However, the Abyss was an unknown world after all. System couldn't dispel his worries based on Ying's mental message alone.

  He still couldn't make up his mind after thinking for a long time, so he returned to the ant nest a few kilometers away.

  According to his conversation with Ying, she would stay with him until her fifth metamorphosis. If she was lucky enough to complete her fifth metamorphosis, she would attempt to assassinate the old druid Medran again.

  Although she wouldn't be as strong as the old druid even after her fifth metamorphosis, System didn't try to change her mind. He knew that Ying had an extremely stubborn personality. In the end, she would stick with her own decisions.

  While he was activating the [Limb Regeneration] ability in Ying's bloodline, System also used [Probe and Analyze] to obtain more information about her body.

  ...

  Species: Grasshopper (renameable)Level: 46/125

  Height: 0.62mWeight: 19kg

  Estimated Combat Power: 35-95Special Talents: [Molting and Growth] (20/20), [Insect Adaptability] (21/21)

  ...

  Ying's combat power wasn't very high, but System, who was well aware of the fws in his [Probe and Analyze] skill, knew that her dispyed combat power should be like Shava's, which would suddenly increase whenever she used an ability that was normally kept inactive.

  Unfortunately, when Ying activated her ability and disappeared, System's [Probe and Analyze] skill seemed to have lost its target. He couldn't detect Ying's combat power when she was invisible.

  Eventually, he gave up.

  After successfully activating Ying's [Limb Regeneration] ability and assigning her a chamber in the nest, System walked over to an empty chamber that he rarely visited.

  A square table made of tightly packed soil, which had been crafted by Excavator, stood in the center of the chamber. A translucent gem the size of a baby's fist and a silver chain rested on the table.

  This was the gem that Shava had given System just after he'd finished his third pupation a few days earlier.

  However, there were now two golden discs inside the gem.

  After more than a year of practice, Excavator wasn't only able to manipute earth; her ability also worked on rocks now.

  The same was true for gems. Her ability could change their shape, but the process was very slow.

  Excavator had embedded the two golden discs inside the gem at System's request, which had taken one day and two nights.

  Under the illumination of a magic candle, the golden discs flickered with a faint luster.

  System recalled the appearance of the grasshopper queen Quin and the images of countless grasshoppers flying over mountains and kes.

  Ever since he was awarded the [Exotic Insect] title, his blood had rarely sent him visions of grasshoppers flying in groups.

  In the past, flying in a group with grasshoppers had been very attractive to him, and his blood would tremble at the thought of it. However, after receiving the title, flying in a group with grasshoppers no longer caused his heart and blood to race.

  System picked up the silver chain, which had been brought back from the temple's treasure room. He passed the chain through a hole that Excavator had made in the gem.

  After hesitating for a long time, he finally put on the neckce.

  "Then I'll take you to see it..."

  System's throat released a hoarse sound. He seemed to be speaking to the dead grasshopper queen Quin, but also to himself.

  At some point, he had become timid and lost all of his original courage. However, after putting on the neckce, he felt like something had been added to his heart, causing him to no longer hesitate when making a choice.

  His mind once again returned to the scene of the grasshopper queen flying with countless grasshoppers, and the old druid's trap also appeared in his mind.

  System once again felt a strong desire to kill the old druid.

  However, this time, it was different. Instead of killing the old druid directly, he had a new idea.

  In the future, if he ever possessed a level of strength that the old druid couldn't resist, he would unch a locust pgue in Lilt Forest right in front of the old druid. He'd force the old druid to watch with his own eyes, unable to resist, as the locusts consumed the forest.

  ...

  The next day, System talked to Bck and Shava about guarding the nest for the next two or three days, then set out with Ying to explore the ruins where the portal was located.

  Although he had already decided to migrate with his ant colony, he didn't hastily begin the migration immediately. Instead, he decided to explore the portal's location by himself first.

  Last night, System had thought of an efficient migration method that could greatly increase the travel speed of his ants, allowing them to complete the migration in just a few days. With this new method, they didn't have to leave so early.

  The reason he didn't bring Shava this time was because she couldn't fly. Traveling with her would be too slow and would undoubtedly add a lot of time to the trip.

  The underground ruins were about eight hundred kilometers away from the nest. If he and Ying flew at full speed, it would take about ten hours to reach the destination.

  The two of them quickly flew northeast at high speed while keeping watch for anything dangerous in their flight path.

  Recently, the deep winter in the Warren Pins had gradually ended. The temperature had slowly risen in the past few days, reaching 3 to 5 degrees. Occasional leaf buds had also begun to appear on the ground, as if early spring had arrived.

  Along the way, nothing special happened, except for System's travel time and physical consumption exceeding his expectations due to a headwind.

  One or two wandering undead creatures still passed by from time to time on the ground. Insect demons also appeared occasionally, either devouring the roots and stems of pnts or attacking others of their own kind or undead creatures.

  Because of the headwind, when System arrived at the entrance of the underground ruins, it had been fifteen hours, switching from early morning to the complete darkness of night.

  It was called the entrance to the underground ruins, but it was actually just a crack caused by an earthquake on a desote hill, about twenty centimeters wide and three meters long. There was no indicator of what was below from the outside.

  Because his body was too rge to fit through the crack, System had to use [Morph] to ftten himself before he could enter.

  While exploring the underground ruins, he didn't feel any special energy fluctuations. However, as he went deeper, he slowly discovered the special features of the ruins.

  After going more than ten meters deep, the crack widened, and System saw many remains of stone buildings covered in exquisite patterns.

  Perhaps this pce had been a beautiful city many years ago.

  Unfortunately, after searching through the ruined city, he didn't find any biological remains.

  However, near some crumbled stone fragments of a building, System found a rusty metal hand and half of a metal arm, which seemed to have once been part of a metal puppet.

  After using his tentacles and [Dragon Scale Spikes] to easily destroy the nearby stones, System soon revealed the remains of what looked like a puppet.