The Age of the Ants: A Chronicle of Life and Death

The story takes place in the Vast Ant Domain, an immense ant world spanning rainforests, desert fringes, underground caves, and deadwood forests. The ancient ant tribes divided it into five territories: the surface jungle belt, ruled by black and red ants; the underground farming domain, the leafcutter ants’ heartland; the boundless hunting grounds, the army ants’ migration routes; the dark rotting-wood domain, home to clusters of white-ant nests; and the border buffer zone, the main flashpoint between the five tribes.

The Ant Domain follows an ironclad law of survival: the strong prey on the weak, the survival of the colony is its highest mission, pheromones are the core means of communication, and the queen is the absolute center of the colony. White ants are jointly ruled by a king and queen. Once the queen falls, the colony is immediately on the brink of collapse. The domain also harbors the threat of natural disasters: floods from torrential rain, droughts beneath the scorching sun, predator invasions by anteaters, pangolins, antlions, and birds, fungal plagues, and geological collapses. Combined with internal strife and wars between tribes, these dangers create a desperate struggle for the survival of all.