In The Zombie Shadows Chapter 4

After the ant colony left, the surroundings became quiet, and even the roars of the zombies became distant.

When Qi Ning fell asleep, Jake Qi climbed onto the roof of the cabin again, carefully turned his ears, and looked around. He couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief when he saw no sign of the foreign race.

Under the moonlight, corpses of army ants were scattered around, with the densest places almost forming a hill. Under the damaged ant shells was snow-white fresh meat, some of which had been scanned by lasers, giving off a faint burnt aroma.

According to common sense, so much "food" will definitely attract zombies and strange beasts.

Jake Qi swallowed his saliva, fastened his four claws on the roof of the cabin, and waited patiently.

He really wanted this free meal, but his instinct told him that patience was necessary. If you rush out recklessly, you may lose more than you gain. In the end, you won't get the big meal, but you will become the target of others.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes...a full quarter of an hour passed, and nothing happened.

There are no alien beasts or zombies.

Jake Qi couldn't help but have doubts.

Could it be that army ants cannot be eaten?

If this is the case, what should he and his son do for their next meal?

When he was frustrated, a strange sound suddenly came. Jake Qi pricked up his ears, opened his eyes wide, and with the help of the dim moonlight, he discovered that about fifty meters away from the spacecraft, dry and cracked soil blocks were lifted one after another, revealing irregular shapes. burrow.

Viewed from above, the burrows are quite neatly distributed and even the sizes are very similar. All the holes are arranged, with half a withered piece of wood as the center, forming rings of different sizes from the inside to the outside.

Sharp screams came from the cave, turning from vague to clear and very regular.

Immediately afterwards, the little black head poked out of the ground, with round cheeks, front teeth protruding from the lips, a big tail behind its back, triangular ears standing high, and the tips of the ears were two strands of long gray-black hair.

squirrel?

They look similar, but the way they appear is not quite right.

Jake Qi knew that there were such creatures as "ground squirrels", but the ones in front of him were obviously species that lived in trees.

The squirrels appeared one after another. Instead of approaching the army ants in a hurry, they stayed at the entrance of the hole and made different sounds, some sharp, some deep, some like whistles, and some like pigeons cooing. Coo.

It’s really hard to imagine that this is the sound made by a group of squirrels.

The exchange lasted several minutes, and the squirrels finally reached an agreement.

A few of the largest ones are scattered around, trying to find a higher place to look out and be wary of possible natural enemies. The remaining ones looked at the target and rushed into the ant colony as quickly as possible, biting or hugging them to bring the food back to the burrow.

Some squirrels are so hungry that they can't wait to hide, so they just crush the ant shells and start eating at the entrance of the hole.

The sound of clicking was heard endlessly, and some pieces of meat that were too late to swallow were scattered on the ground. More squirrels join in the meal. The sentry squirrels screamed in dissatisfaction, and immediately some well-fed squirrels threw away their ant shells and stepped forward to take the place of vigilance.

Seeing this scene, Jake Qi finally confirmed that these army ants were not only edible, but also tasted very good.

More and more squirrels came out of their burrows, and the originally orderly movement became chaotic.

The vigilant squirrel barked loudly and stamped its feet, as if scolding the newcomers for not obeying the rules. The scolded one responded tit-for-tat, swiping his big tail and even waving his claws a few times.

Only then did Jake Qi discover that the several waves of squirrels were different in color and size. Some are pure black, some are red, and some are gray-brown, with a few stripes on their bellies, more like chipmunks.

Squirrels from different groups come together and are not exactly friendly to each other. Especially the red and gray-brown varieties, there is obvious resentment, and people will bar their teeth when they pass by.

Complaints are complaints, and dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction. The first comers do not have exclusive access to food, and the latecomers are not driven away.

In order to avoid fights, the squirrels demarcate their own territories and quickly collect food as a group. Even if the adult squirrel is full, there are still young in the burrow. These army ants are a rare meal, and it would be foolish to waste your energy fighting them.

After hundreds of years of evolution, Blue Star's squirrels changed their habits from diurnal to nocturnal, and became outright carnivores.

The instinct to breastfeed is still there, but the baby squirrels can eat meat with their mother a week after they are born.

The reason why the area around the spacecraft is so clean is entirely due to these squirrels. They eat almost anything except some native species. I'm so hungry that I won't even spare the zombies.

It's just that the latter situation is rare.

Most of the time they will avoid zombies or drive away the zombies that invade their territory.

The reason is that the taste of low-level zombies is too bad, and evolved zombies are not easy to catch. There are other options, and no one is willing to attack this group of people. Of course, except for native ant colonies and a few exotic animals that are not picky eaters.

There were a lot of squirrels, and an even greater number of ant corpses.

Each army ant was as long as an adult's arm, and some were over one meter in size. The squirrels tried their best to move away only a fraction. In the end, every squirrel returned home with its full load, but the number of ant corpses didn't seem to decrease at all.

Suddenly, the sentry squirrel screamed, and the sharp sound resounded through the night sky.

The squirrels immediately became alert, and most of them dropped the ant corpses and began to run away. A few raised the hair on the back of their necks and growled threateningly at the black shadow in mid-air.

In the night, more than a dozen barn owls were hovering in the air, with a wingspan of nearly three meters, larger than any crow Jake Qi had ever seen.

Despite its size, the barn owl moves silently. Focusing on the prey on the ground, it swoops down from mid-air, and its sharp claws dig into the prey's spine, easily tearing open the prey's fur.

The squirrel was covered in blood and screamed loudly as it struggled.

There were more and more barn owls, and eventually there were more than thirty of them, circling in the night sky with an astonishing momentum. Jake Qi, who was watching, felt his scalp numb.

Forced into a dead end, squirrels no longer run away, but stick together tightly. Different groups of squirrels can also unite, show off their sharp front claws, and jointly fight against the terrifying enemy.

Screams, howls, struggles and cracking bones intertwined.

A barn owl was scratched by a squirrel, and its angry howl filled the night sky. More barn owls appeared, and there were a few hawks among the ranks.

Encountered by hundreds of raptors, the squirrels quickly fell into a disadvantage and had to give up resistance and fled again. A squirrel successfully ran to the entrance of the hole, but was dragged down by the food blocked in front of the hole and was caught in the air by hunters.

Birds of prey love to eat squirrels and are not interested in army ants at all.

Army ants kept falling from mid-air and scattered around the spacecraft. Some of them landed so accurately that they almost hit Jake Qi's head.

What is pie in the sky?

This is!

Jake Qi was ecstatic, but he didn't dare to be too careless.

Who knows if I'll be on the barn owl's diet.

After waiting quietly for a long time and confirming that most of the raptors had flown away, Jake Qi tried to reach out his front paws and move the corpses of the army ants. Not feeling any danger, he immediately bit one of the army ant's hind legs and dragged it hard into the cabin.

With a click, the army ants got stuck in the crack, and Jake Qi was almost hanging in the air. Looking at the rations hanging above, Jake Qi was heartbroken. His four claws fluttered in the air, using his own weight to knock the army ants into the cabin.

With a snap, the army ants fell to the ground.

success!

Jake Qi took a deep breath, climbed onto the roof of the cabin again, and attacked another army ant.

There weren't many barn owls left. They were all focused on the squirrels and didn't notice any unusual movement at the spacecraft. Jake Qi still didn't dare to be careless and only attacked the nearest prey.

One, two, three... Moving to the fifth one, Jake Qi finally ran out of strength and collapsed in the cabin.

Qining jumped off the metal chair and walked to a relatively complete ant corpse. He first dug open the army ant's head and then the army ant's chest. After searching carefully, he pulled out a fiery red crystal core. I couldn't bite it anymore, so I could only push it with my front paws until it reached Jake Qi.

"Dad, eat."

Jake Qi was moved to tears.

"you eat."

Qi Ning shook his head, left the crystal core in front of Jake Qi, and then lowered his claws towards another army ant.

Knowing his situation, Jake Qi did not hesitate anymore, bit into pieces of the crystal core, and swallowed it in three or two mouthfuls.

Different from the previous experience, this power was extremely overbearing. In an instant, it felt like there was a fire burning in his stomach. After the burning sensation, there was an indescribable feeling of relief, as if a warm current was flowing to all the limbs.

Jake Qi narrowed his eyes and straightened his body, feeling so comfortable that he wanted to moan.

Qi Ning found three crystal nuclei and pushed them all to Jake Qi.

The little face was stained with dust, but the big eyes were full of expectation.

Jake Qi regained his strength, stood up, glanced at the top of his head, lowered his head and licked Qining's ears, then bit into pieces a crystal core and fed it into his mouth twice.

The power of the crystal core is really not small. The kitten lay on the ground, meowing, and then balled up into a ball, rolling back and forth, its furry claws fluttering in the air, as if it had eaten catnip.

After the kitten calmed down, Jake Qi bit open the abdomen of the army ant, which was full of fresh meat.

Jake Qi doesn't know what normal ants smell like. The one in front of me tastes like a freshly caught shrimp, delicious and chewy.

The father and son began to wolf down the food, and before they knew it, only the empty shells of the five army ants were left.

After eating and drinking enough, not only Qi Ning but also Jake Qi's stomachs were bulging.

After all, this was the first full meal in several days.

Jake Qi licked his paws with satisfaction, then took Qi Ning and licked the kitten's chin and cheeks.

This place is not bad, maybe a good place to stay. After the army ants outside had eaten, there were also plenty of squirrels. He doesn't have an advantage in group fights, but when it comes to individual fights, he can always catch one or two.

The more he thought about it, the more reliable it became, and Jake Qi began to seriously consider the possibility of temporary residence.

After Qi Ning was full, he became drowsy and soon started snoring against Jake Qi.

Jake Qi wanted to take a rest, but he was worried after all. He climbed up to the roof to check again, and even pulled the carapace of an army ant to block the cracks. Then I felt a little relieved, yawned, and prepared to go back to sleep.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he returned to the ground, a surge of heat suddenly surged through his body, and all the bones in his body began to crackle and lengthen.

The change was very drastic, but strangely there was no pain at all.

Seeing the furry front paws gradually getting bigger, eventually losing their hair and turning into two human hands, Jake Qi sat there in a daze, unable to react for a long time.

He moved his fingers and touched up and down again, and found that everything was smooth under his hands.

Without a mirror, I couldn't see clearly what I looked like now. When I pulled my shoulder-length hair down, it was as dark as crow feathers.

"dad?"

Qi Ning woke up from his dream and saw the changed Jake Qi. Surprisingly, he was not surprised. Instead, he yawned, stretched his waist, jumped off the metal chair, and walked to Jake Qi unsteadily. The little nose twitched, and after making sure that the smell had not changed, he jumped directly into Jake Qi's arms, rubbed it lazily, curled up into a ball, and snored again.

Jake Qi couldn't help but frown after pinching Qining's ears.

Is the kitten’s body temperature not right?

Just as he was about to lift Qi Ning up and take a closer look, there was a sudden sound above his head. Jake Qi suddenly became alert and turned around suddenly, showing off his sharp fangs.

On the top of the cabin, the hard shell of the army ant had been removed. Through the narrow crack, a pair of golden eyes were looking at him curiously.