The protagonist's heart, which was hot because of the new idea, did not stay warm for long before it was cooled down by the continuous rain.
The rain continued for several days, as expected.
When the clouds are thickest, the day is dark and the rain is pouring, making it almost impossible to tell the difference between day and night. If this continues, the protagonist on the ship may not even understand how many days have passed.
Fortunately, the rain comes and goes. As long as the rain is not too heavy, the protagonist will poke his head out to take a look. He can roughly judge whether it is day or night through the faint light shining through the clouds, and then record the number of days on his calendar. Change.
When he checked the date on the calendar he carried with him to June 1st, the rain finally subsided, and there were longer rain breaks from time to time.
In the past few days, although there were occasional light rains, the ants did not dare to venture out most of the time.
Unless there is really a shortage of food in the cabin, some ants will risk going to the cabin where food is concentrated to get some inventory when the weather barely permits.
After all, there is usually only a small amount of food stored in the cabin where the ants gather, and most of it is still in the nearby supply ship.
Since the protagonist left his homeland, he has only had hot food in the temporary camp on the sandbank. These days, he has been able to cope with dry food. Other ants can also eat raw meat, but the protagonist refuses to do so.
But as of today, there is not much food stored in the entire fleet, and the meat has been eaten up, so the protagonist no longer has to worry about it.
The fleet's food stock was originally replenished in Shuishulin, but it was only enough for nearly ten thousand ants on the ship for seven days. Now it is the sixth day, and the food stock on board is only enough for one day, which has reached a very dangerous level. .
If the food is not replenished, even if the food ration is restricted, at most three days later, the ants on the ship will have no choice but to eat the corpses of their companions or various preserved eggs to satisfy their hunger.
The protagonist had already learned of this situation the day before yesterday. He took advantage of the short half-hour when the rain stopped to send messengers around to check the information obtained by each ship.
But then the rain intensified again, and the protagonist had no choice but to hide in the cabin, hoping that the weather would clear up soon, and praying that the whole ship could survive this crisis.
Maybe it’s the inexhaustible path, or maybe it’s the mercy of the God of Time Travel. Just the day before the fleet ran out of food, the rain finally weakened visibly to the naked eye. It was almost the same as when it rained on the first day. The soft raindrops drifted crookedly.
For some people who are poetic at heart, this is the apricot blossom light rain where they can enjoy the rain without holding an umbrella and without worrying about getting sick.
Ants on the verge of starvation do not have such leisurely grace, but they can also venture out and prop up a few sails in the rain.
After making a small sacrifice, the fleet finally began to leave the center of the river and move closer to the north bank driven by the wind.
Yes, the north bank of Qinghe River.
At this time, the Qinghe River had changed from a north-south direction to a roughly east-west direction, which was in line with the inertia of "big rivers flowing eastward".
According to the protagonist's idea, he should have landed on the west or south bank of Qinghe River two or three days ago, so that he could return to the swamp by land.
But since setting sail, none of his plans have gone smoothly. Now that the fleet is almost at a standstill, we can't care less about the southerly wind at the moment. Let's go to the shore to look for food first. Peerless Tang Sect fo
There is a dense reed marsh on the north bank of Qinghe River. The reeds are tall and dense. The walnut fleet sailed towards the reed marsh, just like a car driving into a giant forest.
Although these reeds are dense, they grow in large clumps with natural bay channels in the middle.
The protagonist holds a long stick to hold a pole, and from time to time enters the state of "God descends to earth", using his own power to control the fleet so as not to crash into the reeds and get entangled, along the narrow bay road until it reaches a beach that is about to emerge from the water. .
The fleet can no longer move forward. The shore in front is full of reeds, covering the shore so tightly that it is impossible to pass.
The fleet can only anchor here. At this time, the rain finally stopped, and the sun leaked out from the gaps in the clouds after a long absence. The sunshine that the ants longed for generously splashed down, and it happened to shine on this section of the river and its banks.
The sailor ants fixed the cables to several nearby reeds, and then almost all the ants went out to look for food nearby.
Even though this reed swamp looks like there is nothing but reeds, there is quite a lot for the ants to eat.
Although the originally tender bamboo shoots are old at this time of year, the fresh new reed leaves and the immature reed flowers that have just grown can be eaten. There are also some calamus growing nearby, which are tender green and shaped like ham sausages. The tidbits are also edible, which is enough for the ants to comfort their hungry stomachs because they have begun to limit the amount of rations.
Of course, if possible, ants would definitely prefer to eat meat, and there happen to be some insects in the reeds.
For example, the larvae of Spodoptera exigua are also worm-like. They like to penetrate through the holes at the base of the stems at the lower end of the reeds and feed on the stem pith inside.
Ants can determine the location of Spodoptera exigua larvae based on the withered condition of the reeds, and then drill into the holes to capture them for meat. In the holes, they can also dig out some of the fresh, starch-rich stem pith of the reeds, killing two birds with one stone.
The thorny grass borer is also very common in reed swamps and is also a good prey.
Although this reed swamp is not as rich as the water forest, it is still enough for the fleet to replenish a lot of supplies.
Moreover, there are no indigenous ants attacking here. Ants don't like water. Even though the stems and leaves of the reeds very close to the water surface form a criss-crossing road, and there are prey in them, there are no local ant activities.
What can cause trouble to the ants are some wasps and velvet wasps. They also feed on the two main insects in the reed swamps. They sometimes bump into the ants when they are hunting, and several conflicts inevitably break out.
Fortunately, these bees are not very powerful in combat. Most of the time, they will retreat after being entangled for a while. If they are too late to escape, they themselves will become food for ants.
The protagonist is sitting on the boat, watching the ants taking advantage of the good weather to bring back food in an endless stream, while counting the number of ant colonies on the boat from the male ant commanders.
It has been half a month since we set sail from our homeland. We have lost more than 300 ants on the ship due to various reasons, and now there are less than 9,700 ants left.
In the evening of that day, the ants returned to the ship, and the granary was slightly full again, which was probably enough for the entire ship for three days.
The nearby reeds have been cleared away by ants, and there is nothing to gain even if they continue to stay.
The protagonist decides to sail the boat tomorrow and find a way to get as close to the south bank as possible. The wind direction is unfavorable now, but at least we have to leave this barren reed swamp, land on the real shore, set up a camp, and wait until the north wind arrives.
