Their mouthparts resemble two large guillotines, which can easily bite chunks of iron ore into fragments.
The Strong Iron Armor Ants combine the brute strength of the Strong Ants with the metallic armor of the Iron Armor Ants, making them a very fierce Pet Beast.
If cultivated strongly, they would be a good option for attacking cities and territories.
However, Ye Bai discovered an awkward situation next.
The most crucial male ant, the ant king or ant emperor, has not been cultivated.
This can be considered a major feature of the ant family, I suppose.
Ant queen, ant king, male ants, worker ants.
The ant queen is the commanding leader of the ant family, the mother nest of explosive soldiers in the colony. It doesn't have combat abilities, yet it is the highest leader of the colony.
The ant king is the queen's companion with the strongest combat power, and typically only the strongest among the male ants can become the ant king.
Male ants have enormous pincers, notable attack power, and defense capabilities, generally serving as guards of the ant nest. They are also called soldier ants.
Sometimes they stand outside the nest like gate gods, and once they detect enemy invasion, they quickly emit a piercing shriek.
This sound can swiftly spread throughout the nest, summoning the male ants to fight.
Worker ants are the cattle and horses in the ant family; generally, good things don't fall to them. Worker ants are usually female; they have no reproductive abilities and are merely consumables.
Only when the ant queen is nearing death will worker ants, stimulated by signal hormones, grow reproductive organs.
Normally, it's the worker ants that attend to the male ants; these male ants do nothing except protect the security of the nest.
"First, let's collect these recently metamorphosed Strong Iron Armor Ants into the Beast Card."
"Later, we need to first cultivate the male ant."
"The male ant with the strongest combat power will automatically become the ant king."
"After the ant king pairs with the metamorphosed female ants, it will stimulate the female ants' reproductive organs."
"Its abdomen will then rapidly expand, but among these ten Strong Iron Armor Ants, only one can become an ant queen."
"The other nine Strong Iron Armor Ants will become sacrifices."
The number of male ants is the least. Nearly ninety-nine percent of ant eggs are female, purebred cattle, and horses with the lowest status, tireless and uncomplaining.
Ye Bai managed to find five male ants only after some difficulty; only when the ant queen has reproductive capabilities can more combat soldier types be bred.
The ant queen can create ant species according to her needs, such as Shield Armor Ants, which only have defensive capabilities.
Typically serving as guards for the ant queen, when the queen is attacked, the Shield Armor Ants block the fatal attacks for her.
Due to the unruly movements of the Strong Iron Armor Ants, both glass showcases have been damaged.
Ye Bai signaled Lan Fa to manufacture a dozen more glass showcases and carefully used Spatial Transfer with the Paper Puppet's paperman to move the Summer Grass Ants to new glass showcases to prevent spores from leaking out.
However, when the paperman contacted the Summer Grass Ants, it was immediately corroded by the white mold on them and gradually was assimilated into a pile of white mold.
Seeing this situation, Lan Fa couldn't help but pat his chest.
"That was close; if I hadn't worn the protective suit, I might have been infected by the spores and turned into a zombie."
At this moment, Ye Bai was pondering silently.
"This spore has a strong transmission ability; I need to find a way to see what can suppress these spores."
"Once the spores explosively spread on a large scale, carried by the wind to every corner of the city."
"By then, it won't be controllable by human power."
"We must find a solution."
The Thunderlight Butterfly, a clone of the Ten Thousand Changes Silkworm, emitted blue arcs of electricity, crackling as they went.
The laboratory's monitoring system activated, and Ye Bai waved to stop the monitoring system only when it confirmed no floating spores in the air.
"Lan Fa, be careful when you stay here."
"Always wear your protective suit; the spores on the Summer Grass Ants are infectious and can turn humans into zombies."
"I call these infected humans 'vegetables.'
"I have a vague premonition that these spores might erupt massively and quickly spread."
"This is a hidden threat; crisis could strike at any moment."
"Currently, I haven't found a method to suppress these spores."
This statement made Lan Fa's expression indescribably horrified.
He faintly felt Ye Bai was right; once these spores proliferated on a large scale, many cities might instantly be swallowed by them.
Those infected would also become living corpses.
"If you're afraid, I won't force you; you can leave the lab at any time."
Lan Fa shook his head: "Ye Bai, I want to stay."
"It's my first time participating in such a major project, and it's a critical time for me to lay the foundation."
"So I want to stay involved in this experiment."
Lan Fa cherished this opportunity that Ye Bai had given him.
"Alright, if there's any problem, feel free to let me know."
"Remember, your safety is the most important."
"Don't put yourself in danger."
Ye Bai sternly advised.
At this moment, Ye Bai received a phone call, and it was Jiang Dongsheng.
He's ready and hopes Ye Bai can perform surgery on his Pet Beast as soon as possible.
Through the contract, he could sense that some Pet Beasts' physical condition is very unclear.
"Okay, I understand, I'm coming over right now."
Ye Bai nodded solemnly.
"Ye Bai, what's the matter?"
Lan Fa was seeing Ye Bai with such an expression for the first time.
"Didn't our chief Jiang Dongsheng get into trouble before?"
"I was the one who performed the surgery."
"And the spores that infected Jiang Dongsheng are the ones currently on the Summer Grass Ants."
"These spores can invade the body of humans or Exotic Beasts, proliferating massively and allowing the spores to manipulate them."
Ye Bai pointed to the white mold on the Summer Grass Ants.
Lan Fa shuddered three times, deciding to approach these Summer Grass Ants only with clones.
Lest he gets infected by the spores and becomes a person unable to live or die.
"Ye Bai, don't worry about leaving; I'll keep watch on the lab and prevent anyone from entering."
Lan Fa promised.
"I'm just worried that someone breaking in here might get infected with the spores."
Ye Bai furrowed his brows, then used a bold pen to write large characters warning of the evil spores on the laboratory door.
But these eight characters, just like a futile warning, were discovered by Liu Dachui, a researcher passing by, whose eyes sparkled with interest.
He knew the lab belonged to Ye Bai and knew Ye Bai was a genius researcher.
"Evil spores inside?"
"Is Ye Bai researching spore-type Exotic Beasts?"
"How interesting."
Researcher Liu Dachui photographed this paper and shared it in a research group.
Many long-time lurking researchers bubbled up.
"Evil spores inside, what species is this, who developed it?"
"I remember mushroom-type Exotic Beasts, which are quite aromatic; a light pan-fry, and they're crispy and fragrant."
"Is this guy researching something delicious?"
"Dachui, what's this guy's background?"
A doctoral student @ed Dachui in the group.
"Reportedly the champion of the Young Qilin Cup."
"Quite impressive, way more than us who struggled to get into Imperial University."
Dachui shared all he knew in the group.
"Dachui, send me the location, I'll go take a look."
Liu Dachui never expected a photo he sent casually would stir up numerous research luminaries.
Ye Bai smoothly arrived at the medical center.
By this time, Jiang Dongsheng had almost recovered.
He was wearing a garment, sipping tea in small sips.
His face was pale, with an IV needle in his hand.
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