Chapter 284: Ant Queen’s Nest

The Apocalypse Shop only supported Apocalypse Coins as currency for purchasing goods. It also accepted recharging, but the things that could be used for recharging were not the original currency of Gaia. Instead, they had to be items containing extraordinary energy or equipment dropped by the game. Nothing else could be converted into account balance.

This method was clearly designed to recover currency, but Joo Joowon did not know how much lower the Apocalypse Shop’s recovery price was compared with the market price.

As everyone knew, the prices offered when a game bought back equipment were often several times lower than the prices at which players traded equipment among themselves. Therefore, recharging might actually be similar to acting as a sucker.

At least, that was how online games before the apocalypse worked.

The Age of Apocalypse might not have ridiculous situations where equipment worth several gold coins was sold for only a few copper coins. However, Joo Joowon definitely would not believe that it would not profit from the price difference.

Therefore, he only regarded this as his final alternative.

If Gaemi had truly disappeared, he would first try to absorb the energy himself or find a way to condense the pool of liquid back into crystals. In short, he would bring back as much as he could. Only if he truly could not carry the remaining amount away would he consider having the system exchange it for the apocalypse game’s currency.

As was customary, Joo Joowon first calculated his own fortune and misfortune before setting out.

To avoid consuming too much Mental Power, this time he did not choose to calculate whether there would be any danger along the entire journey to his destination. Instead, he used a segmented method of calculation. For example, he would calculate whether there would be danger between the place where he descended the mountain and the intersection, then whether taking a shortcut after turning at the intersection would cause trouble, and so on.

Although this method was more complicated, it at least made the deductions easier to perform and consumed the least amount of Mental Power.

Of course, this method also had its disadvantages. Making deductions was extremely taxing on the mind and spirit, and it would also affect Star Fortune.

Ultimately, this was not a field that ordinary mortals should become involved in. Any ability that could predict the future could not possibly exist without a price.

If there was no price, then either the price had already been paid without the person knowing, or someone else had paid it on their behalf. There could never be a third possibility.

However, compared with Star Fortune, Mental Power was more important to Joo Joowon at this moment. Since the situation was urgent, he chose this method because it did not consume too much Mental Power.

Following his memories, Joo Joowon arrived near the pine forest. The journey was calm and peaceful. He encountered nothing along the way, and the area was so desolate that it seemed as if there were no living creatures left nearby.

It was normal for things to be like this. The surrounding area had first been thoroughly ravaged by Joo Joowon, and before him, the earth fire had also acted many times. Under such circumstances, it would have been strange if there were still many zombies nearby.

Before he even approached, Joo Joowon sensed countless scattered, weak auras densely distributed around the area.

They moved forward in winding lines, like the long queues of vehicles that had filled the roads before the apocalypse.

Joo Joowon could not help feeling relieved. The activity of ants meant that the Ant Queen had not packed up and escaped. The only remaining possibility was that she might be restless and want to challenge him.

With the ant colony providing her with nourishment, he also believed that Gaemi’s strength would increase explosively in a short period of time. At the very least, guarding the energy pool would be more than easy for her.

However, for the sake of caution, Joo Joowon still did not approach directly. Instead, he spread out his Mental Power.

His Mental Power naturally passed through the dense ant colony and reached deep into the anthill.

Ants truly were social insects that relied on numbers to win and were not afraid of working themselves to death. Only two or three days had passed since the Ant Queen began digging tunnels and laying eggs, yet the anthill had already developed to a considerable size.

The entrance of the anthill was slightly raised, while the underground passages extended in all directions. More than a thousand worker ants diligently moved in and out of the tunnels in an orderly manner, without showing even the slightest sign of overcrowding.

Joo Joowon sensed the auras of the worker ants. Perhaps because they were only responsible for searching for food and feeding the larvae, the strength of their auras did not appear much different from that of ants before the apocalypse. Even a three- or four-year-old child could easily crush them to death.

However, ants had never relied on the strength of individual members. Therefore, no matter how weak the worker ants were, it would not affect the strength of the anthill.

Only after his Mental Power seeped into the anthill did Joo Joowon discover how ingenious the architectural structure created by the ants was. Every chamber was arranged very reasonably. The structure was stable, and although the chambers were densely packed together, they did not appear crowded. They were so delicate and skillful that they resembled works of art created by the extraordinary craftsmanship of nature.

However, if viewed from a human perspective, these chambers were truly very crowded. They were almost like those shared rental apartments where twenty or thirty people could be crammed into a single room of ten square meters.

Ants were social creatures. Even the Ant Queen would not occupy a room by herself.

Yet within these densely packed and crowded chambers, there were several chambers that were obviously much more spacious, making them particularly eye-catching.