Zhu Jue was trapped in this small shelter by the snowstorm for much longer than he expected.
The snowstorm didn't stop until the evening of the next day. Zhu Jue moved the backpack that blocked the door, climbed outside to take a look at the weather and skylight, and then went back in. It was too late, and he could only stay here for one more night. .
Although this shelter was narrow and it was impossible to even climb out of the cloak, straighten up and take a good turn, it was at least not as cold as the outside. Last night, although Zhu Jue was woken up by the cold for a while, he had to dig down about one decimeter deeper and move around a bit. So now the room temperature in the shelter is not bad, about 10 degrees.
Now the place is a mess, with floating soil everywhere, dug out during excavations, and piled up in every corner except the sleeping area. Although Zhu Jue likes to be clean, he can't care about so many things at this time.
After confirming that the blizzard had stopped, Zhu Jue counted the water in his luggage. The remaining portion was only enough for about 3 days. Fortunately, the blizzard had stopped. If he were to continue to be trapped in this small underground shelter, Zhu Jue would Sooner or later the prince will have to stop.
The next day, Zhu Jue got back to the ground with his much shrunk luggage.
The sky is as blue and as clear as jade. There is nothing else to be found except the sun. There is no haze and not a single cloud. The same is true for the earth. Plain white covers the entire land, with only occasional variegated colors breaking out of the pure white, like impurity patterns on white marble.
Zhu Jue took a deep breath through his air holes, roused himself and hurried on.
He had not eaten any dry food on the way. If he could not reach his destination today, he would have to skip eating dry food at night. When he was thirsty, Zhu Jue picked up a small ball of snow and swallowed it. The "water drops" in his backpack had already frozen hard, so it would be better to eat snow. Fortunately, the sun was warm, so it was not necessary to eat snow occasionally. As for letting the body temperature drop.
When passing an "ice sculpture", Zhu Jue stopped and watched for a while. This is a frozen insect corpse, struggling to lie on the snow. Perhaps the previous snowstorm destroyed the shelter of this overwintering adult, forcing it to venture out and eventually turn into a sculpture, showing a different beauty than when it was alive.
But Zhu Jue stopped not to mourn for the insect, but to listen carefully to something.
After drilling on the ground, Zhu Jue's tentacles received intermittent signals again. It seemed that the signals guiding "him" to the destination had been continuously sent. I don't know if it stopped during the snowstorm. At that time, he Hiding underground, you cannot receive signals traveling in the air.
Zhu Jue could not respond to this signal. His tentacles were at best "wired", but there was no way to turn them into "radio".
Although there is no way to ask the specific direction of the signal guiding me, the signal I received today is much clearer than before, indicating that "I" am taking the right route and that I am very close to the target location.
Ever since he crossed the border controlled by the civilized ant alliance, this feeling has become stronger and stronger. Zhu Jue is also particularly eager to end this bad journey in the wild and reach his destination as soon as possible.
He knew exactly what the destination was, and he didn’t know much about it, but he was full of expectations!
————
Not far to the north of Zhu Jue's location, an ant camp stood abruptly on the ground.
The reason why it is very abrupt is that when the surrounding environment is covered with silver, the surface here shows the true color of the earth.
Taking advantage of the good weather, large groups of parasitic pavement ants are moving the snow seeds away bit by bit, exposing several huge holes in the camp to the sun.
This large parasitic ant camp looks like a doomsday monster with several huge mouths, quietly waiting for the arrival of a certain target.
That evening, the setting sun stretched the shadows very long, and Zhu Jue staggered over from a distance.
He arrived here much earlier than expected, because most of the way in the second half was downhill. Zhu Jue simply got a piece of dry bark as a skateboard and skied all the way, which was much faster than walking.
Observing that the destination had appeared in his compound eyes, Zhu Jue gave up his plan to find shelter and spend another night in the wild. Instead, he moved on, dropped his skis, and walked the last part of the journey alone.
At this time, the parasitic creature camp with obvious terrain not far away was already close at hand. Zhu Jue finally arrived before dark, so there was no need to go forward in the dark.
If the distance is too close, the signal coming from the antennae can be called noisy, indicating that the source of the emission is right next to you, and it feels like someone is constantly making noise in your ears. Zhu Jue had to cover his tentacles to relieve the discomfort there.
After arriving at the entrance of the camp, Zhu Jue saw the passage made of white cobblestones that was very similar to the "sacred passage" in his hometown. The noisy signal came from inside.
Zhu Jue endured the discomfort, leaned over, put his tentacles on a white pebble, and sent a message:
"I am coming"!
Immediately, the noisy information stopped abruptly and turned into dead silence. The white pebbles seemed to have lost their function and turned into ordinary gravel in an instant!
Without the noise, Zhu Jue felt much more comfortable and no longer had to cover his antennae. He got into the spacious sacred passage and walked from the pure white snow into the stone passage as white as snow, like the king of winter over the underground world.
The sacred passage was very long and sloped underground. Even though the white stones underfoot were built like steps, the moisture made the stones slippery. Zhu Jue used all six limbs at the same time and did not dare to go too fast.
He didn't know how long he had been walking before his eyes suddenly opened up. Then, with the dim light constantly reflected in the white stone passage, Zhu Jue saw clearly that this was a small nest room. The floor, walls and even the ceiling were all inlaid with white pebbles. , like an igloo.
There are 12 parasitic ants with huge heads, forming a circle here, with their heads lowered and their tentacles touching the ground, waiting for Zhu Jue's arrival in a crawling posture.
Zhu Jue was not surprised. He knew in his mind that "they" had been waiting for him.
Zhu Jue looked around. Except for the 12 parasitic "brains", there were no other parasitic organisms here. There was a dark hole on the opposite side, which obviously could lead to other parts of the camp. There was a sound of "thirting" coming from the place.
The parasitic "brains" crawling on the ground were motionless, as if they were dead. Until Zhu Jue used his tentacles to send a message on the cobblestones:
"I am coming"!
The twelve parasitic brains all raised their heads, like shriveled mummies coming back to life, their movements stiff and slow, and synchronized like a machine.
The heads of these parasitic brains were too big, and their thin necks were very difficult to support, but they still raised their heads high and stared at Zhu Jue.
The big or small brains are held high, the compound eyes, deep or shallow, are full of light, and the faces, familiar or unfamiliar, make Zhu Jue full of emotions!
Zhu Jue came to the temporary nest of the parasite alone?
