Qin Shilei calmly put away the Fengyun Jue and took out the second purple item.
Stealth Formation (Purple): Upon activation, a five-meter radius enters a complete stealth state, lasting for two hours, with three effective uses.
[Proceed with attribute refresh?]
[Refresh.]
Range Doubled (Green): Doubles the formation's effective range.
Duration Doubled (Green): Doubles the formation's duration.
Uses Doubled (Red): Doubles the formation's effective uses.
Qin Shilei chose the "Uses Doubled" attribute and put away the formation.
After opening the treasure chest, Qin Shilei and An Qian returned outside the city to lead everyone in clearing out the insects.
The crystal cores within these insects were all Tier 2. Each Tier 2 crystal core could provide twenty to thirty experience points.
After a day of killing beetles and collecting crystal cores, Qin Shilei finally advanced to Silver Four Stars upon returning to their lodging that evening.
An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli also advanced to Silver Two Stars.
As for Kong Qingshu, Zhang Qiang, and Xie Haimei, they were all at Black Iron Nine Stars, still two to three thousand experience points short of the peak.
Qin Shilei had previously given the two attribute-less Yellow-grade cultivation techniques he obtained to Zhang Qiang and Xie Haimei. As long as they accumulated enough experience, they could learn the techniques and advance to the Silver realm.
Zhang Qiang said excitedly, "Actually, the appearance of these insects is also a good thing. In about a day, I'll have enough experience to advance to the Silver realm."
Zhang Xiaoli sighed, "It's indeed good for those with strong enough abilities to kill the insects, but most people in our City of Hope can't kill them."
Qin Shilei instructed, "Among the insects are silver beetles, which are Silver realm异兽 (monsters). An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli, you must ensure Xiaofei and Xiaoqing act as sentinels. If silver beetles appear, notify the three of us immediately to eliminate them."
There were only over three hundred people in the entire City of Hope at the Black Iron realm.
Among these three hundred people, a portion had lower combat strength than the sickle beetles.
Those with lower strength, even if they teamed up to kill insects, would be safer and faster fighting zombies further away.
Everyone returned to their rooms to absorb crystal cores and improve their strength.
Qin Shilei, however, stealthily slipped into Kong Qingshu's suite.
Kong Qingshu looked at Qin Shilei with a smile and teased, "Sneaking around, are you having a secret rendezvous with a lover?"
"Hmph!" Qin Shilei immediately straightened his back. "I'm here to give you something good. It's all out in the open."
He casually took out the Fengyun Jue and handed it over. "Here's the item for you. I'm leaving."
Kong Qingshu flashed forward and embraced him, smiling, "Now that you're in my room, do you really intend to leave just like that?"
Qin Shilei cupped his hands over his chest, feigning innocence. "What do you want? I'm only here to perform, not to sell myself."
Kong Qingshu gave Qin Shilei a flirtatious glance and said with a charming laugh, "Besides this secret manual, aren't you planning to leave something else behind?"
Qin Shilei felt overwhelmed. He reached out, embraced her, and gave her a passionate deep kiss.
Just as he was about to go further, Kong Qingshu pushed him away. "Alright, you should go back now. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. If I keep you here any longer, An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli might come here with knives drawn."
Qin Shilei hugged her again and kissed her forehead. "Let's talk for a bit."
Half an hour later.
As Qin Shilei opened the door to his own suite, An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli, who were sitting on the sofa, both turned their heads to look at him.
Under their scrutinizing gazes, he said with some guilt, "I suddenly feel hungry. I'm going downstairs, do you want anything?"
"Hmph," An Qian scoffed. "Hungry now? Did you exert yourself too much just now?"
"Absolutely not," Qin Shilei said, sitting between the two women and grinning cheekily. "Why don't you check me? I guarantee you'll be satisfied."
With that, he unceremoniously led the two women into the small space.
...
The next day.
Qin Shilei said to the two women, "I plan to enter that spatial rift to take a look."
"I'll go with you," An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli said in unison.
Qin Shilei pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. Let's first clear out the beetles outside the city. Once Zhang Qiang and the others advance to the Silver realm, we'll enter the spatial rift."
If he hadn't coincidentally obtained the stealth formation, guaranteeing their safety, he would never have allowed the two women to accompany him.
Qin Shilei went to the park next to Jingcui Garden and found the Queen Ant.
The Queen Ant was now at Black Iron Nine Stars, on the verge of advancing to the Silver realm.
It was surrounded by over a hundred subordinates at Black Iron One Star and above, as well as thousands of mutated winged ants.
Qin Shilei commanded the Queen Ant, "Lead your ant colony and come with me to kill insects."
The Queen Ant chirped a few times in response, then wiggled its antennae, directing its ant colony to crawl out of the ant nest.
Qin Shilei and An Qian sat in the car, while the Queen Ant perched on the roof. Behind them, a dense ant swarm, like a black ocean, surged towards the area outside the city.
Not long after leaving the City of Hope, three sickle beetles appeared ahead, blocking their path.
"Queen Ant, attack them! Let them experience the taste of being swarmed."
With Qin Shilei's command, the Queen Ant immediately directed the ant colony to swarm forward, instantly engulfing the three beetles.
In less than three seconds, the beetles were reduced to nothing but scraps. Unfortunately, the ants were the Queen Ant's subordinates, not Qin Shilei's pets, so no treasure chests dropped.
"Brother Qin, these ants are actually so powerful."
Zhang Xiaoli exclaimed, dumbfounded.
"It's a shame a hundred or two hundred ants died. Faced with an endless supply of insects, the ant army might not be able to win against the enemy, and we also lost the spoils of war," An Qian said with a frown.
As they were speaking, a small group of ants carried three crystal cores and walked towards the car.
Qin Shilei's eyes lit up, and he said with a smile, "A mere hundred or two hundred ants dying is nothing. The ants that consumed the insects have also evolved. Perhaps in the future, I'll have an ant army entirely at the Black Iron realm."
He then tossed the three crystal cores to the Queen Ant on the car roof. "These three are a reward for you."
The Queen Ant instantly swallowed the three crystal cores.
Qin Shilei led the ant army, charging headlong towards the valley.
Even when encountering a single silver beetle, the ant army would devour it completely in under a minute.
Of course, under the counterattacks of the silver beetles, the ant army also lost tens of thousands of soldiers.
As the sun began to set.
Qin Shilei and his group had cleared out the beetles outside the city and stood by the cave of the spatial rift.
"Queen Ant, lead your ant colony to guard this cave," Qin Shilei commanded, pointing downwards.
Dense swarms of ants immediately crawled into the cave.
They then dug countless interconnected ant tunnels in various horizontal positions within the cave.
Whenever a beetle emerged from inside, it was immediately swarmed by ants and devoured completely in the blink of an eye.
Qin Shilei looked down and instructed the Queen Ant, "Keep all the crystal cores from these insects for me. You can eat the insects as you please."
The Queen Ant nodded without complaint.