Chapter 330: Insight.
“The further enhancement of silk-spinning abilities and strength.”
After sucking on the Lixuan Jade, Jié Jié felt the changes in his Queen Mantis body. When he looked at the ruins, these building materials seemed to have more construction logic in his eyes, as if he could figure out how to better utilize them.
Some details were magnified in his eyes. He leaned in and with a flick, a great sword was hooked out from the ruins.
“Is this an improvement in insight?”
This was much more useful than silk-spinning abilities and strength. Insight could directly connect with learning ability.
The more discoveries made, the more effective the experience gained through learning would be.
There was no change in pheromones, though. He originally thought he might be able to release pheromones to control the mantis swarm.
However, special insect pheromones are directly linked to gender. A male Queen Mantis emitting queen pheromones…
Just imagining that there would always be other male Queen Mantises wanting to explore its physiological structure was enough to make him reconsider.
“Next up is rebuilding the Ruin City!”
Looking at the disassembling Queen’s Ruin City before his eyes, Jié Jié couldn’t resist the urge to get his hands dirty. After setting up the web scaffolding, he got straight to work.
The disassembly of the Queen’s Ruin City wasn’t severe. This time, the construction of the Ruin City wouldn’t start from scratch.
With a clang clang clang, the Queen’s Ruin City was repaired. Under his control, it stood up again, becoming the basic outline of the new Ruin City. The existence of insight allowed him to confirm a large number of places that could be optimized.
He began gradually replacing parts of the Queen’s Ruin City with his own colors. The outline might not change much, after all, four legs were already the most optimal structure.
But there were many modifications to be made in terms of structure.
The Queen Mantis viewed her tail more as an attack method than a support method. In this aspect, he wanted to retain the characteristics of his Ruin City by filling the tail with soil as a support structure.
Originally, the back legs of the Queen’s Ruin City had backward knees, with knee joints and protruding shields connected by silk threads for pulling, making it more suitable for support and quadrupedal movement.
With the tail as support, he decided to replace the backward arch-shaped legs with normal monster physiology forward knees to greatly increase travel speed.
“Unfortunately, the Strike Dragon Gun is broken. I’ll have to find some time to look for Dongduoluma’s armory and pick up a replacement.”
The Strike Dragon Gun should definitely come with a warranty service. If it can’t be repaired, the merchant should provide a replacement service!
“Hmm?”
He noticed something approaching. Looking over, he saw a brown female Queen Mantis moving closer to the deceased Queen.
After making eye contact, the new little Queen lunged at him with fangs bared, emitting pheromones to lure him.
It also had some stolen small parts on its back.
Jié Jié thought for a moment before retreating into the Ruin City.
“Bang!”
A small metal wheel hit the ground and rolled toward the little Queen.
“Parts are abundant, consider it a gift.”
The little Queen clearly didn’t understand but quickly grabbed the metal wheel and placed it on its back, then lunged again.
“Boom!”
A super-sized metal wheel swung by silk threads slammed beside the little Queen, scaring it off in a panic.
When Jié Jié’s attention shifted away from the Ruin City for the second time, he looked up to see a starry sky. A group of hunters were cautiously approaching, pulling a cart behind them.
Taking advantage of the night, huh?
The great sword was kicked away, landing next to the deceased Queen Mantis, and he himself moved farther away, circling around to a distant position to modify the Ruin City.
When he swung back, the Queen’s corpse and the great sword were predictably carried away.
He transformed into a flying bird and followed, watching as the Ancient Dragon Observation Ship lowered a hoist, transporting the Queen’s corpse onto the ship.
Jié Jié flew into the Flying Airship, seeing the Queen Mantis’ corpse lying spread out on the airship. Dragon Person scholars walked around its joint limbs, constantly gesturing and measuring.
His great sword returned to his hand, and the burly great sword wielder looked very pleased.
Aside from the Queen’s corpse, there was also a male Queen Mantis corpse nearby, perhaps killed by outer hunters resisting other Queen Mantises.
He didn’t feel any sorrow akin to mourning a rabbit when a fox dies; instead, he watched with great interest.
“How hasn’t the corpse been completely eaten? There were hunters who observed the Queen Mantis feeding on males.”
A Dragon Person scholar was puzzled.
“Of course, it ate the main part and left some soup for you,” Jié Jié thought.
“Perhaps the pheromones prevent male Queen Mantises from harming the Queen? It’s said that the King Mantis controls the Ruin City against the Queen’s Ruin City except during the final assault.”
“Hmm, two types of pheromones were found on the Queen Mantis, almost confirming its command over the mantis swarm.”
The supervisor pointed at the male Queen Mantis corpse:
“This is what the male Queen Mantis lacks, and the hunters tracking the King Mantis did not discover its swarm.”
“The ecological difference between the two is too great. For now, let’s assume the normal ecology is the queen-centered swarm dominated by females. We still need to observe the Queen Mantis swarm and the King Mantis for a while.”
“Could the King Mantis be congenitally abnormal, unaffected by pheromones, and its displayed wisdom causing it to rebel against the female-dominated Queen Mantis society, relying on notable strength to seize the Queen’s Ruin City and disperse the swarm?”
A scholar raised their hand to propose a hypothesis, which clearly conflicted with another scholar’s theory that pheromones prevented harm. Both glared at each other.
“We cannot rule out this possibility, but until we dissect it, nothing can be confirmed. For now, let’s tentatively consider the King Mantis as a special individual produced under unique circumstances.”
The new Ruin City hadn’t been fully constructed yet; this was the most vulnerable time for the King Mantis…
The thirst for knowledge of the Dragon People was like human courage; when excessive, it could lead to disaster.
Choosing to exterminate both discovered King Mantises was undoubtedly a disruption of balance.
“Don’t think about eradication in the short term. Let’s stick to the previous strategy.”
The supervisor recalled this teaching, suppressing his own curiosity, and looked at the hunters.
“The task of observing the King Mantis is still ours. We are really interested in it. It’s like a warrior, isn’t it?”
Kempe and his close teammates exchanged glances and decided to continue handling the investigation of the King Mantis.
The King Mantis shielded them from the pressure of the Queen’s Ruin City. They might not have been able to escape unscathed, let alone complete the task, so naturally, they developed a liking for it.
“Look!”
A scholar rummaged through the Queen Mantis’ corpse and held up their finger, on which rested a tiny, glittering golden stone.
Very small.
As age increases, after the first stone reaches its limit, a second stone may grow, or two stones may grow simultaneously in different areas. Stones do not start out that large.
“There really are stones similar to Dragon Orbs. Unfortunately, no dragon elements have been discovered within the Queen Mantis so far.”
“Although it cannot be classified as an Ancient Dragon species, the intelligence and power of the Queen Mantis are undeniable. The king individual among them, wielding the Ruin City, poses a threat comparable to that of a super-large Ancient Dragon.”
The Dragon Person supervisor organized the information and archives and made a summary, finally handing over the corpse to the hunters who had slain the Queen Mantis for processing.
As the hunters distributed the materials, Jié Jié sneaked into the kitchen of the Flying Airship.
After stealing two bottles of seasoning, he returned to his Ruin City and continued with the renovation plan.
Chapter 331
