Chapter 723: Insect Swarm
In the desolate Martian basin, the sticky fungal blanket continued to spread outward like a slime mold. As the fungal blanket climbed, it directly wrapped up the passing stones and then slowly "flattened" the stones.
In addition to spreading on the surface, these fungal mats are also seeping into the ground.
It spread downwards like water along various cracks in the ground.
The Martian land, which has been baked by the solar wind for many years due to the loss of its magnetic field, has long been riddled with holes, and there are traces everywhere that are enough for these fungal mats to spread.
The source of these fungal mats is the asteroid egg case that is stuck upside down on the ground.
It seems that the egg sheath itself carries a large amount of nutrients and resources to complete the first wave of hatching.
On top of these fungal mats, there are densely packed insect eggs of various kinds that are contracting like the beating of a heart.
You can vaguely see the shadow inside through the sunlight.
Whether it is the insect eggs or the fungal mat on the ground, the color tends to be dark purple, and it seems that even the sunlight passing by will scrape off a layer of it.
Although it was exposed to direct sunlight, the temperature did not rise at all and it still seemed cold and damp.
Although Mars has very poor heat preservation ability due to the thin atmosphere, and the temperature is usually dozens of degrees below zero or even hundreds of degrees, the temperature can still reach twenty degrees when under the direct sunlight.
But now there is only a chilly feeling on this fungal mat.
Pah
A huge group of insect eggs exploded, revealing a giant worm of flesh and blood that was completely and tightly connected to the earth.
The bottom of the worm seemed to have been embedded in the earth, and there was a lot of mucus left on the surface after the insect eggs burst.
But the mucus is also being quickly absorbed by its surface, and the excess is also absorbed by the fungal carpet underneath.
This giant insect is covered with densely packed compound eyes that are constantly flashing.
Then they all looked up at the sky, as if they were locking onto something.
Pah-pah-pah-pah
There was another burst of insect eggs, and strange, moving insects appeared one after another.
Each one has eight pairs of ventral legs, but has huge pincers on its head and is covered with an armor-like cuticle.
As soon as they came out, these insects instinctively broke through the slime mold on the surface, drilled into the ground, and soon disappeared.
The hole they had drilled into was also covered by the fungal blanket again, and only occasional vibrations from the digging could be felt.
All genes are maxed out for survival, and all kinds of minerals can be directly covered, decomposed and utilized. So how to keep oneself as safe as possible must also be engraved into the genetic instinct.
There is no need for any reminder or prediction.
They naturally began to drill into the interior of the planet!
Following the holes that the bugs drilled out of, you can find a complex underground terrain covered by fungal blankets.
It hasn't been long since we landed, but there are already many interconnected passages underground!
You can also see a lot of bugs "mining" through several channels with obvious vibrations.
Grind some iron ore directly with the mouthparts and sprinkle it on the fungal carpet on the ground. Then these fragments seem to slowly dissolve in the sticky mucus and are transmitted to various places along the pipes on the fungal carpet!
There are no machines, all points are added based on pure biological evolution, but all points are added to the extreme.
There are also different distributions of resources on Mars, but they can adjust and arrange themselves to form different shells and produce different species according to the specific conditions of the resources at the landing point and the different distributions of elements!
This is a biological group that has taken adaptation to the extreme!
As you continue to spread downwards, you can see the interconnected passages and the large number of insects being mined.
Finally, in a relatively spacious room, a queen insect appeared, protected by other insects.
The queen insect lays eggs continuously, and the eggs are carried to various places by nearby worker insects. Some need to go to the surface to absorb sunlight, while some are placed directly around the iron mine.
And next to this queen, there is another figure that is incompatible with the Zerg painting style.
A four-legged, two-handed creature with horns on its head and densely packed with sharp teeth in its mouth .
"Brainworm, why don't you come out? This time the target doesn't seem to be simple, and they have discovered us."
The horned creature spoke the language of the Abyss, but received no response.
He kept looking around vigilantly, appearing very alert, as if he was guarding against something.
He had driven the abyss Zerg before.
This group was quite easy to control before the birth of the brain worm. They would just develop quietly and be easily utilized.
But when stimulated and a stress response occurs, giving rise to a brain worm, it will be a species that is extremely cunning, with greatly increased danger and destructiveness.
Therefore, the best way is to control the brain worm as soon as it is born.
Unintelligent bugs have no fear of death, but brain worms do.
But this time, when he actively stimulated the birth of the brain worm, it suddenly caused the egg sheath to shift and fall to this desolate planet.
In order to ensure his survival during the fall, he had to give up the search for the brain worm and protect himself.
But after landing, he found that the brain worm was gone.
Only the queen insect is still reproducing step by step...
He knew that he had become the target of the brain worm, and it would tear him apart or even parasitize him without hesitation if it got the chance.
Therefore, we must find the enemy before the swarm forms!
"Brainworm, your goal is to ensure the reproduction of this tribe, but if the queen worm dies, what is the meaning of your existence?"
The horned creature continued to speak in the Abyssal language while pressing its sharp claws against the fat queen insect next to it.
However, the queen insect seemed to feel no threat at all and continued to lay eggs normally. Her fat body kept twisting, absorbing the necessary elements and nutrients from the fungal mat.
"How about we make a deal? I have no ill intentions. I just want to enslave this civilization on behalf of my master. When the time comes, we will connect to the abyss and open the gate. You can continue to reproduce here, and we just need to get the souls we want..."
The horned creature spread out its claws, and a dark red spell model appeared in front of it, starting to make a buzzing sound.
However, after this spell model appeared, it flickered and kept shaking.
The buzzing sound gives off a feeling of poor contact, as if it might disappear at any time.
This made the horned creature feel depressed.
Oops, the magic here is so lazy...
Originally he just wanted to express a threat, but he didn't expect the environment here to be so harsh.
Almost as soon as he had a bad thought in his mind, many insect shadows appeared in the passages around the underground hall and began to poke their heads around.
It was obvious that his previous threat not only failed to achieve the desired effect, but instead made the brain worm keenly aware of his weakness.
One after another, giant soldier insects walked out of the passage, approached, and continuously made some tentative roars.
"What are you doing! Aren't you afraid that I will kill the queen insect?!"
The horned creature roared and took a step back, then used its sharp claws to directly pierce the body of the queen insect to express its threat.
The sharp claws pierced into the body of the fat queen insect, and a large amount of yellow-green mucus exploded.
However, at this moment, he suddenly turned his head and looked at his wrist.
The exploding mucus seemed to have intelligence and quickly spread upwards along his wrist.
He was startled and started pulling hard.
But at this moment, his hands seemed to be stuck with 502, and the mucus became extremely sticky and tough.
“Damn it!”
But before he could react, the queen insect's back suddenly split open, and three sharp tentacles fell from the sky at lightning speed and pierced through his head.
Before he could react, his body was lifted up.
The horned creature whose head was pierced the tentacles had lost all resistance at this time. Its scarlet eyes kept rolling up and it was carried to the wound on the back of the queen insect.
At this time, a small spider-like insect crawled out from the mother insect's wound. It was the brain worm that the horned creature had been looking for.
"Those who exploit the swarm will eventually be devoured by it."
The creature that opened its mouth was not a brain worm, but a horned creature whose head had been pierced by tentacles. The tentacles were constantly swallowing and absorbing something. Soon, the corpse seemed to have turned into dried bacon and was hung on the top of the cave...
