The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 322: Tunnel Worm

The general structure of a brand-new grade individual quickly took shape in the huge pupa sac underground, but judging from the approximate shape that could be seen through the pupa sac, this was not an individual with a complex appearance.

Overall, it is quite unpretentious compared to those highly specialized grades. A thick cylindrical body is all it has, but this worm-like cylinder is hundreds of meters long, which is longer than any single grade of pure planetary material that has ever been produced.

Countless muscles, scales and various organs all over the body began to function under the drive of the nerve cluster with array space synapses as the core. A biological nuclear fusion reactor directly inherited from the gastrocystis produced a steady supply of energy to supply this giant beast that was bound by gravity under the starry sky.

A faint buzzing sound came from underground, and then a huge head pierced through the pupa sac that nurtured it and broke out of the ground. At the front of the head, a terrifying and ferocious mouth was wide open, and inside were circles of ferocious, thick and sharp scales that looked like the bone plates in the mouth of a armored fish.

The arrangement of these scales is similar to that of teeth, but not exactly the same. If anything, this arrangement seems to be traced back to the tooth-shaped molecules arranged in the mouths of giant conodonts such as the former leader Paleognathus and the giant Iowagnathus.

The huge body makes each tooth-shaped armor plate in the mouth of this nest creature have an amazing size and thickness, but at this moment, they are vibrating at an amazing high frequency, and the shrill buzzing sound comes from this.

Then, its body, which was basically as thick as one side at a time, squirmed, allowing it to bend its front half that had broken through the ground and drill down again. All over its body, a layer of armor plates that was somewhat similar to the scale structure on the surface of the exoskeleton of the fifty-oared horseshoe crab and the pterygopod horseshoe crab swayed in the same rhythmic manner, pushing its body forward.

A huge noise echoed, and the tooth-shaped scales at the front end of the worm's huge body vibrated alternately. The specific frequency made these scales act like the excavation drill bit of a tunnel boring machine, breaking through the soil and rocks along the way, and causing the huge body to crawl downwards rapidly.

The scaly armor structure on its body also sways regularly, propelling its body while leaving a layer of special gelatinous mixture behind it. The entire surface of the tunnel left behind is coated with it, providing temporary and limited reinforcement to prevent it from collapsing in a short period of time.

Lin Yi simply named this giant worm the tunnel worm, which represents its function. Its design was inspired by the leaf claw worm, which was once a "decisive weapon" in the terrestrial arthropod nest, similar to the "Kraken" in the right-handed stone nest.

But now the various black technologies of the nest group have made it far more efficient than the leaf claw worms of the past - even the most powerful, the parasitic leaf claw worm, could only drill through the shallow layer of loose soil, while the tunnel worms of today aim to dig through the rock strata and open up a passage connecting the surface and the underground world.

At the rear, the roots of the fungal mat rapidly extended - the layer of gelatinous substance left by the tunnel worms could also be absorbed by the fungal mat tissue, and more roots could be quickly extended deep into the soil, firmly reinforcing it.

Vibrations and loud noises continued to be heard, as the huge body of the tunnel worm moved diagonally downward, crushing everything in its path - those dense tooth-shaped armor plates were made of a composite exoskeleton material of the star scorpion's inner armor level that contained a variety of high-strength minerals and organic materials, combined with the huge vibration force brought by the special muscle tissue, ordinary rocks could be easily chiseled open.

In the underground world, the spatial synaptic structure in the mother nest group continuously sent back signals, and the hyperspace signals that could instantly transmit across light years easily crossed the rock layer and located the tunnel worms all the way down. The distance from the surface to the underground world is not far. Even if the tunnel worms tilt downward, the distance is not much longer. For this unprecedented huge planetary level that does not actually apply any new technology, it is easy.

In the underground world, among the dense mushroom forests, there were sudden bursts of violent vibrations. For a moment, dirt and rocks flew everywhere, and the tall mushroom trees also began to shake, scaring away countless small flying creatures.

Suddenly, the layer of rock on the top of the cave, which was also covered with radioactive synthetic fungi and luminous fungal structures, broke open. Debris mixed with fragments of fungal tissue fell down, and a hideous giant mouth with several circles of densely packed tooth-shaped scales appeared among the debris. The high-speed oscillating sharp teeth made bursts of violent buzzing sounds, completely shaking off some of the gravel that was still stuck on it.

Faced with such a scene, even the Dikla Star Crabs and small and medium-sized predatory tooth dragons fled, fearing that they would be sucked into the ferocious giant mouth. However, the owner of the giant mouth ignored them and swung the scales on the sides of his body, quickly sinking into the bottom of the underground world and continuing to move forward.

The final drilling location was slightly off from the predetermined coordinates, but it was not a big problem - the error was not even more than a hundred meters. The improved echolocation system carried by the tunnel worm could already sense the mother nest.

The huge head emerged once again, but it was on a whole piece of fungal carpet tissue. The surrounding fungal carpet roots had already made way for a path, allowing the tunnel worm's huge body to stick its head out.

On both sides of the head, two pairs of special structural appendages arranged in a manner similar to the swimming leaves and dorsal leaves unfold from special grooves as the head extends out, supporting the head of the tunnel worm like four hoes. Then, the surrounding fungal carpet tissue quickly extends onto it.

A series of structures were quickly connected, and a large amount of substances stored in the tunnel worm's body began to flow into the fungal carpet and the mother nest along these connected structures - that was a large amount of concentrated fusion fuel, a small amount of nutrients and a large number of cellular structures that stored various minerals in the form of microscopic ions.

The tunnel worm's body is so large in order to carry the nutrients that support the underground mother nest, so that some key structures of the underground world can be built quickly, making it easier to uncover all the secrets.

This mother nest group in the underground world has been able to achieve self-sufficiency in nutrients, so this first trip, including fusion fuel, is mostly resources that are currently difficult to obtain in the underground world, and is used to supply the subsequent production of various structures and grades of individuals.

After transporting all the nutrients in the body, the two pairs of special limbs on both sides of the tunnel worm's head retracted again, and the body was lifted up again under the push of the scaly armor, and then bent downward to continue drilling into the ground.

The huge body quickly sank into the ground again, and disappeared without a trace. The vibration and noise also stopped. The surrounding fungal tissue quickly blocked the hole drilled by the tunnel worm, as if nothing had happened. Only the pupal sacs connected to the well-developed root system of the fungal tissue began to wriggle again, proving that something had indeed changed.

(End of this chapter)