I lay on a dead branch, lazily basking in the sun.
It's morning and I'm not hungry yet, so I have no motivation to hunt just yet. I had just climbed up from the underground lair and my body was still a little stiff. I needed the heat of the sun to help me quickly recover my body temperature.
Whenever I have free time like this, I will recall that this is a habit. But most of my relatives don't seem to like doing this. They think it is a waste of time and energy and they think it is a waste of time and energy. They told me that only lazy male ants are in a daze all day long.
Male ants are lazy, useless, parasites, and I think so too.
In contrast, I, a mighty warrior, am the one who is respected among my relatives.
I was born in the spring, but I didn't catch up with that season. I didn't emerge from the pupa until the weather was already hot.
There are not many elderly relatives who have survived until spring. They told me that there is a cold and terrifying white season before spring.
But I haven't seen it, and maybe I won't. After all, brave warriors often don't live long.
However, at least I like the current season, warm and comfortable.
I am a warrior. Compared with other kin, my upper jaw is larger and longer, curved upward, and my sharp beak points straight to the sky.
This is my weapon, I use it to hunt for food and kill neighbors who quarrel with us.
I like the thrill of sneaking behind a target and suddenly jumping and stabbing, because at that moment I can see the fear in their compound eyes.
As a brave warrior, I and my relatives will participate in hunting or fighting every few days. Being able to survive the constant battles is already a lucky thing.
The targets of the battle include both neighboring kin and some "outsiders".
Thinking of these outsiders, I unconsciously rubbed my tentacles on the roof of my mouth, thinking of a delicious food.
According to the news spread by the elderly relatives, these black, small, stupid but also very vicious outsiders came here last year.
Just like the old enemies of our tribe, the polluted degenerates, these ants who do not belong to our tribe are our enemies.
This hostility goes far beyond fighting between neighbors of the same ethnic group.
When I first emerged from pupa this year, my tribe and several neighboring tribes attacked these black outsiders.
We don’t need any reason, our tribe just hates these outsiders and doesn’t like them entering the place where we have been living for generations.
They must be driven to an end!
However, these black outsiders are also very powerful. Although they do not have sharp upper jaws, strong bounces and huge compound eyes given by God like us, they will always gather together to fight in dense groups.
I witnessed with my own eyes a brave warrior from my kinsmen jumping into their ranks, instantly overturning and killing several outsiders with his big jaws. But the next moment, she was crawled all over by a dense crowd of outsiders, and she fell to the ground and never got up again.
The battle in the spring failed. The outsiders were very powerful, and several of our tribes lost many brave warriors.
So we retreated.
Failure and retreat are no big deal. If you can't fight, you should run, but we will definitely drive away these outsiders. Deep in the mountains, there are countless tribes of our kind. They may support us, sharing the same hatred as they did when facing the Fallen.
Moreover, the aphids brought by outsiders tasted really good, so I licked the roof of my mouth with my tentacles.
I have eaten aphids, but aphids in the wild are too sporadic and shriveled. They taste slightly sweet, but not satisfying.
But the last time I attacked an outsider who was acting alone, after I killed it, I found countless aphids next to it. These aphids were crystal clear, green, and chubby.
It was the most delicious meal I had ever eaten. When I took a bite, the fat body of the struggling aphid exploded in my mouth, and a sweet taste came over me instantly. This pleasure from the food even Even more powerful than when killing an enemy.
That day, several relatives and I ate all the aphids here.
Although our tribe then had to migrate due to attacks from outsiders and left the place where we originally lived.
But this delicious memory is deeply engraved in my mind. Next time, when will the tribe attack these outsiders again? Sooner or later, there will be aphids to eat again!
Our tribe now lives on the top of a barren hill, which was snatched from a tribe of the same ethnic group after migration.
Maybe it's because it's so barren, with little grass growing and only rocks everywhere. Perhaps those neighbors who live a better life feel that it is not worth fighting to the death with our fleeing and therefore extraordinarily fierce compatriots, so they easily gave this place to us.
But there are too few prey here, and in addition to the losses suffered when attacking outsiders before, our tribe now has less than a hundred members, only two-thirds of its heyday.
When I was enjoying myself while basking in the sun, I felt a touch on my body.
Looking back, I saw a kin queen beside me.
She is about the same size as me, but has a more protruding back, with wing bases left by fallen wings on her back, and a very thick back abdomen.
I know her, she and I both emerged from pupa this year. But she is a female ant, and I am a worker ant warrior. Although we are both aggressive scythe-hunting ferocious ants, and we are in the same nest, her status is more noble than mine.
Her status is more noble than mine, not because she can fight better than me. Even though everyone says the Queen Ant is smarter, I don't think she is much smarter than me.
Just because she is the queen ant, she can lay eggs. Although I can do it, the tribe stipulates that only queen ants can have offspring because of their high status.
I'm a little confused by these rules. But this queen ant and I are familiar, we have acted together when attacking outsiders, and we have eaten delicious aphids together.
She told me she was hungry, but last night we both killed a cricket and ate its soft belly and delicate innards.
Although this cricket is very small, I am not hungry yet because I eat less, but she is hungry again.
No wonder, I looked at her bloated belly. She is currently laying eggs.
In the entire tribe, only the five queen ants can lay eggs. Without food, they cannot lay eggs, and eggs are the hope of the future of the tribe.
This hilltop is so barren that the queen ants lay very few eggs, and sometimes the eggs they lay are eaten by the hungry queens themselves.
I couldn't help but feel lucky that I was born in a time when food was abundant, otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to emerge from the pupa.
Although brave warriors are not afraid of death, I still feel uncomfortable when I see those eaten kin eggs, even more uncomfortable than when I am hungry!
