In Fang Senyan’s world, based on the general knowledge he possessed, the habits of ants varied significantly by region.

African ants favored building “skyscrapers,” Even when conditions were poor, these creatures would use trees as scaffolding to construct imposing mounds, sometimes reaching several meters, even over ten meters high, and they were incredibly hard.

An adult swinging a great axe against them would spark violently, yet the surface would remain entirely unscratched.

While most ants preferred dwelling underground, Relative to their small size, the subterranean nests could span dozens of square meters, featuring distinct areas like storage rooms, nurseries, the queen’s chamber, tunnels, small rooms, and living quarters—all with complete supporting infrastructure that, in modern terms, would surpass a CBD.

As for this specific group of Monocerous Flying Ants on planet Uprose, they exhibited a combination of both habits.

Their worker ants nested atop the mushroom rocks, exploiting the advantage of elevation for superior surveillance, watching over their entire territory like sentinels, ready to swarm out at any sign of trouble.

Meanwhile, the Monocerous Flying Ant queen and her bodyguard drones resided comfortably in the magnificent underground chambers beneath the mushroom rock, enjoying coolness in summer and warmth in winter, wholly supplied by the workers.

If not for the sudden collapse of half the mushroom rock, which resulted in the tragic demise of two to three hundred hidden worker ants, Fang Senyan and his team would never have gained access to so cleanly purge the colony’s sacred nesting site.

Even though Aldaris had only been fleeing in haste previously and never ventured deep beneath the mushroom rock, this did not prevent him from quickly locating the entrance to the subterranean nest.

Because these flying ants crawled here constantly—though they flew during hunts, they always crawled when transporting food to the drones and the queen—one only needed to spot an area utterly devoid of vegetation and exceptionally smooth, like a small path, and follow it.

The entrance to the underground nest lay at the base of the mushroom rock, near the stone mountain.

Given that the Monocerous Flying Ants were comparable in size to lions, the entrance was tall, spacious, very smooth, odorless, and utterly black.

By this point in the battle, Paul’s powerful metal golem, Heracles, had served as the primary vanguard.

The massive construct’s surface had suffered significant corrosive damage from sprayed ant acid, leaving its once-pristine exterior pocked and uneven.

More critically, the metal golem’s surface was inscribed with numerous magic arrays that, when active, would cause energy to flow across them in a network pattern, emitting a red glow to enhance effects like "Bull Rush" and "Anti-Gravity." Now, after being corroded by the acid, more than half of these magic arrays were damaged.

As the golem walked, it felt noticeably heavier, and its joints emitted grating, squeaking sounds as if they were completely unlubricated, making its movements exceptionally sluggish.

Paul, who had to continuously sustain the golem’s operation, was experiencing immense mental strain.

Upon reaching this spot, he could only make a gesture of resignation toward the other two.

Fang Senyan and his companion understood that Paul likely still had trump cards, but having exerted considerable effort throughout their advance, they couldn't demand more of him.

So, without a word, Fang Senyan had Paul retract Heracles and instead deployed Ramtas to take the lead.

This, in fact, revealed the depth of Paul’s scheming.

He deliberately offered his golem Heracles as the vanguard, intending for the construct to endure battles that were less intense but significantly prolonged.

Since no one knew the queen’s combat strength—a sudden, furious assault could completely destroy the golem—feigning exhaustion before confronting the queen was a perfectly natural, seamless maneuver.

Fang Senyan was perfectly aware of Paul’s calculations, but as he himself was primarily the group’s main tank (MT), he didn’t mind Paul’s actions.

As the saying goes, tolerance breeds greatness.

One couldn't expect everyone to be selflessly devoted; as long as certain lines weren't crossed, their behavior could be tolerated.

Since the colony relied on touch and pheromones to navigate within the nest, the dark caverns had no natural light sources.

However, anticipating potential cave exploration, the Future Humans had equipped them with a special detector called a "Ladybug." This high-energy, specialized detector was about the size of a tennis ball, capable of hovering via anti-gravity technology for swift, agile flight.

It could also emit up to fifty meters of networked ultrasonic exploration beams to accurately map the geological conditions and resident life forms within the cave.

(Yes, essentially the device from Prometheus.) Due to the Ladybug’s high cost, Fang Senyan’s team deployed only one, having it scout ahead thirty meters and simultaneously provide illumination.

After walking about forty meters into the nest, they noted the air quality remained good, with occasional drafts.

The worker ants’ claw marks on the tunnel walls were clearly visible yet remarkably smooth.

While not comparable to human construction, a close inspection revealed the walls looked glazed, hard and slick.

A light tap with a finger produced a dull, "k'chak" sound.

Even pouring water on them caused it to stream right off without soaking in.

Continuing forward for about another hundred meters, the group felt a sudden sense of openness.

The passage, which had been the size of a train tunnel, now felt like entering a temporary loading bay.

The “Ladybug” flew up twenty to thirty meters high, illuminating the entire space, clearly revealing this to be the colony’s storage room.

Here, root vegetables and fruits were stacked neatly in categorized piles, along with piles of beast carcasses and hides.

Edible meat had been clipped by the workers into fist-sized, dehydrated chunks, resembling beef jerky, stacked together—the scent of decay only noticeable if one approached closely.

Observing the dense trails covering the floor, a sense of dread washed over the team.

If this were a trap, and dozens of worker ants swarmed out from all directions to surround them, they would be severely wounded, if not killed.

The greatest regret here was the immense value of many of the beast hides, tragically corroded by ant acid during the kill.

While they still held some worth, considering the enormous cost of transporting these damaged goods back to the Alpine Seven Base from Uprose, coupled with the need to save space for potentially better loot in future adventures, they had to be abandoned.

Moving on from the storage area, they encountered a T-junction.

At this point, Ramtas’s large nostrils began twitching rapidly, and he let out an excited roar, aiming squarely down the left passage while emitting a continuous series of grunts, as if a ripe female wild boar were inside.

Fang Senyan had originally intended to take the largest opening, but yielding to Ramtas’s intense insistence, they changed course.

However, after advancing only about fifty meters down this passage, they were hit by an indescribable stench—a smell akin to urine scale being cleaned with hydrochloric acid, acrid and suffocating, growing stronger the further they progressed.

Aldaris and Paul both had to put on gas masks.

When they reached the end of this passage, it opened into another spacious hall.

This hall contained numerous excavated, grid-like chambers.

Stepping into this area, Fang Senyan finally relaxed.

It appeared this ant colony had indeed reached a dead end, devoid of any further tricks, as no colony could sustain the cost of such deception.

This was the colony’s nursery.

After the queen laid her eggs, the worker ants carried them here for incubation and subsequent larval care.

Since almost all the worker ants were dead, this area had been in a state of chaos for a long time.

According to data provided by Android No.

1, Monocerous Flying Ant larvae, after hatching, required feeding nearly ten times a day (every 24 hours), all managed by the workers, who fed them different substances based on commands signaled by the queen’s pheromones.

The majority of larvae were fed “Chyme,” processed by the workers’ strong mandibles, mixing chewed fruit and large amounts of meat with their own saliva and storing it in their crop before feeding the young.

They required at least four kilograms at a time to feel full.

Larvae fed the “Chyme” would eventually hatch into worker ants.

Only a small minority, while being fed “Chyme,” would receive at least one daily meal of “Ant Nectar”—a substance analogous to royal jelly, normally reserved exclusively for the queen.

These select larvae would hatch into drones specialized for combat and mating.

Only when the queen died or the colony divided would any larva qualify to be fed entirely on “Ant Nectar”; upon hatching, it would immediately become a new queen.

At this time, the incubation chamber had been without worker care for at least several dozen hours.

Driven by instinct, the starved larvae naturally turned on the eggs and their siblings nearby—or rather, began biting them...

The stench produced by the decaying larvae or egg corpses was the source of the foul odor Fang Senyan’s group had detected.