Zhou Qi got to work immediately, opening his shopping app and starting to make purchases: folding stands, wooden breeding boxes, sieves, and more.
He also ordered 10,000 live Yellow Mealworms, which were very cheap, costing just over a hundred yuan and even including a few pounds of feed.
Currently, Zhou Qi still had around twenty thousand yuan on him, which was enough for the initial expenses.
After finishing these tasks, Zhou Qi returned to his room to rest.
At present, the Evolution Points were only those obtained from the Earthworms he had just fed to the Centipedes.
With so few remaining, Zhou Qi planned to wait until he had more Evolution Points before using them to promote the Ant Queen or upgrade the Evolution Space Rank.
Zhou Qi lay on his bed, thinking.
“And what exactly is inside that cave I encountered on White Snake Mountain today?”
On the mountain today, Zhou Qi recalled the sound and felt it didn't sound like wind blowing through the mountains.
Instead, it sounded like an animal making noise.
His thoughts gradually settled, and Zhou Qi quietly fell asleep.
The next day.
Zhou Qi woke up early, and after washing up and eating, he went to No. 1 Base behind the breeding farm.
Today, Zhou Qi specifically wore a hiking suit, carrying a backpack that normally held his Five-Tier Annam Centipede and Five-Tier Bullet Ant.
Tens of thousands of Rank 1 ants had already gathered at No. 1 Base, and half of them came out this time.
They swarmed around Zhou Qi, in front and behind him, a dense mass.
The mountain path was steep. Zhou Qi followed the previous route and arrived at the spot where he had hunted the wild boar before. Traces of the boar's blood still remained on the ground.
“I still have to cross another mountain.” Zhou Qi looked at the distant cave. At this point, there was no sign of human habitation.
After another hour or so of walking, he reached the foot of the mountain where the cave was located.
Strange, gnarled dead trees stood beside a Xiao Xi whose end was unknown.
It gave Zhou Qi a very strange feeling.
“Rustle!” The bushes on one side seemed to be pushed aside by some creature.
It was a mountain leopard!
Its body was comparable to a large dog, with taut muscles, slightly bent limbs, and yellow and black fur shimmering in the sunlight.
Its green vertical pupils stared intently at Zhou Qi, and a muffled roar came from its mouth.
“Damn.” Zhou Qi sighed softly, quickly drawing his hunting knife.
His heart pounded like a hammer, cold sweat seeped from his back, and his mind went blank for a moment.
The mountain leopard slowly approached, its tail rapidly sweeping from side to side, kicking up dust from the ground.
Seeing this, Zhou Qi's legs went weak, his breathing became rapid, and each exhalation was accompanied by a tremor.
The mountain leopard lowered its body, poised to strike.
The next second, a black light shot out from Zhou Qi's backpack like an arrow from a bow. Before the mountain leopard could react,
the Five-Tier Annam Centipede had already pounced on its face, its nearly half-meter body tightly wrapped around the mountain leopard's neck.
Its massive fangs directly pierced the mountain leopard's body. The mountain leopard kept shaking its body but couldn't shake off the Five-Tier Annam Centipede.
Its waving front claws also failed to cause damage to the Centipede, which possessed the Solid Armor talent.
The Five-Tier Annam Centipede opened its mouthparts wide, continuously tearing at the mountain leopard's neck.
In the blink of an eye, the mountain leopard fell down.
The Five-Tier Annam Centipede's sharp mouthparts had almost completely severed the mountain leopard's neck!
Zhou Qi breathed a sigh of relief. This sudden mountain leopard had truly startled him.
Looking at the corpse lying in a pool of blood, Zhou Qi directly let the dependents he brought with him have it as an extra meal.
Dense masses of Rank 1 ants and the Five-Tier Annam Centipede covered the entire mountain leopard's body.
While Zhou Qi took a sip of water, the mountain leopard had already turned into a white skeleton.
Without further delay, Zhou Qi continued forward.
After walking for almost another ten minutes, he finally reached the foot of the cave.
Zhou Qi only saw it clearly when he got closer: the cave entrance was nearly two meters wide.
Layers of bushes completely covered the cave entrance; an ordinary person would only think it was a bush.
Zhou Qi held his hunting knife like a machete, hacking left and right.
He slowly cleared a path forward.
As he walked, the ants underfoot continuously converged towards the left side of the cave.
A long, emerald green snake was being frantically besieged by Rank 1 ants.
If he hadn't brought the Rank 1 ants, he might have been bitten by this guy.
Zhou Qi swallowed, looking at the green snake that was gradually ceasing to struggle, and continued to clear the way forward.
The bottomless cave had not seen sunlight for who knows how many years.
It was hollow, making one's heart sink just by looking at it.
Zhou Qi looked at it and immediately commanded the Rank 1 ants to go in and scout.
He also had the Five-Tier Annam Centipede perch on his hand.
It was early October, and the weather was originally a bit dry, but at this moment, Zhou Qi only felt cold all over, with goosebumps covering his body.
Zhou Qi turned on his powerful flashlight. The cave was probably a few dozen square meters.
In the very center, there was a stone tablet more than two meters high.
In front of the stone tablet was an altar table, and on the table were several human-head-sized spherical objects made of stone.
Zhou Qi walked forward, but there was not a single word on the stone tablet.
He then looked at the gray, pitted stone spheres on the surface of the altar table.
“Could these be dinosaur egg fossils?” Zhou Qi wondered.
He then opened his backpack and packed all the stone spheres.
Continuing to walk forward, behind the stone tablet, he suddenly discovered a bottomless large hole.
The powerful flashlight could not reach the bottom at all.
Zhou Qi threw a small stone into it, but for a long time, he couldn't hear the sound of the stone landing.
“Hoo, hoo…” At this moment, sounds continuously came from this bottomless underground hole.
Zhou Qi immediately realized that the sound he heard that day came from inside here.
What exactly was in this underground hole?
Could there be some monster?
Zhou Qi's thoughts drifted. Could there be a Gorzan underground?
In a flash, Zhou Qi shook his head hard, thinking to himself what he was thinking.
At this point, the inside of the cave had been thoroughly explored. Inside, there was only this stone tablet, the altar table, and the underground hole discovered behind the stone tablet.
Zhou Qi then decided to go home. Before leaving, he first gathered some bush branches and laid them flat over the entrance of the underground hole to prevent sounds from coming out and being discovered by others.
He also covered the cave entrance with bushes.
Zhou Qi did not linger and quickly returned to the breeding farm.
He put down his backpack and took out the three stone spheres placed inside.
“Drip, Evolution Space Rank is insufficient, unable to strengthen organisms other than insects.”
As soon as Zhou Qi tried to strengthen them using the Evolution Space, the prompt sound rang out.
“Insufficient Rank doesn't mean it can't be strengthened.” Zhou Qi immediately stood up excitedly.
“So, if the Evolution Space Rank is sufficient, will it be possible to strengthen animals other than insects, or even plants?!”
Zhou Qi's eyes lit up. If it were possible, then the future development space would undoubtedly be even broader.
Zhou Qi put these three fossil eggs away, thinking that there must be something even more mysterious in the underground hole.
This world seemed not so simple.
“Six-star street still sends, what is Yang Qin's sound?” A phone ringtone sounded.
“Hello, Xiao Zhou, the Army Ant Queen you wanted has arrived. When can you come pick it up?” Li Ruhai's voice came from the phone.