Chapter 37

Lín quietly stayed on the beach, observing this strange scene.

First, the leaf-shaped worm ejected a large number of cells from its body. Then these cells fused together in a wondrous way, and a group of disk-shaped creatures with long tentacles were attracted by these cells.

Lín was puzzled. Why did the leaf-shaped worm eject so many cells into the water? Wouldn't that consume a lot of energy? And it even attracted so many strange creatures.

Lín didn't want to provoke those strange disk-shaped creatures but decided to observe the situation first. After a preliminary calculation, these disk-shaped creatures should be easy to deal with. Their disk bodies were definitely soft, and they could quickly expand and contract to move. Although they had many tentacles, they were very thin and likely not very strong.

However, there were a lot of these creatures. They swam in the cluster of cells ejected by the leaf-shaped worm, their tentacles constantly extending and retracting, seemingly wrapping their prey into their bodies.

'Jellyfish.'

A new word appeared in Lín's thoughts, indicating that these disk-shaped creatures with tentacles were called this. Although it didn't feel quite right, Lín didn't need to come up with a new name.

Lín was considering whether to attack the jellyfish to see if they were easy to deal with. If they were, it would provide another food source.

At this moment, Lín suddenly noticed that the surrounding light was gradually dimming.

Is this... nightfall? Is it coming? Lín had almost forgotten about the existence of night, as it hadn't come since the oxygen crisis. However, this time, the night seemed to be coming much more slowly. Why?

Being in the dark wasn't a good thing. The glowing spheres were too small to illuminate the entire aircraft carrier, and because there had been no night, Lín hadn't made many glowing spheres.

Lín first had the cultivators of green cells return to the aircraft carrier, then had the guardians and the aircraft carrier stay together on the sand, preparing to face the darkness.

As the surrounding light dimmed, the floating jellyfish slowly emitted a blue glow. As it got darker, they even illuminated the water.

So beautiful... Could they be related to the light bacteria?

Lín hadn't thought of the word 'beautiful' for a long time. Watching the glowing jellyfish drift in the water, Lín suddenly saw one of them drift closer to the position of the aircraft carrier and the guardians.

Should I attack?

The glowing jellyfish swam on the sand in front of Lín. If Lín wanted to attack it, it would be quite easy. Lín's only concern was whether attacking this one would cause the others to attack in a group.

While Lín was hesitating, the jellyfish suddenly changed direction and drifted over. It didn't seem to be attacking, just slowly swimming past the aircraft carrier, but its tentacles lightly brushed against a small part of the aircraft carrier's skin.

It hurts!

Lín felt a strong pain spreading through the cells of the touched skin, even entering the blood vessels connected to the skin!

Is this a virus? No, it doesn't seem to be. It must be... venom? In any case, it needs to be urgently stopped!

Lín sent a strong thought, causing the cells around the pain point to self-destruct, the heart to stop beating, and the invaded blood vessel to instantly break, preventing the venom from spreading further.

Lín no longer felt the pain. The emergency response worked very well. Lín then temporarily sealed the broken blood vessel, the heart began to beat again, and the phagocytes were dispatched to examine the injured skin area.

These are... stinging cells?

The phagocytes found that a large number of cells were stuck to the already necrotic skin. Each cell had a hole, and inside the hole was a thread with a needle at the tip. These needles were inserted into Lín's skin, seemingly injecting the venom.

The venom spread through the cells according to the nutrient-sharing structure, but Lín just needed to stop the surrounding cells from living, and they couldn't spread it.

Fortunately, only a small area of skin cells was damaged. This kind of minor injury was easy to repair. Even if it continued to spread, the venom would become more diluted and eventually become harmless, as it couldn't continuously grow like a virus.

However, Lín was definitely going to kill that jellyfish.

The jellyfish was still nearby, not swimming far away. Lín decided to let the guardian try first, also wanting to see if the revived shield worm was effective. If attacked in a group, its hard shell could probably protect it.

Thinking this, Lín had the guardian slowly crawl over. When it reached below the jellyfish, Lín noticed a problem.

The guardian couldn't use its pincers to grab the jellyfish floating in the water. The reason was simple: its segments couldn't bend upward.

Well, forget it, just do it directly.

Lín had the aircraft carrier swim toward the target and strike the jellyfish's disk-shaped body with a powerful blow.

The jellyfish, hit hard, spewed out a large cloud of bubbles, and its body was thrown away, landing on the nearby beach.

Lín immediately had the guardian rush over, grabbing the jellyfish's tentacles with its pincers before it could swim away, then pressing down and tearing it apart.

It was quite simple, and as Lín had thought, the surrounding jellyfish didn't react at all. They seemed to have no communication with each other.

Lín released a large number of phagocytes, planning to examine the jellyfish's internal structure before eating it.

The phagocytes approached the jellyfish. Upon closer inspection, Lín found that the tentacles were covered with numerous holes, each containing a stinging cell. The density was so high that Lín almost felt afraid. If a large number of tentacles had touched Lín, it might have had to shed the entire skin of the aircraft carrier.

Could Lín also use its stinging cells like this? However, Lín's stinging cells weren't as strong as the jellyfish's, so Lín hadn't used them for a long time.

This was the first time Lín had encountered single cells that could penetrate the aircraft carrier's skin. Although they were on a multicellular organism, it seemed the skin needed to be hardened again. The guardian's shell, however, was completely fine.

The internal structure of the jellyfish was quite simple, with no blood vessels, only some sacs. These sacs were also covered with stinging cells, and Lín found that the tentacles secreted a dissolving liquid, likely used to break down food. Apart from that, there was no complex structure, unlike the highly complex starfish.

However, the simple jellyfish and leaf-shaped worms were much larger than starfish. Why?

Is it only by being simple that one can grow larger? But the shield worm was also large and complex.

...

Lín ate everything except the stinging cells of the jellyfish. By then, the surroundings had completely darkened. In the water, everything was pitch black except for the light from the jellyfish.

Lín closely watched the surroundings, but fortunately, no jellyfish drifted over. Lín had already repaired the skin wound and had some cells ingest a small amount of residual venom, trying to evolve resistant individuals.

The jellyfish seemed to have eaten most of the cells ejected by the leaf-shaped worms. Lín noticed their numbers gradually decreasing, with many swimming away.

Each jellyfish that left made the surroundings a bit darker. When they were all gone, Lín couldn't see any light or objects.

Pure darkness, something Lín hadn't felt for a long time... It seemed a large glowing combination was indeed needed.

"Rumble..."

Suddenly, an abnormal vibration came from the water.

What is that?

Lín's sensory tentacles detected a significant change in the water's movement, as if something massive was moving.

In the water's movement, there were countless small vibrations. Lín knew these were likely the sensation of sand being stirred up. Could some creature be emerging from the sand?

No, the sand particles around were all vibrating!

Lín hesitated for a moment, then had the aircraft carrier slowly swim upward, but the immobile guardian had to stay on the beach.

The guardian had no eyes but had sensory tentacles, so it could also feel the vibrations in the water.

The entire beach began to vibrate more noticeably, as if something was about to happen.

...

Thank you, Da Wo Cheng, for the tip.