Another strange movement occurred in the salt marsh, which the protagonist did not expect! The last time an abnormality occurred in the salt marsh, it caused a shortage of salt on the entire south bank of the river. This is why the protagonist does not pay attention to it!
According to the report relayed by the courier, the water level in the salt marsh near "Yancheng" has been gradually rising recently. This is something that has never happened before in autumn. According to reports from local residents in "Yancheng", salt marshes only rose during the spring and summer rainy seasons in previous years, and the rate of increase was not that large.
The unusual rise in water levels makes Tuozi worried that it will affect the collection of salt. Although the protagonist's territory has been rushed for transportation some time ago, there will be no shortage of salt in a short period of time, but according to the agreement, "Salt City" must continue to be the kingdom of Big-headed Ants. The main and auxiliary nests provide salt, and transportation teams from these nests are arriving in an endless stream to stock up on enough salt grains before winter.
If this problem is not handled well and the situation is reported to the king's meeting in "Qingqiu City", the protagonist is worried that the other party will take the opportunity to take back control of "Yancheng".
If the water level is just rising, it is not a strange movement, at most it is an abnormality. According to Zhuzi's report, as the water level of the salt marshes rose, many scattered salt marshes were connected and the tidal flats were covered. The ants found that the water in these lakes was unusually turbid and emitted steamy mist on cold mornings.
The tumor sent worker ants to take the risk to touch the lake water, which proved that the lake water was very warm, but not drinkable. The lake water not only had a salty taste, but also had a strong sour and bitter taste compared to before.
This is still not the most serious. The worst thing is that as the lake water rises, a huge monster also comes and attacks the team of salt collectors in "Salt City".
These monsters have huge bodies, each as big as a boulder. Moreover, their dark green carapace is extremely thick and they are not afraid of being attacked by ants. A pair of large pincers can easily grab an ant and clamp it in two, or stuff the poor ant into its huge and ferocious mouthparts and eat it.
These monsters can move freely on land and in water. They may appear anywhere in the salt marsh, catching ants collecting salt grains for food. They can also hide in the water when ants gather. Although their sideways movement is ridiculous, their speed is definitely not slow, and they often move in groups. A large number of worker ants have been lost to monster attacks.
The total ant population of "Yancheng" is only two to three thousand, and the work team brought by Zhuzi only has two hundred worker ants and a small team of fifty soldier ants. Now, hundreds of worker ants have been killed in the "Yancheng" area. Zhuzi led the team of the only angel king to try to capture a smaller monster, but failed - the soldier ants' jaws were unable to attack the monster. Break the defense!
The messenger also sent the relevant information packet to the protagonist. In fact, after listening to the messenger's description, the protagonist had roughly guessed what these monsters were, and the information packet also confirmed this - they were a group of crabs.
Crabs are arthropods that belong to the subphylum Crustacea and the subclass Euphylla. Its body is protected by a hard shell and it breathes through gills. In terms of biological taxonomy, it is the same animal as shrimp, lobster, and hermit crab.
Most types of crabs live in the sea or offshore areas, and some live in freshwater or land. Judging from the image information in the information package, these crabs doing evil in the salt marsh are ordinary river crabs.
River crabs are also called "hairy crabs". The cephalothorax formed by the combination of the head and chest is square-shaped, hard in texture, and the back shell is dark blue. There are two pairs of very sharp crab teeth on the side of the eyes, and the surface of the chelipeds is covered with hairs; the 4 pairs of walking legs are flat and long on the sides, and the abdominal limbs have degenerated.
River crab is one of the freshwater crabs. It often lives in burrows on the muddy banks of rivers, lakes and swamps. It is active at night and feeds on fish, shrimp, animal carcasses and grains. Every autumn, it often migrates to the estuary of the sea to lay eggs. The crabs will be young the next year. After hatching, they swim back up the river.
In the eyes of humans, especially the Chinese, river crab meat is fresh and tender and is a favorite food. In particular, hairy crabs are valuable freshwater products that are delicious, nutritious, and of high economic value. Of course, they are not cheap either.
However, to ants, these creatures as big as human palms are out-and-out prehistoric monsters. The smallest female crab has a weight and volume equivalent to hundreds of ants.
What the protagonist is more confused about is why these river crabs suddenly appeared in the salt marsh. River crabs usually like freshwater environments, but the water in salt marshes is salty and has a sour and bitter taste, which is definitely not the environment that river crabs like.
In addition, this season, if the protagonist remembers correctly, happens to be the season when river crabs lay eggs. Humans like crabs in this season the most. Female crabs have delicious crab roe in their bellies, and male crabs also have crab paste. But why do the crabs not go to their spawning grounds during this season, but instead come to salt marsh areas that they have never been to before?
In fact, what the protagonist doesn't know is that the salt marsh area was originally an intermittent hot spring.
This hot spring has not erupted frequently in recent years, but in the past, it was these hot springs from underground that brought salt-rich lake water to the salt marsh. The water in these lakes slowly evaporated and was rarely replenished by hot springs, forming the current salt marsh covered with salt crystals and scattered water pools.
The hot spring eruption point is far away from the "Salt City". The swamps there are dense and ants cannot survive. It is a blind spot in the Big-headed Ant Kingdom. The Big-headed Ant Kingdom does not understand the situation inside. On the edge of the salt marsh, near the "Salt City", is a place where ants can approach and collect salt.
In the south of the salt marsh, there is a larger lake, which is the natural boundary of the big-headed ant kingdom, and the river crabs come from there. They have lived in the lake and the south bank for generations and thrived here.
Recently, the long-dormant hot springs suddenly ushered in a large gush. A large amount of hot spring water mixed with salt, alkali and sulfur flowed turbulently, not only connecting the originally nearly dry salt marsh into a new lake, but also flowing southward. Connected to Crab Lake in the south.
That is to say, ants like to build nests in high places, so "Salt City" was spared from being submerged, and most of the salt marshes and the Crab Lake in the south have been connected to form a gourd-shaped lake.
The river crabs that originally lived on the south bank of Crab Lake have only laid eggs in closed lakes for many years, but their genetic memory still has the imprint of going to the river estuary to lay eggs.
When the salty water from the salt marsh is noticed by them, the female crabs in the spawning period immediately set off to a more ideal spawning location in their minds.
So the scenes in the tumor emergency report appeared! A large number of female crabs appear in the salt marsh, and these female crabs also need to forage. The dense ants near the salt marsh become the best prey.
