Although I'm trying my best to see if I can write more words in a short period of time … I don't think it's possible for me to write 12,000 words …
…
Lin named the huge semicircular shield she had built a 'cell wall'. The cell wall was made up of three layers of cells. The outermost layer was called the 'cortex' by Lin. It was the thickest and most flexible layer. The inner layer was the 'cell wall'.
The two layers were called the middle layer and the inner wall. They were not as thick as the cortex, but if the cortex was damaged by certain factors, the inner wall would quickly harden to prevent any external threats from getting any closer.
But there was nothing that could threaten Lin now, so she began to build something on the outermost layer of the cortex.
It was a trap.
Lin began to use the cells to form some cylindrical structures on the cortex. These cylinders were hollow in the center and had an opening at the top. Some plaster was placed at the bottom as bait. The inner wall of the cylinders was covered with cone-shaped cells. As long as any cell was lured in, the cylinders would immediately squeeze inward and pierce the prey with countless sharp cones.
In addition to these deadly cylinders, there was also a tentacle-shaped structure. It was not as big as the giant tentacle in the center. They were smaller, slender structures made up of a small number of cells. These small tentacles were covered with needle-like cells that could shoot anything that came close.
Lin also discovered something interesting. Things that emitted light would also attract other cells. This was something she discovered by chance. Especially in the dark, a little light could attract a large number of cells. So Lin began to place the Flash Burst Ball at the end of some of the small tentacles to attract prey.
When night fell, the word 'beautiful' would appear in Lin's mind. On the cortex, a large number of small glittering tentacles swayed in the dark, attracting the cells that swam by. But the cells did not know that it was a terrible trap. As soon as they came into contact with the tentacles, they would be instantly killed by the poisonous needles of the cells.
Now, the needle-like cells knew how to shoot the needles according to the movements of Lin's cells, instead of randomly shooting them.
When night fell, Lin would rely on the deadly cylinders to attract prey. Those ignorant cells that were attracted to the white paste in the cylinders would be instantly crushed by the closed cylinders and the needles in the cylinders. Not a single cell could escape.
The giant tentacle in the center swallowed the cells that swam by in an instant, and then used the internal acid to decompose and melt the prey.
By relying on these traps, Lin was able to obtain a large amount of food other than the white paste. Since the foreign cells were unlimited, Lin's colony continued to grow …
Furthermore, ever since Lin learned how to combine her cells, she had never encountered an opponent that could threaten her. Later on, she had also encountered Crystal Fungi, Ghost Fog Fungi, and other opponents that she had encountered in the past, but Lin had easily crushed them all.
There was even one time when an incomparably huge slime worm floated onto Lin's skin. This slime worm was at least ten thousand times the size of Lin's basic cells, but Lin still managed to kill it with a large number of poisonous tentacles and huge tentacles.
The only problem was the virus. Because the tentacles that grew on the skin couldn't move, it was easy for the virus to attack them. However, the virus couldn't penetrate the skin, so even if a few of the tentacles were destroyed, Lin could immediately send an acid-injector to dissolve the virus.
As for the virus, Lin still kept a few infected ones that were dyed red, but Lin never let them exceed ten in number.
Countless nights had passed … Through constant hunting, Lin's colony had grown immensely. She began to feel that she was an invincible existence, because she had never seen any other type of cell that could combine as well as she could.
Lin's colony had now grown several times larger, the tentacles on her skin had also become denser and thicker. Lin no longer used the trap cylinders and instead relied solely on the tentacles, which she felt to be more effective.
Using the 'lifespan' strategy, Lin continuously replaced old cells to keep them in their most active state. However, there was one cell that Lin would never replace.
That was the Observer.
Even though her colony was now so large, Lin still only had a single cell that could see.
This cell was too small to observe the situation of the entire colony, so Lin needed a few larger vision holders.
Lin knew that the Observer's ability to see wasn't only because it had eaten a strange hard object, but also because of light.
Eyesight was mainly formed by absorbing light.
In other words, if Lin's other cells could also receive light, they should also be able to see.
But how was she supposed to do that?
That's right, she had to do it the same way as before. Lin had to combine a group of cells into a large cluster, then give them the ability to receive light and gain vision.
At first, it was a failure as the cluster of cells didn't react at all.
However, as soon as Lin fused the 'observer' into this cluster of cells, the cluster of cells began to undergo a miraculous change. The cells on the surface first changed their color and shape, while the cells on the inside also changed at the same time. However, they were completely different from the surface, as their bodies became thinner and formed a net-like structure.
Lin didn't control the evolution process. In fact, Lin had never controlled the evolution of her cells. At most, she only gave them the ability to 'evolve into what they should evolve into', while the more detailed process was something that the cells would do on their own.
Even Lin found this to be inconceivable.
Her cells were capable of doing certain things on their own. For example, when Lin ordered the Digger to attack an enemy, it would automatically twist its body and use the serrated teeth on its surface to cut through the enemy. Lin didn't need to carefully control how it twisted its body, the same went for the other cells as well, but for the Exploding Sphere, Lin had to control them to absorb water and self-destruct.
At first, Lin thought that her cells only knew how to perform simple actions on their own, but now, that didn't seem to be the case. They were capable of performing very complex actions.
Even though the cluster of cells had become so large, and Lin's intelligence had become much higher compared to before, Lin still couldn't understand it.
But why?
Lin couldn't see it with her current vision, but the cells were still constantly changing. The cells on the surface had begun to turn into hexagons, while the cells on the inside had changed from their previous net-like structure to a large sphere. The hexagonal cells on the surface seemed to have been inserted into this sphere.
Lin could sense their rate of change gradually slowing down, which meant that they were nearing completion. Lin also began to feel it.
Vision.
An even greater light poured into Lin's mind. It was the same vision as before, but unlike Lin's narrow vision from before, it was much wider this time. This was because Lin had used over 6000 cells to create this giant eye.
Because Lin was created in the water outside her cortex, she only needed to look down a little to see the dense, fluffy tentacles that she had created on her cortex.
However, this giant eye didn't have any muscles, so it couldn't move. Lin then combined a few tentacles together to form a larger tentacle, then connected this tentacle to the eye from behind.
This way, Lin only needed to move the tentacle to see in all directions, which was why Lin named this tentacle the eyeball tentacle.
Lin then separated the observer from the eyeball. Unless Lin's cells were completely fused together like the cells on her cortex, they could also be separated after being combined.
After Lin's observer was separated, the eyeball still retained its vision. This time, Lin could finally see what the so-called eye actually looked like.
Two different images appeared in Lin's mind, but Lin didn't feel anything out of place. She was still able to clearly observe all the details of the two images.
The surface of the giant eyeball looked like it was made of a large number of hexagonal crystals. Lin didn't expect her cells to be able to take such a shape, but other than that, there wasn't anything special about it.
Regardless of whether Lin's cells were combined or single, they would normally be transparent except for their core. However, this eyeball was a bit grey, so she couldn't see its internal structure clearly.
This was also the first time Lin had seen her observer's appearance. The observer's body was the same as its basic cells, but there was a crystal-like sphere on its outer membrane.
That was probably the hard object that it ate at the time, right?
Lin didn't know why it was able to gain vision from this object, and Lin had never seen anything like it again.
… But why? Even though the community was so large, there were still many questions that Lin didn't understand.
In short, since it succeeded, let it continue to grow.
The word 'future' appeared in Lin's mind.
What would the future be like?