Charred Queen Ant

"Listen, this is a water reservoir, a place for us to store more fresh water," said Lu Zhe.

"Alright, alright, but don't stare at me and don't let your imagination run wild," Tang Xiaoguo replied.

Lu Zhe shook his head: "No, no, no, even without an impressive figure, I should still have basic respect for you!"

Tang Xiaoguo was flustered again, only able to say with a red face: "See, do whatever you want..."

But while Tang Xiaoguo was making a fuss, when it came to getting things done, she was efficient, her little face looking like a little flower cat's, efficiently sealing the bottom.

Lighting some dried grass and charcoal to heat it up, baking the cement to speed up solidification.

In the afternoon, Lu Zhe found some dammar resin.

He melted it and brushed it on the walls and bottom of the hole, and once it was completely dry, it could store water.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the resin on the well walls was no longer sticky, and could officially be put into use!

With the thick ant nest cement walls, it had a diameter of 1 meter and was about 1.3 meters deep. Theoretically, Tang Xiaoguo would not drown even if she did not jump up at this depth.

The reservoir could hold a full ton of water.

Should we start filling it with water?!

Not yet, it needed to be blocked from dust and insects first. Mound up the edges, weave a palm leaf lid, and then it would be ready.

After finishing this work, Lu Zhe brought pots and basins from the original campsite to collect water from the mountain stream to pour into the reservoir.

Seeing that Lu Zhe had made such a good water reservoir, the girls came over to help fetch water.

By the time the sky was almost dark, the reservoir was finally filled with a whole pool of water.

Shen Bing marveled: "It's said that a breach in a thousand-mile embankment is caused by an ant hole, I didn't expect ant holes themselves to have such good waterproofing effect?!"

Tang Xiaoguo's eyes lit up as she came up with a strange idea: "Then why don't our country's dams use ant holes to build them?"

Lu Zhe nodded solemnly: "Good idea! When we get back, let's get an engineering team together and specialize in building dams with ant holes!"

Tang Xiaoguo was overjoyed, holding onto Lu Zhe's arm: "Great! My dad is in construction contracting. I'll recommend you to him later."

"That would be wonderful. Our engineering team in the future will be called Ant Hole Dam Engineering Team, and will definitely become famous around the world!"

Tang Xiaoguo waved her fist excitedly: "Let's do it!"

The girls burst out laughing.

Ning Shu looked at the reservoir, and suddenly recalled something: "Oh, I saw online that Southeast Asian guys have made similar things. They usually dig them alone or in pairs, and dig very aesthetically pleasing holes quickly, then decorate them with flowers and lights to make beautiful swimming pools... In fact, I have some photos on my phone."

Ning Shu opened her phone and flipped through it, and there were indeed some photos of Southeast Asian guys digging artistic holes.

Lin Qianqian said: "Wow, they are so beautiful. When can we make one?!"

Jiang Yao was also full of anticipation: "Yeah, then we could play in the water?"

Shen Bing sighed: "Things you see online are not necessarily real, just like fairy tales."

Lu Zhe nodded: "That's right! Most of those require teamwork. They only need to pantomime digging for a bit when filming, while the rest is dug by machines or multiple people, or it may be a pre-dug hole. But they do have amazing creativity and skills!"

"How do you know?"

Lu Zhe smiled: "Didn't know before, but don't you know now?"

Shen Bing further explained: "When we were digging the well, there were all kinds of plant roots, gravel, rock formations, and different soil textures in the soil layers, as well as dormant insects! If you really dig down, you never know what kind of weird stuff you might uncover in the soil."

Ning Shu nodded: "That’s right. But in those videos, although they were also digging in the jungle like us, the soil was uniformly optimal brick red earth. We never saw them dig up any plant roots or rocks!"

Lin Qianqian thought about it: "That does seem to be the case!"

Jiang Yao pondered and said: "Also, it looks very nice when just finished, but after a while, it gets dusty and dirty. Changing the water is a hassle, and cleaning it up is troublesome too. We'd better not consider it."

"It shows growth that you have this kind of awareness!"

Lu Zhe nodded approvingly: "At this stage, we no longer have to worry about the four essentials for survival. Indeed, we should consider improving our quality of life. However, improving quality of life is not just about pursuing delicious food and fun, but also the convenience of survival. We shouldn't pursue troublesome things."

Ning Shu nodded and put away her phone, looking slightly regretful: "Alright, we have the stove ready, let's eat grilled pork for dinner tonight."

Jiang Yao brought out the skewered pork: "Pork skewers!"

"That's great, we didn't dare eat like this in the cave."

Night fell, and we could finally eat dinner outside the cave.

But to save salt, no salt was sprinkled on the pork. Everyone was given a small bottle cap of salt to dip the meat into after taking a bite.

At this time, Lu Zhe suddenly remembered that he had caught a fat and plump protein source.

"Wait a moment, I have another good thing!"

He groped around in his shorts pocket, carefully taking out the ant queen...

The girls were shocked, never having seen such a thing before.

"My god, what did Lu Zhe take out of his shorts?"

"Plump, creepy!"

"Eek, it's still moving!"

"Wow, like a big fat worm!"

Lin Qianqian pursed her oily little mouth: "What is this?!"

"The ant queen!"

Tang Xiaoguo said: "What future, tell us now!"

Jiang Yao sighed: "Xiao Zhe means it's the ant queen, the queen of ants!"

"This thing?!"

"First time seeing it!"

"Aren't ants supposed to be slender? Why is it so thick?!"

"Eek, something's coming out, white stuff..."

"What is it?"

"Baby ants?"

Lu Zhe helplessly said: "Please stop guessing randomly. These are its larvae!"

Shen Bing was also surprised: "In this kind of situation, it can still give birth? Such a tough spirit!"

Lu Zhe nodded: "In order for the colony to continue, when faced with danger, it will produce a final wave of larvae, and every one of these larvae can become a future queen!"

As he spoke, he used his fingers to scrape off the eggs that the ant queen finally produced and handed them to Shen Bing next to him: "High in protein, want to try?"

Shen Bing felt the vibe was a bit strange, and shook her head. Lu Zhe shamelessly sucked them off his fingers and ate them.

"Not bad!"

Ning Shu was shocked: "You really ate it..."

"Although we have food, we should pursue nutritional diversity as much as possible. But you don't need to learn from me, I'll roast it thoroughly and let everyone eat."

Speaking, Lu Zhe skewered the queen's body with two bamboo sticks, removing the abdomen to roast over the fire.

Soon the meat stopped moving.

After a while longer, Lu Zhe figured it was probably cooked through. He cut it into six pieces with a knife, dipped it in a salt and chili mix, and handed it out: "Charcoal roasted ant queen, heralding our future bright red hot lifestyle!"