Qin Ziwen’s eyes lit up. An unexpected, pleasant surprise.
"What do you think are the chances of tricking the Ant Mother over here?"
Pangding said with certainty, "As long as you’re strong enough, Master, the probability of bringing the Ant Mother here is quite high."
Pangding added, "According to my years of experience as an Insect Cultivator, Ant Mothers are usually timid and like to hide deep within their lairs. As long as you can find it and are forceful enough, Master, bringing it back shouldn’t be a big problem.
However, because they are so timid, Ant Mothers are usually found very deep underground. Their nests are also extremely complex. It’s easy to get lost inside if you don’t know the way.
If it senses an approaching threat, the Ant Mother will likely flee immediately."
Qin Ziwen licked his lips. "No rush. We’ll take it slow."
He then said to Pangding, "Alright, for the time being, you’ll stay here and set up the surrounding environment. I’ll have people go capture various insects from the underground caves. When they find some, you go and identify them. Keep an eye out for any that are cost-effective."
"Yes," Pangding said respectfully.
「 ... 」
After leaving the Giant Beast Breeding Center, Qin Ziwen took out the [Advanced Building] Level 1 Slaughter Hive Card.
Just from the name, it seemed to fit the map’s theme perfectly.
He went next to the Sky-Net Weaving Field and crushed the Card.
A white light enveloped a large area.
When the light dissipated, a huge hive covering a 20x20 area had appeared next to the Sky-Net Weaving Field.
In terms of footprint, the Slaughter Hive was considered quite small among Advanced Buildings.
But the building’s appearance was very distinctive.
Because the Slaughter Hive looked like a "pineapple" that had been magnified countless times.
The massive building’s surface was divided into standard hexagonal sections.
And in the center of each hexagon, there was a black window.
The entire structure was honey-yellow and nearly forty meters tall.
He used Insight on the building.
[Advanced Building: Level 1 Slaughter Hive: Level 2 Swarm Attraction, Level 2 Slaughter Net, Level 1 Swarm Speed Boost] (Special Effect: Swarms residing within the Slaughter Hive will periodically and spontaneously develop ’Cannibalism’ symptoms. The swarms will devour each other. After successfully consuming another swarm, the victorious swarm will evolve to a certain degree.)
Swarm Attraction: This building will spontaneously attract nearby bee swarms to reside within it. The resident swarms will be assimilated by the building, strengthening their desire to attack prey.
Slaughter Net: Swarms residing within the Slaughter Hive will form a network of mental frequencies. They can sense the enemy locations transmitted by other swarms, making their attacks more efficient.
Swarm Speed Boost: The flight speed of swarms living inside the Slaughter Hive will be slightly increased.
This was the first time he had seen a building so geared toward offense.
’What’s interesting is that it absorbs swarms from the outside. How large is the "nearby" area it draws from?’
’Will the existence of my Home block the Slaughter Hive’s ability to attract outside swarms?’
Question after question surfaced in his mind.
’If it really can’t attract any, maybe I can go back to the first map and bring back a few hives myself.’
’Right, Pangding is an Insect Man and an Insect Cultivator. I wonder if it’s ever heard of this building.’
Qin Ziwen found Pangding, who was busy at work.
After hearing his master mention the Slaughter Hive, Pangding frowned in deep thought. Finally, it said, "Master, I think I’ve heard of this building somewhere. The Slaughter Hive seems to be part of some ultimate building."
’An ultimate building!?’
Qin Ziwen immediately thought of Giant Beast Heavy Industry.
’But it’s probably not a sub-branch of Giant Beast Heavy Industry. If it were, the Slaughter Hive would have been absorbed by it long ago.’
’It must be part of another ultimate building.’
’Possibly one related to the Insect Men.’
Pangding followed Qin Ziwen to the Slaughter Hive. Standing at the foot of the hive, Pangding curiously squeezed into one of the entrances.
Watching its plump figure, it looked like a chubby, oversized bee burrowing inside from a distance.
After a while, Pangding came out. "The space inside is huge, but there’s no place to store honey. This building must be designed purely for hunting."
"Are there Bee-men among the Insect Man race?"
Pangding gulped. "Yes. The honey produced by Bee-men is delicious. It’s sweet and fragrant, and not cloying at all. But there probably aren’t any Bee-men underground. They don’t like the subterranean environment; they prefer to live in forests."
Qin Ziwen smiled. "The way you describe it makes me want to try some."
"Heh heh, when we get Bee-men later, we’ll eat honey every day." Pangding patted its belly. "Master, I’m going back to work now."
"Go on."
「 ... 」
In the evening, someone from the Giant Beast Feed Processing Plant delivered a large box of special canned goods.
Liu Mang said, "President, these are the special cans produced tonight. There are twenty in total. Team Leader Xiao did the math; we get about one special can for every thousand regular ones."
"Good. Thank you for your hard work." Qin Ziwen grabbed a single, regular can from the side and handed it to Liu Mang as a little extra for his trouble.
Liu Mang thanked him profusely again.
After Liu Mang left, Qin Ziwen lifted the metal box off the cart.
The box contained twenty cans of various shapes and sizes.
Among them were three extra-large cans and eight extra-small ones.
In addition, there were two new and strange varieties he had never seen before.
The first was a can with a bright silver appearance.
[Exquisite Compressed Dinosaur Meat Can (Produced by Giant Beast Heavy Industry)]: This can has been thoroughly compressed, making its meat incredibly dense. Its nutritional value is ten times that of a regular can. At the same time, the meat in this can has also become extremely tough during the production process. It would be difficult to bite through without exceptionally strong teeth.
After using Insight, Qin Ziwen fell into deep thought.
’This can has ten times the nutrition of a regular one, but its toughness has probably also increased many times... Ordinary people probably can’t chew it. It can only be eaten by the Extraordinary.’
’Perhaps it could be a special-supply can for the Extraordinary.’
There were four of these cans in total.
The second type was a red can. It was one size larger than a normal can, and there were five of them.
[Mutated Dinosaur Meat Can (Produced by Giant Beast Heavy Industry)]: This can mutated during production. It has fused with some special energy. After consumption, physical strength will be temporarily increased. Once the meat is fully digested, the increased physical strength will disappear completely.
’This can turned a permanent boost into a temporary, one-time potion.’
’To be honest, it was the first time he had seen an item with this kind of effect.’
’And the duration is tied to the digestion time. Doesn’t that mean the stronger your digestion, the shorter the duration?’
「 ... 」
「 ... 」