Chapter 262: Chapter 262: Death (1)

Theo waited for a few minutes, and the situation wasn’t getting any better for some reason.

The ants were struggling hard, and the ant queen was getting impatient.

It was to the point that it brought out other ants from the colony to bring the evolving ones inside to tend to them.

Even though Theo wanted to see if they were alright or not, it still didn’t change the fact that all the other evolutions the ants took part in had always happened inside the colony and not in front of him.

Theo sat on a chair and waited impatiently. He asked the ant queen about the condition every few seconds.

The ant queen replied with stress in all the earlier ones, but as time passed, the stress started to dwindle, and Theo couldn’t help but feel like things might go great.

Ten minutes later, the ant queen started panicking for the first time, and Theo got up from the chair.

’What is it? Is everything okay?’ Theo asked with concern, to which the ant queen didn’t reply.

But a few seconds later, the ant queen conveyed emotions of it being complete now.

Theo was flabbergasted at first, but soon, his eyes were filled with joy when he realized what they had achieved.

Every time, the ant queen would be elated by the fact that the evolution was complete and its children were stronger than before, but it was different this time.

There was happiness in the bond she shared with Theo, but when Theo dug in to contact with it, he could feel a slight sorrow too.

Soon, the ants that had evolved were sent out by the ant queen for Theo to check, and when they came out.

Theo could see how exhausted they were. Their bodies were still covered with the gooey liquid of evolution, and their bodies were shivering.

They were not at all healthy from what he could see.

Theo quickly sent them back, but at the same time, he realized a problem.

’You only sent four of them out... where is the last one?’ Theo asked in the bond with a guilty conscience.

He knew something was wrong, as the ant queen was not one to do a job half-assed.

Right away, the images of the dead ant in the colony’s dark chamber flashed before Theo’s eyes.

His eyes widened at the fact that something like this could happen during evolution. He had become a lot more confident, and in that process, he had let the ants take the toll.

Now, fear struck Theo that the others were also very weak right now. They might die too if things were left like this.

"I need to do something. Just take care of them till then, ant queen." Theo said and left the terrarium room, finding Clara and Elias standing and reading the books they were given.

When Theo came out, they quickly stopped reading and closed the books.

"Everything okay, young master?" Clara asked after looking at the face Theo was making.

Elias could see the panic in Theo’s eyes too.

"Elias, Clara, I need you both to do something as soon as possible. Get me a stone, a light, anything that works just like the sun to provide light. It could be something used to give sunshine to plants that are indoors. I don’t care, but I need it as fast as possible." Theo gave the order, and seeing the gravity of the situation, Clara and Elias kept the books on the table and briskly went outside the room.

They didn’t need to question any further. Theo wouldn’t be this panicked if things were not serious.

After 5 minutes and Theo asking the ant queen for their status every few seconds, Theo realized that the ants were doing the same as before.

Not moving much, and their bodies shivering as if they were cold.

The situation didn’t feel very good for him. For the first time, it seemed an ant had not died naturally due to its lifespan but because of his own negligence.

’I had this thought to keep the ants under some kind of light during the evolution... it clearly stated in the options that they become healthy and strong in it...’

The fact that Theo didn’t do it made him think that all his effort of raising that ant to level 4 had gone to waste.

He knew just how much the ant queen loved its children.

But what Theo did not know was the fact that the bond between both the insects and him was currently open, and they could feel everything he had just thought.

The mantis came out of the beast space to support Theo after sitting on his shoulder and tapping his cheek.

Theo looked at him and couldn’t help but chuckle.

"You shouldn’t be consoling me but the ant queen. She is the one that lost her child." Theo spoke before tapping the mantis’s head a few times.

The mantis kept tapping his cheek gently without reacting, so Theo did not know if it understood or not.

BAM!

The door suddenly opened with intensity, and Elias came running inside at full speed.

"Young master, I could understand why you made me bring this thing." He spoke after coming close and showed him a set of glowing stones inside a cloth.

"They are called bright stones. They are used to give plants kept inside the castle the light every few hours. I could only find it due to your specific knowledge about this thing."

When Theo looked at the stones that were glowing bright inside the cloth, he looked at Elias and quickly hugged him with all he had.

Elias felt the squeeze at his waist a little too tight, but he still felt surprised that Theo had just hugged him.

"I won’t forget this favor ever," Theo spoke before running inside the room.

Theo quickly kept the stones in a circle in front of the trolley.

"Ant queen, send out the four ants and the dead one outside here. They can heal here, I am sure of it." Theo spoke with determination.

When the ant queen heard through the bond, it couldn’t help but hesitate sending them out.

But feeling the intensity of how much Theo believed in this, it quickly sent the ants out with the help of the others.