Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 54 Desert Army Ants

"Professor, there's something here!" Sadipeng exclaimed excitedly.

He wasn't sure if the stone statue was related to aliens, so he needed to find an expert to help him.

Is there something?
Professor Chen, Chu Jian, Ye Yixin, and Yang Xueli exchanged glances, nodded slightly, stood up, and walked over to examine the stone statue carefully. However, after looking at it for a long time, they still couldn't figure it out.

"Comrade Xiao Hu, could you please clear the sand a little deeper, and it would be best to dig out all the stone statues?"

The stone statue was of archaeological value, and Professor Chen's cloudy eyes lit up. He stroked the statue's head, becoming more and more fond of it. He stepped back to let Hu Bayi clear the sand.

Soon, half of the stone statue's body was revealed.

The stone statue has its arms clasped in front of its chest, gazing into the distance, with dense characters carved in front of its chest.

"Teacher, is there any connection between the stone statue and aliens?" Sadipeng looked at Professor Chen expectantly, hoping to hear the clue he was looking for.

But he was disappointed. "Little Sa, it's good that young people have active minds, but everything must be based on evidence and reasoned analysis. You can't just guess based on wild and unfounded ideas."

Although Sadipeng's thinking was somewhat absurd, Professor Chen did not, like his teacher Hao Aiguo, frequently berate him with a gloomy face.

Professor Chen smiled and used gentle and instructive words to enlighten him.

Although Sadipeng was unwilling, he still learned from the lesson.

"Comrade Xiao Hu, I would like to trouble you to help us dig out all the stone statues so that we can study the tail of this statue."

Looking at Professor Chen, Hu Bayi was a little puzzled. Why did you have to ask me to do this hard labor?
Dig it.

Having cleared half a meter of sand, Hu Bayi went down, scooped up some sand with his entrenching tool, and handed it to Chu Jian above, asking him to dump the sand further away.

However, what they didn't notice was that the sand next to them suddenly loosened.

"Uncle Anliman, wake up! They've dug up your Hu Da incarnation."

Hu Ming gently tugged at An Liman, needing to pull the old man up to stop Professor Chen and the others; otherwise, if they continued digging like this, everyone would perish here tonight.

As for why Hu Ming didn't stop him, it was because he knew that his performance on the Kunlun Glacier and during the Black Sandstorm had made these people quite resentful of him. In particular, when the Black Sandstorm came, he dragged Professor Chen away with a rope, which made these people's impression of Hu Ming even worse.

However, Hu Ming didn't care. He wondered how many of these daredevils would survive when they left the desert.

Hu Ming was too lazy to warn him now. He figured the professor wouldn't listen to him anyway, so he might as well give the task to An Liman.

"Hey, you can't do it like this, Hu will be furious. Stop it right now."

Anliman got up and went over to take a look. He saw a group of people digging up the stone statues and immediately became furious.

Thump. He knelt down and kowtowed to the stone statue with a very devout attitude.

"Hu Da, please forgive me and don't take your anger out on me."

Anliman is a very feudal and superstitious person, but in the world of tomb raiding, people like him can live longer if they don't have special skills.

"Brother, we're doing archaeological work. This stone statue isn't yours..." Professor Chen tried to persuade him, but he was also quite helpless. An Liman's commotion had ruined his mood.

"Team Leader Hu, come up here! Don't dig! Otherwise, Hu will be furious and bury us in the desert!" Anliman ignored Professor Chen and dragged Hu Bayi up.

"No one is allowed to dig." Anyone who dares to dig will be met with a fight. Helpless, the group returned to sit by the fire.

"Teacher, what do you think that is?" Professor Chen smiled slightly as he looked at the eager-to-learn Ye Yixin. "I guess this used to be a temple, where they worshipped their gods. As for what gods they were, we'll have to do some research when we get back."

"However, the eyes of this stone statue are very large and the corners of the eyes are long and narrow. I guess they carved their expectations on the stone statue, hoping that they would have eyes that can see further and be able to see the mysteries of the sky."

Sa Dipeng, Chu Jian, and Ye Yixin all nodded slightly in agreement with Professor Chen's words.

Shirley Yang wasn't interested in that; she wanted to find the Jingjue Ancient City as soon as possible to resolve her doubts.

At this moment, Hu Ming still spoke up to warn everyone, "Don't dig up these stone statues anymore, or something bad might happen. The skeletons that Old Hu just buried weren't killed by ferocious beasts like wolves."

Hu Bayi was taken aback upon hearing this and couldn't help but ask, "What killed him?"

"You just saw that bone. Did you notice that it was covered with tiny bite marks? They must have been from insects," Hu Ming said.

"Hmph, this person was bitten by some insects after he died!" Hao Aiguo said unhappily. He didn't care about Hu Ming's words because he knew that dead creatures were bitten by flies and ants.

However, Professor Chen and Professor Hao felt that Hu Ming was deliberately causing trouble and obstructing their archaeological work, since their relationship was not very harmonious.

Hu Ming was somewhat helpless at this, but he didn't say anything more.

After a while, everyone rested except for the three Hu brothers, who planned to take turns keeping watch.

……

The next day, the sandstorm had stopped.

Early in the morning, while Anliman went to feed the camels and the three Hu brothers went to move supplies, Hao Aiguo and the others couldn't resist the temptation and swept the stone statue's head out of the sand.

It must be said that this statue is somewhat strange, resembling a deity, yet it is also full of eeriness.

Unlike the statues of gods in the Central Plains, they are more like 'gods' from hell.

"The culture of the Western Regions is truly profound. We made the right choice by coming to the desert for this research trip."

"Take pictures quickly and record all of this."

“We must keep a good record of treasures like these.”

Professor Chen stroked the stone statue with the same tenderness one would show a child. "Ouch!" Suddenly, Ye Yixin, not far away, cried out in pain.

"Teacher, it feels like some bug bit my foot."

"Insects, so many insects."

"Professor Chen, let's hurry up, there are so many bugs."

"They are desert army ants. Get out of here quickly."

At that moment, countless tiny ants crawled out of the stone statue's head, like enormous ants, and swarmed towards the crowd around them.

They moved so fast that before anyone could react, countless ants had surrounded them.

The desert army ant is a relatively rare type of ant found in the desert. Its body is rich in formic acid, which is enough to eat an elephant.

These people are no match for the desert army ants.

No one expected that at this moment, a large number of desert army ants would erupt from the stone statue.

The appearance of the skeleton last night now has a good explanation: that person must have taken refuge here and been eaten by desert army ants.

“I told you not to mess with Hu Da’s envoy, but you insisted on doing so. Now look what happened, Hu Da is angry.”

Anliman, who had just returned, saw that things were not going well and was the first to run away.

The rest of the people grabbed their luggage and ran away.

Of course, some luggage is simply too much to carry; you just take as much as you can.

"They don't look like desert army ants; they seem more like corpse ants. There must be a queen among them."

At this moment, Hu Bayi picked up the broken gun that Director Wang had given him and opened fire on the corpse ants.

So-called corpse ants are a type of ant that ancient people raised on corpses to prevent tomb robbers from entering ancient tombs.

In other words, there may be ancient tombs near this ancient city ruin, which is why there are these corpse ants.

Hu Bayi remembered his grandfather talking about this kind of ant when he was a child.

Running away is the best choice.

"Chili powder and sulfur are both effective against these ants," Hu Ming said, as he began to throw sulfur and chili powder out.

The sulfur, chili powder, and other things were prepared long ago, originally intended to deal with snakes and insects in the desert, but they came in handy so quickly.

Yes, reptiles like snakes and insects are very afraid of sulfur and realgar wine.

With sulfur and other substances clearing the way, the numerous corpse ants retreated, making way for a small path.

"Everyone, hurry up! The sulfur and chili powder won't last much longer."

Although the corpse ants were retreating, their level of obedience to orders far exceeded that of any other army.

The sand dunes were constantly bursting open, releasing countless corpse ants. It seemed that they had accidentally stumbled upon the corpse ants' lair.

Wang Pangzi, Hao Aiguo, and others took the lead and managed to break through the encirclement of the corpse ants, chasing after Anliman in the distance.

Well, at the beginning, Anliman saw that things were not going well and immediately ran away. It can be said that no matter who was in danger, Anliman would not be in danger.

He was like a living map of the desert; he would immediately flee at the first sign of danger.

Hu Ming, Hu Bayi, and Yang Xueli stayed behind to cover the rear.

Although Yang Xueli was a woman, she showed no fear whatsoever when faced with hordes of corpse ants. She used a pistol to shoot at the swarms of ants, and her marksmanship was quite good, enough to rival that of the fat man.

"Oh no, the Ant King has appeared! Concentrate your firepower on the Ant King!"

"What a huge queen ant! We've accidentally wandered into the nest of desert army ants."

Yang Xueli's voice trembled slightly, as if she had seen something terrifying.

Hu Ming sped away, looking towards the sand dune behind him. He saw a huge ant standing on the dune, at least half a meter tall, almost the size of a child.

How can an ant be so big? It must be the queen of this ant colony, the one in charge.

"We have to eliminate this queen ant, otherwise the desert army ants will keep tracking us."

At this moment, Hu Bayi and his companions were surrounded by a large number of ants. It wouldn't be difficult for them to get out, as they had sulfur and other supplies. However, they would be caught up by the ants soon after they managed to break through.

With the queen ant around, these corpse ants will not lose their way and will continue to track the enemy.

Hu Ming then pulled out a gasoline bottle. Hu Bayi looked at it and remembered that they had bought gasoline bottles before they left. He then found a bottle in his backpack as well.

However, the sand dune was still quite far from the three of them. At this moment, Yang Xueli smiled at the two of them and threw out a tear gas canister, causing all the ants on the side to retreat in an instant. Hu Bayi and the other two also covered their mouths and noses. Hu Ming took three gas bottles and a grenade from his spatial storage and rushed forward.

When Hu Ming rushed to within 30 meters of the queen ant, he threw a powerful dart that hit the queen squarely, but he himself was now surrounded by ants.

The queen ant was first blown away, then her body burst into flames, and the ants under Hu Ming's feet retreated to save the queen ant before they could even attack him.

Seeing this, Hu Ming didn't dare to delay and ran back immediately.

(End of this chapter)