Thanks to this heavy rain, the military threat to the south is temporarily lifted, which also allows the protagonist to turn his attention to internal affairs again.

Thanks to this heavy rain, "Dongyang City" ushered in a bumper harvest.

Of course, this harvest does not refer to the plants that bear grass seeds in the fields, after all, they have only just budded, and even if the weeds grow quickly, they will not be harvested until two or three months later.

First of all, there was a sudden and significant increase in the number of prey in the vicinity of "Dongyang City".

Insects enter the breeding season in the summer, especially after the rains, when plants grow wildly and also provide a large amount of food directly or indirectly for vegetarian or carnivorous insects.

Now, there are so many prey in the vicinity of "Dongyang Castle" that the protagonist is dazzled.

At every small waterhole, there are swarms of gnats flying like smoke, and the mosquito pillars they form are as spectacular as a tornado that is constantly moving irregularly.

At any time, gnats that have reached the end of their lives will fall from the sky and fall to the ground. But the ants have no interest in these little fleshy insect carcasses, and more attractive food awaits them everywhere.

For example, on any plant, you can easily find a large number of fat caterpillars, their flesh is delicate and delicious, far better than those gnats that have little meat after gnats.

If you are willing to put in a little effort, there are always some earthworms burrowing out of the ground in the dark and damp corners. Dozens of worker ants working together can also catch this nice prey.

Even honeydew, which ants love, is now available in the open.

Although the aphids in Dongyang City suffered heavy losses in the previous rainstorms, after the rains, these aphids showed amazing fecundity.

Aphids reproduce in a complex way: females (dry mothers) reproduce parthenogenesis in the summer in ovoviviparous fashion, producing cloned larval aphids. At the end of summer, the female and male aphids mate, and then the female aphids lay eggs, which hatch again after overwintering to form females (dry mothers).

Aphids have strong fecundity in the form that they can reproduce parthenogenesis, female aphids are able to give birth as soon as they are born, and can reproduce for 10~30 generations a year.

These aphids grazing in Dongyang City can sometimes produce 5-10 copies of themselves in a day. This allows the size of the aphid herd to expand like blowing up a balloon.

The benefits of the dramatic increase in aphid populations are clear. Since honeydew does not have a long shelf life even if it is stored in a clay pot and placed in a constant temperature underground, the honeydew that ants love can finally be supplied openly and there is no limit to the quantity at all, which makes the ants of "Dongyang City" very happy. Even the flies of the Flying Knight are stained with light, and they can drink their favorite honeydew with pleasure.

The downside is obvious: Dongyang City needs to deploy more worker ants to guard the herd and collect honeydew. In areas infested with aphids, the vegetation is also generally malnourished, and some are even sucked dry and killed.

In the end, the protagonist has to ask the grazing worker ants to move the aphids away from the plants that produce grass seeds and fruits, so as not to affect the autumn harvest. When there are too many aphids, even a group of weak aphids have to be killed to make room and food for their more prolific counterparts.

The number of domestic animals in "Dongyang City" has also ushered in a wave of rapid increase.

The temperature and humidity of the underground nest after the rain are in the most suitable range for mealworm reproduction. Only mealworms that have been carefully selected (selected based on the criteria of meat, fast growth, and egg laying) survive to break the pupa and then rededicate their eggs to the ants.

Every day, a large number of mealworms grow to their optimal size, and the slaughtering ant ants bite off the nerves at the back of their necks, and most of the killed insects are dried or made into cured meat and stored for winter consumption.

Only a small portion of mealworm meat is eaten fresh. In order to improve the food of the ants, the protagonist and the worker ants try new ways to eat mealworm broth, roasted worm meat, and root stewed worm meat, which soon became popular on the menus of all male and female ants. As for the common ants, they can only eat these carefully prepared foods when they are rewarded.

When the ants collected plants in the wild, they brought back some plants with special flavors, which also enriched the seasoning of the entire "Dongyang City", not only limited to table salt. The protagonist finds substitutes for peppercorns, cinnamon, and ginger inside, which makes it possible to invent more dishes.

In addition, since the size of the Flying Knight Legion has reached the upper limit of fifty, there is no plan to expand it for the time being, so there is no need to breed so many adult flies.

The maggots raised by the ants, except for those left for seeding, are also slaughtered when they are at their fattest and eaten like mealworms. Although these maggots are raised on clean feed and taste even more delicious than mealworms, the protagonist is reluctant to eat them. Under his influence, there are no maggots on the menus of male and female ants, but soldier ants and worker ants are very fond of this kind of meat.

The meat provided by the prey and domestic animals has almost burst the granary of "Dongyang City", and the protagonist has to order the excavation of a new granary.

In addition to meat, ants have also begun to collect vegetarian food in large quantities as supplements.

In addition to the grass seeds, the protagonist also asks the ants who are out foraging to collect some non-toxic sprouts and eat them as vegetables.

Big-headed ants are originally omnivorous ants, and they used to eat some plants in small amounts.

Therefore, these vegetarian foods quickly became popular throughout "Dongyang City", and even the low-status soldier ants and worker ants are now tired of eating roast insect meat, and they can't resist the temptation of a fresh vegetable leaf.

After the rain, it is also the time when a large number of mushrooms emerge.

For edible and poisonous bacteria, ants have a set of methods that have been passed down from generation to generation.

The protagonist soon sees a large number of fresh mushrooms being transported back to the nest, most of which are dried in the drying field next to the entrance and exit of the nest, except for some that are eaten fresh on the same day.

Seeing this scene, the protagonist suddenly remembered the scene he saw outside the new nest of parasitic ants - a dead leaf butterfly flew into the sky carrying a large number of silk parasitic larvae, and silk parasitic bacteria are not also fungi!

The vigilant protagonist immediately asked the workers who went out to check to see if they found a fungus similar to the silk parasite, and sent a picture of the morphology of the silk thread parasite to the ants in the whole nest.

Soon there is feedback, and some of the worker ants bring the suspected bacteria they have collected to the protagonist.

The protagonist examines the fungus with Rambo Fei and Rambo Buddha (the only three adult males are left in the nest, and the others are stationed in the southern fortress with Roll).

Most of the suspected mushrooms are normally edible mushrooms such as enoki mushrooms.

But soon, the protagonist picks out a hyphae from it.

It has a long, slender column of mushrooms, with a small umbrella-like structure at the very top, and a pointed point that resembles a snake's head.

This is the larvae of a typical silkworm parasite...... The protagonist feels nervous.

These demons, their claws have reached the vicinity of "Dongyang City"!