In addition to the protagonist once again obtaining an excellent variety of mounts, the research on parasitic ants in "East Yang City" has also made great progress.
Previously, the Angel King's army seized a large number of eggs, larvae, and pupae of parasitic ants when they raided abandoned parasitic ant nests. These parasitic ant offspring were initially placed in the "Tree Stump Fortress".
Not long after, the Angel King Legion, which was chasing the remnants of the escaping parasitic ants, discovered a large number of eggs, young ants, and ants that had been discarded by the parasitic ants that had jumped into the lake on the shore of the large lake in the east because they could not carry them. pupa.
Due to the immersion in the cold lake water, many of the descendants of these parasitic ants have died, but the surviving ones have been placed in temporary camps near the lake.
The descendants of the parasitic ants in "Stump Fortress" were also moved to the temporary camp, and the protagonist also mobilized a group of experienced conservation worker ants from "Dongyang City" to take care of these descendants of parasitic ants.
With the emergence of the scythe-hunting ant forces, after the temporary camps far away from the sphere of influence of "Dongyang City" were abandoned, the descendants of these parasitic ants were brought to "Dongyang City" again.
In order to prevent threats to "East Yang City", the protagonist even built a small-scale branch nest under a poplar tree not far from the nest to accommodate the offspring of parasitic ants.
In addition to the offspring of parasitic ants and nursery worker ants, only the second legion is stationed as a garrison in this branch nest to prevent accidents.
Thousands of parasitic ant eggs, larvae and pupae were originally obtained, but after a series of transportation, less than a thousand survived in the end.
But these sample numbers are enough to support research on parasitic ants. In particular, among the offspring of these thousand parasitic ants, the larvae of the giant worker ants and the pale gold worker ants were identified.
When he first discovered the offspring of these parasitic ants, the protagonist organized people to distinguish them, trying to find out whether there were juveniles of parasitic large worker ants or pale golden large worker ants.
After identification, it was found that there were some obviously larger pupae among the ant pupae, and these pupae hatched into large worker ants. The three pale gold pupae lived up to the protagonist's expectations and hatched into pale gold worker ants.
The ant eggs were all the same, and no ant eggs that were larger or had a light golden color were found.
Most of the larvae are ordinary individuals. Originally there were some larvae that were larger in size or light golden in color. However, as the nurse ants were raised equally, these different individuals gradually tended to be consistent with other larvae. Finally, they There is no discernible difference between the pupae and the hatched pupae are all ordinary parasitic worker ants.
It is said that they are parasitic worker ants, but since there is no thread-parasitic fungus in "Dongyang City", the offspring of these adult parasitic ants will not be infected by the parasitic bacteria, but the offspring of parasitic ants who have been exposed to the environment of "Dongyang City" since childhood will be infected. Taking on the same aura as the Divine Envoy King's legion, they also consciously regarded themselves as members of "Dongyang City".
However, their special life makes it impossible for the protagonist to regard them as ordinary worker ants, and the protagonist still needs to conduct various research on them.
For example, for ordinary parasitic worker ants, the protagonist has tested their strength. However, these parasitic worker ants that grew up in "Dongyang City" are not as strong as those infected with parasitic bacteria. Their strength level is the same as that of those born in "Dongyang City". Worker ants are consistent.
It can be said that if the protagonist hadn't requested that these parasitic worker ants be marked with a mineral red dot on their foreheads, they would have been completely indistinguishable from ordinary worker ants.
So why do parasitic worker ants infected with parasitic bacteria have more power? The protagonist guesses that either the way the parasitic ant nest cultivates its offspring is different from that of "Dongyang City", such as the food it feeds is different (in "Dongyang City", the larvae of worker ants are fed relatively low-level food, and only the male ants are fed. Only ants and female ant larvae will provide high-grade food rich in energy and protein). Or, the thread-parasitic bacteria that infected their bodies acquired this mutation.
In order to verify the protagonist's idea, the protagonist had some living thread parasitic bacteria taken from a secret lair that was heavily guarded.
These thread parasitic fungi are cultivated from mycelium collected near the parasitic ant nest. When they are larvae, these parasitic fungi are not aggressive. The protagonist ordered the God Envoy King’s Army to bring some of the parasitic fungus larvae back to "Dongyang City" , cultivated in another separate, secret and heavily guarded nest room.
This nest is very close to the combustion chamber, and there are a lot of combustibles piled inside. Once there is a danger of spreading, the guarding soldier ants can immediately get fire and burn all the parasitic bacteria inside.
Of course, the protagonist cannot use the bodies of the ants in "Dongyang City" to feed these parasitic bacteria, but only feeds them with the corpses of dead insects and ant excrement, so the growth of the parasitic bacteria is not ideal, and they are almost struggling to survive.
However, in this way, the activity of the parasitic bacteria is reduced, which actually contributes to safety and experimentation.
The protagonist selected ten parasitic worker ants and ten ordinary worker ants, and then transplanted the parasitic bacteria into them.
The originally listless parasitic fungus gradually regained its vitality within a few days after taking root on the ants. Subsequently, these infected ants, whether they were parasitic workers or ordinary workers, gained greater strength than before.
But what followed was the loss of their sense of autonomy, and they began to try to attack normal ants. As a last resort, the protagonist ordered the guarding troops to eliminate these infected ants, and the bodies were thrown into the combustion chamber and burned completely.
This experiment proved that infection by thread-parasitic bacteria can make the host gain more power, but the side effects are also obvious. The infected person becomes as aggressive and contagious as a zombie.
The mystery of the power of the parasitic ants that the protagonist wants to understand has been solved, but there is no way to use it harmlessly. The protagonist's plan to use the experimental results to give the residents of "Dongyang City" more powerful power can only be shelved for the time being. .
However, the protagonist is not discouraged. What he is more interested in is the existence of the big worker ants and the light gold worker ants.
Through the cultivation of separate nests in "Dongyang City", only the giant worker ants and the pale gold giant worker ants that had already pupated successfully emerged from pupae. However, among the young ants, the individuals suspected of being giant worker ants and the pale gold giant worker ants eventually disappeared into the ordinary. There are no these special individuals in worker ants and ant eggs at all.
As far as the protagonist knows, there are only two types of ant eggs laid by queen ants. One is unfertilized eggs that will develop into male ants. The other is a fertilized egg that will develop into a worker ant or female ant. Among them, whether the fertilized eggs develop into female ants or worker ants depends entirely on the way they are raised.
This makes the protagonist wonder whether the different development results of ordinary workers, large workers and pale gold workers among parasitic ants are also the result of different ways of raising them.
