Chapter 80: The Underground Farm
The experiment results came swiftly; Luo Wen figured out everything within a few days.
Initially, he thought he’d have to wait for the Queen Ant to lay eggs and for those eggs to develop gradually, which would take at least one growth cycle. It was the same process he observed with male ants before.
Later, he realized his thinking had been constrained. The nest already housed numerous living Big-headed Ant larvae and pupae, eliminating the need to wait for the Queen Ant to lay and hatch new eggs.
He dispatched a few Spy Bugs to care for the larvae and pupae.
By the same day, a batch of adult ants emerged from the pupae.
From there, things progressed smoothly. Driven by instinct, the newly matured ants began to work busily in the nest.
In the spiral corridor rooms, they used the chewed leaf mixture—blended with saliva—to build honeycomb structures on the walls. The white fibrous threads, to Luo Wen’s surprise, were intentionally cultivated by the Big-headed Ants on these honeycombs.
The leaf mixture acted as a fertilizer, while numerous tiny Worker Ants meticulously examined the fibers within the honeycombs, occasionally removing debris as if they were weeding.
Curious, Luo Wen sampled the material. The fibrous components were rich in protein, and within the web-like structures were small spherical inclusions packed with sugar.