As the last shadow of the sun disappeared, all the male and female ants seemed to have received instructions at the same time. They flapped their wings and rushed into the sky as fast as possible.
The protagonist, who had not yet understood, turned his head and saw two black tornadoes composed of ants flying into the sky.
"Damn, it's about to start!"
Not all male and female ants were able to fly into the sky immediately. Because the ants that had previously gathered on the ground were too dense and entangled with each other's jointed limbs and tentacles, only a few male ants with quick reactions took the lead in flying over others. The opponent successfully took off before he could react.
The remaining male ants were waking up from a dream, adjusting their postures and vibrating their wings, trying to catch up, but they couldn't help but interfere with each other.
The protagonist had no intention of actually participating in this ceremony, not to mention he hadn't learned how to fly yet, so he just enjoyed himself and hid on the ground watching the ceremony in the air.
But soon, the protagonist discovers that the ritual is no longer so simple, or it has become extremely cruel and bloody.
The number of female ants is relatively small, only about 300. After they fly into the sky, they do not interfere with each other, and slowly fly north, spreading out to the top of the entire hill castle, occupying a large airspace. .
But the male ants gathered into a line of black smoke and rushed towards the airspace where the female ants were. All male ants know that only about 10% of kings have a chance of successfully reproducing their own offspring. All male ants are fighting for this one-tenth hope. This black smoke is full of fights, killings and tricks.
The protagonist watched helplessly as many pairs of male ants hugging each other fell from the black chimney made of ants that had just risen into the sky. However, this also makes the protagonist who is already alone on the ground less conspicuous.
These falling pairs of male ants hugging each other collided with each other in flight. They had torn away the veil of tenderness among the members of the ant colony, and they struggled together at the moment of contact. From mid-air, It spun and fell to the ground.
The protagonist saw with his own eyes a pair of male ants not far away, both trying hard to pin the other down. In the end, the stronger one gained the advantage. He pinned the other to the ground, pressing down with his forelimbs in a mighty manner. Captured the opponent's head. And this is not the end yet. What made the protagonist open his eyes wide was the male ant who had obviously won. Not only did he not let go of his companions under him, he was even a loser who was a brother by blood. Instead, he opened his eyes. His great claws bit off the loser's wings by the roots during his struggle.
The protagonist opened his mouth and never thought that such a cruel scene would happen among the usually peaceful members of the ant nest. And this is not an isolated case, all fights with a winner end in the winner tearing off the loser's wings. The victors fluttered their wings again and rose to the sky, while some of the losers were lying on the ground dying, some lost their fighting spirit and lay there languishing, and there were also many unwilling male ants dragging their injured bodies. Struggling to climb towards the main nest hill.
At this time, in the sky above the main nest, the male ants had already rushed into the middle of the female ants flying in all directions. Along the way, the male ants that were still hugging each other fell to the ground, forming a yellow line on the ground leading to the hill castle.
The male ants that originally gathered into a puff of black smoke rushed into the airspace where the female ants were, and immediately spontaneously divided into small groups to chase the female flying alone.
The female ants did not let the male ants catch up. They gave full play to their flying talents, displaying all their skills and heroic figures in the only time they had to fly freely in their lives. Some of them flew straight into the sky, then made a sudden stop and turned, quickly folded their wings and limbs, and plunged to the ground like earth-penetrating missiles, quickly throwing away a group of clumsy male ants behind them; some They circled in multiple arcs, moving left and right to keep the chasing male ants from getting closer; some even made excited movements like Pugachev's cobra, playing tricks on the male ants whose eyes were red with hormones. . This dazzling flight performance made the protagonist stunned. Ants, which have always been regarded as reptiles, actually have such a high talent for flying.
But not all female ants can do these tricks. Most female ants are no match for male ants, or they just let the male ants catch up with them half-heartedly. Then the male ants lie on the back of the female ant, and the female ant The ants are ready to land obediently on the ground, grass blades or even tree trunks.
But it is not the first male ant to catch up with the female ant that can enjoy the glory alone. The female ant carrying a male ant on her back slows down significantly, making it easier for the male ants behind to catch up. Although during the pursuit, many male ants hugged each other and fought together, temporarily losing the chance of pursuit. However, if they catch up with the male ant in front, the pursuers behind will viciously attack the male ant lying on the back of the female ant in front. The target of their attack is the wings on the male ant's back, but during the struggle, , many male ants received serious injuries, some fell to the ground dying, lost the qualification to continue competing, and even lost their only life.
Some female ants were also affected and suffered the disaster of fish in the pond. One female ant was stung on its joints and wings and fell to the ground slowly crawling. Then unfortunately, she was knocked down from the air by the always strong male ant. Regardless of the struggle of the injured female ant, she forcibly completed a short but successful mating.
The male ant was satisfied. He was so strong that he no longer competed for other mating partners and slowly left the scene. But the nightmare for the unlucky injured female ant wasn't over yet. If a healthy female ant has completed mating, she will escape from the battlefield and land around the kings to receive shelter. Other male ants can no longer threaten her. However, this female ant obviously could not rush to the shelter quickly on her own strength. She was soon forced down by a second male ant that fell from the sky, and had to accept a second forced mating. Her struggle was of no avail. . This was not the end of the nightmare. After the second one left, a crawling male ant that had lost its wings in the fight discovered him. He backed up and waved his tentacles, ignoring her pleading, and pounced on her. The fourth...the fifth...until she finally lost all her vitality and the surface of her body quickly emitted the oleic acid pheromone representing death, no other male ants came to disturb her eternal sleep.
There are many male and female ants who have died like this. But neither the king nor the ordinary ants who were watching showed any expression, as if it was commonplace and accustomed. The kings and their guards will only protect those female ants that successfully complete mating and hide in the shelter, and expel the unwilling male ants that follow them, but turn a blind eye to the fights, rapes and murders on the distant battlefield.
The protagonist previously thought that the ants had entered a preliminary civilized society, but now what was shown to him was the naked jungle law and bloody violence.
