As the last male ant entered, the oldest king in the middle of the cobblestone floor also lowered his tentacles to the ground. The kings are all here and the meeting is about to begin.
The young male ant next to the protagonist also straightened his body, lowered his head, and stretched his antennae flat without touching the ground. In terms of body language, this is a gesture of respect. Apart from the oldest king and the king, there are only two winged ants, the protagonist and the young male ant, who stand out like a flock of chickens.
The ants' meetings are carried out through the slightly convex white pebbles on the ground as a transmission medium. The information of the male ants whose tentacles touch the ground is transmitted in a group chat. Ants that do not use their tentacles to access the group chat do not know the content of the communication. . Readers can imagine a WeChat chat group. The oldest king is the group leader, and the 500 kings are group members. They can speak freely in the group. The protagonist and the young male ants are aware of the group but have not been invited to join the group.
At this moment, the protagonist is leaning in the corner, watching a group of male ants chatting motionlessly and intently on the cobblestones. The young male ants beside him have also maintained an unusually respectful posture and stopped talking. The chatty protagonist who lost the person to communicate with suddenly fell into a boring situation. Forgive him, if it were anyone who had no one to chat with for many days, then if he caught a person to communicate with, he would definitely chatter and chatter endlessly.
The protagonist simply started thinking about the pavement ants mentioned in the chat just now, and he tried hard to search for some information about the pavement ants in his mind. As a naughty child when he was a child, the protagonist was no stranger to big-headed ants and pavement ants. These are the two most common ants in Chinese cities, and they are also the two pitiful creatures that he plays with the most.
When the protagonist was a child, he did not know the scientific names of these two ants. He simply classified them according to their colors, calling the big-headed ants yellow ants and the pavement ants black ants. These black ants are smaller than yellow ants, and they also build nests in the soil. They are very common on streets, in grass, in fields and under corners. They have excellent adaptability and can be found all over the country. There are no specialized soldier ants in the pavement ant colony (it should be noted that soldier ants are actually a type of worker ants, specifically differentiated worker ants, which only exist in a few types of ants), but the colony size is usually large, and there can be many worker ants. There are hundreds of thousands of them, and they fight fiercely. In large-scale battles, they will cover a large area on the ground densely, hence the name "Pavement Ants". They are a typical user of ant sea tactics. Pavement ants mainly prey on small insects, or graze aphids to obtain honeydew. Large colonies are more aggressive, but individual attack power is very weak. The bite is not painful, and there is no formic acid or sting. Like big-headed ants, they rely on their large size. Jaws to attack. In addition to frequent civil wars between different nests, pavement ants also often compete with big-headed ants for territory. In battles with big-headed ants, pavement ant workers with lower individual combat effectiveness often use their numerical advantage to offset the single strength of big-headed soldier ants. Physical advantage.
The protagonist has never seen a large-scale war between ants, but think about hundreds of thousands of ants fighting together in the howling cold wind of winter, covering a large snowfield, using their big claws to tear apart the opponent's Limbs, this is much more cruel and bloody than the battles in the cold weapon age of mankind. The human army in the Middle Ages would be defeated if it suffered only one tenth of its casualties, but this would prevent too many effective forces from being wasted in battle. The ants will never run away timidly unless they receive an order to retreat, and will continue to fight until all casualties on one side are exhausted.
The protagonist was thinking wildly when he suddenly discovered that the police officer had left the cobblestone where the meeting was taking place and walked in front of him.
"Please come with me, young king." The emotion conveyed by the police was very solemn and full of a hint of respect.
Did I feel wrong? Before the protagonist could think carefully about the meaning of this emotion, he was anxiously urged by the police to climb onto the cobblestone platform. All the kings along the way consciously made way for him, allowing him to successfully follow the police and climb to the front of the oldest king.
The protagonist doesn't understand at all how he got involved in this meeting of five hundred kings in the main nest. Whether you are the Roman Senate of five hundred elders or the five hundred wastes who traveled through high places, it should have nothing to do with him. I'm just a fake ant who sneaked here to see if there was a fire and could get some cooked food.
The policeman retreated back to the middle of the kings, leaving the protagonist and the oldest king alone in the middle. The oldest king put his tentacles up and asked in a tone that left no room for doubt: "Do you know about fire?"
"I... know." The protagonist feels that the atmosphere is too serious, but the bullshit he boasted before must continue to be rounded out no matter what. Otherwise, I am really afraid of being thrown into the fire and roasted by these semi-savage ants.
"I recognized your breath. You come from the "secondary nest under the poplars in the east." Your age cannot be more than a full moon. So you can't have completed the course, and you haven't been to the main nest before, right? My children. "Zai Laowang stated the identity of the protagonist he identified in a very affirmative tone, and finally wanted to confirm it again.
The protagonist quickly replied with a confirmation and affirmative message. "The secondary nest under the poplar to the east." Depending on the location, landmarks, and meanings, this must be the place name of the secondary nest where I was born. The place names of ants are really complicated. It is simply called "East Yang City" or Isn't that great? Compared with the Chinese ancestors, the level of naming is far behind. But can you smell this? Ants also have an amazing sense of smell! However, age and education are also accurate. Does the time of a full moon refer to the 28-day waxing and waning cycle of the moon? In class, I was indeed a skipper who only attended two classes!
"I think you are." Lao Lao Wang said without any end, then ended the communication with the protagonist, and then lowered his tentacles to chat with the kings.
"What am I?" The protagonist was stunned. It's so meaningless and I didn't say anything. I really don’t understand the brain circuits of you ants.
The male ants continued to stand motionless on the cobblestones, not knowing what they were communicating.
How about I listen too? The protagonist thought to himself, I have been invited to stand on this cobblestone, do I also have the right to participate in the group chat?
The protagonist hesitated for a moment, should he listen? What if I am caught for violating a taboo and thrown into the stake? I don't have the ability to fight my way out from the surroundings of five hundred male ants. It would be almost like possessing Wushuang.
After much hesitation, curiosity killed the ant, the protagonist decided to pretend to flick his tentacles casually, and then accidentally touched the pebbles with the tentacles to see what he could hear.
