The Secret of the Ruby

As the soldier ants charged towards him, Tom, still holding the ruby in his hand, landed a punch on the queen's head.

"If you want to kill me, I'll fight back!" Tom thought. Since the queen wasn't skilled in movement or attack, he figured he could land a couple of punches to subdue her, maybe even use her as leverage against the other ants.

That punch shattered the queen's mandibles, sending gooey fluid flying. Both Tom and the queen were momentarily stunned, but Tom quickly regained his composure and struck again, sending a soldier ant flying with a single punch.

This ant, as large as an alligator, was knocked back effortlessly. Tom's fist, glowing red, descended with force, crushing another soldier ant's head.

The queen, panicked, attempted to flee, but with her short limbs, she couldn't move fast enough. She could only command worker ants to drag her away.

Tom wasn't going to let her escape. He charged forward, roaring, and delivered blows that shattered the queen's head, despite her large size, her exoskeleton wasn't as tough as the soldier ants'.

Tom looked at his hands, the ruby emitting a glow, casting a red light on his arms.

"The ruby is your only chance."

The hint from the man with long hair proved true. Finally, he activated the ruby's power, enhancing his strength.

Smashing several soldier ants, he quickly made his way to the glass jar. Amidst the astonished stares of the four people, he shattered the thin glass with his fists.

"Big... Brother... What about... becoming the Queen of Blades?" Even Li Qiang started to speak nonsensically.

Liu Lian complained, "Ange, why didn't you use this move earlier? Did you have to wait to build up energy for your ultimate move?"

Chen Jianbin hugged Tom's thighs. "Big Brother, I knew you could do it!"

Luo Jun remained silent.

Tom pushed Chen Jianbin aside. "Hurry up, grab your things! Let's go!"

Over three thousand ants were rushing back. The person in the queen's memory was an example; even with the ruby enhancing his strength, even with the ability to knock out a soldier ant with one punch, it was useless against absolute numbers. Individual strength was insignificant in the face of a tidal wave of ants, and they would ultimately be overwhelmed.

Aside from bringing the gem, the worker ants had also brought their armor, swords, and Tom's backpack.

Tom slung the backpack over his shoulders, escorted them to the swords, and killed several worker ants that charged at them along the way.

Realizing it was inconvenient to hold the gem, he tried to fit the other gem into the clasp of the ring he wore on his arm. With a forceful press, the ruby surprisingly fit snugly.

He discovered that the gem still worked, meaning he didn't have to keep holding it.

Tom picked up a sword and, with the group, ran to the green plastic barrel. He thrust the sword in, creating a hole, then pulled it out and made a horizontal cut. Diesel gushed out, filling the air with a pungent odor.

At that moment, a yellow sea poured in through the bitten-open door—a surge of three thousand ants, all sizes.

"What do we do? What do we do?" Chen Jianbin nervously jumped in place again. Tom pointed to the window behind them and shouted, "Up there, hurry!"

"It's too high!" Li Qiang exclaimed.

"I'll toss you up and then toss down a rope for me." Tom said, "Give me the matches. We can't escape without them."

At this moment, the ant army was quickly closing in, just over a hundred meters away.

"No gunpowder!" Liu Lian, sweating profusely, searched through the backpack. "How do we ignite the diesel without gunpowder?"

"It's over there!" Luo Jun pointed. The worker ants had moved the gunpowder from the matchbox to the queen's side.

"It's too far!" Chen Jianbin shouted. Running there now wouldn't make it back in time. They would surely be engulfed by the ants.

"I'll go!" Without hesitation, Luo Jun picked up the matches and ran forward.

"Luo Jun!" Tom hadn't expected this and tried to stop him, but it was too late.

"Run! I'll light it!" Luo Jun shouted as he ran, "Don't wait for me!" He knew that once he left, he wouldn't be able to come back.

Tom gritted his teeth and signaled the others, "Run, run! Against the wall!" Then he pushed over the diesel barrel, spilling it all over the ground.

He saw Luo Jun reaching the queen's side, then shouted, "Luo Jun..."

In just two days, despite Zhang Meng calling Luo Jun useless, Tom felt a sense of loss facing the prospect of life and death separation. He had come to see Luo Jun as a reliable teammate.

"Tom! If you see Zhang Meng..."

Tears welled up in Tom's eyes as he shouted, "I'll kill him! Even if the police protect him, I'll kill him!" It wasn't just about Luo Jun's girlfriend; there was also the grudge over the gecko cookies.

"Remember your words!" Luo Jun lit the match, but a soldier ant, with its mandibles raised and ready, grabbed his waist. He threw the match with all his might, landing it on the diesel in front of Tom, and flames ignited instantly.

Two more soldier ants rushed past Luo Jun towards Tom. As the flames had just ignited, the temperature wasn't high enough yet. The first one passed through the flames, legs ablaze, and charged at Tom without hesitation.

Tom roared, exerting all his strength as he punched. The large mandibles were snapped off, and then the ant's head shattered like a watermelon, splattering goo everywhere.

The second soldier ant was more fortunate; the flames instantly burned off its six limbs, causing it to collapse into the fire, becoming fuel.

The ants, now no longer under the control of the queen, couldn't stop themselves and plunged into the flames, intensifying the blaze. Soon, it ignited other wooden items in the room. However, the ants further back managed to stop their advance and quickly scattered to escape.

Bending down, Tom dug out a large ruby from the head of the soldier ant, tears streaming down his face as he ran to the wall.

At this moment, Li Qiang and Liu Lian stood by, their eyes red with tears. Luo Jun's sacrifice had bought them a chance to escape. Both were deeply saddened, while Chen Jianbin paced nearby, complaining, "Hurry up, the fire's getting bigger. If we wait any longer..." Seeing Tom's grim expression, he quickly covered his mouth and lowered his head.

There was a glass window by the wall, about a meter above the ground, one of those old-style windows that opened by pushing to the sides, with a track above that could support a person's weight.

The height was similar to the cement railing on the rooftop earlier. Without the biscuits, they couldn't reach it.

But now, with the enhanced strength from the ruby, and considering that with Tom's reduced size, the gravitational pull would be weaker, even for a chubby person like Liu Lian, Tom was confident he could throw him up.

Although Liu Lian was the heaviest, he was at least the second most rational person after Luo Jun. Tom decided to throw him up.

Chen Jianbin wanted to volunteer again, but Li Qiang slapped him, silencing him.

Despite some fear, Liu Lian, seeing the fire growing and some of the soldier ants choosing to circumvent the fire and attack them from the wall, hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

Tom grabbed Liu Lian, intending to throw him, but found that the red light on his arm had disappeared. The power from the ruby on the ring worn on his arm had been depleted again, turning the once-red gem into a black stone.

He swapped it with the ruby he had just dug out from the soldier ant's head. After testing it, his strength was once again enhanced. The ruby was effective but not durable.

Now was not the time to dwell on that. Tom successfully threw Liu Lian up using his strengthened arm. Liu Lian grabbed onto the edge of the window and, after a few swings, finally pulled himself up. He quickly tied one end of the rope to the window and threw the other end down.

Tom grabbed the rope and climbed up first, followed by Li Qiang, and finally, Chen Jianbin.

Chen Jianbin was a bit scared and slipped twice during the climb, but no one paid him any attention. If he didn't want to be burned to death or torn to pieces by the ants seeking revenge, he had to keep climbing.

Tom broke the window, lowered another rope, and then slid down first.

This was the alley behind the rented house, dark and damp, with only one broken lamp that nobody bothered to replace. The ground was pockmarked, with many dirty and smelly puddles.

As soon as Tom landed, he quickly surveyed his surroundings. The previously dim alley was now illuminated by the fire from the house behind him.

Seeing Tom standing still, Liu Lian, who had just come down, was puzzled. "Tom, the ants are coming. Run!"

Tom shook his head. "Not now. We need to stay in the light for now. The house will catch fire soon. When the fire gets bigger, we'll slowly move forward."

Li Qiang, landing down, also didn't understand. "Is there a reason for this?"

After two days of events, they all trusted Tom a lot. Although they had doubts, they stayed put.

Chen Jianbin fell to the ground in a dirty puddle and shouted a couple of times in pain. "You all didn't wait for me... The ants are catching up, run!" 

Sure enough, several large ants appeared at the window, swinging their antennae to lock onto the group, then quickly climbed down.

"F***, I'm out of here. Goodbye, idiots!" Chen Jianbin, feeling the sunlight again, hated Tom, the killer who had embarrassed him, so much he wanted to shake him off. He abandoned the three and ran towards the end of the alley.

"Don't run!" Liu Lian kindly reminded him.

Chen Jianbin, running, replied, "I'm going to find the police and report you for burning down the house, Tom! Wait for it!" In his view, with the house on fire, the patrol police would definitely come over, and although he had shrunk, he believed the police would save him.

Seeing the ants closing in step by step, Liu Lian and Li Qiang were somewhat hesitant, but Tom shook his head and pointed to Chen Jianbin.

They saw Chen Jianbin running and suddenly a large mosquito appeared above his head. Its long proboscis suddenly pierced Chen Jianbin's skull, easily penetrating all the way in. Chen Jianbin's eyes rolled back instantly.

"Ah!" Li Qiang saw Chen Jianbin's miserable state not far away and screamed in shock.

The mosquito's proboscis was piercing-style, like an extremely thin injection needle. The mosquito was a "flower-footed mosquito," a larger and more aggressive species found in the south. Usually, these mosquitoes were 15 millimeters long, but the one in front of them was a whopping 52 millimeters, almost 5 centimeters long. Its proboscis had penetrated the hardest part of the human skull. Tom knew this was definitely a mutated mosquito.

"Wow! What a big mosquito!" Liu Lian exclaimed, more excited than scared. The mosquito quickly sucked dry the blood and brain fluid from Chen Jianbin's body, dropping the shriveled corpse and hovering in the air.