Chapter 10 Selling Land at Sky-high Prices, Having Ant Group_2
After the young ant metamorphosed into an adult, its body was still very soft and needed to fully contact the air, and then it slowly hardened.
Once its six legs and body had hardened, it could start to move.
"Awesome, finally there's a mature little white ant. Hurry up and go out to find food to feed your mother! She's about to starve to death."
Qin Niu was anxious.
The success or failure of the ant hill hinged on this moment, as the Ant Queen currently reduced her energy consumption by feigning death, clinging to life.
She was desperately holding on to the last thread of life.
Perhaps spurred by his urging, about an hour later, the young Worker Ant finally started to move.
It first touched the Ant Queen's body with its antennae, then, likely having received the pheromones signaling the Ant Queen's extreme hunger, it 'quickly' crawled toward the entrance. Because it had just begun to learn to crawl, it resembled a baby learning to walk.
Its movements were clumsy, its path wobbly.
Upon reaching the entrance, it tumbled down due to a misstep.
Then it got up again and headed towards the entrance.
At this time, the other two young ants also showed signs of activity. Their antennae slowly unfolded, a signal that metamorphosis was nearly complete.
Seeing this, Qin Niu felt invigorated.
Having three young ants metamorphose into adults, if only the Ant Queen could hold on a little longer, success was in sight.
The first Worker Ant reached the entrance and began to work hard to dismantle the defensive barrier.
Sealing the entrance had successfully repelled the enemy's invasion, but now, for this newly matured young ant, it was a huge obstacle.
It wanted to leave the nest to forage for food, and it needed to dig a hole big enough to squeeze through.
The body of the ant, having just metamorphosed into an adult, was thin and soft, so tearing away the mud sealing the entrance was a significant challenge.
Qin Niu broke off a small stick and brought it over, but he did not immediately step in to help.
The young ants needed to face many challenges; this was only the first.
Just like a baby naturally born through the birth canal, the process is very risky but can train the baby in all aspects of their abilities.
Directly delivering by C-section, the baby is somewhat weaker in the early stages.
Time slipped away bit by bit. Qin Niu placed a very tender leaf not far from the entrance.
That way, once the young ant came out, it could easily find food.
About half an hour later, the other two young ants also successfully metamorphosed into adult Worker Ants.
Of the last two young ants, one started to move, while the other showed almost no sign of stirring.
The two newly metamorphosed Worker Ants also touched the Ant Queen with their antennae, then quickly crawled toward the entrance.
They briefly communicated with the first young ant through antennae contact and then worked together to dig outsides.
Many hands make light work.
It is the same with termites.
With two helpers joining in, the speed at which they dismantled the defensive barrier increased significantly.
At last, a small part of the 'lid' covering the entrance collapsed. After continuing to widen the breach, they successfully squeezed out of that hole.
Their antennae waving nonstop, they immediately began searching for food everywhere.
They completely ignored the tender leaf Qin Niu had thrown near the entrance.
This left Qin Niu quite frustrated.
He meant to help them, yet they didn't appreciate it.
The three Worker Ants began to act independently.
One of them headed in the direction of the centipede, making Qin Niu sweat profusely, wishing he could quickly retrieve it.
Wasn't this seeking death?
The other two initially crawled towards the direction of the stink ant nest, but they quickly changed their course.
They seemed to sniff out the scent of the stink ants, sensing the danger in that area.
The Termite approaching the centipede's location, when it was about to reach the rock, seemed to sense something and turned tail to flee for its life.
Qin Niu watched with a chuckle.
Very much in the style of a fine Ant Queen.
The three Worker Ants were working hard to adapt to the environment around their nest and to everything outside.
For them, everything was new, but the three young ants were not distracted by play; they had a clear goal to find food.
One of the young ants seemed to have found something "delicious".
It was a small sapling that had just grown two to three centimeters tall.
It looked a bit like a young camphor tree.
The young ant crawled its way all up from the base of the tree. The sapling had tiny spines that pierced into its soft body. It must have been quite painful.
But it didn't care.
After climbing past the first leaf, it started gnawing directly at the stem of the tree.
In just a moment, it had bitten off the outer tender bark, exposing the inner layer of the stem. Liquid seeped out. This was the tree's way of healing itself.
Just like when humans are injured, blood and lymph fluids seep out of the wound to quickly form a scab.
Trees have the same ability to heal themselves, and they are much better at it than humans.
The young ant kept sucking up the leaking fluids, its belly gradually swelling and slowly bulging.
It didn't eat too much, though.
After nearly enough, it quickly returned the way it had come.
The other two young ants seemed to have received its signal and hurried over as well.
They, too, climbed onto the unfortunate little sapling and began sucking its sap.
The first young ant was already rapidly heading back in the direction of the nest.
Every distance it covered, it lifted its head and waved its two antennae to recognize the direction, probably afraid of getting lost.
Fortunately, it wasn't far from the nest, so it didn't get lost and managed to find the entrance to the nest without trouble.
Then it burrowed in.
Once inside the nest, it headed straight toward the Ant Queen. Its speed was very fast.
Qin Niu let out a sigh of relief when he saw this.
The Ant Queen had seemingly survived the hardest challenge.
The young ant crawled to the Ant Queen's side, found the Ant Queen's mouth, and then began to regurgitate diligently, vomiting the food from its stomach.
The glistening liquid dripped into the Ant Queen's mouth.
As she consumed it bit by bit, her two antennae gradually started to slow in their waving, losing strength.
Qin Niu hurriedly checked the Ant Queen's attributes.
Female Milky White Ant (Ant Queen)
Level: Grade Two order of insects, upgrade experience 100.01/1000
Lifespan: 4.2 years
Energy: 0.1
Skills: Reproduction first-stage 0.05/10, Feign Death first-stage 2/10
Talent: Medium intelligence
Colony: 4 Worker Ants, lifespan 3 months
At this point, Qin Niu felt extremely exhilarated. After longing and enduring such a hard time, he finally saw some payoff.
He finally got his first pet.
Even though it was just a weak Termite Queen, he was still very happy.
As his planting skills improved, he would be able to grow high-grade plants to feed the Ant Queen and help her become stronger.
Everything is difficult at the beginning, but he had managed to make it through the toughest initial hurdle.
A total of five ant eggs hatched, and while he didn't expect one to die during the molting process, there were now only four Worker Ants left.
He hoped that these four Worker Ants wouldn't encounter any more accidents.
The other two Worker Ants had also returned after having their fill.
They too crawled to the Ant Queen's side, selflessly regurgitating their saliva to nurture the Ant Queen.
Termites, like all ants, are social creatures; they each have their own duties and there is no bullying or selfish behaviors. When an enemy invades, Soldier Ants and Worker Ants are the first to rush up and defend.
Even if they die in battle, it's without hesitation, and they won't retreat a single step.