*reader's discretion alert, bloody and gory scenes.
Seeing the awful scene inside of the tree house, Ben and Jason are shocked and immediately blocked in front of Chris trying to stop him from seeing the scene.
"It's okay, I saw it already. Furthermore, the side effects from that form of mine had pretty much faded this morning." said Chris, who sounds rather calm.
"Ah... I see. Anyway, this dead body... Despite wearing a light armor, the patterns of her armor look a bit similar to the invaders yesterday, could she be one of them?" said Ben, trying to hide his awkwardness by analyzing the situation.
"Possible. From such a height, the building of our Secret Base can be seen clearly, especially with the help of a pair of telescopes." said Chris while pointing at a telescope on the floor.
"Hmm... Can we assume that the ant was on her way before she reached this tree house? Since those ants are obviously not a native species from around this place." said Ben.
"Mhmm... I agree with that point of yours. My hypothesis here is that, she somehow got infested with by those ants somewhere else. Then the ants somehow got their way onto the other armored person that later brought the ants to our place." said Chris.
"That makes a lot of sense now. But if your hypothesis is accurate, we probably need to check out on those armored people right now before people from Alliance come to get them. If she was still alive yesterday during their invasion, the rate of those ant's infestation is not anything we should take on lightly." said Ben in a serious tone.
"Yes, you are right, let's head back." said Chris.
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Realizing how serious that ant issue is, Chris, Ben, and Jason immediately rushed back to their Secret Base to check on the condition of their hundred captives that are chained up outside the building. And just as they worried about, twenty of the armored people had been killed by the ants, their conditions are almost the same as the previous lady, or rather, some are even worse. Some of them have their eyes dug out by the ants while some have kind of turned into a 'human any nest'. More than half of the survivors sustained different levels of injuries that are not lethal.
After a brief observation, they surprisingly found out that all the deceased are ladies, the men survived and only sustained some superficial injuries.
"Tsk... The casualty is much more serious than I thought, but why all the females? I wondered if there are any special reasons behind that." said Ben as he continues to examine the condition of the survivors, while Chris looks rather thoughtful.
"Uhm... Ben, sorry for interrupting you. But if I was not mistaken, that cute assistant of yours stepped on the ants just now, right? If the ants are this invasive, wouldn't she be in a great danger as well?" said Chris, with a serious look.
"Ah! Damn it! You are right!" Ben exclaimed as he rushed back into the building.
As they stepped into the building, they were greeted by Ruby's cries and screams, she seems to be running out from the infirmary, she looks scared and her right hand is injured. After taking a closer look, they realized that she got infected by the ants while the injured and rashes area is spreading at a noticeable speed. Without any delay, Chris immediately applied a special magic to her wounds, totally stopping the wounds and rashes from spreading and killing all the ants that are crawling in her.
"I am going to check out the infirmary." said Ben before rushing to the infirmary.
As soon as Ben opened the door to the infirmary, he was greeted by a scent of a mixture of insecticide and blood, followed by a despairing sight. Silvia is leaning on a leg of the table in a weird kneeling position with a can of insecticide in her left hand. Her eyes look empty and lifeless, more than one-third of her body is covered in tiny rashes and holes with ants, while her whole right arm had been infested by the ants. Just when Ben thought he had lost her to the ants, he noticed a weak movement on her chest, indicating that she still has her breath. Not giving chances for the death, Ben immediately applied the similar magic Chris applied on Ruby, stopping the movement of ants.
"Oh gosh! What happened to Silvia-chan?"
Maria exclaimed as he rushed in with Sky and Junior after hearing all the commotion from the basement. Chris followed them after a short while and joined Ben with the healing.
After inquiring Jason about the whole ant incident, Sky and Junior decided to help with clearing the mess outside the building and collect some samples for Jason to analyze, while Maria stayed in the building and helped Chris and Ben with the treatment and healing for Ruby and Silvia...
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Later, in the laboratory.
Sky, Chris, and Ben are viewing Jason's analysis report regarding the ants while having a brief discussion before getting ready for the arrival of their guests from Alliance.
"I see, this ant reacts aggressively to a special hormone that can be found in a female, but I can't really understand why would it works this way, is there any special reasons behind this?" said Sky, a bit confused.
"Well, I wondered about that as well. But at least now we know why is it so aggressive against females." said Chris.
"And there is another thing I don't quite understand. Supposedly, Maria, Junior, and I were in the basement when Silvia got attacked by the ants, but none of us realized about that, by right, we should be able to hear her scream, but even Maria who has a super hearing sense didn't hear anything from her." said Sky.
"Well... I am the one to blame for this matter." said Ben, who sounds a bit remorseful.
"Heh?"
Both Sky and Chris are surprised and confused by that statement from Ben...
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*Something out of the story
Sky: "Dear readers."
Chris: "Hmm?"
Sky: "This chapter is meant to be released for webnovel.com."
Chris: "Oh! This matter. Yes, if you're reading this chapter on another platform than webnovel.com, know that it's an illegal copy diffused without the Writer's authorization."
Sky: "As what Chris said. Right now, this story is free on the authorized platform, so please read it from authorized platforms as mental support for the writer."
Chris: "Mhm... There are two authorized platforms. One is webnovel.com. And another one is that messy and half-dead Weebly site that she uses for draft and backup... But not recommended."
Sky: "Ah... Haha. Yes, as Chris said."
Chris: "But look out, those scums might change this note to their own website link. So, be cautious.
Sky : "By the way, if the cover page is the old cover page that shows two stickmen, stop reading it, it's cursed and might cause the writer to stop writing."
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