Laws of the Insect Hive

Was it killed by a fallen tree branch?

For the weak bugs, the forest is full of all kinds of dangers, and two months ago a worker ant was crushed to death by a huge dead branch covered with snow.

But last time there were more than ten ants that were hit at the same time. It is obviously not realistic to kill five ants at the same time in the soft snow.

Something out of the ordinary must have happened.

Asking Black to inform the ants in the ant's nest not to go out, System decided to take Shava to go outside to find out why the ants were missing.

However, when System found Shava, he found Shava eating.

There are so-called advantages and disadvantages. Although Shava has turned into a half-knight and can attack smoothly with two weapons, her current head is very difficult to eat.

The food that used to be eaten in three or two bites, now Shava has to eat for a long time, which has become the biggest obstacle to her growth.

Sometimes watching Shava eating, System would even have strange thoughts.

Fortunately, the knight in the knight image for Shawa was not fully armed.

Otherwise, Shava turns into a complete knight helmet after the second chrysalis, and Shava with a complete knight visor will probably starve to death because she cannot eat.

...

System felt that Shava would need at least another hour to eat.

Without disturbing Shava who was eating, System decided to go outside alone to search for the traces of the five missing ants.

All the ants in the nest were instructed by him not to leave the area of ​​100 meters near the nest unless they were in danger of life and death.

So the place where these missing or dead ants happened must be near here. With his strong eyesight now, as long as he flew into the sky to observe, he would definitely be able to find some clues.

Leaving the lair and flying to a height of 100 meters, System began to scan the vicinity of the lair.

System found that the moss in the forest was growing better than it was a month ago. It seemed that these green moss had basically adapted to the cold climate here.

However, compared to the moss, the size of the snow-like mushrooms was reduced.

From only a few sporadic, to rapid breeding and spreading to the peak, and now the scale is gradually declining.

System estimated that these mushrooms can adapt to a certain degree of severe cold, but the cold has grown to about minus 40 degrees today, and this kind of mushroom is not very adaptable to this severe cold.

...

Constantly scanning the sky above the forest, System soon discovered strange traces in the snow in the area about 30 meters away from his lair.

System found a large crater about half a meter in the snow, like a cavity created by a meteorite hitting the ground.

System flew over. He found some reddish-brown snow blocks dyed red in the pothole. Even if it was frozen, this blood-stained snow exuded a strange smell.

System grabbed the blood-stained snow with his tentacles. Although this unique smell did not have a burning sensation, it also made Sith uneasy.

System had a feeling that his five ant people were killed by the owner of this blood, and his [intuition] also brought him a sense of danger.

"Is this the blood of abyss monsters?"

System turned into a [frost form] and asked the ring that appeared above his head.

"do not know."

The ice elf Neris did not give System any useful help. System removed the [Frost Form] and then used the [Sense] attached to the tentacles to probe the blood.

"This is……"

A puzzled look appeared on System's head, and he put the bloody snow on his tentacles into his mouth.

As he gradually swallowed and tasted the snow, System's expression became even more strange.

"Why does the blood of insects turn red, and what is that spicy taste?"

System murmured to himself, the combination of spiciness and unique sweetness was unexpectedly delicious, leaving System's mouth with an unforgettable aftertaste.

It was obviously an insect, or a life with an insect bloodline that made the snow pits appear here. System could clearly feel that the level of the insect bloodline of this life was higher than his.

At least the fourth molting or the third pupation has been reached.

However, because the blood left here is too small, no amount of information System can detect.

System flipped the snow crater back and forth with his tentacles. Except for the sporadic blood, the snow crater did not leave much clues about the life.

System could only roughly infer that the weight of this life was at least a few kilograms, otherwise such a pit could not be smashed.

"Where did it fall? How did it get out?"

Apart from the deep pit, System did not find any other traces outside the deep pit. There were no traces of feet and limbs, and there were no special traces around.

It was like a ball of meat suddenly fell from the sky, then grew wings and flew away.

System continued to spread his wings and patrolled nearby, and it didn't take long for him to discover new clues. He found some blood and tiny pieces of meat of butterfly larvae behind a tree.

It didn't take long for System to find the messy snow two meters away. System couldn't tell what was going on here from the traces on the snow, but he found a stick in the snow. Light gray ant legs.

His ant people undoubtedly died here.

"Is it eaten?"

System shook the slender antennae above his head, and he suddenly smelled a strange fishy smell.

Because the death of the ant people made System somewhat annoyed, if faced with such a situation in the past, he would definitely return to the lair and bring Shava out. After all, Shava is now his strongest fighting force.

But this time he did not return to the lair to find Shava, and after feeling the direction of the fishy smell for a while, System flew into the sky.

Although he was angry, System would not follow the smell of this unknown creature directly, but decided to fly up to the sky to observe it secretly.

System fell from the sky and then rose from time to time. He found that the location where the fishy smell appeared was about 150 meters away from his lair.

System did not find any special circumstances in the center of the fishy smell.

His [intuition] gave him a sense of danger, but that danger did not cost him his life.

System pondered for a while, then slowly flew down, and at the moment when it hit the ground with snow, System suddenly discovered something.

The blue light flickered in System's eyes several times in succession, System moved several meters on the snow, and he stretched out his tentacles and touched the transparent silk thread between the trees.

The silk thread is sturdy and sticky, and System uses a lot of force with his tentacles to break it, but when he spit out [Corrosive Slime], this spider silk will be easily dissolved.

"Spider silk? After the severe winter came, the spiders in the Liert Forest have basically become extinct. Could this spider be the creature that exudes a strange smell?"

System's tentacles swayed slightly, and he heard a roar like flying bees, and something was moving at high speed around him...