Chapter 221: A New Nest

Gaemi needed to build a nest. In the future, the scale of her ant colony might even become larger than the ant nest Joo Joowon had seen before. Therefore, he had to bring Gaemi along and see where it wanted to build her nest nearby before deciding where to begin constructing his territory.

After communicating with Gaemi through mental power for a while, Gaemi, which had been lying listlessly on Joo Joowon’s body all this time, immediately perked up. She jumped straight down from him, and the two antennae on her head swayed around extremely actively as she began searching her surroundings.

As the master architects of the animal kingdom, ants naturally would not simply choose a random place to build their nests. They had requirements regarding the moisture and temperature of the soil, as well as the microorganisms living within it.

The nests they built were meant to be their homes for their entire lives. They contained countless densely packed tunnels, and if the soil was unsuitable, the nest might collapse while they were digging. Alternatively, a few heavy rains could leave them with nowhere to stand.

This was a true test of the queen ant’s judgment.

Of course, Joo Joowon did not let Gaemi make the decision entirely on its own. He also had his own requirements.

He hoped that the tunnels of the ant nest would eventually connect to the mountain stretching across the front of the nature reserve. That way, the territory on the surface would appear to be outside, while the true territory would actually be located within the underground tunnels dug out by the ants. This would provide a certain increase in safety.

That was why he needed Gaemi to scout the area and choose a suitable location.

After all, a massive project like this could not be completed in a single day. They needed to choose a direction where digging would not be too difficult.

Gaemi happily agreed to all of these requirements. She was already working under Joo Joowon, so naturally, Joo Joowon would have to decide what the ant nest should look like first. Gaemi had no reason to object.

However, Gaemi was so excited not because she could finally stop staying on the ground, but because Joo Joowon had promised her that, in the future, the entire ant nest would be under her management, while Joo Joowon himself would not normally live inside the ant nest.

Gaemi, which had not seen much of the world, naturally believed him.

If they had a choice, no one would be willing to live together with another queen ant. Therefore, Gaemi’s enthusiasm was greatly stimulated.

Joo Joowon did not feel that he was deceiving her either. After all, everything he had said was indeed the truth.

After placing a mental imprint on Gaemi, he chose to leave.

The customer service side had still not contacted him, which meant that his territory had not been settled yet. He first needed to find a place nearby where he could stay and use it as a temporary residence.

The scattered houses nearby did not look as though anyone was living in them. However, before personally searching them, he could not directly reach a conclusion. He could only search through them one by one.

There were no villas here. They were all self built houses with one or two floors, and their roofs were covered with brick red tiles. Their style was completely out of place compared with the buildings in the city.

Joo Joowon remembered that when he had left his hometown to attend university in the past, some families in his village had built houses just like these.

However, elderly people preferred living in the countryside where there was a stronger sense of community, while young people, even if they worked in Sabi City, could not possibly live around here. Commuting would be far too inconvenient.

Joo Joowon checked two or three houses in a row, but there was no one living inside. A thin layer of dust had accumulated everywhere.

He did not stay for long. He only took a quick look around each house before leaving. He planned to explore all the houses nearby before nightfall. Only after getting a clear understanding of the situation would he be able to live here with greater peace of mind.

When he reached a rather impressive looking house, Joo Joowon could not help frowning.

There was someone inside.

Joo Joowon had not expected that someone would normally live in such a remote place either, so he stood outside the door and hesitated for a moment.

It looked like a standard farmhouse courtyard belonging to a relatively wealthy family. Two stone lions stood at the entrance. Inside was a large courtyard, with the house built at the back and leaning against a mountain.

The owner of the house did not seem to normally keep chickens, ducks, or other animals in the courtyard. The concrete ground was very clean. There was only a single tree planted there, along with some machines that Joo Joowon could not tell the purpose of and that seemed to be related to agricultural work.

With his current perception, he could sense that there were probably two or three people inside. Perhaps they were a family? If he asked them to leave, would that be a little too domineering?

However, he really did not want other people living nearby. If he agreed to escort them away safely, would they be willing to leave?

"Bang!"

Just as he was hesitating, the sudden sound of a gunshot rang out.

Joo Joowon raised his hand, and the spider silk arrived before the bullet, easily blocking the bullet that came flying toward him. The person standing at the third floor window seemed not to have expected that someone could actually block a bullet, and for a moment, they were at a loss for what to do.

However, Joo Joowon did not give them any time to react. The spider silk immediately latched onto the place where he had just detected the source of the sound, and he swung directly over.