Chapter 74: On the March (2)
With the victory secured, the army dispatched several units to sweep up the remaining Red Ant hunting parties in the area.
Over the course of a week, the units returned one after another with spoils of war, officially marking the transfer of this Red Ant territory into the swarm’s possession.
From the 500 Queen Ants accompanying the main force, over 200 were dispatched with their designated guards to establish branch bases at their assigned locations. The remaining queens stayed at the main encampment—some as commanders, while most focused on providing reinforcements to the front lines as needed.
Afterward, the swarm rested for a day. Once they had feasted and stored half of the remaining spoils aboard the Transport Bugs, they set off again.
During this time, no Big-headed Ant scouts were encountered. It seemed that the Big-headed Ants practiced a form of “pastoralism”—essentially free-range farming. Once the Red Ant nests reached a certain population, the Big-headed Ants would harvest them.
From Luo Wen’s observations, there were at least eleven other ant nests surrounding the Big-headed Ant territory. If these nests were all part of their “livestock,” then their method was far easier than Luo Wen’s painstaking efforts to rear Aphids.
However, this approach only suited species like the Big-headed Ants, whose ambition for territorial expansion was relatively low. Luo Wen was slightly envious, but he knew this method wouldn’t work for him.
This time, the swarm avoided a forced march. The lack of information about the Big-headed Ants—such as their behavioral patterns and the strength of their forces—warranted caution.
Still, considering the Big-headed Ants could suppress over ten nearby nests, their strength was undoubtedly formidable.