It took the protagonist and a few helping worker ants nearly three days to complete the manufacture of these eight vehicles.
After the production was completed, the protagonist asked his subordinate soldier ants to carry it out for an experiment. Of course, the experiment could not be carried out in the house. The only place where the experiment could be accommodated in this ant nest was the spacious main passage.
The protagonist ties a single ant vehicle tightly to the chest and abdomen of the soldier ant with plant fiber ropes, and uses the flexible tips of his front two pairs of limbs to tie the knot, which is equivalent to having four fingers. In order to facilitate removal, the protagonist still wears a bow that can be unraveled with one pull...
No way, the protagonist was not a handicraft enthusiast or wilderness survival enthusiast who loved the art of knotting in his previous life. He could only tie two kinds of knots: dead knots and bow knots.
However, ants are very obedient. As long as the protagonist does not give orders, they will not be able to untie the bow. Some ropes were too long, so the protagonist asked the soldier ants to cut them off with their sharp and well-developed claws.
After tying them up, the protagonist ordered the soldier ants to crawl twice on the sloping main channel to confirm that the vehicles would not slip off easily and the effect was satisfactory.
But the protagonist discovered another problem. The vehicle is indeed not easy to slide down, but the sunflower seed shell on the vehicle is like an irregular small dish, which contains food. If the slope is large, the food will easily roll down. Although no food was placed on top in this experiment, this issue must be considered when officially traveling far away. After all, with the tiny size of ants, any small stone or branch is a giant obstacle, and there are too many opportunities to climb.
The protagonist thought for a while, and it seemed that the grain and snail shells had to be firmly tied to the vehicle with ropes in advance. It's not too much trouble.
Just do what you say. The protagonist asked the worker ants who helped carry the food and snail shells to the designated vehicle, wrapped the plant fiber rope around it several times, and tied the bow himself. The worker ants nearby watched the protagonist making so many unprecedented tools and tying many bows that looked extremely complicated to the ants. The worker ants actually shook their heads and antennae in unison.
The protagonist was curious and leaned over to make contact. As a result, the worker ants came over expressing their admiration.
"Oh, now you admire me. I know a lot of things. By then, your heads should be turned into electric fans!" The protagonist was quite proud.
End of bundling (reinforcement) game (work). The protagonist thought for a while, and all that was left was to gather the members of the traveling team.
In addition to himself, Hua Mulan, the six existing soldier ant subordinates and the guide worker ants. The protagonist needs at least ten soldier ants to carry the vehicle and luggage, and the escort strength must also be strengthened. It is also necessary to recruit four more soldier ants to enrich the escort team. Although the worker ants are not good at fighting and not strong enough, they are agile in movement and efficient in work. They can also play a role in building camping caves and outposts, so ten more worker ants need to be brought along.
In this way, the protagonist roughly determines the size of the team of more than thirty ants. This size is just enough and will not easily attract the attention of potential large predators.
Lao Wang has not said where these ants are dispatched from, but the protagonist is already used to the way of temporarily catching up on tasks. It is not difficult to find so many worker ants and soldier ants in the main passage before departure. At most, leave some time for them to go to the granary for a full meal. Just one meal is enough.
But the top priority now is to get a good sleep. After three days of busy work on manufacturing and experimenting with vehicles, the protagonist can't stand it any longer and has not had enough sleep these days. Moreover, in his previous life, the protagonist was a typical lazy guy who didn't sleep at night and couldn't afford to wake up in the morning, but now he is forced to work so hard.
Speaking of sleeping, the protagonist previously felt that male ants seem to sleep more, while worker ants and soldier ants don't seem to sleep much. Mulan, for example, is always on call. During the past few days of work, the protagonist carefully observed the work and rest patterns of the worker ants working together, and found that these worker ants did not sleep deeply for a long time, but as long as there was nothing at hand, these worker ants would put their heads down and take a nap. Just a minute or two. If a partner wakes her up when she needs to work, she will continue working without any complaints. However, even if they nap frequently, the protagonist estimates that these worker ants cannot sleep for three or four hours a day. What a hard-working and poor little ant.
As for whether they sleep for long periods of time like humans when they are not busy, it is unclear if the protagonist has not observed it.
"In the future, my subordinates should sleep more when they have nothing to do." The protagonist thought to himself: "Lack of sleep will lead to sudden death!" The protagonist doesn't know whether he is really so considerate of his subordinates, or whether he is just making excuses for his love of sleeping (being lazy).
The protagonist returned to the bedroom, lay down on the silk bed, and fell asleep regardless of the fact that it was probably afternoon. Before going to bed, the protagonist asks Hua Mulan to remember to notify him at sunrise the next day.
...a dreamless night...
The next day, the protagonist woke up before Hua Mulan came to call him. After all, it is easier to wake up on his own when something is on his mind.
The protagonist left the bedroom, and Hua Mulan heard the noise and hurriedly followed. Since following him, the protagonist feels that Hua Mulan's IQ has improved. Taking Hua Mulan with him, the protagonist ran to the entrance of the lair and took a look. The sun hadn't risen yet, but the whiteness of fish belly was already glowing in the distance.
Since it's almost dawn, the protagonist doesn't catch up on his sleep. He asked Hua Mulan to go to the classroom first to find the guard ants, and notify the guide ants to prepare to set off and meet at the cave.
Then he went to the main channel to catch the bad guy. Ants work day and night, especially in their safe underground nests, where large numbers of soldier ants and worker ants come and go at any time. In the past, the protagonist could avoid them, but now he is used to living among the endless flow of ants.
Soon the protagonist gathered together ten worker ants and ten soldier ants, and took them to the two-bedroom apartment. At this time, Hua Mulan also came back to life, indicating that the guide worker ants had been notified.
The protagonist gave them orders one by one: "From now on, you will only obey my orders. Go and eat as much as possible, and then come back here."
Twenty-one subordinates took orders and left.
About a quarter of an hour later, the members of this team came back one after another, and the protagonist directed the ten soldier ants acting as porters to load vehicles and luggage.
Then he waved his forelegs: "Let's go!"
