Breaking Out of the Shelter

"At that time, whether to stay in place and be gnawed into skeletons by countless ants, or to walk on the water pipe and be blown into the river by the wind, it's up to you." Tom's words calmed down the restless individuals, looking at the rain still falling outside, they could only continue to wait.

The iron shed on the back of the stagwood was 25 centimeters long, 8 centimeters wide, and 6.5 centimeters high. For the little people, it was equivalent to 6 meters long, 1.9 meters wide, and 1.5 meters high in the past.

This volume could barely accommodate 21 men and women, but the result would be a packed situation. Because Tom alone couldn't clear all the ants, there would definitely be ants climbing up to attack the wood. The wood was big and the shells were hard. But ants were experts at group attacks. If their numbers increased, they would pose a threat to the wood. So Tom decided to shrink the shed to a length of 17.5 centimeters, a height of 7 centimeters, and a width and height of 7.5 centimeters. Converted to the previous measurements, it was about 4.2 meters in length, 1.7 meters in width, and 1.8 meters in height, similar to a Wuling van.

The advantage of this was that apart from the carriage, there was more room for movement on the wood. He also added many handles and rings outside the carriage.

The men tied ropes around their waists and hung them on the rings to prevent them from falling off, while grabbing the handles. Once ants attacked the wood, they needed to defend themselves on top with long iron spears, eliminating or dislodging the ants entangled on the wood. To prevent too many ants from causing the wood to topple over. Once this sluggish giant turned upside down, it would be very difficult to flip it back because it was too heavy.

Lin Meiqi, Feng Hanyun, and six other women were definitely given priority to stay inside the carriage, as well as two amputees and another seriously injured person. The remaining men had to stay outside to defend the wood.

This was not optional. Although there was danger hanging outside because it was easy to be dragged away by ants, all twelve men were in the same situation. Tom alone couldn't handle all the ants. If they wanted to survive, they had to contribute their efforts.

Time passed by every second, and the survivors in the shelter watched the ants crawling outside, feeling increasingly anxious. But watching Tom calmly modify the iron boron, they relaxed slightly.

Soon, at 4:58 in the afternoon, the rain outside finally stopped, and the men and women in the shelter had already put on makeshift armor. The women and the wounded got into the carriage, while the men reluctantly hung outside the carriage, nervously watching the countdown.

"Godhead," Lin Meiqi stuck her head out of the door, "I believe you can protect us!"

Feng Hanyun also followed suit, "Yes, Tom, we all believe in you."

The rest of the women felt that since everyone else had spoken up, they should too, so they crowded toward the door. But Tom waved his hand to stop them, "Sit down, what you really rely on are these twelve gentlemen standing outside. They will ensure everyone's safety with their bravery."

The men looked complicated. Most of them were not willing to do this, but they had no choice at the moment.

Feng Hanyun, on the other hand, was quick-witted and immediately shouted from inside the carriage, "Come on, gentlemen, you're the best!"

The other women followed suit and shouted, so the whole atmosphere was mobilized.

It was said that men and women complemented each other in work. With the encouragement of women, those few fearful men slowly became confident.

Seeing the uplifted morale, Tom nodded approvingly at Feng Hanyun, which was seen by Zhao Xifeng.

At 4:59, wearing the old Street Zero armor, Tom opened the door of the shelter and walked out first.

Thanks to the shelter being located in a fountain pool, the shelter was a small island rising from the center of the pool. The island had four roads leading to the outside in four directions.

After a heavy rain last night and another whole day of rain today, the fountain pool was already full. The water surface was level with the island and the paths, which also meant that the ants crowded in front of the shelter in the rain could only fill the four paths and the central island.

The square where the fountain pool was located was also filled with water, with only the raised edges next to the sidewalks higher than the water surface, becoming dry paths on the vast water surface. This was also the reason why Tom insisted on waiting for the rain to stop, because the mutated ants that could hunt humans and mutate were still a minority in the ant nest, and the most numerous were the small ants.

Those ants, only half the size of a person's foot, couldn't move on the water surface that reached their knees, which undoubtedly limited the number of ant attacks and won them space.

As soon as Tom came out, the mutated soldier ants and worker ants attacked him one after another.

However, the threat of the mutated soldier ants, which could crush a person into two pieces with just one pincer, was very low against the old Street Zero armor. Tom wasn't afraid of their bites at all. Although they had the numerical advantage, Tom now had six times the strength, wielding two heavy and thick pig-killing knives up and down, smashing the skulls of these soldier ants, heads flying, and clearing a bloody path in a few moments.

The stagwood had no attack capabilities, it could only slowly follow behind the old Street Zero, watching one of the paths submerged in water.

On the path, Tom's attacks were even more efficient, often he only needed to grab a mutated worker ant and throw it into the water on the side to be done with it. Although ants could maintain balance with the surface tension of water through the tiny hairs on their legs, this was not the case for mutated ants whose body size had increased. Even a medium-sized ant as big as a Haba dog thrown into the water by Tom would struggle and sink.

This naturally made it easier for Tom to clear the way by throwing one mutated ant after another into the water.

At this moment, the roads ahead were densely covered with ants of various sizes. However, the waterlogged ground everywhere restricted the movement range of small ants. So, although it looked terrifying, Tom was still able to plan out a relatively safe route.

As Tom approached the edge of the fountain pool, he encountered greater pressure.

The ground around the fountain pool had drainage outlets to timely drain the water sprayed by the fountain. So this was actually the lowest point in terms of water level, and even the small ants could climb up from here.

Tom was surrounded by enemies, and the stagwood was similarly threatened.

The twelve men were tied with ropes, gripping the handles of the carriage with one hand and poking the small ants climbing onto the wood with long needles in the other hand. Although wearing armor, the unprotected soles and palms were the most vulnerable to bites. Many people screamed in pain from being bitten, but they could only grit their teeth and endure.

Among them, Wang Zixiong was the most proactive. With his agile movements, he completely let go and swayed on the carriage. Wherever the pressure was greatest, he appeared, and occasionally when a medium-sized mutated ant crawled up, he would chop off its legs with a backhand swing of his pig-killing knife.

Having such a powerful main force significantly reduced the pressure on Tom. In Tom's opinion, Wang Zixiong's ability would eventually awaken, and when that day came, his combat power might even surpass his own.

But for now, Tom was the only one who could fight using abilities. Since most of the mutated soldier ants had been killed, even the large-sized mutated worker ants posed no threat to him. He put away his weapons and resorted to using his fists and tearing with his hands. The punches and tearing executed with six times his strength were lethal to these mutated ants.

However, using the strength mode also slowed down Tom's movements. Wearing heavy armor, each step consumed a considerable amount of his energy, and gradually the stagwood surpassed him. But seeing that the edge ahead could fall onto the flower bed railing, with the least water only reaching the ankles on both sides, making it impassable for the small ants, Tom decided to let them go first.

"Wang Zixiong, command the stagwood to speed up to the railing, I'll catch up!" 

"Got it!" Wang Zixiong was already familiar with communicating commands to the wood, and with his nimble movements, he was the driver of the wood.

The stagwood increased its pace and landed on the flower bed railing.

This raised concrete railing was used to separate the pedestrian walkway from the flower bed boundary, about 11 centimeters wide, just enough to accommodate the passage of the wood. Since they didn't expect them to go this way, there were no ants blocking the way ahead, but instead, Tom was surrounded by the most ants behind him.

The old Street Zero armor grabbed the head and body of a large mutated worker ant with both hands and tore them apart, separating the ant's head from its body. Then, Tom slapped away another worker ant pouncing on him, and crouched with both hands in front of him, stopping the strength mode.

The ants that were forced away pounced on him again, pinning him down. After three seconds, Tom pushed away several ants with force, quickly ran to the edge of the fountain pool, and jumped onto the railing.

By now, he had successfully switched to speed mode, and the old Street armor could easily run while wearing it.

Although they jumped off the railing, a large number of ants still followed closely behind, and more and more ants fell onto the railing, crowding around him.

Turning his head and seeing that the ants were about to catch up, Tom immediately stopped and squatted down, while pulling down the barrel of the Termite Zero cannon, aiming it at the ants behind him, and fired.

The power of the Termite Zero cannon could easily penetrate glass. Even with dozens of ants of various sizes, they couldn't stop the 1.6-millimeter projectiles fired out.

The bullets pierced through the large and medium-sized mutated ants along the way, finally hitting the cement edge of the railing at the end, and then fell with a snap.

With 90% of the threats from the rear eliminated, Tom took a deep breath and quickly turned around to catch up with the wood.

Wang Zixiong jumped from the back of the wood to Tom's feet, helped him reload the Termite Zero cannon with new ammunition, and then Tom grabbed him and caught up with the wood, putting him back on the wood's back.

The long railing extended to the end, and the old Street Zero landed on the ground, wading through the water that didn't reach their knees, walking a meter into the overgrown green belt.

This place was like a jungle swamp, the stagwood was fine, with its six legs evenly distributing the pressure, it moved freely in the bushes.

However, the two-legged and heavy old Street Zero armor was at a disadvantage. Walking in the damp mud, leaving a footprint with each step, even in speed mode, it was probably difficult to walk.

Fortunately, for the small ants, the main force of the ant colony, to catch up with them, they needed to take a detour from the dry area, and many of the medium and large-sized ants had been eliminated by Tom. At this moment, they were in a vacuum period for reinforcement, so they didn't need to fight.

The wind had already subsided, almost imperceptible. Tom believed that even if there was wind on the river, it wouldn't be a big problem. They just needed to reach the riverside water pipe bridge, and they could leave smoothly.

The people on the stagwood also felt as if they had survived a disaster. Even Lin Meiqi, who was in the carriage, came out excitedly shouting.

Even if there were ants in the green belt by the riverside, even if they belonged to the same colony as those in the neighborhood, since the commanding ant queen didn't know their destination and didn't have time to dispatch ants capable of secreting command pheromones to deliver messages, their journey ahead would be much safer.

Just as Tom was thinking this, Wang Zixiong shouted from the back of the wood, pointing to the right and shouting, "Boss, look!"

Tom looked over and was immediately shocked to see a grasshopper leaping rapidly in the grass on the right. And on its back were several small ants clinging to it.

"Ants and grasshoppers?" Tom realized something was terribly wrong.