parentshiftbook Chapter 71: The Life Seed Breaks Through the Body
Chapter 71: The Life Seed Breaks Through the Body
After a long silence, Ye Zhi finally decided that her future main nest would be located in the cave left by an elder she had never met, while the interdimensional passage would be developed into a branch nest in the future.
However, the main nest that is large enough for the queen of the leaf ant to live in is obviously too big for them now. At this time, one nest chamber is basically enough to meet their needs.
Each former incubation chamber is the size of its previous room, roughly hexagonal in shape. They are classified according to their location: those located deep in the mountains, with strong heat and moisture retention, are used to store larvae and eggs, while those nesting close to the mountainside, with wooden walls and ventilation, are used to store ant pupae.
Ye Zhi's current evolutionary level only requires one room. He worked through the night to divide the hexagonal nest room, which was the closest to the main nest room and as spacious as his room in his previous life, into several small hatching rooms using ant silk.
He then quickly made several bamboo sections to bring the larvae and the ant colony that were originally in the tree nest to the new nest chamber, and to help take care of these eggs and larvae.
The primary stage worker ants are mostly born from the semi-primitive queen ants in the third instar. The large worker ants are about seven or eight centimeters long, and at this time they can barely play the role of the small worker ants in the intermediate stage, taking care of the larvae in the intermediate stage.
In the intermediate stage, it may take two months for a regular ant egg to develop into a worker ant, while it may take three months or even longer for a golden egg to develop into a semi-force queen ant.
During this period, while Ye Zhi was training daily, she would probably have to continue to "spit out" eggs herself every day to rapidly expand the size of the ant colony.
......
The growing larvae need a lot of protein-rich meat food. The leaf weaver is not yet fully independent, and its food is still citron, with the two assistant kings, red citron, taking turns to bring it food every day.
In front of the main peak, there was a gentle slope where the Queen of the Green Ants had planted her life seed. Ye Zhi simply turned over the soil that had grown a lot of weeds and then replanted her life seed, the divinely bestowed seed "Chimera," on this gentle slope in front of the main peak.
Ye Zhi specially used ant silk flying blades to cut down wooden stakes and plant them in the soil to guide the main vine of "Chimera" to climb towards the ridge. With continuous feeding these days, the main vine has recovered to a length of twenty or thirty meters.
Some differences are that in the intermediate stage of evolution, the structure of the "Chimera" begins to change, with side shoots starting to grow on both sides of the main stem. The side shoots are equipped with broad leaves and insect traps, making the entire plant larger.
Time flies, and a month and a half has passed since the promotion to intermediate level. The third-instar worker ants that were initially cultivated have gradually pupated and begun to take on the form of ants. They will be able to emerge from the pupae in about one to two weeks and become qualified laborers.
To Ye Zhi's surprise, the two special "external life sac larvae" entered the pupal stage faster than ordinary worker ants. At this time, the body under the pupal skin had darkened in color and was close to emerging from the pupa.
Judging from the morphology of the pupa, its appearance is between that of a large worker ant and a queen ant. Its abdomen is naturally swollen and filled with an organ similar to a life sac. In terms of body length, it is not much different from that of a modern leaf weaver, about thirty centimeters long.
During its growth period, the larva consumed a lot of food and absorbed a lot of natural primal energy, but it did not benefit itself at all. Instead, it absorbed it all into the "external life capsule" and now seems to be in the most critical transformation stage.
......
A few days later, Ye Zhi sensed that the special "external life sac" worker ant had finally emerged successfully. He, who was waiting in the hatchery, immediately controlled the nearby primary stage worker ants to assist in its emergence.
A thin layer of pupal skin fell off, and a 30-centimeter-long ant, with a shape between a worker ant and a queen ant and a somewhat swollen abdomen, staggered two steps to stand up. In Ye Zhi's mind, a familiar sense of connection came through.
With his spiritual senses, he could faintly perceive a primal force aura, similar to that of a life seed, emanating from the "life sac" in his abdomen. However, the aura was strange, as if it had merged with the strange worker ant in front of him, making it impossible to tell whether it was an animal or a seed.
With the spatial energy activated in his mind, Ye Zhi slowly picked up the first special worker ant with his six limbs and headed towards the tree nest. He was still following the plan of the Black Ant King and planting the life seed near the original tree nest.
"Leaf-woven Ant King, what is this? Its aura is so strange, it looks like a life seed that has grown into the shape of an ant?" Upon arriving near the tree nest, Huo Yun was the first to come forward, looking at the strange worker ant and asking curiously.
"Don't move yet, I'll go call the Cinnabar Ant King."
Ye Zhi gave a brief response, ignoring Huo Yun's curious and surprised gaze, placed worker ants on the tree nest, flapped her wings and took off, heading towards the cliff nest where the Black Cypress Ant King was located.
......
"Citrus ant king! Leaf-weaving ant king!"
Before long, Wu Yuan arrived, curiously circling around the strange worker ant and occasionally scanning it with his mental power. Huo Yun immediately flapped his arterial wings and went forward to greet it.
"Little guy, why don't you try letting your worker ants plant the seed of life?" Wu Yuan didn't care, but just scanned the strange worker ants with his mental power and curiously sent out his mental power.
Ye Zhi tapped her antennae, and then activated the spatial energy in her mind, directing the strange worker ant with a swollen abdomen to slowly move forward and stop in the middle of the loosened soil.
Sensing the strange aura emanating from it, Ye Zhi tried to learn how to communicate with the seed-shaped "Chimera," slowly transmitting a spiritual power of "growth."
As if driven by instinct, the strange worker ant actually moved. It dug with all six limbs and dug a hole in the ground, then crawled into it and buried itself in the soil.
An unusual aura emanated from the worker ant. Scanning it with mental energy, the ant, buried in the soil, seemed to have truly transformed into an ant-shaped seed, completely still.
The next second, a somewhat horrifying scene unfolded—a crack suddenly appeared in the carapace on the worker ant's back, and a tender sprout emerged from the flesh beneath the carapace, quickly emerging from the soil and unfurling its two cotyledons.
In his mind, the spatial energy connection belonging to that strange worker ant was completely severed, replaced by a faint soul bond connection with the life seed—the worker ant dies, the life seed sprouts, death is accompanied by rebirth.
Continuing to observe with mental power, the worker ant's body was already filled with roots, and every inch of its flesh and blood was being absorbed by the dense roots, turning into nutrients for the plant's growth.
Subsequently, numerous roots burst forth from the plant, deeply penetrating the soil and tearing the exoskeletons of the dead worker ants to shreds, as if completely merging with the newly born plant.
On the ground, the sprouting buds are rapidly unfolding and growing at a speed no less than that of the divinely bestowed "Chimera," as if they have absorbed all the blood, flesh, and nutrients from the worker ants and transformed them into nutrients for their own growth.
"Holy crap..."
It was the umpteenth time, yet another exclamation, seemingly emanating from the depths of Ye Zhi's spiritual energy, slowly resounded...