RNP Chapter 12: The Spider Silk Bag
Chapter 12: The Spider Silk Bag
Although the abdomen of the citron ant queen is somewhat swollen due to laying eggs, it is not an exaggeratedly large, fleshy worm like the termite queen. Its overall harmony is not disrupted, and it moves swiftly with its six limbs, still moving at lightning speed.
Ye Zhi—oh, now it should be called Ye Zhi—was still perched on the head of the Black Ant King, its claw pads at the ends of its six tarsi tightly gripping the Black Ant's metallic exoskeleton, preventing itself from being blown off by the howling wind beside its antennae.
Before long, Wu Yuan arrived at the foot of a cliff. A huge hole, roughly the size of the entrance to an apartment building in his previous life, appeared in Ye Zhifu's eyes. He didn't know whether it was naturally formed or carved out by insects.
Upon entering the cave, there was an upward passage with obvious traces of ant worker ants digging it. It then twisted twice, just like the stairwells he was familiar with, before a spacious area appeared before Ye Zhi. There were even more passages on the walls, with countless slender worker ants, each about a meter long, moving through them.
A constant temperature and humidity are more conducive to the development of ant eggs and larvae. And before they ascended to become Force life forms, the slender ant was an arboreal species, and carving nests in rock walls was just what they needed.
The nest chambers appear to be multi-layered, with the lower, more humid, shaded areas containing relatively moisture-loving ant eggs and larvae, while the upper, sun-dry areas provide a space for the drier-loving ant pupae to complete their final emergence process.
At this moment, the Black Ant King, carrying Ye Zhi, moved through another passage with its massive body. Two enormous, slender worker ants, even larger than the largest worker ants Ye Zhi had seen on the way, suddenly appeared before them.
"The King of Cinnabar Ants!"
"Your Majesty!"
Two mental messages entered his mind at the same time, emanating from the two enormous, slender worker ants. One of them lowered its head and drooped its antennae as if bowing, while the other looked up restlessly at Ye Zhi.
"This is?"
"Leaf Weaver, the emerald green leaf weaver ant," Wu Yuan said succinctly. "Green Yuan and Red Yuan are my two assistant kings. You can consult them if you need anything."
The inherited memories seem to record that the Ant King is a special form of existence in the ant colony. They are also half-force life forms, but like full force life forms, they have the ability to molt and evolve. They have intelligence and can assist the Ant King in commanding the ant colony, hence the name.
The one named Qingyuan appeared relatively composed, gently bending its antennae to signal to Ye Zhi. However, the one named Hongyuan, upon hearing the term "Emerald Green Leaf-Weaving Ant," immediately waved its antennae and approached.
"Weaving ants? Your Majesty, are they a descendant of the old King Qingzhi? Why do they look so strange, Your Majesty? Where did they come from?"
"I picked them up from the Ant Kingdom." Wu Yuan seemed to be used to Hong Yuan's appearance. He lowered his antennae, gesturing for Ye Zhi to come down, and then continued to instruct, "Qing Yuan, bring two bags of Force food to enhance overall physique."
Ye Zhi skillfully climbed down her tentacles and stood on the open ground in front of her. The remaining creature, named Hong Yuan, curiously approached again, its tentacles twitching as it examined Ye Zhi. Then, it exclaimed in surprise, "Your Majesty, is there a problem with this little guy's molting?!"
"It's innate. After shedding its skin, things have improved." Ye Zhi used her mental power with great effort to answer this familiar question once again.
"Hey, little guy, you're a chimera? You actually managed to survive the Force Awakening? You're something else, little guy." Red Cypress's antennae swayed up and down as it looked at Ye Zhi with the same look it had on a rare creature.
"Red Citron, that's enough." Black Citron seemed a little speechless, then ordered, "Don't scare the little guy. Go and catch something for the worker ants. After they finish eating the Force food, they can eat some meat to replenish their strength."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Upon receiving the order, the Red Citron Ant's entire demeanor seemed to change drastically. Its mental power was strong and powerful, completely different from before. It immediately moved its six limbs and crawled out of the nest.
Meanwhile, the ant called Qingyuan, which had left earlier, returned with two smaller worker ants. Each worker ant, including Qingyuan, carried a strange "pocket" in its mouth.
The king ant named Qingyuan waved its antennae, and two worker ants on either side randomly put down the bags in their mouths and turned away. Then, Qingyuan also put down its bag, bent its antennae, and pushed the bag in front of the king ant.
Ye Zhi's gaze was drawn to the bags—their workmanship was exquisite, and they would blend in seamlessly into human society. However, they were also woven from pure white silk threads.
The texture of the silk immediately reminded Ye Zhi of her own ant silk. Somewhat surprised, she pointed her antennae at the bag and said, "These... the Azure Ant King, shall we keep them?"
"This is the spider silk bag of the Flame Spider Merchant." Wu Yuan skillfully hooked one of the middle ones with his antennae and dragged it in front of him. "When the Azure Ant King was still around, he did try to make a replica, but it didn't have the ability to prevent the dissipation of primal force, so it wasn't very useful."
Ye Zhi's newly stirred thoughts subsided. It seemed that this was indeed a racial talent that could not be learned. She gave up the idea of imitation and instead began searching for information about the "Flame Spider Merchant" in her inherited memories.
In the inherited memories, relevant content instantly surfaced - strangely enough, the memories showed that the insect warriors with life sacs were all within the insect class of the previous life, and the Flame Spider seemed to be the only non-insect class group that had life sacs after awakening the Force.
The inherited memories also record that, apart from the most mysterious original species, the Flame Spider, other Flame Spider species can only produce one Life Seed in their lifetime, and they cannot flower, bear fruit, or produce Force food; they are merely "charging stations" used to replenish their own Force.
However, this life-sustaining plant can repeatedly switch between the forms of seed and plant, allowing the Flame Spider to wander the world with the life-sustaining seed, becoming a natural-born itinerant merchant race, and taking on the responsibility of communicating the continent's primal force food trade.
But for some reason, it possessed special silk thread abilities. While traveling and trading across the continent, Ye Zhi couldn't help but think of a figure leading two alpacas - it seemed that the thing was commonly called something like a wandering rope.
Shaking that somewhat hellish thought from his mind, he continued to look at the spider silk bag in front of him. He saw the cypress skillfully use its forelimb claws to flick the bag open with a ripping sound, revealing a bag full of "seeds" inside.
Ye Zhi could see clearly that it was constructed like a shoelace. On one side of the bag opening, there was a fine, stiff woven bristle, while on the other side, there was an interlaced soft bristle. When the two were pressed together, they were glued together perfectly.
This world is truly extraordinary; they've actually invented something like this. Ye Zhi thought to herself as she looked at the "seeds" that were scattering out as the bag opened—presumably, those were the legendary Force food that could aid in evolution.