A hearty meal of otherworldly hot pot left Old Yang and the others stuffed to the brim.
Even Dian Dian was lying there, patting her little belly.
She still clutched the half-empty bottle of peach juice in her arms.
Meanwhile, Old Yang had reverted to his paranoia.
He was muttering in Chu Tian’s ear, saying something was off…
Chu Tian simply rolled his eyes at him.
He began to perform the three strange movements Old Yang had taught him yesterday.
Chu Tian discovered that each movement caused the silver light spots in his muscles and fascia to flicker.
“Yun’er, Chu Tian… Run!”
Suddenly, Old Yang’s roar rang out.
Chu Tian, who was in the middle of his third movement, jolted.
He spun around abruptly.
Simultaneously, he extended his divine sense.
But within a five-kilometer radius, there was no sign of anything unusual.
Old Yang had already dived into the tent and emerged, carrying Dian Dian.
Nie Yun followed him out.
“What are you standing around for? Pack up and run!”
Chu Tian thought to himself: You old fool, what are you doing being so rash!
But the next second, he realized something was amiss.
The yellow sand at the edge of his divine sense began to churn.
He quickly intensified the power of his divine sense.
Beneath the yellow sand, creatures the size of fists appeared.
Upon closer inspection, they were all golden, ant-like creatures.
In the mere second he was observing them closely,
These creatures had advanced several hundred meters, their speed astonishingly fast.
“What are those things?” Chu Tian’s divine thought moved.
He collected all their belongings.
At his fastest speed, he caught up to Old Yang and asked.
“Gold-devouring ants, I knew something was off.”
“So we’ve entered the territory of the gold-devouring ants.”
“No wonder the sand worms never caught up to us.”
Old Yang pulled Nie Yun, carrying Dian Dian, and they sprinted.
“This shouldn’t be! The map didn’t mark this area as having gold-devouring ants!”
Nie Yun said from behind him.
“When was your map from?”
Old Yang retorted.
“Eight… eight… years ago, when I left Clear Water City, the latest map I stole!”
Nie Yun’s voice grew fainter and fainter.
Old Yang remained silent, and Chu Tian understood. Eight years had passed.
The creature populations on the map wouldn’t stay in one area forever.
These weren’t system-refreshed monsters; they were living species.
Chu Tian ran while observing these creatures with his divine sense.
The ants underground weren’t targeting them.
It seemed they had merely blocked the ants’ migration path.
However, Chu Tian’s proudest movement speed
Was completely inadequate compared to these ants.
Even Old Yang’s speed running on the sand
Was faster than Chu Tian’s transformation into his giant deer form.
It seemed he hadn’t fully mastered the essence of applying force.
The giant deer’s running relied on friction and the power of its legs.
But Old Yang, carrying a child and pulling someone along,
Seemed to barely touch the sand.
As if he were floating on water, as the legends described.
When he ran, his feet barely grazed the sand,
Leaving no trace behind.
While in his giant deer form,
The sand beneath Chu Tian’s feet would be kicked up.
Each step felt like stepping on sponge.
He had also considered trying the method Old Yang taught him.
But he ultimately abandoned it, as he hadn’t skillfully mastered muscle control.
It was no different from running and kicking up sand like he was doing now.
“Old Yang, this won’t do, they’re getting closer!”
The gold-devouring ants were now only two kilometers away.
“We have to run, even if there’s no other way.”
“Gold-devouring ants, they are the apex predators of the Sea of Death.”
“Everywhere they pass, not just creatures.”
“Even metal and stone will be gnawed clean by them.”
Old Yang explained as they ran.
“Then what do we do? In ten minutes at most, they’ll catch up.”
“Do they have any weaknesses, anything they fear?”
After hearing Old Yang’s explanation, Chu Tian felt a shiver down his spine.
On the deserts of Blue Star, there was also a species that inspired dread.
That was the army ant; it was said that wherever they went, any livestock would be reduced to bare bones.
It was said that the disappearance of a certain ancient kingdom was related to army ants.
“You can stop thinking about it…”
“Unless you can fly, you might as well run, you won’t outrun them…”
“We’re going to die here today!”
Old Yang merely replied.
“Fly?”
“Damn… How could he forget!”
Thinking this, he stopped his steps.
“Chu Tian…” Nie Yun called out as he stopped.
“Kid, what are you doing?” Old Yang gritted his teeth and suddenly stopped.
He let go of Nie Yun, placing Dian Dian into her arms.
He said, “You two run, Chu Tian and I will buy you some time.”
With that, he pushed Nie Yun and turned back.
“Uncle Yang…”
Nie Yun hesitated.
Then she glanced at Dian Dian in her arms.
She gritted her teeth, tears welling up.
Turning, she continued to run.
Her speed was naturally not as fast as Old Yang’s.
However, she had no choice but to run.
For the child in her arms, she couldn’t afford to stop.
Otherwise, Chu Tian and Uncle Yang’s sacrifice would be in vain.
Chu Tian, who had stopped, rapidly mobilized his soul power.
Within his spiritual platform, he selected a target.
He dragged it out and hurled it.
*Boom…*
Just as Old Yang reached him, a colossal entity descended from the sky.
It slammed heavily onto the sandy ground.
“What is that?” Old Yang held the large saber he had acquired from Chu Tian.
His eyes were as wide as oxen’s.
“A car…” Chu Tian didn’t have time to speak to him and managed only a single word.
Then, he opened the trunk and took out an air needle key.
He went to the car tire, found the valve stem, and inserted the key.
*Hiss hiss hiss…*
The air inside the tire was slowly released.
“Faster, faster, faster…”
Chu Tian muttered, simultaneously monitoring the distance of the gold-devouring ants with his divine sense.
Time was insufficient…
This was his assessment after calculating.
What to do?
He had only released the air from two of the four tires.
The gold-devouring ants were still eight hundred meters away!
“Chu Tian… what are you doing?”
Old Yang was also anxious, watching Chu Tian’s unusual actions.
“I’ll help…”
Saying this, he flashed to the opposite side of Chu Tian.
With a *swish*, he swung the large saber and plunged it into the car tire.
“No…”
As soon as he said he would help, Chu Tian knew what he was going to do.
He pulled on the body of the Paramount Raider.
The entire 15-ton body of the Paramount Raider
Was pulled sideways by half a foot.
Old Yang’s saber missed.
With a *clank*, it struck the steel plate of the tire.
“Get the hell out of here, don’t cause trouble.”
Chu Tian broke out in a cold sweat.
He cursed out loud.
This wasn’t helping; it was like you were in league with those little ants!
Old Yang, scolded by this junior, widened his eyes.
But he didn’t retaliate, knowing he might have been rash.
Furthermore, those things were less than five hundred meters away.
Old Yang knew they were running out of time.
They absolutely couldn’t let them get close.
Otherwise, this thing called a car, though impressive-looking,
Would be instantly gnawed clean.
“Sigh…” Old Yang stomped his foot.
He charged directly towards the swarm of gold-devouring ants.
Chu Tian said nothing; he knew someone had to draw their attention.
Otherwise, none of them would escape.
At this point, some might ask, why bring out the Paramount Raider?
Why not just get in and drive away?
The reason for deflating the tires is not obvious to you.
On sandy terrain, with the tires fully inflated,
A car simply cannot gain traction. Instead, the faster the wheels spin,
The deeper the wheels will sink into the sand.
Trying to drive out would be difficult…
Therefore, to gain speed on sand,
The tires must be deflated by at least half.
This increases the tire’s grip.
Although, the tires on this Paramount Raider are wide enough to glide over sand effortlessly.
However, that would only allow it to reach its own top speed.
To accelerate even faster, Chu Tian had to choose to deflate the tires.
This was because he had calculated that the speed of these ants
Far surpassed the Paramount Raider’s top speed of 120 kilometers per hour.
As the third tire was only halfway deflated,
Old Yang made contact with the swarm of gold-devouring ants.
He bent down and swung his saber,
Sending the leading gold-devouring ant flying.
The entire ant swarm suddenly halted its advance at that instant.
Their stop was as synchronized as soldiers who had undergone rigorous training.
Their footsteps were perfectly uniform to an extreme degree.
After a moment’s pause, the ant swarm erupted.
They swarmed madly towards Old Yang.
Old Yang wielded his saber frantically, swatting away gold-devouring ants one by one.
The clang of metal against gold echoed.
And these creatures were all on the ground, making it extremely difficult for Old Yang to attack them as he had to bend over.
Chu Tian watched him closely.
He noticed that after just a few blows, the specially made military saber had already chipped.