Two or Three Events in the Last Days 023
Chapter 23: Poisonous Ants
Jing Lin put on a pair of plastic rain boots and a raincoat Zhao Chenghuai had found for him. He tied the cuffs, pant legs, and other openings tightly with rope to make sure no insects could crawl inside.
When he arrived at Ma Renshan’s house, nearly everyone had already gathered. To his surprise, Yan Lu, a girl, was there as well. Like her brother, she was dressed much the same as Jing Lin and the others.
Although Yan Lu had grown up in comfortable circumstances, she was not a delicate flower raised in a greenhouse. Especially in the current environment, adapting and toughening herself as early as possible would only benefit her. So when Yan Lu said she wanted to go, Yan Fei agreed, and their parents did not object.
Jing Lin approved of the decision as well, while Zhao Zhiwen’s eyes seemed to shine even brighter whenever he looked at Yan Lu.
The rain had cleared, and dew still clung to the grass by the roadside. The village’s concrete road had already dried.
The group of sixteen men and women all carried shovels, hoes, and other tools that could be used to attack from a distance. They marched toward Liu Suqin’s vegetable garden. Team leader Ma Renshan carried a plastic bag containing leftover rice from lunch, along with several crushed fruit candies mixed into it.
When they arrived, a patch of water spinach in Liu Suqin’s garden had been trampled beyond recognition. The area was muddy and filled with chaotic footprints, revealing the panic Ma Xiaomei and Ma Xiaoyuan had experienced earlier.
The group searched the garden but found neither giant black insects nor any ant nests.
That was when the leftovers Ma Renshan had brought became useful.
He dumped the rice and candy mixture onto a small patch of open ground, then instructed everyone to hide behind a nearby cucumber trellis. They held their breaths and watched the bait and the surrounding area.
Nearly half an hour passed. Many people had already become impatient when a rustling sound suddenly came from the vegetable patch ahead. Everyone exchanged glances. No one dared make a sound.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
When they turned their attention back to the bait, they saw that Ma Xiaomei had indeed been telling the truth. Several black ants, each as long as an adult’s index finger, emerged, their antennae twitching as they rapidly crawled toward the pile of food.
The ants had appeared. Some villagers were frightened, while others wanted to rush forward immediately and kill them.
Jing Lin raised a hand, signaling everyone to stay calm. Even when the ants picked up food and began carrying it away, he still motioned for everyone to remain where they were.
Only five ants had appeared, but there could easily be more elsewhere. Ants carrying food had to be bringing it back to the nest. Killing these few ants was secondary—the important thing was destroying the colony itself.
Jing Lin was the first to follow them. Yan Fei followed close behind, then Yan Lu and Zhao Zhiwen, with the rest of the villagers trailing after them. Keeping their distance, they followed the ants until they watched them crawl into an irrigation ditch beside a field. The ants never came back out.
It seemed the nest was inside the ditch.
The group quickened their pace and soon reached the spot where the ants had disappeared.
The ditch itself was shallow. About twenty centimeters above the waterline was an ant hole roughly two fingers wide. There were crawling tracks nearby, along with several scattered grains of rice.
“This is it.”
Because Yan Lu was strong, Yan Fei immediately signaled for her to dig open the entrance. Everyone else spread out into defensive positions and tightened their grips on their tools.
Holding a hoe, Yan Lu swung it down at the opening. A large amount of wet soil flew aside. When she withdrew the hoe, however, all she could see was more of the tunnel extending horizontally. The nest appeared to run quite deep.
To continue digging, part of the field ridge would need to be removed. Yan Lu handled it herself, quickly flattening a section of the ridge. Then she resumed digging at the entrance.
She dug once. Twice. Three times.
On the fourth strike, the hoe hit something with a sharp metallic clang, as though it had struck stone. At the same time, a shrill squeaking noise came from underground.
They were coming!
Everyone grew even more tense, their eyes fixed on the tiny tunnel entrance.
When the hoe lifted away and the soil cleared, it revealed a giant ant whose body had been severed in half by the blow. At the same time, several more ants rushed out of the hole and charged directly at Yan Lu, who stood closest.
Yan Lu showed no fear. Gripping her hoe with one hand, she leaped across to the other side of the ditch. The leading ant let out two furious squeaks before turning and pursuing her again. At that moment, the villagers who had been waiting sprang into action, swinging their tools.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Yan Fei slammed a shovel down on one of the ants. The impact felt as though he had struck solid stone. His hands went numb from the shock. Yet the ant beneath the shovel remained alive. It squealed angrily and struggled with all its strength, nearly crawling out from beneath the shovel. Jing Lin reacted instantly, bringing his hoe crashing down onto the shovel.
Yan Fei felt the struggling paused briefly and shouted at Jing Lin, “Hit it again!”
So, Jing Lin didn’t stop; he brought the shovel down repeatedly. Even then, the venomous ant wasn’t dead yet—it merely squeaked, its struggles growing increasingly feeble.
Meanwhile, the other villagers initially panicked because the ants moved so quickly. Several people were nearly caught.
Soon they began copying Yan Fei and Jing Lin’s method. Those with shovels worked together with those carrying hoes. One person lured the ant and created an opening. Another pinned it with a shovel. A third hammered down with a hoe. No matter how hard the ants’ shells were, they could not withstand such a relentless barrage of blows.
Once all four ants that had emerged were pinned beneath shovels, Yan Lu used her hoe to hook out the ant she had cut in half earlier. Even now, its antennae were still twitching. It was somehow still alive. At the same time, Yan Lu noticed that a chunk had been chipped out of the middle of her hoe.
“Is this thing really an ant?” she asked. The world suddenly felt absurd.
The others stared at the damaged hoe in disbelief as well.
Yan Fei examined the severed ant and discovered that Yan Lu’s blow had struck precisely at the junction between the thorax and abdomen. That appeared to be the ant’s weakest point.
He motioned for Jing Lin to remove the hoe, pinning another ant. Then he lifted his shovel upright and drove the edge repeatedly into the ant’s body. After several strikes, he finally managed to split it in half.
The others quickly followed his example. At last, all five giant ants were killed.
Afterward, Yan Fei continued digging along the nest. The tunnel ran quite deep. Eventually, he unearthed a much larger creature resembling a giant grub. It was most likely the queen ant.
After killing the queen responsible for laying eggs, they also uncovered the colony’s eggs.
The ant eggs were as large as human thumbs, round and plump, white and nearly transparent. Large numbers of them were scattered throughout the soil.
Everyone shuddered at the sight. If all of these hatched, the results would be terrifying.
Ma Renshan immediately raised his hoe, intending to smash the eggs. A middle-aged villager hurriedly stopped him. The man took off his shirt and began collecting the eggs into it.
“Don’t waste them,” he said cheerfully. “Ant eggs taste great when fried.”
The man’s surname was Zhang. Because he loved food so much, everyone nicknamed him Big Mouth Zhang.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Someone asked, “These ants are so poisonous. Aren’t you afraid they’ll poison you?”
Big Mouth Zhang never stopped gathering the eggs as he replied nonchalantly, “What’s there to worry about? I’ll feed a few to my chickens first. If the chickens don’t die, then neither will I.”
Despite their concerns, nobody bothered arguing with him further. 」
Even after dealing with the ants, Ma Renshan remained uneasy.
He told the group, “Everyone, get up early tomorrow. Work in pairs and search the fields and vegetable gardens for more nests. Mark any you find, and we’ll destroy them together.”
For the sake of their families and their own safety, everyone agreed.
After picking up Le Le from Zhao Zhiwen’s house, they prepared to part ways.
Yan Fei said to Jing Lin, “Let’s team up tomorrow. I’ll come find you.”
Jing Lin blinked in surprise and glanced at Zhao Zhiwen. He had assumed he would naturally partner with Zhao Zhiwen, since they were close friends.
The moment Jing Lin looked over, Zhao Zhiwen casually edged closer to Yan Lu and said with a grin “Then I’ll team up with Lulu.”
Yan Lu gave him an amused look. Smiling, she nodded, offering no refusal.
Yan Fei merely glanced at him and said nothing. Ever since his mother had enjoyed a long conversation with Aunt Zhou that evening, he had realized she intended to find a match for Yan Lu. The person she had in mind was Zhao Zhiwen. Although Yan Fei found Zhao Zhiwen somewhat irritating, the man was presentable, came from a respected family, and had a good reputation in the village.
More importantly, Yan Lu had shown no dislike toward Zhao Zhiwen’s attentiveness over the past two days. So Yan Fei let the matter be.
The moment Jing Lin saw Zhao Zhiwen sidling up to Yan Lu, he understood. His friend had fallen for her. Not wanting to interfere with his friend’s pursuit of a girl, he nodded at Yan Fei.
“Alright. I’ll wait for you at home tomorrow.”
Yan Fei’s mood visibly improved. He smiled, ruffled Le Le’s hair twice, said goodbye to Jing Lin, and headed home with Yan Lu. For a brief moment, Jing Lin was distracted by Yan Fei’s smile. Then he snapped out of it, said goodbye to Zhao Zhiwen’s family as well, and took Le Le home.
After returning home, there was still some daylight left before dinner. Jing Lin took out his book on formations and read through it again. He found a low-level illusion array and spent some time studying it. Afterward, he took out his talisman-drawing supplies and began drawing talismans.
This type of low-level illusion array had little effect on people. Its primary purpose was to trap insects and animals such as the poisonous ants they had killed that day, along with snakes, rats, and similar creatures.
Once such creatures entered the formation, they would be unable to escape, wandering in circles as if trapped in a ghostly maze.
The talismans were completed quickly. Jing Lin walked around the entire house, spending half an hour calculating the formation nodes and core.
After sealing away the talismans, he also set up a Spirit-Locking Array. By the time both formations were completed, night had fallen.
Jing Lin was nearly exhausted. Setting up formations required constant movement and precise steps. After more than an hour of nonstop activity, even someone with excellent stamina would have struggled.
Dinner was tomato and egg noodles. As before, the ingredients had come from Zhao Zhiwen’s family.
Jing Lin disliked imposing on them repeatedly, but the elderly couple always said that it didn’t matter whether he ate or not—Le Le still needed food. As a result, he could only continue accepting their help.
While eating, Jing Lin thought that tomorrow he absolutely had to plant the bok choy seeds. He also needed to set up both a Spirit-Locking Array and an Illusion Array around Zhao Zhiwen’s home as well.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: One of two for the week.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
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