Chapter 160

 While observing the situation inside the Hometree, Lin also used the display to show these strange insects to the Cerebrum.

The Cerebrum also expressed that it had never seen these insects before. There was very little information about the Incan insects, Lin suspected that they had been staying here for a long time and didn't seem to have expanded much.

The shapeshifter continued to observe these strange insects while climbing higher and higher into the Hometree. At this time, a large insect suddenly appeared in Lin's field of vision. Its large body blocked the entire cave that was more than 10 meters in diameter. Lin could only see its head. The insect's mouth had a pair of huge jaws that were more than 6 meters long, filled with sawteeth. When Lin saw this insect, she was only slightly surprised, but the Cerebrum who was also looking at the display was extremely shocked.

"Lin, Earth Shatterer, a soldier of the Incan race. It's huge and powerful, but why …"

Although the Cerebrum's voice was calm, it couldn't hide its surprise.

Earth Shatterer? Lin remembered the Cerebrum saying that the Maya race had many different types of soldiers, and the Earth Shatterer was the most powerful of them all. It was said that they could produce the Deep Sand Bus from the ground, and were also responsible for excavating mountains and other tasks. They represented the ultimate evolution of the Maya race.

But why would this ultimate evolution appear in the Incan race? According to the Cerebrum, other than the infantry and a few queens, all the other soldiers were submerged in lava and lost all contact with them. It was impossible for them to still be alive.

Lin wanted to study this Earth Shatterer, but she didn't know where to start. Lin couldn't prove which race it belonged to. The Cerebrum also needed to interact with soldiers. Only then could it gain control over a soldier. If this Earth Shatterer originally belonged to another Cerebrum, then it indeed couldn't control it.

Because the path ahead was blocked by the Earth Shatterer, Lin's shapeshifter couldn't continue forward. Although it was possible to sneak through the cracks under the Earth Shatterer's body, it was very dangerous, so it was better to stay here and observe.

Lin then had the shapeshifter return and followed the path to check out a few other rooms. Lin discovered that inside the Hometree, there were a lot of insects of different shapes and sizes. They didn't do any work, only waiting to be fed. Although there were a lot of them and almost all of them were huge, because they didn't move, they didn't consume much energy.

Most of these insects' functions were unknown. Among many species of insects, there was a liquid of different colors in their abdomens, and some had obvious functions. They had fangs and claws and appeared for battle.

Although Lin had never seen them fight. The Inca insect swarm should be preparing for something, but there was no way to know …

The shapeshifter had been staying here all this time. Because it hid its scent well, it had never been discovered. However, Lin was bored of just looking at a bunch of motionless bugs, so she decided to let the Brain Hunters fly to the other Hometrees to see if there were other Inca bugs living in the other Hometrees.

When the Brain Hunter circled around the Hometree, Lin suddenly discovered that there was a huge hole behind the Hometree.

This pit was quite similar to the one in the desert. There were also layers of stairs inside, but it was much smaller than the one in the desert. The diameter of this pit was only about 50 meters. Many Incan Black Bees were moving back and forth on the stairs, transporting food and stones. There were also many gathered at the bottom of the pit, as if they were digging for something.

What are they doing?

The Brain Hunter slowly floated closer to the hole and flew into it. The Black Bees that were moving back and forth on the stairs ignored the Brain Hunter, allowing Lin to quickly reach the bottom of the hole.

Lin noticed that the Black Bees were digging non-stop. Among them was a type of insect with a swollen abdomen. It was about the same size as the Black Bees, about 10 centimeters. Lin noticed that the insect would spit some green mucus on the harder stones, and the Black Bees would bite the stones open.

It seemed that they were using the dissolving liquid to dig. Lin also saw a group of black wasps digging out a large object nearby. It looked like the skeleton of a fish. The black wasps were carefully sweeping the sand off the skeleton with their jaws.

This kind of fish … Lin felt like she had seen it before.

The Brain Hunter lowered its altitude slightly. It was now only about 10 meters above the ground, but it still did not appear to be discovered. Lin also got a good look at the whole fish skeleton buried underground …

The skeleton seemed to belong to a Dunkleosteus. The skeleton still retained its sturdy head, but it did not have the sharp teeth of the Dunkleosteus. Its body was only about one meter long. It was probably a transitional species in the midst of evolution.

So … this place used to be an ocean? Lin knew that the skeletons of dead creatures would not be digested by the fungi and would be slowly buried under the sea. That was why the Inca insects were able to dig out these bones here.

This was called a 'fossil'.

But what was the point of digging out these bones? They couldn't possibly be eaten, right?

The Black Bees carefully swept the dust around the skeleton and slowly dug it out. The skeleton was very intact. Other than some cracks on the ribs, not a single one was missing. The Black Bees then moved the ribs up the stairs one by one and out of the hole.

Lin was curious about where they were going with these bones and what they were used for. Lin also noticed that the Black Bees had dug out various skeletons and shells of marine creatures. Among them, there were a lot of snails, shellfish, and ammonites. The shells of these creatures were the easiest to preserve, but the Inca insects did not seem to care about snails and shellfish. Other than that, they would dig out many trilobites, marine arthropods, starfish, and so on.

There was a small group of Black Bees that dug very deep. Lin noticed that they had dug out a creature she had seen before … a Leaf Worm.

A Leaf Worm. This was the second time Lin had seen a multicellular organism. In fact, this organism went extinct not long after Lin went into hibernation. They did not evolve into any other living creatures and disappeared into the sea forever.

The little leaf-shaped worm was embedded in the rock. The black bees ignored it and continued to dig. Lin looked around. It seemed that these black bees were most interested in fish, followed by trilobites. Other shells and other things were thrown aside. Lin ordered the Brain Hunter to follow a team of black bees that were moving fish bones. She wanted to see where they were moving the bones.

Lin's Shapeshifter did not see any place to place the fish bones in this home tree. Lin assumed that they were moving to another home tree.

The Black Bees carried the fish bones up the stairs. The structure of the stairs was really strange. Lin thought that it would be better for them to make a vertical cave and make some potholes or protrusions on the cave wall. That way, they could climb up and down faster.

After the Black Bees walked out of the hole, Lin saw that they were not walking towards the home tree next to the hole. Instead, they were climbing towards the forest. Their destination seemed to be another home tree about 200 meters away.

The Brain Hunter also followed the small group of insects. The moment they entered the jungle, two large beetles with a body size of more than three meters suddenly emerged from the surrounding trees. They followed the Black Bee and walked into the depths of the jungle.

The Inca insects were moving the bones in the forest. The two beetles seemed to be acting as guards. Whenever there was a strange sound in the nearby forest, they would let out a low growl to scare away the enemy.

Perhaps because the ferns were shorter, the number of species Lin had discovered so far was much fewer than in the Twisted Jungle. However, there were still a lot of species that Lin had never seen before.

While following the Black Bees, Lin also saw a lot of excavated holes. Some looked like they had just been excavated. They were relatively shallow, only about a meter deep. Some were tens of meters deep. They had only one purpose, which was to dig out the skeletons or carapaces of various creatures and carry them back.

It was really an incomprehensible behavior. Could there be any rare materials mixed in the skeletons and carapaces?

The Black Bees that were carrying the skeletons arrived at another home tree. Lin noticed that there was a pile of skeletons under the tree. The Black Bees just threw the skeletons next to the pile of bones and left.

Why did they pile up the bones here?

Lin let the Brain Hunter fly closer. Lin saw a small flying creature flying around the pile of bones. This creature was only one centimeter long and was relatively small. Their mouths were as sharp as needles. They pierced their mouths into the gaps of the bones, as if they were sucking on something.

Usually, endoskeleton creatures had organs that produced various kinds of cells in their skeletons, mainly blood cells and immune cells. Lin did not think that the organs in the fossils were still alive, but they did look like they were sucking.

Were the Inca insects using the skeletons to raise these little flying insects? Or …

After the little flying insects finished absorbing, their abdomens would expand to more than ten times their original size. Even so, they were still able to fly. With their huge abdomens, they flew towards the home tree. The Brain Hunter followed them. Lin saw that the little flying insects all went into a small hole in the bark.

The hole was too small for the Brain Hunter to go in, so Lin made a flying eyeball the same size as the little flying insects and went in through the hole in the bark …

After the eyeball went in for about five meters, it found that the surrounding space had suddenly become wider. It seemed to be a spacious room. Lin immediately saw that on the floor of the room, there were some fat worm-like creatures that were constantly moving. The little flying insects that had sucked on the bones automatically flew in front of these fat worms and were chewed and swallowed into their stomachs.

This is …

Lin suddenly realized that some of these fat worms were transparent, and there were actually some living fish swimming in their bodies! She was floating in the sky.