Chapter 43
When he discovered the ants, Big Pineapple's expression changed drastically. He immediately abandoned his plan to trap and kill another wave of mosquitoes and returned to their base.
He had stumbled upon this underground cavern back then. He reckoned some earlier civilization had prepared it specifically to withstand the thousand-year calamity.
Although most of it had collapsed, housing over a hundred thousand people was still not much of a problem.
Before he reached the cavern, he heard cries of battle from inside. Big Pineapple's face turned utterly grim, and he charged straight in.
After entering the cavern, Big Pineapple finally breathed a sigh of relief. There were no rivers of blood inside.
Although dozens of ants had indeed appeared here too, his people had already killed nearly all of them.
The few remaining ants were merely clinging to their last breaths.
Only then did he finally realize that there were more cheers than battle cries.
Seeing Big Pineapple return, Yu Ji threw herself straight toward him.
"My king, you're finally back."
Big Pineapple gently stroked her hair without speaking.
The other Asuras finally finished killing the remaining ants and gathered around them.
Their eyes were filled with fervor as they looked at Big Pineapple.
"My king, we can fight too!"
"That's right, my king! Let us fight alongside you too!"
"My king!"
Their eyes brimmed with fervor and expectation. As long as Big Pineapple nodded, they could immediately take up their weapons and charge onto the battlefield!
"Father, I want to fight like you too!"
A little fellow beside him, only as tall as Big Pineapple's knee, spoke to him while carrying a longsword a good bit taller than himself.
Big Pineapple glanced down at him, then reached out and rubbed his head. "No. Your job now is to grow up well and become a king greater than me someday."
After saying that, Big Pineapple looked at the others. "I know you all want to fight, and none of you fear death. But if you all go out, who will look after the children? How will our future develop? All right, everyone, disperse."
Although their eyes still burned with passion, Big Pineapple was their king, their faith.
Back home, Little Pineapple kept pestering Big Pineapple to let him fight alongside him and received a harsh scolding.
"You'll be king of the entire Asura Clan someday. If all you think about is fighting, how will you be a good king? Have you finished reading those books I gave you?!"
"But, but, Father, aren't you always out fighting too?!"
Big Pineapple glared, unleashing the imposing presence of someone who had ruled for years and the air of a veteran of countless battles, then slammed the stone table before him.
[Boom!]
"Go! Go copy out The Development of Civilization ten times!"
"I, I, I'm never playing with you again!!!"
Little Pineapple ran outside in tears. Yu Ji shook her head helplessly. "My king, why lose your temper with Aimin? He's concerned about you too."
Big Pineapple shook his head. "I'm not losing my temper. I just hope he'll be better than me someday. All right, go check on him. I'm a little tired."
Outside, Yu Ji sat beside Little Pineapple and recounted how Big Pineapple had led their civilization's development back then, telling him that his father was the hero of the entire Asura Clan.
She told those stories Little Pineapple had already heard no fewer than a thousand times.
Seeing that Little Pineapple still refused to say a word, Yu Ji shook her head helplessly again and left.
Late that night, Little Pineapple was swiftly copying out The Development of Civilization with all four hands when a figure slowly approached.
Little Pineapple abruptly turned to look. Upon discovering it was his father, he turned his head back again.
"You're still angry with your father."
Little Pineapple said nothing and simply continued copying the book.
"Actually, your father is a sinner against our entire civilization."
Little Pineapple whipped his head around, but still said nothing.
"You know that black statue outside, and that enormous Black Armored Beast?"
Little Pineapple nodded without speaking.
"I was the one who lured it here. They were the ones who destroyed our home back then.
"That's why we moved here, and why the mosquitoes ran so rampant that we lost our food. The year you were born, half of our Asura clansmen starved to death."
Shock showed on Little Pineapple's face. He simply could not imagine what it meant for half their people to starve to death.
"There was another monster that your father personally hatched back then. At the time, I had both the strength and the opportunity to kill him, but in the end, I didn't."
Little Pineapple wanted to ask a question, but ultimately said nothing, merely gazing at Big Pineapple.
"Later, he escaped. Now countless monsters have appeared-the ones you saw today. That's why your father must fight. I have to make up for every mistake I've made in this life. If I can't do it, can you help me do it?"
Little Pineapple nodded firmly. "Yes!"
Big Pineapple chuckled. "You're a real man. Then remember, you must study hard. All right, go to sleep."
Although Little Pineapple did not understand why helping his father meant studying, he remembered it nonetheless.
Half a month later, Big Pineapple set out with five thousand Asuras.
This time, his objective was clear: kill that gigantic monster!
With many fighting against one, having too many would actually be a disadvantage in a situation like this.
After traveling for two months, Big Pineapple finally arrived before that ant.
He looked at the terrifying monster, two thousand meters long, its armor gleaming black.
Merely standing before him felt somewhat terrifying.
But this time, their target was this very thing!
"Kill!"
At Big Pineapple's command, five thousand Asuras rose into the air.
They had all been selected for their special abilities.
According to Big Pineapple's calculations, with proper coordination, five thousand of them could kill this thing without casualties.
Although this ant was huge, he did not seem to possess any special abilities.
If he had one, it was the power in his eyes that could bewitch others.
But anyone with a firm will would remain unaffected.
A thousand Asuras flew straight to the ant's various joints, working together to break openings before burrowing straight inside.
That was right. Their plan was to kill this ant from within.
Their idea was sound, and their execution was correct too.
But the ant's vitality was far too strong.
Even so, it took them three full days to finally kill this ant.
The main reason was that their abilities had side effects. Every use brought excruciating pain throughout their bodies, and after the pain, they used them again.
Otherwise, given their size and strength, without supernatural powers, they would have been unable to hurt his flesh even if this ant had no shell.
After three days of fierce fighting to kill this monster, they unfortunately encountered an army of ants. In the end, they killed their attackers at the cost of a thousand lives and injuries that left Big Pineapple seriously wounded for three months.
It just so happened that Su Mo was still on his way to buy a phone at the time. Otherwise, he probably would have felt the sting for a while.
After all, this was an ant he had specially kept in his collection.
That day, Big Pineapple brought back the ant's head and legs, making the entire Asura Clan cheer.
Twenty years passed. The mosquitoes in the sky were no longer a threat, but the ground remained completely bare, without any plants.
It was all because of the ants' appearance, although lone ants were also treated as food.
Food, however, remained a problem.
Still, things were much better than before. At least they could walk normally on the ground.
After all, mosquitoes flew through the sky. When they flew over, there was simply no escape.
With ants, however, as long as they spotted them, they still had a chance to run.
Moreover, Big Pineapple had marked out all the weaknesses of mosquitoes and ants. With good coordination and their superpowers, they could even kill their attackers.
By now, the Asura population had once again reached three hundred thousand.
Big Pineapple had also reached forty, and very few Asuras of the older generation remained.
Big Pineapple had found the ants' nest long ago, but there were too many ants to fight their way inside.
The ants' numbers were already enormous, coupled with their two-hundred-meter bodies and reproductive ability.
He had calculated that if they did not act now, the Asura Clan would have no future but to become food.
Big Pineapple tried luring the ants out and then wiping them out in waves.
But every time they went beyond a certain distance, the ants would turn straight back.
If they did not reach that distance, many ants would immediately come to help as soon as fighting began.
He had also tried attacking directly, but that time, he had nearly failed to get out.
He had even considered giving up, but as time passed, the ants grew ever more numerous. Although the Asura Clan kept reproducing too, they simply could not compare with the ants.
After twenty years, Big Pineapple started a livestream again for the first time in ages.
He could feel that, after years of constant fighting, his body was nowhere near what it had once been.
Even setting battle injuries aside, their abilities had side effects even when they fought without getting hurt.
He could feel that if he did not deal with those things this time, he might never manage it in his lifetime.
And the consequence of failure would be the Asura Clan becoming food for the ants, until every last one of them was eaten.
Under the moonlight, Big Pineapple lay as he always did, gazing at the bright moon in the sky.
In truth, it was not as though he had never considered starting a livestream over the years.
But ever since he had abandoned the thought of going back, he had not felt much like streaming.
He had even truly regarded himself as an Asura and lived here for twenty years.
When the livestream started, there was neither the silence he had imagined nor the bullet comments welcoming Brother Pineapple back that he had envisioned.
Instead, nothing but bullet comments he could not understand drifted past his eyes.
[Archimedes' principle...]
[You seriously don't know the Pythagorean theorem? Oh my god...]
[Mencius once said...]
[That concludes today's company meeting. Remember, our next meeting will be in this livestream room too...]
[...]
Big Pineapple: ???
His head full of question marks, Big Pineapple stared at these bullet comments. Twenty years of primitive living made these already unfamiliar comments seem somewhat incomprehensible to him.
No, it seemed he really could not understand them.
Only when the bullet comments before him suddenly multiplied and flooded the screen, blocking his view, did the repeated messages of [Brother Pineapple is back!!!!] finally give him a little sense of reality.