Ants all know that winter is not far away.
In the past two days, a strong cold air has moved southward. Since then, hoarfrost can be seen on the ground every morning.
But it is still relatively warm around noon. After the sun comes out, the frost quickly breaks down. The ants get out of their nests and enjoy the last period of outdoor activities in the year under the protection of the sun.
When the golden ginkgo leaves, dark green pine and cypress leaves, and other brown leaves hang stubbornly on the branches, or fall like snow flakes, ants of all races are seizing the last moment to collect food, or... plunder !
This cold wave not only disrupted the domestic inspection plan of Zhu Jue and his party, but also delayed them for a few days. After that, they decided to take a shortcut directly to [Xijing City], giving up the inspection of the southwest border on the south bank of Qinghe River, in order to save time and return to the main city before winter. nest.
This cold wave has indirectly cast a shadow on the fire ant family's westward migration plan next year in advance.
The western border of the Black Fire Ant Kingdom is a vassal territory of the Red Fire Ant clan.
The "Wisdom Elder" has been living underground recently. He is old and can't stand the low temperature and cold wind outside.
He stayed in the deep palace, and every day, ants came to report intelligence one after another, and based on this, he continued to control this declining ant clan.
In recent times, the grain and grass raised from various channels have gradually filled up the existing warehouses, and it has even been necessary to dig new granary nests or requisition other nests. This makes the "wisdom elder" very happy.
Under his insistence, neither the fire ant clan nor the vassal ant clan significantly increased the ant colony. They only slightly expanded the originally pitiful ant colony and saved a lot of food.
This move aroused criticism from some elders under the "Wise Elder" and the leader of the vassal ant tribe, but he firmly restricted the ant mouth.
Next year's westward migration will be the key to the revival of the fire ant clan. He has communicated with the gods about this in his sleep more than once. He believes that the patron saint of the red imported fire ant family supports him to become a dictator. Only by being a dictator can he save the red fire ant family that is in crisis.
According to God's instructions, perhaps the "wise elder"'s own subconscious decision, he will lead the tribe to hoard enough food to maintain a lean ant colony. Wait until the spring of next year, before the current temporary suzerainty can react in time, and they will embark on a journey to the Western Holy Land with all their equipment!
As long as they leave the territory of the black fire ant clan, it will be difficult for the suzerain country to pursue them. The red fire ant clan only needs to deal with the resistance of the indigenous ants along the way and will eventually reach the Holy Land.
The "wisdom elder" has obtained information about the nearby indigenous ants from the black fire ant clan that has ruled the area for a long time. On the way to the Holy Land, at least the indigenous ants near the starting point are not strong.
This is good news!
Just when the "Wisdom Elder" was immersed in the plan of the great journey of seeking saints next spring, two young elders and guard warriors entered his palace.
They brought bad news - a crack team heading to the western end of the territory was attacked, and only three wounded soldiers escaped.
The "wisdom elder" saw the injured fire ants behind the visitor, which were the soldiers who had escaped. He paused, then slowly walked forward and communicated with his tentacles.
"Scorpion!? Centipede!? Mantis!?"
In the information package, it was revealed that the casualties were caused by three huge ferocious beasts. These three beasts actually traveled together, and there was no internal fighting at all because of this weird cross-race combination.
Most ferocious insects are solitary and even territorial. These three fierce insects, which were obviously a team, surprised the "wisdom elder". What surprised him even more was what came next:
When the fire ant warriors responsible for investigating the recent disappearance of ants in their territory discovered these three fierce insects during their inspection, they were also targeted by the fierce insects at the same time, and a battle broke out immediately.
The tough fire ant warriors are not afraid of these ferocious insects. In most cases, the so-called ferocious insects only pose a threat to a few lone ants. Once the ants gather together, they are an existence that other insects in the world are afraid of.
This group of fire ant warriors is led by a young elder and consists of 18 warriors of their own clan and 12 client ants of various clans. Although they were facing three huge beasts, the ants bravely took the lead in attacking.
But these three ferocious insects are not only larger than the average ones of the same kind, but not only do they not attack each other, they even cooperate with each other extremely well!
The centipede took the lead and aimed the two poisonous needles on its butt at the ants that were divided into three groups to kill, and sprayed a stream of red poisonous gas, causing the ants in the group to immediately fall into a stiff and sluggish state of poisoning.
The giant scorpion went on a rampage and took the initiative to challenge a team of red fire ants and client ants.
The mantis was like an elusive assassin. It first seduced the last group of ants away from the other groups, then suddenly fluttered its wings and flew away, shaking off the ants rushing towards it. Then it turned around and rushed into the centipede's poisonous mist. Massacre the poisoned ants that lost their ability to resist.
The centipede's poisonous red mist seems to have no effect on the mantis! ?
The ant that was thrown away by the mantis finally turned back and began to rush towards the centipede next to it. This centipede seems unable to spray poisonous mist again in a short period of time, but its body is huge, its carapace is hard, and its sharp jaws and poisonous needles are also a fatal threat to ants.
The current battle situation is that the scorpion and the centipede are each fighting with a small group of ants, and the ants are gradually falling into a disadvantage.
When the mantis, which had killed a group of ants, turned back to join the battlefield, the ants finally couldn't hold on any longer and dispersed in a rout. Only a few ants managed to escape.
After reading the information package, the "wisdom elder" was simply surprised by the union of the three fierce insects. His observation was actually disturbed, so his brain ignored the obvious traces of hyphae on these three fierce insects!
He weighed it up and didn't think it was too difficult, so he decided to stay put. What he was thinking was that these three ferocious insects would definitely not survive the winter, so he just had to pay attention to avoid them in the near future!
But he soon had no choice but to ask for help from his temporary overlord... In the next two days, more and more reports of attacks came.
The fire ants are attacked not only by various fierce insects, but also by alien ants that appear on the border.
Could it be that the black fire ant nest in the west has fallen? Faced with frequent small-scale attacks, the "wisdom elder" finally couldn't calm down!
————
To the west, the original nest of the black fire ants is now occupied by various parasitic insects, like a paradise for parasitic fungi.
These parasitic fungi are exactly those that Zhu Jue once saw in his hometown and swamps.
Parasitic insects, controlled insects, like zombies!
Parasitic bacteria suddenly appeared on this land for the first time!
