Chapter 7

The amoeba seemed to sense that it was surrounded by a large number of cells, and it extended numerous tentacles around its body, preparing to counterattack.

The diggers' offensive power was not as strong as that of the conical cells, but they numbered over seven hundred. Relying on their serrated fronts, they could also tear through the amoeba's outer membrane.

Tactics... planning...

Apart from the observer cells, Lin had every cell join the battle. While observing, countless thoughts flashed through her mind.

The amoeba's tentacles stretched out, instantly sucking away dozens of diggers. Seeing this, Lin immediately ordered the other diggers and conical cells to surround the tentacle, using their serrated edges to cut it in half and save some of the cells that hadn't been completely sucked in.

At the same time, the wounds sawed into the amoeba's body by the diggers and conical cells were sprayed with large amounts of dissolving fluid by the acid injectors.

The amoeba's outer membrane seemed to have developed some resistance to the dissolving fluid, but the direct injection into the wounds caused it immense pain. It twisted its body, seemingly deciding not to continue devouring Lin's cells but to integrate its body into a large oval shape.

The amoeba's body floated up, as if it intended to escape. Its body swayed in wave-like motions, starting to swim away.

Kill.

Watching the escaping amoeba, Lin's thoughts were simple.

The diggers and conical cells used their sharp serrated edges to pierce the amoeba's body, anchoring themselves to the fleeing amoeba. They continuously wriggled, creating numerous wounds on the amoeba's body.

The amoeba writhed desperately, trying to shake off the cells on its body. This was indeed effective, as many cells were thrown off and, with their speed, could not catch up to the amoeba.

Lin then ordered these cells to eat the fragments of the amoeba's body that had been sawed off, while the cells still attached to the amoeba continued their attack.

Until the last cell was also shaken off.

The amoeba left countless fragments along its escape route, all of which had been sawed off by Lin's cells. However, the amoeba was so large that it seemed impossible to kill it entirely. When the last cell was shaken off, the amoeba still retained over 70% of its body, far from being critically injured.

But those 30% of fragments were enough to sustain Lin's cells for a long time.

Lin let the cells eat the fragments of the amoeba while thinking.

The amoeba's body, though deformable, was very fragile. However, due to its enormous size, it was extremely difficult to deal with.

In this battle, she had lost almost half of her cells, making it a costly endeavor.

Lin should have retreated earlier, but each cell lost meant a decrease in her intelligence, preventing her from making timely and correct decisions.

At this moment, Lin suddenly had an idea: how to increase her size?

Her cells would grow slightly after eating a lot of food, but they would split and not continue to grow indefinitely.

If there were a giant cell, it could be used for combat. If it were a conical cell as large as the amoeba, or even half its size, it could easily tear the amoeba apart.

What should she do?

Perhaps the amoeba could help solve her problem.

Lin looked at the cells eating the fragments of the amoeba's body, thinking.

Since the acid injectors evolved after eating the strange cells' dissolving fluid, eating the amoeba might cause some changes.

...It hurts!

A sudden sensation interrupted Lin's thoughts.

From the observer's perspective, Lin saw a conical cell eating fragments slowly sink into the water. Lin had lost all feeling from it.

Dead?

How did it die?

In Lin's memory, there was only a moment of pain. If it were a viral attack, it would have been a prolonged pain. If it were attacked by another cell, Lin would have seen it, but there was nothing visible here.

Only a slowly sinking corpse.

New danger...

Then, another similar moment of pain.

Another cell sank.

Unknown danger...

Lin sensed something was wrong and ordered all cells to stop eating the fragments and gather around the observer, forming a protective circle. The observer surveyed all the cells, trying to find the source of the danger.

This time, Lin saw it, an unprecedented danger...

In the area covered with amoeba fragments, a strange, indescribable thing was growing in the water. It shimmered with a bright light, continuously growing in the water. It first extended countless tentacles, which then sprouted countless smaller tentacles. These smaller tentacles connected and merged, transforming the entire area of water into a similar, bright, luminous object.

The tentacles extending from this thing were not as soft as the amoeba's but were hard and solid. They continued to grow without wriggling, covering a large area of water in front of Lin's cell cluster, about to reach this side.

This phenomenon...

A new term appeared in Lin's thoughts.

Freezing, ice crystals.

This bright, crystal-blue thing is called 'ice'! And its continuous growth is freezing the water!

Moreover, the freezing speed was extremely fast. By the time Lin thought about it, the ice crystals had already spread to her cell cluster.

As soon as the cells touched the continuously spreading ice crystals, they were instantly frozen solid. Lin felt a moment of pain and then lost the sensation from that cell.

Was this the cause of the previous momentary pain?

Although she knew the cause, Lin had no way to deal with the freezing phenomenon. Even the acid injectors' dissolving fluid would freeze into a solid upon being sprayed.

Moreover, the freezing spread very quickly, and Lin could not escape.

Unable to counterattack.

Unable to escape.

So she could only wait.

Wait for luck to come, or... death.

Lin had the cells gather together to prevent the observer from being frozen. After all, she only had this cell with vision, and having vision gave her the confidence to survive.

The ice crystals continued to spread, and Lin's cells were frozen one by one. She lost sensation from them, feeling her surroundings becoming smaller and smaller, and a clear sensation of pain... cold.

Numerous cells surrounded the observer, but they seemed unable to stop the freezing. The cold ice crystals froze cell after cell, and the freezing force spread within the cells, stopping the entire cell nucleus from functioning.

Lin's cells, which numbered over five hundred, continued to decrease until only a hundred remained... then dropped to single digits.

At this moment, the continuous pain in Lin's thoughts suddenly disappeared, but the sensation of cold remained.

The freezing seemed to have stopped. Why?

Lin looked around and found that only 91 digger cells remained, surrounding her observer.

But they had resisted the spread of the freezing.