Chapter 93

After Lin's research on the silver beetle, many days and nights had passed...

In the Dark Plain, a large cave with a diameter of about three meters was located by the river at the boundary. Several giant desert scorpions were sprawled beside the cave, seemingly basking in the warm sunlight that penetrated through the twisted trees, while taking a nap.

These desert scorpions, which Lin had once picked up, had grown to over two meters long. Although they no longer clung to Leviathan, they still helped Lin guard the nest.

A green carpet spread out from the cave entrance, covering an area of nearly fifty meters in diameter. Every five to ten meters, a half-meter-high 'cannon' stood, with a body made of stone and a 360-degree rotating barrel at the top. Inside, there was a complete set of 'explosive' structures, ready to attack any enemy that invaded the green carpet. It also had some pipe-like structures similar to blood vessels, connecting to the green carpet to receive nutrients.

For the vast Dark Plain, the range of the green carpet was not large, even quite small, as it required a considerable amount of crystals to cover it.

Many small tubes connected the green carpet to the inside of the cave, extending to the crystal mining site, where they connected to a structure similar to a food sac. This way, newly mined crystals could be placed in the food sac and transported to the green carpet through the tubes.

Lin's mining system was even more extensive than the green carpet, with a main tunnel leading to the underground of the Flashing Woods. This main tunnel branched out into countless smaller tunnels, and Lin had created a species called 'workers' to dig and collect crystals from the soil. They were located about ten to twenty meters underground, where there were many crystal fragments.

In addition to the development of the green carpet, Lin also had a specialized hunting force. They usually stayed in the cave and would go out to hunt when suitable prey was found nearby, though the nutrient source from hunting was not as stable as that from the green carpet.

Lin had considered eating the twisted trees around, but found that they could not be digested. They were composed of a substance called 'wood,' which could not be broken down by the usual solvents.

This was quite interesting, no wonder Lin had rarely seen any creatures eating these tree trunks. Lin began to try to decompose the components inside, thinking it would be nice if she could produce them herself.

Currently, Lin mainly obtained nutrients through hunting and had devised a hunting method that required the least effort for the most gain.

During the daytime, the Flashing Woods were even less bright than at night, but this did not affect the movement of other creatures. Some salamanders were chewing on moss in the clearings of the forest.

Lin called these reptiles 'moss salamanders.' These half-meter-long salamanders were a recent discovery, appearing in the early, more humid part of the day to feed on moss.

The moss salamanders had excellent vision, always looking around to confirm there was no danger, but they did not notice the small hunter lurking on the twisted tree trunk above them.

This species had an oval body, about fifteen centimeters long, with the ability to change color. It clung to the tree trunk with small, hooked legs, constantly gnawing on the bark and wood. It did not eat them but crushed them and swallowed them, then used chitin to reattach them, forming a sharp spike.

The spike would extend from the cannon on its back, and it could use a dual system of explosives and pressure to launch the spike at high speed.

This species was called a 'sniper,' and its new explosive system allowed the projectile to reach a range of several dozen to even a hundred meters!

The sniper also had excellent vision to improve its accuracy.

It was now focusing on the moss salamanders below...

The structure of endoskeletal creatures was quite interesting. They only protected their brains with a hard shell called a 'skull,' while most other important organs and skin were separated by only a layer of flesh. This structure and the inability to use hydraulic systems put them at a disadvantage against arthropods.

'Boom!'

With a loud sound, the spike shot out at an extremely fast speed, instantly piercing through the body of a moss salamander, hitting its heart precisely.

In that brief moment, the sniper successfully hunted, and more powerfully, the spike was coated with a strong solvent that could dissolve the salamander's heart muscles and nerves. The surrounding moss salamanders did not even notice that their companion was dead...

...until it stopped breathing and fell onto the moss.

The sniper was a highly successful hunter, but its body was almost entirely composed of firing organs, making it slow and vulnerable. Lin would use another species to recover the corpses.

The nest carriers, these round-bodied species with a diameter of over a meter, also clung to trees. When the snipers hunted, they would open their shells and release a large swarm of mad bees, which could quickly devour an entire salamander and bring the nutrients back.

At the same time, the mad bees released by the nest carriers could protect the snipers from attacks by other creatures.

The snipers could easily hunt various creatures, and the mad bees could decompose food at an extremely fast rate. With this combination, Lin could hunt very efficiently, obtaining a large amount of nutrients and creating more troops.

After obtaining a certain amount of nutrients, Lin would deploy more snipers and nest carriers in a larger area, and the green carpet would also begin to spread. Lin slowly expanded her territory in this way.

But Lin would not stay in one place like before. Even the green carpet that once covered hundreds of kilometers could not escape the disaster. No matter how prosperous this twisted forest was, Lin would not completely rely on it. Therefore, Lin needed more and larger bases, but that required a more efficient means of travel.

The flight method of dragonflies could not lift heavy objects, so Lin was preparing to create a giant flyer. Its main purpose was to find those air jellyfish, which Lin believed could provide her with a new and more powerful means of flight. However, the exact size of this giant flyer had not yet been decided.

The base was developing slowly and steadily, but Lin's exploration was a different matter.

A few days and nights ago, a force set out, composed of various species, including nest carriers with mad bee swarms, hunters, and snipers.

The snipers usually clung to the backs of the nest carriers, as they had poor mobility but could rotate their bodies to aim at targets in all directions.

There were only three nest carriers, as Lin had successfully created them just before the team set out, and she did not want to wait too long.

The hunters were the most numerous, positioned on both sides of the team as guards. Their route was northward, with the main task of exploring new species or finding suitable locations for new bases. Lin found digging for crystals too troublesome, so she wanted to find open areas in the forest where she could directly spread the green carpet.

Excluding the mad bees inside the nest carriers, the team numbered about a hundred. They moved through the lower levels of the twisted forest, heading for the depths of the Dark Plain. The land here, with fewer crystals, had little moss, and the ground was usually covered with scattered branches, which piled up because no creatures could digest the wood.

The Flashing Woods had few branches, but Lin had not discovered that moss could digest wood, and she did not care much about this, so she did not research it.

Moving through the lower levels of the forest, Lin observed a rich variety of biological communities.

Now, Lin was observing a species...

The team stopped moving, hiding behind piles of branches or tree trunks, with the mad bees released by the nest carriers conducting the observation.

Ahead was the target Lin was looking for, a small clearing in the forest. Although not large, it was about a hundred meters in diameter. Without the obstruction of twisted trees, it was directly illuminated by the daylight, and a type of small plant, about ten centimeters tall, called 'ferns,' grew there.

A species was feeding on these ferns.

These creatures were large, over four meters long, with oval bodies covered in square plates. They moved on thick, jointed legs, scooping up and chewing the ferns.

They might be a type of beetle, but they did not look like typical beetles. They resembled trilobites, and if they were indeed evolved trilobites, their shells might be quite hard.

Let's call them 'scale beetles.'

Lin had a hunter carry a sniper on its back, and they changed to mimic the color of the ferns, slowly entering the forest clearing...

The wooden 'ammunition' of the sniper was suitable for soft targets, but Lin had also specially created ammunition made of high-hardness chitin, called 'armor-piercing rounds,' for hard targets. This was the first time Lin was testing this type of ammunition.

The sniper combined the armor-piercing round inside its body and aimed at the nearest scale beetle.

The scale beetle was eating the ferns, completely unaware that the camouflaged hunter carrying the sniper was approaching.

'Boom!'

With a loud sound, the armor-piercing round hit the side of the scale beetle at high speed, precisely hitting the gap between two scales!

...

Thank you, Aqi, for the 588!

Thank you, Soul Seeker, Silent Mole, and Godmorgan, for the donations!

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