The protagonist is lying on the silk bed, swaying regularly with the steps of the soldier ants who serve as bearers. The scenery along the way is not pretty at all. During the journey, humans can enjoy the grasslands, rivers, forests and oceans along the way. And the ants are too short. Except for areas with sparse vegetation or higher terrain, at other times, you can only see soil when you look down, and grass and leaves when you look up, surrounded by huge rocks and trees. Although it is full of exotic scenery, it is not pleasing to the eye.
The feeling of boredom was accompanied by the rhythmic swing of the silk bed beneath him, and the protagonist fell asleep quickly as if he was lying on a cradle.
After sleeping unsteadily for a while, the protagonist woke up and felt that the soldier ants under him had stopped moving.
The protagonist looked up and saw that the little secretary and four strong soldier ants in front of him also stopped. Not far ahead, a small yellow worker ant emerged from the leaves of a low fern and looked at the protagonist. This way. This worker ant is definitely not from the protagonist's team.
Although ants have poor eyesight, their vision is more sensitive to moving objects. Under the afternoon sun, this strange worker ant obviously discovered the protagonist and his party.
"Damn it, we won't break into other ant nests!" The protagonist was shocked. When making the defense plan, the protagonist ignored the possibility of conflict with other ant colonies. If there was a fight, he would be in trouble. The more than thirty ants beside them are no match for an entire nest army. They will be wiped out in less than a glass of water.
The protagonist looked at Xiao Mi nervously, only to find that Xiao Mi was very calm.
The strange worker ants jumped directly from the fern leaves, landed lightly on the ground, and quickly crawled towards Xiao Mi. Zhuang 1 and the others beside the little secretary put on a slightly defensive posture. After Xiaomi had some exchanges with the strange worker ants, the strange worker ants turned around and left, and Zhuang 1 and the others put down their alert posture.
Under the leadership of the little secretary, the team moved forward again. The protagonist couldn't hold back his curiosity, jumped off the silk bed, and ran over to ask the secret.
"That ant also belongs to our nest? Why did it come so far away?"
"It's not from our lair." The secretary replied, "It's from another deputy lair."
"Secondary nest?" The protagonist is curious: "It's opposite to the main nest. Our nest is also a secondary nest. Why is it called a secondary nest?"
"The nests built later have very few queens and kings, and not many soldier ants and worker ants."
Well, although the secretary's explanation is very simple, the protagonist also roughly understands that the main nest and the sub-nest are roughly the difference between the main base and the sub-base.
It's very interesting to communicate with this little secret. Other male ants are more difficult to meet and there are no opportunities to communicate, but the soldier ants and worker ants are too stupid. Only the secretary can understand many of the protagonist's questions and reply to them.
"Do we have many secondary nests?" the protagonist continued to ask like a curious baby.
"A lot of secondary nests." The secretary replied. Obviously the ants are not very good at mathematics and cannot give a specific number.
"How much is a lot..."
"..." The little secretary couldn't answer this question, and his mind was confused.
"Okay, okay, don't dwell on this, it will burn your brain out in a while." The protagonist had to change the topic: "How many sub-nests will we pass along the way?"
"One, two, three, three." The little secretary was very interested in arithmetic. She tapped her forelimbs and jaws with her tentacles a few times and gave an answer.
"Hey, by the way, why do we have to spend the night in the wild when there are secondary nests along the way?" The protagonist discovered another problem. The last time Hua Mulan went to the main nest, she dug a hole in the wild and spent the night.
"At night, I wasn't in the auxiliary nest."
Okay, the protagonist roughly understands. It was now afternoon, and they had just approached a sub-nest, and by evening they were no longer within the range of any sub-nest. The brainless ant never thought about speeding up to reach the next sub-nest in advance, or resting for an extra half day in the previous sub-nest. They would rather spend the night in a hole wherever they went.
As you continue walking forward, you encounter more and more ants, all of which are worker ants that are busy collecting building materials and food. If there are no enemies or huge prey, soldier ants generally rarely appear on the ground.
These are the ants from the sub-nest. Although the entrance to the sub-nest was not seen along the way, there were so many ants wandering nearby, so the safety factor was greatly increased. Ants are more effective when they appear in clusters.
The small team did not interact too much with these relatives. After verifying each other's identities with the lighting ants, the team continued to move forward without interfering with each other.
The scenery beside the road is still the same, except that the sun is setting towards the west as it advances little by little. By the time the sun is very close to the distant horizon, the ants have already moved away from the range of the previous sub-nest, and there are no traces of their ant relatives nearby. The outline of the sun was obscured by grass and leaves, and the whole view was no longer visible.
At this time, the little secretary stopped and asked the protagonist whether he should set up camp. The protagonist thought for a moment, if we set up camp and dig a hole now, everyone would be able to hide safely underground before it gets completely dark. This group of ants obviously have no sense of time, but they can rely on instinct to leave plenty of time to set up camp. It is indeed amazing.
The protagonist agreed to set up camp, and the secretary immediately led the worker ants to dig a hole under a moss-covered stone. The protagonist also quickly unloaded the vehicle from Li 1-10, and while watching the ant construction team work, he ate some sunflower seeds to replenish his strength.
This group of worker ants was incredibly efficient and quickly dug a tunnel that sloped downwards, facing the south, so that the first ray of sunlight tomorrow could shine into the cave.
As the daylight gradually fades, the protagonist clearly feels that the wind is getting stronger, and even the vehicles on the ground are shaking a little. It seems that these luggages cannot be safely left outside for the night. The protagonist is going to move the vehicle into the cave as well.
The cave had been dug by this time, but the protagonist discovered something wrong before he even went down. The hole dug by Xiao Mi and the others can only accommodate two worker ants moving side by side, and the size of the vehicle cannot be moved in. These ants build their nests based on past experiences. The protagonist had no choice but to order the worker ants to expand the hole.
The secretary ran over and conveyed his dissatisfaction: "If the hole is too big, it will be dangerous."
Indeed, the larger the hole, the easier it is to be discovered by the enemy, and it is not conducive to defense. But the protagonist has no intention of changing his mind.
After completing the construction, the protagonist took all members of the team carrying vehicles and luggage down to the temporary camping site. This simple overnight camp is a straight tunnel connected to a larger nest chamber. If the soil is cut open, the shape of the camp is a typical hammer shape.
There is enough space inside the camp for all the ants to lie down comfortably. The protagonist slept on the silk bed himself and let a few soldier ants block other vehicles at the door, which was used as a simple defensive obstacle.
"Now, all go to sleep." The protagonist ordered forcefully. These ants ran around all day without taking a nap, which was just enough for them to catch up on a long sleep. The protagonist can't stand these guys wandering around after a nap while he's sleeping, which will seriously affect the protagonist's rest.
