This time the radio signal was connected for an exceptionally long time. After Lu Xi'an and Luo Ping finished discussing official matters, Chai Xin chatted for a while, recounting all the recent developments at the 923 Base.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei also learned about Chai Xin's recent progress. The girl said she had grown quite a bit taller, her back was straighter, and the wrinkles on her face had decreased somewhat. She brushed her teeth every day, and they seemed to have gotten whiter.

She also mentioned it wasn't just her; everyone at the base brushed their teeth daily and improved quite a bit.

Additionally, her abilities had also greatly progressed. She could now control things remotely. Anything she touched over a period could be cloaked using optical camouflage for concealment.

This was recorded in the booklet on the training direction for Type D Neo-Humans. Luo Ping initially remarked at the base that out of the four booklets, the one on Type D was the most eye-opening.

The booklet for Type D recorded many methods and techniques that he had never seen before. The Type D Neo-Humans he encountered during his travels mainly had abilities limited to themselves.

Moving forward, Chai Xin could still develop many other changes, but it seemed quite difficult.

Chai Xin chattered on about a lot of things, many of which were complaints. She said she spent a lot of time and effort training every day, yet progress was slow.

However, after hearing Chai Xin's words, what Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei were most curious about wasn't the progress of Chai Xin's new abilities but how the girl had grown.

She herself claimed that the change was significant, so it must really be quite substantial.

After the signal cut off, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei drove to the mound where Yao Wei had been before.

There, for one, there was cover; for two, the terrain was a bit higher, offering a wide view; and for three, it was still within Gou's scanning range, allowing Gou to observe Ant Mountain's movements, making it an ideal temporary base.

Without needing to communicate, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei tacitly chose to park there.

After parking, Lu Xi'an went to check the Resonant Gene Scanner at the back. There were only five red dots left, representing him, Yao Wei, and the three pieces of Fungus Stone.

But Lu Xi'an didn't focus on these. His gaze turned to another slanted road, pointing and asking, "Was their car over there?"

Yao Wei replied, "Seems so..."

Her memory wasn't bad, but the map was too small, and the situation at the time was urgent, so they didn't pay much attention to the exact positions of those six red dots, so how could they be certain?

Fortunately, even if they couldn't figure it out, Gou recorded it and immediately marked the previous target red dots' stop distance on the Resonant Gene Scanner map for Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

Gou said, "Mechanical Dog 02 has marked the prior target red dot stop distance for you."

Lu Xi'an couldn't help but praise, "Gou is amazing!"

Yao Wei nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly, "Yeah!"

With Gou, things were much easier.

Lu Xi'an immediately had an idea and said, "Gou, I'm currently facing the direction where those people came from before. Help me adjust a bit, so I turn accurately."

After speaking, he turned towards the northwest, then heard Gou say, "Please turn fifteen degrees east."

Lu Xi'an adjusted slightly to the east.

Gou: "Please turn four degrees west."

Hmm... a bit too precise...

But Lu Xi'an still made a small adjustment.

"Please turn back one degree east."

"..."

Lu Xi'an said, "That's not necessary; close enough. I can already determine the direction. Thank you, Gou."

Gou: "There's no need to thank me. Mechanical Dog 02 is sincerely at your service."

Lu Xi'an said, "I'll head over there to find their car and see what supplies they have.

"There should be a Resonant Gene Scanner in their car. At the very least, I need to bring that back. Otherwise, if someone else finds it and sees us from it, that wouldn't be good."

Yao Wei said, "I'll go with you."

Lu Xi'an replied, "I'll go alone. I can go quickly and come back quickly. You still need to keep an eye on the car and the ant swarm here."

Reluctantly, Yao Wei said, "Okay, be careful and carry some hidden weapons with you."

Lu Xi'an glanced at Yao Wei and smiled, "Sure, no problem."

But most of the useful hidden weapons had already been left behind on the battlefield from the previous fierce battle, with the flying ant swarm occupying it. Neither Lu Xi'an nor Yao Wei dared venture there lightly.

Yao Wei took bullets from the pistol, handed them to Lu Xi'an, and let him fill a pocket with them.

"This is pretty good too."

Lu Xi'an filled his pocket, smiling as he spoke. He shook the pocket, producing a "clattering" sound.

After equipping himself with hidden weapons, Lu Xi'an got out of the car.

The biting cold wind immediately hit, seemingly even colder than before. Lu Xi'an had to tuck his collar tighter and hold the Fungus Stone in his hand, feeling much more comfortable.

—He only took one piece of Fungus Stone with him. As for the one he just picked up, he had already given it to Yao Wei.

There wasn't any analysis yet of its specific effects or which type of Neo-Humans it best suited, and it might not be analyzed at all.

He glanced toward Ant Mountain. The movement of ants on the hill had slowed down, as if the extreme weather was making it difficult for them to resist, their movements becoming stiff.

However, upon closer inspection, he discovered that only the surface layer had slowed down, while activity inside remained rapid.

"What do you want to eat? Should I cook in the car?"

Yao Wei suddenly spoke.

Lu Xi'an said, "Let's have another round of the lazy meal I made in the morning, with extra sausages. After this fight, I've burned a lot of energy and need to replenish it."

Yao Wei replied, "Okay."

After speaking, Lu Xi'an prepared to set off. At that moment, he glanced once more at Ant Mountain and saw many black balls of ants detaching and rolling down the slope.

After rolling down, those ant balls continuously rolled across the grass.

Lu Xi'an set off in the northwest direction. When he got somewhat closer, he saw that wherever those ant balls rolled, the grass blades on the ground were much reduced.

In the ant balls, there was a patch of yellow-green, all frozen brittle wild grass from the winter.

When the ant balls were packed full of wild grass, they'd roll away, up Ant Mountain, and merge into the mountain.

Is this a way of collecting food?

Lu Xi'an was slightly startled.

They can actually collect food on their own, and the food is so simple.

If that's the case, having them under one's control, they would be quite easy to maintain.

Truly perfect weapons for Type C Neo-Humans!

Lu Xi'an slightly veered off the path to avoid alarming those flying ants and quickly sprinted towards the slanted road.

It doesn't take long; when the two Type A Neo-Humans came running before, it didn't take long for them either.

Lu Xi'an soon spotted a silver, dilapidated van parked on the roadside. He immediately ran over, got inside to take a look,

The vehicle was completely in disrepair, with little inside, just the back seat piled high with animal fur and rags, frozen dry and hard, as if they had been drenched before.

Lu Xi'an caught a familiar whiff of fishy smell, feeling disgusted like a subway harassed elder, and did not collect those fur and rags.

He picked up the Resonant Gene Scanner found in the car, also packed up the "charging device," and got out of the vehicle, sprinting back.

With items in hand, naturally, he moved a bit slower, but not by much.

Lu Xi'an quickly returned to the side of the RV.

Passing by Ant Mountain, he was surprised to find there was a hole dug a bit further away from the mountain.

A lot of already frozen dead ants lay around the hole, which seemed to indicate there had been a fierce battle.

Lu Xi'an observed more closely inside the ant balls and saw, faintly, small grass snakes bending and swaying within each ant ball.

Moreover, a few ant balls contained snake eggs coiled inside the snake bodies.

Good heavens, these ants actually ransacked a snake nest!

"So fast! The meal is not ready yet!"

As Lu Xi'an returned to the vehicle, Yao Wei exclaimed once more.

This was the second time today she remarked on the speed.

Lu Xi'an said, "That place wasn't far from here. How slow could I be? There wasn't much in that car, so I just brought these two things back."

He said as he placed the Resonant Gene Scanner and "charging device" in the vehicle, adding, "These two items are of no use to us; let's give them to Luo Ping and his team later."

Yao Wei replied, "Alright."

Lu Xi'an inquired, "Did you notice the ants ransacked a snake nest?"

"Mm."

Yao Wei nodded and said, "I just saw them still rolling in balls, and as they rolled, suddenly they dispersed and flew up.

"I went up the slope to fetch the sniper rifle for a closer look and spotted that hole. The snakes inside were all killed, and plenty of ants died too, but due to freezing.

"Then, they turned back into balls, wrapped up those snakes and snake eggs, and rolled back."

The slope she referred to was the top of a small mound.

Lu Xi'an said with admiration, "Amazing, I wonder how much food they can store?"

Yao Wei replied, "No idea."

Of course, she wouldn't know. After rolling the snakes and snake eggs, these ant balls went on to roll more grass, seemingly unending, as if stockpiling for a famine.

After a while, the meal was finally ready, and Yao Wei only had a little, leaving most of the lazy stew for Lu Xi'an.

"I haven't exerted much energy and am not very hungry. You exerted so much in the fight, eat more."

She told Lu Xi'an this way.

As Lu Xi'an devoured the food, she watched from the side.

Lu Xi'an said, "Please don't stare at me like that; it makes me feel awkward."

Yao Wei said, "But watching you eat looks delicious."

Lu Xi'an: "..."

After the meal, they both tidied up the kitchenware. Mindful of the upcoming period needing to conserve water, they didn't waste much.

Once tidied up, they sat down to rest, taking out a laptop to find a movie to watch.

While watching, they suddenly felt something and simultaneously glanced out the vehicle's window.

"It's snowing."

"Mm."

Lu Xi'an thought of something, opened the vehicle door to look outside, and noticed the distant ant balls had all returned to Ant Mountain. The outermost layer of the mountain seemed completely still, with ants packed densely even more than before, obscuring the view inward.

The snow fell unexpectedly and heavily, accumulating quite a bit of white on Ant Mountain.

A thought struck Lu Xi'an, and he went inside the vehicle to retrieve the sniper rifle.

He climbed to the mound's peak, peered through the sniper rifle's scope, and saw the surface of Ant Mountain had frozen into a hard shell, resembling a black mountain.

The ants forming the "shell" remained motionless, stacked together, exhibiting a texture akin to high-strength plastic.

Through the sniper rifle scope he could confirm, those outer ants were all dead.

— or rather, entirely transformed into tools protecting the inside of Ant Mountain.

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