Volume One: The Apocalypse Descends Chapter 56: Battle of the Human Ants, the Tide of Ants Surges

Xiang Chenguang opened the apocalypse survival system to check his tier and level information, which displayed Rank 1, Level 5 (7,255/3,500).

Along the way just now, he had acquired nearly 7,000 psionic points. With just over two hundred more psionic points, he would be able to jump two levels consecutively.

It had not been easy. Ever since the major battle on the road while relocating the militia training camp, his level had remained stagnant.

Five days—a full five days—without a level-up, without any increase in attribute points. This made Xiang Chenguang, who had grown accustomed to his strength visibly improving every single day since the apocalypse descended, extremely unaccustomed, and even somewhat anxious.

Looking at the cluster of giant march ants gathered opposite him and slowly closing in, he carefully counted them: there were 28.

Very well. Slaughtering them would elevate his tier to Rank 1, Level 7. After that, he could head back, and the strategic objective for the first part of today would be accomplished.

All he needed to do was return to the defense line established by the camp outside the city and wait for the retaliatory army of giant march ants.

The individual combat capability of the giant march ants was presumably the lowest among all otherworldly invading creatures; both in movement speed and physical strength, they were even inferior to mutant mites.

Their terrifying aspect lay in the fact that a single ant colony could reach numbers in the millions, coupled with an organizational and cooperative capability extremely rare among low-tier monsters.

A mere thirty or so giant march ants made virtually no difference to the current Xiang Chenguang compared to crushing a few ants underfoot before the end of the world.

With a few horizontal sweeps close to the ground using the dark gray iron rod in his hand, he shattered the gathered cluster of 28 house-cat-sized black ants into smithereens, leaving a faint, sour, and pungent odor lingering in the air.

Moreover, this scent dissipated very quickly. If not for Xiang Chenguang's currently extraordinary five senses, he wouldn't even have been able to notice it.

Yet he knew that his body had already been contaminated with the pheromones of the giant march ants; for at least the next 48 hours, his presence would appear to the giant march ants like a blazing bonfire in the pitch-black wilderness.

With a vibration of the golden-hooped rod in his hand, the fragments of giant march ants' carcasses and pale green bodily fluids clinging to the dragon-patterned relief on the tip of the rod were shaken off.

Xiang Chenguang glanced toward the intersection of Fuqian Street, then turned and walked toward the Lihe Bridge.

Passing by the intersection of the vegetable market, he channeled his innate primordial energy to his throat, and speaking at a volume that was not particularly loud yet possessed extreme penetrating power, his voice carried far into the distance: "A large number of giant ants will be passing through here shortly.

"If you do not provoke them actively, they probably won't attack you either. Of course, I suggest everyone leave this area as soon as possible; that is the safest course of action."

Xiang Chenguang walked all the way toward the outskirts of the city, shouting warnings to the survivors along the route.

Passing through the Golden Triangle district, he encountered some survivors who had ventured out to search for food, water, and other daily living supplies in supermarkets and other stores while he had cleared the monsters from the streets.

These people were likely residents from the vicinity of the Golden Triangle who had witnessed Xiang Chenguang effortlessly slaughtering monsters earlier. Seeing him return now, they swarmed forward to plead for his help and seek asylum.

Those who dared to venture out to scavenge for supplies were either facing the desperate plight of exhausted rations or possessed a certain degree of courage and ability.

Faced with their pleas for help, Xiang Chenguang said, "I just eliminated a batch of giant march ants on the street south of the Lihe Bridge.

"According to information from the Apocalypse Online Forum earlier, giant march ants possess an extremely strong desire for revenge, and their colonies are massive, usually numbering in the millions per nest.

"I am now heading outside the city to establish defense lines with my companions to cope with the ants' retaliation. You are welcome to leave the city with me, but you must join the faction I belong to and fight against the ant attack together with us."

Hearing that Xiang Chenguang had provoked a million-strong monster horde, these people's expressions changed drastically. Immediately, they grabbed the supplies they had just gathered and fled far away from him, terrified that they too would be targeted by the giant march ants.

Judging by their looks, had they not been deterred by Xiang Chenguang's terrifying strength, many of them would likely have spat curses.

Xiang Chenguang shook his head and continued walking toward the city limits while calling out warnings.

Along the way, he encountered a few more groups seeking help, but after hearing him explain the situation, they too gave him a wide berth.

In truth, toward these people who dared to venture out for supplies, if they had chosen to join him in resisting the impending ant tide, he would have been willing to take them in.

Furthermore, what he had said was not a lie; he had merely chosen to share only a portion of the true information with them.

Regrettably, all the way to the outskirts of the city, Xiang Chenguang had not recruited a single new teammate.

Meanwhile, after passing the three-way intersection leading out of the city and proceeding about a hundred meters further along the highway, the terrain had transformed completely.

An earthen wall connected to the adjacent mountain lay horizontally across the middle of the road, extending all the way to the riverbank on the right side of the road, effectively cutting off the highway.

Originally, the outer edge of the roadbed on the right side of the road was the southern bank of the Lihe River, where the drop from the road surface to the water level of the Lihe River was less than five meters, and the riverbank was a relatively gentle slope.

Now, the terrain here had also been remodeled into a sheer, vertical 90-degree slope, and an earthen wall slightly higher than an adult's knees and roughly forty to fifty meters in length had been erected along the riverbank.

Similarly, the mountain forest on the left side of the highway had undergone a certain degree of modification. Some trees had been cut down to form a path over a meter wide and sixty to seventy meters long, leading directly to the spatial rift hidden within the mountain forest.

He Wan stood guard outside the spatial rift alongside Xiang Xiaoxiao, He Jie, and Wei Wei, clearing away any monsters that might appear at any moment.

In reality, they could have chosen to establish their battle line a bit further away from the spatial rift to intercept the giant march ants.

However, they were worried that Tier 2 monsters such as blood-sucking demon bats might emerge from the spatial rift and disrupt their defense line.

Therefore, it was better to establish the defense line near the spatial rift, bringing the spatial rift itself into their surveillance range to promptly eliminate monsters emerging from within and prevent them from impacting the defense line.

Standing atop the earthen wall—which was no more than a meter in height but over two meters in thickness—Xiang Chenguang elevated his character level to Rank 1, Level 7. He allocated his two newly acquired attribute points to constitution and agility respectively, while still retaining one previously unspent free attribute point.

Under the effect of the Balanced Physique talent, his three primary attributes increased to 21 points.

Meanwhile, leveling up again would require 4,500 psionic points.

Thus, he stood quietly holding his rod, gazing into the distance along the road, while flanking and behind him stood a group of warriors grasping iron shields and steel spears.

He was not made to wait for long before a black carpet began to appear on the road ahead, extending toward their battle line.

The black carpet kept stretching forward continuously, yet the rear seemed endless, as though it had no terminus.

When the black carpet crept to within about five or six meters of the defense line, Xiang Chenguang leaped down, gripping his iron rod.

With the iron rod pointing downward, he swept it in an arc that practically hugged the ground; all the giant march ants along this arc were swept away and smashed to pulp by the tremendous force.

As his rod swept down, a fierce battle between human and ant officially erupted.

Just as before, he alone formed the first line of defense for the camp.

Humanity numbered fewer than 200 people, whereas the giant march ants surged toward the human defense line from afar like a relentless black wave.