After confirming the unexpectedly small size of the Big-headed Ants’ territory, Luo Wen began to investigate the surrounding trees, searching for signs of livestock-like farming practices.
However, even with agricultural methods that preserved vegetation, it seemed nearly impossible to sustain so many combat units within such limited territory.
While examining the trees, Luo Wen did find some aphids, but there were no signs of large-scale farming. He did, however, stumble upon another curious phenomenon.
On the yellowish-brown dirt ground, an unusual stream caught Luo Wen’s attention. Upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn’t water but a flowing stream of leaves. These leaves were being transported by the Worker Ants of the Big-headed Ant species. Regardless of size, each ant carried leaves several times its own size with its powerful jaws.
Patrolling alongside the leaf stream were larger soldier ants, ensuring the workers’ safety while clearing small obstacles from the path. These efforts slightly smoothed the otherwise uneven road, although larger obstructions were simply bypassed.
The leaf stream was flowing in the direction of the Big-headed Ants’ nest. Intrigued, Luo Wen decided to trace it upstream.
Soon, he discovered the source of the leaves.
It was an impressively tall tree, at least 50 meters high, with the stream of green leaves cascading down from its treetop. The dense branches at the top obscured Luo Wen’s view, making it difficult to discern the specifics.
But that didn’t matter. His adhesive bristles allowed him to climb smooth surfaces as if they were flat ground. Scaling a tree was no challenge for him.
At the treetop, he witnessed an incredible sight.
Big-headed Ant Worker Ants were using their jaws like scissors, delicately cutting the leaves. They inserted one mandible into the upper part of a leaf and sliced upward with the other. This process was repeated meticulously.
Each time, a portion of the leaf was neatly severed. The workers then carefully lifted the cut piece to prevent it from falling, adding it to the leaf stream.
The workers in line behind them would then move forward to continue cutting until the entire leaf was harvested.
What astonished Luo Wen was their restraint in harvesting. The ants only cut about one-third of the leaves on each branch, leaving the other two-thirds intact to minimize the impact on the vegetation.
Their conservation-minded approach led Luo Wen to suspect that a sentient intelligence might be guiding their actions.
However, he noticed that the Big-headed Ants weren’t consuming the leaves. They were merely cutting and transporting them back to the nest in an endless cycle.
What were they doing with the leaves?
Luo Wen thought of his own aphid pastures. His Worker Ants would typically feed themselves first before sharing leftovers with their peers. Only after everyone was sated would they transport any surplus back to the nest.
Yet, despite observing for an extended period, Luo Wen didn’t see a single Big-headed Ant stealing a bite of the leaves—a behavior that struck him as highly abnormal.
Initially, Luo Wen had assumed that the leaves were part of the Big-headed Ants’ diet. If that were the case, it would explain how they sustained such a large labor force and military within such a small territory.
None of the other ant species Luo Wen had encountered consumed tree leaves.
But as it turned out, the Big-headed Ants didn’t eat the leaves either. So why were they expending so much effort to harvest and transport them? Luo Wen was perplexed. He suspected this mystery was connected to their formidable ability to rapidly produce troops. The leaf harvesting, along with the chimneys on their nest, were the only anomalies he’d found in their territory.
The secret clearly lay within the nest. Luo Wen’s curiosity was piqued, but his large size had long since ruled out stealth and infiltration.
That left him with only one option: special measures.
Though the Big-headed Ants didn’t seem particularly aggressive, their territory blocked the Swarm’s expansion. A conflict between the two forces was inevitable.
When that day came, the secrets of the Big-headed Ants would be revealed.
Luo Wen resolved to seize the initiative and prepare for a well-planned war.
Faced with a stronger new opponent, Luo Wen felt a surge of excitement. Wasting no time, he quickly returned to the central base.
Upon consulting the Brood Nest, Luo Wen discovered that the super-sized Big-headed Soldier Ants still relied on a standard ant nutritional system. However, their extraordinarily developed and powerful muscles enabled them to compress oxygen into distant parts of their bodies, supporting their massive size.
This muscle-enhancement gene segment was quite useful, but the rest of their genetic structure was fairly unremarkable.
After creating several new bugs, Luo Wen considered imitating the Big-headed Ants by diversifying the sizes of his Worker and Soldier Ants into a dozen categories. Ultimately, he decided it wasn’t necessary. The Swarm had its own development methods and didn’t need to copy everything.
For example, the Big-headed Ants used their soldiers and large-to-medium Workers for transport, with smaller Workers securing the cargo. However, the Swarm had more efficient Transport Bugs and adhesive-secreting Mucus Bugs, which streamlined logistics.
As for production, Luo Wen ordered 500 more Queen Ants, bringing the total to 3,000.
Before engaging the Big-headed Ants, the Red Ant nest needed to be dealt with, and its territory absorbed.
The 500 new Queens would produce troops at the frontlines initially, before being dispatched to occupy captured territory.
A single Red Ant nest didn’t require 500 Queens, but when combined with the Big-headed Ants’ territory, it would be just right.
This was what Luo Wen called preparation for contingencies.
The existing 2,500 Queens were all assigned tasks. Over 2,000 of them began producing troops in earnest. The remainder, too far from the northern frontlines, focused on transporting resources to closer bases.
Time passed, and the newly produced bugs emerged from their cocoons. They, along with a significant quantity of supplies, were steadily transported to the front.
A month later, with the northern army already stationed, the Swarm had amassed 500,000 various Soldier Ants and over 1.5 million Worker Ants.
Including auxiliary units, the army’s total strength reached 2.1 million.
This marked the largest military operation in the Swarm’s history. Luo Wen, fully committed, had elevated the Big-headed Ants’ strategic threat level to the highest priority.
As the saying goes, “An army marches on its stomach.”
The 2.1 million-strong force represented the Swarm’s logistical limits. Behind the army were over 2,000 branch bases and 12 million Worker Ants maintaining the supply chain. Additionally, more than 5,000 Transport Bugs moved resources continuously to the frontlines.
Even with these efforts, there were still some material shortages due to the tight timeframe.
But that didn’t matter. Ahead of the army lay a granary…