Chapter 136: Ant Queen Brain Core
Under the blazing sun, dazzling sunlight shone down upon the earth.
At this moment, Zhou Ming stood at the main gate of Qinghui Scientific Research University. Students entering and leaving the campus were secretly sizing him up, low whispers of discussion drifting into his ears.
The scene before him looked as though Zhou Ming had committed an unforgivable mistake and had been expelled from Qinghui Scientific Research University.
However, being stripped of his auditing student status and being expelled seemed, in essence, no different.
Toward the hushed discussions around him, Zhou Ming did not take them to heart.
At Qinghui Scientific Research University, or rather within the entire Blue Star Alliance, ordinary people and Beast Tamers almost belonged to two different worlds.
The vast majority of people spent their entire lives within heavily guarded bases. The bases were invisible cages, yet also umbrellas that shielded them from wind and rain.
When these ordinary people sensed that their lives could be decided by others, even knowing clearly that they would not be harmed, fear would still uncontrollably surface.
This was an instinctive reaction of the weak, unrelated to whether the existence they faced was benevolent or malevolent.
Ignoring the surrounding murmurs, Zhou Ming removed the gold-rimmed glasses he had worn for a year and a half and tossed them into the trash. He was now returning to his identity as a hunter.
Afterward, Zhou Ming flagged down a taxi and headed toward the eastern district of the city, where the Hunter Guild was located.
Within the bases of the Blue Star Alliance, aside from small bases, the distribution of other bases followed an inner city and outer city structure, with the outer city divided into eastern, southern, western, and northern districts.
In the eastern district of Qinghui Base, besides the Hunter Guild, there were mainly hunter squads, hunting corps, and shops selling supplies required by hunters.
In addition, several large corporations and groups were also established in the eastern district, their businesses mostly related to Beast Tamers.
Half an hour later, Zhou Ming arrived at the Hunter Guild. A towering building nearly twenty stories tall stood before him.
Back when he had first come to Qinghui Base, he had visited the Hunter Guild several times while heading into the Wilderness to provide food for the Ironthread Snake.
Later, due to being busy with his studies, he had no choice but to leave the Ironthread Snake swarm to roam freely in the sewers.
The vast sewer system of Qinghui Base had given rise to many mutated Hardfur Rats, enough to sustain the Ironthread Snake swarm. The only issue was that it caused many rat exterminators to lose their jobs.
Even so, Zhou Ming still had to purchase resources to feed his three Ferocious Beast–level Ironthread Snakes, which put him once again in a state of financial shortage.
The Half-Beastman Class Advancement ritual was already basically perfected, but Zhou Ming still lacked the advancement materials, which required a large amount of money to acquire.
Moreover, the most important point was that the final conjecture of the Snake Swarm Will had yet to be completed.
“Where did this little puppy come from?”
Before Zhou Ming could enter the mission hall, a malicious sneer rang out by his ear, immediately causing the surrounding hunters to burst into laughter.
Stopping in his tracks, Zhou Ming slowly turned his head, his eyes fixing on the person behind him.
A killing aura tinged with blood, along with an icy indifference toward life, enveloped the other party like the cold wind of the twelfth lunar month.
Zhou Ming had worn a school uniform for over a year, but that did not mean his claws and fangs had been worn away. He had merely learned how to conceal them.
The person who had spoken mockingly instantly felt a chill spread throughout his body. His limbs stiffened, unable to move, as fear began to spread wildly in his heart like weeds.
Especially when he met Zhou Ming’s gaze, it felt as though a bloodthirsty Ferocious Beast was staring straight at him.
“I’m sorry.”
Relying on his remaining rationality, an apology barely squeezed out from between his teeth.
Only then did Zhou Ming withdraw his gaze and continue walking toward the mission hall.
When Zhou Ming’s back disappeared from his field of vision, the man who had mocked him earlier collapsed to the ground, drenched in sweat.
Yet, faced with such a disgraceful display, not a single hunter around laughed at him.
Instead, a single thought rose in their minds.
Where did such a ruthless figure come from?
In the Qinghui Base Hunter Guild building, the first-floor mission hall was aimed at Apprentice Beast Tamers, or more accurately, Black Iron Hunters.
To enter the second floor and take Silver-level missions, aside from Professional Beast Tamers, probably only hunting corps were qualified.
However, Zhou Ming had not come to the Hunter Guild this time specifically to take missions.
Highly targeted missions were a waste of time. After all, there were many Beast Tamers within Qinghui Base, and the bounties for Black Iron missions were not high. As for long-term material procurement missions posted by the guild, there was no need to accept them formally.
Zhou Ming’s plan was simply to obtain the information he wanted through the posted missions.
This was also a method of gathering intelligence.
“Yunwu Basin, Army Ants.”
When Zhou Ming saw a neglected mission, a trace of joy immediately appeared in his eyes.
Army ants were native creatures of Blue Star.
After the appearance of Dimensional Rifts, they gradually began to mutate. Their bodies had grown to the size of fists, and their steel-pincer-like mandibles could tear apart the fur of ordinary low-tier Ferocious Beasts.
The ant queen belonged to the low-tier Ferocious Beast category. She was not skilled in direct combat and primarily relied on controlling the ant swarm.
During the process of perfecting his Snake Swarm Will, Zhou Ming’s attention had gradually turned toward ant queens and bee queens.
This was because once ant queens and bee queens evolved into Ferocious Beasts, they no longer controlled their colonies through pheromonal information, but instead relied on a special organ within their brains.
This organ, known as the brain core, could emit special biological brainwaves, linking the entire colony into a single whole.
At the beginning of the Alliance’s establishment, it was discovered that such brain cores could be used to refine low-tier potions that enhanced Spiritual Power. At that time, the price of a single ordinary brain core could reach over one hundred million Alliance Coins.
However, as the Alliance’s territory expanded and more types of treasures capable of enhancing Spiritual Power were discovered, very few people now specifically hunted ant queens and bee queens for their brain cores.
The fundamental reason was that the cost and the gains were disproportionate.
Taking army ants as an example, a low-tier Ferocious Beast–level army ant queen could control tens of thousands of ordinary army ants.
To obtain the brain core of an army ant queen, ordinary hunting corps or hunter squads would have to pay an extremely heavy price.
If such a cost were invested elsewhere, the returns would far exceed a single brain core. After all, the brain cores of low-tier ant queens or bee queens could only be used to refine low-tier potions.
The same applied to high-tier ant queens and bee queens. Almost no one chose such a thankless task, with only a few research institutions posting such bounty missions.
Zhou Ming happened to need a brain core to complete the final conjecture of the Snake Swarm Will.
After learning that army ants existed in Yunwu Basin, he immediately turned and headed toward the Hunter Bar, intending to gather information about Yunwu Basin.
As for the army ant mission, Zhou Ming naturally had no intention of accepting it, since he himself needed the brain core.
The Hunter Bar was, as always, noisy and bustling. Alcohol was the best balm for hunters to relax their tightly strung nerves.
“Do you have any information about Yunwu Basin?”
Zhou Ming walked straight to the bar counter and placed one thousand Alliance Coins in front of the bartender.
“Someone at Table Three can provide you with the service.”
After saying that, the bartender skillfully pocketed the payment. It was extra income for him from working here.
Having obtained the information he wanted, Zhou Ming headed straight toward Table Three.