The protagonist led a group of ants to climb all the way along the main passage to the nest exit. The result was not smooth at the beginning. A soldier ant carrying a vehicle and sunflower seed kernels was trying to climb up the slope when he was caught by a soldier ant carrying seeds. The worker ant, which couldn't see its direction clearly, was bumped, and then rolled around a few times with the weight on its back before stopping. The protagonist hurried down to check. Fortunately, the soldier ant was not seriously injured, and the vehicle and food on his back were also intact. The rope was slightly loose, so the protagonist had to tie it up again.
Next, the protagonist had to keep driving away other ants along the way to avoid knocking down the soldier ants carrying tools and luggage. The guide ants are already waiting there. And it's not just the guide ant, there are four strong soldier ants beside her, which are much bigger than Mulan and the others.
The protagonist recognized these strong soldier ants at a glance as Lao Wang's personal guards. They had been threatened by them before, but now they were actually sent out as bodyguards to guide the worker ants. The protagonist felt that the guide ant was becoming more and more mysterious, so he decided to name her Xiaomi.
Now that we have to name them, the protagonist might as well work hard and give names to all the ants in his team. Then, following the consistent naming of the protagonist, the ten soldier ants responsible for carrying the luggage were named Li 1, Li 2, Li 3 and up to Li 10 by the protagonist, and the ten soldier ants responsible for the security work were named Wei 1 and Wei 2. , Guard 3 to Guard 10, and the remaining ten worker ants are called juniors by the protagonist because of their small size: Little 1, Little 2, Little 3 to Little 10. Oh, there are also four strong soldier ants brought by the little secret, let’s call them Strong 1, Strong 2, Strong 3, and Strong 4 respectively!
Anyway, these ants do not need such syllables to distinguish their identities, and they will not express disdain for the standard of the protagonist's name.
The protagonist briefly communicated with the little secretary and knew that she was ready to go. The little secretary was very curious about the vehicles brought by the protagonist. After the protagonist explained it, she still couldn't understand the main point of courage. The protagonist ignored her and gave the order to set off again.
The little secretary led Zhuang 1 and the four of them to lead the way. The protagonist followed closely behind with the main force of the team, and first climbed out of the cave in a long snake formation.
The protagonist used his forelimbs to block the dazzling morning sunlight outside the cave. At this time, the morning sun had risen a lot, and the golden sunlight pierced the blue sky and danced on the yellow carapace of these ants. The weather is still good today, the wind is not strong, and we even saw a dragonfly high in the sky.
After adapting to the light, the protagonist hurriedly directed the team to follow the secret in front. In the middle of the team were Force 1 and the others who were carrying a heavy burden. Although the burden was not light, their speed was not significantly behind. Hua Mulan, with Wei 9 and Wei 10, fell to the end of the team.
The legendary fire clan lair is to the west of this lair. The secret leads the protagonist and his party with their backs to the sun, which avoids the trouble of the dazzling rising sun shining directly into their compound eyes.
This small team soon left the range of daily activities of its fellow ants in the nest, and there were fewer and fewer worker ants nearby.
The team basically walked through bushes and weeds. Although the path that the secretary took was not a straight line and had some twists and turns, it was basically moving on solid ground, even if there were occasional boulders or mud pits blocking it. In the future, there are always small passages that can accommodate the passage of ants, eliminating the trouble of constant detours and climbs. If there wasn't such a fast track, just the large amount of old dead branches and leaves would have caused a lot of difficulties for progress.
The protagonist is very curious about this path that allows ants to pass quickly. It does not seem to be purely natural. The protagonist rushed to the front, walked side by side with Xiao Mi, put one of his tentacles on Xiao Mi's tentacles, and raised his doubts to Xiao Mi.
As the secretary hurried on, he explained to the protagonist: This road is indeed not natural. This nest will send teams to the main nest twice every year. Over the years, a relatively suitable and smooth road has been found. Each team going to the main nest will also clear new obstacles along the way. If they cannot be cleared, they will find a new way around them. The reason why Xiao Mi is so familiar with the road is not just because she has been to the main nest once. She can judge the general direction of travel based on the position of the sun on the road. And there are a lot of pheromones on this expressway that can guide you.
These pheromones are not the ordinary pheromones that ants leave behind every day. Ordinary pheromones tend to evaporate within a few days. When the protagonist encounters a praying mantis while hunting, the guarding soldier ants dutifully spread pheromones along the way so that they can easily find the route back to their nest.
This kind of pheromone is a long-lasting pheromone that only male ants can secrete. Passing male ants will spread these pheromones on hard-to-move landmarks such as stones along the way. Although the smell is very weak, it can be retained for eight or nine months. . However, in contrast, the male ants can secrete and store very little pheromones, so they will not be wasted easily.
Of course, the protagonist has the skin of a male ant. He knows nothing about how to use pheromones, and he has no smell of pheromones along the way.
Traveling on the expressway is not only fast, but also relatively safe. Many sections of the road pass under ancient lying trees, huge rocks, etc., making it difficult to be discovered by outside creatures.
Before I knew it, I had been walking for a long time. The sun was high and the air was gradually getting hot. Although the path the ants walk is relatively shady, the protagonist can feel the temperature in his body rising. Ants are cold-blooded animals.
In this short half day, the protagonist did not find a single creature that could pose a threat to him. We also saw a lot of insects along the way, including spiders, caterpillars, grasshoppers, crickets, butterflies, etc., and they were generally on good terms with the ant team. Occasionally, a reckless guy would happen to block the ants' path, and they would soon be driven away unceremoniously by Zhuang 1 and the others who opened the way.
Along the way, the protagonist doesn't see a single bird, lizard, or mammal. The protagonist couldn't help but wonder, where have these common creatures gone? Why can only insects and arthropods be seen everywhere?
But it's a good thing that I'm not in danger, at least I don't need to dig into a snail shell anymore.
After crawling for a long time, the protagonist felt that his meager physical strength had been exhausted, so he quickly climbed onto the silk bed carried by Li 9 and Li 10, and lay down to rest. At the same time, enjoy the scenery along the way.
