After executing the king who made the protagonist look down upon, the protagonist temporarily took over the power of "Salt City". He had the previous authorization from the "Qingqiu City" king meeting, and at this time there was no objection from other kings or kings, so he naturally took over the dilapidated "Yan City", and both the worker ants and soldier ants expressed their obedience.
This is exactly what the protagonist hopes. Although he temporarily gave up his attempt on "Salt City" before, it seems that now it is possible to hand a relatively important resource nest into the hands of some unreliable big-headed male ants at any time. It has brought losses and troubles to oneself, and now the protagonist decides to end this state.
Killing the king of "Yancheng" was an impromptu decision, but the protagonist has already thought about the aftermath.
The protagonist appointed Tuozi as the king of this place and asked him to study the relocation of the nest with him.
After relocating, the protagonist is no longer prepared to allow "Yancheng" to continue to be maintained at this old site. The river crabs have obviously discovered that the food here is sufficient and stable, and they will return here every day, and even attract more and more river crabs.
No matter how many ants there are in "Yancheng" and no matter how fertile the queen is, they cannot fill the hole. In this world, although ants are the overlords, there are too many creatures that can threaten them. Just like when human ancestors first learned to use weapons and fire, and began to dominate the African savannah in groups with excellent endurance and wisdom, various venomous snakes and beasts could still cause heavy losses to these tribes at any time.
Although most river crabs will die after laying eggs until late autumn, these river crabs will eat like crazy before they die, which may wipe out "Yancheng". The protagonist does not dare to take this risk.
Relocation is an effective solution that the protagonist can think of. The area around the salt marsh is vast and there are many locations suitable for building forts. As long as the threat of river crabs can be temporarily avoided and delayed for a week or two, another batch of salt can be transported before winter.
The protagonist asks the tumor to appease the ants in the nest and prohibit them from going out. After the ants in the outer layer poked their heads to confirm that the river crab had left, the protagonist got out of the ground and looked around. After confirming that it was safe, he returned to Xiao Qing II, who was already restless.
He decided to take advantage of the afterglow of the sun to quickly survey the terrain near the salt marsh and move the residents of "Salt City" overnight.
Now that there is no flying knight around him, it is too late to go back to "Dongyang City" to summon other flying knights to assist in the investigation, so he can only go into battle by himself.
As soon as the protagonist takes off, he can see the water of the salt marsh to the south.
After the water level of the salt marsh rises, the main water area is only one acre in size, and there are also some sporadic ponds and tidal flats distributed in the overall shape of a narrow north-south shape. Vegetation is scarce in the entire salt marsh area. Only some plants that are tolerant to salt and alkali and whose roots are not afraid of being soaked in water survive, leaving the ground looking empty.
The protagonist soon saw the gushing spring, emerging from the calm lake in the shape of a small fountain, with billowing white mist in the late autumn twilight.
The water flow in the spring does not seem to be large. The surging water is similar to the maximum flow rate of the faucet. Based on this amount of water, it is estimated that it will be difficult to continue to raise the salt marsh water level.
The entire salt marsh was filled with the smell of sulfur and other minerals brought up from the ground by the hot springs.
River crabs gather on the north bank of the salt marsh, where the terrain is the gentlest and there are the most tidal flats. Salt-seeking insects from the surrounding areas also mainly gather here to lick the salt-alkali land.
On the entire north shore, you can see dense caves in the tidal flats. Each cave is as thick as a human finger and is comparable to the main entrances of "Qingqiu City" and "Dongyang City". These are the vents where the river crabs live underground.
Roughly speaking, there are no less than three to four hundred river crabs on the entire tidal flat. Such a huge number strengthens the protagonist's determination to move to "Salt City" - even if it gathers the power of all the pavement ants and big-headed ants on both sides of the river, it will be difficult. However, with so many Cancers, even if "Yancheng" continues to hold on, there is no hope of winning.
The protagonist crossed the salt marsh and flew south, and soon he saw the big lake to the south.
The big lake in the south is actually not far from the salt marsh, but it is blocked by slightly higher land. The lake is as big as dozens of football fields within sight, and only hazy shadows can be seen on the east and west banks. From the protagonist's current perspective, it is It's like facing Lake Baikal. It is slightly smaller than the lake connected to the big river in the east of "Dongyang City".
There is a gap connecting the salt marsh and the southern lake. This gap was opened by the flood after the hot spring erupted. Salt water flows into the lake through this channel, and the attracted river crabs enter the salt marsh through this channel. From the sky, the salt marsh and Nanhu Lake form a gourd-shaped lake.
This gap is only slightly lower than the surrounding mud ridges above the water. The protagonist estimates that the water level of the salt marsh will drop by less than three meters, and the water will be exposed here, separating the salt marsh from the South Lake again.
The north shore of this large lake is very steep, and the east and west shores look similar, so river crabs are active on the south shore. There are more river crabs there, thousands of them, and they have been living here for generations. It seems that only a small number of river crabs were attracted by the salt water and ran to the salt marsh, while more river crabs still lived in their old residences.
Because river crabs are rampant, there are very few plants and insects nearby, so the damage is obviously serious. Fortunately, the crabs mainly feed on organisms in the water, so they have not completely destroyed the ecology here.
After investigating the general situation of the salt marsh and South Lake, the protagonist returns to the salt marsh again, taking advantage of the last twilight to find a suitable place to build a new lair.
The protagonist's favorite location is to the east of the salt marsh. After moving "Yan City" here, it will be closer to "East Yang City", which will help strengthen control.
To the east of the salt marsh, there happens to be a tall pile of rocks, composed of weathered rocks, two or three meters high. At this height, it is difficult for floods to threaten it, and because the rocks are steep and there are many gravels, river crabs who are not good at climbing will be unable to climb up even if they want to.
The protagonist is quite satisfied with this place. The only drawback is that there is less soil on the gravel piles. The ants can only build nests in the crisscross stone crevices. For big-headed ants who are accustomed to digging soil to make nests, it is not a big deal. Small challenge.
But the protagonist is not worried. Big-headed ants and pavement ants are both ants that can adapt to this kind of environment. In the human world, both types of ants can survive in human communities, and their nests can be found in green belts along roads or in cracks in building walls.
After confirming the address, the protagonist immediately returned to the ruins of "Salt City" while it was getting dark.
After leaving Xiaoqing II under the care of the worker ants from "Dongyang City", the protagonist summons Tuzi and asks him to gather all the ants in the nest and prepare to move overnight!
