The further you go, the more shrubs and trees you get, and the dense weeds become sparse.
Unknowingly, the exploration team composed of the protagonist and the guard team left the wilderness full of tall grass and came to the intersection of forest and grass, and then slowly transitioned into the woodland.
The most eye-catching feature of the woodland surface is its openness and darkness, because the thick canopy of trees almost blocks the upper part from the wind, and the weak sunlight that barely penetrates to the bottom of the woodland is not enough to support the survival of large herbaceous plants. There were only some sporadic ferns or a few tenacious weeds on the forest floor, barely surviving in the light spots that came through.
The main body of the entire ground is a large amount of litter, which almost completely covers the ground. It rained just a while ago, and the layer of litter soaked by rainwater is full of mud, almost no different from a swamp.
The protagonist is walking in front, trying to find dry roads to move forward. Some criss-crossing fallen branches are natural roads. Although it has to go around, it is much better than walking in mud and getting dirty, or even blocking the trachea and suffocating.
In the woods as dark as a cloudy day, the protagonist leads the team on a trek, raising his head from time to time to observe. Sometimes the target is the tree above his head, sometimes the target is the fern beside him, and sometimes he is staring at the bug that just passed by.
The useful resources found so far in this forest are not as rich as those in the grassland just now. It may be that the tall trees take away too much of the sun's energy, and the biodiversity in the woods, especially the diversity of plants, is not very rich.
But it was not without discovery. For example, there were many ferns in this woodland, and there were many edible parts of the body.
These ferns cannot compete with herbaceous plants in areas with dense weeds, but they can comfortably enjoy the sunshine in the occasional small openings in the forest, showing their vitality.
The leaf buds and young stems of fern are rich in nutrients, which is bracken. It has a fragrant and smooth taste and can be eaten by boiling it in hot water. The rhizome of bracken contains 35-40% starch. The fern root powder can be extracted through washing, pounding, filtering, drying and other processes, which is a good source of starch.
The protagonist noted the location of these ferns, and the accompanying guards also marked them with pheromones along the way. In the future, ants can be sent along the way to collect resources.
Apart from these ferns, other achievements are mediocre. Most of them are resources found in grasslands, but they are not very abundant.
Until the protagonist discovers a rotten tree.
This is a big tree that has collapsed for unknown reasons. The branches and leaves have been almost corroded, and the bark is almost invisible. It is as black as a black pillar and it is impossible to identify the tree species.
The rotten wood lay quietly on the ground, surrounded by smelly pools of stagnant water formed by sewage, but there were also relatively dry roads to reach the bottom of the rotten wood.
The surface of the rotten wood is covered with moss and insect eyes. Some mosquitoes and flies were flying up and down around the rotten wood. They were not having a carnival around the rotten wood, but around their food - a dead, half-rotten worm. There were still some small maggots crawling on the surface of the worm's body.
The worm was very big, probably as big as a child's hand, and looked like the larvae of some kind of beetle. The protagonist has seen the larvae of the bifurcated rhinoceros beetle, the stag beetle, and the scarab beetle, and their shapes are very similar to this corpse.
The corpse showed signs of enlargement, and yellowish smelly water flowed freely on and under the body. To mosquitoes and flies, this corpse water was no less than fine wine.
There are probably many such worms in the rotten wood. At least the protagonist saw countless dense holes on the surface of the wood.
This rotten wood is a good hunting ground. The fat white worms taste good. Although the protagonist does not eat them - he only accepts farmed mealworm meat or fly larvae meat - but other ants like it very much.
If you can find some eggs of beetles that can be tamed, you can also bring them back to the nest and keep them to reserve resources for the future revival and expansion of the beetle army.
Although the team is mainly here for exploration, the protagonist doesn’t mind being a guest in the hunting team, just for training! Yiyun Chinese
The protagonist led the team through the swamp made of sewage, came to the rotten tree, and climbed up.
Then he issued a hunting order. Except for the Tianxian who stayed with the protagonist, the other guards moved in groups to find delicious prey.
——I am the dividing line——
The light is dim, but the protagonist's unique vision is unaffected.
He watched happily as a group of guardsmen caught an insect as big as a pea pod, bit the insect's butt, and dragged it out of the narrow hole.
The poor insect struggled to resist, and even its intestines containing brown excrement were torn out, and the filth was thrown everywhere.
The insect was still no match for the ant's brute force. When its head was exposed, the two guardsmen immediately approached it, ignoring the insect's struggle, and cut it with sharp copper jaw knives, one on the left and the other on the right. Soon it was gone. Cut off the insect's head alive.
This team of warriors happily carried the headless trophy back to the protagonist.
And under his feet, he could still feel the constant movement, which was the sound of the guardsmen going deep into the rotten wood along the tunnel, chasing and catching their prey.
Although the sun cannot be seen, the protagonist feels that it is almost half of the afternoon. It is time to return when the guards return. This way, they will not have to rush on the unfamiliar wilderness after dark, which is too dangerous.
Soon, two of the five teams of guards returned, both of them fully loaded.
It seems that there are a lot of bugs in this kind of rotten wood. No wonder there is a man named Bei Ye. When he is hungry, his eyes light up when he sees rotten wood. He can find some protein by just digging at it.
The third team and the fourth team also returned one after another. When the protagonist was about to send out messengers to urge the last team of ants to return, he heard some different sounds, and his tentacles stood upright instantly.
It was a slight "gurgling" sound, mixed with several different struggling sounds, like the sound of arthropods or tentacles tapping on fallen leaves.
The protagonist's heart moved, leaving a group of soldiers to guard the prey, and rushed to the place where the noise was with the other soldiers.
After climbing over the rotten wood and coming to the shady side, the protagonist saw three guardsmen stuck to an unknown slime on a relatively complete fallen leaf on the ground.
On the side, other guardsmen were struggling to pull out their trapped companions, not even paying attention to the injured rat woman they had just caught limping away.
But such a rescue was counterproductive. There was a large amount of mucus on the leaves, and the rescuer would be trapped if he was not careful.
The protagonist hurried over, preparing to cut through the semi-solidified mucus with the sharp obsidian knife he brought with him.
At this time, an unusually loud noise came from behind!
The protagonist looked back and saw a huge mass of mud rising high in the muddy stinking pool!
