The army ants had already loosened the walls around them by quite a bit. After applying just a bit of force, Lin Ke pushed over large patches of earth and rocks and walked straight in.
"Pry open the recorder's shell for me."
Lin Ke placed the recorder on the floor. A group of silver worker ants swarmed forward and instantly surrounded the recorder.
Lin Ke squatted at the side and watched them closely, lest the worker ants damage the contents hidden within the recorder in a moment of carelessness.
"Hey, be careful over there, little guys." Lin Ke propped his head against his palms and watched them with wide eyes.
The worker ants didn't immediately gnaw on the recorder after they came forward. Instead, they fully surrounded the recorder, just like inspecting foremen at a construction site. It was only after they circled around the recorder quite a few times that they confirmed how they should carry out the task.
The worker ants stretched out their pincer-like upper jaws and constantly scraped them against the recorder, chipping off metal fragments bit by bit.
When the first team had finished demolishing the recorder, they formed a tidy line and headed toward the ant nest with the metal fragments in their mouths.
The second team then lined up behind them and immediately took over their positions…
Lin Ke watched as a white mark visibly formed deeper and deeper around the recorder.
The ants moved in an orderly and proper manner as they executed their orders without fail.
Lin Ke had long known about the army ants' mentality of sticking to their tasks to the bitter end, as well as their firm and steadfast willpower. However, this was his first time seeing a few hundred worker ants completing their task in an orderly manner while moving at a uniform speed. It was so neat that they practically looked like they were cast from the same mold…
A sight like this was far more intense than even seeing a behemoth from prehistoric times.
In no time, the worker ants broke the metal around the recorder with their teeth and returned to the ant nest with neat and uniform movements.
Lin Ke easily opened the recorder. Underneath the circuit board, he discovered another…
Why 'another?' It was because he found another black metal rod quietly lying in the semi-circle-shaped recorder shell when he took out the circuit board.
"What's this?" Lin Ke held the black metal rod in his hand and examined it closely.
The metal rod was ten centimeters long and pitch-black in color throughout.
Very soon, Lin Ke discovered the first thing that differentiated it from others—this particular metal rod had a very high degree of blackness. To put it in more professional terms, it had an extremely low degree of reflectivity.
Next, the black metal rod had a hexagonal silhouette. It had firm outlines and was slightly narrower than a pencil.
If a curved handle was added at the top, it would totally become a hex key.
Lin Ke subconsciously gripped the black metal rod and pressed his thumb against it to test the metal rod's hardness.
In the end, the metal rod neither budged nor bent even a little, even after his thumb had become completely red.
Lin Ke was a veteran player with six years of game experience. When re-evaluating the metal rod through the eyes of someone who had experienced the game before, the metal rod didn't seem like something that a planet like Wastelands Planet—which had developed peacefully for over 40 years—could create with its technology.
As for the system's explanation…
[Black Metal Rod: Hmm… It's pretty mysterious.]
It was also rather patronizing.
As if I don't goddamn know that this thing is very mysterious? The speechless Lin Ke could only keep the black metal rod for now.
"You guys can carry that corpse outside over here and bury it!"
Lin Ke had accepted a hidden main scenario mission from the prince and even inherited the Mandala name. He couldn't just let the prince's corpse continue lying here in the secret tunnel, after all.
The ant nest had been left here by the prince out of kindness back then. More than 40 years later, Lin Ke would let these army ants personally lay the prince to rest and repay the prince's kindness of 'bringing them up' from back then.
When the diligent worker ants received their orders, they lined up without a second word and marched out of the cave in a neat and uniform manner. They went right up to the prince's remains and transported him—body, clothes, and all—back in.
Forbes finally woke up somewhat after resting for a while. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a skeleton, dressed in splendid clothes, 'drifting' on the floor. His eyes rolled up, and he passed out from fright again.
The worker ants transported the prince's remains to the specified location and started to dig at the walls and ground.
Earth visibly covered the prince's remains, forming a firm and solid little mound of earth in the end.
Lin Ke looked at the ant nest, then at the Royal Ring on his ring finger.
If he hadn't discovered the ant nest and hadn't received an A-Level entrusted mission before this, Howling Ancient Castle would've just been an interchange station where Lin Ke rested before entering Sand City.
However, he had to think about this properly now…
Since he had now accepted the A-Level mission, some of the large forces in Sand City had naturally become Lin Ke's enemies. There were a lot of forces in Sand City. Sand City's situation was complicated and filled with fierce undercurrents.
When the time came for Lin Ke to act, even a small action would lead to a domino effect. This would cause Sand City to fall into a state of chaos for sure. He would then need a base where he could advance when attacking and retreat when defending.
Although Howling Ancient Castle was old and run-down, there were three layers of secret tunnels inside it. Lin Ke was also extremely familiar with the environment here. Most importantly, he could use the secret tunnels here to travel back and forth between Sand City and Ancient Howling Castle without anyone knowing.
Weeping Valley, as a zone of transition wedged between the Machinery Holy Cult and Sand City, could be said to be an independent zone.
There was still half a year to go before players officially entered the game. The planet's main scenario mission, [Mandala's Revenge], clearly showed that he would become enemies with all the large forces. Thus, Lin Ke would, inevitably, need to build a force of his own.
After players entered the game, he could then make use of his NPC status to contact some players and issue missions to guide the players into carrying out tasks for him.
"Alright, let's establish the base at Howling Ancient Castle, then!"
In Lin Ke's past life, this was where he had become famous. Now, he had also accepted a main scenario mission here. To Lin Ke, this place could be already considered a land of great treasures.
During Lin Ke's musing, Forbes ran in unsteadily from outside. "Boss, something's wrong! I saw a moving skeleton just now!"
Lin Ke raised his head and glanced at Forbes. He calmly said, "I didn't see any skeletons, though? Did you get stuck for too long just now and ended up hallucinating because you hadn't fully woken up yet?"
Forbes's eyes swept across the secret room, but he didn't see any skeletons. He couldn't help but scratch his head. "Were my eyes really playing tricks on me?"
"Alright, we've been busy the whole night. Let's have a good rest now."
Ever since the two of them had escaped all the way here from the Strong Winds Desert and the Desolate Gobi, they had only curled up and made do under a large Gobi rock for one night.
In Howling Ancient Castle, Lin Ke had gotten rid of five Machinery Holy Cult fanatics. After that, he discovered a lot of secrets one after another. His mind had been in a highly stimulated state the whole time.
Forbes took a look at the tree-shaped ant nest and the dense pack of Silver Army Ants, and goosebumps broke out all over his body. In the end, he slipped past the walls to the secret tunnel outside and laid down there. Before long, the sound of rhythmic snoring drifted in from outside.
"All army ants, listen up! Explore Howling Ancient Castle immediately. Spread out the teams and dig out all its secrets!"
After Lin Ke issued his orders, all the worker ants, soldier ants, and flying ants were mobilized. They then scattered and spread into every part of the castle.
Since he was going to use Howling Ancient Castle as his base, Lin Ke would need to have an even clearer understanding of the castle.
A few hours ago, Lin Ke would still have dared to pat his arm and claim that he knew Howling Ancient Castle inside out. However, he now needed to dispatch the army ant troops to conduct a thorough exploration of Howling Ancient Castle so as to guarantee that not a single area was left out.
The only ones capable of doing this task were the all-pervasive army ants.
After the army ants scattered into every part of the castle, Lin Ke could see Silver Queen Ant in the center of the ant nest with just one glance.
Previously, the army ants had chewed off metal and transported some metal fragments back to Silver Queen Ant.
At the moment, Silver Queen Ant was picking up the metal fragments with its front legs and stuffing them into its mouth before chewing on them. Its enormous abdomen at the bottom began to shake. Right after that, it squeezed a silver metal egg—the size of a rice grain—out of its abdomen, which landed in the ant nest.
Silver Queen Ant picked up another metal fragment, which was as tiny as a speck of dust, with its front legs and continued to chew on it.
After consuming quite a few more metal fragments in succession, another metal egg squeezed its way out of Silver Queen Ant's abdomen.
Lin Ke went forward and examined the metal egg closely. The rice grain-sized metal egg's surface was as bright and clean as a drop of water.
Shortly after, a pattern appeared on the metal egg's surface as if the water droplet wrapped within was gradually sublimating. The embryonic shape of an army ant was then further revealed.
Feelers, front legs, and hind legs came off the 'water droplet,' and the Silver Army Ant's form grew more and more complete.
During Lin Ke's few minutes of observation, Silver Queen Ant had already laid three to four more metal eggs.
Army ants spilled into every corner of the castle. Through his unique blood link with them, Lin Ke could clearly detect every army ant's location. In Lin Ke's mind, the army ants' location points connected into lines, which formed a map that outlined all of the castle's secret tunnels and its layout.
An army ant's sense of perception was much stronger than Treasure Hunter Rat's or a human's. Even if a thick wall blocked it, it could still dig a way out, regardless.
Toward the end, the castle's structure became increasingly clear, but the dizzy Lin Ke fell asleep from fatigue instead…
In his dreams…
Lin Ke dreamed of heavy rain pouring from the sky, and the rainwater splattered against his cheeks.
The rainwater was like needles, and they hurt somewhat when they jabbed against his face. Toward the end, the rain straight up turned into a stormy squall that could suffocate a person.
"Phew!"
Lin Ke's eyes suddenly flew open, and he realized that Treasure Hunter Rat was currently licking his face and his hair. Its whole body just so happened to be right in front of his nose, which made him unable to breathe.
Lin Ke took a look at the system panel—it was already 10:30 a.m.
He had spent six hours in security and comfort, where he didn't need to worry about enemies ambushing him or whether they would live to see the next day.
Lin Ke wiped his face in an attempt to force his mind to clear up. He then looked at the tree stump-shaped ant nest again—all the army ants had already returned.
Lin Ke briefly communicated with the army ants. The little fellows noisily chattered as they clambered to be the first to speak.
During his conversation with the army ants, Lin Ke was informed that Howling Ancient Castle did indeed have places he had yet to discover.
He got up cleanly and efficiently. Then, he got the flying ants to lead him to those places.
The flying ants flew in front of him, coming together to form an arrow as they led the way for Lin Ke.
After the synthesis process, the flying ants could also understand Lin Ke's thoughts due to their blood link with Lin Ke.
In no time, Lin Ke discovered a new cave in the tunnels.
When the army ants discovered this place the previous night, they had directly dug a hole and even used the excess earth to construct stairs that led down into the cave. The constructed stairs were even, well-arranged, and rather well-done.
After that, the flying ants brought Lin Ke to another area.
Out of the two secret rooms, one was an underground prison, while the other was a wine cellar.
All the things inside had already been removed. Craftsmen had also sealed the entrances. If not for the army ants, these two places wouldn't have been discovered at all.
Lin Ke returned to the tunnel and walked over to Forbes—who was letting out thunderous snores. "Forbes, time to wake up!" called out Lin Ke.
However, Forbes didn't react.
Treasure Hunter Rat jumped down from Lin Ke's shoulder and jumped onto Forbes. It patted its chest, indicating that Lin Ke could 'leave the task of waking Forbes to Little Treasure.' Then, it greeted Forbes with a flurry of punches.
( ̄ε(# ̄)
A dazed Forbes opened his eyes and rubbed his cheeks that had turned red. "Boss, you've woken up, too!"
"I intend to go to Sand City today. However, this trip will be filled with many difficulties. I may encounter a lot of enemies, and there may be life-endangering situations. What are your plans? Are you going to stay in the castle and help me look after the base, or do you want to follow me into Sand City and try to make a name for yourself there?"
Forbes immediately sobered up upon hearing that there would be life-endangering risks. "Boss, will I be staying in the castle by myself if I stay here?"
Lin Ke shook his head. "No, you'll stay here with the army ants to rebuild the castle and wait for my return."
"Boss, Sand City is so dangerous. How can you go there without my assistance?! Moreover, I can even take care of your day-to-day needs. As Boss's most reliable right-hand man, how can I not be around when you're making a name for yourself in Sand City?!"