Chapter 8

The cold was the only message in this body of water.

Lin’s acid-secreting cells and conical cells had all perished in the spreading ice, leaving only 91 excavators alive, which formed a circle to protect Lin’s observer from the cold.

Outside this circle, it was already a world of ice. Through the transparent bodies of the excavators, Lin could see that, unlike the previously deep blue liquid water, it was now a still, crystalline expanse.

Lin’s colony suffered heavy losses under this seemingly beautiful crystalline surface. Although it was unclear how the excavators managed to avoid freezing, Lin no longer wanted to stay here.

Lin instructed the excavators to start moving, trying to find a way out.

Some of the excavators were stuck to the ice, but they could easily detach with a slight twist.

These excavators seemed to have evolved. Previously, any cell that touched the ice would instantly freeze, but they were much better off now.

However, when they moved, Lin could clearly feel the cold sensation as the cell membranes touched the ice crystals...

This seemed to be a kind of pain, but different from ordinary pain. It didn’t create a strong desire to escape the discomfort; instead, it made Lin feel like curling up and not moving at all.

However, this sensation did not affect Lin’s activities.

This area was frozen, and the only remaining swimmable water was the small patch where Lin’s 92 cells were located. All the surrounding water had turned into impassable ice.

Perhaps they could dig through it?

Lin tried to have the excavators use their surface serrations to scrape the ice crystals, but this only produced some ice chips and was of no help. Breaking through the ice that had frozen the entire body of water was almost impossible.

Lin didn’t know what to do.

The significant reduction in the colony’s size had greatly diminished Lin’s intelligence, making it unable to think about complex matters.

In reality, even if Lin had the wisdom of over a thousand colonies, it would still be helpless in this situation. At such times, one could only wait.

For luck or death.

After an unknown amount of time, although Lin knew the word "time," it didn’t understand the concept, but it could feel the effects of time.

First came... hunger.

Lin felt hunger for the first time. There seemed to be a sense in its thoughts, urging it to find food to replenish the energy lost from activity.

Lin instructed the excavators to stop sawing through the ice layer and reduce activity to minimize energy loss. It understood this knowledge.

However, not moving didn’t mean pausing; the cells continued to consume energy, albeit much more slowly than when they were active.

Lin continued to wait, doing what every organism should do: when it couldn’t do anything, it stopped activity and waited for something it could do to appear.

During the wait, a few excavators ran out of energy. This was a special kind of pain, different from other pains. When energy was depleted, the cell membrane and nucleus would slowly shrink, becoming dry and small, and eventually die.

Lin had the other cells consume the bodies of the energy-depleted cells. Their deaths bought more time for the other cells.

The phenomenon of starving to death gave rise to new thoughts in Lin’s mind.

Each time the cells ate, they quickly digested and then divided, rapidly consuming the energy they had obtained.

But what if there was a way to store energy? If there was a way to store large amounts of energy within the cells, they wouldn’t have to fear such situations again.

Lin thought of a new word... fat.

Although it didn’t understand the detailed meaning, the word seemed to represent stored food.

So, the next time, it would definitely try to see if it could store food.

If it could survive and get out...

With this thought, Lin remained motionless, all cells floating quietly in the water.

The cold was eroding Lin’s will, and the sensation of cold made Lin increasingly want to sleep forever...

But Lin wouldn’t give up. Although the wait was long, luck would eventually come...

Lin’s observer cell noticed a crack appearing in the ice layer in front of it.

Warmth, Lin felt a sensation different from the cold. This feeling of rebirth awakened every cell in Lin’s body. Lin noticed that the cracks in the ice were increasing...

Under Lin’s watch, these ice crystals slowly shattered and broke into countless large ice blocks, which began to shrink slowly, like food being digested. They became smaller and smaller, then completely disappeared in the water...

These ice crystals had appeared out of nowhere, freezing everything, and then vanished instantly. If it weren’t for the ice crystal fragments still floating around, Lin would almost feel as if none of this had ever happened.

Lin’s cells, including the observer, had 77 left. They had survived this crisis.

They had developed strong cold resistance. Although this disaster had almost wiped out Lin’s colony, Lin had become stronger.

Lin’s current priority was to find everything it could eat to restore the original colony. The cells had become slow and fragile due to the loss of a large amount of energy.

Lin’s colony swam in the water. Although most of the ice had dissolved, the water was still cold. Lin reached the large food source it had encountered before, only to find that a layer of ice had formed on the white food, as if the cold had affected this area as well.

Lin instructed the excavators to try to dig through the ice layer on the food. However, no matter how they twisted, they could only saw off some ice chips and could not effectively damage the ice layer.

Why hasn’t the ice here melted, and it’s so hard...

Lin didn’t know the reason, but it felt the area becoming cold again. The ice fragments floating in the water seemed to be getting larger.

Perhaps this area will freeze again.

After this thought appeared in Lin’s mind, it immediately led all the cells away. Lin didn’t want to experience that situation again.

Lin’s only hope was to return to the endless deep blue, to find new food and a warm new place.

Warmth...

Lin felt it and swam in that direction. The water there was no longer cold but comfortably warm.

Right, this direction is where the amoeba had escaped.

The cell cluster swam for a short while, and Lin spotted the amoeba. This giant creature had not escaped the freezing crisis either. It was covered in ice, its massive body floating slowly in the water, lifeless.

Although it was now warming up and beginning to thaw, it seemed it would never wake up again.

Lin instructed the excavators to approach. The ice on the amoeba’s body was very fragile and easily broken. The excavators easily sawed through it, exposing the still soft body of the amoeba to Lin.

Eat.

This was Lin’s only thought.

The excavators began to feast on the amoeba’s body. They used the old method of cutting off countless fragments with their serrations and slowly eating them. After replenishing energy, the cold damage to the cells began to disappear, and they became vibrant again.

Then came division. The number of surviving excavators began to slowly increase.

But Lin didn’t forget the previous thought.

It wanted to store energy. Lin needed something called fat to ensure that the cells could survive for long periods without food.

There was one more thing.

Lin hoped to regain the acid-secreting cells and conical cells that had completely disappeared during the freezing crisis.