Qin Niu passed by Xie Laizi's house at the foot of the mountain and happened to see Er Dan running out.
Er Dan was smart. He winked at Qin Niu, hinting that the job was done.
Qin Niu gave a slight nod in response.
Xie Laizi, whose head was full of scabs, eyed Qin Niu with surprise as he carried a firewood knife and a shoulder pole up the mountain. Ah Niu seemed to have no issues at all.
"Ah Niu, I heard Lord Kun visited your place?"
He greeted Qin Niu with a smile as if nothing had happened.
Qin Niu did not speak, just lowered his head and entered the mountain.
Usually, Ah Niu behaved almost the same way.
He hardly ever responded when other people spoke to him.
Xie Laizi, not getting a response, didn't care. He locked his door and quickly headed in the direction from which Qin Niu had come.
Looking at his hurry, he surely was off to explain himself to Wang Haikun's household.
He understood Wang Haikun's temper very well, the man could turn hostile in an instant. If things went wrong, Wang Haikun might welcome him with his cymbal-sized fists.
Keeping company with a tiger is just like this, it has been since time immemorial.
Qin Niu turned to look at Xie Laizi's retreating figure and smiled. All he needed to do was sit and watch the show unfold.
After he entered the mountain, he went to check on the termite nest he was fostering.
The bear blood had long been sucked clean by them.
Of the three centipede carcasses, only the biggest one remained, and half of its tail had been gnawed away.
"Eh! We've got new members here!"
Qin Niu discovered a few more worker ants.
Two of them were patrolling back and forth at the entrance, not engaging in labor.
They clearly looked different from ordinary worker ants.
Their mandibles were particularly large, their bodies robust, their six limbs powerful and strong. And they moved much faster than the other worker ants. Their speed was comparable to Fourth's.
Also, their heads seemed to be longer.
"Could these be soldier ants?"
Qin Niu was pleasantly surprised.
For an ant colony, soldier ants are too important. Their combat power is far superior to worker ants.
Normally, after the female mates and takes her nuptial flight, she lays a small number of worker ants first, so that once they metamorphose into adults they can forage and feed the Ant Queen. The second batch will include a few soldier ants.
Because soldier ants greatly enhance the overall safety of the ant nest.
The Ant Queen that Qin Niu had subdued was highly intelligent, and her way of doing things was different from ordinary queens.
She laid worker ants for both her first and second batches of eggs.
Only the third batch included soldier ants.
Of course, this might also be related to her weak constitution.
The hatching and feeding of soldier ants require a lot of energy. She might have feared that producing soldier ants too early would increase the burden on the entire colony and affect its development.
Worker ants represent productivity, while soldier ants represent defensive capabilities.
Soldier ants, like the Ant Queen and reproductives, cannot feed themselves; they are born for combat, tasked only with defense, safeguarding the safety of the colony and the nest.
They rely on worker ants to feed and survive.
Fourth was leading the worker ants diligently carrying out Qin Niu's orders, disassembling the centipede's carcasses and transporting them into the nest as food reserves.
"Wow, Fourth seems to have gained a lot of strength!"
Qin Niu noticed Fourth's mandibles "click-clacking" as it gnawed on the centipede's body, its strength clearly greater than before, and its work efficiency higher.
Not only that, the other five small worker ants from the second batch that hatched also doubled in strength and became much more robust.
Could this be the change brought about by consuming the bear blood?
He speculated to himself.
It was a pity that so much bear blood was wasted on the ground. If used to feed this termite nest, it would undoubtedly bring huge surprises.
But he was not in a hurry.
Now that he had the ability to kill a black bear by himself, there would be no doubt more opportunities to hunt them in the future.
When the time came, he could collect the bear blood and gradually feed it to the ant colony.
Moreover, as the ant colony continued to grow, they would be able to consume even more bear blood in one feeding.
Currently, with only a few worker ants working, their intake capacity was very limited.
Seeing such great change in the ant colony, Qin Niu's heart was filled with joy.
Now with the soldier ants, and having built their nest inside this big camphor tree, the entire colony's survival capability was more than ten times stronger than before.
He subconsciously checked the Ant Queen's attributes.
Female Milky White Ant (Ant Queen)
Grade: Grade Two order of insects, upgrade experience 198/1000
Lifespan: 4.3 years
Energy: 5861
Skills: Reproduction Grade One 0.95/10, Feign Death Grade One 2/10
Talents: Average Intelligence
Ant Colony: One lesser worker ant, lifespan 4 months, special abilities (Strength, Agility, Average Intelligence). Five strong worker ants, lifespan 3.1 years. Six ordinary worker ants, lifespan 3 years. Two strong soldier ants, lifespan 7 months.
After checking the attributes of the ant colony, Qin Niu was both happy and a little worried.
The Ant Queen, Fourth, and the worker ants from the second batch had all gained one month of lifespan.
The normal lifespan of soldier ants is about six months, so these two soldier ants must have also gained one month of life.
Moreover, Fourth and the worker ants from the second batch, as well as the newly metamorphosed soldier ants, had all gained an additional ability, which was Strength.
He could now be fairly certain this was a benefit of consuming the bear blood.
It seemed that as long as there was blood food available, he could fee more to them.
Feeding the food to the worker ants, who would then regurgitate it to feed the Ant Queen, soldier ants, and larvae, would enable nearly the entire colony to benefit.
"Maybe later I can get some bear meat for them to eat, it's just that I don't know how well it will work?"
I feel that the blood must be the essence.
The effect of the bear meat would probably be inferior.
"Strong soldier ants, strong worker ants! Interesting!"
Their strength is twice that of regular worker ants and soldier ants.
The effect of this bear blood is just too wonderful.
...
Qin Niu chopped a load of firewood and returned home.
Faintly, he could still hear Wang Haikun's loud voice coming from Wang Furen's household; it seems that the man had drunk quite a bit!
He was just hoping that this plague would leave sooner.
He still wanted to fetch some bear meat to feed that nest of termites.
Qin Niu was splitting wood in his own backyard, able to chop through logs as thick as a person's leg with a single blow.
After his Slash Martial Skill had reached minor achievement, its power was indeed formidable.
Every now and then, he could even execute a Critical Chop, enhancing the effect.
His proficiency with the chop was improving bit by bit.
So far, all of his skills, except for the planting skill which could improve through labor, required him to train hard, step by step.
It sounded like Wang Haikun had drunk about enough and finally Qin Niu heard the voice of Wang Furen seeing the guest out.
"Haikun, remember to come in for some tea next time! The kid next door, Ah Niu, is just a child; don't bully him anymore."
Wang Furen didn't forget to speak well of Ah Niu.
"Uh... I just heard he got some game! That kid is nothing but a beggar by fate, eating wild game will only shorten his life, I was helping him! Thanks for the hospitality, see you!"
Wang Haikun burped drunkenly, staggering away.
When Qin Niu came down from the mountain, he saw that Xie Laizi's door was still locked.
He guessed that Xie Laizi was most likely waiting at Wang Haikun's home for him to return, then explain things face to face.
This kind of thing, Xie Laizi definitely wouldn't dare broadcast outside.
Otherwise, if everyone knew he was Wang Haikun's lackey, they certainly wouldn't show him any kindness.
They might even ostracize him at every turn.
That's also why Xie Laizi always went to Wang Haikun's home sneakily, as if afraid of being seen.
Not even half an hour had passed before villagers began shouting, "Someone has been killed, someone at Wang Haikun's place has been killed!"
Qin Niu felt secretly pleased in his heart; cunning really was a useful thing.
He easily manipulated both Wang Haikun and Xie Laizi.
Without lifting a finger, he eliminated one of Wang Haikun's informants.
From now on, going in and out of the forest would be a lot more convenient.
Otherwise, being constantly watched by Xie Laizi every time he entered or left the forest made Qin Niu feel very insecure.
Looking at the situation, it was unlikely that Wang Haikun would have the chance to come back to Qin Niu's home for a retaliatory strike today.
Nevertheless, Qin Niu remained extremely cautious.
He took a small amount of bear meat, put it in a little jar, then placed it at the bottom of his basket, and took it with him into the mountains.
To feed it to the termites.
The corpse of the giant centipede had been mostly disassembled already.
With the increased number of worker ants, their efficiency had also greatly improved.
It was mainly Fourth and those five strong worker ants that, after having consumed bear blood, had doubled their strength and worked more than twice as fast.
After feeding the bear meat and seeing that there were no problems for a while, Qin Niu then departed.
By the time he carried a basket of humus down the mountain and passed by Xie Laizi's house, he saw it was surrounded by many villagers.
Xie Laizi was covered in blood all over his head and face, brutally beaten beyond recognition.
Still alive, clinging to his last breath.
"Boss Kun, I'm innocent, I really didn't deceive you..."
Xie Laizi kept repeating this sentence in an extremely weak voice.
"Xie Laizi, you had it coming! Ah Niu is honestly tilling the land, alone and destitute. What has he ever done to bother you? He carried baskets of mountain soil to fertilize his land, and you just had to run and tip off Wang Haikun, saying he got hold of game again."
"I bagged a deer the last time, and just as I had gotten home, Wang Haikun showed up right after. It must've also been that bastard Xie Laizi who snitched."
"I dug up a ginseng in the mountains, and the very next day Boss Kun came to my door to take it away. It's likely Xie Laizi who sold me out. Now getting beaten like this, he truly had it coming!"
The villagers took turns criticizing the grievously injured Xie Laizi, who was on the brink of death.
What does it mean when everyone pushes a falling wall?
This is it.
Xie Laizi's backer—Wang Haikun—wished he could kill him; without his backer, and then the villagers, knowing he was Wang Haikun's lackey, felt no sympathy for him.
He truly became like Zhu Bajie looking in the mirror, not human either way.
With a load of humus on his back, Qin Niu slowed his pace to watch for a moment, then quickly left.
In the eyes of the villagers, he was still that silently sullen fool, Ah Niu.
After dumping the humus on his land, he returned home, locked the door, and peeked at the commotion outside.
No one noticed him.
This was the outcome he wanted.
However, he was very aware that Wang Haikun's spies definitely weren't limited to Xie Laizi alone. Therefore, he had to be careful and cautious, as one misstep could lead to irreparable consequences.
He did not eat the bear meat but instead ate the 'husks' in the pot.
In the future, he would eat this during the day, and at night, when it was deep and quiet, he would eat meat in large bites.
To quietly improve his cultivation.
Tomorrow, he would make a trip to the city, sell the bear hide, and should be able to procure a large amount of essential supplies for cultivation.