Night without Borders

Chapter 50: Heartbroken

Qin Ming and Old Man Liu were busy with various tasks, such as chopping wood, paving roads, catching animals, etc. Everything was ready.

"Silver-headed ants have a varied diet and a keen sense of smell. They are very sensitive to their favorite smells, and this is now clearly reflected!" Qin Ming said.

He and Old Man Liu bought some honey at a high price, and also prepared plenty of animal blood. They sprinkled blood along the way, occasionally smearing honey, as they moved from far to near.

As soon as Qin Ming and Old Man Liu came in through the crack in the mountain, the two smells stimulated the motionless silver-headed ants to begin to revive.

"Some parts are starting to move, light the fire!"

"Be careful, don't burn yourself!"

The two men threw several barrels of kerosene over, threw out torches, and turned and ran away.

boom!
Flames rose, and all the silver-headed ants in the belly of the mountain were awakened. Although many were burned to death by kerosene, there were too many of them, crowded together and squirming, and the structure of the ant nest was complicated, so many places could not be burned at all.

In an instant, the silver-headed ants were enraged and rushed out along the cracks in the ground like a tide.

"Come on, it's better to call the queen ant out too!" Old man Liu shouted, holding a thick-backed machete.

"Hurry up, they're coming!" Qin Ming pulled him and started running up the mountain.

The two were not worried that the silver-headed ants would not chase them, because they had scattered honey and animal blood along the way. In addition, these creatures were no longer ordinary ants. They had a strong sense of territory and were extremely ferocious. If anyone dared to invade their nests, they would retaliate on the spot.

"How come some silver-headed ants can fly?" Qin Ming hadn't even run a hundred meters when he heard a clinking sound on his back.

"What's going on?" Old man Liu was also confused. There were at least hundreds of flying ants as big as fists rushing towards him, far more than their own kind.

"You're still asking me?" Qin Ming felt bad. This old man was a little unreliable. Didn't he say he knew everything about the mountains? He didn't even know there were flying silver-headed ants!
While chopping the flying ants with his thick-backed machete, Old Man Liu responded, "It must be because there is too much spiritual matter in the ant nest. Some of the silver-headed ants have evolved. They weren't there five years ago!"

"You... the news is actually five years behind?" Qin Ming hit those fist-sized flying ants with a hammer. They felt quite hard and an ordinary person would definitely not be able to break them in one blow.

The flying ants are dark red in color, with brighter and more numerous silver markings on their heads. Their wings are transparent, and the sound of their flapping wings echoing over the snow is a bit scary.

Their upper jaws are like a pair of large pincers, and are blood red in color. When they fall on people, they bite and make the armor clank. You can imagine how strong their attack power is.

The hundred or so that appeared were enough to devour an ordinary person in an instant.

"It's okay. There are not many flying ants. These hundred or so are not enough for us to kill." Old man Liu swung his knife continuously while paying attention to protecting his face.

As soon as he finished speaking, hundreds of them flew out from the cracks in the mountain. The terrifying flapping sound of their wings was like the friction of metal plates, which was quite creepy.

Qin Ming's face changed. If there were an endless stream of them, with tens of thousands of them flying out, it would be a big trouble.

The two of them were in good physical condition and ran to the top of the hill in one breath.

Around them, hundreds of flying ants swooped down like crazy, but the extremely cold environment did not affect their speed at all.

It was like hammering iron here. Qin Ming smashed the ferocious insects that rushed towards him one by one with a hammer.

Old man Liu was also unambiguous. He wielded a machete in his hand. In the bright light, there were continuous crackling sounds, and dead ants fell to the ground under the feet of the two men.

They stood on a low hill and looked down. They saw patches of dark red, which was really dizzying. A large number of silver-headed ants crawled up the snow.

In fact, they didn't even need to sprinkle animal blood and honey. This ferocious insect had a strong desire for revenge and an extremely developed sense of smell. It chased after them just by smelling the scent of the two of them.

"How come they don't slow down in such extreme cold weather?"

"It's slowed down a bit, but there's still not enough time. We have to keep going."

The two men stood on the low hill and did not run away. While fighting against the ferocious flying ants, they watched the army of silver-headed ants going up the mountain, getting closer and closer to them.

"They have slowed down, and it is estimated that they may be frozen in time."

"Let's set fire to a batch of them first to warm them up and try to attract more silver-headed ants out of the ant nest."

The two men brandished swords and hammers, and at the same time did not forget to light torches. If they wanted to enter the ant nest, they had to first eliminate the army of silver-headed ants below.

"Be careful, don't throw the torch in the wrong place!" Old man Liu reminded. He was really afraid that Qin Ming would be clumsy and detonate the homemade explosives prematurely.

That was a by-product of the medicine powder refined by outsiders. After it spread to various places, it was gradually used by people.

"Do not worry!"

Soon, some areas of the hill covered with firewood caught fire, and because kerosene was poured on them, the fire became more intense.

Many silver-headed ants were burned to death, but this stimulated the ferocity of the ant army. They were fearless and continued to rush upwards like a tide.

"The second batch of ants rushed out of the nest!" said Old Man Liu.

The worst case scenario did not happen, there were not as many flying ants as imagined.

Suddenly, Old Man Liu screamed, and with a bang, he was knocked down by a giant flying ant. He fell headfirst into a pile of snow and was immediately drowned by a large group of flying ants.

Qin Ming was shocked to see a flying ant bigger than a human head. Its main body was blood red with silver markings all over it. It had not only mutated, but it must have experienced it twice.

He immediately rushed over and swung his hammer to hit it, but the second mutated flying ant was so fast that it dodged in an instant and dived towards Old Man Liu in the snow pile.

Qin Ming's body was as fast as lightning. He followed up quickly and bombarded this special flying ant.

The second mutated flying ant didn't want to pounce on Old Man Liu, but was hit by the person behind him and quickly dodged. It was enraged and flew towards Qin Ming, attacking left and right.

Old man Liu cursed, climbed out of the snow pile, and slashed at the flying ants as big as fists with his knife.

"I'm such a big man, but I was knocked down by an ant. I'm so embarrassed today. Am I really too old to lift a knife? I...hiss, a super-strong flying ant with a second mutation. Xiao Qin, can you withstand it?"

Qin Ming responded quickly and reminded: "I'm fine, be careful, there may be other secondary mutated flying ants!"

Old Man Liu looked solemn and said, "That's right. Although the queen ant is a triple mutant, she is not good at fighting. We must focus on cultivating this kind of flying combat ant."

Qin Ming swung the long-handled black gold hammer continuously, hitting the flying ants several times. It was like hammering iron, and it actually made a crisp impact sound. It was quite powerful.

However, it was ultimately unable to withstand Qin Ming's tremendous strength. Every time it was hit, cracks would appear on its body, and then it would explode with a "puff" sound.

"Oh no, three more super powerful flying ants appear." Old Man Liu's face changed.

At the foot of the mountain, three flying ants that were obviously too large made a terrible flapping sound and flew upwards. Behind them were six slightly smaller flying ants, but they were far larger than ordinary flying ants.

"Three secondary mutations and six primary mutations. This insect nest is really hard to deal with!"

As for the ordinary silver-headed ants, some of them had already climbed to the top of the mountain. Although the large group behind them moved slowly, they noticed that the two were close at hand and were still rushing upwards.

"Almost there!" Qin Ming said, and he stopped the three strongest flying ants.

Upon hearing this, Old Man Liu quickly lit the fire. With a bang, the earthen explosives buried in advance took effect, triggering an avalanche. Amid the rumbling sound, a large number of silver-headed ants were buried underneath.

They estimated the time and thought that the ants were almost frozen to death. If they were buried like this, they would most likely not be able to crawl out, and 90% of them would be frozen to death.

"You're just a tiny ant, and you want to knock me away? I can't afford to lose face!" Old man Liu stopped a flying ant that had undergone secondary mutation and fought with a knife.

"It's so hard that I can't cut it with one knife!" Old man Liu was in a panic because there were other ordinary flying ants around.

Qin Ming tried his best, and golden ripples appeared on his body. With a clang, he finally defeated two second-mutated flying ants one after another. Then he swung the long-handled black gold hammer into a wind wheel, and with a puff sound, ant corpses kept falling around him.

"Don't move, let me do it myself!" Old Liu was very stubborn and finally killed the second-mutated flying ant. After the two of them killed the silver-headed ants that had climbed up the mountain and were not frozen stiff, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"We are now eliminating the pest for the people in advance. If the queen ant mutates four times, the size of the silver-headed ants will increase dramatically, and nothing will be left wherever they pass." Old man Liu said as he sat down on the snow.

"It's not over yet. Another large group came out from the cracks in the mountain." Qin Ming reminded.

Old Man Liu's face turned green when he heard this. Fortunately, there were no secondary mutated flying ants this time. The ordinary silver-headed ants were densely packed and crawling up again.

"There aren't as many as the last wave. I think it will be enough after we kill them all."

It is now impossible to trigger an avalanche. The group of silver-headed ants below seem to have heard the order and will return to the nest before they freeze to death.

"Let's go down the mountain, lure them out from outside the ant nest, and kill the ants at close range."

Even Qin Ming was tired that day as he had been killing ants all the time.

But the early night was almost over, and there were still a large number of silver-headed ants crawling out.

As for Old Man Liu, he was already listless and could barely lift the knife.

Fortunately, this area is very remote and no other creatures dare to build nests next to the silver-headed ants, so it did not attract any mutant creatures to spy.

"Let's continue tomorrow!"

……

In the past two days, some villagers entered the underground caves of the Great Rift Valley and brought out some excellent weapons, which caused a sensation and led to more people going there to pan for gold.

Many weapons and armors were left behind by the deceased descendants of the great families in Chixia City, so they are naturally top-quality.

Qin Ming and Old Man Liu never imagined that since the first day they started to eliminate a large number of silver-headed ants, they had been killing them for three consecutive days and still had not completely eliminated them.

"I think today is enough. We can break into the ant nest without any problem."

"You always have a bad mouth, so stop saying such things!"

On the fourth day, the two men walked and talked. When they passed the Great Rift Valley, Qin Ming was startled. He rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was not mistaken. There was a black fog in the valley that was swimming quickly like a spirit snake.

"Take a look at the Great Rift Valley..." Qin Ming gestured.

"What are you looking at? There's nothing." Old man Liu was surprised, with a puzzled look on his face.

Qin Ming stopped talking and pretended to be dazzled. He was quite uneasy in his heart and secretly guessed that it was because he absorbed the mysterious liquid that he could sense the abnormal black mist.

"I asked you to help me contact those families that once had some history but are now in decline. Have you found any clues?"

Old Man Liu said, "One family has given in. I don't think it's a big problem."

"That's great!" Qin Ming was overjoyed.

"Come here, two of you. What were you looking at just now?" Suddenly, a voice came from a distance, and two figures appeared one after another near the exit of the Great Rift Valley.

The two men had strong auras and were obviously very dangerous masters, which made Qin Ming feel depressed.

Old Man Liu looked at the emblems on the cuffs of the two men and lowered his voice, "There are golden patterns on their sleeves, which means they have been preliminarily recognized by the Golden Bandits. They should be the leaders of Jinji Ridge, the two strongest bandits there."

Then he shut up, pulled Qin Ming and walked forward.

Qin Ming naturally knew these two big bandits, especially he had heard a lot of rumors recently that they were four-time freshmen and were among the strongest in the local organization.

What were these two people doing in the Great Rift Valley? Was the black fog related to them? He was suspicious.

"Stop dawdling, come here quickly!" a big bandit shouted.

"We want to go into the mountains to hunt and are just passing by here." Old man Liu was very humble.

The two bandits looked to be about 40 years old, with cold eyes. One of them grabbed Old Man Liu by the collar and lifted him up.

"Although he is a newcomer, he is too old and useless!" the big bandit commented and threw Old Man Liu to the other side, making him unstable and almost falling to the ground.

He came to Qin Ming and said, "It's not bad that you've been reborn at such a young age."

Then, he grabbed Qin Ming by the collar and said, "Jinjiling will be recruiting people in the next two days. Remember to sign up. Do you hear me? I have memorized your appearance!"

The big bandit said this calmly. Although he did not raise his voice, the tone was unquestionable.

"Okay, don't worry, I'll take him to sign up when the time comes." Old man Liu said quickly. He was afraid that Qin Ming was young and impetuous, and might contradict Da Kou. In that case, he would surely be killed!
"You're so old, do you still need to be supported to eat free meals?" Da Kou glanced at him.

"I mean to send him to register." Old Man Liu explained.

"Yeah!" Da Kou nodded and let go of Qin Ming's collar.

"I was asking you a question just now. Are you mute? Did you hear it?" Another big bandit suddenly spoke and scolded Qin Ming coldly.

"I didn't come to my senses for a moment. Okay, I'll sign up then." Qin Ming nodded.

……

"I say hello to them..." After arriving near the ant nest, Old Man Liu cursed and swore loudly. He was really angry and was holding a lot of rage.

Afterwards, he quickly persuaded Qin Ming not to be impulsive, and to be patient this time and go sign up first.

"You are still young, but you are already so strong. You will be even stronger in the future. Everything is possible. When the time comes..."

Qin Ming took over the conversation and said, "Then I will go to Jinji Ridge alone at night and wipe out all the bandits there!"

Old Liu quickly stopped him and said, "Shut up, don't say that, think about it after you've been reborn for the fourth or fifth time!"

Everything went smoothly for them afterwards. After breaking into the ant nest, they found that the army of silver-headed ants had indeed been almost wiped out by them in the previous three days.

The queen ant finally showed up, it was a silver worm. Although it was a creature that had mutated three times, it was indeed not good at fighting. The only thing it had was the luminous liquid it spewed out of its mouth, which had a strong lethality, amazing penetrating power, and could corrode armor.

When they first met it, Qin Ming and Old Man Liu were accidentally sprayed with liquid by it and were almost hit. The first layer of armor was pierced. Fortunately, they still had a layer of steel plate on their chest.

Afterwards, there was no suspense in the battle. The strongest warrior ants had been eliminated long ago, and the queen ant was quickly dealt with by the two men after she no longer had the protection of a large number of silver-headed ants.

"I'm rich!" Old man Liu came to the deep of the ant nest and saw the honey wine sealed in the ant wax. His eyes lit up. Although it was almost consumed in the winter, even the small amount left was of amazing value.

Qin Ming said, "Let's bury it first. If we really want to sell it, we will definitely not be able to hide the fact that we will become three-time reborns. The bandits in Jinjiling are not human beings now. If they find out, it will be a problem."

Old Liu naturally understood this and nodded.

Then, they discovered the light golden spiritual substance. They were both surprised and excited. It was enough for both of them.

……

After returning home, Qin Ming looked at the light golden liquid in the porcelain jar, his emotions fluctuating and his heart was filled with excitement.

A lot of things have happened recently that have made him feel uneasy, but as long as he is strong enough, all the troubles he encounters will not be a problem.

Thanks to Shengxian Qitian, thanks to the support of the gold leader, and Zhaicai, thanks to the support of the silver leader, and the two leaders of Sanshengyuan Hanbao and Sanshengyuan-Sancunchi, thank you very much. What happened today, how can the big guys concentrate on rewarding, work hard to write a book to thank you!

(End of this chapter)