A Hospital in Another World? Chapter 1081: Garrett: Come, Let’s Face This Crisis Together!

The flood of marching ants surged forward in a grand procession.

Individually, these creatures were unremarkable. Even though they were ten times larger than normal ants, they were only as long as the first segment of a pinky finger. But when hundreds of millions of them rolled through the forest, even the fiercest beasts had to retreat:

When they passed by a tiger’s den, the tiger left to patrol its territory and waited for them to move on.

When they passed by a snake’s nest, the pythons moved out, clearing the way.

When they passed by a native village, the entire village evacuated, waiting for the ants to leave before returning.

Only a giant anteater, their natural predator, would follow the ants, taking advantage of the feast. No other beast would dare provoke them.

Garrett and his party didn’t want to either. They all stood quietly to the side, waiting for the ants to pass—

Except for Sisoyin, the experienced middle-aged elf, who had already buried himself in the earth, covered tightly, not even showing his head. As for breathing? A vivid green vine extended three feet from the ground, swaying gently in the wind...

Even Cirilla didn’t want to provoke these creatures. She hid behind Garrett, standing on her tiptoes, both hands pressed on his shoulders. The Silver Dragon girl’s pointed ears twitched as she murmured:

“Don’t even think about touching them... so filthy... Just looking at them makes me feel itchy, as if ants are crawling under my scales...”

They were ants!

Big ants!

Once they crawled onto you, it was impossible to shake them off or brush them away; they just kept crawling into the gaps between your scales! To get rid of them, you’d have to roll in the icy waters of the far north, or in lava!

Otherwise, they’d bite into your flesh! The itch would be unbearable!

“I won’t, I won’t. Look, I’m standing perfectly still.” With Cirilla pressing against him like this, Garrett could only pat her reassuringly while keeping a close eye on the flood of marching ants.

To the naked eye, they were just a mass of large black ants, advancing relentlessly. But through the use of , a different light and shadow flickered in his meditative vision:

Faint, indistinct glimmers. Not very bright, similar to a Level 1 magical item, like the dying red glow of a match head.

However, there was a strange distortion that rose above the ant swarm, a hazy aura that framed them. This massive army crawling forward gave him the eerie feeling of something emerging from the depths of the underworld.

“You sense it too, don’t you?”

Beside him, Aishe Moon Song crouched low, asking quietly. Garrett shook his head in confusion:

“I just feel uneasy... It looks oppressive... But I’ve never seen this kind of ant before, so I don’t know if this is normal...”

“This isn’t normal.” Aishe Moon Song’s face was serious:

“Just from its aura, it’s clear that it’s been corrupted. Damn... is the contamination in the zone so severe that even they have to come out to hunt?”

Garrett looked left, right, up, and down, but couldn’t see how these marching ants were "clearly corrupted" and could only attribute it to his limited knowledge. Meanwhile, Aishe Moon Song had already stood up, looking towards the direction the ant swarm was heading:

“So many marching ants will cause severe pollution to the forest. Wherever they go, death follows, and contamination spreads... We need to think of a way to stop them...”

Suddenly, she turned to Garrett:

“Do you have any meat left? Not from high-level magical beasts, definitely not high-level ones, just some ordinary large animal meat will do!”

“Uh... yes! Yes!”

Garrett quickly started rummaging through his space equipment. Before he could pull anything out, Cirilla had already waved her hand, and a dead pig appeared out of thin air, which she tossed onto a floating disc:

“Is this enough?”

“More than enough!”

Aishe Moon Song nodded eagerly. A vine sprouted from her fingertips, splitting into two, then four, then eight, weaving into countless strands that penetrated the dead pig’s body. In her hands, the vine began to branch out and grow leaves:

“The fruit of this plant is highly toxic, extremely poisonous.” As she hastened the growth, the elf ranger explained to Garrett:

“Soaking the meat in the juice makes it perfect for poisoning insects. Watch—”

Grabbing a pig leg, she barely seemed to exert any effort, yet the several hundred-pound dead pig arced through the air, landing far ahead with a crash. Instantly, the ant swarm exploded, scattering to either side. Garrett shivered instinctively:

Would the ants think this was an attack?

Would they cause trouble?

If such a large swarm came for them, it wouldn’t be fear, but annoyance... Should he start casting defensive spells now?

However, the marching ants didn’t turn back. The large black ants swarmed the pig’s corpse, covering it in an instant.

Each ant opened its hard jaws, cutting off a small piece of the pig’s flesh, then raised its upper body high, holding the piece aloft before moving aside to eat. Quickly, the black tide formed a massive vortex around the fallen feast.

Garrett’s expression grew more serious. As the ant swarm gathered into a vortex, the abnormality in his meditative vision became clearer:

Wisps of dark, oppressive energy rose, twisting into the air like the steam from a boiling pot, distorting the entire scene:

When observing powerful entities or legendary spells through magical vision, Garrett had seen such distortions before. But that was because the opponent’s power was so great that it naturally warped the surrounding magical field.

Yet these ants were only Level 1 magical beasts individually, with the small leaders being Level 2, and the major leaders only Level 3 or 4...

Even if millions or tens of millions of them gathered together, how could they create such an anomaly?

“Do you see it? That’s corruption.” Aishe Moon Song glanced at him and, seeing his expression, knew he sensed something:

“When beasts that have escaped from inside die, their corruption doesn’t just disappear. If it’s light, nature can absorb it, with all the plants decomposing it over many, many cycles of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, until it’s barely noticeable. But if it’s severe...”

If it’s severe, it will contaminate one area after another, spreading further and further. Garrett silently finished her thought. He watched as Sisoyin emerged from the earth to join Aishe Moon Song in chopping down trees, erecting barriers around them.

He watched as the vortex of ants concentrated on the dead pig, showing no signs of dispersing.

He watched as vast numbers of ants flipped over and died, leaving only a few hundred around the pig’s skeleton, spinning aimlessly.

He watched as Aishe Moon Song lit a massive fire...

“I’ll help! I’ll help!”

Garrett hurriedly manipulated river water, weaving layer after layer of nets around them to collect as much of the smoke and dust as possible. These corrupted particles, if they spread throughout the forest, it would be better to let the marching ants continue crawling!

At least the contamination would be confined to a small area, not spread rapidly!

In his meditative vision, the dust particles, still carrying a strange, twisted energy, fell into the water. As the water spun rapidly, it finally gathered into a mass about three feet square, floating in front of Garrett.

“Cirilla, help me control it!”

Garrett called out. The Silver Dragon girl grimaced, hesitating as she took tiny steps forward. Lady Jasmine hurried over:

“I’ll do it!—Just keep it from scattering, right? Leave it to me!”

Garrett nodded slightly. A clump of grass sprouted from the ground, forming a barrier around the floating disc, blocking the fine dust. Seizing the opportunity, Garrett withdrew his mental energy and began rummaging through his space bag:

Lead sheets!

Lead sheets!

Wrap it in a layer of lead sheet, put it in a stainless steel box; wrap another layer of lead sheet, and put it in another stainless steel box!

Finally, Aishe Moon Song found an extremely hard rock, dug a hole using , buried the stainless steel box inside, and then sealed it with !

“Phew... finally done.” Garrett let out a long breath. After wrapping the first layer of lead, the twisted, oppressive feeling in his meditative vision finally disappeared;

After wrapping the second layer of lead, the subtle but lingering feeling of suffocation lifted considerably.

Double lead casket sealing, double stainless steel boxes for structural support, and sealed in the center of a massive rock. Even with bad luck, it should hold for at least three to five hundred years, right?

As for what happens after three to five hundred years... come on, who makes anything that lasts that long?

Oh... some people do need things to last that long. Garrett’s gaze shifted to Aishe Moon Song, who was frowning at the few ants she had deliberately saved:

“The pollution in the Elven Secret Realm is getting worse... more and more things will come out...”

“Then kill them when they come out!” Bernard’s deep voice boomed from the side, trying to encourage her. Aishe Moon Song smiled bitterly:

“It’s not that easy... The beasts that come out are all stronger than their counterparts outside, on average a level or two higher... The price is that the contamination inside makes the land more barren, forcing the beasts to flee...”

They keep killing, but never clean it

 up completely. No matter how many green trees they plant, no matter how hard they work to purify it, they can’t stop the contamination from spreading day by day, inch by inch.

“Sister Moon Song, don’t think about it anymore.” Garrett stepped forward gently, glancing at the few surviving ants in her hand, and softly reassured her:

“Let’s go see Lady Jasmine’s father first. Besides her father, there are probably some warriors suffering from pollution-induced injuries. If we can help, we should. Help as much as we can.”

“If we can cure a few, or at least alleviate their pain, we’ll have a few more people to help resist the pollution, won’t we?”

“Do you... have confidence?”

Aishe Moon Song looked up, a mix of hope and disbelief in her eyes. Garrett shook his head:

“I just have some ideas for now. But even if we’re only treating the symptoms, not the cause, having another healer will still improve the situation, won’t it?”

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