A gust of autumn wind swept by, and large clumps of leaves fell one after another, either yellow or red, covering the ground with a layer of colorful shadows in the color of death.
Previously, the protagonist felt that except for the occasional drop in temperature, this autumn was generally warmer than in previous years. Until yesterday, it had been very warm.
But the passing of this cold wave has completely brought the climate into late autumn, and winter will always come, sooner or later.
In the evening of the previous day, the protagonist felt the biting north wind suddenly breaking into the basin on both sides of the river while outdoors. The ants' intuition also showed that this was an extremely powerful cold wave.
Sure enough, early the next morning, when the protagonist tried to come outside the nest just after sunrise, he felt an obvious chill. His body resisted the cold outdoors and missed the warm indoors.
It took a lot of willpower for the protagonist to get out of the outdoors.
The cold came suddenly. The air on the ground is so fresh and cold, with the cold purity unique to autumn and winter.
In just one night, the scenery on the ground has changed drastically. The sensitive poplar trees have lost all their leaves in an instant, and 50% of the fallen leaves on the ground are poplar leaves.
But the other trees are still green and ready to wait until later to lose their leaves. Some leaves have turned red, which is really beautiful and brings a touch of beauty to the sad season.
The ground was covered with a thick layer of poplar leaves and some other red or yellow fallen leaves. The ground and low weeds were almost invisible.
The mournful sounds of cicadas and autumn crickets that were often heard outside have become rare. Most of these two suffered heavy casualties in last night's cold wave, and the rest are shivering in simple shelters such as earth holes and fallen leaves.
The ants have also become lazy. Except for the protagonist and the guards, the other ants have not gone out at this time.
They prefer to stay warm in their underground nests until the sun rises and the outdoor temperature rises, and then the ants will go out to forage and work. Cold is the enemy of all living things.
Although the time for outdoor activities has become shorter, the harvest of the ant nest has been abundant these days.
Insects that died from the cold wave are everywhere, and a large amount of meat can be found without much effort. The low temperature ensures that these corpses are not easy to decay.
The autumn wind also blows down a lot of grass seeds and fruits, which are also an important source of food for the ants to store for the winter. As with humans, autumn is the harvest season for ants.
In [Great Lake City], which is far away by the big lake in the south, the big-headed ants have started to collect walnuts on a large scale according to the plan, transport them to the vicinity of their nests, and bury them with sand as raw materials for the construction of walnut boats next year.
In [Qiaohead], the fruits on the nearby persimmon trees are also ripe. The ripe red persimmons are like small red light bulbs with an attractive luster, hanging high on the trees.
This sweet fruit is very attractive to ants. Even if aphids and scale insects are cultivated on a large scale in the territory of the Angel King's Legion, ordinary ants can still get a certain amount of sweet honeydew every now and then, but obviously everyone will not refuse more. Many sources of sweetness.
At the beginning of autumn, a batch of sweet dates were harvested from various places in the territory of the God Envoy King. In addition to the fresh jujube meat that everyone could enjoy the sweetness in time, the dried jujube meat could also be eaten until the beginning of spring.
But compared with persimmons, dates have too little water, so ants still prefer liquid and sweet food.
When the sun has risen high in the sky and the temperature during the day has risen enough for the ants to move outdoors, large groups of ants will line up in long marches towards the persimmon trees.
The information sent by the flying knights showed that the Destroyers are still two or three days away from the [Bridgehead] and will not disturb the harvest activities here in the short term.
There is no military threat for the time being, so whether it is the big-headed ant soldier ants in the legion, ordinary big-headed ant worker ants, or the pavement ants led by King Floating Leaf who have just arrived at [Bridgehead], they all join this sweet feast among.
The ants climbed up the nearby persimmon tree and climbed up the red persimmons.
Some persimmons are so ripe that they have cracks. The ants lie on the cracks and happily suck the juice inside. Then they dig out the dried persimmon pulp and put them on nearby branches to dry.
In a few days, the pulp will be dried in the sun and can be taken back to the nest for storage. It will taste like persimmons.
The ants will not let go of the persimmons that have no openings. They use their mandibles to cut small openings to facilitate their companions to eat.
The three persimmon trees nearby grow small and exquisite round persimmons with sufficient water, which are the favorites of ants. In comparison, the larger Mopan persimmons have less water and thick skin, so they are not so popular.
Since there were so many persimmons, the frugal ants began to waste them. They often only feed on the surface of the persimmon. Once the juice on the surface is almost sucked, they immediately change their target and never go deep into the persimmon to continue eating and drinking.
Anyway, there are too many persimmons nearby, and the ants in [Bridgehead] and nearby [Linshui City] simply cannot eat them all.
As for the other sub-nests in the Divine Envoy King's territory, they are too far away and cannot be reached. And some nests also have their own persimmon trees near them. In this basin, persimmon trees are common on both sides of the river.
The half-eaten persimmons by the ants also attracted many tenacious insects. Some butterflies and beetles that can survive the winter flew over following the smell.
They dare not compete with the ants for food, but there is still a lot of food in the persimmons that the ants have left.
The long mouthparts of the butterfly pierce the inside of the persimmon like a needle and continue to suck the fresh persimmon juice out of the reach of the ants.
The beetles use their powerful breaths to bite open the skin of the persimmons and swallow them whole, including the water and meat.
The ants saw this scene, but they didn't bother to pay attention. There was already a lot of meat in the nest. The ants were now busy enjoying the sweet persimmon water and had no interest in hunting those butterflies and beetles.
Predator and prey coexist harmoniously on the same persimmon tree.
The protagonist also came to the persimmon tree. In the originally equal old Big-headed Ant Kingdom, the kings all had equal status, but there were slight differences in status due to seniority.
Within the Legion of the Divine Envoy King, after years of management, the protagonist has achieved a transcendent status.
Even when eating persimmons, the protagonist can enjoy the sweetest persimmon to himself. Except for the guard team guarding him, no other ants dare to come to this persimmon for food.
The protagonist sucked the sweet juice and ate a few pieces of soft cooked persimmon meat, enjoying the last peace before the battle.
