This page looks best with JavaScript enabled
Chapter244
Zhang Dingshan quickly advised, "Don’t waste what you’ve earned. It’s not easy to get those points. The game allows in-app purchases. Although you can't buy points with money, you can buy items from the store, albeit at a higher price."
Everyone was unaware of this rule. Upon checking the store's transaction policies, they found the recharge methods. The price of each item in points was ten times its value in credits.
Zhou You promptly added a thousand credits, buying a few necessary items from the store. Others also made their purchases, even Zhang Dingshan, who bought a few grenades.
Once prepared, the group approached the ant nest. The muddy ground at the foot of the mountain had a bald spot, riddled with holes. From time to time, ants emerged from these holes, some venturing out, while others entered different holes, all seemingly busy.
Shao Qi delegated tasks: who would bomb, who would intercept, and who would set fires. With everyone clear on their roles, they began.
A grenade was thrown, creating a massive crater in the yellow soil, and countless black ants surged out, scrambling in all directions.
The scene was nauseating, with the sheer number making one's skin crawl. Eradicating them would not be easy.
However, everyone present was experienced. They used powder to block the ants' escape routes and then threw grenades. Zhou You added fuel to the fire, intensifying the blaze.
Curious, Zhou You sneakily touched a flame, wanting to gauge the pain level he had set at fifty percent.
The fire licked his hand, sending a jolt of pain to his brain. He instinctively withdrew, realizing that even at fifty percent, pain still felt very real.
Shao Qi frowned at him, took his hand, and applied a burn ointment purchased from the store. The painful spot healed immediately.
Zhang Dingshan pondered on the probable real-life relationship between the two. Lost in thought, the ant queen emerged from the flames, heading straight for him.
Reacting a second late, a whip lashed out in front of him, ensnaring the ant queen and hurling her into the fire. An angry voice shouted, "Comrade Zhang San, are you even competent?"
Zhang Dingshan, realizing his error, apologized, "Sorry, I was momentarily distracted."
"Distracted on the battlefield? Maybe you shouldn't be fighting mutated creatures. Disorganized and undisciplined. If only..."
"Miao Miao!" Shao Qi interrupted her, "Enough! The ants breaking through are increasing in number."
The power of the incendiary grenade was significant. It incinerated many ants, but many tried to flee. The boundary of the pesticide didn't seem so daunting in the face of death. Gradually, ants started breaking the perimeter and escaping.
Spotting humans, the ants began to approach. Their antennae glowed, and they could spit corrosive saliva. While each ant's bite was minimal, in large numbers, they posed a significant threat.
"Shooting them is wasteful. Just stomp them. I just bought these snow-traceless boots from the mall, perfect for stepping on ants." Cheng Yuran had already put on her new boots. Sturdy and sold even in the real world, they could withstand bites from the wildest creatures, indicating their durability.
Zhou You stepped back and collected grass, quickly fashioning a scarecrow. As ants began to climb it, he promptly kicked the scarecrow into a fire pit. This method was more efficient than stomping.
Seeing this, others emulated him. However, after a while, the ants caught on. Fortunately, most of the ants had been exterminated. Once the fire subsided, the few remaining ants scurried away, but the ant queen was nowhere to be seen.
"Was she burned to ashes?"
"Impossible. The ant queen was sizeable. Even if burned, she wouldn’t turn to ash, especially being a mutated creature with a sturdy exoskeleton."
Zhang Dingshan, feeling frustrated, planted his knife into the ground, lamenting, "It would've been better if we hadn’t thrown the queen ant into the fire."
Miao Miao retorted, irritated, "Indeed, maybe we should have let the queen eat you and save us from your incessant noise!"
Shao Qi took a walk around, poking the ground with a stick. "Enough bickering. The queen likely escaped through a tunnel. Let’s dig this area up."
Chapter 125: An Unexpected Find
As they dug through the charred earth, a massive maze-like anthill was revealed. Its interweaving tunnels and layers were dizzying.
"This game's design is so realistic, recreating an anthill to this extent. How much budget and manpower did this take?" Zhou You, intrigued, asked Shao Qi, "Do you think the queen’s escape was part of the game's design? How could they predict we'd burn her instead of luring her out to fight?"
"It's likely a pre-set escape route. Dig deeper, we might discover something unexpected." Shao Qi doubted the programmers would invest so much effort just for the queen's escape. And how could she dig faster than them?
As anticipated, when they reached the anthill's deepest layer, they found a cubic hole. The queen ant lay inside, seemingly laying eggs.
"Great, we've just eradicated one group, and now there's a potential for another?"
At that moment, a system voice announced, "Players, kill the queen ant within five minutes, or the mission will be deemed a failure."
Without hesitation, the team started firing. The startled queen quickly scrambled out, dodging in the winding tunnels. They had only excavated part of the anthill, and she often disappeared from sight.
"This isn't working. We only have five minutes." Shao Qi, instructing the team to step back, threw a grenade into the hole. The explosion decimated the anthill, presumably burying the queen under the rubble.