The Difficult Ten Centimeters

Tom learned that the mutated ant queen would evolve to secrete complex command pheromones when he first encountered her.

The ant colony surrounded the shelter and quietly waited for them to come out, which was impossible before. They didn't have such good patience unless there was a strong pheromone guidance.

This was also the reason Tom judged that the ant queen of this nest had mutated. Because the previous pheromones of ants were guided by a specific smell, only the pheromones secreted by the pheromone organs inside the mutated queen's body could act directly on the collective mind without fear of external wind and water interference. Tom understood very well after contacting the ant queen in the apartment building; this was already very close to the mind control in StarCraft.

However, the spread distance of this type of pheromone was still limited, so ants capable of transmitting this pheromone needed to be hatched to convey the queen's control pheromone.

Before, the queen didn't know their plans or which direction they were heading. So, they surrounded the shelter in formation, and when they came this way, they didn't have the organizational strength to intercept them.

In this neighborhood, divided by water accumulation everywhere, a large number of ant colonies couldn't gather, losing the overwhelming numerical advantage.

If the queen knew they were heading to the riverside next to the neighborhood, she would definitely arrange ants to intercept them halfway. As long as they held the position leading to the riverside, Tom and the others would have to detour, undoubtedly increasing more risks.

But because they didn't know, it allowed Tom and the others to move forward in a straight line and break out safely, relying on the division of water everywhere. At this moment, Tom realized that the queen was also too late to dispatch.

But when Tom looked at the ants crawling on the grasshopper, he felt a chill in his heart.

It was obvious that these ants, whose tails were bigger than their heads, were the little guys specially made by the queen to transmit pheromones. Now that the grasshopper was jumping towards the outer perimeter of the neighborhood, it was very likely that it was sending the messenger ants carrying the queen's orders to the ants over there.

Tom could anticipate that when they struggled to reach the water pipe bridge by the river, they would be greeted by even more ants.

The survivors didn't know this layer of truth. They just treated the situation of grasshoppers carrying ants as a spectacle. Several men even whistled and laughed.

"Be careful!" Tom reminded in a deep voice. "When we get to the water pipe bridge, we will be greeted by more ants. Because the ants carried by the grasshopper just now are the messengers conveying the queen's orders."

"What?" Everyone panicked when they heard this. "Is that possible? Can ants do that?"

Tom didn't know how the queen controlled the grasshopper all along, but this possibility was very high.

"What should we do?" Yu Liangjun looked at his arm bleeding profusely, his face pale. "Should we go back to the building?"

"It's too late. The queen has definitely targeted us. If you want to die, go back. You'll experience being torn apart by thousands of ants immediately." Lin Meiqi's harsh voice sounded in the carriage. "There are at least two thousand ants in a colony, and some have four or five thousand or even more. Now they're just divided by these ponds. If it's in an open room, even Tom wouldn't be able to resist."

"Things aren't that bad," Tom said. "The ants in the riverside bushes are in a remote location and probably won't have too many chances to get mutated human flesh. As long as we rush to the water pipe bridge, it will be much easier."

Trying to boost morale, Tom climbed onto the back of the wood. Carrying so much weight, the wood's speed was a bit slow, but it didn't complain and continued to move diligently towards the target designated by Wang Zixiong.

At this moment, it was 18:21 in the afternoon. Tom had fought for more than an hour and was already sweating all over. But sitting on the back of the wood, he could only take off his helmet and take a breath.

It was Feng Hanyun who first brought him water and dried meat to replenish his strength after eating.

After eating and resting for a while, the wood passed through the gap in the neighborhood wall and came to the outside alley.

By now, the ground was paved with cobblestone sidewalks, and due to the higher terrain, there was not much water on the sidewalk. Instead, it was densely packed with medium and small-sized ants, the large number of which made the survivors on the stagwood's back shudder.

"So many ants, what should we do?"

"Should we go back? There are hundreds, thousands of ants!"

"Fool, it's too late to go back now! Prince Xiong gave a knock on Zhao Xifeng's head and scolded, "We have no way back now. If you want to survive, you have to get through!"

Tom calmly put on his helmet. "That's right. Whoever wants to live, let's get through."

He jumped off the wood's back, but Zhao Xifeng hid on the side and muttered, "Damn, of course you're not afraid with your armor."

"Do you think it's easy for Tom?" Hearing his muttering, Zeng Guangsheng beside him immediately scolded, "Damn, with your cowardly appearance, even if you were given armor, you wouldn't dare to go. Do you think you're safe by hiding inside? With such a big size, once you're pressed down by the ant colony, you won't be able to get up, you can only wait desperately to die."

Zhao Xifeng didn't dare to argue back when he was scolded, so he could only shrink his neck, lower his head, and remain silent. As a result, Feng Hanyun reached out from the car window, pinched his waist fiercely, and said, "Don't you dare badmouth Tom. We all rely on him to survive."

The pain of the soul is deeper than that of the body, and although Zhao Xifeng kept his head down, his eyes filled with resentment as he looked at Tom. Compared to the whispers behind him, Tom considered the threat in front of him more significant.

As he had anticipated, the interception team organized by the queen's messenger ants had a relatively small number of mutated ants, with only a dozen or so medium and large-sized ones. However, due to the open terrain of the passage and no water hindrance, the number of their small ants was extremely large, estimated to be over five hundred, densely packed and swarming.

Retreating was no longer an option; the mutated ant troops led by the queen were certainly behind them, and it would be even more dangerous to turn back now.

"Breakthrough!" Tom shouted, activating power mode. This time, he wielded a butcher knife in his right hand and had an electric shock iron fist component attached to his left arm.

Previously, facing mostly medium and large-sized ants, the electric effect was somewhat lacking. Now, facing mostly small-sized ones, even if the electric shock iron fist's current range was small, it could cover a large area, and its effect was much better than just using fists.

The ant swarm rushed at him first. He hammered the ground with the electric shock iron fist, and the current spread under his feet, electrocuting all the small ants within a 3-square-centimeter range, leaving them flipping over with their six legs in the air.

Tom noticed that the dozen or so medium and large-sized ants did not rush forward but instead lingered around, making him realize that the queen's intelligence had improved, and she understood basic tactical control.

She first drowned them with a sea of small ants, depleting their stamina, and then finally launched a joint attack with the large-sized worker ants and soldier ants coming from the rear.

Tom knew there was no way out. He electrocuted many small ants with three electric shock iron fists, but more swarmed up, covering his entire body in an instant.

The wood behind him faced the same situation, covered with ants. The twelve male guards struggled and fought continuously. At this point, the long needles were useless; they relied solely on their hands to beat and shake off the ants covering them. However, there were simply too many ants, and although a slap could kill three or four at most, more crawled onto them, constantly biting at their flesh.

They cried out in pain and desperation, but could only struggle desperately to fight back. At this moment, they could only rely on their own hands.

"Ahh... it's crawling under me, don't bite my balls!" Yu Liangjun screamed in pain, grabbing underneath himself, but in his struggle, he slipped and fell, only to be saved from falling to the ground by the safety rope.

He struggled and shouted for help, "Help, Xiaoman, save me." However, Lu Qiuman could only hide in the carriage, anxiously searching for his figure.

An ant climbed onto his safety rope, its mandibles grinding on the rope. As long as it bit through, Yu Liangjun would fall.

At a critical moment, Wang Zixiong slapped the ant away and used his strength to pull up the safety rope, pulling Yu Liangjun back up.

Yu Liangjun gratefully grabbed the hand, standing back on the wood's back and said gratefully, "Thank you... thank... oh..." Then he fell into the cycle of swatting ants again.

At that moment, another man's safety rope was gnawed through, and his hand holding the hand was bitten, causing him to shrink back, and the whole person fell to the ground. The densely packed ants immediately crawled all over him, covering layer after layer.

The people on the wood's back watched the painful struggle of the figure covered by ants on the ground, hysterically screaming a few times before falling silent. Their faces turned pale, realizing that falling down meant this fate, being devoured alive by ants.

The load on the wood's back grew heavier and heavier. Although the small ants couldn't harm it, its crawling speed became extremely slow. With each step it took, more ants climbed onto its back. The men struggled and beat, watching the bushes ahead seemingly within reach but in reality, the ten centimeters seemed to be the boundary between heaven and hell.

"Damn it, what's Tom thinking?" Zhao Xifeng cursed, pulling off the small ant that crawled onto his chest and throwing it away. "I'd rather stay at home than be here... My flesh has been bitten off several pieces, waaaah..."

At this point, no one had the energy to comment on his words anymore, not even Wang Zixiong. Everyone could only grit their teeth and desperately swat away the ants. In the face of absolute numbers, even the best skills were stretched to their limit.

Tom, wearing the Old Street armor, wasn't afraid of being bitten and could only leave shallow scratches on the iron armor with the crawling ants. At most, it just made his armor heavier. He noticed the peril on the wood's back and no longer cared about the ants on his body. He chose to move closer and pull down the ants climbing up the wood's body, and at the same time, pull down the people who fell and were hanging on the safety rope.

"Hold on, we'll be fine when we reach the bushes!" Tom shouted loudly, trying to encourage them. However, for the wood, which was moving extremely slowly, the ten centimeters seemed too far away. Hearing someone fall again, Tom hurried over, but when he pushed aside the densely packed ants, all he saw was a body with its throat torn open and belly ripped apart.

Tom turned around and went to the back of the wood, pushing it forward with all his strength to help increase its speed. As for the people on its back, they could only rely on themselves.

With Tom's six times strength pushing, the wood's speed increased again. However, at this moment, a dozen or so medium and large-sized worker ants and soldier ants moved. They crawled towards the wood, their target directly aimed at Tom.

Although the mutated soldier ants couldn't break through the defense of the Old Street Zero, their size was comparable to that of the Old Street Zero. As long as two of them tackled him, Tom would have a hard time getting back up.

At Wang Zixiong's reminder, Tom also noticed their movements, but he had no choice. As long as two mutated soldier ants climbed onto the wood's back, the people above would be thrown off one by one, ending up being devoured by the ants.