Chapter 20

The water continued to sweep mercilessly over the entire rock, this time with even greater force than before.

All the cells, big and small, were washed away, disappearing into the distant deep blue. However, Lin’s enormous tentacles still stood tall at the center of the rock.

Each wave of water caused the giant tentacles to bend, tearing apart a large number of cells inside.

But Lin had no intention of retreating. Each time, it relied on continuous repair and division to rebuild the entire tentacle, ready to face the next wave of water.

Lin understood that its cells would evolve rapidly in adversity. After each injury, they would become even stronger!

Continuous repair was also extremely energy-consuming, so Lin connected all the fat cells to the tentacles, allowing them to transmit energy as quickly as possible.

As for the other idle cells, they continuously shuttled back and forth to the cave below, transporting new food to feed the fat cells.

The water continued to sweep over the rock, and the intervals between waves became shorter. Before long, the next wave of water came again, and Lin’s tentacles were once again bent, but this time the degree of bending was much less than before.

The number of muscle cells that broke was significantly reduced. Most of their bodies had become more flexible in the short few waves of water, able to withstand greater tension.

Evolution was evident, and Lin was delighted.

However, the water did not give Lin much time to celebrate. It continued to hit one after another, with the intervals between waves becoming shorter and shorter.

But Lin did not fall. Each time, it could repair the tentacles at a faster speed.

In the end, the water became a continuous flow, with no intervals between waves. At this point, Lin no longer needed to repair. The toughness of its tentacles was such that they could withstand the intense current without any damage.

Lin succeeded, taking a big step forward on the path of evolution.

Delighted? Yes, Lin had discovered a new word.

In this way, one of Lin’s threats was eliminated. Now, the only remaining threat in Lin’s memory was the sudden freezing of the water.

Lin believed it would face that extreme cold again and overcome it!

The water continued for some time, gradually slowing down, and then slowly stabilizing. The entire water area returned to calm.

Lin opened the opening at the tip of the tentacle, and a large number of cells swam out. Lin began to fully control this area.

Thanks to the water washing away all the cells on the rock, Lin didn’t even need to fight to easily take over 100% of the rock area.

Lin began to plan to build more tentacles on the rock, making it easier to control the entire rock.

The tentacles could not only defend against the water but also be used for hunting. By sucking in other cells and dissolving them, it was so easy and convenient. Lin also planned to place the spiky cells on the outer skin of the tentacles to make them grow, turning them into terrifying tentacles covered with lethal spikes.

... No, that’s not right.

Lin suddenly thought of a better method.

Hmm...

Yes, directly surrounding the entire rock would be more useful than building a bunch of tentacles on the rock, and it would provide more space for Lin’s cells to move around.

Thinking of it, Lin acted immediately.

Lin let a large number of basic cells swim to the edge of the rock, starting to layer and combine around the edge. After the combination, Lin made them evolve to become as flexible as the outer skin of the tentacles, ensuring both hardness and mobility.

However, this flat and wide structure seemed to have little use, unable to perform various actions like the tentacles.

For now, this would do. Lin felt that being able to move was always good.

The base was made of a large number of fat cells, used to grip the rock below.

Lin also discovered an interesting point: while cells couldn’t dig into the rock, if some cells drilled into the cracks in the rock and continuously divided, they could potentially split the rock.

Using this method, they could grip the rock more firmly.

While observing the cells combining, Lin also paid attention to the edge of the rock.

The edge of the rock was very smooth, but it had many cracks or protrusions that allowed Lin’s cells to grip and form ‘walls.’

If one looked down from the edge, they would see a rocky cliff leading to the deep water. Lin couldn’t see what was below, and it might explore it at some point, but not now.

Next, it was time to eat and grow...

Lin’s cell count surged, rapidly consuming all the white paste on the rock. The cell wall surrounding the entire rock was quickly formed. During this period, Lin did not encounter any water or any powerful cell colonies that came to harass it. Only some small cell colonies occasionally appeared, all of which became Lin’s food.

Notably, the light bacteria in the caves were no longer afraid of Lin’s cells and began to mix with Lin’s cell colonies to eat. However, Lin would drive them away. In this period of urgent need for food, Lin would only provide the necessary food for their colonies, not allowing them to eat more to divide.

The cells slowly grew... The construction of the wall was finally completed after several nights.

During this time, Lin felt that one layer of cells was not thick enough, so it added several more layers, which took longer.

The cells encircled the entire rock, forming a large semi-circular dome that covered the entire rock surface. In the middle, there was a large hole for Lin’s tentacles to extend out.

Lin also opened many small, closable holes on the surface for cells to enter and exit. There were also many such holes in the multi-layered structure, allowing cells to quickly enter to repair damage.

However, the cells surrounding the damaged area could also directly divide to repair.

With such a secure defense, Lin no longer needed to fear the water. However, building such a large protective dome used a massive number of cells, and maintaining them also required a large amount of food.

So, in general, Lin kept them in a stationary state. Lin found that as long as the cells were not moving, they almost did not require any food.

However, even so, the white paste on the rock and in the caves, while sufficient to maintain the entire colony, was not enough to allow Lin to expand further.

Lin designed a new plan. It would allow some cells to stop their life activities and let other cells decompose and digest them, providing a large amount of energy in critical moments.

This method also applied to cells that had lived for a long time. Their death would create space for new cells to divide. Lin knew that a cell’s self-evolution was much slower than dividing into a new cell.

Moreover, the longer a cell lived, the more damage it accumulated from its activities, such as being worn down on the rock, eventually becoming weaker than a normal cell.

However, newly divided cells could inherit all the advantages of the old cells and were usually stronger, without inheriting the disadvantages.

Thus, this method of eliminating old cells could replace some already ‘old’ cells, allowing Lin to continuously evolve without increasing the colony size or food consumption.

What was this method called? A new word appeared in Lin’s thoughts.

“Lifespan.”

Yes, in simple terms, it was an excellent method of eliminating old cells to make room for new, more vibrant, and stronger cells.

If old cells were not eliminated and just kept dividing, even an abundance of food would eventually be depleted. Of course, if there were enough food, Lin would not implement this ‘lifespan’ plan.

However, Lin still wanted to expand the colony. It realized that relying solely on the white paste from the rock was far from enough.

But the rock often had various cell colonies approaching. Lin decided to start capturing them.

However, these cells were hard to catch. They would leave after discovering they couldn’t enter Lin’s protective dome. Lin didn’t know from which direction they would appear.

But solving one point would fix the problem. What attracted these cells?

Yes, the white paste. Since that was the case, why not use the white paste as a trap to lure them in?

Hmm... Trap?

A nice word...

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