139: Ant Miracle

Following the old man's instructions, Ye Tian pressed the only start button.

Hum!

The green light turned on.

The machine started up, emitting a humming sound.

At the same time, Ye Tian also observed that the water pipe connected to the machine began to inject water into it.

A moment later.

At the leftmost outlet, sticky, golden-red cockroach meat paste rolled out, being squeezed out and falling into the container the old man had prepared underneath.

Meanwhile, at the middle and right outlets, water also began to flow out.

However, the flow from the middle outlet was noticeably larger and clearer.

Ye Tian found a beaker to collect some and check it. Indeed, there wasn't a single impurity. He brought it to his nose to sniff, and there was almost no strange odor.

As for the rightmost outlet, it was the slowest. It only began to discharge a viscous, semi-Newtonian substance after the first two outlets had finished.

"Little Ye, strictly speaking, my machine is a semi-finished product. If you find it troublesome in the future, you can completely connect more equipment to it. For example, this stomach sac extract is still in an active phase after high-speed centrifugal separation. If you mix it directly with water, it's easier than dealing with the paste. My suggestion is, if you have time, you can go and customize a few filling machines. You just need to have them add the other two reagents quantitatively, and it will be an assembly line."

"Okay, that requirement should be simple. Can the place where you customized this separator do it?"

"It shouldn't be a problem. I'll write down the comparative dosages for you in a moment; you can just go find them and have it all customized together."

"That works. Thanks a lot, old man. With this machine of yours, we won't have to worry about the future of our Cockroach."

Ye Tian nodded happily, his palm involuntarily reaching into the clear essence extract to stir it: "Old man, isn't there still one problem we haven't solved? You said before that for medicinal use, we need sterile Cockroach, but our largest volume is these ordinary farmed Cockroach. How should we handle these essence extracts?"

"We can keep it for now. I've been doing purification research during this time. Once I find a way to remove the contained water without destroying the medicinal properties, that will be the time for this essence extract to shine. Although, for health considerations, this stuff cannot be taken internally under normal farming conditions, it shouldn't be a big problem to use it for external application. Taking a step back, it can also be effective for removing scars."

"In other words, the bacteria and such that might appear in the Cockroach we process directly are mainly concentrated in this water, so the purpose of purification is to filter out the dirty things in the water?"

"That's pretty much the meaning."

"Then I really can't help with that. If there's anything you need later, just tell me in time, and I'll prepare it."

"Hmm? Little Ye, you've secured the loan? You've got quite a lot of confidence."

The old man seemed to have caught the subtext in Ye Tian's words.

"Haha, I've taken out a bit for now. It should be enough if we use it sparingly in the early stages. The preliminary plan is to add a Waste Disposal Plant while also setting up the sterile breeding room you mentioned, old man."

A look of joy appeared on the old man's face.

"Little Ye, you'd better think it through. A sterile breeding room isn't easy to set up; the cost is even higher than that Waste Disposal Plant of yours."

"No matter how much it costs, we have to do it. Otherwise, wouldn't I be letting down your day-and-night research, old man? Besides, if it's really done well, just based on the efficacy of our essence extract, it would be a good deed for society."

"Good. It's good that you think that way, kid. The experimental land I mentioned before has been approved. The general range is the ten acres of land extending out from my courtyard. When you clear the garbage later, you can make a plan first. Once enough space is cleared, someone will come to determine the boundaries."

"Haha, you're still the best, old man. You got ten acres right off the bat! Do I need to pay for it?"

"No need, but within three years, you have to let the higher-ups see some results."

"Results? Is that very difficult?" Ye Tian was slightly startled.

"Difficult? You kid are underestimating the chips we have in our hands right now. Not to mention the really impressive stuff, just giving out some cockroach manure could completely count as an important scientific research achievement."

The old man stroked his beard proudly, with no pressure on his face.

Ye Tian was stunned for a moment, then chuckled. His heart was set at ease.

From the old man's words earlier, he already knew that the experimental land had extreme autonomy.

In the early stages of development, having a piece of land like this was simply like adding wings to a tiger.

With excitement, Ye Tian called the machine customization manufacturer according to the number the old man gave him.

After some communication, the quantity and specifications of the customized machines were determined.

Considering the possible future volume, Ye Tian increased the specifications of the separators a bit more. Each separator was also equipped with some specialized containers and downstream equipment, such as equipment for filling the cleaning agent.

One set cost about 200,000. Ye Tian ordered 5 sets in one go.

The other party indicated that they would be delivered successively within the next few days.

After paying the deposit, Ye Tian returned to his room.

Just as he was about to enter, he quickly jumped back out.

His eyes looked at the floor, a look of shock on his face.

In his sight, lines of little ants were crawling between the door crack and the wall, forming several winding curves.

At the end of the ant curves at the foot of the wall, three small grayish-white mounds appeared.

The mounds were about the size of a soccer ball. They looked layered, with surfaces resembling terraced fields.

At the top of the mounds, the heads of three finger-sized Gold-level Ant Queen were exposed. Their bloated bodies, however, were already covered.

What the hell? They started building a nest in my room?

Ye Tian, unable to laugh or cry, stood on tiptoe and walked into the room, terrified that if he wasn't careful, he would trample the ants all over the room to death.

Only when he reached the foot of the wall did Ye Tian see clearly.

His three Gold-level Ant Queen were currently sitting as if on thrones, with even their claws tucked into their palaces.

Ants were constantly crawling to their mouths, delivering bits of white substance into their mouths.

But this wasn't the part that surprised Ye Tian. What was truly surprising was that at the terraced areas below the Gold-level Ant Queen, there were groups of ant heads.

Compared to the previous Gold-level Ant Queen, this circle of ant heads was much smaller, but they also had a gold line on their heads. They sat on small thrones on the terraces, like babies in walkers.

There were also ants feeding them, but the treatment was far worse than that of the Gold-level Ant Queen above them; they only had a mouthful stuffed into their mouths from time to time.

And there were about a hundred such small queens in total across the three palaces.

After observing the Gold-level Ant Queen, Ye Tian turned his gaze to the dense crowd of ants.

Although, by time, the earliest ones only hatched in the afternoon, the largest among these ants were already the size of a small fingernail, which was definitely a behemoth compared to normal ants. However, there were also some ants that were unusually tiny, not even as big as normal ants.

At this moment, the large-sized ants were the main force in the ant torrent.

Every ant of this size returning from outside had a piece or half a piece of soil or leaves or something on its head.

Once the leaves reached the palace, they were sent directly inside. The soil was thrown below the palace, and then a group of stationed ants would immediately swarm up, spitting out some mucus-like substance from their mouths to dilute the soil, and then smearing it onto the palace.

Watching this well-organized construction, Ye Tian's eyes were full of surprise. He couldn't help but lie down.

Looking inside from the bottom of the palace.

Inside the palace, it was already filled with leaves and such. However, the passage to the very inside was left open. Ye Tian could still see the tip of the Gold-level Ant Queen's tail seemingly still surging. From time to time, an ant egg was laid.

On both sides of the Gold-level Ant Queen, Ye Tian also saw small, bloated bellies, also surging, and the ant eggs laid were even smaller.

So that's how it is!

Looking closely at the movement inside, Ye Tian finally understood a bit.

It seems those large-sized ants are produced by the Gold-level Ant Queen, while the small-sized ants are produced by secondary queens. And these secondary queens should have hatched from the batch of ant eggs in the afternoon. In other words, only these secondary queens can be considered Gold-rank Young Larva. The rest of those large ants, although also produced by the Gold-level Ant Queen, can only be considered by-products. Because those ants do not have the golden lines unique to the young larvae on their bodies.

In other words, in the Termites colony, only the queens can be considered true ants.

By this calculation, three Gold-level Ant Queen only produced 100 Gold-rank Young Larva.

This fertility rate of the Gold-rank Young Larva cannot compare to Earthworm and Cockroach.

However, their by-products are terrifying.

According to the current hatching speed, I'm afraid that even if Ye Tian doesn't use his blood to assist the Gold-level Ant Queen in breeding, they can produce thousands of Worker Ant a day.

For Ye Tian, this is undoubtedly good news.

It's just that I don't know if these Worker Ant level ants can help handle the garbage outside.

Thinking this way, Ye Tian communicated with the Gold-level Ant Queen.

Soon, a team of fingernail-sized large ants and a team of tiny ants crawled out from the ant colony. They lined up neatly in front of Ye Tian.

"Come and show me your strength." Ye Tian gave the order to the two ant teams.

At the same time, Ye Tian found several items of different weights in the room and threw them on the ground.

A large ant went straight forward and came directly under the bottle cap Ye Tian had thrown down.

It stretched out two claws, lifted the bottle cap, and then moved forward step by step.

Finally, it fixed its antennae at the center of the bottom of the bottle cap, braced it with its back, and walked forward wobblingly.

After circling in front of Ye Tian, it dropped the bottle cap. Its antennae flickered a few times. It seemed a bit dissatisfied.

Soon, a few more large ants crawled out. They crawled directly toward the comic book Ye Tian had thrown down.

They lifted it from the edges of the book. Finally, another one crawled under the book. The part of the comic book that was sagging downward was immediately propped up.

Then Ye Tian saw the comic book moving quickly on the ground.

"Amazing!" Watching five ants lift the comic book with their tiny bodies, Ye Tian couldn't help but exclaim.

However, before Ye Tian finished being surprised, the few ants showed dissatisfaction again. They dropped the comic book on the ground.

Summoning their companions, they came to the bottle of mineral water Ye Tian had thrown down. 10 ants exerted their strength, and the mineral water was lifted up. It didn't even wobble much as it moved forward.

"Not bad, not bad. Ten ants can actually lift a 550-gram book. That popular science article I read before probably wasn't lying."

Hearing Ye Tian's words, the antennae of the three Gold-level Ant Queen moved simultaneously.

The next moment, the mineral water was abandoned by the ants. After their antennae trembled slightly, they all headed toward Ye Tian.

Then, in his surprised eyes, they came directly to a solid wood stool.

"No way, you want to move the stool?"

Ye Tian measured the size of the stool with his eyes and couldn't help but swallow.

Most of the things in the old man's room were old items. Even a single stool was surprisingly heavy.

Although Ye Tian hadn't specifically weighed it, a stool was still seven or eight jin. Could they lift this thing too?

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Ye Tian's eyes widened.

He saw that after a slight probe, 10 ants appeared under each stool leg.

He didn't see how they communicated at all, but they seemed to have mastered the direction of force. All the ants pushed together.

The stool was lifted up, swaying slightly, and moved in front of Ye Tian.

"Good, good, good. To have such a physique after being born for only half a day, you really are worthy of being the strongmen of the insect world."

Sitting on the stool the ants had moved over, Ye Tian's face was full of satisfaction.

With their strength, once they get on the garbage mountain, no matter how heavy the garbage is, wouldn't it be easy to handle?

With a smile, Ye Tian was about to end this strength test, but discovered that, he didn't know when, two large groups of ants had gathered at his feet.

Then, in his horrified eyes, he felt tentative lifting movements from under his feet.

This... Ye Tian swallowed, and before he could react, he felt a sudden sense of suspension from one foot.

Immediately after, the other foot was also lifted by a circle of ants surrounding the edge of his shoe.

This feeling was so unreal.

You have to know, even though he was sitting on a stool at this moment, his naturally dangling feet still had their own weight.

With his physique, his feet hanging down naturally would weigh at least twenty or thirty jin.

With a strange look on his face, Ye Tian tried to press down with force.

But it didn't affect the ants' lifting action at all. He only felt as if he were still stepping on the ground.

And what surprised Ye Tian even more was that the ants' actions didn't end. As he applied pressure, more ants began to gather and crawl under his soles.

After a while, the gaps under his feet seemed to be filled with ants, and no more ants entered.

"What are you doing? Want me to stand up?"

Ye Tian felt the waves of up-and-down fluctuations coming from his feet after the ants filled the soles. Seeming to realize the ants' intention, he said in disbelief.

Answering him was the ants' even faster lifting. The violent trembling made Ye Tian's feet shake along with it.

"This is what you asked for. Don't blame me if you get crushed to death!"

Ye Tian took a deep breath and tentatively stood up slowly.