Laws of the Insect Hive - Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Reunion With the Old Druid
Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
System observed the ants and the scorpion’s body trapped between stones, while thinking.
When the night fell, the ants would move around in a smaller radius, and only very few worker ants would stay as scouts around the nest. However, when food was discovered, thousands of worker ants would be activated to transport these resources.
The ants had to stockpile resources for the coming winter, and they had to start in the summer.
System recalled a fable from his previous life.
The story was about a group of grasshopper musicians who laughed at the hardworking ants for working so hard in the summer while they could spend the time enjoying their life. In the end, the grasshoppers suffered greatly in the winter as they did not stock enough food.
The moral of the story was to discourage laziness.
Indeed, ants were born to be hardworking.
“But even if winter is not so cold, grasshoppers can not live that long…”
System rechecked his [Self-Information Generation]—his Lifespan remained 62 days.
After tonight, the number would become 61.
It was depressing to watch his remaining lifespan, but System was glad that there was a countdown for him. At least, he would not die without a warning after autumn.
System found a dried stick and jumped toward the ants. He had been dealing with the black worker ants’ comrades for an entire day, so he was very familiar with their habits now.
Since System knew that the ants would react based on their instinct, it was very easy to deal with them.
When engaging with enemies, the ants would bite the opponent and never let go while releasing a pungent acid (pheromone). The rest of the ants would pick up this scent, attack the target, and attract more allies by producing more pheromone until the enemy was dead or escaped.
System used the same principle to lure away those ants. He caught one ant and forced it to produce the pungent acid onto a stick. Then, he used this stick to lure the ants away.
…
After a few minutes, System successfully caught one unlucky ant and put the stick near the scorpion.
His plan worked beautifully.
He baited the ants to a puddle of water two meters away and placed the stick right in the middle of the puddle.
The ants hated water and could only circle around it. Eventually, they may go mad and swim across to get the stick.
System did not care if these ants would start a suicide mission, so he jumped back where the scorpion’s body was located.
After getting rid of the backups attracted by the ants that had found the scorpion, System used [Corrosive Slime] on two ants near the scorpion. It was a good idea to encircle them with [Corrosive Slime], but it required the skill to be powerful enough.
After several minutes of testing, System’s method was proven very effective. [Corrosive Slime] had a repelling effect on the ants.
The ants would stay 3 to 5 centimeters away from the [Corrosive Slime] if nothing went wrong. However, they would ignore the slime if System started provoking them.
System kicked away the two ants with his powerful hind legs and produced more [Corrosive Slime].
System did not draw the entire circle with his slime as he did not have an unlimited amount of it. He secreted more on the ants’ path and scattered the rest in other random places. If he was unlucky and the ants bypassed his slime, he would have to chase them away.
…
There were very few nocturnal creatures after the heavy rain.
Also, he rarely encountered creatures he had often been seeing after his rebirth, such as mice and mantises. Thus, other than a few mosquitoes flying around, System had a peaceful meal.
System was exhausted as he had not slept for a prolonged period.
The scorpion’s outer layer was hard but less flexible compared to the butterflies’ pupae. System could not bite through it with his mandibles.
His [Corrosive Slime] worked very well in such cases. It softened the outer shell, and System tasted the delicious meat underneath the shell in no time.
System could not describe how tasty the food was. It was like a mixture of milk cream, strawberry, and pudding. It might not be the best, but certainly met System’s expectations.
The meat would have been fresher if it had not been left in the rainwater for so many days.
The scorpion meat provided 1.5 times more EXP than pupa meat. It was very logical since it tasted way better.
However, it was not effective in cultivating [Molting Growth]. The EXP was less than half compared to the same amount of ants. It seemed like the scorpion had not molted as much as insects.
After eating for the entire night, the effect was further reduced by half, so System had to give up on the food.
When the sun rose the next morning, System found a tree hole some distance away from the ant nest and decided to take a nap. He was full now.
Although there might be ants strolling around, System managed to build an invisible ‘wall’ with his [Corrosive Slime]. As long as the slime surrounded the tree, the ants would not come near.
The [Corrosive Slime] vaporized quickly, and the smell would be gone in just a few hours, but that was enough for System to get some proper rest.
System was half-asleep while planning for his next step. The previous day’s food was delicious, but it was not as effective as eating a pupa.
Still, he would be able to reach Level 9 in three days at this rate and reach Level 10 in just another week. His [Molting Growth] would be maxed by then, too.
…
At noon, the [Corrosive Slime] effect was much weaker, and two ants walked past the tree. Luckily, they did not cause any trouble.
System had enough rest and decided to go hunting later.
Suddenly, he heard a loud chirping a few meters away.
It had been a long time since System had heard a bird’s sound. There were sadness and sorrow in its chirp.
Insects were susceptible to sounds, and System noticed that the sound was coming from the ground instead of the sky.
“Maybe it’s hurt?”
System thought some hunter had injured it. He had no interest in such issues and stayed put in his place.
Some time passed, but the chirping had yet to stop. Apparently, there was no hunter to give the final blow to the bird.
System decided to check on this poor bird. He saw a bird, about 20cm big, with brown and white feathers, struggling on the ground.
It was like a pheasant, but smaller.
There was a pool of blood on the ground, but the injury was not obvious. The bird could only flutter on the ground.
Because of the smell of blood, a group of ants appeared, and most likely, they would call for their friends and carry this bird back to their nest.
System stayed at the side and waited for a chance to rob their food.
Surprisingly, the ants did not appear. Instead, the sound of very faint footsteps echoed.
A hand picked up the bird—it was the old Druid System had been searching for all this while!
