The ant tribe does have an impressive ability to dig holes and build. Hundreds or thousands of acidophilus ants run back and forth, relying only on the two antennae on the top of their heads to communicate with each other, and they can coordinate and work neatly.

The ants expanded the narrow passage in front, and when Zhou Qingfeng and others could pass through, they immediately blocked the passage behind to prevent natural enemies from entering. During this period, it is necessary to maintain ventilation with the outside world, busy and orderly.

Carrying the ant guard of the queen ant in front of him slowly, Zhou Qingfeng rode the 'Swift Shadow' and gradually entered the complex and exquisite ant colony country. After going deeper than ten meters underground, the width of the passage suddenly expanded, and even spacious underground roads and buildings appeared.

"How did you do that?" Even Zhou Qingfeng, who had seen the world, was amazed. The others around him made a 'whoa-wow' sound. Humans have very limited knowledge of ant nests, and they are tantamount to stepping into a completely unfamiliar country.

It's a huge, three-dimensional underground space where acidophilus ants dig a big hole. The cave has a suspended transportation network that extends in all directions, just like the blood vessels of the human body, allowing ants to travel back and forth between them.

Supporting such a complex building system alone requires precise calculations and construction. This is by no means the work of ordinary wisdom. Zhou Qingfeng asked the queen ant repeatedly, "How did you do it?" ”

The queen ant is accustomed to it, "It's the instinct of the colony, and we are born with it." ”

"The ant colony here is under your control?"

"Human, you look stupid. It's my instinct too, nothing surprising. ”

The temperature of the underground space is higher than that of the ground, which isolates the harsh natural environment outside and also blocks the invasion of various monsters. Zhou Qingfeng saw a large area of glowing moss and underground colonies, which were grown by acidophilus ants for food.

"You're living pretty well here." Zhou Qingfeng felt that if he was content with the status quo, the underground days would be much stronger than those on the ground.

It's just that the queen ant doesn't think so. It led the way and said coldly, "I hope you will see the trouble to be solved later, and it can be so easy." ”

The team kept moving forward, deep into the ground. Zhou Qingfeng didn't know where he was, and finally stopped outside a building that resembled a deep pit. The queen suddenly stopped and said, "The trouble is ahead, go see for yourselves." ”

Eh......

Zhou Qingfeng suddenly found that his current location was like a dividing line. There were still a large number of acidophilus ants moving behind him, but there was not a single ant in the direction of the deep pit in front of him.

The crowd was puzzled, and they didn't know why. But the queen ant no longer explained, only to look at the pit at a glance. Zhou Qingfeng was helpless, and said to the necromancer, "Light a fire, I want to see it clearly." ”

The little trick of lighting ignited the inextinguishable fire, and accompanied Zhou Qingfeng to the edge of the pit. The diameter of this pit is more than ten meters, which is unfathomable, but standing on the edge of the pit, you can see a large number of ants piled up inside.

...... to be exact, a huge number of acid-emolin ant carcasses.

It's a huge corpse pit, filled with thousands or tens of thousands of ants. They were stacked on top of each other, and they were so numerous that they were about to fill the pit. The ant corpses emitted an indescribable sour smell that was disgusting.

Healy glanced at it and turned her head, and the other people frowned when they saw it. Instead, 'Shadow' poked into the long monster's head and asked strangely, "What's wrong with these ants?" I also seem to see a white chubby one, that's ......"

"That's the last queen." The current queen said calmly.

The previous queen was huge, about the size of four or five cows. But the queen's white body is covered with black spots, and if you look closely, it looks like a festering wound, and in some places it has even dissolved.

'Shadow' was even more surprised, "You're going to grow that big in the future?" How much do you have to eat? ”

The queen ignores such stupid questions.

Zhou Qingfeng turned around and asked, "What is the turmoil within you?" ”

"There will be no turmoil in the ant colony, we are one." The queen said.

"Then this is ......"

"It's the plague."

As the Plague Priest, Justen interjected. He looked up again, and the others noticed that there were a large number of pipes leading from the ant's nest to the place above the pit. Every now and then, the pipes will slip out of the body of an acidophilus ant and fall into a deep pit.

As soon as Mondino beckoned, he summoned an ant's corpse to his eyes before it had fallen. Everyone watched closely - the fallen ants were not dead, and the tentacles were still dancing. But its body was ulcerated in many places, its limbs were weak, and it was already dying.

Is it really the plague?

Zhou Qingfeng was taken aback, there was a plague in the enclosed space of this underground country? He was so angry that he scolded in his heart, "No wonder the queen ant didn't say it earlier, if I knew that there was a plague that caused such a scale of death in this hellish place, I might as well be out there." ’

But......

Zhou Qingfeng dodged a few steps and shouted loudly: "Okay, don't be afraid." We happen to have the Reverend of the Mother of Plagues, Lord Justten, who is the best at this, and there must be a way. ”

The queen's tone raised slightly, "It would be nice if things could be solved so easily, but I'm afraid the situation is worse than you think." I was caught by you because the plague in the nest is out of control, and I must escape. ”

Justen also said in a deep voice: "I have never seen this plague, maybe I can study it, but I am not sure. And I believe that this is not a recent plague. The ant tribe here has been entangled with this plague for many years. ”

Zhou Qingfeng's heart suddenly felt cold......

The queen continued, "We call this disease the 'Curse of Rot'. It has been with us since the birth of our acidophiles. Even the queen ant cannot escape the infection of this plague. We can only endure this and face death.

You see that the pit is not the only one in the nest. In fact, we have lived since then, and dozens of similar deep pits have been dug. Each pit lasts about a year. Once you've filled up tens of thousands of ant corpses, you can only cover it and dig up another one.

We have thought of many ways to fight this plague, but none of them have worked. We have long been accustomed to being in the company of this curse, and the death of a single person is not terrible, as long as the group is still there. But this time there is a new situation......

Cases have also appeared in hatcheries that have never been infected in the past, and they are spreading rapidly. If this continues, our race will be doomed. So I'm bringing you in, hoping that someone will break the curse on the ants. After all, it would be too much of a loss for us to abandon the nest. ”

Zhou Qingfeng forcibly interrupted and asked loudly: "What you can't do for decades, can we people do?" Don't you just want me to die? ”

"Not decades, exactly, but for thousands of years." The queen remained calm, "Don't complain, though I know you have little hope of finding a solution. But don't expect a perishing race to be reasonable. ”

"You ......" Zhou Qingfeng's heart was really cold now. The hearts of the people were cold. They were in an ant nest deep underground, an ant nest with a plague outbreak - God knows if the plague would spread to people?

The queen said, "Whatever you need, I will do my best." But if you want to escape, I'll throw you all into the pit that is about to be filled. I do what I say. ”

What a crisis!

Zhou Qingfeng can only use a trick now-Brother Ciric, hurry up, I know you must have a way. You super big bad guy with sores on the top of your head and pus on the soles of your feet, an old monster who has lived countless years, must know how to solve it.

At this critical juncture, personal contradictions are put aside. Don't hide it, let's talk about what to do.

But Ciric sighed, "I'm sorry, I don't know how to break the ant curse. ”