Chapter 22

Lín's life continues as usual.

On the rock, the countless tentacles on the surface keep waving, and the stinging cells on their bodies do not let any approaching organisms off, hunting these cells that swim by or just pass through. Lín is growing slowly and steadily...

Lín doesn't know what to do next.

Although the cells passing by are endless, as if they can never be exhausted, their appearance is highly random. There might be thousands in the first night, but nothing in the second.

The white paste that keeps emerging from the cracks and caves in the rock has also started to decrease slowly.

If one of these food sources has a problem, Lín's vast colony will collapse.

Lín's current colony, if including the cells that form the tentacles and the surface layer, numbers in the tens of millions. Although Lín has various methods to reduce food consumption and a large number of fat cells to store food, Lín does not want to have a problem with the food source.

Should it leave?

Leave this rock and return to the endless deep blue.

It feels... very risky. Although Lín should be able to swim with its tentacles, and the individual cells can ride on the surface layer without dispersing as before.

However, Lín doesn't know what lies deeper in the water and doesn't want to leave this comfortable place.

After all, food keeps emerging from above and below. Where could be better than here?

Lín did not act but began to plan to dig into the rock beneath it.

It wants to find out why the white paste emerges.

Lín used strong muscle cells to extend into the cracks in the rock and split continuously to pry and tear apart the hard stone.

Some rock cracks were widened by Lín, and more white paste emerged from them.

However, Lín wants to do more than that. It wants to create larger openings in the rock so it can drill inside and see how the white paste emerges.

Just muscle cells are not enough.

Lín's diggers cannot dig into the rock, but what about a huge digger? Lín combined some diggers into a spherical shape, with the surface covered in saw teeth, looking like a giant digger.

This massive digger has even larger and sharper saw teeth. By twisting its head against the rock, it can easily dig through the hard stone.

Although Lín can now dig into the rock, given the size of the rock, it is impossible to dig deep in a short time.

However, digging the rock seems very interesting.

Lín started to enjoy digging the rock and put the idea of leaving aside.

It didn't realize that staying in this currently comfortable place would lead to destruction...

After countless nights passed, Lín's digging progressed deeper.

It mainly dug in the caves, feeling closer to the white paste inside. Lín has already dug a deep hole, and there is indeed a lot of white paste inside the rock. Almost every time the massive digger uses its saw teeth to scrape the rock, a large amount of white paste and rock fragments scatter out, but Lín still doesn't understand how the white paste emerges.

Strange...

Suddenly, a doubt appeared in Lín's mind, but it wasn't about the digging.

Lín's observers watched the progress of the digging in the cave, while the eye tentacles observed everything outside on the surface layer.

Seven nights have passed, but the surrounding waters remain calm, with no cells or even viruses passing by.

This phenomenon has never happened before.

Even if there are no cells at a certain time, they will surge in large numbers after a night.

Lín has many fat cells, enough to survive for a long time without food, but Lín cannot tolerate this strange phenomenon.

Something has happened.

Something Lín doesn't know.

Although Lín currently doesn't want to venture out, it also doesn't want to wait.

Lín began to act, using basic cells, fat cells, and muscle cells to form a tentacle. This tentacle has a flat, elongated body that can swim in the water by swaying from side to side. The head of the tentacle is a transparent, oval shape, hollow inside, with some fat cells placed inside, and Lín's observer also entered, giving the tentacle vision.

Lín calls this tentacle an 'explorer.' Although Lín won't mobilize the entire colony, it can send one tentacle to explore the other waters it hasn't touched for a long time.

Thinking about it, the explorer began to sway its body. It was the first time Lín used combined cells to swim, and the initial movements were clumsy, not only failing to swim but also causing a large number of cells to be washed away by the water.

However, Lín quickly figured out what to do, and the explorer soon swam in the water.

Swimming a few laps inside the surface layer, Lín felt good. This form is much faster than ordinary cells.

After preparing, Lín began to swim outward. The muscle cells on the surface layer slowly contracted, opening a path for the explorer to the outside.

The explorer is not large, even smaller than the tentacles on the surface layer covered with stinging cells, so it can enter and exit the small holes on the surface layer.

Numerous tentacles slowly sway on the surface layer, but without prey, they are useless.

Lín left the rock it had stayed on for a long time and slowly swam into the unknown waters...

Lín placed the observer in the head of the explorer. As the explorer swayed its body, it could observe the surrounding environment. However, after swimming for a while, Lín felt disappointed. There was nothing but water around, and this scenery continued.

Maybe, it should swim back to the place where the large white paste was.

Lín still remembers the area that was once frozen. Although there are no landmarks in this vast ocean, Lín still knows how to return there.

It seems a lot of strange new words have appeared?

Lín is not too concerned about these new words now; it is more concerned about what has happened to cause no cells to appear.

As the explorer swam, Lín could feel the changes in the surrounding waters.

Cold...

The water here is much colder than before. The colder it gets as the explorer swims forward, but Lín found a way to resist the cold.

By having the cells continuously shiver, they can maintain their body temperature. Lín calls this method 'shivering.'

However, shivering consumes a lot of energy. Lín anticipated this situation, so it brought some fat cells, but not many. If this continues, the explorer will soon freeze to death.

If that happens, Lín won't give up; it will form a larger explorer to come.

...But it seems there's no need.

As the explorer swam into increasingly colder waters, Lín finally saw something other than water: ice crystals.

Countless ice crystals float in the water, varying in size, but none larger than the explorer. These ice crystals are spread throughout the area. Lín remembers that this was once the location of the large white paste. When the water froze, the white paste also turned into an ice block. But why are there only these floating ice crystals now?

It's really strange... Could something enormous have shattered the entire frozen white paste?

I really want to know...

Curiosity drove Lín to continue exploring. As it swam through the ice crystals, it suddenly felt the temperature slowly rising, and the cold sensation decreased, so the explorer no longer needed to shiver.

Lín followed the warmth, and as the water became warmer, the ice crystals became smaller. Eventually, it left the area filled with ice crystals, and the water temperature returned to normal.

At this point, Lín turned the explorer's head and saw a large area of ice crystals floating above. So, it must be swimming downward?

The concept of 'down' is something Lín recently clarified. When Lín used cells to form larger structures, it could feel a force pulling it in one direction. Although it easily overcame this force, Lín couldn't help but wonder what this force was.

The new word for this force is 'gravity,' which seems to be a peculiar force that has a more significant effect on larger objects.

From then on, Lín considered the direction of gravity as 'down' and the opposite direction as 'up.'

Lín found it strange that the upper part is usually warmer and closer to light, but this time, the lower part is warmer.

Just as Lín was thinking about this, an unprecedented and strange scene appeared before it.