After an early summer shower, the ground was temporarily cool, and the bright summer flowers with dewdrops revealed their bright stamens.
A fly flew over "buzzing", its black head plunged into the flower, sucking the cool nectar happily.
The "Wisdom Elder" raised his head and saw this scene, lowered his head again, and slowly led the team forward.
He seemed to be extremely numb at this time. Anyone who has experienced such a thing might be numb!
The last time, the overlord Pavement Ant Empire called all the vassal ant tribes for a meeting, the "wisdom elder" had a premonition. He was originally responsible for the intelligence collection of the red imported fire ant country and knew more about the overlord country than other red imported fire ants.
It is rare for the suzerain country to convene all vassal representatives for a meeting, and it is not a traditional major festival. It is probably because of that incident!
As expected, when the overlord's order was conveyed at the meeting, all the vassal ant tribes were in an uproar. The "wisdom elder" had already guessed, but was relatively calm.
But when he returned to the country and submitted the instructions of the suzerain country to the "Presbyterian Council", as expected, the "Presbyterian Council" once again let him take the blame, thinking that he did not resolutely refuse and safeguard the interests of his country. The "wisdom elder" was deprived of the supply of fine food for three months this time and could only eat the food of ordinary warriors. This was a serious humiliation.
The "wisdom elders" lowered their heads at the meeting and did not send a single message. They silently endured the anger of the "Presbyterian Council". It was actually the anger directed at the suzerain country. In fact, everyone knew that the Ant Alliance had no way to reject the suzerain country. requirements.
Walking silently on the road, behind the "wisdom elder" were 24 fire ant guards and 36 slave ants. The slave ants all held ant eggs and ant pupae in their jaws, half and half. These ant eggs and pupae were sent as requested by the suzerain country. Among them were red fire ant worker ants, male ants, and even queen ants.
The reason why the "Presbyterian Council" is so angry is because the suzerain country actually forced them to provide the eggs of the ant queen this time. The vassal country does not have this obligation... What's more, controlling the ant queen means controlling the ant clan. The suzerain country If you really have any bad intentions, detaining a queen ant can turn the noble red fire ant clan into its slaves, and the red fire ant country will become a dispensable vassal to the suzerain country.
This is very dangerous!
But the "wisdom elders" couldn't refuse, and all the vassal ant tribes couldn't refuse. The suzerain nation, the Pavement Ant Empire, showed its sharp jaws. They issued this mission with the highest level of orders. Refusal would be tantamount to betrayal.
The red fire ant country couldn't refuse. They were still counting on the suzerain country to help restore their old territory. They simply didn't have the strength to ignore the suzerain country as they did before, relying on the mountains and the emperor's distance.
The "wisdom elder" arrived with his team, escorting the ant eggs and ant pupae, and was taken to a small mound in the north.
At this time, envoys from other vassal ant tribes also arrived with their own ant eggs and pupae, and gathered in front of the mound.
There is a huge cave at the bottom of this small mound, about the size of a mountain chestnut. The dark hole leads to the ground. I don't know how deep it is, and I don't know where it leads.
Some pavement ant warriors closely guarded the entrance of the cave. There was also the yellow-black symbol above the entrance of the cave.
The pavement ants took over the ant eggs and pupae brought by the vassal ant tribe at the entrance of the cave and carried them into the cave. Only pavement ants were allowed in, and other client ant tribes were ordered to leave after handing over their eggs and pupae.
The "Wisdom Elder" turned around and left with his team, but not long after he walked out of the sight of the pavement ants, he ordered his subordinates to hide behind the vegetation and rest. He quietly climbed up a bush with two guards and stared at the scene just now. direction of the cave.
The eyesight of the red imported fire ants is generally better than that of pavement ants. The "wisdom elder" is also a male ant, and his eyesight is slightly better. The location he chose was only two meters away from the cave entrance and covered by vegetation. There was no risk of being discovered by the pavement ant soldiers at the cave entrance, and he could monitor the entire cave entrance very well.
The sun moves across the sky, drawing an arc from east to west. Time passes little by little with the movement of the sun. Three-quarters of the day has passed, and night will take over the world in a few hours.
The "Wisdom Elder" just maintained an almost motionless posture, not eating or drinking, hiding, and conducting the investigation himself with great endurance.
The entrance to the cave is extremely busy, with client ant tribes arriving constantly, handing over their precious ant eggs and pupae to the pavement ants. These ant eggs and pupae are all sent into the cave without exception.
There were even a large number of pavement ants coming from the direction, and the eggs and pupae of the pavement ants were also put in.
This made the "Wisdom Elder" extremely curious. He had heard of a "secret ceremony" in the sovereign country before. Every once in a while, it might be once every four or five years, or it might be that several generations of male ants have grown old and haven't held it yet. once. Before the ceremony, the suzerain council collected ant eggs and ant pupae from the vassal countries and sent them here.
But what kind of ceremony it was, the "Wisdom Elder" didn't know. The last ceremony had been a long time ago, and the two elders in charge of intelligence before him had left no relevant records.
The "wisdom elder" plans to take the risk to find out the secrets of this ritual, this cave, and these ant eggs and ant pupae.
He couldn't let these ant eggs and pupae of his tribe be given away in vain. Now that the red fire ant country was being rebuilt, every ant egg was precious, especially the eggs of the queen ant. He is not willing to give in!
Just watching until dusk, the "wisdom elder" gained something.
Finally, a group of ants came out of the cave. Those who came in and out before were all pavement ants responsible for transporting ant eggs and pupae, but this group was obviously not the same.
The "wisdom elders" can identify most of the ants from the carapace color and size. Most of the ants in this batch are newborn pavement ants.
But what kind of swarm of pavement ants are they? Why are all of them disabled? ! !
A pavement ant has a pair of middle limbs that have shrunk, and only two small ones are still left on the body, crawling on the remaining limbs.
Another pavement ant actually has no abdomen. She can't eat at all, right? Although he is just born, he will probably starve to death soon!
Other pavement ants have strange disabilities. Some are missing one of their antennae, some have abnormally small jaws, and some have blood-red carapace color. . . .
Some are even dead and brought out by other adult pavement ants!
If they hadn't appeared together, and they all had more or less characteristics of the pavement ants, the "wisdom elder" would never have believed that they were a group of pavement ants!
Why is this happening! ?
What is going on in that cave! ?
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