Zhu Jue was walking underground in Tuohuang City.
It is dark here, and sunlight cannot shine into the ground through the ventilation openings and windows of the ant mounds standing on the ground. What's more, most of the windows are blocked by wooden boards in winter. Therefore, the underground passages appear dark and dark.
But there is light here, and there are still a small number of fluorescent bacteria that survive stubbornly in winter. They are cultivated on the top or two walls of some important passages, providing weak but effective lighting. In the eyes of Zhu Jue, who has night vision, the dim light here is no different from daylight under the scorching sun.
There was a distance between the two clusters of fluorescent fungi. Zhu Jue's body, which was much taller than the ants, was sometimes shrouded in blue light, and sometimes submerged in darkness, as lonely and mysterious as a ghost.
In fact, the fluorescent bacteria in [Pioneer City] are not in such short supply even in winter. At least they were much brighter last winter. Because of the war, the military factories in [Pioneer City] did not dare to stop in winter this year. A large number of fluorescent bacteria could only accelerate their growth in special bacteria gardens. Once mature, they were immediately sent to the explosives workshop to extract flammable and explosive materials. of liquid. The function of lighting has taken a back seat.
This remote passage is far away from the industrial areas that are busy even in winter. It is the living area of ants in agricultural and hunting areas. There are few ant activities in winter. Zhu Jue just walked in and out of light, and the passage seemed empty. He was traveling alone this time, leaving his attendants and guards behind, and just walking alone.
But he also knew that in fact, on both sides of the main passage, in the dense forks, there were countless ants hidden in the nests that sloped downward not far away. Big-headed ants, pavement ants, leaf-cutter ants, bellied ants, red forest ants... countless ants have nothing to do in the winter. In order to save energy, they are ordered to stay in one nest room, crowded together, and endure the filth. In the air, only a very small amount of food is fed to their stomachs every day by the ants responsible for distribution.
They have to suffer until spring, until they can start working again, so that they can get more food. Now they just need to eat enough to keep themselves hungry and not starved to death. Who makes the war not stop in the winter? The Ant Alliance must constantly allocate food from the stockpile and transport it to the war zone through underground tunnels, so they can only save as much as possible.
Compared with the dry and cold outdoors, although this main passage is close to the surface, it is also much warmer and humid. Zhu Jue's pores continuously spit out mist, which then evaporates upward and contaminates the fluorescent bacteria.
Except for the fluorescent bacteria, the entire passage looks barbaric and backward, with no essential difference from the passages dug by primitive ants hundreds of thousands of years ago. But as long as you turn around and see the fires and workshops, you can see the rough advancement of an ant industrial civilization!
It has been a long time since he returned to this main nest, and he was busy dealing with government affairs before. It was only today, the 14th year of the New Calendar, that Zhu Jue had time to go out alone for a walk - this was one of the few leisure activities he had in winter.
But this time, as he walked, he always felt that something was different. But except for details like the fluorescent bacteria, this passage, and even the entire [Pioneering City], seemed exactly the same as before.
Zhu Jue just thought about it, walked through a fork in the road, walked one decimeter after another, and finally woke up!
Yes, this is different, just because it is too the same!
In previous years, [Pioneer City], like the entire Ant Alliance, has always been in rapid development, with technology and industry constantly advancing. Under the leadership of Zhu Jue, the Ant United Kingdom has grown from the original big-headed ant clan to now more than a dozen ant clans under its command. From eating hair and drinking blood to using fire and metal, from practicing it with one's own actions to domesticating various insects to assist, the changes have been earth-shaking. Generally speaking, even if averaged to each year, it is very considerable.
But throughout last year, maybe he was busy dealing with the Destroyer, or maybe it was because Zhu Jue had been worried that the day when his advantages as a time traveler would finally be exhausted... This year's [Pioneer City], this year's Ant Alliance, it seems that There is no difference, no change, no improvement compared to last year...
Wanting to understand this, the slow and majestic footsteps of Zhu Jue's six jointed limbs were disrupted, and his pace became rapid. The footsteps echoed in the passage and spread to the tentacles, which also increased the frequency of irritability like resonance. .
So Zhu Jue was no longer in the mood to hang around, and turned around and walked in the direction he came from, his back looking furious.
Before, even if he retreated from his homeland and fled to this area, even if he suffered repeated defeats in the war with the Destroyer, even if many civilized ant tribes were destroyed one after another, Zhu Jue had never been so out of his mind.
Because he still has confidence, the confidence of a time traveler, and the pride of a time traveler. He has the experience and vision ahead of this era, and he can bear it no matter how many failures he experiences. The reality is just as he expected. The Ant United Nations has suffered repeated defeats, and after falling down and standing up again and again, it is always stronger than before. .
But all this is based on the fact that Zhu Jue is a time traveler. He can have a vision that transcends this world and this era, and leads the entire Ant Alliance to continue to grow and develop like a cheat!
The combat effectiveness of individual soldiers is not as good as the Destroyer. The Ant Alliance can develop iron weapons and firearms, but its mobility is not as good as the Destroyer. The Ant Alliance can develop air force and tank troops. The Destroyer can cross rivers. The Ant Alliance can develop naval forces. The Destroyers are endless. , the ant alliance can support more ant colonies through agricultural progress.
No matter what aspect of progress, it relies on the guidance of the endless knowledge contained in Zhu Jue's little brain.
But now, looking back on this year, or even in the past three years, Zhu Jue has been able to bring less and less innovations to the Ant Alliance and the entire ant civilized world!
At this moment, Zhu Jue finally realized that he was not the omnipotent God. As an ordinary time traveler, a creature formerly known as a human, the knowledge he could apply in this non-human world was getting less and less, approaching the limit!
In other words, he has exhausted his talent and can only continue to rely on inventory in the future. And the Ant United States, which relies on him, can only slow down the pace of development on the current basis, and it will be difficult to make revolutionary progress!
This is what makes Zhu Jue panic-can an ant alliance standing still take on the heavy responsibility of fighting against the invincible Destroyer?
Zhu Jue hoped that this was just an unfounded speculation or a nightmare. Perhaps with a certain opportunity and a certain inspiration, Zhu Jue can continue to come up with genius ideas and take the frontier of ant civilization one step further.
But at least for now, there is no such opportunity for inspiration in this dark and bright, lonely and crowded, backward and advanced [Pioneer City]...
Zhu Jue's eyes were dizzy, as if he saw that [Pioneering City] was just built on the corpse of a giant mammoth in the ice and snow. This mountain of meat was enough to eat for thousands of years, but there would always be a day when it was finished...
