The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 71 Sonar System
  The last time, the Straight Spiral Stone Nest Group used the mother nest as bait to lure Lin Yi to control the fearless soldiers into an ambush circle that exploded the horn stones. Lin Yi had a guess - whether the Straight Spiral Horn Stone Nest Group had been discovered. Does he have some kind of surveillance device?
  It can be seen from the fact that after the fearless soldiers entered the ambush circle, the micro-spies were still not cleared by the straight spiral stone, and the other party did not seem to know the specific method.

Otherwise, they can directly clear out the micro-spies after the fearless soldiers enter the ambush circle, and then move the floating mother nest far away to avoid the loss of the mother nest.

But although the size of the miniaturized spy is insignificant compared to the adult Heliconia, don't forget that there are still juvenile Heliconias in the opponent's nest group.

With the level of intelligence shown by the other party this time, it was only a matter of time before those larvae discovered the existence of the miniaturized spy. Now, Lin Yi really urgently needs a new investigation method.

The solution Lin Yi came up with was also very simple - since vision will be affected, then find a way to track the opponent's movement beyond the visual distance.

At first glance, it seemed a bit difficult to achieve given the technological level of this era, but Lin Yi still thought of a solution he had the conditions to solve - sonar, which is similar to the echolocation system of later whales.

This system mostly appears in synapsid mammals with the black technology of ossicles, but Lin Yi now has the structure of the lateral line gene sequence from the ancient jaw of the leader and the vocal organ gene sequence from the primitive mother's nest, although it is rudimentary. Some, but not unusable.

After all, he does not need to accurately track smaller targets, but only needs to lock on huge targets such as the adult Helical Stone and the floating nest of Helical Stone, and making do with it is enough.

Unlike the low-frequency infrasound waves that the ancient jaw is sensitive to, the echolocation system requires higher-frequency ultrasonic waves. Lin Yi needed to adjust the genetic sequence of the vocal organs and lateral lines.

However, these were relatively easy to solve. After solving them one by one, in the end, the new template reached four meters in size, close to the size of the swordfish-shaped Hed shrimp.

On the head, the third compound eye derived from the three-eyed Heder shrimp was removed and replaced by a sac-like structure filled with oil of a special texture, similar to the structure of the spermaceti in later whales.

The bladder-like structure can focus sound waves, making it easier to emit more concentrated sound waves.

Of course, the receiving organ was a little stretched. Two lateral lines similar to the leader's ancient jaws run through the whole body of the new generation of reconnaissance females, allowing it to receive echoes of sound waves ahead.

In this era, creatures that can receive sound wave signals of this frequency should not have evolved. Even if there were, it wouldn't be a straight spiral stone nest group.

This also means that Lin Yi can safely turn the "active sonar" to maximum to detect traces of the snail without worrying about attracting enemy attacks.

Although the increased size and new system make the new generation of reconnaissance worms more expensive, it also greatly increases its search range for right-angled stone nests.

Areas that used to require multiple scouts to explore can now be fully explored with just one. Overall, it is a more cost-effective solution.

However, echolocation is a brand-new system after all, involving a new way of perceiving the world, and it will take some time to become familiar with it.

After some fiddling and trying to present echolocation signals in a way similar to visual signals, he finally mastered how to use this system.

After mastering it, he immediately took control of the brood to start the production of the second generation of reconnaissance brood. Now, Lin Yi has produced quite a few of these second-generation reconnaissance hens, and has released them to continue searching for traces of the right-angle stone nests. This time, it didn’t take long for a second-generation reconnaissance mother to discover an astonishingly huge moving echo signal - in this era, the only thing with such a large echo signal is the floating mother nest of the Orthogonal Stone!
  Maybe the other party didn't know about Lin Yi's new detection method, or maybe it was just luck. Anyway, the other party came before Lin Yi was mentally prepared.

And it seems that the other party was deliberately discovered by the reconnaissance mother nest last time. This time, the straight-horned stone nest group gathered beside the mother nest throughout the whole process, and did not even spread out to look for food.

But as everyone knows, this further increases the reflection area. Let them be extremely clear in the field of vision of Lin Yi's echolocation system.

But this time, Lin Yi, who had learned from the past, would never fall in the same place twice.

With the addition of sodium-containing micronized torpedoes, the abyssal mouth of Netherworld Octopus is no longer a threat. Although Bing Hao could handle the sporadic self-exploding corner stones, Lin Yi decided to call in professionals.

A worker slowly entered the territory of the Anomalocaris nest, and used its chelicerae to draw on the seabed, drawing the pattern of a self-exploding hornstone shell, and then drawing a pattern of a swordfish-shaped Hurd shrimp, representing the swordfish-shaped Hurd shrimp. The shrimp attack explodes the corner stone.

After a while, more than a dozen swordfish-shaped Hurd shrimps arrived at the scene, along with several full-toothed Hurd shrimps that were produced at an unknown time - it seemed that the other party also accepted the genetic template blueprint sent by Lin Yi.

Then, the worker made a follow gesture to the three-eyed Hed shrimp that was also coming forward, and then drew a swordfish-shaped pattern of the Hed shrimp following the fearless soldier on the ground, signaling the other party to follow.

The huge body of the fearless soldier also appeared from behind. He waved his sickle limbs, turned around, and slowly swung his two pairs of paddling feet forward.

Seeing this, those swordfish-shaped Hed shrimps swung their leaf legs, operated their water jet propulsion systems, and kept up with the fearless soldiers. The larger full-toothed Hed shrimps behind them were incomparable to the giant beasts above. The tiny three-eyed Hed shrimp follows closely behind.

Ahead, the echolocation system of the second-generation reconnaissance mother is still firmly locked on the direction of the floating mother nest of the Straight Spiral Stone. But this time, the Straight Spiral Stone Nest Group cannot detect it anyway, and the mother nest is being monitored.

The huge body of the Dreadnaught carries a micronized torpedo and a sodium-containing microtorpedo. The pioneering mother also carries the bodies of the two and follows closely behind. Then behind, are the swordfish-shaped Hurd shrimp and the full-toothed torpedo. Hurd shrimp was guarded by a large number of ordinary soldiers on both sides.

The army marched towards the mother nest of the Zhiluojiao Stone Nest Group in such a mighty manner. I vowed to find them to avenge the last attack.

As the distance got closer, the Zhiluojiao Stone Nest Group finally discovered the menacing fearless soldiers and the dense army behind them.

A large number of adult snails and octagonal stones waved their tentacles and broke away from the side of the nest. The bodies of the larvae Helix Hornstone and the Self-Exploding Hornstone are looming, ready for another round of brutal attacks at any time.

And Lin Yi was already prepared. A battle between the most powerful forces in the ocean of this era was about to begin.

(End of this chapter)