Chapter Five: The Role of Honghong

Turning his head to look around, Li Yunfei saw that there was no one nearby. He replied in his mind, “Select Level 1 Ant Nest instance.”

“Instance level selected. Do you wish to enter?”

“Enter.”

“Confirmed. Entering instance. Launching instance program.”

As soon as the system prompt in his mind faded, Li Yunfei noticed the flowerbed in front of him rising rapidly, its evergreen plants transforming into towering trees.

Everything around him was growing colossal. In an instant, the edge of the flowerbed soared like a hundred-story building, and each evergreen inside seemed like a primordial giant.

Even the small pebbles beneath his feet now loomed like stony hills.

He couldn’t tell whether the world had grown larger or he had shrunk. Li Yunfei guessed the latter was more likely. If the system could truly enlarge the entire world so drastically, its power would be beyond imagination. But if it only shrunk him, the difficulty was far less.

The ant nest at the base of the flowerbed, originally just thirty centimeters away, was now a daunting two hundred meters in the distance.

This was Li Yunfei’s first time entering an instance. Though he had prepared as best he could, he still felt a trace of nervousness.

But he quickly regained his composure. Now that he was inside, there was no turning back.

He had to clear the instance—defeat the final boss, the ant queen—before he could leave.

Either he would perish inside, becoming ant food alongside Honghong, or he would break through and leave with the enhanced powers he gained. There was no third option; retreat was impossible.

Last night, he had carefully researched ants online. A colony typically had between five hundred and two thousand members. But within a year, ants could breed and branch out into fifteen to twenty-five new nests. Whenever their numbers reached a certain point, a new queen would emerge and form a new colony elsewhere.

In other words, Li Yunfei needed to kill at least five hundred ants to have a chance at facing the queen and clearing the instance.

Of course, if he could somehow bypass the worker ants and go straight for the queen, that would also count as clearing it.

But that would be suicidal. Anyone who’s played online games knows: before fighting the boss, it’s best to clear the mobs. Otherwise, if you get swarmed, you’re in trouble.

Li Yunfei pressed his lips together; a look of determination appeared on his handsome face.

The world had already changed into something unfamiliar. There was no awakening of supernatural powers, no path for martial cultivation. Fortunately, the “Godslayer System” had descended from the heavens, offering him a chance at extraordinary power—he had to seize it.

He set the little fox down, instructing her not to run off and to stay close by his side. Then, spreading his arms, he mimed gripping something with both hands.

In the next moment, two standard 46-centimeter-long Nepalese kukri knives appeared in his grasp, their blades curving forward.

These were universally recognized as the most efficient recurved knives, able to maximize chopping power.

They were also Li Yunfei’s favorites—knives he had gone to great lengths to procure genuine, high-quality versions of.

“In the past, Alice dual-wielded kukris to hack through zombies. Now, Li Yunfei will dual-wield kukris to slay ants.”

Amused, he muttered to himself. With a flourish of his wrists, he spun the blades, making two arcs at his sides, then pointed both knives downward and strode toward the ant nest.

To his surprise, the little fox suddenly darted at full speed toward the ant nest, as if startled by something.

“Honghong, don’t run off!” Li Yunfei tensed and hurried after her.

But the fox was far quicker, and in a blink she’d reached the entrance. Just as Li Yunfei was about to recall her into his pet space to prevent her from rushing inside and meeting a grim fate, she stopped outside the nest.

“Yow-yow-yow—!”

The little fox stood at the entrance, calling out loudly in a high, sharp voice—nothing like the soft, sweet tones she used with Li Yunfei.

He was surprised. Standing some thirty or forty meters from the nest, he saw the fox had not entered and decided to pause and observe.

“Yow-yow-yow—!”

After a few calls, the little fox turned and ran back, hiding behind him.

Li Yunfei glanced thoughtfully at her, then looked back at the ant nest.

After about seven or eight seconds, there was movement—a trio of tawny shapes emerged in turn from the gaping entrance, which, from Li Yunfei’s perspective, was now three or four meters wide.

Above each figure floated bright red letters: “Worker Ant 1,” with a short health bar beneath.

These were three level-1 worker ants.

Each ant stood as tall as a large dog, reaching Li Yunfei’s thigh, and measured about eighty centimeters from head to tail—roughly the size of an adult German shepherd, much bigger than the little fox.

Each had a pair of pincer-like mandibles that clicked ceaselessly, antennae waving, and behind those, bulging, oval compound eyes.

The foremost worker ant paused when it saw the “giant” Li Yunfei. It turned back, touched antennae with the other two, and then all three lined up, spaced about a meter apart, and advanced toward him with surprising speed.

Ants don’t fear creatures larger than themselves—their advantage lies in numbers.

Many creatures far larger than they had ended up as their food; the saying “enough ants can bite an elephant to death” was no exaggeration.

Li Yunfei now understood one of the little fox’s roles: aggroing monsters.

He smiled. Honghong was certainly useful.

The ant nest was a labyrinth, cramped and narrow. Facing a horde of ants inside, he’d have no advantage. Luring them out to fight in the open, where he’d have room to maneuver, was much safer.

Taking a deep breath, Li Yunfei charged toward the three ants.

The little fox followed several meters behind, keeping her distance—the giant ants were still intimidating to her.

She had no combat ability yet; her main function was to draw enemies.

As Li Yunfei and the first ant were about to collide, he pushed off with his left foot, leaping to the side and forward.

In the instant he slipped past the ant’s huge head, Li Yunfei raised his right-hand kukri high and brought it down on the ant’s slender neck.

The worker ant’s head was about the same size as a human’s, but its neck was far thinner, and the chitin didn’t cover the neck—this was its greatest vulnerability.

Aside from that, the connection between thorax and abdomen was also thin, but a cut there wouldn’t be instantly fatal.

With a single blow from the high-manganese steel kukri, the level-1 worker ant’s head was severed from its body.

Nearly transparent body fluid spattered, and the health bar above the ant’s head emptied in an instant.

With a “clink,” a ten-cent coin materialized beside the corpse, falling to the ground.

But Li Yunfei had no time to collect it. As he decapitated the first ant, the second one lunged, its pincer-like mandibles snapping toward his thigh.