Chapter 91

In the midst of cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

The captured hunter is now located in the second layer of the Twisted Jungle, which Lin named. At the bottom of the forest, there is a vast area with luminescent moss, soil, and plant debris. The second layer, however, is a whole new world. By flying up about ten meters along the trunk of the twisted tree, one can reach it. The environment here is filled with thick, twisted trunks that crisscross like countless writhing tentacles, growing without any discernible pattern. This place is completely shrouded in darkness at night, with no light reaching this position.

In this dark and complex environment, the flyer's abdomen glowed as it flew toward the target location deep within. Here, all that could be seen were twisted trunks, the thinnest of which were at least one meter wide, allowing the hunters to crawl on them. However, for Leviathan, it would be impossible.

The captured hunter had already been eaten 30% by the predator. The way the hunter was consumed was by chewing with sharp teeth, seemingly without the secretion of any dissolving fluid.

What kind of creature could it be? It might be a creature Lin knows, like a cockroach. Some cockroaches are small scavengers, but the largest among them are the most powerful predators Lin has seen in this forest so far.

Only by seeing it will we know.

The flyer quickly flew along the trunk, heading toward the source of Lin's pain. In the darkness, occasionally a small flying insect would approach, flutter a few times, and then quickly disappear.

Lin did not see any large creatures. At this moment, it was already approaching the location of the creature.

Hmm? The pain from being gnawed has stopped?

Lin felt that the captured hunter had already been eaten halfway, but the consumption had stopped, and the hunter was thrown aside.

What a waste. However, if other creatures had too many fat cells, it would affect their overall mobility. Lin, even when energy-saturated, could solidify food into a ball for storage, as it would kill all approaching decomposers, ensuring the food never rots.

However, this is an opportunity. Lin might be able to defeat the creature with the remaining hunter.

Lin immediately began to solidify the wound area of the hunter, stopping the blood flow and preventing other bacteria from entering. At the same time, the internal structure began to undergo drastic changes.

First, the cells and organs began to dissolve, allowing the basic cells to absorb the nutrients and start proliferating non-stop. These basic cells then began to form countless new creatures.

The hunter had been eaten down to the abdomen, which is the largest part of its body, providing enough space and nutrients for Lin to completely restructure it.

The basic cells, through deformation and combination, quickly synthesized a group of new creatures. Lin designed them based on a common, rather fierce small flying insect in the vicinity, naming them 'Mad Bees.'

Now, the flyer outside had also found the location of the hunter. On a thick tree trunk, there was a tree hole about one meter in diameter. The cave was very shallow, and Lin only saw the hunter that had been eaten halfway, with no other creatures nearby.

Did it leave? Judging by the size of the cave, the creature should not be large, likely a cockroach.

This sound is...

The flyer heard a crawling sound nearby. Not far away, a creature with a carapace climbed up the tree trunk. It was about one meter long, and under the light of the flyer, its carapace shimmered with a silver glow.

What is it? It's some kind of beetle, but this color... it seems to be an unknown species. Let's call it a 'Silver Beetle.'

The Silver Beetle climbed along the twisted trunk into the tree hole. Its antennae waved, as if it was searching for something. Eventually, it focused on the remaining carcass of the hunter and began to gnaw on it.

From this, it seems it is not the original inhabitant of the tree hole, but rather followed the scent here.

Forget it, let's get rid of it first.

The Silver Beetle gnawed a large hole in the remaining abdomen of the hunter. Normally, this would cause a lot of blood to flow out, but it got nothing. As the beetle was puzzled and waving its antennae, countless creatures suddenly surged out of the hole it had bitten!

The Mad Bees were only about two centimeters in size but were in large numbers. They could attack with their blade-like mandibles and, like the flying species of Aztec bugs, spray a large amount of acid from their abdomens.

The Silver Beetle seemed to be encountering this phenomenon for the first time and was somewhat stunned. Before it could react, the Mad Bees had already covered its entire body.

The teeth of the Mad Bees were designed to deal with soft targets. For such a heavily armored target, they needed to use dissolving fluid. All arthropods have some breathing holes, which are the remnants of their gills that have evolved away.

The Mad Bees found some holes on the sides of the Silver Beetle's carapace. Just as Lin was about to have them spray acid inside, the Silver Beetle's abdomen suddenly swelled up, and it sprayed a large amount of liquid before Lin could act.

'Boom!' When the Silver Beetle erupted, there was a loud noise. Lin immediately felt that the Mad Bees blocking the spray holes were hit by a high-temperature liquid and were thrown away by the impact.

Lin quickly had the Mad Bees scatter and sent some to find those that had been hit. Lin soon found their bodies around the tree hole. These Mad Bees were almost completely melted, and their remains were covered with a layer of black liquid, which was still smoking.

This is... a cannon attack?

Lin found it incredible. The Silver Beetle's attack method was very similar to Leviathan's cannon attack, compressing some energy inside and then erupting it.

Moreover, the beetle was not shooting explosive projectiles but a high-temperature dissolving fluid.

How did these creatures evolve to such a degree? It's hard to imagine. Not to mention how it stores such high-temperature liquid inside its body, even the cannon attack method is something Lin has never seen in any other creature besides itself. The impact force is also extremely powerful, much stronger than the usual pressure spray method.

Lin could not let it go and had to capture it for dissection. Although Lin can combine various units, it also relies heavily on learning from other creatures.

'Boom!' The Silver Beetle sprayed a large amount of liquid from its sides, targeting the swarm of Mad Bees in the tree hole. Dozens of Mad Bees fell, and the high-temperature dissolving fluid instantly destroyed their body structures, turning them into pieces of debris.

Faced with such powerful firepower, the Mad Bees did not retreat but advanced again. They surrounded the Silver Beetle, spraying dissolving fluid and looking for any position to bite. Lin spared no effort to try to kill this beetle.

However, the Silver Beetle's armor was exceptionally tough. It seemed to have a strong resistance to acid due to its habit of spraying high-temperature acid. The Mad Bees' attacks were completely ineffective. After several cannon attacks, the original thousand or so Mad Bees were reduced to less than a hundred.

The remaining Mad Bees could no longer pose a threat, and the Silver Beetle found it difficult to hit them. So it ignored the remaining Mad Bees and started eating the fallen Mad Bee remains around it.

What to do? If the Mad Bees are ineffective, only other units or Leviathan can handle it, but it might be too late now.

The Silver Beetle ate very quickly. After eating the remains, it crawled out of the tree hole.

Lin had the Mad Bees and the glowing flyer immediately follow. The Silver Beetle crawled along the twisted and complex tree trunk for a while and then suddenly stopped, lying still.

Lin's Mad Bees flew around its head a few times, but the Silver Beetle showed no reaction.

Is it resting? It seems it doesn't have a nest and just sleeps wherever it is.

However... this is perfect, as the Silver Beetle's resting position is right above Leviathan's cave.

Although Leviathan is too heavy to climb up, as long as the beetle goes down, it will be fine.

Leviathan emerged from the cave, and Lin extended its eye tentacles to look up, faintly seeing the light emitted by the flyer among the twisted tree trunks.

The distance is about thirty meters...

Leviathan constructed a long, flexible cell filament inside its body, with a barbed tip. The length was just enough to reach the Silver Beetle above.

Aiming the cannon at the target, with the pressure of the air, Leviathan shot the barbed filament out!

Leviathan could not shoot the barbed filament up such a high distance, and such a thin filament could not penetrate the Silver Beetle's armor. So Lin made some special modifications.

The barbed filament had small wings attached. Even without the momentum from the cannon, it could still fly a considerable distance. The winged barbed filament flew to the Silver Beetle on the tree trunk, reaching its mouth and poking its closed mandibles.

After poking dozens of times, the Silver Beetle finally woke up. It bit the barbed filament and swallowed it without thinking.

Hooked!

After confirming that the barbed filament had hooked onto the soft tissue inside the Silver Beetle's mouth, Leviathan immediately pulled hard, instantly pulling the beetle down from the tree!

…………………………………………………………

Thank you to ~godmorgan~ for the support!

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