Capítulo 93: Chapter 93
Many days and nights had passed since Lin started researching the Silver Beetle.
In the Dark Plains, a large cavern with a diameter of three meters was located at the edge of the river. Several large desert scorpions were lying beside the cavern, seemingly asleep while enjoying the warm sunlight that penetrated through the twisted trees.
These desert scorpions that Lin had picked up before had grown to two meters long. Although they no longer clung to the Leviathan, they would still help Lin guard her nest.
The green carpet radiated outwards from the entrance of the cave. The green structure covered an area with a radius of 50 meters. Every 5 to 10 meters, there would be a half-meter tall 'turret' erected. The turret's body was made of stone, and at the top of the turret was a cannon that could rotate 360 degrees. Inside, there was a complete set of 'explosives' that could be used to attack any enemy that tried to invade the green carpet! At the same time, there were some vein-like tubes that were connected to the green carpet to obtain nutrients.
For the vast Dark Plains, the green carpet's range was not very large. It could even be considered rather small because it required a considerable amount of crystals to fill the green carpet.
The green carpet had many small tubes that connected into the cavern. They extended all the way to the spot where the crystals were excavated and connected to a structure similar to a food bag. This way, the newly excavated crystals could be placed into the food bag and transported to the green carpet outside through the tubes.
Lin's excavation system was much larger than the Green Carpet's. There was a main tunnel that led to the underground of the Glittering Woodland. The main tunnel branched into countless smaller tunnels. Lin had created a type of unit called the 'Engineer', responsible for excavating and collecting the crystals in the soil. They were located about ten to twenty meters above the ground, and there were quite a lot of crystal fragments here.
Aside from the development of the green carpet, Lin also had a dedicated hunting squad. They were usually located in the cavern and would hunt for suitable prey in the vicinity. However, the source of nutrients they hunted was not as stable as the green carpet.
Lin had thought of feeding on the twisted trees that were everywhere around her, but she found that the twisted trees could not be digested at all. They combined into a substance called 'wood', which could not be broken down by ordinary dissolving liquids.
This was interesting. No wonder Lin had never seen any creature eating these tree trunks. Lin also began to try to break down the components inside. If she could create it herself, it would be quite a good feeling.
Right now, Lin mainly relied on hunting to obtain nutrients. Lin had already come up with a hunting method that consumed the least amount of energy while obtaining the most benefits.
During the day, the Glittering Forest was not as bright as the night. However, this did not affect the movement of other creatures. Some salamanders were chewing on moss in the open space of the forest.
Lin called these reptiles' Moss Salamanders'. Lin had recently discovered these half-meter long salamanders. They would appear at the beginning of the day, when the weather was humid, to feed on moss.
Salamanders have good eyesight. They are always looking up to make sure there is no danger around them. But they are completely unaware that a small hunter is lurking in the twisted tree trunk above them.
This soldier was oval-shaped like a cyst. It was only about 15 centimeters in size and had the ability to change color. It climbed up the tree trunk with its small thorny legs. It had been biting off the bark and wood below it. It was not to eat them, but to swallow them into its body. Then, it would use the shell material to glue them back together, forming the shape of a spike.
This spike would protrude from the muzzle on its back. It could use the combined explosive and pressure system in its body to shoot out the spike.
This soldier was called a 'Sniper'. The new explosive system in its body could increase the range of its cannon to tens or even hundreds of meters.
The Sniper also had excellent eyesight to increase its hit rate.
Right now, it was staring at the salamanders below.
The structure of endoskeleton creatures was quite interesting. They were only willing to surround their brains with a layer of hard shell called the 'cranium'. Most of their other important organs were only separated by a layer of flesh. This structure and the fact that they could not use hydraulics put them at a disadvantage when fighting against arthropods.
'Bang!'
With a loud sound, the spike shot out at an extremely fast speed. In an instant, it pierced through the body of a salamander and pierced its heart.
In this short moment, the Sniper had succeeded in its hunt. What was even more powerful was that the spike was mixed with a powerful dissolving liquid that could dissolve the heart, muscles, and nerves of the salamanders. The surrounding salamanders did not even notice that their comrade was dead.
… Even the salamander itself did not notice until it stopped breathing and fell on the moss.
The Sniper was a very successful hunter. However, its entire body was made up of firing organs, so it moved very slowly and was very weak. Lin would use another soldier to retrieve the body.
The Nest Carrier was a round soldier with a diameter of more than one meter. It lay on the tree like the Sniper. When the Sniper killed its target, it would open the shell on its back and release a large number of Mad Bees. The Mad Bees could gnaw the salamander into bones in a short period of time and bring back nutrients.
At the same time, the Mad Bees released by the Nest Carrier could be used to protect the Sniper from being attacked by other creatures.
The Sniper could easily kill all kinds of creatures, and the Mad Bees could decompose food very quickly. With the combination of these two types of soldiers, Lin could hunt in a very efficient way and obtain a large amount of nutrients to create more troops.
After obtaining a certain amount of nutrients, Lin would deploy more Snipers and Nest Carriers to a larger area. At the same time, the Green Carpet would also begin to spread, allowing Lin to slowly expand her territory.
However, Lin would not stay in a single place like before. In the past, the Green Carpet at the bottom of the sea covered several hundred kilometers, but it still couldn't escape from the disaster. No matter how prosperous the Twisted Jungle was now, Lin would not completely rely on it. Because of this, Lin needed more and a larger base, but that would also require a more efficient method of travel.
Relying on the dragonfly's method of flight would not allow heavy objects to fly. Lin was preparing to create a large flyer, its main purpose would be to search for the aerial jellyfish. Lin believed that only they would be able to provide her with a newer and more powerful method of flight. However, she still hadn't decided on the size of this large flyer.
The development of the base was slowly but steadily progressing, but Lin's exploration was another matter altogether.
Lin's army had set off a few days ago. They were made up of various types of soldiers, including hive carriers, hunters, and snipers who brought along the Berserk Bee Swarm.
The Snipers usually lay on the back of the Nest Carriers. Their mobility was very poor, but they could rotate their bodies to aim at targets in various directions.
There were very few Nest Carriers, only three of them. This was because when Lin successfully created them, it was already time for the team to set off, so Lin didn't want to wait too long.
The Hunters were the most numerous, and they acted as guards on both sides of the team. Their route was always heading north, their main task was to explore new species or find a suitable location to construct a new base. Because Lin felt that digging up crystals was too troublesome, she wanted to find a clearing in the forest where she could directly lay down the Green Carpet.
Excluding the Mad Bees inside the Nest Carriers, this unit had a total of 100 members. They moved through the bottom layer of the Twisted Jungle, their goal was the depths of the Dark Plains. Due to the low amount of crystals in the soil here, there wasn't much moss, and the ground was usually covered by scattered branches. Because there weren't any creatures that could digest wood, the branches were piling up more and more.
There weren't many branches in the Glittering Jungle, but Lin didn't notice any moss that could digest wood. Why was that? Lin didn't really care about this, so she didn't investigate it.
Moving through the bottom layer of the Twisted Jungle, Lin had seen quite a variety of biological communities.
Right now, Lin was observing one of these species …
The unit stopped moving and hid behind a pile of branches or tree trunks, allowing the Mad Bees released by the Nest Carriers to observe.
Up ahead was the target that Lin was looking for, a small clearing in the Twisted Jungle. Although it wasn't big, it was still over a hundred meters in radius. There were no Twisted Trees here, so it was directly illuminated by the Light of Day, so it was full of small plants. These plants weren't moss, they were over ten centimeters tall and were called 'ferns'.
And there was a creature that was nibbling on these ferns.
These creatures were huge, with a body length of over 4 meters. Their oval bodies were covered with a square-shaped carapace, and they moved their thick limbs to scoop up and chew on the ferns on the ground.
They were probably beetles, but they didn't look like normal beetles. They looked more like trilobites, and if they were really the evolved form of trilobites, then their carapace might be quite hard.
Let's call them 'Scaled Beetles'.
Lin had a Hunter carry a Sniper on his back, and had them change their color to mimic the ferns', and slowly walked into the clearing.
The Sniper's wooden 'ammunition' was suitable for soft targets, and Lin had also specially made a type of ammunition that was made of hard shell material. This type of ammunition was called 'armor-piercing' and was used to attack hard targets. But this was the first time Lin had tested this type of ammunition.
The Sniper assembled the armor-piercing bullet in his body and aimed at the nearest Scaled Beetle.
The Scaled Beetle was eating the ferns, completely unaware of the Sniper and the Hunter's approach.
'Bang!'
With a loud sound, the armor-piercing bullet hit the side of the Scaled Beetle's body, hitting the gap between two of its scales!
…
Thank you ~ Ahhh ~ 588 ~!
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder