Jun Bao had originally wanted to see the queen up close, but seeing how cautious Xiao Wei was, he decided to take it step by step. He studied her carefully, his mind already racing with possibilities. With artificial wombs already available in his territory, the empire's most advanced breeding techniques were at his disposal. He planned to cultivate a few queens of his own to enable mass reproduction, envisioning a future where these creatures could sustain entire cities.
From Wen Jun's words, it wasn't hard to tell that these gastropod bugs survived well in the apocalypse. Perhaps they were a new species that had evolved through mutation in these end times, much like the dino-chickens. In this world, they could eat almost anything, and their offspring were productive enough to form a small but viable food chain. Unlike the dino-chickens, however, the gastropod bugs reproduced faster and matured quicker. As a food source, they could fill many more stomachs.
"If you really want to compare value," Jun Bao said, "dino-chickens are high-end, since eggs are a delicacy. Gastropod bugs are more about quantity." He calculated the trade-offs in his head, figuring their worth was roughly equal.
Xiao Wei looked intrigued. Food in these cold mountains was scarce, and she felt a little hungry. She glanced at Wen Jun piteously, unaware that in the pitch-black house, two small snakes were sliding silently along the stone wall toward her. Their scales scraped against the damp rock with a sound no louder than a breath.
In fact, no one really noticed the intrusion. The house was cold and dark, lit only by a dim, flickering glow that was just enough to make out shapes but not fine details.
Wen Jun, however, remained firm. "No! You can't study it." He knew very clearly that outsiders couldn't be allowed to figure this out. In the entire mountain range, this was the only place where gastropod bugs existed.
Xiao Wei sighed in disappointment and lowered her head, her pale face shadowed.
Jun Bao tried a compromise. "How about we trade for an egg? You name the price."
Seeing that Jun Bao seemed intent on their gastropod bug, Wen Jun began shooing him toward the door. "No, no, we—"
Before he could finish the sentence, the unexpected happened. Something massive under the bed suddenly shot upward with violent force. At the same time, the two small snakes that had slid in were flung into the air. They didn't have time to react before massive, chitinous pincers snapped down and dragged them into a gaping maw at the lower abdomen. Crunching sounds followed. They were loud, wet, and unmistakable.
The huge quilt hit the floor with a dull thud, revealing a terrifying scene beneath the wooden bed frame. In the darkness, Jing Shu's eyes widened. She had survived ten years of the apocalypse, but she had never seen anything like this. Today, her perception of the world was completely shattered.
Time seemed to freeze in the damp air of the room.
Jun Bao couldn't even speak, his words stuck in his throat as he stared at the monstrosity. The room was dark, but even with his poor vision, the sheer size of the creature was obvious.
This was not a frail, legless girl lying under a blanket anymore. The disguise was gone. Everything was exposed.
What had seemed like a simple bed was now just a hollowed-out wooden frame. The girl's upper body leaned against the headboard, her skin sickly pale, but her lower half was fused seamlessly with a massive, pulsating abdomen that filled the entire space of the bed. Thirty-six legs moved with the rhythmic, skittering motion of a millipede, and two giant pincers waved in midair, searching for more food.
The bed had been placed against the corner of the mountain wall because a huge cavern lay beneath the floorboards. Gastropod bugs came and went from the cave, some carrying what appeared to be scraps of food into the queen's mouth, working like tireless worker ants. Others carried freshly laid eggs into the dark depths of the cave, probably toward the incubation chamber Wen Jun had mentioned. No wonder the village was small and no bugs were visible—they were all thriving in the darkness below.
After three or four stunned seconds, Jing Shu reacted. This girl, half human and half bug, had to be the gastropod queen Wen Jun had described. Her lower half, however, didn't seem to be under her conscious control. If it were, the two snakes that had slipped in to scout wouldn't have been devoured in full view of the guests.
So this was a direct exposure of their secret.
It was clear that the lower half had been attached artificially. She couldn't understand how human and bug could fuse in such a grotesque way. From what she had heard, Xiao Wei had been a normal child before the mutation in the mountains began.
Previously, Jing Shu's bugs were too scared to approach the bed, so she had sent the snakes that had been fed Spirit Spring to scout the area. She hadn't expected them to be eaten by the queen as a casual snack.
She quickly scooped up the drowsy Yang Yang and pulled Jun Bao back. This was shaping up to be a serious battle.
Wen Jun finally reacted, his heart racing against his ribs. He grabbed the fallen quilt to cover Xiao Wei, but his hands trembled violently. It was as if a deep secret had been uncovered before the world.
A monster.
He remembered the first villager who had discovered Xiao Wei and thought about how she had slowly accepted her reality over the past half year. And now, the veil was gone.
"Don't worry, Wen Jun. No need to hide anymore. They have seen everything. Stay behind me—they won't hurt me," Xiao Wei sighed. Her voice was calm, almost detached. After her lower half became bug-like, her vision had changed, and she clearly saw the terrified and disgusted reactions of the others.
Gou Tou shouted, running outside to call the others. "Outsiders found our secret! Grab weapons and eggs! Make them food for the gastropod bugs! None of them leaves today!"
Jun Bao's face was full of astonishment. "Jing Shu, did you see that? Xiao Wei is the gastropod queen. How is this possible? Her lower half is linked to such a huge creature. It's symbiosis!"
"Now isn't the time to marvel at that!" Jing Shu groaned. The two pairs of massive pincers moved fast and precise. They had just eaten the snakes before the creatures could even react. These were not ordinary prey like an ant queen; they were lethal predators.
She wasn't scared for herself, only worried that Jun Bao might foolishly rush forward and have his head snapped off and swallowed.
Outside, chaos erupted as the villagers' shouts echoed through the mountain. Jing Shu feared what would happen if these people started planting eggs in them—the consequences would be messy and irreversible.
"Xiao Wei, Wen Jun, don't be alarmed. We mean no harm," Jing Shu hurriedly explained, keeping her hands visible.
Xiao Wei looked at her, her eyes reflecting the dim light in an unsettling way. "You have a lot of little bugs with you. The two snakes just now—they were yours, right?"
Snakes? Bugs? Jun Bao and Wen Jun exchanged confused glances. Where were they?