203: The ant army is out

Qin Shi Lei calmly put away the Wind and Cloud Art, then took out the second purple item.

Stealth Array (Purple): Activates to completely conceal a five-meter radius for two hours, with three effective uses.

[Do you want to refresh the entries?]

[Refresh.]

Range Doubled (Green): The array's effective range is doubled.

Time Doubled (Green): The array's duration is doubled.

Uses Doubled (Red): The array's effective uses are doubled.

Qin Shi Lei chose the 'Uses Doubled' entry and then put the array away.

After opening the treasure chest, Qin Shi Lei and An Qian went outside the city again, leading everyone to clear out the insects.

The crystals inside these insects were all Level 2 crystals, and each Level 2 crystal could increase experience by twenty to thirty points.

After a day of slaying Scythe Beetles and collecting crystals, Qin Shi Lei finally advanced to Silver Realm Four-star after returning to their residence in the evening.

An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli also advanced to Silver Realm Two-star.

As for Kong Qingshu, Zhang Qiang, and Xie Haimei, all three were at Bronze Realm Nine-star, still needing two to three thousand experience points to reach the peak.

The two attribute-less Yellow-grade cultivation techniques Qin Shi Lei had obtained previously had already been given to Zhang Qiang and Xie Haimei; as long as they had enough experience, they could learn the techniques and advance to the Silver Realm.

Zhang Qiang said excitedly, “Actually, the appearance of these insects has its benefits. I should be able to accumulate enough experience to advance to the Silver Realm by tomorrow.”

Zhang Xiaoli sighed, “For those with strong combat power who can kill the insects, it’s indeed good, but most people in Hope City can’t kill them.”

Qin Shi Lei instructed, “Among the insects, there are silver beetles, which are Silver Realm mutated beasts. An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli, you two must have Xiao Fei and Xiao Qing act as sentinels. Once a silver beetle is spotted, notify the three of us immediately to eliminate it.”

There were only over three hundred people in the entire Hope City who were in the Bronze Realm.

Among these three hundred-plus people, some had lower combat power than the Scythe Beetles.

Those with lower combat power, even if they teamed up to kill insects, it was not as safe or fast as going further out to kill zombies.

Everyone returned to their rooms to absorb crystals and enhance their strength.

Qin Shi Lei, however, quietly slipped into Kong Qingshu’s suite.

Kong Qingshu looked at Qin Shi Lei with a smile, teasing, “Sneaking around, are you meeting a lover in secret?”

“Hmph!” Qin Shi Lei immediately straightened his back, “I’m delivering something good to you; it’s completely above board.”

He casually pulled out the Wind and Cloud Art and handed it over, “Here’s the item for you, I’m leaving.”

Kong Qingshu flashed forward and embraced him, smiling, “You’ve entered my room, do you really think you can just leave like that?”

Qin Shi Lei held his hands to his chest, looking like a frightened young scholar, “What do you want to do? This young scholar only performs, he doesn’t sell himself.”

Kong Qingshu gave Qin Shi Lei a flirtatious look and chuckled, “Besides this secret manual, aren’t you going to leave anything else behind?”

Qin Shi Lei immediately felt overwhelmed, reaching out to embrace her and giving her a passionate deep kiss.

Just as he was about to go further, Kong Qingshu pushed him away, “Alright, you should go back quickly. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. If I keep you here any longer, I’m afraid An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli will come knocking with knives.”

Qin Shi Lei embraced her again, kissing her forehead, “Let’s just chat.”

Half an hour later.

As Qin Shi Lei opened the door to his suite, An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli, who were sitting on the sofa, simultaneously turned their heads to look at him.

Under the scrutinizing gazes of the two women, he said somewhat guiltily, “I suddenly feel a bit hungry. I’m going downstairs. Do you two want anything to eat?”

“Hmph,” An Qian lightly snorted, “Already hungry? Was your exercise too intense just now?”

“Absolutely not,” Qin Shi Lei sat between the two women, grinning playfully, “Why don’t you two check? I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”

Having said that, he led the two women into the small space without further ado.

........

The next day.

Qin Shi Lei said to the two women, “I’m planning to enter that Space Rift to take a look.”

“I’ll go with you,” An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli said in unison.

Qin Shi Lei pondered for a moment, then nodded and replied, “Alright, we’ll first clear out the Scythe Beetles outside the city. Once Zhang Qiang and the others advance to the Silver Realm, we’ll then enter the Space Rift.”

If he hadn’t just obtained the Stealth Array, which provided a guarantee of safety, he would never have allowed the two women to accompany him.

Qin Shi Lei went to the park next to Jingcui Garden and found the Ant Queen.

At this time, the Ant Queen was already at Bronze Realm Nine-star, on the verge of advancing to the Silver Realm.

Around her were hundreds of subordinates at Bronze Realm One-star or higher, and thousands of mutated ants with wings.

Qin Shi Lei commanded the Ant Queen, “Lead your ant colony and follow me to kill the insects.”

The Ant Queen chirped a few times in response, then wiggled the antennae on her head, directing her ant colony to crawl out of the ant hole.

Qin Shi Lei and An Qian rode in the car, while the Ant Queen stayed on the car roof, with a dense ant colony behind them, like a black ocean, rushing out of the city to kill.

Not long after leaving Hope City, three Scythe Beetles appeared in front, blocking their path.

“Ant Queen, attack! Let them experience what it’s like to be ganged up on.”

At Qin Shi Lei's command, the Ant Queen immediately directed the ant colony to swarm forward, instantly engulfing the three Scythe Beetles.

In less than three seconds, those Scythe Beetles were completely gone, not even a speck remaining. Unfortunately, those ants were only the Ant Queen's subordinates and not Qin Shi Lei's pets, so no treasure chests dropped.

“Qin Ge, these ants are so powerful!”

Zhang Xiaoli said, dumbfounded.

“It’s a pity that one or two hundred ants also died. Facing an endless stream of insects, the ant army might not be able to win, and the spoils of war are also lost.”

An Qian said with a frown.

While they were talking, a small group of ants, carrying three crystals, walked up to the car.

Qin Shi Lei's eyes immediately lit up and he smiled, “A mere one or two hundred ants dying is nothing. The ants that devoured the insects have also evolved. Perhaps in the future, I can have an ant army composed entirely of Bronze Realm ants.”

After speaking, he threw the three crystals to the Ant Queen on the car roof, “These three are your reward.”

The Ant Queen instantly swallowed the three crystals.

Qin Shi Lei led the ant army, charging straight towards the valley.

Even when encountering a single silver beetle, the ant army would devour it completely in less than a minute.

Of course, under the silver beetle's counterattack, tens of thousands of ants also died.

As the sun set.

Qin Shi Lei and the others had already cleared out the Scythe Beetles outside the city and stood beside the cave with the Space Rift.

“Ant Queen, you lead the ant army to guard this cave,” Qin Shi Lei pointed downwards and instructed.

Dense swarms of ants immediately crawled into the cave.

Then, they dug countless connected ant holes at various horizontal positions within the cave.

Whenever a Scythe Beetle crawled out from inside, it was immediately swarmed by the ants and devoured completely in the blink of an eye.

Qin Shi Lei lowered his head and instructed the Ant Queen, “Keep all the crystals from those insects for me. You can eat the insects however you like.”

The Ant Queen nodded without any complaints.