The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 331: Flexible in the Mountains.
The sensory signals sent back by the crazy saw-toothed ant before its death and the state of its corpse both indicate that this seems to be a weapon that kills through high temperature, and its astonishing instantaneous high temperature can even barely reach the level of ship-borne directed energy weapons.

Although it is much weaker than the main weapon used by the Ezki battleship's directed energy close-in defense gun or the target floating close-in defense turret's miniaturized interception star scorpion, it is still enough to cause horrific damage to the grade individuals on the planet.

After all, even the close-in defense guns need to face and intercept heavy missiles at the intercontinental ballistic missile level. Even if they have been upgraded many times and their exoskeletons are enough to be completely immune to the small-caliber bullets of later generations, the crazy saw-toothed ants are still quite vulnerable in front of them.

Such instantaneous high temperature cannot be achieved by ordinary means such as flames, and these orange-red matter balls that look like a ball of flame are obviously different from the high-energy ray-type directed energy weapons currently used, and are based on other principles.

From the appearance, it seems that this is a whole ball of high-temperature plasma ejected out to cause damage. Compared with ray-type directed energy weapons, its power will not be reduced due to scattering in the atmosphere, but its disadvantages are also quite obvious.

Compared with ray-type directed energy weapons that travel at the speed of light, their bullet speed can be said to be pitifully slow, and based on current performance, this ball of plasma will spread rapidly after leaving the barrel, and the effective range is difficult to meet the requirements.

However, in such a small space, all its disadvantages are completely concealed. The multiple structures surrounding the entire cave environment can achieve shooting without blind spots, taking into account the environment of the entire underground space.

The Crazy-toothed Saw Ant that had been ready to shoot with its body bent was killed immediately, while the other Crazy-toothed Saw Ants temporarily changed their posture and used their developed six limbs to move in the underground space to avoid the deadly attack.

The Crazy Saw Ant's series of hydraulic-fiber hybrid muscle structures based on the double-layer shell and the efficient sensory and nervous systems that the colony has been pursuing since its birth allow them to dodge every attack with amazing flexibility.

At this point, their mobility can be summarized quite simply: agile dogs in the mountains - well, in the era when Lin Yi lived in his previous life, the closest relative to the genus Saw Ant was indeed the Bulldog Ant, which was actually related to dogs in name.
But bending their abdomens to launch jet attacks is definitely no longer possible. At this time, they can only wave their claws, clearing away the smaller tentacles while dodging, as if they are making their last dying struggle to slow down the arrival of death - or in other words, delaying time.

Faint vibrations came from underground and became more and more violent. All levels or structures of both sides in the underground cave could feel the increasingly strong fluctuations and the accompanying rumbling sounds.

From the very beginning, Lin Yi had made various contingency plans for situations in which he could win or not. Although this situation was different from what he had expected, similar situations were still within the scope of the plan - outside the Mad Saw Ant colony, Lin Yi's real backup plan was about to arrive.

On the ground, a huge hole suddenly appeared in the layer of fungal tissue that looked like flesh and blood. Along with flying earth and rock fragments and debris, a huge and ferocious head broke out of the ground. In the huge mouth that occupied almost the entire cross-section of the head, countless staggered tooth-shaped scales were vibrating at high speed, crushing and shaking off countless debris.

The tunnel worm, the largest single-grade individual on the planet ever produced by the nest. After completing the supply to the underground mother nest, it has been dormant in the nearby underground until now, when it quickly came according to the location of the crazy saw ants.

The huge body like a shield machine suddenly broke out of the ground under the drive of a series of scales, and crawled towards the root of the huge tentacle in the center of the nest. The sharp edges of the tooth-shaped armor plates reflected the dim fluorescence underground. The hard tooth-shaped armor plates that were strong enough to crush rocks instantly tore the flesh and blood. Blood and the broken flesh and blood tissue that could be called meat residue or even meat foam splattered everywhere. When the huge body of the tunnel worm drilled into the ground again, the root of the huge tentacle had been cut off and fell to the ground powerlessly.

Strange blood and tissue fluid gushed out from the roots, and the huge bud-like structure opened wide. On the petal-like tissue, the eyeballs, which had gradually lost their luster, stared weakly towards the sky, with their eyes open in death. However, the strange structure made it look even more terrifying.

However, the huge body of the tunnel worm did not stop. On the ground, a surging crack like water waves appeared, which looked like the traces of loose soil when the leaf claw worm dug near the surface, but it was composed of fungal tissue and gravel.

Among the stone waves, the huge body would occasionally reveal a little of its head, completely push away the rubble, clear a path, and then quickly drill into the ground. After losing the command of the huge tentacles, those structures that emitted high-temperature plasma groups no longer launched any attacks, allowing the huge body of the tunnel worm to crush them one by one.

Although it is not a type designed for combat, its Star Scorpion-level exoskeleton and tissues and a series of structures for chiseling through solid rock allow it to temporarily serve as a combat type in an underground environment.

After all, there is not much difference between chiseling rock and chiseling flesh and bones. For the tunnel worms, which are densely covered with the hardest tooth-shaped armor plates produced using the current biological refining methods, they are the same.

The ground had been almost completely plowed over by the huge bodies of the tunnel worms. There was no intact tissue left on the ground. The crazy saw ants scattered and finished off the tentacles or other tissues that were not completely dead.

After dealing with all the situations, the tunnel worm's huge body poked out half of its head again, and its four hoe-shaped appendages stretched out to fix the huge body. A mixture of countless fungal spores and nutrients poured out from the gaps in the scales behind the neck and rapidly multiplied and spread on the ground.

In the original design of the tunnel worms, they would be one of the main means of transportation in the underground world that the gastrocysts could not reach. Therefore, the tunnel worms also have various glands and matching storage sac structures in their bodies.

The hoe-shaped appendages supporting their heads were also created for this purpose. At this time, a large number of fungal spores and nutrients surged out, quickly replacing the fungal tissue on the ground, began to proliferate, and at the same time absorbed and analyzed their genetic sequences.

These strange structures must not be formed naturally, not to mention that some of the gene sequences contained in them must be inspiring to Lin Yi. In any case, these gene sequences must be absorbed by the fungal blanket tissue and analyzed and studied without omission.

With the supply of nutrients in the tunnel worm's body, the fungal mat tissue spread rapidly and gradually formed a series of complex structures, and began to be analyzed.

(End of this chapter)