Astral Cockroach

“Banbu… you’ve come…” Wedge Thorn ant queen wiggled its antennae, suppressed the restless ants around it, and awkwardly explained:

“Banbu, they don’t recognize your scent. I only have intermediate warrior strength, the soldier ants I cultivate have low intelligence and poor distinguishing ability… Wild beasts are often attracted by the Force plants, and I’m worried they’ll harm the life seeds, so I ordered the ants to intercept them from a distance.”

“Alright, I understand.” Banbu waved its antennae, and with a thought, the steel wire binding the goods snapped.

“The silk bags are all broken. Baizhu, quickly find a good location, dig a cave, and move the things in to store them.”

“Okay.” Baizhu glared at Wedge Thorn provocatively, and slowly walked along the cliff, checking and selecting a location. Next, it and Xiaobaizhu would stay in the canyon and dig deep underground.

Banbu looked around and found that the state of Wedge Thorn’s cherry Divine Gift seed had improved significantly, and Wedge Thorn’s life seeds were growing well.

The Force around the canyon was very thin, not normal!

Carefully scanning with mental power, it also noticed loose soil that had been dug under the plants, and scattered fragments of Force-depleted raw stones.

“Raw stones! Where did they come from?” Banbu waved its antennae and asked, “Wedge Thorn, where did Youcha go?”

Wedge Thorn replied, “Youcha found an abandoned raw stone mine and went to dig raw stones.”

“Abandoned…” Banbu carefully identified it and, sure enough, the scattered raw stone powder contained many impurities.

“How many days has it been gone?”

“21 days.”

Hearing this, Banbu immediately lost much interest. Abandoned mines were just leftovers and not worth much, and if they were far away, it would be meaningless.

Wedge Thorn secretly glanced at the bag containing Force food and asked, “Banbu, are these all for me?”

“No.” Banbu gently pointed its antennae towards the east and said seriously, “Wedge Thorn, if I send you to the opposite continent… we cannot participate in ant tribe wars, this is the will of the Natural True God, so if you go to the opposite continent to survive, we cannot help you.”

“Oh…” The excitement in Wedge Thorn’s mind vanished, its antennae drooped slowly, it lowered its head, and firmly said, “I can survive on my own!”

“Wedge Thorn, you have a second choice.” Banbu continued, “It just so happens that Lizhu Peak has encountered a crisis, a potential crisis, so, Wedge Thorn, you can also follow me and settle in Jinping Mountains, help me defend the border, and resist beast warriors.”

“Crisis… What about Youcha?” Wedge Thorn suddenly raised its head, its antennae waving excitedly, and asked, “Is Youcha also in Jinping Mountains? Great! Great!”

It felt a little dreamy and asked uncertainly, “Banbu, can I go to your mountains to live? I heard that there are no ant kingdoms on the Myriad Race Continent… only non-combatant harvester ants.”

“That’s not absolute.” Banbu said, “As long as you don’t cause trouble, who cares about these remote border affairs.”

Banbu pointed its antennae at a silk bag and said, “Inside are Blue Blood Apricot kernels, top quality, which strengthen vitality and are very beneficial to your growth. You can eat some, but not too much, just one a day.”

Xiaobaizhu packed up its things, stepped forward, and put down its backpack.

Banbu gently tapped its antennae, pointed to the backpack, and said, “Inside are also Flowersnake Fruits, also top quality, which strengthen and improve physical fitness. There are 20 of them, all prepared for you. After eating them, sleep and advance one or two times, then we’ll set off and leave.”

“Okay.” Wedge Thorn shook its antennae in agreement.

Banbu continued to instruct, “Xiaobaizhu, take the electric box and come with me. I’ll teach you how to use and maintain the water pump.”

…

Voltage outputs current, there are transformers and adjustment switches. Xiaobaizhu had learned some knowledge about electricity a long time ago. The following teaching was very simple, just telling it the structure of the water pump and the principle of operation.

There was standing water in the canyon water pit, and Banbu demonstrated how to use the water pump to drain water.

In one breath, it prefabricated 200 meters of spare water pipes, divided into 2-meter-long sections and some turning joints. There were no sealing rubber rings, so it called Baizhu over and told it how to use its metal ability to forcibly weld them together.

Finally, Baizhu and Xiaobaizhu worked together to dig a dwelling cave and moved all kinds of supplies in to store them.

Formally started work, digging underground, digging a vertical well with a diameter of 8 meters, reserving some ring-shaped steps to facilitate the bamboo rat warriors to climb up and down.

It also designed a vertical pulley, with a steel cable connecting a hanging basket, to hoist the excavated rubble upwards.

Baizhu and Xiaobaizhu were responsible for digging.

Banbu helped control the winch to rotate, watched for a few days, the excavation depth exceeded 20 meters, there was still no sign of raw stone veins, and the rate of overflowing Force had not changed at all, but the rock layer was getting harder and harder, and the difficulty of excavation increased.

Youcha did not return for a long time.

Banbu simply stopped watching and went east alone into the Sakura Continent ruled by ants to restore the Force consumed by making various metal equipment for its first heart.

This time, it found the right location and directly entered the territory of the former Mao ant kingdom that had been destroyed.

As expected, the white ant kingdom that won the war could not completely digest the Mao ant kingdom’s territory in a short time, and a large area of ​​ownerless land appeared.

It found a hilltop, lurked for a month, restored to full condition, and returned to the Chijian Continent.

…

On the edge of the canyon cliff, Youcha lazily lay, enjoying the winter sun, squinting, and occasionally glancing at the busyness in the canyon.

Baizhu and Xiaobaizhu were responsible for digging.

Wedge Thorn ant queen commanded the ants to help transport the excavated rubble out of the deep well.

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“Banbu!” Youcha stood up and asked, “Lizhu Peak has encountered a crisis? Is Wedge Thorn going to settle in Lizhu Peak?”

“Small groups of beast warriors are wreaking havoc in the Northern Wilderness, it’s nothing.” Banbu corrected, “Wedge Thorn is not going to settle in Lizhu Peak, it’s Yunwu Peak.”

“Oh, that’s good too.” Youcha said seriously, “Wedge Thorn is not as fierce and warlike as you said, on the contrary, it’s very smart and well-behaved.”

Banbu nodded its antennae and said, “Exploding ants are okay, much better than army ants like Mao ants.”

Youcha said, “Wedge Thorn has just molted and grown once, and is now a second-instar intermediate warrior. When are we leaving?”

Banbu said, “The journey is too far, let’s wait until it advances to the third instar before leaving.”

Youcha asked, “What about its life seed?”

Banbu said, “Wedge Thorn cherry tree seed? Take it back, Yunwu Peak should be able to plant it.”

Wedge Thorn noticed Banbu’s return, ran over quickly, and heard Youcha’s conversation with Banbu, and asked, “Banbu, what about the life seeds I’ve already planted? They’ve all grown very tall, what should I do?”

Banbu said, “Leave them here. Let Baizhu and Xiaobaizhu help you take care of them. This trip back to Lizhu Peak takes 45 days by sea and 110 days by land, and it still needs smooth sailing, plus I’m carrying you and running fast. There’s no way to bring the life seed plants back alive.”

“Oh…” Wedge Thorn was obviously a little worried, and tentatively said carefully, “Those two bamboo rat warriors don’t look like they know how to manage plants…”

Banbu said, “Baizhu has been following me for nearly a hundred years and has experience in managing plant seeds. Xiaobaizhu is smart, teach it and it will learn quickly, there won’t be any problems.”

Youcha said, “Banbu, I’m afraid the raw stones you brought this time aren’t enough.”

The carrying capacity of the ship is limited. Banbu came this time mainly to carry 15 bags of top-quality Force food, rations for Baizhu and Xiaobaizhu; 3 Force crystals, for Wedge Thorn’s Divine Gift seed; ordinary raw stones are too heavy, only 10,000 were brought, usually used to replenish Force for Wedge Thorn’s life seed plants.

The natural Force near the canyon is thin, and Force plants need to replenish Force to grow normally. The raw stones brought this time are indeed not very abundant.

“Banbu, I don’t think there’s anything good to dig in this canyon, right?” Youcha suggested, “I found an abandoned raw stone mine, why don’t you let the big and small Baizhu go and try it?”

Banbu walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. In this month, Baizhu and Xiaobaizhu only dug less than 40 meters downwards. Due to various factors, it’s getting slower and slower as they go down.

“Well, that makes sense. The canyon isn’t in a hurry, let them dig slowly for the next two years.” Banbu asked, “Youcha, is it far?”

Youcha replied, “It’s a bit far!”

Banbu stirred up its divine sense and called, “Baizhu, come up first.”