Zhou Qingfeng went to the Elf Ruins and ran through the Bloodstream Canyon into the nest of acid-loving ants. This huge underground kingdom is two to three kilometers north of the canyon, and the ant colony has built a three-dimensional urban structure underground.
This is a quiet and silent group that has not been known to outsiders for fifty years, but now it is facing the crisis of annihilation. A plague called 'corruption' is entangled in the ant tribe and continues to eat away at the life of this group.
The acidophilic ants have thought of many ways to save themselves, and one of them is to capture foreign 'prisoners' to work for themselves. They build separate rooms in the nest, and the largest one is given to the 'Plague Priest' Old Borg - in fact, the old
Borg is a witch doctor.
Although she only has weak divine power, Talona, the goddess of poison and disease, is a very difficult person to deal with. She has always been rejected by the gods, and even bad guys like Cyric despise it, thinking that it causes all kinds of poisons and diseases.
Not popular.
Talona's twisted psychology caused her to repay the injustice and suffering she suffered to the believers of other gods. Anyone who dared to offend it would retaliate with diseases.
As a master of spreading the plague, everyone's expectations fell on Old Borg, a 'professional' person, hoping that some miracle would happen.
In the large room built by the acidophilic ants, fluorescent moss covers the ceiling and walls, and the faint cold light provides barely adequate lighting. The room is equipped with several earthen tables, which serve as a crude research place.
Old Borg was dissecting the corpses of several acidophilic ants. Zhou Qingfeng and other unrelated people stood at the door to watch the fun - from a technical point of view, he felt that doctors from other worlds did not look like they were engaged in medical research, but like rural people.
Kill the pig and remove its intestines to prepare for sacrifice.
In fact, this is exactly what Old Borg did. He cut open the dead acidophilic ants, took out the internal glands one by one and arranged them. Then he lit some incense and other things, and then he knelt down to pay homage to the 'Mother of Diseases'.
'Pray and ask the gods for guidance.
If you don't get a reply once, it must be that you did something wrong in the ritual process, or your heart is not pure enough or pious enough, so you have to do it again.
How is this different from dancing like a master?
When Old Borg announced that he had failed in his third dance, he thought that his luck might not be right today, as Talona was too busy and did not respond.
Uncle Zhou had no choice but to go next door, where the necromancer was also busy. The 'Soul Captor' did not engage in disgusting dramas such as dissection. He tried to get a breakthrough from the perspective of the soul, but after doing it for a long time, he still had a frown on his face. He didn't know how to solve it and it was spreading rapidly.
of plague.
"I just hope that this plague will not infect people, so that I can look better when I die." Zhou Qingfeng sighed, and happened to meet the 'Shiying' who was walking around. He pulled the dead horse aside and asked: "You
Is there any way?"
"No."
"But why do you seem so happy to me?"
"Master, you don't know. This acid-loving ant has been crawling around outside the Bloodstream Canyon for decades, and has collected many good things. I found a backbone of a Berserker Demon before and thought it was a huge harvest. As a result, the ant
It was later said that they had complete 'Nightmare' skeletons.
The queen ant said that as long as we can solve the plague that plagues them, she will give me the skeleton of the 'Nightmare'. Anyway, they have no use for those demonic remains. That is the skeleton of the 'Nightmare', and it can fly. Eh...
...., Master, where are you going?”
"Go away... I'm ashamed of having such a silly horse like you. You can still laugh at a critical moment. You really don't have the slightest sense of worry. Daydreaming is quite powerful."
Uncle Zhou was very angry. He raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then he remembered that he had just looked at it three minutes ago. "This underground world isolates the inside and outside, which makes my biological clock disordered and makes me irritable."
The ant colony deep underground is busy but silent. All acidophilic ants cannot speak. As a whole, except for the queen who can use telepathy to transmit information, other ants communicate by bumping each other's tentacles.
.
The environment of the entire ant kingdom is so complicated. Zhou Qingfeng was in a cave that was more than ten meters or tens of meters underground, looking up at the various passages and buildings above his head.
Glowing moss and underground flora are everywhere, and they are responsible for providing air and food to the ants. The underground river springs are abundant, ensuring that all ants will not die of thirst. Food, air, water, and ecological cycles form a perfect balance.
But now this balance has been broken by the spreading plague. Several worker ants led the way, and Zhou Qingfeng went to the incubation room of the ant nest. There was an unprecedented big trouble there, which truly threatened the survival of the ant colony.
In the past, acidophilic ants suffered from 'rot disease', and they relied on continuous reproduction to fight the spread of the plague. But now this curse-like disease appears on unhatched ant eggs, and it suddenly affects the entire ant colony.
The death knell.
After reading the so-called curse research of Old Borg and Mondino, Zhou Qingfeng was greatly disappointed with them. The priest would only ask the gods. If the gods did not reply, they would be helpless.
The methods of the necromancers were not very clever. They asked how the soul got sick. If the ant could answer, would the queen be extremely desperate?
As for the rest...
"It's really distressing. I'm not a veterinarian." Zhou Qingfeng thought wildly, "No, ants are not under the control of veterinarians when they are sick. God knows what this so-called plague is about? Viruses? Bacteria? Parasites? Who is the source of infection? What is the route of transmission?
What?"
Just look at the history of world civilization and you will know how terrible infectious diseases are. Countless civilizations and races have fallen apart because of the invisible curse. Human beings are suffering from diseases and have a deep fear of plagues.
The incubation room arrived. It was a large cave. Tens of thousands of ant eggs were densely piled on the ground inside the cave, which looked a bit like alien eggs. A large number of worker ants were responsible for taking care of these unborn ant babies, constantly coming in and out.
Under the illumination of luminous moss, healthy ant eggs have a milky white sheen, while infected ones appear as dark spots.
"Is this the only incubation room?" Zhou Qingfeng asked.
The queen's telepathy goes directly into her brain, "There are twelve hatching chambers."
“Are all hatcheries infected?”
"Yes."
"Do the worker ants who are responsible for caring for the eggs also show signs of infection?"
"have."
"Damn it. Don't you know that infected people and uninfected people should be quarantined?"
"It doesn't work. We have tried this trick before. But infected ant eggs keep appearing, and even more. Even if the newly laid ant eggs are completely sealed, black spots of decay will appear after a while.
"
Zhou Qingfeng was instantly stuck... His understanding of infectious diseases was not only scary, but also that infected people must be isolated. But if isolation is useless, what should we do?
"Can you tell me the number of cases of 'rot disease' in recent years, the susceptible groups, and the places where it occurs? I want to do a data analysis." Zhou Qingfeng made a new request. He hopes to know more about this invisible plague.
information.
However......
The chaotic footsteps appearing from behind interrupted the communication between Zhou Qingfeng and the ant queen. He turned around and saw several humans dressed in different clothes but all arrogant appearing in front of him.