Encounter with an Old Adversary

Baozi had already filled a basin of water for Tom, who jumped in to wash off the sticky residue of the mutated fly before emerging with the crystal in hand.

"Blue, such a beautiful color, really captivating!" Baozi stared at the crystal in Tom's hand, completely drawn to it.

Tom generously handed the crystal to him before going to change into his previous clothes.

"Hey, aren't you afraid I won't give it back to you? You can't beat me now, and besides, I have my gang with me," Baozi teased.

Tom shrugged, "If you don't keep your word, then I guess I've misjudged you."

Baozi chuckled and continued to admire the blue crystal for a while before speaking, "Do you think the insects produce this beautiful thing after eating human flesh? Does that mean there's something like this inside our bodies too?"

"Perhaps it's like farming, but unfortunately, we're at the bottom of the food chain in this farming industry. Maybe straw can't turn into sweet milk on its own. It needs to be fed to cows before milk can be produced."

Baozi clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. "Hmph, what they didn't expect is that even feed can kill!"

After Tom pointed out the source of the gems and witnessing the appearance of the crystals, Baozi felt there must be a conspiracy behind their shrinking. Perhaps the mastermind behind it all was feeding everyone to animals and then harvesting these magical gems, making it convenient for them to do as they please.

He carefully examined the crystal, seeming to want to see through its secrets.

Tom wasn't in a hurry either, leisurely sitting down beside him, leaving him space to imagine.

Baozi handed the crystal back to him. "Take it, give it to my brother later. They'll make sure to hide it for you. No one will know when we get back to camp."

Tom looked at him puzzled. He smiled, "Don't worry, my brothers are reliable. If I say they won't divulge anything, not even a crystal. But the carapace of the big fly is quite hard, if you don't mind, I can let my brothers handle it."

"Hey, if you're not disgusted, we're not either. Let's go, let's see how they're doing back there."

Back in the hall, everyone was busy, and they didn't get distracted when Baozi returned. Only two thinner individuals were constantly looking around. When they saw Baozi, they approached and reported that everything was normal. Obviously, they were on lookout duty.

Baozi called someone over, gave a few instructions, and the person took the blue crystal that Tom had been holding, glanced at it, then hid it in a cylindrical container at the bottom. After that, he took three people and headed towards the bathroom with tools in hand.

In the landlord's room, they found quite a bit of good liquor. A bottle of decent Maotai was the first to be opened and poured into a prepared wooden barrel.

"This wine... doesn't Zeng Shisan know about it?" Baozi sneered.

"He definitely knows, but he still thinks the one in the shop on the street is better. So I think Zeng Shisan has a purpose. If I had followed him that day..."

"Then you'd be dead."

Baozi no longer concealed his distrust of Zeng Shisan. In Tom's eyes, this was a good thing. Fighting side by side once could indeed strengthen trust.

Apart from Maotai, there were also some delicate snacks in the room, as well as chocolate candies, bananas, and apples. Chocolate was a high-calorie food to begin with, and for people who had shrunk, its energy was even more substantial, making it the best food for outdoor adventures. However, the fruits had already rotted in the hot weather of early summer and were no longer suitable for consumption.

Apart from food, they also needed other things.

For example, delicate clothes. They cut down the fabric and took it back to the camp to be sewn into clothes by the aunties there. They even found two sets of silk lingerie in the wardrobe. The feel of these things was too good, and using them to make clothes would be even more comfortable.

Of course, they also peeled off about a dozen pieces of varying sizes from the body of the mutated fly that Tom and Baozi had killed. After drying them, they could be used to make armor, which would definitely be lighter and offer just as much protection as plastic.

The collection work proceeded in an orderly manner. Although there weren't many things, it was still quite laborious to retrieve them after shrinking, so unconsciously they worked until noon, naturally having lunch in the house.

The biscuits were ready-made, and they also wanted to drink hot soup. They lit a makeshift stove with matches and nitrocellulose. The soup kettle they brought was quickly heated on the stove, and having hot soup after a busy morning helped to relieve fatigue.

They were busy until the sun deviated from its zenith, and an experienced member of the group reported that it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon before they finished and packed up and set off.

They climbed up the window, hoisted the carboy and barrel outside, which required careful handling and took a lot of time. Finally, they would also carefully close the iron bars and lock them with pins to prevent encountering big guys like cats and dogs next time they came in.

Next was to return the same way. They walked a long way, turned a corner, climbed three steps, and continued along the corridor.

This was the place that Zeng Shisan and the others had explored yesterday. Tom paid special attention to the surroundings again, trying to find any clues of oversight. After searching around, he saw Baozi also scrutinizing the surroundings with a similar expression. They exchanged a glance and shared a knowing smile.

Continuing their careful search, Tom suddenly made an unexpected discovery. "Wait!" he shouted, stopping the group and running to the corner, where he saw a pair of bloody footprints coming out from under the door of a room.

Baozi walked over and inspected the scene. "Fresh blood... Could there be survivors?"

"It's possible... Have you explored this room?" Tom asked.

"Of course, there's no one inside. I heard the guest was from another province, didn't bathe for a month, and made the room stink. None of us wanted to go in."

"There might be something fishy inside!" Tom said, ready to climb in, but Baozi pulled his arm. "It's getting late, let's go back for now. We'll come back tomorrow. And judging by the footprints, the person escaped from inside. Let's find them first and secretly take care of them."

"Secretly take care of them?" Tom suddenly grasped something, but couldn't quite put it together at the moment.

Just then, one of their men shouted, "Boss, run!"

Both men looked over and saw several ants crawling out of the door, small in size. However, the ants coming out from under the door crack were much larger.

"Wow, they're huge!" Baozi was about to pull out the nails on his back, but Tom grabbed his arm and ran. "They're soldier ants, or mutated ones!"

Are you kidding? They had no protection and no gems to fight against soldier ants? Tom had been knocked away with just one charge from a soldier ant before, and Xu Dong in their group had been pinched in half with just one pincer. With the combat strength of ordinary people, they were no match.

"Get the car, hurry!" Tom shouted loudly. "Dump all the Maotai on the ground, now!"

Some of the others were confused, all pulling out their weapons and waiting for Baozi's command to charge together and kill the mutated ants. After all, everyone knew there were gems on the mutated ants, and killing mutated ants wasn't a big deal; these were just a bit bigger.

"What the hell are you waiting for? Get to it!" Baozi's yelling woke them up as if from a dream. Without thinking, they immediately pushed the cart and ran forward quickly. Someone specifically lifted the wine barrel on the cart, pulled out the stopper, and poured it onto the ground.

The nearest soldier ant lowered its head and raised its butt, pushing its large pincers toward Baozi. Tom pushed Baozi away, but got scratched and fell down.

Baozi pulled Tom back, dragging him backward, while a tall and sturdy man rushed up to stand between them. "Boss, run!"

The soldier ant immediately pinched the whole person, then raised him high and snapped him in half.

Baozi, dragging Tom, shouted in pain, "Tianji, Tianji."

The lower half of the man called Tianji was swallowed by the soldier ant, while the upper half fell to the ground, blood spurting from his mouth. He raised his hand weakly and shouted to Baozi, "Go... quickly..." Then he was pinched by another soldier ant and swallowed.

The others were terrified, angry, and afraid, but they all ran faster. The man who poured the wine, however, was a bit confused. "What do we do next?"

Tom was in pain all over, suspecting that another of his ribs was broken, but he endured the pain and shouted, "Light the fire, burn the ants! The mutated ants... fear fire!"

The other two immediately bit their teeth, pulled out matches and nitrocellulose, lit a stick, and ran over. But the one who had poured the wine was seized by another soldier ant and torn in half as well, the upper half directly swallowed.

The one with the matches was red-eyed. "Liu, don't be afraid. Boss will avenge you!" He immediately poured the remaining wine onto the soldier ants eating human flesh, then rushed up with the burning match and ignited the wine.

The fire spread quickly to the soldier ants, quickly turning into a large fireball. The ants that were ignited by the fire ran in pain, immediately igniting the wine on the ground. The two soldier ants that had eaten Tianji were standing beside the wine stain, and soon they were also ignited. Three soldier ants immediately scattered and ran, igniting the others that had come out.

Everyone watched in astonishment as the raging fire burned, just moments ago they were laughing and joking, but now three of their brothers were dead. This made them realize the seriousness of the situation. It was a painful lesson. They didn't expect that the soldier ants, which were only slightly larger than mutated worker ants, would be so much weaker in combat. Just like that... people were crushed in an instant.

The fire spread, burning other small ants as well. Tom, lying on the ground, seemed to see the scene on the rooftop again, only this time he had more helpers, while there weren't as many on the other side.

The fire burned for a while, gradually dying down. There were no more ants moving around, either burned to death by the fire or scared away by it, leaving only a pile of black ash on the ground.

"The gems, go get the gems!" Baozi suddenly saw the ruby on the ground, shouting excitedly. But Tom stopped him. "Don't go, look!"