# 353
Chapter 353: I Heard You
The five of them silently boiled beef and tripe; the atmosphere felt a little… odd.
“A-hem.” Lin Qiye was the first to break the silence. “Uncle Li, you’ve been a forest ranger for so long—have you ever heard of anything… strange in these woods?”
At that, Baili Pangpang’s face went pale. He seemed to recall something and turned to Li Deyang.
Li Deyang frowned. “Strange?”
“Legends, you know—fox immortals, horse-monkeys, paper figures, or… a kingdom of the dead?”
Li Deyang gave the four a peculiar look, slowly set down his chopsticks, and understanding flashed in his eyes.
“Now I get it—you’re not here to film some ‘Boonie Bears’ episode…” He narrowed his eyes at Lin Qiye and spoke word by word: “You’re after the legendary ruins and treasure.”
Lin Qiye and the others exchanged glances, then lowered their heads and said nothing.
“Figures. Ordinary documentary crews don’t move like you do. You’re professionals, right?” Li Deyang looked as if he’d seen through everything and sneered.
“You saved Ting-ting, so you’re not bad people. I’ll give you one friendly warning: legends are just legends. Not every tale leads to treasure. We live in a scientific age—there’s no room for ghosts and goblins. It’s all superstition! Don’t believe—hey, why are you tugging my cloak?”
Li Deyang turned. Baili Pangpang was bent over, fingers on the dark-red fabric. Li’s face darkened; he yanked the cloak free and carefully smoothed the wrinkles.
“Nothing, just thought it looked nice.” Baili Pangpang grinned. “Where were we? Right—no ghosts or goblins…”
“So you’re saying there are no paper figures, no kingdom of the dead in this forest?” Lin Qiye asked thoughtfully.
“Of course not.” Li Deyang shook his head firmly.
Lin Qiye fell silent.
From Li Deyang’s expression, he wasn’t lying—he genuinely didn’t believe in such things. After guarding these woods for years, he should know them best…
Yet Lin Qiye and the others had clearly seen the paper figure behind the window and chased it for ages.
What exactly was going on here…
After they’d eaten their fill, Lin Qiye and the others stood. An Qingyu and Cao Yuan moved to either side, ready to support Li Deyang again, but he waved them off.
“No need. I can walk myself now.” Li Deyang rubbed his lower back, determined.
A proud Night Watchman, hobbling along supported by two kids—humiliating. After resting, he flatly refused their “kindness.”
“You’re willing to keep going with us?” Lin Qiye asked in surprise.
Li Deyang shook his head decisively. “No. I still say you can’t go farther. Those ruin stories are fake. Don’t gamble your lives on pipe dreams.”
Lin Qiye opened his mouth to reply when the iron chest behind Baili Pangpang suddenly rattled violently.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!
Lin Qiye stepped over and slapped the lid, but this time the giant ant’s thrashing didn’t stop—it grew even more frantic.
Realization crossed Lin Qiye’s face. He scanned the surrounding woods and gave a wry smile.
“I’m afraid even if we wanted to leave now… we couldn’t.”
Li Deyang froze, turned, and went rigid.
All around, huge red silhouettes crawled from the shadows, encircling them—ten, twenty, thirty…
Most were the red worker ants they’d met before, but five were larger, sheathed in black carapace, their aura clearly stronger—peak River Realm.
Their long antennae quivered as if communicating, inching closer…
Lin Qiye frowned and murmured to An Qingyu, “The red ones are the workers we saw. The black ones…?”
“Soldier ants. Compared to food-gathering workers, they’re built to fight.”
“How did they find us?”
“Their antennae must be a special communication method. Within a certain range they can signal. We’re close to the nest; the trapped worker must’ve called for help.”
Lin Qiye glanced around and sighed with regret. “Pity the queen didn’t come…”
“Unless necessary, the queen stays in the nest.”
“True.” Lin Qiye nodded. “This is already bad enough; add a suspected Sea Realm queen and we’d be finished.”
While they talked, Li Deyang’s face had turned ashen.
“Damn—we’ve kicked the anthill…” He spat, snatched Straight Blade and shotgun from Baili Pangpang, and grumbled, “Wouldn’t listen, had to march in deep—now we’re all gonna die here!”
Cursing, he stepped in front of the four, loaded shells into the hunting rifle, and racked the slide.
Click—!
He swept his gaze over the ants, finally locking onto the weakest point of the encirclement. From an inside pocket he drew a gleaming Coat of Arms, breathed on it, polished it with his thumb…
Much shinier.
Worthy of me.
He exhaled, clenched the emblem, and said resolutely:
“Brats, don’t freeze up. This ain’t the end of the world. I’ll bust a path—run for your lives and don’t look back, hear me?”
Behind him, Lin Qiye quietly drew his two Straight Blades and nodded.
“I hear you…
Let’s wipe them out!”