After deciding on the order to set off the next day, the entire Divine Envoy King's army became busy. These battlefield veterans needed to start eating to cope with the consumption during the journey.
The protagonist also has a lot of preparation work to do.
The protagonist asks Hua Mulan to take a few worker ants to various granaries to find some nuts for herself. As dry food on the road, at least one car must be filled.
Then Hua Mulan was ordered to move the protagonist's silk bed to another sedan, which will be used as the protagonist's transportation.
The protagonist himself went to find the police chief. In the main nest, the protagonist caught a worker ant and asked her to take him to the policeman's residence.
The kings all live deep in the main nest. This is the core area of the main nest. It is surrounded by thick soil and countless soldier ant nests. It is heavily guarded and is the safest place in the entire main nest.
Each king has a separate larger nest room. In addition to the king, each nest also has soldier ants responsible for security and worker ants responsible for service.
From this point of view, being a king still has some privileges, which is much better than dozens or hundreds of soldier ants and worker ants huddled together. This also shows that ant civilization has entered a post-primitive society era with class and exploitation.
The protagonist quickly found the police with the help of the guide ants. The two ants briefly touched their tentacles and exchanged greetings. The protagonist asked straight to the point:
"The divine decree required you to settle all the female ants who are no longer eligible to fly in marriage and not to expel them from the kingdom. Where will they be placed now? The divine decree requires me to take them to "Dongyang City". "
The police officer thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case. He was responsible for settling these poor female ants before setting off for the expedition.
So he motioned for the protagonist to follow him and walked a long way in the main lair.
Under the guidance of the police, the protagonist quickly arrived at the nest room where the female ants were housed. This was a small nest room adjacent to the granary. It was low and dim. The accommodation conditions were similar to those of ordinary worker ants, but far inferior to those of normal male ants. The house of ants or female ants. It seems that the main nest is still very mean to these losers in the wedding flight.
Seeing a king come in, the twelve female ants who were placed (or restrained) here were a little timid. The protagonist recognized one of them at a glance as a female ant from "Dongyang City" who was in the original rolling team. She once fought alongside Gun to defeat a giant killer worker ant.
The police went over and used their tentacles to deliver information to them one by one. These female ants lowered their heads one by one, showing their obedience.
Since there is no collective communication equipment, the protagonist has no choice but to go over to communicate with them one by one, send comforting emotions, and at the same time tell them to follow him tomorrow.
Since these female ants lost the qualifications to fly for marriage, they originally thought they would be expelled from the kingdom and fend for themselves. Now they were overjoyed to be able to stay in the kingdom and receive shelter. They immediately expressed their compliance with the arrangement. The protagonist asked the female ants who had been in the team to serve as the captain of the female ant team, responsible for managing these female ants, and they would gather outside the main nest on time at sunrise tomorrow.
Finally, the protagonist gave the female ant captain the name "Gero" because the female ant failed to successfully participate in the wedding flight ceremony and is still a girl.
The protagonist then remembered that his senior brother had told him before that the internal fighting between female ants was comparable to a palace fight.
For example, adult female ants secrete a hormone that prevents the ovaries of worker ants from developing to maturity, depriving them of their reproductive rights.
Female ants that successfully participate in the wedding flight ceremony will attack the old and weak females and drive them away or kill them.
Some queen ants who fail in internal fighting will organize a small group of worker ants to leave the nest on their own to develop a new nest. Some of these nests will become independent from the original kingdom.
The protagonist does not want his plan to be ruined by the palace fights between these female ants. He issued a simple prohibition to the female ants: no private fighting between female ants.
After finishing the work with the female ants, the protagonist returned to the fourth bedroom to prepare for rest.
The next day, before dawn and the team had assembled to set off, the protagonist got up. He still had one important preparation that he had to do, and it had to be done before setting off.
The importance of this to the protagonist cannot be overstated. This matter is to bring the fire back to "Dongyang City".
The importance of fire to any civilization is self-evident. The primitive ant civilization has not fully explored the value of fire. It simply regards it as a miracle and uses it to keep warm in winter.
For the protagonist who has traveled from human society, fire can do too many things. Whether it's cooking, pottery, metallurgy or processing wood and stone, fire plays a big role.
But it is not easy to bring back the success of the fire.
Ants are too small. If they move with a burning stick in their mouth, the small stick will be no more than the size of a toothpick. No matter how big it is, it will be difficult for the ants to lift it. What is the concept of a toothpick-sized torch? Readers can imagine that a match will be burned out in a few seconds... Even soaking in pine oil or insect fat cannot extend the burning time much.
What works is to bring back smoldering charcoal, which can burn for a long time. But the charcoal cannot be carried away by the ants in their mouths, as they will be burned to death.
Vehicles are necessary to transport charcoal, and the eight-carrying sedan made by the protagonist comes in handy at this time. Spread a layer of fine sand on the bottom of the car, and the charcoal will burn for several days without burning through the nut shells.
The disadvantage is that the volume of the car is a bit small, and small pieces of charcoal can barely smolder inside for more than half an hour, and new fuel has to be added from time to time.
However, this solution is already feasible. The protagonist's plan is to put fire in the three cars at the same time, and let the worker ants of the Angel King's army each hold a little charcoal in their mouths, and constantly replenish fuel along the way.
The protagonist led some subordinates to carry three eight-carrying sedans to the location of the fire, and carefully took out some burning charcoal from the bottom edge of the fire with a long wooden pole. The charcoal was moved to a thin cobblestone slab, and several worker ants immediately carried the fire away and moved it into the car.
The soldier ants and worker ants tending the fire did not stop the protagonist's actions, and they did not understand the protagonist's intentions.
Afterwards, the protagonist sent worker ants to the garbage pile on the ground of the main nest and found a lot of discarded charcoal. These were by-products of fire burning and were thrown away by the ants together with the burning ashes. The protagonist had discovered this place before when he lived in the main nest. At that time, he felt that the ants were so wasteful of fuel.
After completing the transportation of the fire, the protagonist finally completed all preparations. These sedans carrying fire were carried to the ground and joined the assembled legions of the God's Envoy King.
Knowing that the protagonist is leaving today, the senior brother, the police and the Western King came to the cave entrance early to wait. The protagonist said goodbye to several familiar male ants who came to see him off at the entrance of the main nest, and then led the Angel King's legion and twelve female ants. Set foot on the road to "Dongyang City".
