After the temperature in the combustion chamber dropped to a tolerable level, the worker ants went in to remove the ashes bit by bit and clean the combustion chamber.
The protagonist hurried to see the firing effect of this batch of pottery.
But the results were disappointing. All the pottery was cracked, and some even showed signs of burning, with melting marks similar to enamel appearing on the surface.
This is caused by the firing temperature being too high.
Although the combustion chamber space is not large, the protagonist has accumulated a large amount of fuel in order to ensure the firing temperature and constantly replenishes it.
The pottery at the very center of the flames was subjected to temperatures well beyond its endurance. What's more, the bodies of these pottery vessels are much thinner than any body made by human hands.
The protagonist asked the worker ants to throw away the burned pottery, and then re-stacked the fuel to light the sacred fire.
In the following days, the protagonist was fired several times. At the same time, the protagonist calls Rambofo over to help. He is one of the few among the male ants who is somewhat interested in technology.
In order to lower the temperature of the furnace for the second time, the protagonist ordered that no additional fuel should be piled, and that the pottery body should be placed directly around the ever-burning holy fire.
But in the end, it was discovered that the pottery was fired unevenly. The side facing the fire was in good condition, while the side facing away from the fire was still raw.
The protagonist also asked the worker ants to rotate the pottery body during firing to ensure even heat.
But the first rotation burned a worker ant. These pottery bodies were placed very close to the fire, and the temperature was not something the ants could withstand.
The protagonist can only find a way to equip the worker ants with tools, and equip the pottery body with a small stone slab as a base, and let the worker ants use long wooden sticks to move the stone slab.
After countless experiments, the first batch of successful pottery was finally produced, although the yield was only a pitiful 30%. The firing of pottery has made significant progress so far.
After the experiment was successful, the protagonist summarized the key points in all aspects and made an information package and gave it to Lambov, asking him to continue trying to improve the process and produce more pottery.
Because the fired pottery has a thin body and is placed directly next to the fire, the temperature it withstands is slightly higher than a thousand degrees when humans fire pottery. Its surface has been glazed and has good waterproof properties.
The protagonist placed the first batch of ceramic water jars and basins in his house. The water tank is used to store water, which saves workers from having to temporarily send worker ants to fetch water underground every time they need water.
The water basin can be used to drink honeydew. The protagonist is really tired of sucking honeydew mouth to mouth with worker ants. Especially since usually these honeydews are spit out from the stomachs of worker ants.
Fortunately, the honeydew for the protagonist is specially provided. He only drinks the fresh honeydew secreted from the aphids, which is carried by the worker ants and is not allowed to be swallowed and regurgitated.
This is beside the point.
————
After learning how to fly, one of the protagonist's hobbies after work is to fly around on Xiaoqing.
It is very interesting to look down at the ground from the perspective of a tiny creature like an ant.
The shrubs, weeds, and quagmire on the ground seem to be forests, grasslands, and swamps. The industrious ants are like hunters, chasing escaped insects everywhere.
All the scenes are as novel as Gulliver coming to Lilliput.
Through flying and observation, the protagonist carefully studied the geography around "Dongyang City".
Starting from the tall poplar trees, there is a lake about one kilometer east of "Dongyang City". The lake is not large in area and there is a dense forest on the other side.
Considering that Xiaoqing cannot fly at too high a height, otherwise he will lose control under the strong wind. Therefore, the protagonist does not dare to easily enter this forest composed of tall trees that is full of danger at first glance.
There is a small river to the north of the lake, which winds all the way to the northwest and flows into a large river.
The protagonist continues flying along the river and confirms that this river is the river where "Linshui City" is located, and it is also the boundary river between the Big-headed Ant Kingdom and the Pavement Ant Barbarians.
The protagonist then flew south from "Linshui City" and returned to "Dongyang City". It was estimated that the distance between the two cities was more than two kilometers.
Another day, the protagonist flies northwest, seeing the secondary nest he fought in the Reconquest War along the way, then turns southwest and finally reaches the main nest.
The protagonist landed and went to talk to the police and the Western King about old times.
After learning that all the original ants in "Dongyang City" had disappeared, the two kings were very surprised.
The protagonist recalled that the police once said something that seemed to have something to it when they learned that "Dongyang City" gave birth to a far higher than normal number of male ant queens in a year:
"Maybe it's God's will... This is not normal. You went to "Dongyang City" according to God's will. Please be sure to find out the reason. This may be related to the survival of a deputy nest, or it may be directly related to God's will. "
At that time, he wondered if the police knew something inside? But he never found a chance to ask.
This time the protagonist brings out his own problems.
The policeman pondered for a while and said, "In the kingdom's previous history, there was also a situation where a large number of male ants were suddenly born from a sub-nest."
"Oh, what happened to these secondary nests?" the protagonist asked.
"These secondary nests later lost contact with the main nest..." the police replied.
The protagonist gradually learns about some historical events from his narration.
In the history of the big-headed ant kingdom, there have been many cases where remote sub-nests suddenly produced a large number of young male ants in a certain year.
However, these secondary nests usually lose contact with the main nest after one or two years.
The main nest once dispatched a liaison team led by Wang to these secondary nests that lost contact.
It turned out that all the ants inside were dead, and all of them had huge wounds on their backs.
Even the liaison team that went to search began to appear in a daze after returning to the main nest to convey the news.
These abnormal search team members suddenly want to crawl to the ground and attack all their companions they meet along the way.
The Lao Wang at that time thought that they were corrupted by evil and threw them all into the holy fire. The holy fire purifies and washes away these ants that have been corrupted by evil.
Finally, after discussion between the Lao Wang and the Five Hundred Kings, they concluded that those bizarre sub-nests where the entire nest population died suddenly were all corrupted by evil, and there was no protection from the sacred fire.
Until now, one of the secondary nests in the Big-headed Ant Kingdom will perish every few years.
Afterwards, even if the main nest or the nearby sub-nest organizes immigrants to migrate to the area of the perished sub-nest, a new nest will be built and the old nest that has been corroded by evil will never be used.
The police originally thought that the Divine Envoy King's personal visit would be able to purify the vice nest that had been corrupted by evil, and that's why he said the above words.
After the protagonist listened carefully, based on his knowledge and experience, he was still unable to determine what happened in these mysterious and perished sub-nests.
Why do these conditions only occur in remote secondary nests?
Moreover, what happened in "Dongyang City" was not exactly the same as those of these perished sub-nests.
In those sub-nests, all the residents died mysteriously, but in "Dongyang City", all the ants disappeared, and even the granary was empty. It looked like the whole city had suddenly migrated away.
After learning this useful information, the protagonist bid farewell to his friends in the main nest and rode Xiaoqing back to "Dongyang City".
