A group of leaf-cutting ant warriors, about two to three hundred of them, are moving deep underground in [North Pine City].
This team formed a long queue along the path that had been explored before, advancing through the extremely complex and tortuous underground. They called in front and responded in behind. The sound of dense joints touching the ground spread far along the soil layer.
At the beginning, the team was very fast, following the guidance of pheromones and quickly went deep underground. But after crossing a few nodes of the second line of defense that the fire ant army voluntarily gave up, the speed began to slow down.
Behind this, they entered a brand new underground area. This army of leaf-cutter ants, like countless other teams, were exploring separately, marking the path with their own pheromones to prepare for the next large-scale attack. Prepare.
This leaf-cutting ant army is the underground scouts, scouts and intelligence agents.
This is a very dangerous job. The defenders may ambush anywhere in the front to intercept at any time. Even the explored rear is not safe. Enemy ants may bypass and cut off the retreat due to their familiarity with the terrain.
In the past, many scout troops were ambushed, defeated, or even wiped out.
But this small force had no other choice. The military orders were overwhelming, and its commander knew the danger of the trip, but he could only drive the ignorant warriors to continue advancing and exploring.
Fortunately, along the way, the fire ant army did not come out to cause trouble. It seems that yesterday's counterattack made the enemy ants urgently need to rest and recuperate. The enemy's losses yesterday were not light!
Along the way, the winding passage sometimes suddenly opens up as you walk, which usually means you have reached a nest room. Along the way, the troops passed by many nest rooms, almost all of which were empty, with the occasional remains of some corpses.
But this time, as soon as they entered, the male ant commanders in the leaf-cutting ant army felt from the changes in the air flow that this nest was very large, much larger than other nests they had explored.
The air underground is dull for a long time, especially in the passages. If there are no ants walking back and forth on the flowers, the air seems to be solidified. This is a common problem with most underground ant nests, which lack ventilation.
But this time, as soon as I entered, I could feel the air flowing here accelerating, taking away the heat from the body surface of the leaf-cutter ants, creating a slight chill.
This nest room either has this vent or is very large - the leafcutter ant commander thought to himself.
The leafcutter ant commanders left a team to respond, and then assigned two generals to take their worker ants to explore the way, preparing to mark the nest. If there is an exit, they will continue to move forward. If the nest is When it reaches a dead end, turn around and go in the opposite direction from the previous fork in the road.
There was no sound or breath of enemy ants in the nest, and everything was completely silent. It seemed unusually calm, and there seemed to be something hidden.
It's dark here, and the fire ants don't grow luminous fungi like the Ant Alliance or the Leafcutter Ant Nation. At this moment, both the single eye and the compound eye have lost their function, and the ants can only use their tentacles to explore, move forward, and mark.
A male leafcutter ant led more than 40 large, medium and small leafcutter ant workers. After entering the nest, they started exploring clockwise along the wall to the left.
The initial exploration went smoothly. The ants walked a short distance and found no major abnormalities, and marked them along the way.
The male leafcutter ant himself is constantly touching the ground with his tentacles. He can read the signals of the fire ant clan and several of its slave ant clans on the ground, but he cannot read the actual content, the pheromones of different ant clans. They are not the same, they are like foreign languages to each other.
But apart from the many enemy signals and secrets here, this leaf-cutting ant male had nothing to gain.
But as long as there are traces of enemy ants, it means that their direction is not a dead end.
While he was thinking about it, suddenly, the male leafcutter ant heard some strange sound.
It seemed like ants were struggling, and there was the sound of rolling gravel, and then there was another incomprehensible sound, followed by what seemed to be the clenching of the jaws, and then the sound tended to disappear.
This sound seemed very close, as if it was happening right next to me! ! !
The male leaf-cutting ant trembled, its body tensed up, and its glands emitted a smell. The leaf-cutting ant workers who smelled the message immediately came closer.
This is a warning aura signal, usually issued when there is a threat!
The male leafcutter ant uses its antennae to tap and touch the ants under its command one by one, counting them:
"41, 42..."
Gone…
The male leaf-cutting ants became even more nervous. Two ants were missing from the team. The missing ones were...a medium-sized leaf-cutting ant worker ant, and a small leaf-cutting ant worker...
This nest seems a little weird. There are obviously no enemy ants, but the missing warriors are nowhere to be found. Even if the male ants send out friction sounds and scent signals, they can't get even the slightest response.
The male leafcutter ants became cautious and sent messengers along the short-acting pheromones they left behind to report to the other troops exploring the nest and the main force remaining outside the nest.
As scouts, this team of soldiers must find out the secrets of this lair!
So they moved forward cautiously, but when they found the opposite exit along the wall of the huge nest and met up with another team of friendly troops who were exploring counterclockwise, they found nothing unusual.
The other corpsman was unscathed.
After confirming that there was no queen ant within a short distance outside the exit, the two teams of leaf-cutting ant scouts that met together began to move toward the center of the nest, which was as big as a tennis ball. They planned to explore while reuniting with the main force in the shortest distance.
But just after walking a few steps, the male leafcutter ant suddenly felt a few breezes blowing in front of him. This was not a normal air flow, and it had an unusual feeling.
Accompanied by the sounds of some struggles and the sound of densely packed sand and stones rolling down.
The male leafcutter ant suddenly felt something, and his tentacles tapped the ground eagerly, and sure enough!
Not far in front of him, the ground began to sag downwards, making it impossible to see. The ant walking in front had accidentally lost its footing and fell down - there was a depression in the middle of the nest.
The edge of the pit is made of gravel, and the gravel keeps rolling down with the vibration. The male leafcutter ant guessed that the ant in front of him must have accidentally fallen into the pit, and then struggled at the bottom of the pit unable to get up.
Why is there a pit here! ?
The male leafcutter ant suddenly recalled a story that an older male ant once told him, and his whole body shivered, and a sense of fear quickly emerged and enveloped his whole body.
The warning smell and friction sound suddenly dispersed from his body, and the nearby soldiers immediately became alert.
"Antlion Trap!!!"
The male leafcutter ant informs a messenger and tells her to return along the way she came to warn her.
Almost at the same time, there seemed to be some movement from the bottom of the pit. Then everything fell silent, except for the sounds of struggling at the bottom of the pit...
Already disappeared...
The error-free chapters of "The World of Ants" will continue to be updated. There are no ads on the site. Please bookmark and recommend it!
