The Qing River, which in the eyes of humans is a medium-sized river more than 100 meters wide and less than 200 meters wide, is very common. Compared to the Yangtze River, which is several kilometers wide downstream, the Qing River is a little brother, not to mention the 300-kilometer-wide La Plata River.

But in the eyes of the ants, the river is so wide that it looks like the sea.

At this time, the walnut fleet was washed down the river in the middle of the river, and the ants that poked out half of their bodies from the cabin looked forward, backward, left, and right, and could only see water in all directions except the sky.

The edge of the water is far away from the sky, and except for the occasional black shadow of a few distant mountains and giant trees emerging from the dense clouds, there is no other color to be seen except for the sky and water.

The sky was blue, there were not a few wisps of clouds, and the water surface reflected the background color of the sky, and the junction between the horizontal plane and the sky was blurred in this blue color, and it was almost impossible to see where the sky was and where the water was. In the past, only the scene of water and sky that appeared only by the sea has reappeared in this clear river.

The sky is nice, the wind is calm, and it seems that there will be no rain for a short time. The protagonist climbs to the top of the mast with confidence, stands on the crossbar of the sail, holds the mast, and looks out.

Although it is the top of the mast, it is only a dozen centimeters higher than in the hatch, which does not allow the protagonist to fully climb the height and look far. But fortunately, he could see the grass and trees on the south bank here, and the north bank was faintly visible in the river fog.

The protagonist was shocked by the magnificence of the Qinghe River at first, but after watching it for a long time, he soon became boring under the constant scenery and climbed down the mast.

That afternoon, the protagonist noticed a good phenomenon.

There was a big bend in the river, and the sun judged the direction, and the Qing River made a big bend to the south.

At one point, the walnut fleet was almost swept away by the current to the northeast bank, a steep river full of reefs, where the current slammed the smooth rocks and then bounced back. If the fleet crashed into the craggy Stonehenge on the riverbank, it would be more than lucky.

At this time, the wind direction is not suitable, and the fleet cannot raise the sails to change direction to dodge, so they can only wait powerlessly for the judgment of fate.

Fortunately, the scene of the destruction of the boat did not happen, and when it was still more than ten meters away from the riverbank, the rapids that rebounded from the riverbank pushed the fleet back into the middle of the river.

Now, the fleet is moving a little west-southward with the river. Previously, the river flowed north-eastward, and the Qinghe River flowed roughly eastward before it turned a corner. According to the protagonist's calculations, if the river continues to flow south-west without changing its direction, the fleet will drift down and get closer to the swamp.

So the fleet is not in a hurry to dock, the protagonist prepares the fleet to sail for another day or two before docking, and then all the way to the west, sooner or later you can see the familiar scenery, and then you can find your way to the swamp.

- I'm the dividing line -

May 23, morning.

Today's protagonist is bored, sometimes staying in the cabin to eat, sleep and sleep, and sometimes running outside the cabin to look at the constant scenery in a daze. When the stomach is swollen, it will be excreted in the cabin for a while, and its own ants will be responsible for throwing the feces into the river outside.

It's boring days, drifting with the flow and doing nothing

But then something happened, a messenger came from another ship, and reported that several ropes in the fleet were damaged, and even one was broken.

The protagonist didn't care, this kind of loss is normal, and there have been sporadic rope breakages before, anyway, there are a lot of ant silk and hemp fibers in the cabin, and it's calm for a while, just send sailor ants to repair it.

But by the afternoon, things started to go wrong, and ants came one after another to report that they had found damage to the ropes, which was not normal for a high frequency.

The damage is mainly caused by some ropes soaked in water, and while it is true that the soaking in the water will slowly erode these ropes, these ropes are made of tough hemp and ant silk and can last at least a few months. Last year's fleet to the swamps hadn't seen such serious rope damage all year, which was clearly amiss.

The protagonist takes it seriously, and in addition to letting the ants continue to repair, he is ready to go over and take a look for himself.

The broken ropes were concentrated on several ships in the middle of the left wing of the flotilla, and the protagonist drilled out of the cabin and climbed from one ship to another along the rope bridge fixed between the masts.

Most of the time, the protagonist must firmly hold on to the rope, otherwise once he accidentally falls, he will be under the microwave water surface of the Qinghe River, and if he fails to climb back into the boat in time, with the body structure of the ant, he will definitely not survive after falling into the water for a long time.

But in fact, climbing the rope bridge is not so dangerous, the rope bridge is specially made to be thicker and rougher, which is very suitable for ants to hold firmly in the hook-like toe, and ants will not venture out when the wind and waves are high.

So far, there has only been one accidental overboard on the Walnut fleet. The unlucky ant fell into the water and climbed onto the stick next to it in time, and then returned to the cabin on its own, but eventually died two days later due to the injury of his internal organs.

The protagonist finally arrives on the ship with the worst rope damage. At this time, more than a dozen aquatic ants were working, some standing on wooden sticks floating on the water around the boat, some hanging on the outer wall of the boat, all holding some fibers in their mouths to mend broken ropes.

Some ropes are soaked in water, and they have to be pulled up first, and then put back to tighten after repairing.

The protagonist observes the broken rope and notices something unusual. These ropes do not look like they have corroded due to long-term immersion, and the broken surface has a smooth section, but it looks like something has cut it.

Could it be that the fleet hit a reef or a sharp shell, causing the rope to be cut somewhat?

However, although the cross-sections of these rope fibers are smooth, the cross-sections of different fibers are not neat, and it is not like they were cut at the same time.

What exactly causes rope damage? The protagonist has a big head, and he can't let the rope be damaged like this, if he can't find the culprit, the rope reserves on the ship will run out sooner or later, and without the rope bondage, the walnut ship connected together will be torn apart, and the fleet will cease to exist.

This crisis is no less than the one that almost hit a pile of rocks on the riverbank, and the protagonist has no clue where the danger comes from.

The protagonist observes for a long time, but he does not receive any goods, so he simply stays on the ship and does not leave.

This is a ship stacked with food and supplies, and with the consumption of stored food, there is already some space, and the protagonist finds a corner and doesn't care if he is comfortable or not, so he lies down.

Living up to his wait, in the afternoon, the ants spotted something strange attached to the rope!

If you like the world of ants, please collect it: () The world of ants is the fastest update.