Fourth floor, laboratory.
Samantha took off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose wearily. "How's it going upstairs?"
"Everything has been arranged," the deputy said. "The lab is also completely sealed off; no one can come in downstairs anymore." It was a disgrace that they were broken into yesterday.
What about the workers?
The deputy paused for a moment, then said, "No abnormalities were reported."
"Go check again. Report anything wrong immediately. I won't allow any accidents to happen." With that, Saman put his glasses back on. It was a pity there was no surveillance equipment; otherwise, he could have seen everything upstairs and downstairs more clearly, and the person threatening him would have nowhere to hide.
The enormous shadow of this alternate world—the civilization that interfered with the progress of civilization in this world—needs what's here, but has always been wary of them.
Saman searched through all the hidden rooms today. He found no machines for producing things, nor any books or materials about production or technology.
It transmitted written language and numbers, but did not teach the people here mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology.
The people here still use wood ash to stop the bleeding when they are injured. In the decades or hundreds of years since the god descended, the lifespan of people in this world has not increased, and life has not undergone any fundamental changes.
That advanced civilization gave them only two things: the black cube and the machine to unlock it.
After the 'gods' arrived in this world, the people here forgot how hard they had struggled to survive in this world.
Food, clothing, daily necessities, and luxuries never imagined... everything is readily available, requiring only a small price.
"It looks just like opium," Saman thought to himself, looking at the black cubes.
Previously, he felt that supporting nobles was like deliberately raising useless people, preventing them from acquiring any ability to survive independently. Now, he realized that supporting this inferior civilization by a more advanced civilization was also like raising useless people.
They only needed to offer tribute to a 'king' to obtain any resources they desired, without having to engage in hard labor. Do the people in the anthill still remember how they obtained food and necessities from the wild?
A 'king' who has lost the ability to survive can only be exploited, and aren't these people the same?
"Protect the tribe and find a new way out." This is Saman's mission. He has been given a high-ranking role, but he has also been burdened with an extremely difficult task.
The fact that the character gave him this task indicates that he has already discovered the hidden dangers of this lifestyle, but he is unable to solve them on his own and has been putting it off until now.
"Boss, now that a new queen is about to be born, what about the one upstairs?" the deputy asked in a low voice, wanting clear instructions.
Saman knew what he meant; it was simply to disappear.
However, in his memory, for this kind of ant and bee colony, the old queen did not only face death.
This queen is only around forty years old, and theoretically she can live a long time. Even among the laborers who have to work hard every day, there are elderly people in their fifties and sixties.
Have you ever heard of swarming?
"ah?"
Somewhere on the fifth floor.
"Please come this way." The smiling soldier led the nobles to a huge portrait; she was the security chief for the wedding flight.
A man in the noble family kept glancing at her; they were the same couple the little bug had seen before.
This is a picture of a deity descending to earth, but that's not the point.
"You brought us to see a painting? What's so special about a painting?" the nobleman asked. They had lived here for over a decade and traveled everywhere. They had seen this painting hundreds of times, and no matter how beautiful it was, it couldn't amaze them.
"Of course, we didn't invite you gentlemen to come and see the painting." The female soldier bowed to them. "Thank you for your presence, and thank you for the sacrifices you have made."
The nobles exchanged glances, vaguely sensing that something was amiss.
sacrifice?
Years of brainwashing have made them believe that adulthood is a great and sacred thing, and that after adulthood they will go to the Kingdom of God, just like their mothers and ancestors.
So the nobles simply raised their chins haughtily: "Of course, we are indeed great."
The female soldier stood up straight. She didn't know where to press the image, but the image slowly turned into a semi-transparent membrane with water flowing on it, like a soap bubble in the sunlight. The colorful membrane was wrapped in blue smoke.
After a while, the soap bubble burst, blue smoke drifted out, and a very special sweet fragrance entered their noses.
The soldiers and civilians didn't feel much, but the nobles' faces began to flush, and their eyes became somewhat unfocused. Their breathing became heavier as they stared intently at the other end.
It was a bright moonlit night, with a gentle breeze bringing a cool breeze.
The female soldiers and civilians looked at the nobles. The male nobleman who had made promises to her had forgotten her existence. He stared blankly outside, his eyes filled with emotion.
She stepped aside, letting the moonlight stream in freely: "Today, perhaps new hope will be born."
The nobles opened their eyes wide, their bodies glowing softly in the moonlight, and their wings fluttered slightly.
Their instincts as descendants of the king awakened, and their wings grew much larger, so large that when they vibrated, they could even float up and fly freely.
One by one, the nobles couldn't help but fly out of the square window, the moonlight falling completely on them, reflecting a soft glow.
Colorful specks of light scattered from the constantly vibrating wings. They twinkled like a galaxy.
The luminous nobles gathered near the ground, drawn together by instinct, male and female. One female noble would attract three or four male nobles, who would huddle together, their scattered points of light merging into one.
Under the moonlight, the nobles, like dancing moon spirits, moved their bodies in a courtship dance, guided by ancient memories.
"Everything is going well," said the female soldier at the window, a cold smile playing on her lips. Their bodies were also bathed in moonlight, yet they remained completely unaffected.
The nobles danced in the moonlight, their bodies bathed in soft glow and scattered points of light. Their faces were filled with joyful smiles as they fluttered their wings, sometimes gathering and sometimes scattering them in a graceful dance.
Suddenly, the female soldiers and civilians' expressions changed: "There's someone in the bushes!"
"Whoosh!" In the blink of an eye, an arrow came down from the ground and struck a female noblewoman in the neck. Her eyes widened, her hand touching the arrow that had pierced her neck, and she lost all her light, falling to the ground like a shooting star.
"Who?" The soldiers and civilians felt their hearts sink.
The next second, arrows rained down.
Just over ten minutes ago, when the nobles were still unmarried...
"Nobody here?" Ren Yifei broke through the ceiling of Gu Cheng's room and climbed out from the third floor.
The third floor wasn't dark at night; the walls of these rooms were covered with glowing plants, and the cold light made people look pale.
No one noticed his arrival. He made very little noise, and the hole he dug was only big enough for one person to pass through. This area happened to be the noisy mother and baby area, and the babies' cries drowned out the sound of him drilling.
Ren Yifei carefully avoided the dozing gatekeeper, tiptoed past the room full of pregnant women, and quietly headed towards the stairwell.
He planned to go to the fourth floor to check the situation first.
First, determine the purpose of the Black Cube, then go through the hole from yesterday to check the fifth floor, and finally, discard the Gu Cheng identity and make a clean getaway. Plan complete.
Initially, he didn't plan to go to the fourth floor because Saman was there. With Saman's keen observation skills, if he went for a quick look, his first layer of disguise would be exposed in no time. He wanted to stay hidden for a few more days.
But now that he's decided to abandon this first layer of disguise, he'll definitely have to make a trip.
Yes, for his friendship with dessert lovers.
He wasn't actually too worried about his mission; he came purely out of a reckless, adventurous nature called 'the desire to explore'.
Ren Yifei had thought it through carefully. If all his previous assumptions were true, and the settings of this human in the instance were infinitely close to the laws of most of the ant world, then destroying the ant nest would be too easy.
Unlike bees, which are also super-individuals, in the ant colony, once the queen ant dies and a new queen ant has not yet been produced and bred, the colony will gradually decrease in number until it perishes.
Therefore, if the queens of both generations are eliminated, the colony is doomed (there are a very few ants that can survive without a queen, but these are exceptions).
If he could prove that the Queen was indispensable, he would be 70-80% certain of destroying the anthill.
Speaking of which, this year's players are really good at hiding their true selves. So far, no one has come across as particularly out of character. Even Saman is actually playing the role of an NPC quite convincingly.
Dungeon times are tough; puzzle-solving players are starting to steal the thunder from the disguise-style players.
"Ah—" The woman's painful cry interrupted Ren Yifei's thoughts. He froze, stopped in his tracks, and looked surprised as he began to search for the source of the sound.
Is someone giving birth in the delivery room?
"Ahhh—" The woman's voice grew louder, coming from not far behind him, in the maternity ward.
Judging from the sounds of things being thrown around, the woman in that room was writhing in pain on the bed. But when he looked up, there was no movement from either the child's side or the gatekeeper.
With a thud, he heard the person inside fall. At this moment, the pregnant women in the other rooms also woke up, opened their doors, and peeked out. Regardless of their social class, their faces were filled with fear.
"Is nobody here?"
Is she about to give birth?
They didn't even notice Ren Yifei's obviously out-of-place presence; they were only staring at the room where the pregnant woman was screaming in pain.
Finally, one of the pregnant women came out of one of the rooms and went inside. She ran out less than two minutes later and went to the doorman: "Quick, someone come quick! Her water has broken!"
"The doctors are busy today, they've all gone upstairs. Just bear with it, or you can handle it yourself." Ren Yifei's ears were sharp, and he heard the impatient words of the gatekeeper.
How am I supposed to solve this myself? Even Ren Yifei couldn't help but grind his back teeth at that moment.
"There are so many people here, and the night is so long. How can we manage without a doctor? If you won't go, I will!" The woman who ran out was a soldier. She pulled out a knife and held it to the guard's neck.
The goalkeeper had no choice: "I'll go call them, but I can't guarantee they'll come."
"If they refuse to come, knock them out and drag them over," the pregnant soldier said, plunging a knife into the table.
The gatekeeper left, locking the gate behind him.
The third floor was quiet for a second, then the woman's painful screams and the cries of babies of all sizes in the distance resumed. The gatekeeper's departure had no effect; the woman's screams gradually weakened, her voice filled with despair.
"Will she die?" The pregnant woman, who was peering out, clutched her belly.
In fact, Ren Yifei had almost reached the stairwell leading to the fourth floor when he gritted his teeth and turned back.
Without a doctor, and with many pregnant women here unsuitable to be midwives, he himself is even less suitable, but...
"Grandma Chunzhi, please take a look. There's a woman here who's about to give birth." He summoned his last remaining ghost card, Grandma Chunzhi.
I've heard that in ancient times, many families had their mothers-in-law help with childbirth. Perhaps Chunzhi's mother-in-law knew a little about this?
Grandma Chunzhi never dreamed that she, whose abilities were all related to murder, would receive such a delivery task.
However, she nodded and said, "Don't worry, Xiaofei. I used to be a midwife. I delivered several of my grandchildren."
"Fifteen minutes is enough?"
"Before, I was just an ordinary old woman, so naturally it wouldn't have been possible. But now it is."
Ren Yifei understood. Granny Chunzhi's abilities could kill, yet she could also ensure the safety of a mother and child. Overjoyed, he said, "Then I'll leave it to Granny."
"Go ahead and do your work." She walked into the room, which was alr
eady reeking of blood.