The two teams of pavement ants heading north returned two days apart. After the protagonist communicated with the members of the two teams in turn and obtained the information he wanted, he let these poor frostbite patients recuperate.
Although the chitinous carapace of these ants has certain functions in absorbing solar energy and resisting cold and keeping warm, it is still unable to adapt to long-term cold. Even with cold-proof clothing and overnight fire, most pavement ants still cannot survive.
In fact, if these pavement ants did not contain antifreeze proteins unique to cold-resistant insects, their mortality rate would be higher, and they would even be wiped out. The protagonist does not know that antifreeze protein is the secret that allows pavement ants to move in winter. He just accidentally saw the cold resistance of pavement ants and did not care about sacrifice, so he ordered them to go north.
Pavement ants are constantly dying while they are recuperating. The terrible thing about frostbite is not only that it will cause shock, but also force the pavement ant team to abandon their surviving companions who are frozen on the road - rescue may mean that the rescuers must also be taken away. Drag into danger.
It also causes permanent damage to muscles and internal organs - cold air will enter the ant's body along the stomata, causing frostbite to internal tissues and organs. Although frostbite did not kill these survivors for the time being, after returning to the warm nest, the temperature difference changed and the frozen organs suddenly warmed up, causing the death of a large number of cells. Several pavement ants failed to survive the resulting organ failure.
In the end, only six of the thirteen pavement ants that returned survived, and two of them paid the price of disability and were forced to have their severely frostbitten limbs amputated.
The protagonist no longer cares about the life and death of these pavement ants, nor the cold-proof clothes and fire they were forced to discard. As a superior, he is more concerned about the information obtained by the Pavement Ants at great sacrifice.
According to feedback from both teams, "Target A" apparently did not encounter combat.
After the two teams arrived here one after another, they found that there were no traces of battle on the surface, no corpses or wreckage.
In winter battlefields, the attacking pavement ants often leave many corpses on the surface. These are old and weak pavement ants. They cannot resist the cold. Even with the protection of the sun, they still freeze to death on the road. Cold is the executor of harsh natural elimination. The old, weak, sick and disabled are quickly eliminated in this environment.
The pavement ant army will not collect the corpses of these dead people. On the one hand, this is because in their philosophy and belief, these individuals who died of cold are weak and not worthy of other companions collecting the corpses for them.
On the other hand, the reason is very practical: collecting the corpses of your companions requires a lot of extra physical strength, and may even cause casualties to other companions. Just like there are countless corpses of climbers on the mountain road of Mount Everest. Their corpses have become eye-catching landmarks, but they cannot be transported down the mountain.
When the bodies of black pavement ants are discarded on the ground, their dark brown carapace is also a natural heat-absorbing material, which can help melt the snow on the ground. Leaving it in place is more beneficial to the entire race.
For example, during the defense battle of "Linshui City" last winter, after the spring began, the protagonist discovered that the island was full of frozen pavement ant corpses. The worker ants of the God Envoy King's Army collected these corpses as food. However, due to sufficient food, these corpses were basically used as feed for mealworms.
The pavement ant team found no corpse on the ground. To be on the safe side, they ventured deep into the underground of "Target A"'s nest.
The temperature in the shallow layer of the nest is low, and there are no cold-suffering big-headed ant warriors stationed there. The pavement ants crossed over the shallow xylem and found the vigilant big-headed ant warriors in the soil layer.
As soon as the two sides came into contact, just when the big-headed ant guards were wondering why the enemy-looking ants in front of them had the aura of their own sub-nest, the pavement ant warriors had already obtained the information they wanted and fled.
"Target A" is still in the hands of the Northern Expedition of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom - after receiving the vital information, the Pavement Ant warriors immediately followed the protagonist's request and left quickly to avoid too much contact with the defenders here.
The protagonist does not want the information about the race of pavement ants and hunter ants in his hands to be known to the big-headed ants, which may easily cause unnecessary trouble.
After learning the good news that "Target A" is still in the hands of the Allies, the protagonist feels unhappy.
With the ants' unyielding spirit, he couldn't figure out why the paving ant barbarian army suddenly gave up its siege on "Target A" in the great situation at the end of autumn. After all, at that time, the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom had been defeated one after another. It was short of food and troops, and was just about to be surrounded and annihilated or driven back to the south bank of the river.
The protagonist previously speculated that the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army did not understand the remaining strength of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom Army. They were worried about excessive losses, so they planned to delay the attack until winter. At this time, the Big-headed Ant Kingdom's army was unable to hold on to the stream bank on the ground, and the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army could cross the river calmly, giving them an even greater advantage.
But now, the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army did not attack "Target A" as the protagonist guessed! How is this going?
Could it be that they gave up attacking the well-defended "Target A" and instead crossed the river and launched a direct attack on the mainland of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom like they did in previous years?
If that's the case, all the sub-nests in the Big-headed Ant Kingdom, except for "Linshui City", will be empty of troops and will be easily captured.
However, are the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army so smart? They didn't know the empty intelligence of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom in advance. Do they have the guts to desperately launch a southward invasion when there is still a threat from the enemy on the north bank of the river?
This does not conform to the usual behavioral logic of the ants. Based on the protagonist's understanding, the ants are unlikely to give up the threat of the enemy in front of them and attack other targets instead.
However, now the protagonist has no way to verify it. The trained squad of pavement ants suffered heavy losses. And even if "Southern City" sends another group of capable pavement ants, they still need to be trained before they can be used, and they cannot be sent out in the short term.
Even if there is a team of pavement ants that can go out, the protagonist does not know where to let them go to investigate.
In previous years, the first battle of the pavement ant barbarian army's southern invasion was basically an attack on "Linshui City". But now "Target A" is still there, protecting the other side of "Linshui City" like a barrier. The Pavement Ant Barbarian Army lacks a starting base and cannot directly attack "Linshui City".
So, will the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army directly change their starting base and attack other targets?
The river is too long. There are more than ten sub-nests of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom located on the south bank of the river. It is impossible for the pavement ant team to survey all such a long river bank. That would be death!
So where did the pavement ants go?
