Chapter 4
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This chapter is edited by Rain. Thank you for your contribution!
Chapter 4: What to Do When the Child Is Hungry?
Hungry, huh? Here, let mommy feed you milk… Like hell I would!
Go eat your eggshells! No, wait—hold on…
As if suddenly realizing something, Lin Yu ordered the ten little ones to stop immediately.
Some of the [Weak Ants] had already begun biting into their eggshells, but upon receiving their mother’s command, they instantly halted, their drool dripping onto the pile of shells.
Lin Yu eyed the saliva-covered eggshells with disdain and moved to a different pile.
One [Weak Ant] looked at them longingly as the white [Ant Queen] bit into their eggshells.
Crunch, crunch…
The moment the eggshells entered her mouth, Lin Yu’s eyes brightened.
Although they still had that chip-like texture and remained mostly flavorless, the egg fluid inside these shells was significantly less pungent than the ones from her own eggshells.
Not delicious, but at least not unbearable.
Lin Yu was quite satisfied.
She claimed all the remaining eggshells, except for the pile contaminated with drool.
Mine, all mine!
‘Here, you guys can eat mine.’
Generously, she pushed her own eggshells toward the [Weak Ants].
They weren’t picky eaters, so they obediently began munching on the noticeably thicker and sturdier shells.
While they ate, Lin Yu sneakily peeked into their thoughts.
‘Hungry.’ ‘Hungry.’ ‘Hungry.’ ‘Hungry.’ ‘Hungry.’ ‘Hungry.’ ‘Hungry.’ ‘Hungry.’ ‘Hungry.’ ‘Hungry.’
Not a single complaint. Just simple hunger. They don’t seem to have very much intelligence.
Well, their intelligence stat was 0 after all. Heh heh… Not that funny, actually.
As she watched them eat, Lin Yu noticed something strange. Their bodies seemed to be growing larger.
As soon as they finished eating, their minds went completely blank.
Are they spacing out? Giving up on thinking? Or do they just not think at all?
She understood now.
They’re just a bunch of brainless drones that follow my orders.
For the next while, she confirmed that her earlier observation wasn’t a mistake—[Weak Ants] did indeed grow larger after eating.
They continued growing until they reached nearly the same size as her.
Much better. Looks safer now.
She checked their status panels.
________________________________________Name: None
Species: [Weak Ant]
Aptitude: None
Rank: None
Level: LV.1
HP: 8/8
MP: 0/0
________________________________________
Their HP had increased from 3 to 8.
That’s about the same as mine.
Meaning if just two of them attacked me, I might not even win?
So I’m only slightly stronger than a [Weak Ant]… Ugh, I’m so weak.
And then—
Crack–
The other two batches of 20 [Weak Ant] eggs finally began to hatch.
Moments later…
Lin Yu suddenly found herself with 20 more “children.”
Now a proud mother of 30, she felt a strange sense of accomplishment.
As per tradition, she took all of their eggshells for herself and let them eat her eggshell.
While they ate, she checked their status one by one.
Out of the 20 newly hatched [Weak Ants], 18 had identical stats to the first batch, while two were slightly different.
They had an Aptitude of D.
Visually, except for being slightly larger, these two didn’t look much different from the others.
Their status panels only showed one significant difference—2 extra HP points.
After they finished eating and some time passed, their bodies also grew to the same size as the first batch.
With 30 [Weak Ants] now filling almost a third of the cave, Lin Yu checked the status of the D-Aptitude ants.
________________________________________HP: 10/10
________________________________________
Their HP was now the same as her own, and upon closer inspection, they were actually slightly larger than her.
***
For now, she couldn’t use Egg Laying again.
But looking at the 30 neatly lined-up “warriors” in front of her, Lin Yu felt an overwhelming sense of security.
Time to explore that tunnel.
She established a link with one of the D-Aptitude [Weak Ants] and ordered it to lead 20 other [Weak Ants] toward the cave’s only exit—to scout the passage.
As for the remaining nine, including the other D-Aptitude [Weak Ant]?
Of course, they will stay and guard me!
I’m the [Ant Queen], your mother! If an enemy sneaks past you and gets inside, wouldn’t I be in danger?!
***
The D-Aptitude [Weak Ant] led its squad of 20 at a steady pace into the pitch-black tunnel.
The tunnel was a narrow, upward-sloping passage. No creatures were encountered along the way.
After only a few minutes, they reached the end.
It was a dead end—no, more precisely, there was only a collapsed mound of dirt.
The tunnel had been blocked by a pile of dirt.
Without any further commands, the [Weak Ants] simply stood still.
What lies beyond this? The surface? Did my mother block the tunnel before she died?
Through her link with the [Weak Ants], Lin Yu could see the situation firsthand.
After a brief hesitation, she issued a new command—’dig through the dirt pile.’
Following orders, the [Weak Ants] began working. However, the tunnel was narrow, allowing only four ants to dig at a time while the others simply watched.
‘Hey, don’t just stand there! Move the dirt back!’
After another command, the idle ants got to work moving the excavated dirt further back.
Who knows how deep we’ll have to dig to break through… But if they just keep moving dirt backward like this, eventually it will all pile up inside the cave.
Speaking of which… Isn’t this cave kind of small?
30 [Weak Ants] were already filling a third of the space. With her mother’s corpse taking up more room, there wouldn’t be much space left for the excess dirt.
Maybe I should expand the cave? But how? Just start digging into the walls?
What if it collapses? And where would I put the extra dirt?
Ugh, this is such a hassle…
Guess I’ll wait until the tunnel is dug out before deciding.
