After a preliminary search, it has been basically confirmed that all the parasitic ants have disappeared.
Since there is no combat risk, and in view of the huge scale of this underground lair, the area currently searched by the search team only accounts for a small part of the total size. The protagonist will continue to split the search team and continue the in-depth search.
At the same time, the protagonist sent a messenger back to the Stump Fortress, asking the two hundred worker ants who were renovating the defense facilities to stop working immediately and rush here to support the search work. Anyway, if the parasitic ants really escaped, then it wouldn't matter if they postponed the renovation of the stump fortress.
The search force continues to compile the latest search intelligence to the protagonist, and with the arrival of reinforcements from two hundred worker ants, the search speed has also been greatly accelerated.
From the information reported by various sources, the protagonist gradually clearly understands the details of this recently abandoned ant nest.
First, all the adult parasitic ants disappeared, leaving only a few corpses.
Secondly, you can see that these parasitic ants are walking in a hurry. The food in many granaries has not been emptied; a large number of ant eggs, ant larvae and ant pupae have been abandoned and left in the nest, and some ant eggs, ant larvae and ant pupae show signs of damage; and The carcasses of parasitic ants that should have been thrown out of the nest to ensure environmental hygiene were not removed.
Finally, and what surprised the protagonist the most, was the discovery of the bodies of five large pale gold worker ants not far from the queen ant's palace.
The corpses of these five pale gold worker ants all had their heads removed, and the traces of wounds looked like they had been cut open by the jaws of the soldier ants.
Are these large pale gold worker ants the commanders of the parasitic ant army that besieged the Stump Fortress before? If so, why did they die after successfully escaping back to their lair? There were a total of six pale gold worker ants that escaped back. Where is the other survivor?
The ant search team did not find any more corpses of new pale gold worker ants, and the other corpses left in the nest died normally, with no separation of heads and bodies, but the parasitic bacteria on them were all missing.
An answer slowly emerges in the protagonist's mind - execution.
He felt that these large pale gold worker ants were executed due to failure in the battle, which could explain why they died of ant attacks and their heads were separated in the heavily guarded nest. This cannot be done by the enemy, only by our own people.
During the day, there were six large pale gold worker ants and a complete legion that returned after defeat. Is it true that only the large pale gold worker ant that brought the legion back intact was not executed?
This guess has shaken the protagonist's previous guess.
Previously, when the protagonist saw the large pale gold worker ants appearing as the commanders of the parasitic ant army, he once doubted whether they were the highest power holders of the parasitic ant nest.
Because according to the hierarchy of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom, the ordinary male ant is the king and can only command a small team during war, or serve as a member of the power structure of the deputy nest. The older, more experienced, and meritorious male ants will be promoted to kings, who can not only serve as legion commanders during wartime, but also be one of the highest power holders of the main nest.
Parasitic ants originate from the giant-headed ant kingdom and are similar in many ways.
Although there are no male ants in the parasitic ant nest, there are large worker ants that are equivalent to kings. The IQ of the large worker ants is almost the same as that of ordinary male ants.
The pale gold worker ants, who are equivalent to kings, have an IQ even higher than that of ordinary male ants. They are extremely cunning in battles, know how to retreat strategically, and can even drive parasitic dung beetles to fight.
Then it is only natural that the protagonist believes that the giant pale gold worker ant is the same as the king of the big-headed ant kingdom and the highest power holder of the entire ant nest.
However, after discovering that these pale gold worker ants were suspected of being executed due to defeat, the protagonist's speculation was shaken again. There must be mysterious ants whose rank and status are higher than those of the pale gold worker ants, who can order the execution of these legion commanders.
However, the search results of the Ant Search Team can no longer provide the protagonist with more basis for reasoning.
The protagonist gradually restored what happened to the parasitic ant nest in his mind.
When the six pale gold worker ants led the last legion and fled back to the parasitic ant nest, they immediately reported the situation to the supreme leader of the ant nest.
The supreme leader must have been furious. He or she ordered all five pale gold worker ants that had lost their subordinate legions to be executed, without caring about their lives or their past achievements.
Subsequently, the supreme leader evaluated and concluded that the strength of the parasitic ant nest was no longer enough to withstand the attack of the Angel King's army, or even to last until the new soldier ant eggs laid by the parasitic ant queen hatched and grew up to make up for the battle losses.
So, before the sun set, the supreme leader immediately ordered the entire nest to be relocated collectively.
This order to relocate and escape came so hastily that the parasitic ants could only move away some of the most important resources: such as the parasitic queen, some ant eggs and pupae, easy-to-carry food, and living thread-parasitic fungi, etc.
As for the large amount of grain stored in the granary, these parasitic ants can only abandon it, even if the grain will be used by the enemy in the future, they will not care.
The parasitic ants destroyed the eggs, young ants and pupae that could not be transported away, completely ignoring that the same blood as their own was flowing in these young ants.
However, the retreat was still too hasty, and it was going to be dark soon. The destruction of the ant eggs, young ants, and ant pupae was not complete, and most of them survived until the Angel King's army arrived.
In the process of relocation and escape, some parasitic ants whose life span has expired slowly collapsed to the ground and reached the end of their life. The busy companions nearby just transferred the parasites from the corpse and had no time to pay attention to the remains of their companions.
Finally, before dark, this group of migrating parasitic ants has left their original nest for some distance. As for whether they will continue on their way in the dark night, or find a shelter to rest temporarily, the protagonist cannot guess.
Now that it is confirmed that the parasitic ants have escaped, the top priority is to find the enemy quickly, and then take advantage of the enemy's escape from the cover of the nest to find an opportunity to eliminate the enemy and completely solve this serious problem.
But it was night now, and the Flying Knight could not go out to investigate. If soldier ants or worker ants are sent out for reconnaissance, their field of vision is narrow at night and they have no advantage over parasitic ants. Even if they find the enemy, they may not be able to successfully escape and report back. It seems that the investigation work can only wait until dawn.
So the protagonist brought the large army back to the Stump Fortress.
In the original parasitic ant nest, the protagonist left a small number of worker ants behind. They were responsible for staying behind and counting the available supplies. If the enemy returns, these worker ants are also responsible for immediately escaping back to the fortress and reporting to the protagonist.
