In September, when the [Pioneer City] on the south bank of the Qing River was busy, the place north of the Ant Alliance Land was a different scene.

This is the northern territory of the former Red Fire Ant Country, and now the new conquest of the Leafcutter Ant Country, with lush vegetation and few insects and ants.

The nests of red fire ants that once dotted the land have now been reduced to rubble, and the underground nests left behind are either embarrassed by lack of maintenance, or are occupied by other insects. On the ground, the scene of hundreds of thousands of ants running around is no longer easy to find.

Compared with the size of the ant population of the original Red Fire Ant Country, the leaf-cutting ant country that now occupies this place has only left tens of thousands of ants in the local area.

With such ants, it is impossible to fill the vast expanse of land. What's more, the migrants of leafcutter ants mainly gather in some densely wooded areas in the north, busy with food self-sufficiency, and at the same time, sprout and plant tree species transported from the local area, expanding the forest area little by little.

These leafcutter ants simply don't have the time to pay attention to what is happening a little further away from the nest.

Therefore, at this time, most of the northern territory of the former Red Fire Ant Country was actually in a state of ownerlessness.

Some of the original neighbors of the Red Fire Ant Country, some barbarian ant tribes that were not strong, began to take the opportunity to expand here, taking advantage of the new owner's lack of time to take care of him, quietly occupying more living space.

But they did not offend the desire of the Leafcutter Ant Country, and under the former obscenity of the Red Fire Ant Country, these tribes that were lucky enough not to be conquered or reduced to vassals had a set of speculative survival philosophies.

In addition to these sneaky neighbors, the most important thing in this land is uninvited guests.

A small flock of beautiful butterflies descended from Gaoming and landed in a small bush for a temporary rest.

There were some ripe fruits on the ground of this bush, most of them rotten, and some worms had grown in between.

These butterflies did not dislike it, their target was precisely these things, and they immediately gathered around these rotten fruits, put down their rolled mouthparts, and sucked the ripe and transparent juice, replenishing their strength.

The butterflies, fed up, returned to the branches of the bushes and warmed themselves in the warm sun, ready to spend the night here and continue their journey.

These are the black-veined golden-spotted butterflies, which, as the name suggests, have golden-red patches on their wings that are separated by black edges.

This beautiful butterfly, which has about the size of a small poplar leaf or a child's palm, is an expert in long-distance migration, and some groups are said to be able to migrate up to 5,000 kilometers, making it no less than a locust flyer.

It's September and autumn, and although the land is still warm, even the autumn tiger is still exuding a power that is not inferior to summer.

But further north, the first cold snap has heralded the arrival of the new winter, and the climax of aggression that comes at the same time as winter will once again unstoppably befall the new and old ant tribes!

The Destroyer, their offensive reaches a new climax every winter.

This is not to say that the Destroyer does not attack except in winter, but in spring, summer and autumn, other ants can avoid the passive situation of not being able to go out in winter, and can organize resistance to some extent.

And some powerful countries with vast territories and many ant mouths can withstand the Destroyer's different attacks day and night for three seasons, and even take the opportunity to counterattack.

But every time winter comes, it is the home of the Destroyer, and even every winter, a new breed of Destroyer will appear, making their opponents unguardable.

Winter and the Winter Destroyer are a pair of fierce rivals that all ant people fear.

The Black Vein Butterfly does not pay attention to the chaos of the ant world, unless it is unfortunate enough to be injured or exhausted and fall into the ant's mouth, it is difficult for any ant tribe to threaten them who can fly for a long time.

What can make them scared is not the Destroyer who comes with winter, but winter itself!

This small group of black veined golden spotted butterflies is the first group of butterflies in their northern homeland to migrate, but this year due to climate and wind, they deviated from their original route and flew in an unfamiliar land, so they can only continue to fly south according to their natural sense of direction, hoping to reach a wintering place that will not freeze in winter.

Originally, there were thousands of black-veined golden-spotted butterflies, and less than half of them could still move and eat at this time, but in this shrub, all the branches were still densely packed.

And in this shrub, there are more than just butterflies.

Under the fallen leaves, a few rat women stealthily dig through the wet soil. Near their heads, a huge millipede crawled leisurely, and the dense footsteps made the timid rat woman automatically stop still, patiently waiting for it to go away before daring to continue its activities.

On the bush, next to the butterfly, a dark metallic kowtow insect feasts on the ripe fruit. Beneath it, in a bush of grass, the cone locust is peeping, waiting for the night to start its courtship chirp on time, even if it has missed the best mating season and is destined to not wait for a mate.

In addition to these common insects, in places where the black veined golden-spotted butterfly could not see, in the cracks of the stones, there was also a group of ants with a mission to peek out.

The number of these ants is very small, only about two dozen of them, but their strength is not weak.

Led by a male Red Fire Ant, the team is guarded by 12 sturdy Red Fire Ant warriors, as well as 1 Burrower male, 1 Belly Ant, 6 Burrower Ants, and 6 Bell-Raising Warriors.

This is an elite mixed army, if it was in the old Red Fire Ant Nation era, it would not be surprising that such a team would be hundreds of times larger than a thousand times, but why would they appear in this "fallen" land now?

The Red Fire Ant Mixed Team has been shrunk underground all day, and although they have been in the country for many days, and through frequent ground reconnaissance, it has been found that the leafcutter ants rarely set foot here, but they do not dare to be careless.

The overlord's flying reconnaissance team had also reconnoitred the area and reported them a safe route to march, but the responsibility was heavy, and the mixed team had to move at night for safety.

Diurnal and nocturnal, which is completely inconsistent with the characteristics of ants such as red fire ants, but they are still trying to carry out the plan.

Walk through the now-inhabited land, walk past old abandoned nests, and take a look inside, often even with decaying ant carapaces.

I don't know how the male ants of the red fire ants who witnessed all this felt with their own eyes.

But the team never stopped, night after night, they always moved forward firmly, relying on the food they hunted as supplies along the way, and after half a month, they finally approached the territory of the ant alliance!