After several days of sleepless work, Fabro's nest lab was filled with scrapped potions and failed eggs. The smell of decay filled the lab, but the 'Chief Alchemist' had already sniffed it unconscious.

Adrian the Clown stayed at the roof of the cave in this rudimentary laboratory, staring at it for days and nights. Fabro experimented right under his nose, muttering all sorts of inexplicable recipes and refuting all sorts of conjectures.

"I need brussels sprouts, I need belladonna, I need stills, I need my lab." Fabro's eyes had turned red to black, but he still hadn't succeeded. "I can do it, but how can I continue with such conditions?"

Depressed and stressed, the 'Alchemy Chief' kept destroying the equipment on the table. He grabbed one of the potions and exclaimed, "This is the most ridiculous alchemical item I've ever seen, a nest of ants made for me out of saliva and clay."

With these things, how can I possibly refine a qualified potion? What's the use of me finding a formula that is qualified? I couldn't do anything, I couldn't continue experimenting, I really couldn't do anything about it. ”

Fabro was smashing and smashing, venting his anger. Adrian, who was hanging on the top of the cave, packed up the test records he had done in the past few days, and called on the 'Holy Light' to send them all back to Zhou Qingfeng using the information network.

When the alchemy notes had been read for many days, Adrian was given a special task. He climbed down from the top of the cave, cautiously approached Fabro more than ten meters away, and shouted in a low voice: "Respected alchemy chief, you seem to be in trouble. ”

Fabro had been working for many days, and his robes had been stained by the mess of medicinal herbs. His darkened eyes showed that he was in extreme exhaustion and embarrassment, and he thought it was an auditory hallucination when he heard someone shouting.

Adrian shouted a few more times before Fabro turned his head. He saw the gray shadow hanging on the wall of the cave more than ten meters away, but his consciousness did not return to normal, so he was stunned and asked, "Who are you?" ”

"My name is Adrian and I work for Victor. Does Lord Hugo work? ”

"Oh......?" Fabro finally reacted, "What did that evil guy send you for?" ”

"Your Excellency Hugo would like to ask, would you like to work for him?"

"...... me? That demon actually came to recruit me? "I am a noble man, a pure alchemist, a believer free from vulgar thoughts. How could I possibly work for the demons?

You underestimate me too much, and the demon's recruitment is an insult to me. Even if I die, die in this nest, devoured by acidophilic ants, I will never give Victor. Hugo bowed his head. Dream on! ”

Fabro picked up a petri dish made of ants and smashed it viciously at Adrian. The clown didn't dodge at all, but retreated and hid into the darkness at the top of the cave, leaving a ......

"That's a shame. Mr. Hugo said that the curse you face was sent down by the gods, and to break it will only attract the wrath of the gods. ”

Fabro threw one and wanted to throw a second, but when he heard the 'wrath of God', he immediately stopped and shouted, "What did you say? Eh......, wait! This recruitment is too insincere, just run away with a word? ”

Adrian really stopped at the point and quietly retreated. He returned from the top of the cave to another cave where Zhou Qingfeng and the others were, only to see his teammates gathered next to the acid-emolin corpse pit he had seen before.

The huge corpse pit was cold, rancid, and smelled of death, a forbidden place for acidophilic ants, and there were no living ants in sight except for the corpses that kept falling from the pipes. After only a few days, the corpse of the former ant queen at the bottom of the pit was covered with a large number of ant corpses.

Standing on the edge of the pit, Shadow sighed, "Acidophilus really haven't figured out for thousands of years, and the so-called 'Curse of Rot' is actually caused by the size of their population?" ”

"I think they know." Zhou Qingfeng said: "The 'rot curse' may not be a bad thing for ant colonies, but a means to weed out aging individuals. For a huge ant colony, it's not a big deal to die partially. ”

The rest of the team nodded their heads, agreeing with Zhou Qingfeng's guess. But Justen then asked, "What is it that causes the eggs to rot as well?" ”

"Then I'm going to have to ask about it." Zhou Qingfeng pointed to the previous queen ant who was almost invisible when the corpses were piled up in the corpse pit, "I believe it must know the answer." It is the only one who can tell us the secrets of this nest. ”

Adrian walked up to Zhou Qingfeng and handed over a few pages of papyrus that he had collected records over the past few days, "Your Excellency Hugo, I have already informed Fabro of the situation as you instructed. He did have some interest. ”

Zhou Qingfeng handed the papyrus to Justen, "I'll give you these records." You are the only ones in our team who know how to dispense potions. Fabro is not of good character, but he seems to have some ability. We will need his knowledge. ”

The plague priest took the papyrus, flipped through it, and suddenly tossed the page into the air. He and his apprentices knelt down en masse, proclaimed the title of 'Mother of Plagues,' and cried out: "My lord, please verify whether these records are against the strong acids of acidophilic ants. ”

The pages fluttered, burned out of thin air and quickly turned to ashes.

Talona, the 'mother of the plague', who had not moved, suddenly responded. Instead of falling, the ashes form a purple background with a triangle of three amber teardrops. The teardrops turned into eyes again, staring at Justen and the others who were kneeling below.

Justen and the others sang praises, trembling with excitement. Their cries had a certain rhythm that vibrated back and forth in the cavern where the pit was located—under the gaze of teardrop eyes, all the cultists of the plague were promoted.

Zhou Qingfeng watched coldly, and said to Sophia in his mind: "I have a kind of suspicion, the knowledge that humans don't know, and the gods don't know. Only what humans discover, the gods can grasp. This is the exact opposite of what we had assumed.

For example, Talona and Ciric didn't know that the ant plague was due to a bug in the rune combination, and they didn't know until I finished this deduction.

But it's a little strange to me that the real world we live in has only developed for a few thousand years, and humans have begun to explore outer space. This otherworldly civilization has developed for tens of thousands of years, why is it still so backward? It's like you're always standing still. ”

Sophia couldn't answer, but only reminded, "Brother, the hidden servant has completed the exploration of the entire ant nest. With the exception of the spawning chamber where the queen waits, which is protected by psychic abilities, the three-dimensional structures of the rest of the world are depicted.

Your reasoning is correct, the queen ant has captured more than us and Coldwind City. There are seven or eight more prisons underneath this place, with hundreds of humanoids, and I even found ogres. But these prisoners are afraid that they will not help us much. ”

The prayers of the plague believers ended, and the pages that had been reduced to ashes reappeared. This time, the papyrus was transformed into a parchment scroll, and the knowledge that had been copied was re-summarized and refined. Justen and the others were praised as if they had received a treasure.

Zhou Qingfeng looked at the necromancer Mondino again and asked, "What level of soul crystals do you need to recall the soul of the previous queen?" ”

"You want to do spiritism?"

"Yes."

"It's a hard thing to assess, I've never had any experience with it. However, judging from the consciousness strength of the current queen ant and our analysis of the acidophilic ant arcane runes, the soul of the previous queen ant should be equivalent to a green crystal, which is very powerful. ”

So Zhou Qingfeng had an extra green soul crystal in his hand and threw it at Mondino. The necromancer took it in astonishment, and let out a soul-shaking exclamation, "Your Excellency Hugo, you actually have green crystals?" How did this come about? ”

Zhou Qingfeng only stared indifferently, even if the rest of the team was blank in their minds by the sudden appearance of the green crystal.

Mondino stroked the green crystal with his dry hand bones and sighed in a low voice, "As long as there is such a green crystal, I can get rid of the old ghost woman's control." He looked at Zhou Qingfeng again, "Your Excellency Hugo, can I exchange my loyalty for ......?"

Zhou Qingfeng only shook his head slightly, "I don't believe in any loyalty, or even in any soul oath." Loyalty will subvert, vows will be reneged upon, and I believe more in profit. I will benefit you as much as you can bring me. ”

Under the black robe, Mundino's eyes flashed bright red. He pondered for a few seconds to regain his composure, and finally bowed slightly, "Your Excellency, I understand what you mean. I will do everything in my power to get what you give. ”

The team was quiet, only 'Shadow' hid behind and whispered to Heli: "The master is a liar, he doesn't give me any benefits, and he always robs me of my pocket money." ”

Zhou Qingfeng's ears were sharp, and he turned his head and glared, "Dead horse, do you really want to be free?" ”

'Swift Shadow' immediately stared at everyone and pretended to shout, "Who? Who wants to be free anymore? What's so good about having the freedom to eat and not wear? It is my life's duty to follow the great master, and it is the supreme honor, so I don't want any freedom. ”

Zhou Qingfeng snorted coldly before giving up.

Necromancers began to perform spiritism, "using the corpses of the deceased as mediums on the principle of reciprocal exchange." Void, I ask for a departed soul to be recalled. ”

The archbishop-level green crystal gradually turned into powder, drifting towards the void. The corpse of the queen ant in the ant pit randomly decayed and decayed. As the sound of the spell became louder and louder, a stream of air came from all directions, gradually converging in the hands of the necromancer.

The airflow was pinched again, and a huge phantom appeared in front of Zhou Qingfeng and the others.

White and chubby, huge, with shaky antennae and degraded legs and feet, the soul of the previous queen ant was recalled by spiritism from a past time. As soon as it appeared, the psychic link directly penetrated everyone's consciousness, and an ethereal voice sounded.

"Human, why did you summon me?"

Zhou Qingfeng took a step forward, raised his head and said, "Because I have a problem." What's going on in the nest that causes the eggs to start to be eroded by the curse? ”