Perhaps this year was destined to be a troublesome one for this tiny village without even a name. For several days, the insects neither left nor charged into the village. The villagers tried catching a live insect and throwing it into the water, discovering that these insects, possibly due to their large size, couldn’t swim—this was a fortunate turn of events in an otherwise dire situation.

These days had initially been the happiest for the village children, with endless insect meat to eat and insect teeth to make into small necklaces. However, as time went on, even the children lost their joy. A faint, strange odor began to permeate the village, and the reason was clear: the insects at the village entrance were starting to die.

Old Luo stood by the well in the center of the village, his gaze unfocused.

That large field over there, he had helped to cultivate it himself years ago, and the irrigation ditches were dug by a few old friends. The sun was so good today; it seemed they hadn’t had such pleasant weather since the beginning of spring. The scattered sunlight shone on the black fences, the short shrubs, and even into the straw huts by the fields. Seeing the green sprouts just emerging from the soil, Old Luo felt a pang of pain in his heart. Without the faint, strange smell in the air, it would have been a beautiful pastoral scene. The old man seemed to return to his youth, when the endless snow and wind were the only colors of his childhood. He watched the young men who had just returned with the captured insects, processing them in the village. These young ones hadn’t experienced the tragic times, so they didn’t have the same deep attachment to the village. But that was okay, Old Luo smiled. After living here for decades, it was time to move. Didn’t they say that trees die when moved, but people thrive when relocated? Besides, they could always return after the insects were gone. It would be like a trip.

The old man’s thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind him. It must be the people who went to the back mountain to arrange the route. After all, there were over a hundred people to consider. Old Luo turned, squinting to see who was returning. The afternoon sun was shining directly on his face, and with his age, his eyes started to blur.

Such a large shadow, what is that? Is that... a person?!

When Old Luo realized that the approaching figure was indeed a person, and one large enough to cast a huge shadow, his eyes widened in shock. He stumbled backward a few steps, almost choking on his own breath.

"Old Luo! What’s wrong?" Lishun, who was supposed to clear the path on the back mountain, rushed forward to steady Old Luo and quickly explained, "This is a friend we met on the back mountain. She came for the insects and says she can solve our village’s insect problem."

The newcomer was over two meters tall, with a broad back and muscular build. Her muscles bulged, and she had thick eyebrows and large eyes. Her square jaw and wide mouth were marked by a fearsome scar that ran from the corner of her mouth to her ear, giving the impression that she was always sneering. Her messy hair was tied back into a ponytail. Despite her super muscular physique, which would typically define a tough guy, the two massive spheres on her chest, each about half the size of an adult’s head, confirmed that she was indeed a woman. Apart from these, she looked no different from a standard "villain."

Such a "large" woman could indeed scare someone out of their wits at first sight. She was dressed in a tight black outfit that seemed ready to tear at any moment, and she carried a large pack on her back. The pack looked ancient and well-worn, suggesting it was something old and quite sturdy.

Old Luo didn’t wait for the woman to speak; just looking at her build made him believe her story about 70%. When he heard her voice, his belief rose to about 90%. Her voice wasn’t unpleasant, with a certain deep, neutral quality, but combined with her appearance, it was a bit hard to accept.

"May the mushrooms be abundant," Old Luo said, surprised but still polite.

The woman, who seemed to have seen her fair share of the world, replied promptly, "Wood doubles." Different responses indicated different origins, and "wood doubles" suggested she came from the mountains, though whether this was true or not was unknown.

"I followed these insects here. I saw a distant firelight on the mountain from below, and the insects stopped running. I decided to take a detour and come up to check it out," the woman scratched her head a bit awkwardly and continued, "I'm an antique dealer. A few days ago, I accidentally released these insects while digging at an ancient site. I don't know what attracted them, but they all ran here. This is all my fault, so I am responsible for solving this problem."

"No problem, Miss. Your willingness to come such a long way to deal with these insects shows a lot of responsibility. There aren't many people like you these days. I represent the villagers in thanking you." Looking at the woman's weather-beaten face, Old Luo couldn't tell her exact age. After some thought, he asked, "May I ask your name?"

"Just call me Xiao Liu. I’m twenty-three this year." The woman was quite open, knowing that her appearance made it hard to guess her age.

"Lishun, go inform the village head and the elders to come here." After sending Lishun away, Old Luo chatted casually with Xiao Liu for a few moments. According to Xiao Liu, these insects were likely drawn to a "queen insect" somewhere in the village. She believed that she had disturbed an ancient site and released these dormant insects, and upon waking, their first instinct was to find their queen. Since they were surrounding the village, it suggested that the queen was inside.

Xiao Liu continued, "Finding the queen isn’t difficult. Just capture a few special male insects and release them in the village, and they will easily lead us to where the queen is hiding. The only problem is that we need to be careful not to alarm the insect swarm when we kill the queen. If the insects rush into the village, it will be a big problem."

After the elders and the village head arrived, they listened to Xiao Liu's detailed analysis and decided to follow her advice. To prevent the insects from rushing into the village when the queen was killed, all able-bodied men would guard the village entrance, and the rest would evacuate to the back mountain.

After the discussion, they noticed it was getting dark. They decided to wait until the next day to drive the insects away. That night passed quietly. The next morning, as soon as the sky brightened, Xiao Liu, Wang Zheng, and Lishun captured a few striped male insects with ropes, tied fine strings to their waists, and released them in the village.

As soon as the insects were freed, they immediately started to flee. Almost all the villagers, except for the very old or young children, ran in the direction the insects were going. The insects ran past the villagers' houses and headed towards the large fields behind the village. When they reached the most fertile field, they gathered and started digging holes.

Xiao Liu and the others followed the insects to the edge of the field and were immediately drawn to the iron poles planted there. These poles were rusted and looked very old. Before Xiao Liu could ask, Old Luo answered, "These two poles have been here since before the village was established. We tried to remove them, but they looked small and were buried very deep, so we left them alone. Could the queen be under them?"

"Look! Look!" Some villagers exclaimed. Xiao Liu and the elders pushed through the crowd to see what was happening. The scene was indeed bizarre. The insects were digging furiously, even breaking their large pincers, but they didn’t stop. Their bodies, already larger than usual, were covered in the juices from their broken pincers. Within half a pipe's worth of time, the insects were reduced to lying on the ground, unable to move, yet they continued to eat dirt, seemingly determined to expand the hole. For them, life had no meaning.

The villagers watched the insects die, their bellies full of dirt, in silence. What kind of queen could be buried here? From the look of the insects, it probably wasn't anything valuable.

Xiao Liu didn't speak but started digging with a few villagers armed with shovels and picks. Initially, they didn't expect to find anything in this field, but after digging for a while, they uncovered a hard black surface in a pit nearly the height of two men!

The black surface was eerie, seeming to be some kind of processed material. Xiao Liu climbed down into the pit and tapped on it, producing a metallic sound. She turned to Old Luo and said, "This is more than just a queen. It might be a nest of dormant insects. I think everyone should leave and hide for a while. I'll use gunpowder and toxic smoke to clear out these insects."

Old Luo and the others exchanged glances and nodded, without saying much. They went to prepare the evacuation of the villagers. Since they had already been informed, the villagers had packed their belongings the previous night. Soon, everyone began gathering at the back mountain, preparing to leave.

Old Luo was one of the last to leave Xiao Liu. Before he went, he reminded her, "Miss, although we are reluctant to leave this place, it's not worth risking your life for it. Try to drive the insects away, but don't push yourself too hard. Stay safe!"

Xiao Liu nodded and continued working with the gunpowder. She couldn't deny that she liked these simple farmers and was satisfied with the villagers' decisiveness. If, just if, she had learned sign language, she might have thought differently...