102: Gold-eating ant queen

Floating Ink City, like a stranded steel behemoth, was deeply mired in an endless, writhing tide of dark red insects.

The rustling sound of Metal-Devouring Insects gnawing merged into a terrifying, scalp-tingling background noise, constantly eroding the city's armor and the remnants of its energy shield.

Each collective bite caused the city structure to tremble subtly yet disturbingly, as if it could be completely disintegrated and devoured by this microscopic sea of death at any moment.

Inside the command platform, the light was dim, with only emergency power and the red alerts flashing on the damaged light screens providing some illumination.

Mo Yuan stood before the main control console, his Thunder God Arm directly inserted into the control interface, the cold Chaos Thunder Gang forcibly maintaining the most basic operation of the city's core Formation, resisting the incessant external erosion.

His face appeared even paler under the flickering red light, but his dark golden pupils were as sharp as an eagle's, fixed intently on several newly repaired light screens in front of him.

On the light screens were the preliminary analysis data of the Gold-Devouring Insect corpses outside the city, as well as dozens of suitable solutions derived by the magic bottle.

"Target Organism: Temporarily named 'Gold-Devouring Insect'."

"Exoskeleton Structure: Contains seventeen kinds of rare metallic spiritual compounds such as 'Geng Metal', 'Mo Iron', and 'Stardust Steel', with extremely high hardness and excellent spiritual conductivity."

"Internal Structure: Simplified highly efficient digestive cavity, special glands secrete 'Gold-Melting Enzymes'."

"Energy Core: Miniature 'Spirit-Absorbing Insect Core', capable of efficiently devouring and transforming metal and earth attribute spiritual energy."

"Social Structure: Suspected highly collective consciousness, with a 'Insect Mother' in command (not directly observed)."

"Threat Rank: Extremely High (quantity, characteristics, adaptability)."

"demonic liquid Adaptability: 87.3% (Highly compatible! Optimal solution derived: enhance its metal devouring and transformation efficiency, implant absolute obedience, guide it to give back...)"

Data refreshed like a waterfall, and the humming of the magic bottle carried a rare sense of... greed and excitement.

These insects were simply perfect Materials tailor-made for sequence evolution!

If their characteristic of devouring metal and transforming spiritual energy could be used for himself...

"Collection team report! Third and seventh passages have fallen! Lost twenty-seven Worker Bees, three Vajra Battalion warriors..."

"The base of the east shield generator has been gnawed through by forty percent!"

"The life signal of the Starry Sky Whale continues to weaken, the thickness of the insect swarm covering its body exceeds ten zhang!"

Bad news followed one after another, and the fall of the city seemed to be only a matter of time.

A cold glint flashed in Mo Yuan's eyes, and he no longer hesitated.

"Initiate the 'Furnace' plan."

"Objective: Using existing Gold-Devouring Insect corpses as main Materials, fuse 'Sequence 009: Brood Spider Mother' gene fragments (rapid reproduction), 'Sequence 015: Self-Detonating Bats' energy compression glands (efficient energy storage), 'Thunder Hell Demon Hand' extracted 'Spirit-Absorbing Insect Core' Origin characteristics..."

"Cultivation Direction: Absolute control, efficient devouring, spiritual energy feedback..."

"Naming: [Corrosion Gold Ant Queen]!"

Once the order was given, the remaining demonic liquid production lines, under conditions of extremely unstable energy supply, began to operate frantically once again!

Teams of Thunderstorm Worker Bees, braving the attacks of the insect swarm, forcibly dragged large quantities of collected Gold-Devouring Insect corpses into the designated Fusion chambers.

The Brood Spider Mother was forcibly awakened from hibernation, emitting a sharp shriek, and was compelled to contribute its gene glands containing the rapid reproduction code.

The remains of the Self-Detonating Bats were repurposed... Most importantly, Mo Yuan's Thunder God Arm suddenly extended, grabbing towards the endless insect sea outside the city from a distance!

Crackling Chaos Thunder Qi forcibly extracted several faint but extremely pure, metal-glowing spiritual core Origins from inside a few particularly large Metal-Devouring Insects—that was the essence of the "Spirit-Absorbing Insect Core"!

All Materials were thrown into the largest central biological Fusion pool.

Inside the pool, the dark purple demonic liquid, specially formulated by the magic bottle and already prepared, boiled like a living thing, greedily enveloping, decomposing, and recombining everything thrown into it!

Gurgle... gurgle... The Fusion pool emitted an unsettling sound, like a swamp bubbling, as various colors of light frantically flickered, clashed, and then forcibly merged within it.

The entire chamber shook violently, as if something terrifying was about to be born.

Mo Yuan was expressionless, continuously injecting pure Chaos Thunder Qi into the pool through his Thunder God Arm, forcibly suppressing the energy runaway and guiding the Fusion in the preset direction.

Time passed minute by minute, the external attacks grew fiercer, and a section of the city wall was finally gnawed through, black insect tide surging into the city like a breached flood!

The remaining Vajra Battalion warriors immediately rushed forward, engaging in a brutal close-quarters battle with the insect tide; each thunderous punch cleared an area, but it was instantly filled with more insects!

"Fusion progress 90%... 92%... 95%..."

"Energy fluctuations are rising sharply! Approaching critical value!"

"Warning! The Fusion body is showing strong rejection!"

The light from the Fusion pool suddenly became dazzling and unstable, cracks appeared on the pool wall, and terrifying energy was about to erupt!

Just at this critical moment! Mo Yuan suddenly fully inserted his Thunder God Arm into the control node and low-roared: "In my name, Sequence 023, be born!"

Boom—!!!! The Fusion pool completely exploded! But what burst forth was not destructive energy, but a circle of dark golden mental fluctuations, containing an absolute will of domination!

As the fluctuations swept over, the Metal-Devouring Insects that had surged into the city suddenly paused, and the frantic red light flashing in their compound eyes showed a hint of confusion and... fear!

Amidst the dust and energy debris, a colossal figure slowly rose.

It was about three zhang tall, with a bloated and massive body; its lower half was a huge brood gland like a spider's, constantly writhing and secreting viscous, metallic-glowing liquid.

Its upper body resembled an ant magnified countless times, covered in a thick, dark golden carapace with natural thunder marks; its head was enormous, its mouthparts hideous, and its compound eyes gleamed with a cold, absolutely rational dark red light.

On its back, there were also several pairs of energy compression sacs similar to those of a Self-Detonating Bats, gently pulsating.

Sequence 023: Corrosion Gold Ant Queen! Descended!

It let out a sharp shriek, yet it contained supreme authority!

This shriek was not transmitted through the air, but was a mental command that directly acted upon the Origin consciousness of all Metal-Devouring Insects!

The next moment, a miracle occurred!

The Gold-Devouring Insect tide, which had been frantically attacking inside the city, suddenly paused as if a stop button had been pressed, all ceasing their movements.

They fidgeted uneasily, their compound eyes flickering between their original madness and a newfound reverence.

Then, an even more astonishing scene unfolded!

Those Metal-Devouring Insects that had stopped attacking suddenly, as if receiving a supreme command, abruptly turned and pounced on their compatriots who had not yet received the command, or whose influence was weaker due to distance, biting them frantically!

Civil war! A civil war among the insect swarm erupted!

Meanwhile, the newly born Corrosion Gold Ant Queen, moving its bloated body, came to a metal wall that had been most severely gnawed, opened its hideous mouthparts, and began to devour frantically!

Its efficiency far surpassed that of ordinary Metal-Devouring Insects; the hard alloy was as fragile as a shortbread in its mouth, rapidly decomposed and absorbed.

In just a few breaths, its brood gland began to writhe violently, and fist-sized, slime-wrapped, metallic-glowing insect eggs were rapidly produced, rolling onto the ground.

The insect eggs hatched at a visible speed, turning into worker ants, slightly smaller in size but with faint dark golden marks on their carapaces.

As soon as these worker ants were born, they immediately joined the purge of the original Metal-Devouring Insects and began to transport the gnawed metal fragments back to the Ant Queen's side.

Even more surprisingly, the energy compression sacs on the Corrosion Gold Ant Queen's back began to glow, and the pure, refined metallic spiritual energy, transformed and purified by it, was injected like a stream into the damaged energy circuit of a nearby Thunder Crystal Cannon!

The originally dim Thunder Crystal Cannon, the runes on its barrel actually lit up slightly!

Feedback! It could truly transform the devoured metal into pure spiritual energy and feed it back!

Mo Yuan watched this astonishing scene, watching the situation within the city gradually brought under control under the Ant Queen's command, watching the energy nodes that began to be repaired, and a cold arc finally appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Despair? No. This was the beginning of his Sequence Dynasty, sucking nutrients from destruction, and evolving once again!

"Expand Ant Queen production scale."

"Prioritize repair of the energy System and shields."

"Clear all remaining insect swarms within the city."

"Next target... devour this planet in reverse!"

His command rang out again, carrying an unquestionable authority.

Insect plague? Now, this was his mine.