The scouts approached the entrance to "Linshui City" and then they stopped.
The hole is wide enough for four or five pavement ants or an equal number of Big-headed worker ants to get in at the same time. In the case of Big-headed worker ants, only three can enter at the same time.
The scouts of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army smelled the enemy's scent from the entrance of the cave. This breath information will be transmitted to them by the male ants through their antennae when they reach adulthood. The scouts knew that this was the smell of the old enemy. God bet, only one of the pavement ants and the big-headed ants can live in this world. This is the meaning of the old enemy!
The strong scent of enemies emanating from the cave slowed down the scouts. After a brief exchange, some of the scouts continued to search other parts of the tree trunk to see if there were any other exits.
Now, only twelve scouts are left guarding the entrance of "Linshui City". Afterwards, four of the remaining scouts resolutely got into the cave, and the other eight made a circle outside the cave. They lowered their heads and put their tentacles tightly against the enemy against the tree trunk, so that they could sensitively receive the tree trunk. A signal or sound coming from within.
Four scouts entered the interior of "Linshui City" through the wide opening. The walls of the passage were made of bark and xylem, showing a completely different style from the earth lair.
The tunnels dug by ants are always crooked and have many nests. "Linshui City" was expanded based on the tunnels eroded by borers, so the passages retain the characteristics of tunnels and appear to be relatively straight. Only in places where the trees themselves are decayed are there expanded nest chambers.
These nests near the bark layer are often larger than regular ant nests. The scouts got into the first nest to check. Not only was the space huge, but there were also some strange materials - small stones. and clay.
The scouts did not understand the function of these stones and clay, but they understood that the materials in these nests were of no use to the pavement ant barbarian army. Therefore, after inspecting the huge nest room, the scout left.
Then, the passage turned in a direction, from being parallel to the bark of the tree to extending deeper into the trunk.
The scouts didn't hesitate, they got in. After crawling for a while and turning a corner, they entered a flat nest chamber.
This nest chamber is not small in area, roughly in the shape of an irregular circle, with a diameter of about one decimeter. But the height is very low. The ants can reach the ceiling if they stand upright. If they lie down, it is roughly the height of two to three ants.
This nest chamber has gone deep into the trunk of the tree. Except for the faint light emitted by the sporadic undernourished fluorescent fungi on the far wall, no light can be seen at all.
The scouts of the pavement ant barbarian army were a little curious. They must know that the fluorescent fungi should have died long ago during this season. After all, they cannot withstand the cold temperatures, and only the remaining mycelium can germinate in the coming year. However, they soon realized that the temperature in this location was relatively high, which was enough to support the survival of fluorescent bacteria.
The scouts of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army are just ordinary worker ants, usually selected from experienced veterans who have participated in many wars. Although the scouts are experienced, their IQs are not high. They cannot understand the pros and cons of a warm nest for both the enemy and ourselves. They just think the temperature here is very comfortable - even ants that can be active in winter hate this season. A cold underground lair.
They were about to search this flat nest room, and they felt that the enemy's scent here was stronger. It was not the smell that spread out from the entrance of the cave, but the smell of enemies in every corner of the nest room.
Their feelings were right, and their investigative journey would end here.
Following a silent command, a dense sound suddenly came from deep in the nest, like the sound of a broom sweeping across a wooden board.
The scouts of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army immediately stopped what they were doing. They quickly lay down and put their tentacles to the ground. The sound transmitted back by the tentacles frightened the most experienced veterans, so they turned around and ran away.
According to usual experience, these scouts should not be in such a mess.
Due to the eyesight of the ants and the big-headed ants' intolerance to cold, the scouts of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army in previous years could easily enter the "Linshui City".
In "Linshui City", the scouts usually only encounter some half-frozen big-headed ants. At this time, the agile scouts can always avoid the opponent's slow-motion counterattack and then pass the information back.
The half-frozen big-headed ants in "Linshui City" are often unable to withstand the attack of the pavement ant army. In a short period of time, this secondary nest, which is not conducive to winter defense, will be lost. If they are lucky, sometimes the scouts will find that the entire "Linshui City" defenders have frozen to death, and then it will be even more effortless.
But now, the information the scouts read from the tentacles showed that they were being pursued by dozens of agile big-headed ant warriors.
Without any hesitation, the scouts turned around and ran away, but it was too late. Soon, the pursuers from behind caught up, and what was even more despairing was that the figures of big-headed ants also appeared in front of them - they were the soldiers of the Divine Envoy King's Legion who had come around to intercept them.
The four scouts were killed quickly. Perhaps they were wondering until their death why this year's enemy was different from usual.
What they didn't know was that the protagonist had already ordered the God Envoy King's Army to prepare for war after seeing the ice bridge early in the morning, and that flat nest was the defense line specially built by the God's Envoy King's Army. This is the line of defense that blocks the scouts, and it is also the line of defense that will block the barbarian army of the paving ants in the future.
Gun personally led a small number of elites to guard here. The scattered scouts were naturally no match for the legion of the God Envoy King, who had unified command and had a numerical advantage.
And this time, thanks to the heating and insulation measures, the big-headed ants are no longer in a semi-frozen state like before. They are as flexible as the pavement ants.
The movement in the cave was undoubtedly received by the eight scouts waiting at the entrance of the cave. The Divine Envoy King's army had no intention of attacking these scouts outside the cave - it was still too cold outside.
However, these scouts obviously noticed something bad happening under their feet, and some faint smell of blood was already wafting out. The scout began to tap the bark of the tree with his right forelimb to signal to his companions.
The other scouts on the tree trunks rushed back immediately after receiving the signal from below. They waited for a while and confirmed that no information was transmitted from the cave.
So, these scouts turned around, climbed down from the banyan tree, and fled to the north bank of the river!
