Of course, what kind of animals they would encounter was never something they could choose.
If it were possible to choose, anyone would say as a saint would, wishing there were no mutated animals in the world. But was that possible?
…
The swarm of ants that came this time numbered around fifty or sixty. At first, they had assumed that with the giant queen ant, the difficulty of handling them would double.
But surprisingly, it was the opposite.
After Lao Gao injured the giant ant with Ashen Blaze, Ling Jiang immediately froze it in place with her ice ability. Then Huang Jinghe pulled out his Platinum Reaper, extended it, and shaped it like a stick with his ability, striking the giant queen ant on the top of its head.
The single strike made all the attacking ants stop, turning their heads toward the queen.
Not only the ants, even the humans watching were stunned.
Huang Jinghe, worried he had done something wrong again, asked timidly, "Did I do something wrong again?"
Lan Jin thought for a moment and said, "Um… try striking it again."
Huang Jinghe looked confused.
"Sister Lan, what do you want me to hit?"
"Hit the ant's head. You're not supposed to hit me, right?"
Huang Jinghe swung the stick again, striking the giant queen ant's head a second time. Because the scene was so quiet, Lan Jin seemed to hear an echo—the sound of Huang Jinghe striking the ant's head.
Lao Gao found it strange and examined the giant ant. "Is its head made of iron? Why is there a sound?"
He put Ashen Blaze back on, and with his gloved hands, reached to touch the ant's head.
Ling Jiang shuddered. "Can you not touch everything just because it's interesting? Are you not disgusted? How can you hit an ant this big?"
No one paid attention to her. Huang Jinghe asked, "So… is it hard? Iron? Steel?"
Ling Jiang frowned. "Are you crazy? Nothing grows an iron head."
Just as everyone was joking around, the queen ant, struck twice, suddenly opened its mouth and struggled violently. The ants that had been scattered attacking them immediately ran toward the queen, probably trying to rescue it.
Huang Jinghe, having found a rhythm, struck twice more on the queen ant's head.
He grinned at Brother Zhang. "Brother Zhang, I think this thing is worth studying. Should we capture it alive?"
Brother Zhang was speechless. These people really…
But the idea was practical. He said, "Finish off the smaller ants first. Don't wait until they destroy the cars. Tires are replaced, waiting for others is unsafe. We'll take it with us and enter the mountains first."
"Okay."
With a turn and a use of abilities, all the smaller ants were eliminated quickly. The giant queen ant was secured and placed onto their vehicle.
…
After the repairs, only one car was abandoned on the road. Luckily, with so many vehicles, losing one didn't matter.
Once they were in the cars, Brother Zhang looked back at the four of them in the rear and scolded, "How many times have I told you, don't treat this like a game? I'll say it again. Don't treat this like a game. This is life and death. You're all high-level ability users. Losing your lives like this is a huge loss for everyone."
But they really weren't playing around.
They only touched the queen after it was safe. Everyone who knew this immediately turned their gaze to Lao Gao.
Lao Gao said helplessly, "Okay, I know, but I wasn't playing."
"Whether you were or not, take the rest seriously."
When the soldiers tied up the queen ant, they tried striking its head like Huang Jinghe had, but heard no echo. To them, this was very strange.
But it made sense. Huang Jinghe's strength was immense. The soldiers weren't nearly as strong. Even if the strike seemed light, it had power behind it. The ant's head was truly hard, or it would have cracked earlier.
…
After this lesson, the four of them behaved properly for the rest of the journey, though danger remained.
Half an hour after leaving, they spotted some pheasants by the roadside.
These pheasants were interesting. Their size was normal, but their eyes were entirely red. Clearly something was wrong, and badly so.
Seeing Lan Jin not reacting, Brother Zhang said with a laugh, "Hey, Xiao Lan, why don't you ask if they can be eaten?"
Lan Jin pouted, glaring sideways at him. "Eyes so red, obviously sick. But can we eat it?"
Brother Zhang replied, "You can eat it, but not the head or innards. Only the meat. Want some? Could catch a few for extra food."
"Good. Still curry? Make it chicken curry."
Though it was all curry, the flavor would differ. Naturally, everyone got excited. But catching chickens was harder than it sounded. These mutated ones could fly. Yes, like birds. Not far, but enough to escape.
And you absolutely could not look into their red eyes for more than three seconds. Their gaze caused dizziness.
Brother Zhang had not warned them. Lan Jin accidentally stared at a red-eyed pheasant for three seconds while catching it. She instantly felt dizzy and fell.
Only five seconds passed before she recovered.
Seeing how fast it happened and ended, the other three asked curiously, "What happened?"
"Dizzy like that, is it safe?"
"You can get up already? Don't need to sit still?"
She shook her head. Nothing felt off. "Just fine, same as before dizziness."
Brother Zhang explained, "Those red eyes cause dizziness, but they don't harm the body. I didn't warn you earlier because even careful avoidance won't prevent seeing their eyes. Otherwise, you can't catch them."