"I've met the Immortal Master!"
In the castle hall of Black Bee City, Liu Sanjin, Lian Bin, and Lu Qingyu saluted one after another.
"Yes, you have done a good job over the years." Zhang Changkong nodded. I wonder if the number of steel ants has increased. I just went to see the number of vitality stones in the warehouse, which is close to 100,000. Thinking of these three people, Very diligent all year round.
"Master Immortal, we have something to report," Liu Sanjin said: "Not long after you left last time, a steel ant worm was born in the underground lair, and last month another steel ant worm was born. Well, for some reason, the steel ants underground are now divided into three parts. The other two parts are followed by the two newly born steel ant bugs. The steel ant bug we temporarily contracted can only deter some of the steel ants. Now we have some trouble going down to get the ore."
"Yes, Master Immortal, the steel ant that was born more than half a year ago is pretty much the same as ours, but the one that was born last month is all white and flawless. Although it is still small, it is still the same as ours." The big steel ant looks vaguely afraid of it, and the unusually large steel ants underground have gathered around the white steel ant insect, and we can't enter its nest at all," Lu Qingxue also said.
"Oh, there is such a thing." When Zhang Changkong heard this, he was not surprised that there were bugs in the steel ants. After all, the concentration of vitality in the Yuanqi stone veins was very high, which presumably was of great benefit to the steel ants. Now the steel ants and bugs are This is how it came about.
However, the evolution of steel ants into zerg should be a normal evolution. I heard Liu Sanjin and the others said that the white steel ant might have mutated and evolved, and it felt like it had become an insect king.
"Well, I understand the situation. We'll talk about the rest when I come back. I'll go down and have a look first." Zhang Changkong wanted to see what was different about the white steel ant bug, so he waved to the three of them and told them Back off first.
Zhang Changkong was left alone in the hall. Zhang Changkong was thinking about how to maximize the mining efficiency of the steel ants. First of all, the steel ants must not be able to mine all the time. They can't fill their stomachs by eating rocks, so they need to leave room for them. There is no time to forage, and bugs are not machines. They cannot work all the time after eating. They also need time to rest.
If people are okay, they can work in three or four shifts and dig non-stop. But with the IQ of steel ants, they have no sense of discipline at all. As long as you don't look at them for a moment, they will soon run away. No one knows where, which requires Zhang Changkong to issue orders to them continuously.
Moreover, there is another problem. Zhang Changkong directly ordered the steel ants to dig hard underground. It is not known whether there will be landslides. The steel ants do not know whether it is instinct or other reasons. Zhang Changkong does not interfere with them digging tunnels. I dug casually in the ground, and almost no landslides were seen. It was as if every steel ant had studied civil engineering, and the tunnels were dug in a decent manner.
"Forget it, no matter how many problems there are, we have to dig them out first." Zhang Changkong estimated that the number of steel ants underground may have multiplied to 40,000, 50,000, or even 70,000 or 80,000. These insects are like this. In an environment without natural enemies, the growth rate will increase exponentially. , even if Zhang Changkong made a mistake and some of the steel ants died, it would not take long for their population to be replenished.
After Zhang Changkong walked out, he asked the housekeeper to prepare dry food for a few days, and then rode the steel ant zerg underground.
"Sure enough, there are more steel ants in the passage, especially those little ants that have not yet grown up. I don't know how long the lifespan of steel ants is, but their reproductive ability should be average among insects. Judging from the competition for survival, Look, the life span won’t be too short after all.” Just as Zhang Changkong thought this, he saw a passing steel ant with some damaged mouthparts and a somewhat shrunken body. “Uh? Is this an aging high-speed rail ant?”
The earliest steel ants under his command date back to when he first started exploring the Sanhe Rainforest, which should be twenty years ago. Could it be that the lifespan of steel ants is more than twenty years and close to thirty years?
Thinking of this, Zhang Changkong couldn't help but think about how long the lifespan of his zerg would be. Compared with ordinary bugs, zerg should be advanced life forms, and their lifespan should be correspondingly extended a lot. Even if the lifespan of each zerg is different, but Thinking about it, it shouldn't be less than a few decades. Zhang Changkong thinks that the colorful moths among his zerg have the shortest life span, but it has easily lived for more than twenty years, and there is no sign of aging in it. Thinking about those three The lifespan of a golden scarab with expanded vitality should be close to or even more than a hundred years.
And a hundred years later, Zhang Changkong should have been a mage for a long time. If these insects have not further improved their strength, they will not be able to help him much. If they die of old age, they will die of old age. Therefore, the life span of insects, to be precise, the life span of insects. Longevity will never be an issue for him.
Thinking of this, Zhang Changkong stopped thinking about issues such as the birth rate and death rate of steel ants.
After walking for a long time, going around underground, we finally arrived at the area where the steel ants built their nests.
Zhang Changkong arrived at a nest and scanned it with his consciousness. There were more than ten steel ant elites guarding it. He scanned an insect whose aura was close to the steel ant zerg beneath him.
Zhang Changkong felt that the steel ants and insects under his body were slightly resisting entering the nest.
So, he jumped down and walked directly towards the steel ant insect that he had not seen yet.
As soon as Zhang Changkong entered the nest, the steel ant elites immediately stood up and looked at Zhang Changkong.
However, the "Secret Technique of Slave Insects" that Zhang Changkong used through the black stone has been imprinted deep into the genes of these insects. Soon, these steel ant elites no longer warned Zhang Changkong, and two even came over and used their legs and heads to The tentacles touched Zhang Changkong to express their closeness, and the others also crawled away from Zhang Changkong.
Zhang Changkong ignored them and walked straight towards the insect that reflected white light in the light of the small fireball above his head.
As he walked into Zhang Changkong, he didn't feel any closeness to this white steel ant insect, but there was no hostility either. Zhang Changkong seemed to feel a vague sense of confusion about it, as if he couldn't figure out why it belonged to the steel ant. For a king-like existence, there will be creatures that make it approachable.
Zhang Changkong's eyes lit up slightly. This white steel ant zerg may be smarter than all the zerg under him. The worms under him, including the zerg, rarely express thoughts like "confusion". Information.
Zhang Changkong walked up to the white steel ant insect and looked at the steel ant insect, which was as white and smooth as crystal. It gave people a noble temperament rather than brutality.
Zhang Changkong pushed aside some dim vitality stones around the white steel ant worm, and dragged the worm, which was as thick as an arm, up with his hands.
The white steel ants did not resist Zhang Changkong's movements, but they kept looking at Zhang Changkong with their eyes.
"You are the first zerg under my command that can be considered to have perfect intelligence. I will give you a name. It seems that you should be the king of the steel ants. You will be called the King of Steel." Zhang Changkong said to him. Said the white steel ant Zerg crawling along his arm to the top of his head.
Zhang Changkong sent a similar message to Steel King with his mind. Steel King didn't react much. He just lay on top of his head and looked around.
"It seems that even though you are smarter than other bugs, you still can't communicate." Zhang Changkong said with a fly in the ointment as he caught the Steel King above his head again.
The Steel King struggled to get rid of Zhang Changkong's hand and climbed up his arm.
"Forget it, maybe you are still young, and maybe your wisdom will improve when you grow up." Zhang Changkong put the Steel King back to its original position and looked at the many vitality stones surrounding the Steel King that had exhausted their vitality.
"Oh, I was only born for more than a month, and I have already consumed nearly a hundred vitality stones. Moreover, I didn't eat the vitality stones directly into my stomach, but directly absorbed the vitality." Zhang Changkong was a little surprised, knowing that he had the strongest The three golden scarabs each consume only about 150 vitality stones per month, and the colorful moths and golden-needle wasps digest more than 60 vitality stones every month, and they all swallow the vitality stones. It is digested in the lower stomach, and the utilization rate of vitality is not as high as that of Steel King directly absorbing vitality.
"It seems that I, Zhang Changkong, am a genius among humans, and you, the Steel King, are also a hero among insects." Zhang Changkong felt that as long as this Steel King has enough vitality stones and is well cultivated, his future achievements may not be limited to just insects. .
As for Zhang Changkong, he didn't have much else, but he had so many vitality stones that he couldn't use them all. If Steel King's consumption increased tenfold, he could still barely maintain it, not to mention that he now plans to intensify the mining of the vitality stone veins.
"Well, if I hadn't run out of time in the Sanhe Rainforest, I really had the idea of letting the steel ants slowly multiply here. Maybe I would get king insects like the Iron King's brother Iron King in the future." Zhang After Changkong asked Steel King to calm down, he walked out of the lair.
After he left the Iron King's nest, he took the Iron Ant Zerg and went to another nest to meet another Iron Ant Zerg that was born about half a year ago.
This Iron Ant Zerg didn't have much surprise. It was just a smaller version of the Iron Ant Zerg he was sitting on. It was just as dark, just as inconspicuous, and just as stupid.
Thinking that there would be more Steel Ant Zerg in the future, in order to distinguish them, Zhang Changkong named the one he was sitting on "Black 1" and the smaller version "Black 2".
Hei Er had grown to over one meter in length, so Zhang Changkong took Hei Er with him and walked towards the mining area.
I don’t know if the mining area has expanded a little after so long.
Zhang Changkong walked to the Yuanqi Stone Mining Area. As expected, steel ants are a kind of insect that yearns for freedom. There are less than a hundred mining here. Compared with the huge colony of steel ants, the number here is too small.
Zhang Changkong ran the "Secret Technique of Slave Insects", and the fluctuations of the spell spread far through the air and soil.
Zhang Changkong was calling the steel ants nearby. He didn't know how far this "Secret Technique of Slave Insects" could spread and how many steel ants he could summon.
After a while, the steel ants arrived one after another.
After the steel ants arrived, Zhang Changkong could give them orders with his mind at close range, and as a result, the number of ant miners continued to increase.
