Chapter 353
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Chapter 353: Heard It
I sincerely apologize, everyone. I’ve had some matters to attend to these past few days. Now, I will catch up on the chapters from the last three days. Thank you for your patience.
Five people silently dipped beef and tripe into the hot pot, the atmosphere revealing a hint of eeriness…
Ahem. Lin Qiye was the first to break the silence. “Uncle Li, you’ve been a forest ranger for so long. Have you ever heard of any strange happenings in this forest?”
Upon hearing this, Bai Li Pangpang’s face turned pale, as if he recalled something, and he turned to look at Li Deyang.
Li Deyang frowned slightly. Strange happenings?
“Just some legends, like the Fox Immortal, the Horse Monkey, paper figures, or… the Land of the Dead?”
Li Deyang’s expression became peculiar as he glanced at the four of them, slowly putting down his chopsticks, a look of realization dawning on his face.
“I see now. You’re not here to film some ‘Bears Out and About’…,” Li Deyang squinted at Lin Qiye, speaking slowly, “You’re here for the relics and treasures of those legends.”
Lin Qiye and the others exchanged glances, silently lowering their heads without answering.
“I thought so. Generally, people who film documentaries wouldn’t have such good skills. You must be professionals in this field, right?” Li Deyang’s expression seemed to see through everything as he sneered.
“You saved Tingting, which shows you’re not bad people. I’ll kindly remind you… legends are just legends. Just because there are legends doesn’t mean there are treasures. Nowadays, society values science; there aren’t so many supernatural things.”
“It’s all superstition! Don’t go thinking…”
“Why are you tugging at my cloak?”
Li Deyang turned around to see Bai Li Pangpang tugging at his dark red cloak, his face turning pale. He snatched the cloak back from Bai Li Pangpang’s hands, carefully smoothing out the wrinkles on its surface.
“It’s nothing, just thought the cloak looked nice.” Bai Li Pangpang smiled. “By the way, where were we? Oh right, there aren’t so many supernatural things…”
“You mean, in this forest, there are no paper figures or any Land of the Dead?” Lin Qiye asked thoughtfully.
“Of course not,” Li Deyang shook his head firmly.
Lin Qiye fell into deep thought.
From Li Deyang’s expression, it didn’t seem like he was lying; he genuinely didn’t believe in the existence of paper figures. After guarding this forest for so many years, he should know its situation best…
Yet, Lin Qiye and the others had seen that paper figure behind the window with their own eyes and had even chased it for a long time.
What exactly happened in this forest…
After eating and drinking their fill, Lin Qiye and the others stood up first. An Qingyu and Cao Yuan prepared to help Li Deyang leave, but he waved his hand at them.
“I don’t need your help; I can walk by myself now.” Li Deyang rubbed his waist and spoke firmly.
As a dignified night watchman, being helped by two young kids after twisting his waist was utterly humiliating. After sitting for so long, Li Deyang felt better and resolutely declined their kindness.
“Are you willing to continue moving forward with us?” Lin Qiye asked in surprise.
Li Deyang shook his head decisively. “No, I’ll say it again: you cannot go any further. Those relic legends are all fake. Don’t risk your lives for something so unrealistic.”
Lin Qiye opened his mouth, about to say something, when suddenly the iron box behind Bai Li Pangpang began to shake violently.
Bang bang bang bang bang!!
Lin Qiye walked over to the iron box and slapped its surface again, but this time the giant ants’ movements did not cease; instead, they became even more frantic!
Lin Qiye seemed to realize something, his expression tightening as he slowly scanned the surrounding woods, bitterly smiling as he said, “I’m afraid that even if we want to leave now, we can’t…”
Li Deyang froze, turning to look, his body stiffening in place.
All around the forest, huge red silhouettes crawled out from the shadows, gradually surrounding them—ten, twenty, thirty…
Most of them were the red giant ants that Lin Qiye and the others had encountered before, but there were also five that were entirely covered in black shells, their bodies larger than the red worker ants, and the aura they emitted was clearly stronger, already at the peak of the River Realm!
Their long antennae trembled slightly, as if communicating with each other, slowly inching closer to the five of them…
Lin Qiye frowned slightly and turned to An Qingyu, lowering his voice to speak: “The red ones are the worker ants we saw before; the black ones are…”
An Qingyu nodded. “They’re soldier ants. Compared to the worker ants that gather food, their attack power is much stronger.”
“How could they know we’re here?”
“Their antennae must be some sort of special communication method. Once they get within a certain range, they can communicate over distances… We’re very close to the ant nest now, so it’s likely that the worker ant from that iron box sent out a distress signal to them,” An Qingyu said calmly.
Lin Qiye looked around, letting out a regretful sigh. “What a pity, the ant queen didn’t come…”
In non-essential situations, the ant queen usually stays in the nest and won’t come out easily.
“That’s true.” Lin Qiye nodded. Given the current situation, it was already quite tricky. If a suspected ‘Sea’ Realm ant queen were to join, they probably wouldn’t be able to handle it.
While Lin Qiye and An Qingyu were conversing, Li Deyang’s face had turned ashen.
“Damn it, we’ve poked the ant nest…” Li Deyang muttered to himself, taking a deep breath, spitting on the ground, and cursing as he snatched the knife and gun from Bai Li Pangpang’s hands.
“Damn it! I told you to go back, but you insisted on coming this deep. Now look what you’ve done! We’re all going to die here!”
As he cursed, Li Deyang walked in front of the four, loading bullets into the shotgun and pulling back the bolt.
Click—!
Li Deyang’s gaze swept over the surrounding giant ants, finally locking onto a direction—the weakest part of the entire encirclement.
He reached into his cloak and solemnly took out a shiny emblem from the lining of his clothes, lowered his head to breathe onto its surface, and rubbed it with his thumb…
“Mm, much brighter now.”
“Now it’s worthy of me.”
Li Deyang let out a long breath, gripping the emblem tightly in his hand, his eyes filled with determination as he slowly spoke:
“You little brats, don’t get scared and lose your nerve. This isn’t a big deal. In a moment, I’ll clear a path for you, and you all run for your lives… Don’t look back, got it?”
Behind him, Lin Qiye silently drew two straight knives from his bag and nodded.
“I heard you…”
“Kill them all!”
