Ch153 - Ant Nest (17)

T/N: Thank you Lydia for the Ko-Fi (^ 3 ^)/~

“Cough, cough, cough.” He coughed so hard that the corners of his eyes were wet and red. The good days of letting loose as the player Gu Cheng were over. In front was the unlucky ‘Jiang’ who needed to maintain his persona.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ren Yifei’s voice cracked, appearing weak.

“Gu Cheng is missing.” Saman took a sip of tea, looking at Jiang, “I heard that you had conflicts before.”

“No, no, we only met once,” Ren Yifei replied timidly, not daring to look up directly at Saman.

“Don’t be nervous; I’m just curious. It’s okay if you really don’t want to talk about it. It’s just……” Saman paused for a few seconds, “I just can’t guarantee that there will be anything like this next time.”

A threat? This was a threat, right?

Ren Yifei’s face turned slightly pale as he gritted his teeth, “He said that a noble wanted to kill me.”

“Oh?” Saman had a smile on his face as if encouraging him to continue.

“That day…” Ren Yifei was caught up in his memories; his eyes turned away for a moment and then back again.

“That lord took me to a patch of grass, far from here, with a plant with flowers growing and a swamp beside it. I thought that he was going to kill me.”

“I pushed him into the swamp.” His body trembled slightly, and he covered his face with his hands, “I really thought I was going to die.”

Saman did not interrupt him and just waited for him to calm down.

“But that lord didn’t kill me. He got up from the pool and just told me to leave. He said……” Ren Yifei carefully looked at Saman and pursed his lips, “He said I could go and do what I had to do.”

“What did you have to do?” Saman crossed his hands and looked at Ren Yifei with a smile.

Ren Yifei flinched, avoiding his gaze, “He said that the noble wanted to kill me because he thought I would destroy this place. That’s ridiculous; how could I do such a thing? I live here myself.”

Ren Yifei changed his expression continuously. He tried his best to keep calm, but his clenched hands and the sudden flush on his face showed that he was nervous and helpless at that moment.

Saman was sure that he lied partly, not much, mainly in the last two sentences.

When he emphasised that it was nonsense, his eyes were fixed on Saman, as if he wanted to prove that he was telling the truth and strengthen the effect.

But the situation was just the opposite. On the contrary, his performance showed: Yes, he did have something to do, and he even took action to destroy this place.

“I believe you. That was just an excuse to make trouble for you.” Saman smiled and comforted him.

Ren Yifei nodded. His tense muscles relaxed slightly, and his fists were not clenched so tight anymore.

“Then did he tell you who that noble was?”

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Ren Yifei was startled; his body was so cold that his heart almost stopped beating.

“Thud.” This was the sound of the cup being placed on the table; it was very soft but loud at the same time. Saman’s body was in the shadows, and his voice carried an ambiguous smile, “I heard that you love reading. That’s really impressive, the fact that you found out the date of the noble’s mating flight and have made such a careful plan.”

“……” Ren Yifei supported the door, cold sweat forced out from his forehead.

The original owner…… was such a ruthless person.

After a long while, Ren Yifei, who was standing by the door, slowly turned his head. It was by no means a poor little rabbit’s eyes but rather like an eagle’s or a wolf’s.

“Really? I can’t believe I missed something like this. Are all the nobles dead?” His voice was no longer trembling feebly. Although it was still light and slow, it was extra dangerous because of the eerie pleasure.

This sickly, timid-looking worker revealed his hidden sharpness for the first time.

“Unfortunately, no.” Saman looked at him.

While clearing the cave of the sacred tree, they found the place where Jiang made weapons and hid them, and even saw the ‘suicide note’ he had carved into the wall and left for the others.

Because of doing such a dangerous thing, Jiang seemed to have arranged his future early on.

In the suicide note, he wrote the time of the mating flight, the details of the landing of the mating flight, and even an effective and feasible hunting plan.

That’s right, Jiang’s goal was to kill all the nobles and cut off all possibilities from the source. But he did not know that if there was no queen, the natural fertility rate of human beings would be so low that even the Family Planning Commission would be worried.

“If all the nobles, workers and soldiers were hunted down, a couple might only have one or two children in their lifetime.”

“You know, out of ten children, only one or two will survive to adulthood. It will only take one or two generations without outside intervention for there to be none of us left in this world.” Considering the lethality of this person, Saman simply stated the role of the noble.

“The number of humans will decrease until the last human dies. Is this what you want?”

Ants were different from bees. When the queen dies unexpectedly, the bees create a station and nurture the princess. But the ants will die one by one until the entire colony become extinct.

That was why this instance was an ‘ant nest’ rather than a ‘hive’.

Therefore, it was unrealistic to kill all the nobles as the continuation of the race relied on the queen. However, artificial control could be done.

Ren Yifei was silent as he judged the authenticity of this sentence.

“I can ignore what happened before, but you only have two choices after that. Either don’t touch the bow and arrow for the rest of your life, or make bows and arrows for us.” Saman was still smiling, but there was no more pretend gentleness. He was like a beast that had lifted its human skin and revealed its fierce side.

Ren Yifei’s fingers tensed up, and his nails almost dug into the wall, but he smiled, “I choose the second one.”

Just like that, ‘Jiang’, who returned after being missing for two days, started a new job, and he did not need to look for the black cube anymore.

When he came to the special workshop, the bows and arrows he made had been hung on the wall. There were also tools for making bows and arrows on the shelves on one side, such as axes, knives, a fireplace and so on.

The raw materials included, but were not limited to, wood, body parts of certain insects, sticky gums, and rocks……

Ren Yifei does not know how to make bows and arrows and does not have this skill. But it did not matter since he would only be there for four days maximum, and this amount of effort was very suitable for preparation work.

After getting acquainted with the new environment, he set off in the afternoon on the pretext of going outside to look for suitable materials, wearing a loose cloak and with a skinny worker, who was said to be an apprentice but was actually similar to a monitor.

Just after he went out, he saw many people coming down from the second level, carrying food, clothes, tools, and other things, lining up in a long line towards the direction of the big tree.

“What are they doing?” Ren Yifei asked.

“I don’t know.” The little apprentice replied, with a confused look on his face, but he was not curious.

Ren Yifei was discouraged and continued to go outside to find tough materials. The people here were really like ants; at least, they have some of the qualities belonging to ants.

They live like programmed cells, doing their jobs without complaint, never questioning the reason.

Only a very small number of people, like Jiang, wanted fairness, to raise their children independently, and other things.

“Jiang! I finally found you!” Not long after walking into the field, a person called him. It was the older boy who drew the pattern on his palm, and he was not alone; there was a gallant-looking woman beside him, a soldier.

“It’s great that you’re still alive.” The older boy was so moved that tears were about to fall. When he came up, he wanted to hug Ren Yifei, but Ren Yifei avoided it discreetly lest he discovers the wings on his back.

“I’ve heard about you, Jiang, the bows and arrows you make are great. No bow and arrow God bestows can be as good as them.” The soldiers who looked at the two of them said sincerely.

“Thank you? May I ask who you are?”

Ren Yifei timely showed a puzzled expression, and the big boy immediately approached and said, “Didn’t you always want to meet her? We were supposed to meet her last time, but it’s a pity…… but it’s not too late now; this is Lord Shu Ye.”

Shu Ye waved her hand, “It’s okay. Jiang is the real one. We have seen the letter you wrote to everyone. And the production process of those weapons and living tools…… just by observing and using them, you can recreate God’s product. You’re a genius.”

Ren Yifei just smiled. He did not know about this until after he came down. The resume did not mention that Jiang had done so many things in private and even made bows and arrows and other tools.

That’s right, on the first day, he felt that ‘Jiang’ was too popular. Since he was a sick and weak individual, and there was a strong admiration here, how could so many people like him?”

Moreover, the small decorations in Jiang’s room could also be seen to have exquisite craftsmanship.

She looked at Ren Yifei, “I want to thank you. I was hesitant at first, but the fact that the nobles targeted you told me we can’t wait any longer, let alone hesitate.”

Ren Yifei did not react, “Huh?”

But soon, he remembered the noble shooting incident.

“We have a cooperation with the general director. Do you know about this?”

Ren Yifei glanced at the apprentice next to him and was hesitant to speak.

“Don’t worry,” Shu Ye looked at the apprentice, pretending to be stupid, “It’s not a secret now.”

“I just came back today, so I’m not sure what’s going on yet.” Ren Yifei shook his head and said, “But it sounds like it has something to do with those who are headed for the sacred tree?”

“That’s right,” Shu Ye nodded and looked at the sacred tree in the distance, “The life of being dominated by God and having to obey orders should come to an end.”

Ren Yifei was still confused at first, but then his eyes widened suddenly, “What do you mean?”

“We have already decided to leave some of the sparks under the sacred tree. Children, workers, soldiers and nobles will all be transferred there.”

Sure enough, they were splitting the population by using underhanded means and leaving the spark elsewhere. Then would the old nest continue to make false deals with the higher civilisation?

“You have excellent craftsmanship. I want to transfer you there.” Shu Ye continued; this was only a superficial reason. More importantly, they, the rebels, need new leaders.

The cooperation was temporary, but the struggle was for life, and the other party thought the same.

So they must have a leader. Without a leader, the team will be a mess.

Shu Ye was making the final arrangements and had already given herself an ultimatum in her heart.

Shu Ye, who represented the radical faction, and Saman, who represented the moderate faction, finally reached an agreement after a round of confrontation: To perfect the plan first and then discuss the matter later.

The ant nest will be divided into two: young children, people with extensive wilderness survival experience, and those with average fighting ability being divided over to the sacred tree. The nobles will also be transferred over.

The others, with the resolution for certain death, will wait for God’s arrival.

“What? What about you?” Ren Yifei did not care about anything else, “If there is no leader, we……”

“And you— you did a good job before,” she interrupted Ren Yifei.

Ren Yifei shook his head, “Although I really don’t want to admit it, there was indeed an insurmountable gap between workers and soldiers. They were born stronger.”

But Shu Ye said, “Workers and soldiers are false propositions. They are born with the same mother, but they have different talents. In case we fail, you take them far away and live away from here.”

“Fail?” Ren Yifei felt something was wrong.

“We’ve had enough of living on our knees. God’s arrival, it’s a huge deception.”

Ren Yifei was taken aback, “What do you want?”

“Deicide.”