Chapter 15

Ling has been closely observing the infected, strange cell. Although the cell membrane has become blurry, upon closer inspection, it seems that some round objects are floating inside the cell.

Are those viruses? But why haven't they killed the cell? Why are they just staying inside it?

Ling is very curious. Should she let this cell live, or kill it to avoid any danger?

Ling doesn't want to kill it directly. She wants to study how this virus works, as it might have some useful value.

Moreover, the next invasion is about to begin. Ling plans to attack the nearby large cluster of cells again, ultimately controlling this entire rock.

If this virus has some very useful characteristics, such as harming other cells without harming Ling's cells, then Ling can use this virus to attack other cells.

So Ling decided to keep it and try it out. However, the acid injectors will always be on guard, and Ling must watch every move of the infected cell to see how it differs from ordinary cells.

In the initial observation, the infected cell can still eat like a normal cell, and Ling's control over it feels no different.

However, when it comes to division, some problems seem to arise. The cells that split from this infected cell are also in an infected state, with a bright red color. During the division process, some viruses are produced, but not many, only a few.

These viruses look like small, round objects, with a bright red color similar to the infected cell, and are only about one percent the size of the cell.

Ling killed all the viruses that emerged during the division with the acid injectors. She doesn't want her entire colony to turn red.

However, so far, these viruses don't seem to pose a significant threat to Ling's colony.

So now it's time to prepare for the next war.

Ling's cell colony has already surpassed any other cell in number, occupying 50% of the rock. This large colony allows Ling to easily destroy the other cells living here.

But this time, Ling is not dealing with an ordinary cell colony.

Ling's vision turned to the distance. On the rock, there is a colony of cells that Ling calls "hair algae." This colony is very strange, with thread-like structures densely covering a large area, like a layer of velvet on the rock.

These thread-like structures can grab food flowing out of cracks or capture other cells that come close, wrapping them tightly and squeezing them to pieces with sheer force.

Ling is not very satisfied with the name "hair algae," but she can't think of a better name... Hmm? Maybe "death algae" sounds more appropriate?

Why do I care about this? Ling found her thoughts strange. As her colony grew larger and her thoughts became broader, she often had strange ideas.

Anyway, hair algae are very peculiar. Their thread-like bodies and strong wrapping ability make them impossible to attack with diggers and conical cells. However, the biggest weakness of hair algae is that they cannot move, so Ling plans to use the acid injectors to clean them up.

The hair algae densely cover the surface of the rock, and Ling finds it difficult to estimate their numbers. But by area, they occupy about 10% of the entire rock.

Ling's acid injectors have enough dissolving fluid to cover such a large area.

Ling directly sent the acid injectors to move from above, where the hair algae cannot reach, and sprinkle the dissolving fluid, destroying large areas of hair algae.

Since the hair algae cannot move, Ling is not afraid that any of them will escape and split to evolve into new individuals resistant to the dissolving fluid.

This seems to be a one-sided slaughter. No matter how much dissolving fluid is sprayed, the hair algae cannot pull their bodies off the rock to attack the acid injectors from above.

Although Ling is a bit curious about how the hair algae usually divide and reproduce, she has no intention of showing mercy. Soon, Ling almost cleared them all. The hair algae rotted and collapsed in large areas of dissolving fluid, leaving only a small area unaffected.

Usually, Ling would directly eliminate them, but she suddenly felt that would be too boring, so she wanted to try something new.

Ling sent the infected, bright red basic cell forward, intentionally letting it be wrapped by the remaining hair algae to see what would happen.

The hair algae, as usual, wrapped the approaching infected cell tightly, and the strong wrapping force gave Ling a new and strange sensation of pain.

In the end, the infected cell was squeezed to burst by the hair algae, and a large number of small red viruses and cell fragments were scattered in the water.

These viruses, upon contact, could penetrate the bodies of the hair algae, just like the infected cell. The entire thread-like body of the hair algae turned red, and soon, all the surrounding hair algae were dyed red.

However, the hair algae that turned red did not remain unharmed like Ling's cells. They seemed to twist in pain and then droop lifelessly, dying. The dead bodies of the hair algae slowly began to crack, releasing a large number of viruses.

This is a clear sign of being killed by the virus.

But why can these viruses kill the hair algae but have no effect on Ling's cells?

Ling doesn't know the secret, but this is clearly a good thing.

Now, the remaining hair algae have all died from the virus infection, and the large number of viruses released from their bodies float in the water, turning it a bright red.

Ling sent some basic cells to swim over and move through the virus cluster, absorbing the viruses into their bodies.

Sure enough, although Ling's cells turned bright red from the infection, there were no problems, and it did not affect their movement or cause death.

Ling calls these cells "infected cells," and a new type of cell with strong destructive power has been born.

If used properly, the virus might easily destroy a large number of cell colonies, but there are also problems.

The biggest problem is that the cells killed by the virus cannot be eaten.

Like the hair algae, the cells killed by the virus are left with only some outer membrane fragments, with almost no useful parts remaining.

Even when corroded by the acid injectors, most of them can still be eaten.

Moreover, even though the infected cells seem fine now, it's unknown if they will have problems in the future.

Ling also conducted some tests on the infected cells. They can indeed eat normally, but their movement speed is slower, and most of the food they eat is actually owned by the virus. The growth and division speed of infected cells is clearly much slower than that of uninfected cells.

Moreover, the infected cells cannot transform and evolve into other types like the original basic cells.

Thus, the infected cells are essentially tools for the virus, carrying the virus and allowing it to spread through cell division and other activities.

Ling realized that the virus not harming her cells is not a good thing; it just wants to find a host to use as a tool for continuous reproduction.

So Ling will not allow too many infected cells. Among the infected cells that absorbed the virus, only a small part will be kept, and the majority will be disposed of by Ling at the large crack where hot water is spewed.

Ling kept ten infected cells. If she encounters any crisis in the future, she can use this virus as a last resort.

However, what Ling is about to face next does not seem to be a living opponent.

Ling noticed long ago that the small groups of cells that often came to this rock area to search for food no longer appear.

But that is not because Ling has occupied most of the area; it is due to another reason.

With her enhanced tactile senses, Ling's entire cell colony can clearly feel... the water is trembling.

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