There is no scorching sun in midsummer, and the fierce sunshine has become hazy under the lingering haze, but the weather is as sultry as ever, and the pale haze is like a thick pot lid, shrouding all living things on the ground. In the humidity and heat.
The haze has not dissipated in the past few days, but has become thicker, and even the tentacles smell like fireworks.
Zhu Jue wondered whether there was a fire in the woods nearby, and the smoke spread here and mixed with the fog and dust, resulting in the haze that lasted for several days.
In the past few days, although the air was filled with mist, there was absolutely no smell of fireworks. The smoky atmosphere at this time is very similar to the war situation of the Thin-footed Ant Kingdom - being roasted on the fire by the invading Destroyer.
Even if there was a forest fire nearby, Zhu Jue had no time to worry. The danger of the wildfire was not as great as the threat of the Destroyer's pursuers looming in the tentacles!
In the fog, a long team was emerging from the haze in the distance, and their figures gradually became clearer, as if a black rope was extending.
What kind of team is this? In a team about half a decimeter wide, the ants of the Thin-legged Ant family are moving forward silently, one by one, connected front to back, and there is no end in sight in the mist. .
Each worker ant holds ant eggs and writhing young ants in its jaws, and carries a simple package tied with plant fibers on its back, moving forward like a refugee.
There is also a pot-bellied queen ant in the team who obviously has not had time to exit the reproductive mode. She needs several worker ants to support her and hold up her slightly bloated abdomen to keep up with the team.
There are no particularly old ants in the entire team. Even if there are, they are all male ants and queen ants. Those old workers of the worker ant class have been consciously abandoned, which can not only contain the pursuers, but also avoid dragging down the progress of the large army. speed.
Some strong worker ant warriors did not carry luggage. Their jaws were empty and there was no load on their bodies. They quickly patrolled back and forth on both sides of the team, alert to possible dangers. The number of these patrols is small, so they will maintain vigilance and expel some malicious insects or indigenous ants, but it is impossible to resist in time when a destroyer appears.
But there's nothing we can do about it. More strong ants have to carry important domestic supplies or serve as guards for high-level leaders, so they can't take care of them at all.
For example, the huge black clay pot in front of you consumed a full 24 worker ants. This clay pot is as big as a pistachio. The small opening is plugged with a wooden plug and sealed with beeswax to prevent the liquid inside from leaking out.
The style of this pottery pot is rough, heavy and clumsy. It is the work of the pottery kiln of the Black Fire Ant Kingdom that has almost been discontinued. It is not as refined as the Ant Alliance-style porcelain that has been popular in recent years.
However, thick pottery also has the advantage of being able to withstand bumps. If "Horns" were here, he would definitely be impressed. This black clay pot was placed in the large warehouse of the main nest when "Longhorn" was young. It is said that it was sent by the black fire ant guards many years ago and was a precious gift to the Fengshen clan. This large clay pot has always been filled with nectar sent by the neighboring honeypot ants. Ordinary nectar is stored in the bellies of honeypot ant workers, while some of the most precious nectar is stored in clay pots and is exclusively supplied to high-level male ants.
The first time "Longhorn" got the privilege of sucking nectar from the big clay pot was nearly six years ago. In fact, he didn't think the nectar in it was very delicious, but this privilege still made him excited.
In the past two years, the large clay pots have been used to hold crow wine from the Ant Alliance that was flown in. This delicious and powerful drink has quickly replaced the brewed nectar that has been popular for hundreds of years.
The large black pottery pot that is being transported away is filled with a large pot of crow wine. Purchasing these luxurious drinks cost a lot of food from the Xizhujie Ant Nation, and they are basically provided to the civilized ant alliance for consumption.
But now, the small-legged ants have no extra food. They evacuated in a hurry. The food they could take away was only enough for 2 months. The rest had to rely on the relief of the army ants or when they arrived at their destination. Later, supplies were made on the spot and could not afford to be wasted at all.
The haze persisted for a long time, and the figures of the strong ants carrying the black clay pots gradually disappeared into the mist in the distance...
————
The first two days of the evacuation went relatively smoothly. The Flying Knights maintained high-intensity attendance in the harsh weather conditions. They were able to roughly detect the Destroyer's movements, allowing the remaining troops responsible for containment to intercept them in time and cover the safety of the evacuation team.
But in the next two days, the smog became thicker and the flying knights were finally unable to take off. Also in the past two days, sporadic Destroyer teams suddenly appeared near an evacuation team, causing some casualties and losses.
What worries Zhu Jue is that the frequency of such military incidents is getting higher and higher!
Whether it is the evacuating coalition of civilized ant tribes or the team of the small-footed ant nation, they are supporting the old and the young at this time, carrying a large amount of supplies, and lack of suitable formations for combat. If they are overtaken by a large group of destroyers, it will be very difficult. Not good.
In both the western and northern regions, the Thin-footed Ant Kingdom has left hundreds of thousands of containment troops, composed of old, weak, sick and disabled ants. Previously, with the intelligence support of the Flying Knights, they could actively contain the Destroyer, but now they can only sit back and wait. .
Zhu Jue had no choice but to suggest to the leaders of the Thin Foot Ant Nation that these diversionary forces should be concentrated. If they were large in size, they would easily attract the attention of the Radar Destroyer.
It's just that these diversionary troops were weak in combat effectiveness. Once they gathered together, they were attacked by the Destroyer, and they were quickly wiped out. There was no chance of diversion anymore. This approach was also poisonous to quench thirst, but in order to cover the evacuated troops, it had to be done!
On August 11, according to reports from the defeated troops who escaped from the secret passage, the fortress fell and almost all the 60,000 defenders were wiped out.
Four days ago, hundreds of thousands of Destroyers had begun to besiege this last northern fortress. Even after the troops were continuously divided, the number of Destroyers who attacked the city was never less than 100,000.
The defenders in the fortress are also the old, weak, sick and disabled who were specially left by Zhu Jue, but there are also some elite troops and artillery as the backbone of the defense.
The ground defense line of the fortress was breached on the first day. However, due to the desperate resistance of the defenders, they relied on the 12 lines of defense built underground and continued to hold on for another three days. They did not release part of the fortress until they ran out of ammunition and food. The elite break out from the secret passage.
Unfortunately, the more than 20,000 soldiers who broke out ran into a large group of Destroyers in the fog and haze in the wild. Except for a few broken soldiers who took advantage of the chaos to escape, the rest all died on the battlefield...
. Mobile version URL:
