Epoch of Twilight

Luo Yuan’s sensitive senses allowed him to hear the noises coming out of the cave. His facial expression changed, and he ran quickly towards the entrance of the aircraft. Once he stepped inside, the noises got even louder. There was screaming, shouting and the sound of metal hitting against something.

Shocked, he walked even faster and opened the cockpit’s door forcefully. His pupils shrunk. There were mutated ants everywhere. There were hundreds of them. He had no idea where they’d come from, but it looked like the place had become their hunting ground.

The one-foot-long ants were turquoise in color, and their bodies looked like they were made of metal, making them look really strong. Although they were small, their speed was faster than a human jogging and their dexterity was pretty high. Their jaws were the size of two palms, and they were opening and closing like a pair of scissors. Their bite would no doubt be fatal.

Everyone had been forced into a corner, barely holding up as they tried their best to kill the mutated ants with their swords. Although they looked desperate, none of them had been hurt. It seemed like they had gained enough strength through their training. Ordinary mutated beasts could not harm them anymore. Even the kids were swinging their swords whenever they got the chance. The ants’ outer shell was tough though, and the kids’ weak slashes were futile. It seemed like their weapons could use an upgrade.

Suddenly, Luo Yuan noticed Wang Shishi lying on the ground. She was surrounded by the team, and there was blood on her legs. Apparently, she had been hurt. She looked like she was breathing properly though, and there were no life-threatening injuries on her, so Luo Yuan was relieved.

He pulled out his Zhanmadao without hesitation. The sword’s glow kept changing as he walked towards the ants. All the ants in his way were injured by just a touch of the sword, and those that were slashed by it died instantly. Soon, Luo Yuan had cleared a path.

Everyone was delighted to see him return. "Boss Luo is back! We are saved! Let’s give it our all!" Huo Dong shouted as he slashed an ant into half. The ant’s pus splashed on his face.

"Boss Luo, if you’d come any later, I think you would have found our dead bodies," said Commander Xia in relief.

Luo Yuan made his way through the crowd, managing to kill all the ants within a few minutes. His face betrayed no emotion as he squatted down and touched Wang Shishi’s forehead. It was boiling hot. "What happened to her?"

"She was bitten by an ant on her leg and passed out," said Wang Xiaguang as she looked around.

Luo Yuan was shocked. He pulled at Wang Shishi’s pants to have a better look. The wound wasn’t deep. It was only a surface wound, but it was black in color. Part of her calf had gotten swollen. "She’s been poisoned," Luo Yuan said.

"Is there still hope?" Huang Jiahui asked, her voice breaking. Everyone was stunned. They didn’t think that kind of injury could have been so serious.

"Everyone keep an eye out and don’t disturb me!" Luo Yuan said seriously. They all backed off immediately. There were a few ants approaching them, but they managed to kill them instantly. Looking at them handling the situation well, Luo Yuan felt relieved. He took a deep breath and opened his palm. There was a dim glow on it as he placed it on Wang Shishi’s chest.

Her body shook vigorously as if she was being electrocuted. Luo Yuan closed his eyes as he held his palm against her chest. The glow remained. Drops of black blood were dripping out of the wound. As time went by, the color of her blood got lighter. From black to purple, and eventually to normal red.

His Will was much stronger than it used to be. Healing was nothing to him now. Half a minute later, he opened his eyes and took a look at Wang Shishi’s wound. The poison had been cleared, and even the swelling had subsided a lot. He was relieved as he stood up and walked to the front.

In a short period of time, the mutated ants had filled up the space again. He pulled out his Zhanmadao and started swinging it. With his Dexterity, he could swing 40 slashes in a second. Within a few seconds, he had cleared up a big space. "How did this happen?" he asked.

"It was all my fault. I was too lazy to clean after lunch, so I left the bones in a corner. I was going to throw them away at night. I didn’t expect them to attract mutated ants," said Huang Jiahui in fear. "At first, there were only two of them. I thought we’d get rid of them easily, so I didn’t really mind them. But then they started multiplying really fast, and I realised it was too late. If Wang Shishi hadn’t been here, we wouldn’t have made it this far."

"It wasn’t all Sister Huang’s fault. All women should be helping with lunch. I should take the blame as well," Zhao Yali said. There were frills on her sword, and she was covered in a disgusting green pus. Apparently, the battle had given her courage. Cao Lin was hiding away from them, her face pale from fear. As a matter of fact, it was her who had left the bones in the corner because she had been too lazy and scared to go out. She hadn’t expected such a thing to happen.

Looking at Huang Jiahui and Zhao Yali owning up to it all, she felt grateful to them. While she was relieved though, she was also envious at the same time. As long as nothing major happened to Wang Shishi, the incident would be forgotten. Luo Yuan wouldn’t even nag them about it. If he knew that it had been her who had caused the scene though, it would be a different story. Although he wouldn’t kill her, his opinion of her would change dramatically.

"That’s enough. I wasn’t going to blame anyone. The weather is too hot. No one would want to go out. Plus, nobody would have expected this to happen," Luo Yuan said.

"See?" Cao Lin thought to herself. The incident was finally over, and she felt relieved. She’d been unconsciously clenching her fists until they’d turned pale.

Luo Yuan spent a few more minutes killing off all the mutated ants. The ground was filled with dead ants as more and more kept coming in through the gap. It was impossible to kill them all. The gap was two meters long and less than a fist wide. It had been there ever since they had dug the cave. At that point in time, Luo Yuan hadn’t minded it, but he hadn’t known that it would become a path for mutated ants.

Now that he thought about it, it was fortunate that this had happened at noon when everyone had been awake and alert. If it had happened in the middle of the night, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Perhaps the ants had sensed that their own kind were dying, because more and more kept flooding in through the gap. The rock wall was right under their mouths, and they kept biting it off as if they were chewing biscuits. There was a cracking noise as the gap got bigger and bigger.

Luo Yuan’s facial expression turned stern. He had a bad feeling about this. The mutated ants were not attacking them, they were going after their own kind. Thanks to their tough shells and the movement of their mouths, a loud metal noise filled up the whole space. They were eating fast, each carcass getting devoured by six mutated ants. Soon, they had eaten everything. There was nothing left.

Some of them hadn’t even died completely, but that didn’t stop the starving ants. They injured ants struggled at first, but it was futile. No wonder that there had not been many carcasses when Luo Yuan had come in. The ants had probably been there for a feast. In half a minute, the number of the ants was the same as it had been before. Luo Yuan’s scalp went numb as he looked at how fast they were.

He couldn’t think of any other solution except killing them all once again.

"Boss Luo, it seems like we can’t stay here tonight. There must be an ant colony somewhere in there," Huo Dong said.

Luo Yuan nodded and said, "Everyone pack your bags, we’re moving into the grotto for the night."

"Have you settled the mutated bird already?" Huang Jiahui asked in joy.

Everyone was looking at Luo Yuan.

"That bastard was too fast. It managed to get away, although it was badly injured. Even if it doesn’t die, it will not come for us anytime soon." Luo Yuan paused. He got upset when he thought about the mutated bird getting away.

Although it hadn’t been killed, everyone was relieved that they could still live in peace for a few days. Suddenly, Luo Yuan heard something. He put his ear on the wall and listened carefully. There was a cracking noise inside the wall, as if countless ants were chewing it from the other side.

He was stunned as he said, "We don’t have much time. Pack your bags, we’re leaving this place right now!"

"What’s happening, Luo Yuan?" Huang Jiahui sounded worried.

"The wall will crumble soon from the chewing, and there will be a massive number of ants flooding in. By that time, I won’t be able to save you all," Luo Yuan said as he lifted Wang Shishi, who had been lying on the ground.

Everyone was scared and ran towards their bags right away. Suddenly, cracks opened up on the wall, forming a web, and ants started coming in aggressively through them.

"There’s no time, we need to leave right now!" Luo Yuan shouted while quickly killing the mutated ants closest to him. It only managed to buy them a little time as more and more ants flooded in. There was a four-meter tall hill of them near the wall. Even Luo Yuan was scared and had to take a few steps back.

What he hadn’t wanted to happen, was happening. A couple of mutated ants were no harm, but a crowd could be more terrifying than a green-level creature. He had seen documentaries on ant tides before the apocalypse. He remembered what a catastrophe they were. He remembered seeing ants on countless carcasses, and creatures running away wailing. Some of them had been eaten by the ants, only bones left behind within a few minutes. The food chain meant nothing anymore. If you were careless, you would get eaten. It wasn’t just animals, even plants were victims of that phenomenon. That was somehow even more terrifying. Every living thing was fated to die. Those had been regular ants too. Mutated ants would be even more disastrous.