The peak of the rainy season is fast approaching.

When the summer rain comes, it is always unexpected, and suddenly the rolling dark clouds will go from far to near, and in an instant, the originally sunny sky will be completely covered.

At this time, the sky and clouds are very low, which makes the ants very uncomfortable, and then in an instant, the wind and rain will sweep across the ground, and the rain lines are inclined to connect the sky and the earth.

Ants always hate rain, and when it does, not only will their search for food and resources be affected, but even the best designed underground nests will be more or less threatened by flooding.

In "Dongyang City", the ants stayed quietly underground, and everyone was anxiously waiting for the downpour to end as soon as possible.

From time to time, the ants who rotate in the upper layer of the nest send messengers to report to the protagonist about the disaster and the rescue situation.

Fortunately, the fortified earthen embankment is equipped with a drainage outlet on the ground, and the trench is connected to the nearby low-lying area through a flood channel, so the rainwater will not stay above the "Dongyang Castle" for too long.

The upper level of the nest is now basically a mealworm farm and a stable for flies.

Flies are not afraid of the rain that occasionally seeps out of the soil and drips down on their bodies. Flies that live in the wild, once they encounter this kind of heavy rain, will reduce their activities in advance and look for shelter from the rain (so flies always burrow into people's houses on rainy days).

They mostly hide behind leaves, trunks in wind, etc. But even so, wind and rain can still wet their bodies, and flies with poor constitution are blown away by strong winds, and many wet flies are difficult to survive.

But even in such bad weather, most flies can spread their wings and fly again after the rain stops and shakes the water droplets on their bodies to let the warm sun dry their soaked wings.

What's more, there is only an occasional drop of seepage water in the underground nest, and the temperature is far more comfortable than the windy and rainy ground, these flies are not afraid at all.

Mealworms are comparatively more afraid of rain. After all, they are just mealy moth larvae and prefer relatively warm and slightly humid environments, preferring room temperatures of 25-32°C and humidity of 60-75%, as well as foods that are too rich in moisture.

But when rainwater seeps into mealworm farms, the comfortable environment created for them by the hard-working worker ants has changed.

The cold rain and the soil filled with this cold water caused the temperature in the nest to plummet, the air humidity was close to saturation, and the food was soaked with rain.

Mealworms are more tolerant of drought, but they hate dampness. When the moisture content of the feed exceeds 18% or the air humidity is greater than 85%, mealworms slow down their development and become susceptible to disease. So at this moment, the mealworms all gathered together, hugged tightly, and hid high on the slightly dry ground that had not yet been soaked by the rain, and suffered from this torrential rain.

Even so, after each heavy rain, there are always varying numbers of mealworms that die of disease. They end up being dried and roasted to sterilize and remove moisture, and then crushed to become feed for their companions. The ants themselves will not eat these sick and dead livestock.

This kind of heavy rain comes four times in a week, sometimes on and off for a day, and even the occasional sunny day seems so precious. Even on a sunny day, a handful of water droplets can be grabbed in the air, which is extremely humid and cold.

Heavy rains have caused heavy losses to "Dongyang City", not only unable to harvest new grain, but also a lot of loss of existing livestock and grain stocks.

The only good news is that the parasitic ants have not attacked again these days.

Perhaps the rain in the hilly areas is also severe, and the parasitic ants that live at the valley floor have to deal with raging flash floods.

Perhaps the enemy on the way to the army was beaten by the torrential rain, and could only flee back to his hometown in disgrace.

So taking advantage of the rare sunny time, the protagonist rode Xiaoqing to the southern fortress, and temporarily withdrew the army stationed here to "Dongyang City", leaving only a small team as a guard.

After all, the underground space of the southern fortress is relatively small, the terrain is not high, and the ability to resist disasters in this kind of rain is also weak, so it is not a wise choice to put your main army in such a dangerous environment for a long time.

Rolling, Rambovan, Rambery and Rambose led 19 teams, taking advantage of the good weather, bypassing large and small puddles and waterholes along the way, and returned to "Dongyang City" without danger.

The only people in charge of staying behind in the Southern Fortress were Rambotu and a team he directly followed. In the breakout operation after the last unfavorable battle with the parasitic ants, Lambotu performed brilliantly, and his personality was also stable, and he was trusted by the protagonist, and this time he was given this important task.

After escorting the main force back to the nest smoothly, the weather is still bright, and the protagonist has the intention to ride Xiaoqing to the parasitic ant nest to investigate, but he is afraid of heavy rain halfway, which will be very dangerous.

After all, the weather in this rainy season is like a child's face, which changes when it is said, and it is difficult to figure out.

Fortunately, what ants are best at is predicting rain by feeling changes in air pressure, and although the protagonist doesn't master this skill, everyone else can do it.

This skill still relies on keen antennae, although ants live below the ground, they naturally like to be dry, when the humidity and pressure in the air before the rain changes, ants can keenly feel, and then ants will take measures such as moving, stacking nests** and other methods to prevent it.

This is also the origin of the folk legend that ants will forecast the weather and quickly collect their clothes when they see ants moving.

After the protagonist asks the ants around him, he confirms that there will be no rain in the short term, so he dares to fly south. Anyway, it will only take ten minutes to go back and forth, and the protagonist believes that he will not be so unlucky, and he can still run into danger in such a short time.

Soon, the protagonist flies over the Southern Fortress on Xiaoqing, which is quiet, with only a few ants basking on the ground and mending the rain-soaked earthen embankment.

The protagonist also sees Rambotu, who is guarded on the earthen embankment with two soldier ants, looking warily to the south.

The ditches around the Southern Fortress have been silted up, forming a muddy swamp that is difficult to pass, and only a few dry places can be passed, which invisibly strengthens the defense capability of the Southern Fortress.

After flying over the Southern Fortress, the protagonist soon discovers a new waterhole on the ground.

The waterhole is about a few hundred square meters in size, long from east to west and short from north to south. For ants, it's a lake of no small size.

Located in the low-lying part of a sparse shrubland, the waterhole is formed by the accumulation of rainwater that flows here in all directions.

There are many such pools on the ground, but they are not as large as this one. And this waterhole lies south of the southern fortress, on the route that parasitic ants must pass through every day.

The protagonist thinks: Maybe the parasitic ants have found no way, and these geniuses haven't come to attack the southern fortress!