Chapter 290: New Home

Joo Joowon directly scooped her up. He had no particular fear of white, plump insects. Apart from certain poisonous ones that he did not want to touch, he could accept the rest. At least, they all smelled quite delicious when deep-fried.

Although Gaemi looked white and plump, she did not feel soft at all when touched. It was no wonder she had called it turning into a pupa. In terms of texture, it really was not much different from a pupa, except that it was much colder and gave off a faint chill.

With such a hard texture and no joints at all, Gaemi could still wriggle around. This showed just how excited she must have been at the time.

Now that Gaemi was placed on Joo Joowon’s shoulder, she looked listless as well, staring at the anthill she had painstakingly dug with teary eyes.

Although she had only dug a few percent of the entire anthill, how could that not count as something she had built entirely through her own hard work and effort?

Ants did not count as much of a burden for Joo Joowon. Apart from stopping halfway to calculate whether the journey would bring good or bad fortune, which delayed them for a little while, they were not held up by anything else and arrived very quickly.

Gaemi looked around at the surrounding environment and finally felt slightly relieved.

She had really been afraid that Joo Joowon would bring her back to the place where he had caught her at the beginning. The ground there was so hard that even after putting in a great deal of effort, she could not dig out even a small pit. The environment also did not look like a place rich in food sources. It was not even as good as this place.

At least there was soil here.

Although the soil here seemed somewhat unhealthy and lacked vitality, soil was still soil.

As long as there was soil, it meant that it was impossible to find absolutely no food. There would always be some hidden corners where the eggs of certain insects were concealed. If things really came down to it, she could even go into the water to search.

Although ants could not swim, they would not drown in water either, so they could still search around areas close to the shore for eggs that certain insects had laid in the water and bring them back to the nest to eat.

Gaemi carefully sensed the surrounding aura. Her antennae were currently restricted by the pupa, making it somewhat inconvenient for her to distinguish the conditions around her. Fortunately, the effect was not too serious, so she did not simply give up. She was still working hard to find a suitable place to build an anthill.

Joo Joowon did not live in an anthill, so naturally, he did not care where the anthill was located. However, this would affect whether she would become malnourished from being unable to get enough food every day, or whether she would eat the same type of food over and over until she became sick of it.

However, no matter how Gaemi looked at it, she felt that this place was not very suitable, and she could not help feeling bitter.

Although ants living in "lively" places would occasionally make an already comfortable life even better by adding a "frog" to the mix, their natural enemies would not come over every day to eat at a free buffet. At least they would not starve to death. But in a place where even plants were unwilling to grow, there was a real possibility that she could actually starve herself to death.

Gaemi had already prepared herself for the fact that she would still have to send the soldier ants out to search for food in the future.

This thought continued all the way until Joo Joowon brought her to the side of the energy pool.

Gaemi immediately perked up.

Had she sensed something?!

What was that trash heap called the old nest? Forget about it. She was afraid the new anthill would misunderstand!

Joo Joowon’s next words made Gaemi’s eyes almost smile themselves shut.

"This is the place. Take a look and find somewhere to dig. Don’t go too far away. Keep watch over this place for me, and don’t let anything other than you come close... Can you handle it?"

Gaemi nodded vigorously.

"Hmm... You can use it yourself too," Joo Joowon thought for a moment before adding, "But don’t use too much."

Compared to letting Gaemi use it, Joo Joowon still wanted to wait until Hwi had finished absorbing it before deciding what to do. Although, according to his own perception, this entire pool of energy was enough for two extraordinary creatures to break through, the differences in individual potential meant that the amount of energy required for their breakthroughs would naturally differ.

The greater the potential, the more energy would be required. Hwi had already proven that his potential was not weak simply by possessing the talent of Predator’s Feast.

Gaemi was slightly disappointed when she heard this, but she could still understand. Besides, Joo Joowon had not taken away that honey-pot ant either. With both sides benefiting from one another, she had still made a profit.

As soon as Joo Joowon gathered up the spider silk, Gaemi immediately began directing the ants to start digging. The energy pool was originally underground, and the soil around it had already been excavated by the earth fire, so it was relatively loose.

Unfortunately, the earth fire that had dug the tunnels clearly did not understand the structure of underground buildings. As a result, although the surrounding soil was soft and easy to dig, it had also become prone to collapsing.

Gaemi could not help feeling a headache over this. There was no way she could bring a group of ordinary worker ants that had never received any bloodline enhancement to reinforce such a large area of soil and ensure that the surroundings would not collapse.

Even if she worked the entire group of worker ants to death, it would still be impossible to accomplish.