area51novel Chapter 41: Building a Tree Nest
Chapter 41: Building a Tree Nest
Flying out of the nest, Ye Zhi searched along the paths trampled by the ants and soon found his target—a bamboo stalk about the thickness of two human fingers.
He slowly descended, his compound eyes examining the bamboo in front of him. He selected a bamboo segment of suitable thickness from the root, and with his evolved, narrow, long, and sharp jaws slightly open, he took it into his mouth.
Ye Zhi thought, "It's also a good opportunity to test the strength of my mandibles after I reach the third instar." She then imitated the movements of leafcutter ants she had seen in documentaries in her previous life, slowly piercing the surface of the bamboo with one mandible like an awl.
With its jaws working, Ye Zhi discovered that its upper jaws, after evolving to the third age, were surprisingly flexible and had an impressive bite force. The serrated inner edges pulled back and forth, just like a saw cutting through tough wood fibers.
A wisp of primal force was injected into the two jaws, and the bamboo roots quickly could not withstand it, breaking off and falling horizontally to the ground.
Seeing this, Ye Zhi stepped forward, aimed at the other end of the bamboo section, and did the same thing, cutting off the connection at the other end as well, cutting off a section of bamboo about ten centimeters long, and then using her six limbs to grab it under her body.
With some effort, it flapped its wings and took off, flying towards its nest chamber, passing through the long corridor carved out by the slender ants, and stopping at the entrance of its "spider web cave".
With a thought, all the worker ants, large and small, filed out of the nest chamber one after another, each carrying an ant egg and a larva in its mouth. The last large worker ant, however, had a newly laid golden egg in its mouth.
Ye Zhi slowly lowered the bamboo section and continued to cut with her large mandibles, cutting open the septum at the opening of the bamboo section to reveal the hollow space inside.
Under its control, the first batch of worker ants filed in, wrapping the eggs in each hatchery with layers of silk "cloth" torn from the ant silk curtains inside the nest, and piling them at the end of the bamboo segment.
The second golden egg was wrapped in layers of leaves and piled in the very center of the egg pile, followed by the ant pupa, and finally, the still-wriggling larvae, piled on the outermost layer of the bamboo segment.
Two large worker ants each grab a larva by the waist and gently squeeze it. The larva then spits out the same bright white ant silk, which it weaves at the entrance of the bamboo segment, quickly sealing the entrance shut.
Having finished everything, Ye Zhi carefully picked up the bamboo section that was now fully loaded, took off slowly, and flew as smoothly as possible over the ant trails cleared by the slender ants, heading towards the earthen slope where she had originally planted the divinely bestowed seed.
Behind the slope where the divinely bestowed species "Chimera" of pitcher plants was originally planted, a large, lush banyan tree still grows. Its numerous hanging aerial roots make it appear from a distance as if it were a single tree forming a forest, a truly magnificent sight.
The large banyan tree grows in a relatively shady place, so it will not affect the photosynthesis of the chimera plant. The carnivorous plant has low requirements for soil fertility and will not be affected by it.
Therefore, the large banyan tree was left unattended during the land clearing process, with the expectation that it could be used as a climbing vine once the chimera plant had grown to a certain size.
Under the guidance of the citron's worker ants, some simple bamboo supports extended all the way to the banyan tree, waiting for the divinely bestowed plants to be sown again.
Ye Zhi didn't rush. She found a stable branch on the banyan tree, placed the bamboo section full of her worker ants on it, and then pulled out a thread of ant silk to reinforce the temporary bamboo section.
The weaving of a leaf-weaving ant's nest is a complex process that requires the cooperation of a large number of worker ants and larvae to pull multiple leaves together and then glue them together with ant silk to form a leaf nest structure suitable for living.
Ye Zhi is currently all alone, but fortunately, as a third-instar ant king, he is strong enough and has membranous wings that allow him to fly. He pulled a branch and began building his nest.
To accommodate her future self and more worker ants, this nest naturally cannot be a simple leaf nest structure. Ye Zhi plans to build a miniature version of the various bamboo and wood structures from her previous life on a tree.
There were plenty of branches available. The leaves carefully pulled and bent several thicker branches to form a rough framework. Ant silk wrapped around and bound them together, serving as the basic "foundation".
During the third stage of evolution, many new inherited memories were awakened, most of which were detailed knowledge of plants and animals. For example, the large banyan tree underfoot was officially named "Ficus microcarpa". After being nurtured into a life seed, the primal food produced had the effect of strengthening the digestive system.
However, what is more important to Ye Zhi now is some knowledge about nest building and ant colony cultivation, including some information on using twigs to weave an upgraded version of leaf nests.
Combining this with the limited but better-than-nothing knowledge from her previous life, Ye Zhi quickly added two intersecting "beams" to reinforce the "foundation" framework.
Then, it slowly flew up, searched for relatively straight branches nearby, roughly trimmed both ends to a suitable length, placed them above the "beam," and secreted ant silk to reinforce it.
Calling it ant silk isn't entirely accurate. He now discovers that if he squeezes out and spreads the large clumps of the slime that secretes ant silk, it forms a gel-like substance that is somewhat similar to cement, making it an excellent adhesive.
He used this "ant glue" to fix these branches together to form a simple platform. Only at this point was the "foundation" of the building truly completed.
The main structure above the "foundation" still relies on a tangled aerial root and branches as the main "framework," with the "walls" still constructed from branches and ant silk.
The outer layer of these branches was coated with a thin layer of ant glue, similar to painting – the trade-off being that before the structure was even half complete, the reserves of ant silk and ant glue woven from the leaves were exhausted…
With no other option, Ye Zhi had to stop building her nest and instead flew down from the tree trunk to the spot where the "Chimera" had once taken root. She used her forelimbs to dig a hole of suitable depth and spat out the "Chimera," a seed of the two-toothed pitcher plant that had been strengthened once again.
The seed fell into the pit, and the leaf-woven forelimbs dug the soil to fill the pit. Through the faint spiritual connection caused by the sleeping "Chimera" tree spirit, a thought of "growth" was transmitted.
Using her spiritual senses, Ye Zhi discovered that the seeds buried in the soil had already begun to stir. She then found a rock nearby and lay down to recover her strength, while waiting for the glands in her body to produce ant silk in preparation for continuing to build her nest.
Sunlight streamed through the open space, somewhat harsh, but still just the right amount of warmth for Ye Zhi, a being at the Force level. He waited quietly until a mental signal from the tree spirit reached his consciousness:
"Ye Zhi, how much time has passed? I feel stronger than before. Have you successfully evolved?"
Looking back, the main vine of the "Chimera" was growing and spreading at an astonishing speed, just as it had been the second time I had seen it, climbing up the bamboo trellis. A mental fluctuation came from that main vine!