On March 28, near sunset, "Xiaohua" and the entire mission finally returned to [Xinyang City] and completed their mission.
The protagonist had already been waiting for the news. After learning that the mission had returned safely, he hurriedly put aside the half-eaten dinner and summoned the dusty "little flower".
"Little Flower" gave the protagonist a detailed report on the mission, which also gave the protagonist a deeper understanding of the mission and the Leafcutter Ant Country.
From the rich information package provided by "Little Flower", the protagonist restored her experiences of the past few days in her mind.
It turned out that "Little Flower" was not negotiating with the opponent in the nearest secondary nest of the leaf-cutting ant country, but was taken to its main nest. No wonder it was delayed for so many days on the road.
Back to the day when "Little Flower" touched the mural...
After "Little Flower" touched the mural on the wall, she was pulled off by the excited leaf-cutter ant. Her pair of big jaws clamped "Little Flower"'s neck hard, causing pain.
"Little Flower" struggled hard. Her strength was stronger than that of ordinary big-headed ant workers, but she was still slightly inferior to the larger leaf-cutter ants. In addition, such a fragile part as her neck was controlled, so her struggle was only to Bringing more pain to yourself.
The desperate "Little Flower" once thought she was going to die here, but the big leafcutter ant just controlled her, warned her with its tentacles not to touch the red painting again, and let her go.
After that, "Little Flower" followed the big leaf-cutter ants cautiously, not daring to take any risks.
They walked for a long time, up a sloping and winding road that seemed to have no end.
From time to time, other leaf-cutting ants pass by, some large and some small. These leaf-cutting ants always grin at the "little flowers" that have the smell of foreign ants, and behave aggressively. But the giant leafcutter ants seemed to have more status, and they repeled these ants and ensured the safety of the "little flowers".
"Little Flower" didn't know how long she walked before she came to an empty nest room.
One wall of this nest room is made of wood, and the other walls, floor, and ceiling are made of a material similar to ant concrete, composed of ant glue and sawdust. These materials are the same as the winding tree path that "Little Flower" saw outside. .
Moreover, according to "Little Flower"'s observation along the way, it seems that the entire ant nest is made of this kind of material - this nest is built with these mixed materials in the hollow tree trunk.
The big leafcutter ants brought "Little Flower" into this nest. The floor of the nest felt familiar to "Little Flower". It was a floor paved with many small white pebbles, similar to the Angel King's Legion or the Old Big-headed Ant Kingdom. The floor of the conference room is the same.
The difference is that there are white pebbles extending into a line on the floor of this room, leading to the other end of the nest room.
There are also murals on the four walls of the nest. They are not graphics that record things, but the almost circular patterns unique to the leaf-cutter ants.
(Have you not guessed what this pattern is yet? I reminded you very clearly last time! For the first friend who guesses, I will add an update chapter for him!)
The big leafcutter ant signaled the "little flower" to lie down and touch its antennae on the white pebbles. The "little flower" knew that there was a meeting, so it did so.
A message came from the cobblestones. It came from the other end of the line made of white stones. In a place where the "little flower" could not see it, there were other leaf-cutting ants communicating with the "little flower" through the white stone line on the ground.
The complicated conversation in the middle will be ignored. In short, "Little Flower" was quite confused throughout the whole process. The other party seemed to be very interested in "Little Flower" and the Divine Envoy King's Army. He asked a lot of questions, and "Little Flower" answered them truthfully.
From this point of view, "Xiaohua" is not a qualified diplomatic envoy. She does not know how to advance and retreat freely in negotiations. She is as honest as a primary school student being interrogated by the teacher.
But history is full of coincidences, and some characters are always lucky, as if they are the illegitimate children of God.
"Little Flower"'s candid attitude won over the leafcutter ants she talked to.
What's more, leafcutter ants are very happy with their status as "little flowers."
In a series of conversations, "Little Flower" understood that the person she was talking to was a female leaf-cutting ant.
Although the protagonist is surprised, he accepts this: the leafcutter ant kingdom turns out to be a system dominated by female ants and queens, just like the queen inheritance faction of the old big-headed ant kingdom.
The difference is that the female ants and queens of the leafcutter ant kingdom have more power than the queen's inheritance faction.
If we have to make an analogy, the best authority in the leafcutter ant country is similar to the parliament of some human countries, divided into the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
The "House of Lords" is a queen assembly composed of all adult queens. It has supreme power and is responsible for deciding all major affairs of the country.
The "House of Commons" is a female ant assembly composed of all unmarried flying female ants. They are responsible for the management and execution of daily work, as well as proposing bills on major matters, which are submitted to the queen ant assembly for approval.
Under the two conferences is the executive class composed of male ants. They have no decision-making power and only complete tasks under the command and supervision of the queen and female ants.
This is the first time the protagonist has seen this unique political system. Although this system looks simple, it is very distinctive and is completely opposite to the male ant rule of most ant tribes.
"Xiaohua" is a magical worker ant, and she is also a female. Although she is a worker ant, except for her reproductive ability, her body shape and intelligence level are more like female ants.
The female ant in charge of negotiations in the leaf-cutter ant country obviously misunderstood something. Perhaps in her opinion, a female like "Xiaohua" can represent the Divine Envoy King's legion as an envoy, which means that the Divine Envoy King's legion is also dominated by the queen ant and female ants. power.
Whether it is "Little Flower" or the protagonist who replays the scene through the information packet, they can detect from the other party's information the contempt, dissatisfaction and even hostility of the leaf-cutting ants towards the forces ruled by male ants.
Thinking about it, of all the ant races and forces that the God Envoy King's Army has come into contact with, the leaf-cutting ant country's political system is the only one led by female ants and queens. I guess they also feel very lonely.
Fortunately, the other party did not dig out the existence of the God Envoy King and the male ant class from the "little flower" who knew everything. The other party was immersed in this misunderstanding that was beneficial to the God Envoy King's army.
As a result, the two sides also reached a trade agreement that satisfied the protagonist in a friendly manner.
The leafcutter ants were apparently also very satisfied with the honeydew and crow nectar, and they agreed to exchange the hematite ore for the honeydew and crow nectar.
The leaf-cutting ants even happily expressed that if the Divine Envoy King's army wants hematite powder, they must also draw "talisman", and they are willing to become friends with forces that also have "talisman".
"Rune"! The protagonist guessed what this word refers to. Isn't this the pattern that leaf-cutting ants use hematite powder to paint on trees and in their nests?
The leaf-cutting ants seem to attach great importance to the "talisman". They must know what the "talisman" is. The protagonist feels that the answer to the specific meaning of the familiar symbol that has been bothering him is in the mind of the leaf-cutting ants!
