Chapter 36: Extermination of the Fire-Spitting Ants, Arrival at the Rotting Wolf Plains

Bang!

Accompanied by the thunderous crack of gunfire, a bullet erupted from the muzzle of Zhang Ran’s AM41 automatic rifle, crossing the space and shooting straight toward the head of the first fire-spitting ant. At the same time, his arm gave a slight tremor, the barrel rotated swiftly in the air, locking the second fire-spitting ant’s head in his sights—he fired again.

Within half a second, Zhang Ran had unleashed three shots, each bullet flying madly toward the heads of three fire-spitting ants. Thud! Thud! Thud! With three muffled bursts, all three bullets struck their targets, piercing through the ants’ heads and bodies, embedding themselves into the ground below.

At such close range, the three fire-spitting ants, each with a mere 2.0 agility, had no time to dodge. Their heads burst open, blood splattering in all directions, their bodies crumpling to the earth, twitching briefly before life faded from them.

With their deaths, three streams of evolutionary energy poured forth from their bodies, traversing the space to Zhang Ran’s side, seeping through his pores and coursing along his blood vessels toward his spine.

Since advancing to the level of quasi-evolver, Zhang Ran’s body had reached saturation with evolutionary energy; he no longer absorbed it for himself. Thus, all the energy he received now was delivered directly to his spine, merging into the embryonic form of his evolution point.

As the energy continued to flow in, Zhang Ran felt a warm, bright spot forming in his spine, bringing a sense of comfort. Yet, as the energy dissipated, the spot quickly faded into stillness; only by focusing intently could he sense the burgeoning aura of the evolution point.

“Eliminated fire-spitting ant, body absorbed evolutionary energy, evolution point cohesion +0.28%, current progress: 0.28%.”

Just then, the chip’s notification sounded in Zhang Ran’s ear. He nodded with satisfaction, stowed away his AM41, grabbed the military dagger at his waist, and approached the corpses of the fire-spitting ants.

He crouched, slicing with the dagger, severing the eighteen forelimbs from the three ants, then stowed these materials in a burlap sack. Next, he followed the midline of each ant’s body, cutting open their armored shells to expose their innards.

At the center of each ant’s body was a dark red mass of flesh, starkly contrasting with the paler meat surrounding it. Without hesitation, Zhang Ran carved out the mass, chewed it voraciously, and swallowed it down.

As the meat entered his stomach, a surge of heat rose from his abdomen, rapidly merging with his body. The warmth traveled along his veins, circulating once before fusing into the embryonic evolution point in his spine.

“Consumed fire-spitting ant tissue, body absorbed evolutionary energy, evolution point cohesion +0.04%, current progress: 0.32%.”

As the energy faded, the once warm embryonic point grew dormant again. At the same time, the chip’s prompt sounded in his ear.

“A 0.04% increase—not much, but still a decent gain. Continue!”

Satisfied, Zhang Ran wielded his dagger, dissected the other two fire-spitting ant corpses in the same manner, dug out their red flesh masses, chewed, and swallowed them.

With the two additional masses ingested, a richer wave of evolutionary energy surged through his veins, making a round through his body before settling into the embryonic evolution point in his spine.

“Consumed fire-spitting ant tissue, body absorbed evolutionary energy, evolution point cohesion +0.07%, current progress: 0.39%.”

The chip’s voice rang again. Zhang Ran then bent over, focusing on the first ant’s head, slicing it open. With a few precise movements of his dagger, he unearthed a red, pouch-like organ filled with a liquid of the same color.

This was the fire-spitting ant’s flame gland, containing highly combustible material and of considerable value. After extracting the flame pouch, Zhang Ran carefully placed it in a container, then repeated the process for the remaining two ants.

Once finished, he stashed the collected flame glands and forelimbs in the depths of the cave, ordering the chip to mark the location specially, then continued on his way.

A single fire-spitting ant forelimb weighed about a kilogram; eighteen together made eighteen kilograms. Though Zhang Ran could carry such a load, he was still headed out to hunt rot wolves. Carrying so much would slow him down and reduce his efficiency.

As for the flame glands, carrying them during battle was out of the question. The volatile liquid inside could ignite or explode upon exposure to air or impact—far too dangerous, like carrying a miniature bomb.

For these reasons, Zhang Ran decisively left his spoils in the cave, planning to retrieve them after hunting the rot wolves.

Another half hour passed.

Leaving the fire-spitting ant nest behind, Zhang Ran pressed onward to the Rot Wolf Plains, soon arriving at their location.

Compared to the Berserk Field Mouse Prairie, the Rot Wolf Plains were similar in terrain, but the land here was broader and flatter, with more diverse vegetation. Besides wild grasses, low shrubs and other mutated plants dotted the landscape.

Moreover, the ground was littered with pools of stagnant water, large and small, accumulated from runoff and filled with various debris: rusted cans, gray rags, decaying flesh or carcasses left behind by unknown mutated creatures—all reeking with a stench that sent chills through one’s scalp.

Between the thickets and pools, mutated beasts occasionally darted out, emitting shrill, uncanny cries, splashing through the filth before vanishing into the darkness.

Compared to the grass-only Berserk Field Mouse Prairie, the richer plant life here supported a greater variety of mutated beasts, which in turn served as food for the rot wolves. This abundance explained why the Rot Wolf Plains were such a frequent haunt for these predators.