As it turned out, Luo Wen’s earlier suspicion about the small hole near his rear end was correct.
The ant-like creatures were exceptionally aggressive. One of the closest ants swayed its antennae, its six jointed limbs slightly bending before springing forward all at once, launching itself right at Luo Wen. Its hooked mandibles lifted slightly before clamping down in a swift motion, aiming to lock onto him.
Of course, Luo Wen wasn’t about to roll over and take it. While his compound eyes were terribly nearsighted, their thousands of lenses forming individual images gave him excellent dynamic vision.
To put it into perspective, if a human eye found watching a screen with a 60Hz refresh rate smooth and lag-free, Luo Wen’s dynamic vision was ten times better. For him, that 60Hz screen would seem like a slideshow, stuttering between frames for what felt like an eternity.
Yet, the ant’s launch speed was so fast that it exceeded the reaction threshold of human vision. Even for Luo Wen, while he could track its movements, there was no “bullet time” advantage.
He quickly used three of his elongated striding limbs on one side to kick against the ground, propelling himself into a roll and narrowly avoiding the attacking mandibles. The close call left Luo Wen drenched in cold sweat.
His current insect body lacked the flexibility of a human’s. Movements humans could execute with ease, such as rolling, were tremendously taxing for him.
This time, he was lucky. After rolling twice, he ended up belly down, still sprawled on the ground.
If his push-off had been weaker, or if any other mishap had occurred leaving him flipped belly-up, it would have spelled disaster. In his current form, flipping over was a monumental task, leaving him entirely at the mercy of the ants.
One-on-one, Luo Wen felt he could handle these ants, which were slightly smaller than him. But clearly, they had no intention of fighting fair, showing every sign of ganging up on him.Discretion being the better part of valor, Luo Wen raised his rear and prepared to flee.
On the ground, he couldn’t match the ants’ speed, but he had his own advantage. Despite his short tenure as an insect, he had already observed that while their forelimbs were adequate for clawing at sand and gravel, they were woefully unsuited for digging through soil.
The ground here was layered with loose sand and gravel, but beneath it lay soil. If he could burrow into the soil layer, he’d be safe.
Unfortunately, Luo Wen underestimated the ants’ launch speed and range. Several ants leaped simultaneously, their mandibles clamping onto him just as half his body disappeared into the dirt. Two even pierced his abdomen, collectively pulling to drag him back out.
If they succeeded, it would be game over for Luo Wen. Determined to survive, he desperately clawed at the ground with his digging limbs, braced his midlimbs against nearby gravel, and kicked frantically with his hind legs.
One of the ants gripping Luo Wen’s abdomen surged forward. In addition to its conspicuous hooked mandibles, it had a pair of smaller, pincer-like black-brown jaws near its mouth.
Luo Wen’s flailing hind leg happened to strike directly in front of its jaws. The ant reacted quickly, snapping down on the leg.
Whether other insects felt pain, Luo Wen didn’t know, but he was sure of one thing—he currently had no pain sensation. Otherwise, with his injuries, a human body would’ve passed out long ago from the agony.
As if this weren’t enough, some of the ants stabilized themselves with their six legs, raised their thoraxes vertically, and stretched their abdomens forward until they were even with their heads, resembling scorpions about to sting.
Their swollen abdomens pulsed, and from the nozzle at the tip, a turbid liquid spurted forth. Upon contact with air, the liquid emitted a wisp of white smoke.
The liquid arced through the air, landing precisely around Luo Wen, splattering parts of his posterior abdomen. The contact caused small, pitted wounds as his body was corroded.
Crap! Luo Wen thought bitterly. These shameless creatures are using fecal spray attacks! And it’s toxic! I’ve never seen a species so devoid of honor.
Faced with a life-or-death situation, Luo Wen seemed to muster strength from every fiber of his being, even his bristles standing on end. After a desperate struggle, he finally broke free, burrowing completely into the gravel layer and disappearing from view.
Once underground, Luo Wen left the ants far behind. They couldn’t even catch a glimpse of his rear hole.
Now temporarily safe, Luo Wen stopped. Exhausted, he found himself in a pitiful state. Both his hind legs bore bite marks of varying severity, one of them broken in the middle and missing a large segment.
Fortunately, with so many legs, losing two wasn’t a significant hindrance to his mobility.
His posterior half, while affected by the corrosive spray, didn’t sustain as much damage as he’d feared. Likely, the brief exposure and limited dosage caused only superficial injuries, sparing his internal structure.
Unable to see his own back, Luo Wen could only sense that the damage wasn’t too severe.
However, the wound on his abdomen was another story.
The soft abdomen had been torn open at the third segment from the rear, leaving it barely attached to his body by a thin strip of skin. Internal organs—or whatever constituted them in his current form—had trailed out along the way, leaving nothing left to spill.
“Good thing I’m an insect now. If I were human and this gutted, I’d definitely be dead.”
Even though he wasn’t dead yet, Luo Wen had no idea how much longer he could hold on with such severe injuries. But there was little he could do. No bandages or gauze were available, and even if they were, his current limbs couldn’t manage the dexterity for such tasks.
What he wouldn’t give for access to the internet right now, to post his predicament and tack on a desperate plea: Urgent, need help!
But that was wishful thinking. Luo Wen suspected these idle thoughts were a sign he was nearing death, his mind starting to wander.
Vibrations sensed by his bristles snapped him back to reality—the ants were tracking him by the trail of fluid his wounds left behind. This place was no longer safe.
Raising his rear again, Luo Wen resumed digging. Earlier, he’d noticed that the ants and their tunnels didn’t extend to the deeper underground layers. It seemed they preferred not to live there, and their forelimbs were ill-suited for excavating soil.
If he continued downward, he could lose them for good.
Luo Wen had no idea how long he had been digging. His consciousness began to blur. Though he felt no pain, his grievous injuries left him physically and mentally drained.
Through the haze, he sensed familiar vibrations ahead—white bugs gnawing at tree roots!
Using the last of his strength, Luo Wen crawled forward. Sure enough, a fat, white grub was using its large mandibles to strip bark and feast on the succulent sap.
Without hesitation, Luo Wen kicked the grub aside and latched onto the wound in the tree root, furiously licking at the sap.
The cool, slightly sweet liquid flowed down his throat into his body, reaching his abdomen, only to leak out through his wound…
Luo Wen felt a wave of despair.
Weakly, he burrowed a short distance to the side before his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.