Sure enough, "A Sheng" took the slave ants outside the nest. Although it was already dawn, the sun could not be seen. It was gloomy, like evening, not like early morning.
The day outside did not give the Argentine ants any more warmth after sleeping in the cold room all night. "A Sheng" looked at the sky worriedly, he was most afraid of such weather. Without sunlight to raise the body temperature of the slave ants and provide additional heat, the already arduous physical work will become more difficult and more ants will die.
If there is another light rain, the cold rain will be like deathly venom, killing ants in droves.
"A Sheng" himself doesn't care about how many worker ants die, but as the captain of the slaves, he is assigned a quota of tasks every day, and the number of slave ants under his command can be replenished every day.
If too many slave ants die on any day, the construction period in the following days will be affected. If the construction period is seriously delayed, I am afraid that the male pavement ants will pinch their necks and punish themselves, and they will also deduct their own money. food.
Thinking about it, it was better to herd in the past. "A Sheng" and the others used to be slaves who led the slave ants to guard the scale insect pastoral area. The task of herding was not heavy. They only needed to be alert to the ladybugs attacking the pastoral insects. Moreover, you can secretly drink some honeydew while grazing. Just don’t go too far and be discovered by the steward ants. You can also take the opportunity to find some wild food. Those short days were truly heavenly.
It's not like being transferred to a canal construction site. The food is poor, and there is basically no extra food. The tasks are still heavy, and you are punished and insulted by the pavement ants at every turn...
"A Sheng" was very unwilling and wanted to go back to herding.
At this time, his deputy "A Guang" came over with his ants who were staying in another nest room, and then another deputy "A Jiao" also led the team to join them.
Three Argentine ant males led more than 2,000 Argentine ants. After gathering, they headed towards the canal construction site not far away. On both sides, there were a dozen male pavement ant stewards and hundreds of supervisors and guard soldiers escorting them.
On the way, another deputy "Achao" came over with 100 new slave Argentine ants added today to join the team. Every night "Achao" will follow a steward to a nearby lair to collect these additional slaves.
Looking at the newly arrived slaves, "A Sheng" mentally calculated the total number of slaves currently. Feeling that he couldn't calculate it, he asked "A Guang".
"Aguang" is one size smaller than the average male ant, but his head is not small at all, and his IQ is also the smartest among the male ants in the team. He quickly calculated and told "A Sheng" that since there were only 60 to 80 slave ants that died in the past few days, there are now 2,071 slave ants in the team, which is much more than the 2,000 number of slave ants.
"That's good. Even if there are more dead spots today, it won't affect the next few days, as long as this bad weather doesn't last too long." "A Sheng" thought to himself.
About half an hour later, we arrived at the construction site. A ditch that seemed deep and wide to the ants was deeply embedded in the ground, extending far to the north, almost splitting the land in half.
The construction site is at the end of the ditch. In front of it is the vast wilderness and the dense vegetation on it, as if the world has just been opened and is as wild as the earth.
Arriving at the construction site, "A Sheng" divided the team into two groups with ease.
One group, led by "A Guang", first cleared the vegetation and stones in the area that needed to be excavated. The pavement ants will direct them to dig a shallow trench to mark the course of the canal, mostly straight, sometimes with a slight curve, avoiding trees and boulders that the ants can't help.
The second group is led by the male Argentine ant "Ajiao", with half of its large jaw missing, like a horn growing under its head.
They are responsible for the actual construction, including excavation and earth moving. It is divided into several groups. One group is responsible for digging topsoil on the ground, one group is cooperating in digging at the bottom of the ditch, and the last group is responsible for transporting the sand and soil accumulated nearby to the distance, otherwise it may be blown away by a strong wind. If you go back, your half-day work will be in vain.
In addition, the male Argentine ant "Achao" who is good at building nests will bring dozens of slaves to build a small nest to protect the supervisors and supervisors from the wind and rain next to the construction site. After the completion, the slave ants joined the second group, and "Achao" himself came to "Asheng" to obey orders.
When the work officially started, many slave ants dispersed, and soon the construction site was in full swing. The ants were constantly flowing and busy.
Of course, if the male paving ants or "A Sheng" in charge know a better division of labor, and let some ants specialize in digging soil, and other ants specialize in transporting soil, and then carry out shifts, it will be more efficient. But these ants obviously don't have this awareness yet.
From time to time, some problems occur on the construction site, which will interfere with the construction.
For example, in the morning, the excavation surface suddenly collapsed and dozens of ants were buried in the soil. Some slave ants on the surface quickly came out on their own and were busy wiping their dirty faces.
Others were buried so deep that although they were not crushed to death, they were in danger of suffocation. They quickly knocked on the ground and called for help from their companions, but some were still unable to be rescued. When they were dug out, they were already corpses.
Occasionally, when one or two bugs are dug out of the soil, the eyes of the slave ants who have been deprived of meat all year round will immediately light up, and they will rush to catch the bugs regardless of the male ants' orders.
"A Sheng" could only work with the guards and supervisors to drive these slaves back to work with stings and bites. Sometimes "A Sheng" would release water when he saw that the supervisor was not paying attention. Anyway, these slave ants would always give the most delicious piece of meat to themselves and "A Guang" and the others after they caught bugs. This is a rare wild food.
Seeing that the sun was getting closer to noon, there was still no sign of the clouds dispersing. Instead, the clouds were getting thicker and thicker. The water vapor was also increasing in the tentacles, and the air pressure had changed.
In the morning, 71 ants died among the construction slaves due to fatigue and malnutrition, which was as high as the whole day in the previous few days.
"A Sheng" didn't want too many of his slaves to die, so he cautiously asked a man in charge if it was going to rain and could he call it a day.
The manager of Pavilion Ant was in a bad mood and scolded him back. With the current weather and air pressure conditions, the rain may fall all of a sudden, or it may not rain for a long time, it may rain for a while and then stop, or it may rain continuously for the first half of the day.
The pavement ants do not allow the slaves to be lazy. This year's progress is just over halfway. As long as it doesn't really rain heavily, no work is allowed to stop!
"A Sheng" came back dejected, and asked "A Chao" beside him to issue orders to all groups and groups, asking the slaves to work hard, and those who were resting would be bitten, no need to be polite!
This is taking the anger out on the slave Argentine ants!
