I Am the Swarm

The results of the experiment came out quickly, and Luo Wen figured out everything in just a few days.

He originally thought that he needed to wait for the queen ant to lay eggs, and then wait for the eggs to develop slowly, at least one growth cycle would be needed. Just like when he observed the male ants.

It was later discovered that his thinking was fixed. There are still many live larvae and pupae in this ant nest, so there is no need to wait for the queen to lay eggs and hatch again.

He sent some spy bugs in to take care of the larvae and pupae.

On the same day, a group of adults emerged from the pupae.

The following things were simple, following their instincts, they began to get busy in the cave.

In the rooms next to those spiral passages, they glued the chewed and mixed with saliva into the walls to form a honeycomb structure, and those white fibrous filaments turned out to be big-headed ants They actively planted on it.

The green leaf mixture is equivalent to fertilizer, and there are many tiny worker ants in the honeycomb structure, carefully inspecting the white fiber, and removing some things from time to time, as if weeding.

Rowan tried to eat a little bit, the fibrous part was rich in protein, and there were many balls wrapped in the fibrous network structure, which were rich in sugar.

Big-headed ants, they actually opened up an underground farm in their nests.

If the crops in such a room can support a thousand big-headed ants, then hundreds of such rooms can be seen in this section alone, and it is unknown how many are hidden underground.

Luo Wen was dumbfounded. Not only did the big-headed ants grow their own crops, but they also raised more than a dozen nests of red ants outside. No wonder just one ant nest can support 7 million members.

Although he couldn't figure out what these fibers were, the things growing underground should be some kind of fungus. In any case, this production technology must be introduced back to the swarm, which will not only enrich the industrial structure of the swarm, but also fill the gap in the planting industry. The most important thing is that Luo Wen can also eat the sweet candy at ease.

Knowing the mystery of the big-headed ant's violent soldiers, Luo Wen ordered the big-headed ant queen to be protected and raised in captivity. Then Xingye rushed back to the old nest and updated the gene pool of the mother nest.

First, 500 new versions of queen ants were produced, and Luo Wen didn't know if the worker ants in the swarm could learn to grow those fungi. Anyway, the queen ants will always use them, produce some first, and then let them hatch worker ants that use the bighead ant gene as a template to grow fungus crops. The original worker ants continued to engage in animal husbandry and raise aphids.

It's just that the first batch of queen ants carried too few gene samples, and they couldn't keep up with the development of the swarm. Rowan considered whether to recycle them.

After thinking about it for a while, I decided to forget it. After all, they also contributed to the development of the swarm. Go back and send another ant queen there to enrich the base's troops.

The old one is right to retire, just keep it for nothing. These insects also have a limited lifespan. The lifespan of worker ants is relatively short, but because of the frequent wars among the insect swarms, they basically do not die of old age. Because the queen ants live longer, Rowan doesn't know how long these guys can live.

But even if it is raised for a hundred or eighty years, if the queen ant does not produce eggs, she will not be able to eat too much.

After arranging the mission of the brood, Rowan was not idle, and hurried back to the river. At the beginning, he had just discovered aquatic organisms, and before he could find out, he was distracted by the attacking big-headed ants.

Now that the big-headed ants are settled, it's time to go back and figure out what happened before.

Returning to the location by the river where the anomaly was discovered, Rowan began to patrol around there, but as time passed, the aquatic creatures seemed to be short-lived and never appeared again.

Not discouraged, Rowan no longer searched around, but continued to search north along the river bank.

A week passed, and although Luo Wen didn't find anything in the river, his hard work paid off, and he found some unexpected gains in a puddle by the river.

This is a small pit that appeared for unknown reasons, half a meter deep, about a dozen square meters, next to the river. The gap between the pit and the river was washed away by the current, and some river water flowed into the pit to form this puddle.

The puddle was very turbid due to the lack of circulation of the river, and it was full of aquatic plants, with various weeds and leaves floating among the aquatic plants.

If you don't get close, you can't find this puddle at all from a distance.

Rowan has passed by here twice, and now this is the third time. The difference from the previous two times is that the first two times were during the day, but this time it was indeed evening.

And it was this inadvertent passing by before dark that made Luo Wen discover something new.

On the turbid water, a few small black beetles float comfortably on it, very inconspicuous. But the dim sky did not affect Rowan's vision, and the abnormality on the water immediately attracted his attention.

After close observation, it was found that these small insects were about two to three centimeters long, oval and flat, and their backs were covered by a smooth carapace covered with fine white dots.

Because the water surface was turbid and there were all kinds of dead leaves floating, Rowan thought at first that they were lying on these miscellaneous leaves. But when he carefully pulled the leaves away with his steps, he realized that these bugs were really floating on the water by themselves.

They are small, like boats turned upside down, making Rowan's eyes shine.

Stretch out your legs and be careful to get close to a small insect.

Their eyesight should not be very good. When they pulled the leaves just now, they didn't respond much.

The sticky hairs on the small claws on the front of the legs can easily grab a bug and pick it up.

And Rowan also saw its true colors.

When I looked closely, I found that its carapace is not a whole piece, but is composed of a head armor and two carapaces on the left and right.

And their carapaces can be tilted up and opened to both sides, just like what it is doing at this time, making a hissing sound from its mouth, as if to threaten Rowan.

They have three pairs of arthropods, of which the forefoot is long and thin, and the middle and hind feet are short and flat, like four oars. When they float on the water, these four "paddles" can paddle quickly, propelling their bodies to move quickly.

The most interesting thing is their eyes, they have two pairs of upper and lower eyes. But this is not unusual, the spider that had previously attacked Rowan still had eight eyes. What's interesting about them is that one pair of eyes is in their normal position and the other pair is on the lower side of the head.

Judging from the waterline they hit just now, when they were floating on the water, the eyes were submerged. The purpose is self-evident, they are naturally used to observe the underwater situation.

Luo Wen sighed a little, eyes can't observe accurately from the surface of the water, then grow another pair of eyes underwater, animals are indeed pragmatists.

However, these are all Rowan's now, and with the addition of these genes, he will soon be able to have aquatic troops.

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