Chapter 10: Base Camp (Sixth Update)
Su Xiao wasn’t worried about Jila escaping or betraying him. Just moments ago, he had already tampered with her.
Su Xiao gestured for Jila to come closer. After hesitating for a moment, she stepped forward half a pace. Baha flapped his wing and struck her back, shoving her in front of Su Xiao.
Before Jila could react, Su Xiao had already stuffed a seed into her mouth. With a gulp, Jila was forced to swallow it.
[Withered Seed]
Origin: Fate/stay night
Quality: Epic
Type: Item/Consumable (Single Use)
Effect: This item can be implanted into a plot character. There is a certain chance that this plot character will become the pseudo-protagonist of this world and gain the power of fate.
Rating: 601 points (Epic item ratings range from 530 to 700 points.)
Description: This is… a toy for madmen.
Selling Price: 296,000 Paradise Coins.
…
Jila felt the seed rapidly dissolving inside her, but there was nothing she could do. Moreover, whenever she looked at Su Xiao now, an instinctive feeling welled up within her: she must not resist this human, or she would die immediately.
Whether the [Withered Seed] could be successfully implanted would depend on subsequent changes. Everything Su Xiao did was for one purpose: to allow the insect race under his command to develop quickly. The [Withered Seed] played a crucial role in this.
Furthermore, as the demonic energy gradually eroded her, Jila’s loyalty would continue to increase.
Seeds had been planted in both loyalty and potential. Now it was time to start developing, and the most fundamental aspect of development was establishing the territory for the insect nest.
The current location was clearly unsuitable as a base camp. There were two totem tribes nearby. Even setting aside the leaderless insect girl Jila, even Su Xiao couldn’t directly confront those two tribes.
The initial evolution of the insect race required a large amount of biological flesh and blood. After all, it was only the first stage of the insect race; the resources needed weren’t high-end. Otherwise, the insect race would have died out long ago.
According to Su Xiao’s knowledge, the insect race had five stages. The first stage was the Mother Worm, the second was the Insect Queen, the third was the Queen, the fourth was the Mother Emperor, and the fifth was called the Dominator, the ruler of the entire insect race, possessing authority over all Mother Emperors. So far, only one Dominator had appeared in this world, and during that period, the totem tribes were almost wiped out.
Currently, Jila was at the lowest stage. Half an hour ago, her insect nest had been torn apart by Amu, and her only two worker bugs had been crushed flat. It was quite tragic.
Su Xiao needed to find a relatively safe place with abundant resources. He left this task to Baha.
The rain poured down in torrents. Jila huddled inside the remaining half of her insect nest, weak and helpless.
It wasn’t until the dead of night that Baha returned. He had found a forest twenty kilometers away. There were no totem tribes or traces of insect races there, but there were many wild animals, making it unsuitable for a first-stage mother to establish an insect nest.
Su Xiao ignored this. He could handle the danger from wild animals. Jila’s early development didn’t need to follow the common sense of ordinary insect races.
In the pouring rain, a terrified Baha flew low, carrying Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Jila. He was afraid of being struck by lightning.
Baha’s flight speed wasn’t slow. When the rain lessened a bit, he reached the destination.
Su Xiao released Baha’s claws and landed in a forest. As he passed through the dense leaves, large droplets of water fell, pattering against the mud and dead leaves.
Su Xiao’s gaze swept around. As far as the eye could see, there were trees as thick as two men could embrace. These trees were at least dozens of meters tall, which could hide the insect nest, but they would also interfere with the nest’s ability to absorb nutrients through photosynthesis.
Boom, boom…
With Amu’s brute strength, an area of several dozen meters was cleared. Amu then froze the ground, lifted the large sheet of ice, and cleaned up the area.
Su Xiao grabbed Jila and placed her in the center of the clearing, setting her on the ground.
“Alright, you can build your insect nest here.”
“I can’t do it.”
Jila shook her head. Sensing the hostility from Su Xiao and Baha, she quickly added:
“Only the Mantis Armor can build the insect nest. It has the genetic memory for constructing insect buildings.”
“What can you do?”
“I can cultivate Mantis Armor, but I need five Aier units (phonetic) of active biological cells. These active biological cells must be non-corrosive, with an activity of…”
Su Xiao waved his hand, indicating he understood. What Jila described in such lofty terms—active biological cells—was simply fresh meat. And Mantis Armor was the worker bug.
Baha went hunting. Before long, he brought back a half-dead giant beast. It was a herbivore, weighing about two tons.
With a thud, the half-dead herbivore was thrown in front of Jila. Her fingertips stabbed forward.
Pfft.
Jila’s fingers sank into the herbivore’s skin. She used all her strength, but her feet slipped on the muddy ground. Her body pitched forward, and her head bumped into the herbivore’s back. The feeling was strange—part predatory ferocity, part clumsy cuteness.
Amu came up behind Jila. He reached out with his large hands and, with a tearing sound, ripped open the animal’s spine. Jila immediately plunged her arm into the flesh.
After about a minute, Jila pulled out her arm. She was noticeably weaker. Inside the dead animal, something was stirring.
After waiting about ten minutes, a blade-like leg broke through the skin. A total of six Mantis Armors crawled out from the flesh. They were about twice the size of a large dog. They had two curved blade-like legs in front, six armored legs behind, and a tail resembling a scorpion’s. However, the tip of the tail wasn’t a venomous stinger but a ring of expandable serrated blades, used for precision work like cutting and connecting biological tissues. Normally, they could also secure heavy objects on their backs or drag heavy loads.
In short, everything about the Mantis Armor was designed for building and maintaining insect nests and transporting materials. That was their purpose in existence.
The six Mantis Armors came to Jila’s side, surrounding her protectively. This was an instinct from their genes.
A mental wave emanated from Jila. The six Mantis Armors immediately sprang into action. They quickly ran to the dead giant animal and spat a green viscous liquid from their mouths. Before long, the animal’s body began to dissolve, turning into a semi-solid substance.
The six Mantis Armors busied themselves, starting to build an insect nest at the location Jila designated. This was the base camp. From now on, all insect races of Jila’s clan would revolve around this nest and Jila herself.
The construction of the insect nest was faster than expected. In about four hours, a five-meter-tall, semi-elliptical insect nest was built. Within a twenty-meter radius, there was a layer of moss-like fungus. These insect fungi could absorb moisture from the soil. As long as there was a water source within a hundred meters underground, the insect nest wouldn’t dry out and wither.
As soon as the insect nest was built, Jila entered it. Barring any accidents, she would never leave this place for the rest of her life. The last time she left her nest was mainly because she was too scared.
[Tip: Your summon has established a special biological building.]
[Judging…]
[This insect nest belongs to the Hunter. Datafication of the insect nest information is about to begin.]
[Datafication complete.]
[Insect Nest (Pending Name).]
[Rank: First Stage (Total of Five Stages. This rank is determined based on this world’s power system.)]
[Biological Energy Reserve: 0/2000 points.]
[Attached Insect Organs: Energy Storage Tissue (First Stage), Egg-Laying Tissue (First Stage), Cultivation Sac (First Stage).]
[Energy Storage Tissue (First Stage): Absorbs and stores biological energy. This is the basic ability of the insect nest. If the nest reaches the third stage, it can produce special resources, consuming biological energy.]
[Egg-Laying Tissue (First Stage): Can cultivate Mantis Armor Eggs (requires 2 points of biological energy), Stinger Eggs (requires 10 points of biological energy).]
Tip: If the mother advances in rank and her genetic adaptability improves, the Egg-Laying Tissue can unlock more insect genes to cultivate other types of insect eggs.
[Cultivation Sac (First Stage): Through this insect organ, insect eggs can be cultivated into adults, consuming biological energy.]
Tip: Cultivating a Mantis Armor adult requires 10 points of biological energy.
Tip: Cultivating a Stinger adult requires 30 points of biological energy.
…
The insect race had many combat units. Bubu Wang had seen this before. However, Jila could currently only cultivate two types: the basic laborer ‘Mantis Armor’ and the combat insect ‘Stinger’.
As for how to obtain biological energy, in the first stage, all that was needed was to bring fresh flesh and blood to feed the insect nest. The nest would then convert this flesh and blood into biological energy.
For now, the insect nest’s function was simple: lay eggs, cultivate insect adults, and store energy.
As for the mother, Jila, she was responsible for commanding the insect race. If her rank advanced, the insect nest’s rank would also advance.
The first thing Su Xiao had to do was make Jila mass-produce troops. At the very least, he needed to get a few Mantis Armors and over ten Stingers. Then, he would have them cooperate with Amu, Bubu Wang, and Baha to hunt animals and feed them to the nest, thereby accumulating biological energy. When the biological energy reached 2000 points, Jila could advance from the first stage to the second stage, and the insect nest would do the same. At that point, the nest could cultivate stronger insect races.
As for Su Xiao, he needed to guard the insect nest to prevent it from being destroyed.
Develop, develop, keep developing. When the insect nest could cultivate combat insects that threatened fifth-rank contractors, then it was time to go on a crazy mass-production spree. After that, these combat insects would be used to crush the Three Paradise Alliance.
PS (Six updates presented, even if it’s two days combined, I still want to ask for monthly tickets.)