She had narrowly escaped, but she had also seen a shocking scene.
A teammate had been captured alive while fleeing.
Those creatures knew how to use neurotoxins.
Different from the cruel hunting stance when they first appeared, they actually used toxins during the pursuit.
As a Biologist, Ponzu certainly understood what this move meant.
Unlike lions or cheetahs pouncing on prey, it wasn't solely for food but also considered preservation.
Treating humans as food, knowing how to speak the common tongue, also knowing how to capture alive to preserve food, and that word from their mouths: Queen.
It was hard to imagine what race those terrifying monsters belonged to.
Ponzu struggled to suppress the fear continuously pounding against her heart, organizing the information in her mind.
She had to have a general understanding of the current situation. She had to calm down, and she had to find a way to survive.
'Right, phone, phone...!'
Ponzu curled up in the mud, her face changing slightly.
Her phone was lost...
…
Somewhere in the forest.
Feng Xiaoyu, severely wounded and unconscious, was suspended in mid-air, curled up by a slender bull's tail.
The bull-horned man had declared sovereignty, but the fish-scale man clearly had no intention of letting go of Feng Xiaoyu.
They could no longer be called human, but the individual inclinations and varying degrees of memories from their human lives remained, naturally including individual desires.
The fish-scale man had been a pervert in life. His craving for women passed through genetic selection, not only preserved but also became even stronger.
Of course, he was only interested in human females.
The nearby area had already been cleaned out, not a single insect spared, all turned into the Queen's food, let alone living humans.
Now suddenly seeing a woman, the fish-scale man didn't care about exceeding boundaries between divisions.
Anyway, the Queen wanted food. What he wanted to do wouldn't affect the food's quality.
Seeing the fish-scale man persist like this, the bull-horned man habitually muttered to himself: "Is there a suitable excuse to cover up the fact of killing you? If there is, it should be easier."
"Harming one's own kind... surprisingly, no resistance at all."
"Perhaps... I was that kind of person before."
"Wish the memories left behind were clearer."
Squadron Leader-level Chimera Ants born from fusion with human genes retained varying degrees of memories.
Squadron Leader-level Chimera Ants could clearly remember their names from when they were human, even having relatively clear memories.
Some would confuse memories and not remember their names, but still retained linguistic ability.
These memories not only allowed Squadron Leader-level Chimera Ants to use language for communication but also influenced their personalities and conduct.
The fish-scale man saw the bull-horned man muttering to himself and took action with extreme impatience.
He moved, targeting Feng Xiaoyu directly.
He only wanted a live woman, so his first thought was to chop off the bull-horned man's tail.
Twenty minutes later.
The fish-scale man's head was half gone, a large hole punctured through his abdomen. He was dead beyond dead.
The bull-horned man had lost one horn. Blood seeped from his head, flowing all over his body.
Manipulating the bull tail behind him to unwind, he gently placed Feng Xiaoyu down.
The bull-horned man crouched down to check Feng Xiaoyu's state. A moment later, his handsome face slowly darkened.
He stood up, walked a few steps, and gave a couple of kicks to the fish-scale man's corpse.
With two dull thuds, the fish-scale man's remaining head shattered into pieces, his waist directly stomped in half, the corpse broken into two pieces.
Feng Xiaoyu was dead, so the bull-horned man was angry.
It was because of this idiot getting in the way that he didn't have time to dig up some curious questions before Feng Xiaoyu died.
"Waste with nothing but sex on the brain."
The bull-horned man walked towards the nest direction.
As he left, the slender bull tail again curled up Feng Xiaoyu's corpse.
He had extremely strong individual inclinations, clearly retaining many memories. But he didn't privately consume Feng Xiaoyu, whose nutritional value equaled a thousand ordinary humans.
On one hand, to continue the race and gain merit… on the other hand, greatly valuing individuality.
This was Chimera Ants with human genes as the dominant component.
…
A hunt ended quickly.
The Chimera Ant's supply troops discovered one of the targeted prey was missing. While transporting food back, they began searching for escapees.
However, Ponzu had grown up in the forest and maintained Zetsu. While hiding motionless in the mud, the Chimera Ants responsible for searching simply couldn't find her.
If she were injured, even a little smell of blood would have attracted the Chimera Ants.
Fortunately, she wasn't injured when they scattered and fled.
Regrettably, she couldn't move easily.
Before clarifying the forest situation, moving even a hundred meters might lead her to encounter those monsters again.
In other words, she was completely restricted.
Staying in place, even if the Chimera Ants didn't find her, she would starve to death.
There were several large mountains in the forest. Among them, one had a rather strange shape, like a withered coral.
That was the Chimera Ant's anthill.
The Chimera Ant Queen would based on her need for a location continuously migrate.
During this period, the migrating Queen would continuously eat, so the number of soldier ants would continuously increase.
Depending on the creatures eaten, the soldier ants born were all sorts, fusing the characteristics of various creatures.
Once a location was chosen, the Chimera Ant Queen would give birth to many builder ants, building the anthill at an astonishing speed in a short time.
By then, the Chimera Ant Queen's appetite would reach a peak.
She would first eat enough nutrition to give birth to the King's Royal Guards. Afterwards, she would focus on preparing for the King's birth.
At that time, the amount of food would gradually increase with the development of the fetus, even reaching the point of needing to eat hundreds of humans daily.
Now, she had already chosen a location, and the soldier ants were numerous enough. Next was to prepare for the birth of the Royal Guards.
To provide the Chimera Ant Queen with sufficient food, the supply troops led by various Squadron Leaders began expanding the invasion areas outward.
The Republic of East Gorteau prohibited mobile phones. Internal information flow was very slow. So when villages in remote mountainous areas were cleaned out, no news got out.
Time passed day by day. A crisis capable of threatening all humanity was brewing.
Ponzu... was still struggling.
Pro Hunters usually maintained a good habit.
They would choose a friend and periodically confirm each other's status via text or phone calls.
Thus, a ringtone suddenly sounded in the quiet forest.
Ponzu, who had remained hidden in the mud and dared not move recklessly, was already somewhat weak. Upon hearing the faint ringtone from a direction in the forest, only deep lingering fear remained.
That ringtone was too conspicuous in the frighteningly quiet forest.
Indeed, shortly after the ringtone sounded, a Chimera Ant arrived near the phone's location.