Late May, north bank of Black Creek.
The arthropods stepped on the dead leaves of last year on the ground, making crisp and panicky noises. The leading male black fire ant turned his head sharply, as if he was afraid that the sound would alert those ferocious beings.
This is a small group of black fire ants, burrowing ants, and abdominal ants, which are struggling to move through the grass.
Several lightly injured black fire ant warriors were exploring the path ahead, using their tentacles to try to distinguish the pheromones left on the ground. The pheromones here are very messy. There are long-acting pheromones left over from last year that are still barely distinguishable, short-acting pheromones left over a long time ago that have no known meaning, and some newly left pheromones with an atmosphere of panic. .
They were a group of broken soldiers, struggling to return to the south bank of Black Creek along the ant trail.
Previously, as many as 46,000 ants from the Black Fire Ant Kingdom were ordered to return to the north bank of Black Creek in batches, to the original main nest [Black Fire City], and transport the food and other materials that could not be taken away before to the new main nest on the south bank.
Although there are grains provided free of charge or sold on credit by allies such as the Ant Alliance, the Black Fire Ant Nation will not easily give up its original reserves. One more grain of grain can allow the queen to lay one more egg and allow one slave to do more work. A few days of living allows one soldier to kill one more enemy ant.
King "Black Charcoal" was responsible for organizing this operation. He did not leave the south bank himself, but sent a group of ants in good physical condition to perform the task, mainly slave ants, with a small number of black fire ant kings and warriors participating.
But this operation was a complete failure. Even if the Flying Knight issued an emergency warning, the black fire ant country ants that moved in batches still had no time to retreat and were defeated by the parasitic army that raided. A large number of ants were killed and infected, and the few remaining soldiers were defeated. Escape temporarily with the familiarity of the terrain.
Even if you escape, it is not safe. The sky is completely occupied by parasitic flying insects. Once discovered by flying insects in the sky, the fast-moving parasitic cockroaches will come to entangle you with parasitic ants on their backs.
There were only more than 100 ants left in this small army. They were originally following a large army of thousands, but they were entangled in this way, and then were chased and killed by the large army of parasitic ants.
Fortunately, Wang, the leader of the team, saw the opportunity quickly and used his scent to summon a few soldiers and slaves around him, and escaped into the grass nearby. He did not dare to look at the fate of his companions behind him, let alone turn around to save them.
They had been hiding and walking for 4 days. They should have arrived at the bank of Black Creek earlier according to their schedule. However, in order to avoid pursuit, they had to take a detour. They hid in bushes and other shelters along the way, and avoided most of the daylight hours. time activities.
At this time, they seemed to be very close to Black Creek, but not much information could be read from the pheromones. The meaningful pheromones were also left behind by the previous defeated troops, and there was no meaningful content.
There are no ants in the team who originally had a secondary nest in the local area, so they are not familiar with the details of the terrain here. Where did they end up? How much further to go? When can we arrive at Black Creek? Don't know anything...
In the past four days, this small unit was lucky not to encounter parasitic ants again, but it was also difficult to escape along the way. They have no food, and most of the ants are injured. If there are ants on the road who are hungry and tired and can't walk, except for the male black fire ants, they will be carried away. The other ants, even slave male ants, can only be thrown away directly. Otherwise, the abandoned ants will have no chance of survival.
They had left nearly half of their companions behind due to hunger and cold along the way.
As dusk approached, the leading black fire ant male woke up the other ants from the temporary hiding place in the stone crevices with a scratching sound, preparing to leave while the parasites were no longer active.
A few more ants did not get up. They were still alive, but they no longer had the energy to get up and could only wait to die.
The other ants ignored these companions who had shared weal and woe along the way, and had long been accustomed to such scenes. They left them in this damp stone crevice, then got out and continued their journey.
The leading male black fire ant was also very hungry and had finished the last bit of food the day before yesterday. While he was resting, he took a bite of the moss next to him. The muddy smell was hard to swallow, but he swallowed it anyway. At least he felt better in his stomach.
The ants lined up in a single column, and under the guidance of a few strong ants, they moved forward like zombies, as if they no longer cared about their destination, just walking mechanically and stumbling lifelessly.
When night falls, the ants dare not leave. At this time, the wind is still a bit cool at night, which will take away a lot of heat, and there are still fierce insects active at night.
They once again found a natural hole to hide until the sky turned slightly white, and then quickly continued their journey, drinking a few sips of dew on the way to replenish their strength.
Today may be their lucky day. After walking for a while in the dark, the king of black fire ants vaguely heard the sound of water. The ants exploring the path also reported that the pheromones nearby suddenly became denser.
This was a good sign. Under the leadership of the king, the ants cheered up and moved south quickly.
About half an hour later, emerging from the shadows of a few ferns, they finally saw Black Creek.
The gurgling water flowed happily, and the towering ant mound opposite brought a great sense of security and hope to this small team that had been trekking for many days, with their lives hanging on a thread.
Black Creek! They've arrived!
The king of black fire ants noticed that in addition to himself, there were as many as two to three thousand native ants on the north bank, gathering at the bridge and lining up to cross the bridge from the only remaining pontoon bridge.
It turned out that there were three pontoon bridges - the king of Black Fire Ant remembered the scene when he went north. Now the other two have been cut off, leaving only the wreckage on both sides.
This was the measure Zhu Jue took after learning that the parasitic army was approaching, leaving only one building for the ants who escaped back.
The king of black fire ants led his small army to join the group waiting to cross the bridge. There were many male ants here, some of which he knew, but no one had the desire to squeeze through the flow of ants. They all seemed to want to Saving physical strength is crucial in escaping from death across the river.
It was already daylight, and the ants waiting to escape and the coalition commander maintaining order on the other side were anxious, urging the tired ants to speed up their pace.
Some ants that had just crossed the bridge collapsed to the ground as soon as their jointed limbs became limp, and were immediately lifted up and carried away to avoid blocking the bridge head.
There was also a male burrowing ant that had just crossed the bridge. As soon as he relaxed, he fell to the ground and could not get up. The ant that carried him had not taken a few steps when he began to smell a faint smell of oleic acid - this is The smell of dead ants, he died after he was obviously safe...
At this time, there were still a large number of ants waiting to cross the river, and at the same time, hundreds of ants emerged from everywhere and joined the team. These are all defeated soldiers who escaped along with the pheromones.
Time did not wait for the ants, and soon there was a flapping sound in the air that frightened the ants!
