"Did you guys hear that?"
"What was that? Some kind of rustling sound."
"Shouldn't it be all lava outside right now? How can there be something out there? Could it be..."
Just as everyone was feeling bewildered and uneasy about the strange noises, someone suddenly sent a voice message.
"Ants!!! So many ants!!! Help me, AHHHHHH—"
Accompanying the person's agonized screams was a series of rustling sounds that made one's skin crawl.
It was as if... something was being gnawed on.
Soon, everyone found out exactly what it was.
Someone posted a screenshot in the chat hall.
"This thing is so disgusting! I'm telling you, the things on its back are still moving."
The screenshot showed a blood-red ant, nearly half the size of a palm, with only its mouthparts being pure black.
Any small insect, when magnified, looks particularly ferocious.
Not to mention, on the ant's long, narrow face, its sickle-shaped mandibles curved sharply, even faintly glinting with a cold light, looking like some kind of vicious weapon.
The most disgusting part was its back, which was densely covered in mung-bean-sized bumps, all squeezed together as if they were about to burst. Just looking at the picture was enough to give you goosebumps.
"Wtf, that's an ant? How is it so big? Where did you see it?"
"Just one, it crawled past the front of my cave. Almost bit me, but I smashed it. It looks pretty scary, yeah, but not enough to scare you to death."
"It's not hard to kill, but when the bumps on its back burst, there's this really gross slime that will burn you if it gets on your skin. Oh, this thing is called a Fire Ant. A tooltip popped up when I killed it."
Then someone below suddenly brought up a point: "One doesn't seem so bad, but what if there are thousands? Didn't that guy just say 'so many ants'?"
The constantly scrolling messages suddenly went silent for a few seconds.
Then, the player who had just said he killed a Fire Ant also sent a voice message.
"Ants... there really are ants everywhere! They eat people, AHHH!! Help me... Save me..."
That voice, laced with tears and extreme terror, hammered on everyone's nerves like a sledgehammer.
They had thought themselves lucky enough to have survived the volcanic eruption, but the thought of potentially being devoured alive by these ants cast a shadow over everyone's heart.
Renee Kane wasn't surprised by this outcome. 'From the moment that person killed the Fire Ant, crushed its eggs, and then just stayed put to chat, there was only one possible result: certain death.'
'The only difference is that if he had fled immediately, he might have survived a little longer. But only a little.'
'Normal ants have a queen to handle reproduction, but Fire Ants are different. They crawl out of the lava, and the bumps on their backs are all individual eggs.'
'If you encounter one, as long as you can cleanly chop off its head and escape quickly, you have a chance of survival.'
'But once the slime from the eggs touches you, it's like a tracking device has been attached. Unless you can ruthlessly cut off the contaminated area, you'll sooner or later be hunted down by the Fire Ant swarm and reduced to a skeleton.'
This information wasn't hard to figure out, but most of the early players who encountered Fire Ants were dead. The information that got out was basically just their dying screams.
Later on, a player with the ID "Magical Girl" was the first to discover and tell everyone: if you encounter a lone Fire Ant, go straight for the head and don't crush the eggs on its back.
Even if you accidentally crushed them, you absolutely could not let the slime touch you. You had to make a clean break, or a massive swarm of Fire Ants would be waiting for you.
If Renee Kane hadn't encountered the Fire Ants relatively late, by which point she already knew how to deal with them, she probably would have been eaten clean to the bone due to improper handling.
Watching the chat hall buzz with activity again as more people died to Fire Ants, Renee Kane used her Miss Black Tights account to post a message: "Selling info on Fire Ants for 5 Life Value."
Then she closed the game panel and prepared to eat dinner.
By now, the ID "Miss Black Tights" had become something of a "celebrity," so her words naturally attracted everyone's attention.
"What does that mean? What do you know, Miss? @Miss Black Tights"
"What could she possibly know? It's obviously a scam. She just loves making that kind of unscrupulous money."
"The guy above is pretty funny. She states her price clearly and sells things people need. How is that unscrupulous? Miss, look at me! Can you secretly tell me what's going on?"
"Hey, person above me, trying to be a kept man? Count me in!"
"Is no one gonna buy it and try? Tell everyone after you do."
"You try it if you want. With 5 Life Value, I'd rather save it to buy food."
...
Renee Kane didn't see these messages, and even if she had, she wouldn't have cared.
Her philosophy was simple: respect the fate of others, and make a little profit along the way.
Because the price was cheap, and because what the two victims had said was truly unsettling, quite a few people actually came to buy the information.
Renee Kane was as good as her word. The moment the Life Value arrived, she copy-pasted: "When you encounter a Fire Ant, chop its head off directly. Do not crush the eggs on its back. If you do crush them, you must immediately cut off any part of you that was touched, or you'll be hunted to your death."
'Selling such crucial information for only 5 Life Value... I'm still too kind.'
Meanwhile, those who received the information maintained a tacit silence, not revealing it to anyone else.
After all, they all had the same thought: 'I spent 5 Life Value to buy this, why should I tell anyone else for free?'
Of course, there were also many who shamelessly begged and whined trying to get the info for free. Renee Kane blocked them all.
Among the flood of friend requests, a familiar name suddenly appeared.
Spinning Top: "Leon, do you know something? Did you run into those ants too? Are you okay?"
Renee Kane raised an eyebrow. 'I hadn't even gotten around to dealing with him, and here he is, coming to me.'
'Is it for information about the Fire Ants, or has the volcanic eruption pushed him to his limit, forcing him to play his final trump card?'
Renee Kane replied unhurriedly, "Yeah, I ran into them. But I've got supplies, a gun, and other weapons. What can they do to me? Still, you're a lucky bastard, kid. Didn't even die in the lava."
Spinning Top replied quickly: "The mountain on my side didn't erupt either, so I just weathered it in my cave. And my luck was pretty good today, I actually dug up two Diamond Treasure Chests."
"One was a Substitute Prop, which they say can block one fatal attack. The other was a Danger Prediction Tool that can foresee a crisis five minutes in advance. I should be able to hold on for a while longer."
A glint flashed in Renee Kane's eyes. 'These two items are arguably the most needed types of props for players right now. Is he really revealing them so... "guilelessly" to a player who holds a Parasite prop card?'
'Interesting.'
'In that case...' An idea struck her. "Where are you? Give me your coordinates, I'll see if I can come find you."