My God-Level System Can Rebuild Civilization in the Apocalypse!

Joo Joowon forced himself to look away from the colorful fungi and carefully observed the surroundings instead.

The ants themselves varied greatly in size.

Some were no larger than ordinary ants before the apocalypse.

Others had already grown to the size of mice.

There were even a handful that had reached the size of cats.

The larger ants rarely left the vicinity of the mound.

Most of the ones responsible for gathering food and transporting resources were the smaller worker ants.

That alone made Joo Joowon even more cautious.

In insect colonies, larger size almost always meant higher status and greater combat ability.

If ordinary worker ants had already reached this level, then how powerful must the soldier ants be?

And if soldier ants were this strong, what kind of monster would the queen ant have become?

Joo Joowon suddenly felt fortunate that he had managed to suppress his earlier impulses.

Otherwise, if he had recklessly approached the mound in an attempt to take everything for himself, he might already be dead.

He quietly withdrew the strands of spider silk he had attached earlier and slowly stepped backward.

There was no need to rush.

He had already seen enough.

The existence of this place alone was more than enough reason for him to return someday in the future.

Perhaps by then he would possess a territory of his own.

Perhaps by then he would be strong enough to deal with the ants.

Perhaps by then these spirit fungi would become one of the most important resources under his control.

But not today.

Today, survival remained his highest priority.

Only the living had the right to dream about tomorrow.

Under normal circumstances, there had not even been any wind near the ant nest.

The scene before him had already laid everything out clearly.

The countless ants hidden beneath the nest and the thorny plants surrounding it were the true defensive measures protecting this place.

If that was the case, then the only remaining explanation for his abnormal thoughts was the mental attack he had experienced earlier that day.

This was not because Joo Joowon had so much confidence in his own character that he believed he would never harbor such thoughts.

On the contrary, he knew very well that he was a greedy person.

However, ever since childhood, there had been one thing he had repeatedly learned and practiced throughout his entire life.

Restraint.

That word had been nailed firmly onto him from the moment he was born and it had become the thing he was best at.

He was not alone in the apocalypse, nor was he someone with nothing to lose who could casually gamble his life on the assumption that he would succeed this time.

He still had a family.

Yet just now, the desire he felt had been overwhelmingly powerful.

It had been so strong that he had even forgotten that Byeol and Hwi were still with him.

Joo Joowon was absolutely certain that under normal circumstances, he would never have done something like that.

He understood himself fairly well.

After carefully thinking back on everything that had happened today, the only event that had truly affected his mind had been that moment when he met the Big Belly Zombie’s eyes and felt as though his soul had been dragged out of his body and pulled into that strange space.

Unfortunately, there were no negative status effects displayed on his status panel.

On top of that, he had only been exposed to the supernatural for the past few days.

His understanding of the mysterious world was still far too shallow.

Because of that, he had assumed that skills only affected the immediate battle and had never realized that they could leave lingering aftereffects afterward.

After all, the psychic zombies he had encountered before had all used attacks that were straightforward in nature.

Because of that experience, he had not been on guard at all and had allowed his mind to become vulnerable without realizing it.

Fortunately, he had come to his senses before actually acting on those thoughts.

Joo Joowon could not help feeling relieved.

Thankfully, he had never been the type of person to act recklessly.

Because he had grown up without many advantages or resources, he had developed the habit of carefully considering every possible consequence before making decisions.

Otherwise, he might truly have fallen into the trap.

This kind of attack was simply impossible to guard against.

Just thinking about the absurd idea he had entertained moments ago made him shudder.

Controlling the ant queen?

What exactly had he planned to use to control an ant queen?

His own skull?

Of course, taking the queen ant hostage and using her to command the entire colony was even more impossible.

If the queen ant ever fell into his hands, Joo Joowon believed that instead of submitting to him, the ants would more likely throw themselves into a frenzy and attack him with everything they had.

Even so, now that he had already come this far, returning empty handed was not Joo Joowon’s style.

After all, he really wanted them.

He wanted to pick a few of the mushrooms growing along the outer edge and take them with him.

The problem was that there was no way for him to steal the mushrooms without anyone noticing.

At the same time, he had no intention of simply using spider silk to snatch them openly because that still carried the risk of attracting attention.

However, perhaps that risk could be redirected onto someone else instead.

Joo Joowon’s eyes flickered slightly as he quietly left the area.

"Meow?"

Only then did Byeol finally release Hwi from his restraint before climbing onto Joo Joowon’s shoulder and rubbing against him.

For little cats, moving creatures such as ants and mosquitoes were almost impossible to resist.

If Byeol had not been holding Hwi down earlier, Hwi would have already rushed over to play with the ants.

Although Hwi never wasted food and never toyed with prey before eating it, it still possessed the instincts and preferences that all cats shared.

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