It snowed heavily all day and night.
It was not until noon the next day that the falling snowflakes gradually thinned out and disappeared. The clouds also began to gradually dissipate, the blue sky background was pulled away, the long-lost sun came to the earth, and the sunlight began to shine on everything in the world again.
In the past few days, there are always sentries on duty in "Linshui City". From time to time, they will poke their heads out of their warm nests to see changes in the weather, and then quickly retreat back to keep warm.
Therefore, the protagonist immediately received the news of the snow stopping reported by the sentry. Needless to say, he immediately wrapped himself in a thick plant fiber coat and got out of "Linshui City" to check the situation.
In the past few days, although there was no war and not many other things to worry about, the protagonist was not idle either. He used the materials in the supply warehouse to improve the jacket himself.
It turns out that the protagonist's coat is just a ball of compacted cotton-like fiber that barely wraps the body in it. It is bulky, inconvenient to put on and take off, and easily attracts wind. Now, the modified jacket is more like a blanket, with threads woven vertically and horizontally to restrain the fibers neatly. This makes it easier to put on and take off, and also reduces the size to prevent it from being blown up by the wind.
After the first snowfall, there was a lot of snow on the rough bark of the big banyan tree, especially in the gaps. The white snow and brown bark are intertwined, but they block the protagonist's footsteps.
His usual path in the past was a naturally formed path in the cracks in the bark texture, but now it was filled with snow. He had to walk through the snow, and it took a lot of effort to reach the observation point.
The observation point was a branch extending to the north. The branch was also piled with snow like broken jade and white crystals. He had to clear a small open space from it.
Fortunately, the temperature is not too low now. As the saying goes, "If it snows, it doesn't get cold, but it becomes cold if it snows." It still makes sense. Because snow is actually a process of condensation of water vapor from gaseous state to solid state. Sublimation is an exothermic process. The heat released increases the temperature of the air. Therefore, you will not feel cold when it snows. But snow melting is the melting process of snow from solid to liquid state. Melting is an endothermic process. The absorbed heat causes the temperature of the air to drop. Therefore, the snow will be cooler when it melts.
Looking far to the north, there was also movement on the north bank of the river.
The Pavement Ant Barbarian Army also seemed to know that the heavy snowfall was over. The midday sun was yellow and warm, and countless pavement ants climbed up to the ground with steps that were stiffer than usual. They didn't care about the snow, and directly formed on the snow, enjoying their first sunbathing in days. .
Compared to the "Linshui City" with fires and heaters, the starting base of the pavement ant barbarians is obviously much simpler. Both the male and worker ants basking in the sun looked very cold. When nesting, the body is stiff and slow, like a wooden man.
However, after charging in the sun, these pavement ants began to take action. They seemed to be in no hurry to use this afternoon to launch an attack, but were making some preparations.
The protagonist notices that the barbarian army of pavement ants has begun to look for new roads and clear the snow.
Excessive snow is not only a difficult obstacle for tiny ants to climb, but also continuously reduces the precious body temperature of ants near the snow. Therefore, the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army must clear a snowflake-free road before they can continue their march.
Some pavement ant scouts braved the cold and climbed over the snowdrifts to find a road with thinner snow that led to the river bank. This road was crooked and was basically on the higher ground on the original land, so there was less snow.
Then a large number of pavement ants began to move the snow particles to the side little by little in the way of ants moving. For some areas with thick snow that could not be cleaned, there were also a large number of pavement ants carrying broken leaves, grass, wood chips and trees from the starting base. Leather pieces and other materials were spread on the snow to form a black and distinct path.
The road from the departure base to the shore of Hebei was quickly built, forming a striking black line in the snow-white world, connecting the two places crookedly.
Then the pavement ants continued to work on the river bank. At this time, the river was completely frozen, and no water could be seen at all.
The pavement ant scouts shuttled back and forth on the river to determine the water surface without danger, and then used pheromones to mark the most suitable road construction sites.
Since the thickness of the snow cover on the river is basically the same, the road construction route marked by the pavement ant scouts is basically a straight line, extending directly from the end of the road on the north bank of the river to the island.
Subsequently, the paving ant workers who followed continued to pile a large amount of materials for paving at designated locations on the ice of the river, laying out a straight line.
Perhaps due to a lack of construction materials, these pavement ants also began to dig stones and soil from the still exposed land on the north bank of the river, and then moved them to the road construction site.
In just half a day, a road leading to "Linshui City" was built, and even the protagonist had to marvel.
The sun has set in the west, and it looks like there won't be a war today, or so the protagonist thinks.
As expected, only a small wave of pavement ants came to the island where "Linshui City" is located, checked the situation here, cleared a snow-free road between the stone cracks and tree roots, and then evacuated. However, the large troops of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army did not land on the island at all today.
Then, before the sun set, the black pavement ant colonies that could be seen everywhere on the north bank of the river swarmed back underground like an ebbing tide, leaving the world with a white snow again, and a black path on top of this white snow.
The protagonist knows that the enemy's preparations have been completed, and tomorrow will be another bloody battle.
——I am the dividing line——
The next day, the protagonist again comes to the observation point shortly after sunrise.
The pavement ant barbarian army has begun to leave the nest to recharge, but the protagonist's immediate attention is focused on the road they built yesterday - the remaining snow on the road seems to have disappeared, completely revealing the dark The ice layer on the ground and even the river ice was completely exposed, and the ice layer also sunk downwards, forming a channel to avoid the wind.
The protagonist suddenly realized that he did not expect the pavement ants to have such a clever trick: the various leaves, gravel, stones and soil they threw on the road yesterday were all dark. These dark substances absorbed the afterglow and light of yesterday's dusk sun. This morning's light was hot enough to melt the surrounding shallow layer of snow.
The protagonist doesn't know whether the pavement ants behave this way based on instinct. If it is an acquired behavior, it already involves the mastery of the essential laws of nature.
