The first Anbu mission was now complete.
When everyone gathered again, they were inside a cave.
This was a place Miki had discovered.
The cave was warm, with Flamebug raising the temperature, so they didn't feel the chill of the wind and snow outside at all.
"Looks like we can't leave tonight," White Fang said, looking at the heavy snow outside.
Miki nodded. Watching the heavy snow outside, a Summer Red Soldier soon flew in, swaying as it landed on Miki's outstretched finger.
It was too cold; its wings were starting to freeze.
Tolerance for harsh environments was temporary; as time accumulated, the test on bodily functions would become increasingly severe.
It was impossible to carry out missions in such harsh weather.
Moreover, fragile structures like wings were not easy to strengthen, unless they were made of bio-steel.
But growing bio-steel wings was equally difficult.
Miki reached out and released the Summer Red Soldier.
As an experimental prototype, it already possessed practical combat value.
However, this one was already suffering from heatstroke…
Perhaps…
The Summer Red Soldier self-dissolved in mid-air, leaving only an empty shell of an insect when it landed.
Outside, in the wind and snow, more Summer Red Soldiers were unable to return, and their own small amount of Chakra couldn't support the reverse Summoning Technique.
They fell one after another and began to self-dissolve.
If it weren't for the need for a rapid, carpet-like search, Miki wouldn't have summoned this many swarms of insects.
Furthermore, Summer Red Soldiers flying in a group could effectively maintain heat, allowing for continuous reconnaissance work in harsh weather without quickly freezing to death.
White Fang glanced at the empty shell on the ground and couldn't help but ask, "Bugs, do you have a lot of Chakra?"
"A lot?" Miki replied, "Not a lot. It's the least among us."
"That's impossible, isn't it?" White Fang said, "The sheer number of this insect swarm alone would consume a huge amount of Chakra just for the Summoning Technique."
"A Summer Red Soldier weighs 1.5 grams. Fifty thousand of them are only 750 kilograms, 0.75 tons."
"Is less than a ton a lot?"
"Powerful summoned beasts start at thousands of tons, and some are tens of thousands of tons."
"My bugs are not powerful at all," Miki said. "They can't compare to those big guys."
"Summoning a swarm of this mass is not a big burden for me."
White Fang swallowed, a bit speechless.
Your bugs are basically Exploding Tags! Even a tens of thousands of ton beast would fall on the spot if it encountered them!
"What do they eat? Chakra?" White Fang continued to ask.
"Captain White Fang, you ask too many questions!" Chiri's voice was slightly cold and firm.
White Fang scratched his head.
Even among comrades, it was an unspoken rule not to ask about the details of techniques.
These were personal secrets.
White Fang wasn't unaware, he was just too curious.
Because it was incredibly powerful.
"It's not a big deal. These bugs don't eat Chakra," Miki said.
Summer Red Soldiers themselves do not have Insects genes and do not possess the ability to hatch quickly.
But Miki had the Jar of Poison Technique.
This family secret technique, which Miki had recognized as powerful at first glance, had undergone four revisions after she learned the sealing technique.
It took eight years.
The first revision was to separate the rapid hatching function. Two years after learning the sealing technique, the second was gigantification, also two years later. The third was the super-gigantification of the Barrier, and the fourth was a year ago, for portable miniaturization.
Previously, when rapidly hatching Summer Red Soldiers, Miki had simply opened a Jar of Poison Barrier on her hand, with the Insects within her body supplying the nutrients and life force needed for rapid hatching.
The essence of this technique was to accelerate cell division, thus shortening the lifespan of the bugs.
But this was not a big problem.
Summer Red Soldiers were born to die, lives that bloomed briefly like fireworks.
Therefore, their alternative name was "Reverse-Flying Meteors."
Fireworks launched skyward, like meteors flying in reverse.
"Don't eat Chakra? Then what do they eat? Meat?" White Fang, seeing Miki didn't mind, continued to ask.
"Hmm, they eat protein, not just meat. Anything edible, including their own kind," Miki said.
"Raising such a massive scale, they must eat a lot, even with their small size," White Fang sighed. "My dogs eat a lot, it's like they're never full. "
"You've misunderstood something, Captain White Fang," Miki said. "The activity of living beings requires energy support, and energy comes from absorbed nutrition."
"In the wild, all living beings act with this purpose: to collect energy to survive."
"And once they start moving, they consume energy; consuming energy means needing to replenish energy. This is the essence of predation."
"When the energy consumed cannot keep up with the energy replenished, they must continuously predate until the gains are proportional, which means being full, before they stop."
"Thus, even small insects like dragonflies consume a terrifying number of mosquitoes and flies every day, their weight being several times their own."
"They are constantly consuming energy, so they need to constantly predate."
"Interestingly, the fat stored by hibernating bears is enough to get them through the long, harsh winter without food."
"The reason is that bears stop moving, reducing energy consumption."
"Similarly, putting the insect swarm into complete hibernation can greatly reduce food consumption."
"A Summer Red Soldier weighs 1.5 grams. Consuming 5% of its own weight in food daily can maintain its normal functions."
"And this swarm of fifty thousand, with a total weight of 0.75 tons, what is 5% of its own weight in consumption, Captain White Fang?"
White Fang scratched his head. This…
He was an excellent early graduate of the Konoha Ninja Academy.
How could he know the answer to such a question!
"37.5 kilograms," Miki said. "That's 75 jin, less than 100 jin of food."
"Oh! I get it!" White Fang nodded heavily.
Miki had explained it very simply and clearly.
That's why Miki felt it was as cheap as toilet paper—no, cheaper than toilet paper.
Even for these hundred-odd jin of food, Miki hadn't spent a single penny.
If you want to know why this was the answer.
It was because…
"Even if they consume little food, meticulously feeding so many bugs must be troublesome, right?" White Fang wondered. "Can you manage it alone? When I feed my dogs, I often get flustered, and cooking dog food is also a hassle. And that's just a dozen dogs, adding up to less than a thousand jin."
He wanted to ask for tips on pet feeding.
"Captain White Fang, this part falls under true secret techniques," Miki said with a smile. "I can't tell you that."
"I see…" White Fang was a little disappointed, but not too much. He was already used to his daily routine of feeding dogs in his free time; sometimes, he felt uncomfortable if he didn't brush their fur.
Miki looked outside the cave.
The ability to raise an insect swarm of this scale was precisely where the power of the superorganism manifested.
There were specialized insect swarms responsible for gathering resources, as well as for animal husbandry, planting, mineral extraction, and other resource-increasing activities. There were also specialized bugs responsible for feeding Miki's various troop types.
It squeezed the utilization rate of resources to the limit, with every bit effectively used for crucial purposes.
Although it was still just a prototype.
The true outline of an empire was already appearing before Miki's eyes.
Look at my desperate eyes.
No more drafts, truly no more drafts. I've been working overtime these past few days, even two updates are difficult.
Please, no more, let me save up a little more.
I'm kneeling before you, Big Boss.
Just one bonus update to show my appreciation.
I really can't add any more during this period; if I add too much, it might lead to a negative outcome.
How annoying.
By the way, my new book expired yesterday and is off the new book list, but I've already dominated the overall new book list for newcomers.
No regrets.
Thank you all for your love.
I will work harder to write interesting stories in the future.
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