Chapter 195: Locust Plague (2)

Regarding the locust's information, Nobita received a packet of information from an older male ant.

In the information packet is a shocking scene discovered by ants at the "transit station" while patrolling and foraging nearby.

When a few ants moved towards a densely vegetated grass nearby, they found that the meadow, which had been normal a few days ago, was now densely covered with locusts.

Locusts, also known as jumping bugs, are larvae hatched by fertilized eggs of locusts, which have no wings and can jump, so they are called jumping bugs.

Locusts are incomplete metamorphosis insects, so their larvae locusts are similar in morphology and living habits to adults, but their bodies are smaller and their reproductive organs are not mature, so they are also called nymphs.

The difference between a hopper and a locust is the difference between nymphs and adults, that is, the difference in the degree of development of reproductive organs, which is the most essential difference. Locusts need to molt 5 times in their lifetime before they become adults.

In the information packet, through the perspective of the ants, you can see that within the scope of the field of vision, there are dense locusts. These locusts are densely spread on the ground, grass blades, grass stems, and no plant is spared, and the locusts open their blood basins that have formed and chew greedily on all the green vegetation.

The leaves of various vegetation are full of gnawing hollows and jagged mutilations, and a small group of locusts can eat all the leaves of a grass in just ten minutes.

Plants in the grass family are the most damaged, and this is the favorite food of locusts. Other plants are also not lightly damaged, when the locusts can't find the grasses, they will target the leaves of other plants, and the new leaves of the new spring plants are also delicious in the eyes of these locusts who are hungry all the time.

The locusts here are so dense that when the leaves are not enough to satisfy the locust's appetite, they do not spare even the stems of the plants, as long as they can see, eat, and chew their greedy appetites, they will eat everything, and even dig into the soil to nibble on the roots of plants that are difficult to swallow.

These locusts have not yet reached adulthood, and their numbers have not reached a critical "tipping point" to form a locust plague. However, depending on the scale, it is a matter of time before the plague becomes a disaster, and it is impossible for the grasslands here to carry so many locusts to survive, and when most of the adults of the locust colony are able to fly and migrate long distances, there will inevitably be an unusually tragic and overwhelming locust plague.

The ants immediately reported the information to the older males, but the messenger who reported the message to Dongyang Castle never heard from them.

Just as the older male ant had guessed, the messenger had an accident on the way and was no longer able to complete his mission. And "Dongyang City" did not know at this moment that a catastrophe was imminent.

Nobita has not yet finished his studies and has not learned about the dangers of locusts from his teachers, but the anxiety of the older male ants has infected him.

Early the next morning, Nobita sent four of his soldiers to report the news first, and he returned with a large army to carry the prey.

- I'm the dividing line -

When Nobita returned to the nest, he found several soldier ants waiting for him at the entrance and exit of the nest.

Once his identity was confirmed, he was taken directly to the conference room.

In the conference room, Nobita saw the ruler of this lair, the Divine Envoy King with great prestige and wisdom, possessed by gods, and possessed by boundless powers.

This was the first time Nobita had seen the Divine Envoy King up close, and his mind was filled with excitement. As one of the smartest of the ants, the male's emotions have become quite human.

In addition to the protagonist, other high-level leaders of the Divine Envoy King Legion, including Roll, Rambo Fei, etc., are also listed.

Lan Bofei has been Nobita's teacher for a period of time, just like Lao Wang's role as the protagonist.

Rambo flew over and touched Nobita with his tentacles, signaling him to land on the ground and participate in the meeting.

The message of the king was delivered:

"You have already watched the information packet delivered by the "transit station" just now, and it is obvious that the locust plague is about to break out."

The king of the gods paused and continued:

"I obviously underestimated the dangers of the locust plague just now, according to you, the locust plague will not only destroy our food and prey, but will even directly attack our nests and eat us."

"I want to know how to defend against these damn locusts in the past!"

Rambo Fei replied, he is the most knowledgeable in the current high-level of the Divine Envoy King, and other male ants are not comparable, and the protagonist is even less than the traverser who lacks the common sense of the ant world. It is said that during the main nest, Lan Bofei found some old male ants and learned a lot of knowledge that has been passed down for hundreds of years.

Every nest needs a group of such males, who are the disseminators of ant civilization, culture and knowledge, a living and mobile library. Just like the blind poet Homer at the beginning, relying on memory and recitation, the two epic poems of "The Iliad" and "Odyssey" have been preserved to this day.

Lan Bofei introduced: The most recent locust plague on both sides of the river broke out three years ago, when the entire big-headed ant kingdom lost more than half of its ant population, and thirteen secondary nests were completely lost after the disaster, and then the scouts sent by the main nest confirmed that these secondary nests had been destroyed.

According to past experience, the big-headed ants have no way to deal with locust plagues. In the past, including the main nest, they could only collect as much food as possible, hide in the underground nest**, and wait for the locust plague to pass.

Hiding in an underground lair isn't foolproof, though.

Perhaps a large nest like the main nest, built on natural mounds and gravel, would be difficult for locusts to penetrate, but ordinary underground nests are only covered by a layer of earth, and if the locusts attack, it will not take long for them to dig through the nest.

And it is this that makes the protagonist feel uneasy - "Dongyang City" is a typical nest, only covered by a layer of earth, completely unable to resist the attack of locust swarms.

You know, locusts are not like ants, they attack from the passage in a dignified manner, they will dig crazy according to their instincts, and any part of the nest may suddenly be attacked and turned into a battlefield, and ants do not have a home field advantage in this case.

The protagonist is clearly not satisfied with this passive defense, perhaps even ineffective means of defense.

He asked if the locust plague could be eradicated. Although the protagonist has no experience in exterminating locusts, he can also think that the best time to exterminate locusts is now.

Now the locusts are still in the nymph stage. At this time, the locusts did not pose a serious danger to plants, and because they were unable to fly, they were small, and they had not yet formed a sense of collective action, so they were easy to detect and exterminate.

Once this opportunity is missed, it only takes a few weeks for the locusts to completely transform into locusts, and at that time, the swarms of locusts are invincible in this world without natural enemies of birds!

After some deliberation, the protagonist decides to send his legion to the "Transit Station" to fight an unprecedented locust war!