CHAPTER 352: CHAPTER 331: HARVEST

The red dots from Northern County have completely disappeared from the map of the Resonant Gene Scanner.

Luo Ping glanced at the Resonant Gene Scanner to confirm, then finally felt relieved.

Tang Er and Yao emerged from their stealth state, and Tang Er walked over to Yao Wei and returned the mechanical dog to her.

——He had already noticed that compared to Mr. Lu, Mr. Yao preferred to hold Gou, as if having this incredibly powerful mechanical dog in hand was the only way for Mr. Yao to feel at ease.

But it really was the case.

Tang Er thought to himself, if he had such a dog, he’d want to hug it to sleep every night too.

It was just too impressive, the role Gou played in the recent battle was far beyond anything he could do.

However, what surprised Tang Er a bit was that this time Yao Wei didn’t seem to care much about Gou, after taking it from Tang Er, she just nodded at him and quickly ran to Lu Xi’an, placing Gou on the ground.

"Don’t worry, I’m fine."

Lu Xi’an smiled at Yao Wei and said.

Before Yao Wei had even spoken, he already understood her feelings.

He continued, "I’ve got a Fungus Stone on me, my body has almost fully recovered by now.

"It’s just a pity our Fungus Stones are for external use only, they can only heal the body; we can’t exploit bugs to boost power like Boss Liang and Xu."

If we hadn’t won this battle, that beating we took earlier would have been in vain.

Yao Wei was still a bit worried, and she carefully checked Lu Xi’an all over to make sure he was alright, only then did she feel at ease.

——The reason she put down Gou was to check Lu Xi’an’s body.

That made Lu Xi’an a little embarrassed, saying, "Don’t do this, everyone’s watching."

Yao Wei ignored him.

Luckily, under Luo Ping’s lead, everyone was very tactful.

Luo Ping immediately changed the subject.

Being as smart as he was, he didn’t awkwardly comment on the weather or anything, but instead shifted the topic forcefully.

He looked at the map on the Resonant Gene Scanner, then at the spot where the Northern County’s camps just stood, and sighed:

"Sigh, what a pity, such a nice cylinder that could even spout fire, and now it’s lost."

The comment made Liu Hua a bit embarrassed, who said, "Sorry..."

Luo Ping quickly said to Liu Hua, "No, I’m not blaming you. This isn’t your fault, you don’t owe me an apology.

"Besides, it was I who told you to pay attention to that cylinder. If you hadn’t let the ants consume it, they would have been in trouble.

"If the ants had been in trouble, who knows what the outcome of our battle might have been. You did the right thing, it was the best choice."

Liu Hua felt relieved after Luo Ping said this, even feeling a bit embarrassed like Lu Xi’an.

Luo Ping added, "Now that your ants have eaten so much of those Northern County people, they should have made significant progress, right?"

"Yes."

As the topic shifted to this question, Liu Hua forgot her embarrassment, feeling a bit happy and satisfied, "Just now, because we were in battle, the worker ants couldn’t carry the meat back to the Ant Queen, so they had to eat it themselves.

"They can digest the meat, but it takes time, and once digested, their strength should increase significantly, and they’ll live longer.

"——This is what the Ant Queen communicated to me. It now seems to see me as its leader, thinking I’m one of them, and it listens to me, while the other ants listen to it."

Luo Ping couldn’t help but widen his eyes: "Does that mean that even without using your ability to control them, they’ll naturally follow you?"

"Yes, that’s right."

Liu Hua talked more and more excitedly about the ants, "I think by following me, they’ve grown a lot stronger, eating a lot of things that make them strong. This makes them feel like it’s only natural to follow me.

"Just now the Ant Queen even tried to communicate with me about sharing the meat, which startled me."

"......"

"......"

"......"

Everyone fell silent for a moment, Luo Ping’s eye twitching, and he said, "You startled me too."

Liu Hua laughed, "I didn’t dare eat it, I refused.

"The messages from the Ant Queen said that since its subordinates live longer and have higher strength, they’re less likely to die, and the newly produced worker ants are different from the previous ones, also very strong and not easy to die, so now it doesn’t need to produce as many worker ants.

"Those newly acquired foods, it can use to digest and strengthen itself. Once it finishes digesting, the whole ant colony will become much stronger, with an overall boost."

Luo Ping widened his eyes in surprise and delight, "Really? That’s great! Our battle this time wasn’t without gain.

"Liu Hua, you’ll be the strongest among us now, don’t bully others in the future."

Liu Hua smiled and said, "I won’t, Mr. Luo, we’re all companions, why would I bully anyone?"

Everyone else laughed, chatting away, taking turns with the conversation.

Meanwhile, Yao Wei had finished checking Lu Xi’an’s condition and came over. Liu Hua noticed Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei, and laughed, "And this here is Mr. Lu and Mr. Yao, compared to them, I’m not impressive at all."

"Mm-hmm-hmm!"

Chai Xin nodded furiously, more than anyone else.

Everyone said:

"Yeah, yeah."

"Mr. Lu and Mr. Yao are amazing, Liu Hua is third."

"Big brother and sister were too fierce, what did they just do to those two?"

"Yeah, if I were to take a beating like that, no amount of chocolate could make up for it."

"I still shiver thinking about it now, thank goodness I’m not one of them."

"Hmm..."

Lu Xi’an waved a hand, smiling: "Alright, alright, if you keep saying things like that, we’ll become a pair of monsters."

Luo Ping said: "That can’t be, big brother and sister, you could never become monsters. At the very least, you’re Round Egg Superheroes."

"Round Egg Superhero" is a tokusatsu series in this world, quite similar to "Ultraman". Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei also had some videos of it they had collected, it seems Luo Ping had seen it before.

However, the head of the Round Egg Superhero is not like Ultraman, which has antennas in the middle and googly eyes, but is entirely spherical, without any edges.

The different members of the Round Egg family are distinguished by color and shape of the sphere.

Lu Xi’an thought of the ridiculous appearance of the Round Egg Superhero, couldn’t handle it, and said: "Stop, stop, the Round Egg Superhero’s head is so round, I can’t be that, you should be it yourself."

Luo Ping said: "My head isn’t round either." Saying this, he unconsciously looked towards Bottle.

The others also looked toward Bottle.

Among everyone present, Bottle had the roundest head.

Now it was Bottle’s turn to be embarrassed.

Everyone laughed and joked, except for Lu Shou who remained silent, feeling he couldn’t fit in.

Then Luo Ping said: "Alright, alright, let’s get in the cars and head back home." He learned this phrase from martial arts novels.

Yao Wei said: "They have two more cars."

Luo Ping patted his forehead: "Almost forgot, that’s part of our loot too. Let’s go take a look."

With that, he beckoned everyone and they headed towards the place where the folks from Northern County parked, led by several Type A Neo-Humans.

But as they walked, Luo Ping unknowingly ended up at the back.

Lu Shou was at the very end of the group, and Luo Ping noticed something was off with Lu Shou’s mood. He moved closer to ask: "What’s going on? We finally won, why do you look so down?"

"It’s nothing..."

Lu Shou forced a relaxed smile and said, "I just feel like I didn’t contribute anything just now. All that courage eating Yang Shuxia’s meat for nothing..."

Luo Ping understood, lifted his arm and placed it on Lu Shou’s shoulder, smiling: "Why think so much about it?

"We’re B-type Neo-Humans, in a team, we’re last-resort meat shields. If we don’t have to act, it’s ideal.

"Bottle and I didn’t have to act either, right?

"Look at the two B-type Neo-Humans from Northern County, they acted, but did they win?"

Lu Shou opened his mouth but said nothing.

Luo Ping continued: "As for what happened before, just don’t mention it anymore.

"I’ve seen a phrase from movies and martial arts novels: no regret after the move, meaning what’s been done is done, no regrets.

"Also, your strength has indeed increased, and who knows when it might come in handy in the future.

"It’s always good to increase your strength."

Lu Shou wanted to say something more, but Luo Ping stopped him and said: "This damn world forces us to do many things we’d rather not. Once done, no regrets, just be cautious in the future. Alright?"

Lu Shou paused for a long while, then nodded and said: "Alright..."

Their conversation wasn’t loud, enough to be missed by others, but not by a few Type A Neo-Humans.

Lu Xi’an walking at the front glanced back but ultimately decided against it.

Luo Ping really is quite reliable.

He thought to himself.

The two cars from Northern County—a jeep and a van—had the doors locked.

When everyone got there, they realized they didn’t have the keys.

The keys should be on the Northern County folks, but they had been eaten by ants along with their clothes, so where would they find the keys now?

Everyone had no choice but to remove the doors, gather resources from the vehicles, and discard the rest as junk.

As expected, there was no Resonant Gene Scanner on the car; the Northern County folks were confident in their abilities to locate people.

The remaining items they had already taken during the battle.

Luo Ping instructed others to drive their car over, siphon the gas from the Northern County two cars’ tanks into their own, and remove all detachable parts including tires.

Thus, they reaped everything they could.

Truth be told, the resources they gained from this battle were not as plentiful as some places Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei had scouted and raided.

But sometimes, comparing things like this wasn’t quite right. Let’s not even talk about the strength gained by Liu Hua; they eliminated a big threat from the south, improved their battle experience and teamwork, and learned about the abilities and combat style of the Northern County group, which was a massive gain as well.

After this battle, whether it’s Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei or Luo Ping and the others, they are bound to reach a new level.