Chapter 64

This is the 'army' created by Lin. Each one is ten centimeters long, with a mainly bullet-shaped body that can move by spraying water from its last pair of appendages. The second pair of appendages is flat and aids in movement, while the first pair is used for attack, mostly in the form of blades, with some being nozzle-shaped for launching explosive projectiles.

This 'army' consists of thousands of units, which Lin began manufacturing in large crystal stones before she fell into a deep sleep. However, production stopped after a certain number was reached. They are mainly used to explore this new world and hunt and decompose interesting things.

The bullet-shaped bodies move quite fast in the water, swimming swiftly in one direction. The surface of the crystalline land has always been covered by ice, unchanged for many years. In the cold, dark waters, the lanterns on the bullets discovered a large number of fascinating creatures floating there.

These creatures, with round shells and tentacles on their heads, are called 'ammonites.' They resemble belemnites but with their conical shells curled up, and they are only about half a meter in size. Ammonites have quite hard shells, making them unsuitable for the bullets to attack. Lin doesn't think there's anything worth learning from ammonites... However, an interesting point is that Lin doesn't know what evolved into ammonites. Perhaps some kind of snail? There is no relevant information in her visual memory.

Ammonites are quite numerous, distributed in large patches throughout the water. The bullets swam along this vast group of ammonites and soon left the darkness, entering an area illuminated by daylight.

This was originally the beach of the giant pitworms, but these strange giant worms, which used their bodies as traps, disappeared long ago. Although Lin's green blanket did not cover their 'trap mouths' when she laid it, the monsters' size was ultimately unsuitable for this environment. In the memory of the eyeball, the last giant pitworm seemed to have been frozen to death by an ice pillar. Such ice pillars with extremely high freezing capabilities occasionally appeared, and Lin still cannot explain why.

Now, the area is covered in green, but not by Lin's green blanket...

This green is like tentacles dancing on the seabed. They are the evolution of wild phototrophic cells, which adhere to Lin's green blanket with their root-like parts and proliferate extensively, completely covering the area originally covered by the green blanket.

Lin's green blanket has a setting to self-decompose if it does not receive light for a long time, so this area has been completely taken over by these green cells, now called 'algae.' Lin doesn't mind this, as eating algae directly provides more nutrients than the slow synthesis of light energy by the green blanket. When the time comes, she can cut off all the algae, but for now, the bullets are not responsible for this task. Lin is more interested in some of the creatures in the algae.

The bullets swam above this algae forest, and Lin discovered some large creatures wandering among the algae. They are about two meters long, with thick, streamlined bodies that twist and turn in the water, chasing smaller creatures.

'Sharks,' Lin's new term, can describe these creatures evolved from flatfish. Flatfish were once rare and small, but now they have evolved into many different species.

This is a peculiar phenomenon. Lin generally believes that only distant, identical organisms would evolve differently, but it seems this is not the case. Organisms in the same area can also evolve to look different.

Why is this? Lin doesn't care much about it.

A shark was chasing another fish in the algae. This fish, about half a meter long, has a pair of thick fins on its sides, so it is called a 'lobe-finned fish.' The lobe-finned fish being chased by the shark quickly darted out of the algae and fled toward the surface.

Sharks are creatures evolved for hunting. They have a large mouth full of sharp teeth and flat fins suitable for high-speed swimming. They quickly caught up to the lobe-finned fish and tore large chunks of flesh from its body with their powerful jaws.

Other sharks, sensing their companion's successful hunt, gathered around to share. Over generations, these creatures' sensory abilities have become increasingly strong. Even without any water movement, some can still accurately locate their targets without eyes. Lin knows this is a sense called 'smell,' but she is still unclear about what exactly it is and needs to study it further.

However, sharks also have excellent vision. From the records of the eyeball, Lin learned that sharks have the best sense of smell among all creatures.

The evolution of eyes is also evident in some creatures. Lin found that single-celled organisms can only sense light and cannot analyze complex images. Even when multicellular organisms appeared, many still had this limitation. It is only now that creatures with eyes capable of analyzing complex images have emerged.

So, Lin herself must have once lacked vision, but the crystalline object eaten by the observer gave her sight, and later, cells would mimic the structure of that crystal to form eyes.

What exactly is that crystal? It remains a mystery. All the crystals Lin has discovered so far are different from it...

This can be considered later. She will eventually find this 'vision crystal.'

Now, the sharks quickly finished eating the lobe-finned fish and dispersed again. Unlike the flatfish, which prefer to live in groups, these sharks have gradually become more solitary in their evolution...

After they dispersed, the bullets swam toward the nearest shark. These sharks initially did not take the ten-centimeter bullets seriously, but they were wrong.

By the time the shark realized it was surrounded, it was too late. The bullets swarmed it, using their sharp front limbs to cut through its skin. Some attacked the shark's softer gills.

The shark did not try to fight back but instead thrashed wildly to escape. It darted out of the algae and fled toward the surface.

The bullets followed closely behind. The shark's wounds spewed out large amounts of cells, attracting its own kind. However, these sharks were not there to help but to share in the feast.

They had become so individualized that they would even eat their own kind. Lin has always been puzzled by how sharks evolved such a bizarre survival strategy...

Lin sent some of the bullets to drive away the pursuing sharks, while the remaining hundreds continued to chase the fleeing shark until it was cornered next to a large floating ice block. It had nowhere to go.

However, before the bullets could act, the large ice block suddenly cracked open, and a long, barbed scythe emerged, grabbing the shark.

This is...

At this moment, the large ice block slowly cracked open, and under the shattered ice, a shimmering, crystal-armored figure appeared.

This creature is over five meters long, and Lin is very familiar with it because it is the evolution of the ice crystal monster...

Lin initially did not understand the habits of the ice crystal monster, but through years of observation, she discovered that mature ice crystal monsters return to the crystalline land to reproduce, while young ones leave only after growing to a certain size.

The ice crystal monster's overall appearance has changed little, only growing larger and still covered in crystalline armor. Its front limbs have specialized into barbed scythes, and its head has grown two large eyes. There is no doubt that this creature has the ability to kill a shark in one strike.

In this era of hunting, Lin realized that the more relaxed way of life she once had is no longer suitable. She should have completely surrounded the shark to prevent it from being taken by others.

Now, the bullets may not be able to harm the ice crystal monster, so she must deploy the 'ace' that has been sleeping with her...

The ice crystal monster's mouth is a jagged opening filled with blades and saw-like pincers, capable of easily tearing apart a shark. However, even with its crystalline armor, the ice crystal monster has enemies. A large creature slowly swam over from a distance, attracted by the shark's corpse...

Its ancestor was a flatfish, but it evolved from a helmet fish, which in turn evolved from a flatfish. It is the largest creature in Lin's observation memory.

Ten meters long, this giant fish has a head covered in tough armor. Unlike the useless and cumbersome head armor of the helmet fish, its head armor has large, blade-like teeth at the end and is divided into upper and lower sections, allowing it to open and close to crush its prey.

It charged directly at the ice crystal monster and bit into the side of its crystalline armor. With a twist of its head, it easily tore off large pieces of shattered crystal armor.

Its powerful pressure can even crush the ice crystal monster's armor. The ice crystal monster dropped the shark and quickly escaped using its powerful water-jet propulsion.

Although the giant fish is strong, it is not fast. It had to give up on the ice crystal monster and eat the small shark instead.

What an interesting environment...

Lin realized that she had been mostly watching the show from start to finish, but she still gained a lot. Now, it's time to get serious and send it out to collect all the interesting things!

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PS: Don't worry about the different eras of some creatures~

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