Astral Cockroach

Ban Bu wasn't trying to dig up the corpses of its kind, but rather to carve out a small space under the stone to serve as a new nest, where it intended to reside permanently.

"Rest, rest..."

Ban Bu found it really difficult to communicate with the cockroach mother. A single piece of information had to be conveyed repeatedly, ten or more times, before she would act as requested.

Seeing the cockroach mother finally stop to rest, Ban Bu asked, "Are you hungry?"

"Not hungry."

The cockroach mother immediately replied, very happily. It seemed that being with her son made her happy.

Ban Bu wasn't happy at all. It hurried out of the nest, found a piece of decaying leaf nearby, cut it off, and carried it back in a hurry.

"Eat."

Ban Bu conveyed the information, and without waiting for the cockroach mother to respond, it immediately went out to continue cutting leaves and transporting them to the nest, until the entire nest chamber was covered with a layer of them.

Last night, it had eaten plenty of meat and was on the verge of molting and growing. It suppressed its drowsiness, ate a lot of leaves, and repeatedly warned the cockroach mother not to dig up and eat the corpses below, receiving an affirmative response before finally falling asleep peacefully.

In its sleep, various fragmented inherited knowledge poured into its soul memory: during the day, it should hide carefully, and it should not go out alone at night; it should not eat fresh leaves, but must eat soft, rotten leaves; after eating its fill, it should exercise, and then continue eating, so it can grow faster; search for the corpses of other insects, as meat can help it grow quickly; it must not eat rotten meat, as it is poisonous; the sooner it completes 18 molts and grows, the greater the chance of transforming into a red cockroach tribe warrior…

These were all jungle survival skills engraved in the racial genes, appearing repeatedly with each molt and growth.

Simple, primitive, practical.

...

"5th instar!"

Feeling itself growing stronger bit by bit, Ban Bu felt happy.

It continued to survey the surrounding environment.

The molting and sleeping lasted a whole day.

It was now night.

The nest chamber was covered with a thick layer of decayed leaves, which the cockroach mother must have carried in while it was sleeping.

The cockroach mother was nowhere to be seen. She had not only Ban Bu, her un-grown son, but also nearly a hundred nymph-stage daughters who also needed care.

"Sigh..."

Ban Bu sighed weakly in its heart.

Weak cockroaches with low intelligence have a limited "language" of pheromones for information exchange, making it impossible to clearly explain the effects of the Origin Power fruit.

Perhaps, even if it explained it clearly, the cockroach mother would not be able to understand.

Ban Bu ate a small piece of leaf, and then began to chew on its shed carapace.

The nutrients inside the carapace are accumulated in the body for recycling and can be supplied for the next molt and growth.

At the same time, it silently felt that, as it had guessed, its cell activity had obviously increased. Its brain was no longer as prone to dizziness and discomfort from brain cell death when thinking about complex problems as it had been before.

The reason was simple: the Origin Power fruit was rich in Origin Power, which could promote gene evolution, and this Origin Power also had a special directional modification ability. Having previously observed the red cockroach tribe warriors eating raspberry fruits, Ban Bu roughly deduced that this Origin Power fruit had the ability to enhance cell activity, which could be regarded as "longevity" at the gene level.

Ordinary cockroaches absolutely cannot directly eat the Origin Power fruit, not even a tiny bit, as they would die from being unable to withstand the modification of the Origin Power on their cells.

However, after the Origin Power fruit matures, if there is no special way to preserve it, the Origin Power it contains will slowly dissipate.

The Origin Power contained in a raspberry fruit, dispersed into the corpses of more than twenty adult cockroaches, was considered an effective dilution.

The place where the corpses were buried, the Origin Power dissipated, forming a very weak "radiation field" with a slight and gentle ability to modify genes, a modification that ordinary cockroaches could accept.

Ban Bu decisively built its nest under the stone that suppressed the corpses, partly to take this opportunity to improve its own genes, and partly in the hope of helping the cockroach mother, to slightly reverse the aging of her body and survive this year's cold winter.

Unfortunately, the cockroach mother could not understand Ban Bu's intentions, and under the drive of instinct, returned to the mountain peak where her daughters lived.

"The effect should last for about another day. Should I bring her back?"

Ban Bu ate its shed carapace and walked out of the nest chamber to observe the situation outside.

The red cockroach tribe warrior was still lying next to the raspberry bushes, leisurely cutting up the corpse of a snake-shaped creature. It seemed to like eating snakes, and there were two other beheaded snake-shaped creature corpses next to it.

Nearby, thousands of adult cockroaches formed a circle, looking forward to it. Whenever a snake skin or bone with minced meat was thrown out, they would immediately "chirp" and swarm up, frantically抢食。

Snake bones covered with a lot of minced meat were gnawed into bare white bones within a few seconds of landing.

Ban Bu could feel the desire of those young and strong adult cockroaches to continue molting, break through genetic constraints, and evolve into red cockroach tribe warriors.

It could also see that the red cockroach tribe warrior, when eating, was very "rough" in its skinning movements, with a lot of snake meat on the snake skin thrown away, and even more "picky" when gnawing, only casually eating a couple of bites of each section of snake meat before discarding it.

This was obviously intentional, throwing out more meat to feed the weak members of the tribe, hoping that warriors like itself could emerge in the group.

Ban Bu watched carefully for a while and completely gave up the idea of joining the feeding frenzy. In such fierce competition, even adult cockroaches might lose arms and legs, and it was only a 5th instar nymph, with no chance at all.

It returned to the nest chamber, silently gnawing on dead leaves. After eating its fill, it went out of the nest, climbed along the stone, and then flapped its wings and glided to the ground, practicing repeatedly, consuming its physical energy, and then returning to the nest chamber to feed, over and over again.

The bright moon hung in the sky, it was already early morning, and Ban Bu was just about to set out to find it when the cockroach mother ran back on its own.

The latest novel is first published at Six 9 Books Bar!

"Go in, go in..."

"Eat, eat, eat..."

Ban Bu urged the cockroach mother to eat and rest in the nest chamber.

There was too little snake meat, and the cockroach mother knew that it could no longer抢食 with those young adult cockroaches. Without hesitation, it crawled into the nest chamber, ate some leaves as Ban Bu requested, but then restlessly began to dig in the soil.

It had not forgotten that there were more than twenty cockroach corpses buried underground, and it still wanted to dig them up and eat them.

With a lack of language, communication was too difficult, and with low intelligence, it was difficult to explain clearly.

"Danger, danger..."

Ban Bu stopped the cockroach mother's movements, repeatedly releasing dangerous pheromones.

The cockroach mother shook its antennae, transmitting puzzled information.

"Danger, danger..."

Ban Bu was anxious.

The cockroach mother finally gave up digging and turned to walk out of the nest chamber.

"Rest, rest..."

Ban Bu stopped it, continuing to transmit information.

The cockroach mother was puzzled again.

"Rest, rest..."

Ban Bu continued to urge, blocking the nest chamber entrance, not giving way an inch.

After a period of anxiety, the cockroach mother finally stopped in the nest chamber to rest as Ban Bu requested.

Ban Bu was afraid that it would run out to抢食 snake meat, and if it got injured again, it would be completely hopeless, so it simply blocked the entrance to the nest chamber.

Its body was aging, and the long journey was indeed tiring. After the cockroach mother calmed down, it no longer tried to dig up corpses or go out to抢食, but rested silently until dawn.

Ban Bu breathed a slight sigh of relief in its heart, left the entrance position, stepped forward, and checked the cockroach mother's broken leg.

The wound had long healed, and fortunately, there was no sign of infection.

Carefully observing the cockroach mother's carapace color again, it was still dull and without luster, with no sign of improvement.

Ban Bu's mood fell. The effect of the raspberry fruit in strengthening cell activity was limited, it could not reverse aging, and it was powerless to recover.