Chapter 71: The Plan
The three men stood around the cutting board, staring at the basin full of ants, unsure of where to start.
In the end, Xia Huo Qu took the lead, cutting off an ant’s head, splitting open its thorax and abdomen, and extracting two pieces of light blue-white ant meat—one large and one small.
Xia Lu Nong leaned in and sniffed hard.
Xia Huo Qu asked, “What does it smell like?”
“Not much of anything, really,” Xia Lu Nong replied, scratching his cheek. “I’ve heard people say that ant eggs are sour, but this doesn’t smell sour at all.”
Yan Xi Nian said, “There are so many types of ants in the world, but not all of them secrete formic acid. Besides, with how big these ants have mutated, if they could still produce formic acid, no animal would stand a chance against them, and the entire ecosystem would be critically damaged.”
Xia Lu Nong thought for a moment and agreed that made sense.
Regardless of how animals or plants mutate, they are still constrained by their environment. Ants are already prolific, so if they became unstoppable, they’d soon deplete the resources of an entire area, which would ultimately lead to their own demise as well.
Xia Huo Qu finished peeling the first ant’s meat. After the three of them sniffed it carefully and detected no poison or odd smells, they decided it was safe to eat and continued peeling.
Soon, they had a whole bowl of ant meat, which looked surprisingly translucent and glossy. If not for the ant shells in the trash, they would never have believed such beautiful meat could come from such ugly insects.
Xia Huo Qu put down the knife and said to Xia Lu Nong, “The rest is up to you. How do you want to cook it?”
Xia Lu Nong stepped forward, picked up the plate, and sniffed the meat again. It still didn’t have any unusual smell, but he couldn’t guess how it would taste.
He turned to his brother, “Should I just cook it the usual way?”
“Sure, do whatever you think is best,” Xia Huo Qu replied.
Xia Lu Nong added a little cooking wine, salt, and five-spice powder, followed by more cooking wine, soy sauce, and oil, stirring everything together with chopsticks. Then he chopped up green and red chili peppers, ginger, garlic, and green onions—everything needed was ready.
He heated a pan with cold oil and sautéed the aromatics until they were fragrant, then added the ant meat.
The hot oil quickly turned the pale blue ant meat white, and the pieces curled up, becoming bouncy in texture.
Xia Lu Nong continued cooking over high heat. To make sure the ant meat was thoroughly cooked, he poured in half a bowl of water and let it simmer.
Since this was their first time eating ant meat, they had to make sure it was fully cooked.
The broth in the pan bubbled and evaporated quickly, leaving behind a thick, sticky sauce.
Xia Lu Nong picked up a piece of meat, blew on it to cool it down, and put it in his mouth, taking a small bite.
The ant meat was tender, smooth, fresh, and springy. It had a faint sourness, which, combined with the chilies, created a pleasantly tangy and spicy flavor that made it perfect to eat with rice.
Looking back at the pan, Xia Lu Nong realized the ant meat was even better than he had expected.
“This ant meat is just as good as shrimp,” he thought.
Yan Xi Nian, who was tending the fire below, noticed Xia Lu Nong standing still and asked, “How is it?”
“I think it’s really good,” Xia Lu Nong replied, scooping up another piece with the spatula and handing it to him. “Try it, brother Xi Nian.”
Yan Xi Nian picked up the piece of ant meat with his fingers, but it was so hot he had to toss it from hand to hand before quickly popping it into his mouth and exhaling to cool it down.
After chewing for a moment, he gave a thumbs-up. “It’s very tender and juicy.”
“I agree. We should add it to the base’s food list,” Xia Lu Nong said.
Yan Xi Nian nodded. “Next time we go out on patrol, we’ll bring back more of these ants and have White Building study them.”
Xia Lu Nong wasn’t interested in research, so he simply nodded and didn’t ask further.
After finishing the ant meat, Xia Lu Nong stir-fried eggplant and green beans, and made a soybean and winter melon soup to cool down and refresh the palate.
The three of them stayed home, waiting for Kong Zhi to return for dinner.
Kong Zhi finally came back just before it got completely dark, holding something in his hand.
When Xia Lu Nong saw the long, squirming object, he thought it was a snake and nearly jumped in fright. But upon closer inspection, he realized it had a smooth, yellow body and round head—it was an eel!
“That’s a huge eel!” Xia Lu Nong quickly grabbed a bucket. “Where did you catch it?”
“Out in the field,” Kong Zhi replied, tossing the eel into the empty bucket and motioning for Xia Lu Nong to pour water so he could wash his hands. “I just found it today. It probably swam into the field through the ditches, trying to steal some fish.”
Xia Lu Nong looked down at the eel, which was almost as thick as his wrist, wondering how long the creature had lived. Unfortunately, it failed at stealing fish and ended up getting caught instead.
Xia Lu Nong asked, “Where’s the mutation on this eel?”
“It grew two legs under its belly,” Kong Zhi tilted the bucket to show him. “Other than that, there’s nothing unusual. It should be edible.”
“Good,” Xia Lu Nong said as he placed a wooden cover over the bucket to prevent the eel from escaping. “Eels are resilient. We’ll keep it for a few more days to get rid of the muddy taste.”
Kong Zhi agreed. After washing his hands, he went outside to wash his face, wishing he could wash his whole body before joining the others for dinner.
Yan Xi Nian placed the plate of ant meat in front of him with a big smile. “Try the special treat we brought back today. It’s full of nutrients.”
Kong Zhi glanced at the plate. “Ant meat?”
“Wow, you’re observant. How did you know?”
“You didn’t take out the trash,” Kong Zhi replied calmly.
Yan Xi Nian grinned. “Well, there’s a folk saying that this stuff is great for strengthening the kidneys. Give it a try.”
Xia Huo Qu muttered, “That’s a bit of a stretch.”
“Folk wisdom! You won’t know until you try,” Yan Xi Nian said.
Kong Zhi looked over at Xia Lu Nong, who grinned mischievously, clearly enjoying the joke.
Kong Zhi took a bite of the ant meat and commented, “It tastes pretty good. Did you catch these today?”
Xia Huo Qu nodded. “Yes, we saw them while patrolling and caught a few to see if they could become a regular dish.”
Kong Zhi asked, “Are they hard to catch? Should I come with you next time?”
Xia Huo Qu replied, “Not too difficult. Just avoid their mandibles and grab them from behind. As long as you’re not surrounded by too many, it’s not dangerous.”
The two discussed the ants further.
Hearing that the area outside was teeming with ants, some as large as half the size of the adult ants, Xia Lu Nong felt an overwhelming sense of excitement.
Ant eggs are famous for being a delicacy, and Xia Lu Nong wondered what the mutated ant eggs would taste like.
Lu Nong asked, “When are we setting up the protective barriers? Can we catch more ants to eat once that’s done?”
“Probably in a while,” replied Huo Qu.
Talking about ants reminded Lu Nong of another delicacy. He turned to his brother, “Hey, did you see any crayfish when you were patrolling the waters?”
“We didn’t look closely, but there shouldn’t be many,” said Huo Qu. “Since no one is farming them now, it won’t be easy to find fresh crayfish.”
“Even if we can get a little, it’s worth it,” Lu Nong said excitedly. “We could stir-fry some spicy crayfish and have it with drinks. That would be perfect!”
“We’re too busy right now. Maybe in a bit. How about we go after the Mid-Autumn Festival in August?” Huo Qu suggested.
Lu Nong thought for a moment. “It’s July 17 now, and this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival won’t be until October. That’s too far away! How about we go after we finish harvesting the peanuts? We should have more free time then.”
After being cooped up at the base for so long, with his only entertainment being books and videos, Lu Nong had been itching to get out. He looked at his brother, trying to convince him. “If you guys are too busy, I can join the scouting team. Old Liu and his crew seem reliable, and I can transform into my beast form now…”
“Don’t even think about it,” Huo Qu interrupted him sternly. “You’d probably just slow them down, and it’s either going to put you in danger or cause trouble for Old Liu and his team.”
Lu Nong raised his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, I promise not to go alone. How about we go out right after harvesting the peanuts?”
Huo Qu thought for a moment. “Fine, but only after we pull out, pick, clean, dry, and press the peanuts for oil.”
Lu Nong mentally calculated. With all those steps, it would take at least half a month. Drying the peanuts also depended on sunny weather, so it wasn’t much earlier than the Mid-Autumn Festival after all.
He thought about protesting but swallowed his words when he saw his brother’s expression. Maybe he could ask for another trip when the festival came around.
That night, after Huo Qu went to sleep at brother Xi Nian’s place, Lu Nong stayed at home with Kong Zhi.
After washing up, Lu Nong, drying his short hair with a towel, sat beside Kong Zhi, who was reading an e-book on the sofa. “I shouldn’t have told my brother about wanting to go out tonight. If I’d mentioned it to you instead, we could have left in the next couple of days.”
His brother kept a close watch over him, but not so much over Kong Zhi, possibly because of Kong Zhi’s raptor abilities or Huo Qu’s respect for boundaries.
Kong Zhi replied, “There are a lot of ants outside these days, so it makes sense that brother Huo Qu is concerned.”
Lu Nong sighed and scratched his head. “You all keep talking about how many ants are outside, but I haven’t seen them myself. I have no way of knowing what it’s really like.”
Kong Zhi glanced at him, then looked back at his e-book.
Surprised by the silence, Lu Nong turned to Kong Zhi.
Kong Zhi calmly said, “When the barriers are being set up, the young men will take turns going outside. You’ll see soon enough.”
“Fine, but I guess that means more waiting,” Lu Nong sighed, drying his hair roughly before draping the towel over the sofa’s armrest. “I’m heading to bed. You should get some sleep too.”
“Good night,” Kong Zhi replied.
“Night,” Lu Nong said, heading to his room.
He didn’t notice Kong Zhi lingering on the sofa, staring at the towel for a long time. It was gray, slightly faded, and a bit rough to the touch. But it carried a faint scent of shampoo, which drifted into Kong Zhi’s nose, locking his thoughts on it.
He sat in silence for a while before finally standing up and heading to his room.
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Thanks for the chapter!