The environment here was complex and riddled with danger, leaving Luo Wen no time to adjust his mindset leisurely.
He stopped hesitating, convincing himself that it was just like drinking bubble tea.
With his eyes closed, he used his twin mandibles to bite a small opening into the Camouflage Bug’s swollen belly. Thick liquid began to ooze from the wound.
His newly adapted chewing mouthparts sealed over the opening, and his mandibular lobes opened and closed, sucking up every drop of the liquid.
Once past the psychological barrier, Luo Wen found that, to a bug’s palate, the taste was actually quite pleasant. After all, it was essentially a distillation of the Black Beetle’s muscles, concentrated into a rich broth. It was akin to a chicken soup that had simmered for three days, packed with all the essence.
Unfortunately, Luo Wen had recently replaced his siphoning mouthparts, which would have been ideal as a straw. Now, it felt more like drinking from a packet of juice—biting a small hole in the corner and slowly draining the contents. Occasionally, small chunks—like pearls, grass jelly, or fruit bits in bubble tea—would slip through, providing a chewy delight. (He hoped this analogy would help readers enjoy their bubble tea more effectively.)
As the Camouflage Bug’s swollen belly deflated, Luo Wen’s digestive system went into overdrive, accelerating the processing of the liquid.
Although this consumed additional energy, the relative sizes of Luo Wen and the Camouflage Bug made it more efficient to digest the food immediately than risk wasting it.
Even with the accelerated digestion, Luo Wen felt overstuffed. This feast contained the essence of both the Black Beetle and the Camouflage Bug. While the Camouflage Bug didn’t have much meat, the Black Beetle’s muscle mass—even without its shell—was several times greater than Luo Wen’s body.
This state left him vulnerable; his already limited speed on the surface was now even worse. Luo Wen couldn’t risk becoming another bug’s easy prey, so he quickly raised his rear and started digging.
Only deep underground could he feel secure.
This time, he dug a tunnel larger than usual to avoid compressing his swollen abdomen. His head-down, legs-up digging posture caused his mouthparts to clamp shut, giving him an appearance akin to wearing a faceplate. Strangely, it made him look a bit more distinguished.
Reaching a safe depth, Luo Wen hastily dug out a small chamber. Without bothering to carve escape routes, he fell into a deep sleep.
In his dreams, Luo Wen alternated between two identities. In one, he was a towering Black “War God,” invincible against swarms of ants. In the other, he was a sly assassin, cloaked in tools and trickery, dispatching formidable bugs with lethal precision.
Deep underground, where few insects could reach, a tiny black bug rested in its hollowed-out chamber. Its body was undergoing a transformation.
Time passed—how long, Luo Wen couldn’t tell. When he finally woke, he was momentarily dazed.
It took only a moment to regain his bearings, and he immediately began examining his body.
His oversized digging limbs were ill-suited for delicate work, so his second pair of thoracic limbs acted as hands. Their bristled surfaces carefully explored every inch of his body.
From top to bottom, he started with his compound eyes—no changes.
His chewing mouthparts remained intact, and his digging limbs showed no abnormalities.
The number of legs was correct, neither more nor less.
A 360-degree scan with his compound eyes revealed no changes to his shoulder plates or back armor. Even his size remained the same—still about the size of a fingernail.
Then he felt something odd around his abdomen. Twisting his body, he managed to catch sight of it.
“Huh? Did I just take a short nap?”
His abdomen was still swollen and round. Luo Wen, momentarily perplexed, thought the food might not have fully digested.
But soon, he noticed something unusual. His abdomen hadn’t shrunk—in fact, it had grown larger and longer.
“F***, what the hell is this thing growing out of me?”
Luo Wen couldn’t help but curse.
He had hoped that absorbing the Black Beetle’s essence, even second-hand, might enhance his size or strengthen his exoskeleton. If not, he would’ve settled for the Camouflage Bug’s bark-adhering ability. At the very least, gaining its needle-like mouthpart would’ve been acceptable.
But now his abdomen had grown wider and longer? Was he so overstuffed that he’d ruined his stomach?
For a while, Luo Wen was utterly baffled.
Trying to walk around, he found the new appendage severely hindered his speed and agility. It gave him an awkward, off-balance feeling.
Not wanting to take any chances, he flipped onto his back and arched his upper body like doing a sit-up to inspect the situation.
When he saw it, Luo Wen swore under his breath. It wasn’t his abdomen that had enlarged—it was a new growth attached to his rear.
Previously, Luo Wen’s body followed the standard insect structure: head, thorax, and abdomen. Now, there was a fourth section.
His original abdomen had nine segments, though three had been lost in a fight with the Yellow Earth Ants. While the wound had healed, the segments had never regenerated.
Now, the remaining six segments seemed compressed, as if a spring had been compacted, leaving a smaller abdomen. The newly grown section resembled a swollen version of the original abdomen, complete with segmented rings, which had fooled Luo Wen into thinking it was part of his stomach.
This appendage dragged behind him like a trailer, severely limiting his maneuverability. Only upon closer inspection did Luo Wen realize it wasn’t his abdomen’s fault—it was this new addition causing the problem.
“What now?” Luo Wen muttered. He was already at the lower end of the insect food chain, and now he had an unwieldy burden. Unless he could secure a steady food source like the White Grubs, the risk of foraging would skyrocket.
After the initial panic, Luo Wen gradually calmed down. Reflecting on his prior evolutions, he realized that every new organ or ability had a purpose. If he could uncover some clues, he might understand this transformation.
He recalled how his compound eyes had improved to eliminate near-sightedness, granting him a wider field of view. Later, he had grown digging limbs to enhance his burrowing speed. His mandibles had developed to chew through roots and prey, and his back armor had thickened after losing a fight with the Yellow Earth Ants. Eating the White Grub had triggered cocooning for recovery.
His most recent change had replaced his siphoning mouthparts with chewing ones.
Logically, absorbing the Black Beetle and Camouflage Bug’s genes should have granted him some of their traits. Even if he didn’t inherit the beetle’s size or armor, he should have gained something from the Camouflage Bug.
Yet now, after digesting the food and expending so much energy, he had grown an unrelated appendage. Why?