As Joey walked, the manga plot he remembered kept flashing through his mind.
However, Hunter x Hunter was an old series, and if it weren't for the remake and the rumors of the author's planned revival before his transmigration, he probably wouldn't remember the plot at all.
Even so, several years had passed since his transmigration, and it would be a miracle if he could still recall most of the details.
Fortunately, Joey remembered some iconic scenes, basic settings, and the general plot.
For example, Pons being blown off his head and eaten, Bock being captured and having Nen eaten by ants, thus learning of Nen's existence, Kite receiving a blood-stained message and leading his group to a base where they encountered the Chimera Ants and fought.
Then there was the attack Kite's group faced after leaving the base, and finally, Neferpitou, the King's direct bodyguard, appearing and fighting Kite, while Killua, under Kite's cover, knocked out the enraged Gon and escaped.
As for the rest of the plot, Joey didn't delve deeper, but instead looked at his phone, which he had just turned on.
A beetle-shaped flip phone—this was probably the phone Leorio most recommended in the anime. Long standby time, good call signal, reasonable price, and incredibly durable.
Kira Yoshikage seemed to have good taste, Yoshikage thought to himself. While searching through the phone, Joey found nothing useful.
The phonebook was empty. No text
messages—not a single one; even bill reminders and promotional notifications were completely deleted. There were
no temporary calls, not a single photo. If it weren't for the single bar of signal strength flashing on the screen, Joey would have suspected the phone was brand new without a SIM card.
As for other functions, this simple phone clearly displayed them to Joey: a compass, alarm clock, blank notepad, voice recorder, camera, calendar, and even a Snake game!
Completely unsure who to call, Joey glanced at the time on his phone before putting it back in his pocket.
The phone had plenty of battery; it would be fine as a watch or flashlight, not to mention it could record video.
The distant explosions had ceased several minutes ago, and the excessive energy expenditure had stopped recently.
It seemed either the tank had completed its mission and was returning, or it had been delayed.
The fact that explosions drained energy was surprisingly advantageous, and the lack of discomfort in his hands suggested the tank hadn't suffered any damage.
However, considering the tank's sturdiness, Joey felt it was somewhat expected; after all, even Star Platinum couldn't break it.
Ordinary attacks probably wouldn't leave a mark, so naturally, he wouldn't feel anything on his hands.
But thinking about it was pointless; he was more concerned with the tank's swift return.
Calculating the time, he had already been traveling through the forest for over ten minutes since leaving the village. Regardless of whether the tank could wipe out the chimera ants in the village, any chimera ants who discovered the changes in the village would report the deaths. At that point, it was likely that the chimera ants investigating the village would be at the division commander level.
Those guys were far superior to the lowly chimera ant soldiers.
Therefore, for Joey's safety, it was best to travel as far as possible before nightfall.
Once night fell, this forest would definitely become the domain of those chimera ants that had integrated the abilities of numerous organisms.
The chimera ants' unique feeding and mating methods meant that their evolution, if unrestricted, would become extremely terrifying.
Feeding and mating, as the name suggests, meant that the chimera ant queen only needed to inject enough food to produce offspring without needing to mate with males or females.
Furthermore, these offspring would inherit the characteristics of the creatures the queen had fed on.
In other words, the more diverse the food sources, the more genetically diverse the offspring of chimeric ants.
Furthermore, only the queen and king ant have the right to reproduce, which contributes to the extremely greedy, warlike, and highly aggressive nature of chimeric ants.
The division of labor among chimeric ants is also very clear. The queen constantly migrates to find a suitable location, increasing the number of soldier ants and building a loyal legion until she finds a satisfactory place, at which point she stops and produces a large number of worker ants.
These worker ants quickly construct a nest to the queen's satisfaction, where she then lives and dies.
However, during this time, the queen gives birth to a new king ant every cycle.
The king ant does not stay in the nest for long; after birth, it leaves with its direct guard and wanders, mating with various species to produce the next queen.
In this process, the hierarchical division among chimeric ants is extremely clear.
Below the queen are her direct guards. After the queen and her guards leave, below the queen are the division commanders, who in turn lead large numbers of corps commanders (high-ranking soldier ants) and ordinary soldiers (lower-ranking soldier ants).
Joey's current situation is that the chimeric ant queen, having found a habitat and built her nest, is plundering creatures near her nest to prepare for the next queen's birth.
Because the current chimeric ant queen has consumed a large number of humans, her subsequent chimeric ants have developed intelligence.
Joey now faces a swarm of intelligent chimeric ants with unique biological abilities as pursuers—a situation that is both unpleasant and terrifying.
The sound of the Withered Heart-Piercing Attack Vehicle approaching from behind Joey, causing him to stop.
He then saw the vehicle, leaving a trail of track marks in the forest, rapidly charging towards him.
The Killer Queen stepped forward at the opportune moment and extended her left hand. The chariot instantly transformed into a streak of blue light and flashed into the back of her left hand.
However, Joey's expression was grim as he looked at the two thin track marks.
The chariot's return proved that the Chimera Ants within the village area had been eliminated, but the two marks left behind by the chariot undeniably revealed its location.
Joey wasn't sure if there were any Chimera Ants lurking nearby, tracking the track marks, but all he could do now was get away from here as quickly as possible.
Turning around, Joey tightened his backpack and quickened his pace.
However, after walking a certain distance with his back to the village, Joey's brows furrowed deeply. He had seen the Killer Queen's gesture, which clearly indicated that there were Chimera Ants behind him.
Damn it!
He had been exposed after all.
Joey wasn't surprised; in fact, his deliberate act of turning around and exposing his back was somewhat intended to provoke any potential pursuers.
But judging from the pursuers' choice, Joey had a bad feeling.
Is the other side not making a move because they're overly cautious, or because they can see the Assassin Queen?
If it's the former, that's fine, but if it's the latter, things are going to get complicated! And either way, Joey needs to deal with the tracker as soon as possible.
Otherwise, with such a monster hanging on, once reinforcements arrive, his death will be inevitable no matter how many tricks he has up his sleeve.