nen User. Aside from Soldier Ants, the only Enhancement Type Nen User among the remaining Chimera Ants was Pouf. At the same time, while the ants continually improved their Nen abilities, Meruem ordered Pitou, Pouf, and Blair to conduct another experiment to strengthen the ant race—the Ant Modification Project, also known as Artificial Ants. It involved transforming humans into Artificial Ants, just like Palm in the source material. Meruem also issued another order that confused some ants: no more eating humans. The ants who had recovered memories of their previous lives strongly approved of this order. In truth, Meruem's original reason for issuing it was simple—he did not eat humans. As a transmigrator, aside from the few with particularly heavy tastes, no predecessor could stomach human flesh or brains. Just thinking about it was enough to make one nauseous. Compared to bloody, foul-smelling human meat, Meruem preferred delicious food—such as the braised pork Chairman Mao had loved so much.

PS: Please support! Please recommend! Also, thank you to reader sar0825 for the donation! Trust me, your judgment was not wrong! I hope everyone will enjoy this book! (??ω??) I usually update in the morning or afternoon, though. Because of work, I only occasionally update this late!