Chapter 18

 In fact, when Lin entered the crack, she had already started thinking about how to fight against the current.

It was similar to resisting the hot spring at the entrance of the crack. As long as the cells were combined to form a huge shield, they could stop the impact of the current.

But to block the strong current outside, a stronger and bigger shield was needed. Lin believed that no matter how many cells were gathered together, they would be blown away.

The cells had to be connected together in some way to form a solid body that could not be easily washed away.

For example, using the Digger's Sawtooth to hook their companions together? But that would probably hurt them.

But Lin believed that there should be other ways to connect the cells together. After all, the cell membrane was soft and could change shape. Moreover, the two cells were originally one. They were just divided, so they should be able to be combined again...

And how did the cells divide? Why did they divide? Why didn't they grow very big from the beginning?

It seemed very complicated. Lin did not like to think about complicated things, so she decided to start the experiment directly. She first squeezed the two cells together and let them wrap around each other with the cell membrane. Then, she kept inputting thoughts to 'combine'.

But this did not seem to work. After all, Lin's cells were different from the slime. At most, they could extend some small bumps on the surface of the cell membrane. They could not hold each other tightly.

Then, should she let them evolve into slime? Lin believed that the slime's form should be formed in places like narrow crevices that they often liked to drill into.

Thinking of this, Lin began to let a few basic cells look for narrow crevices in the cave to drill into. She wanted to see if they could evolve into slime after a long time.

But Lin did not want to wait here, so she immediately started another experiment.

She wanted to see if she could stop the cells from dividing.

When the cells divide, they will first divide their core into two, and then slowly split the cell membrane to become two cells.

What Lin had to do was to stop the cell membrane from splitting when it was about to end. That way, there would be two cells connected together.

Lin's community had been eating non-stop, so soon, a cell that was about to divide appeared. This happened to be a basic cell.

Lin immediately followed her thoughts and waited for their core to divide into two. At this time, the cell membrane began to split from the center, and the two cores would move to the sides.

And when the membrane in the middle was about to completely break, Lin suddenly gave a thought to 'stop'.

It stopped!

The cells that were dividing suddenly stopped. They had almost split into two cells, and only the end of the cell membrane was still connected.

Although he succeeded, it would probably break with a little tug.

Lin then ordered them to reinforce the connection and maintain it.

After a while, Lin felt that the connection had been strengthened because the cell membrane of the connection had become thicker.

Then, Lin tried to make one of the cells drag the other, or make both of them walk in different directions. Even when she used all her strength, she couldn't break them.

Looks like it's a success, then Lin has a new cell type, but what's it called?

Connectors?

It feels very ordinary … But forget it, Lin will be able to use the connectors to create a giant wall to block the water flow!

Lin began to let the connectors eat more food, and then let them continue to divide. Of course, like before, they did not completely divide, so that the connected cells would become bigger and bigger.

Lin noticed that the size of the connectors' cells easily surpassed the size of the Stormtrooper or the Exploding Orb. Furthermore, they also had a special characteristic, which was that they didn't all need to eat. As long as one of them ate, the energy would be transferred to all the connected cells, which was quite convenient.

However, there was still a problem. If the cell cluster grew bigger, it would become difficult to move around, after all, they were all stuck together.

Therefore, Lin had them move to the bottom of the crack, and then let them grow in a rotating direction, forming a huge cylinder made up of a large number of cells. The inside of the cylinder was hollow, allowing Lin's other cells to enter. Then, there was an opening at the top, allowing Lin's cells to exit from the top.

This cylinder would continue to grow upwards through the cells at the top, eventually protruding out of the opening and reaching the outside.

Lin also discovered something interesting. Because the pillars were made up of basic cells, Lin was able to make them evolve.

Lin could make these cells evolve into excavators, and she could also make the jagged outer shell face outwards, while the weaker part faced inwards. This way, there was no need to fear external attacks, even viruses couldn't get in.

As she watched the cylinder of cells grow, Lin gave it a new name: 'Giant Tentacles'.

However, Lin still hoped to be able to combine the scattered cells directly, instead of using such a troublesome method.

With that in mind, Lin found another two basic cells and made them stick together, then gave them the order to combine.

The membranes of the two cells were glued together without any cracks. They looked like two balls that were connected together.

Hm? Did I succeed this time?

Lin was a little curious, why was she able to 'combine' now?

Could it be because the cells understood the meaning of 'combine' after stopping the division?

That felt good, this way, Lin could create 'walls of cells' anywhere without having to deliberately interrupt the division of the cells, and then let them slowly grow back, how troublesome was that …

However, a single Giant Tentacle was enough for now, she could decide where to build the other walls when she reached the outside.

What Lin needed to do now was to slowly eat and grow. After all, it would take a long time for a tentacle to grow from the depths of the cave to the outside.

At this time, darkness had already descended outside, but Lin's large number of Flash Burst Orbs kept the cave bright …

Lin also saw that the group of light fungi were still huddled in the corner, but a few daring ones had already come out to look for food.

Daring? What are guts?

Lin was once again puzzled by the new term, but she didn't think too much about it as usual.

There was a lot more white paste in the cave than outside, and it seemed like it would continue to grow. Even if Lin's colony was twice as big, she still wouldn't be able to finish it, so Lin didn't really care if the light fungi were eating or not.

However, Lin wouldn't let them grow too much.

Over the next few days, Lin watched as the giant tentacle continued to grow. Meanwhile, the basic cells that were squeezing into the narrow crack slowly evolved as well. Their bodies became much more flexible, allowing them to compress and deform on a large scale.

However, that wasn't enough, Lin wanted them to be exactly like slime worms, able to change their shape at will.

Time slowly passed. Lin's Giant Tentacle had grown close to the exit of the cave, but the hot water there prevented it from growing any further.

At this time, Lin had some of the highly heat-resistant storage-type cells gather at the tip of the tentacle and continue to grow upwards. In the end, the gigantic tentacle almost occupied the entire passage of the fissure. The tiny cracks on the walls of the fissure where the hot water was spurting out were also blocked.

When the Giant Tentacle grew out of the cave, Lin switched back to using basic cells.

The Giant Tentacle was made up of over a hundred thousand of Lin's cells, and it was thanks to the abundant food in the cave below.

At this time, the situation outside was different from before. The water flow seemed to have stopped, and due to Lin's departure, a large number of other types of cells had gathered here.

What a pity, Lin wanted to see if the Giant Tentacle could resist the water flow.

However, whether it was the Giant Tentacle or the method of assembling cells, both would be of great use to Lin's future growth.