Although they are very reluctant, the protagonist and the Angel King's army have almost no way to deal with the parasitic ants that are already floating on the water.
However, the protagonist has no intention of giving up. Under the combined action of wind and current, these parasitic ants will float to the shore sooner or later.
Sooner or later, it may be tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or even a month later. Of course, if the time is extended for a long time, these parasitic ants will definitely not be able to survive in the water for a long time.
The protagonist lets the flying knights take turns to take off and monitor the movements of the floating parasitic ant carpet. At the same time, under the instructions of the protagonist, the Divine Envoy King's Legion dug a temporary camp high on the lake shore.
The protagonist plans to temporarily station here. Once he finds signs of the enemy approaching the shore, he can immediately set out to intercept them. If we retreat and set out from Stump Fortress in the future, we will inevitably spend a lot of time marching, which will delay the fighter opportunity.
It has been a night and more than half a day since the pursuit started yesterday, and the protagonist does not want to have to do this kind of rush march again.
Another wave of flying knights looked for a shortcut from the temporary camp to the stump fortress from the air. Since yesterday's pursuit path was first to the south and then to the northeast, the temporary camp was roughly to the east or southeast of the Stump Fortress.
This shortcut was quickly discovered. It required climbing over several small hills, but it only took half a day, greatly shortening the distance between the two places.
Part of the food stored in the Stump Fortress was sent to the temporary camp built to supply the consumption of the Angel King's army. The Angel King's legion can also forage and hunt nearby, greatly reducing the logistical pressure on Stump Fortress and even the further "Dongyang City".
In addition, Stump Fortress also sent ant eggs, young ants, and ant pupae from abandoned parasitic ant nests to the temporary camp. This was the protagonist's instruction.
Together with the ant eggs, larvae and ant pupae found by the enemy and discarded by the enemy, the protagonist has thousands of descendants of parasitic ants at hand.
Many of these ant eggs, young ants and pupae have died due to lack of care for a long time, but there are also many who have survived.
The dead bodies are not wasted. These are excellent sources of protein. The ants will dry them and use them as food supplements.
What the protagonist values most is the surviving ant eggs, young ants and ant pupae. These immature ants have not been infected by parasitic bacteria and are relatively easy to tame. They can be used as a window to observe and understand parasitic ants.
The protagonist has always been very curious about parasitic ants, especially the cunning and unusual mutant worker ants (the pale gold worker ants and the big worker ants), their generally stronger power and the way to tame dung beetles. If these skills can be cracked and mastered, it will also be very beneficial to "Dongyang City".
To this end, the protagonist even mobilized a large number of worker ants with conservation experience from the distant "Dudong Yangcheng" to take care of the offspring of these enemies in specially built nests in the temporary camp.
Since the established legion of the God Envoy King is stationed nearby, the protagonist is not worried that these parasitic ants without parasites will rebel when they grow up.
——I am the dividing line——
In the past few days, Stump Fortress has not been idle either. The ants who stayed here not only served as the logistics and transportation transfer station for "Dongyang City" and the temporary camp by the lake, but also used useful resources collected nearby. Sent back to "Dongyang City".
For example, there are scale insect nectar sources on the top of hills, and new scale insect and aphid colonies are being discovered nearby. These honey-producing insects were transported back to "Dongyang City" and began to be grazed there, greatly increasing the production of honeydew that was in short supply in "Dongyang City".
In the temporary camp on the shore of the lake, apart from the slowly progressing experiment of observing the offspring of parasitic ants, the most important task is for the flying knights to take off every day to monitor the movements of the parasitic ant carpet that is still floating on the lake.
For this reason, all the flying knights in "Dongyang City" brought their mounts to the temporary camp and stationed themselves in the temporary camp, with a frequency of two in each batch and one batch replaced every hour, and continuous real-time monitoring.
The parasitic ants had been floating in the lake for two days. Although there was no shortage of water, the enemy, who did not carry much food reserves, was exhausted. Ants continued to die and drift away from the team.
Long-term immersion has also caused some parasitic ants to lose the surface oil that they rely on to float. All that awaits them is sinking and suffocation.
But the parasitic ant queen is still protected in the middle, not exposed to any threats, and not even wet by water.
According to the signal packet sent back by the flying knights, the protagonist found no trace of the pale gold worker ants among the surviving enemies. These most cunning enemies are all suspected to be dead. From this, the protagonist infers that the enemy's supreme commander should be the ugly parasitic ant queen.
——I am the dividing line——
On the morning of the third day, the wind howled.
This wind started blowing from the night before and was the first northerly wind since early summer. Even the temperature dropped significantly.
These winds hit every blade of grass and every insect on the surface of the earth swiftly and equally. The branches and leaves of the tall trees made an overwhelming and violent rustling sound, while the weeds and shrubs were able to escape due to their short size.
No insect in the sky dared to fly in such weather, and the flying knights were no exception. They could only hide in the underground fly stables and try their best to comfort their mounts, which were very anxious due to the bad weather.
The strong wind blew for almost a whole day and did not stop until near the evening of that day.
After estimating that the wind power was less than one-third of its peak strength, the protagonist forced the Flying Knight to take off. The only one who took the lead was Flying Eagle. He comforted his mount, suddenly pulled up the reins, and controlled the silky greenfly under him to fly into the sky.
As soon as he flew into the air, he and his mount were blown sideways and somersaulted several times by the remaining strong wind. Just when the protagonist was extremely anxious on the ground, the flying eagle tightened the reins, controlled its posture, and flew toward the depths of the lake with its reluctant mount.
The protagonist is waiting at the entrance of the temporary camp, and the wind is constantly sweeping the sand, gravel, and vegetation from outside the cave entrance. Even if it is the follow-up force of a strong wind, even if the wind force on the surface is only a fraction of that in the sky, its power is not small. The body of a small ant can withstand it.
In the distant sky, the flying eagle has slowly turned into a small dot, often drifting uncontrollably and disorderly in the intermittent strong winds, but he can always stabilize his figure at the last moment and continue to execute the task firmly. The protagonist's orders.
What a group of loyal and brave warriors this is. The protagonist can't help but sigh. The ants' natural discipline and obedience, as well as their courage to regard death as their own and willing to sacrifice everything for the collective, including their lives, have created a great race.
