Self-Consciousness

Foolish seemed to be confused. Upon telling System that he was not the queen, she delivered another message. "You're, the ant queen."

"Yes, I am," System replied to her using [Mind Transmission]. Despite his apparent calmness, he was panicking inside.

This was the first time Foolish had questioned his identity, but System knew that this would not be the last time.

As Foolish's intelligence improved, she would surely continue to question him. Wouldn't the eggs and larvae that he was brainwashing now question him in the future too?

Should he give up on brainwashing them? Or find some ways to lower their intelligence?

System's mind was a mess. He had to find a way to prevent these pitfalls.

At the same time, it was troublesome to deal with Foolish.

Undoubtedly, letting her stay was a time bomb, and maybe she would come and kill him if she found something wrong one day.

System was familiar with soldier ants, a crazy type of combat ants—they would fight against creatures that could harm the ant nest to death like madmen.

However, he had to rely on Foolish in order to construct his cave, as well as store food for the winter.

System got tangled up while thinking about his options.

…

Fortunately, Foolish had only suspected System once, and she had not mentioned it again after that, as if she had forgotten about the incident.

However, since then, Foolish's behavior had been getting stranger and stranger. Besides playing with the translucent stone, she would go to a nearby puddle of water, which had not dried up yet.

During her free time, she would stare silently at her reflection in the water and touch the reflection with her limbs from time to time, for both day and night.

She seemed to be thinking about something.

System often watched her from far. He could not understand what Foolish was thinking about, but it seemed unlikely that Foolish would betray him in a short period.

This went on for two days.

In the middle of their communication, Foolish suddenly thought of something and asked System, "What am I?"

"You're a soldier ant," replied System.

"What is a soldier ant?"

"A type of ant that is responsible for guarding the ant nest, and there are many types of ants. For example, you're the soldier ant, and I'm the ant queen," explained System.

Foolish seemed to think for a short while and then presented a new question to System.

"Why, am I… a soldier ant? You, why are you, the ant queen?"

"Hmm…"

Upon hearing Foolish's question and tone, System finally understood why she had asked him if he was the ant queen the other day.

It was not because she had doubts about his fake identity; rather, she had a new perception of the world due to her intelligence improvement.

Foolish probably was aware of the concept of ego.

Ego, also known as self-consciousness or self-concept, was primarily an individual's perception of their own state of being. It was the result of an individual's self-evaluation of their social role.

In humans' case, ego or self-consciousness meant being aware of the differences that distinguished them from other creatures or other people around them.

Without a doubt, Foolish had formed her own unique wisdom after this period of growth, which made her aware of ego.

She had not been staring blankly while watching the reflection in the water. Instead, she had questions when seeing herself in the reflection.

Foolish's question, unlike a normal one, was a deep philosophical question.

It was like asking a human being why they were human.

Why was she a soldier ant? And why was System the queen?

This was simply a question that had no clear answer to it, and it was hard for System to answer it.

It was not that System could not answer her question, as he could have said that it was because of fate. Something as arcane as fate was the best explanation for this question.

However, Foolish would definitely continue to ask what fate was, carrying the question on endlessly, just like a child who always liked to ask why.

Luckily, Foolish was not a crybaby, but a soldier ant.

After receiving System's order to continue directing the worker ants to build the cave, she gave up on her questions and chose to obey System's order.

…

Foolish was only aware of her own ego, and she had not suspected System yet.

Nevertheless, this incident could not completely reassure System.

If Foolish's intelligence continued to grow, she would sooner or later realize that she and System were not of the same species. After all, he was a grasshopper.

System could not predict what exactly would happen when she found out the truth.

As System had ordered Foolish to keep eating, Foolish's size had grown further and reached 5.5cm.

Although not as strong as System, her giant mandibles and the stinger on her tail were sufficient to threaten System.

System was a bit worried. He did not know when Foolish would notice that something was wrong and attack him.

He had no choice but to order Foolish to complete his cave's construction as soon as possible and distance himself from Foolish, reducing his interaction with her.

System had decided that when she finished constructing his cave and filled the granaries, he would ask Foolish to return to her ant nest and never go and see him again.

Of course, he had also thought of killing Foolish after fulfilling his wishes in order to eliminate any potential risk.

However, System could not do it.

…

As time passed, Foolish's construction team almost completed System's cave. Its depth was 4.5 meters.

The ants seemed to be unintelligent, but the underground nest they built was perfect.

The tunnels inside the cave were accessible in all directions, allowing for effective ventilation from the opening. The worker ants had slowly dug dozens of granaries for him to store food.

The ant larvae, which System had been brainwashing these days, had hatched. There were dozens of ant larvae gathered around him.

With plenty of food, the first batch of ant larvae to hatch had become pupae, which indicated that the growth cycle of these ants was not too long.

Also, System reached Level 12 when he had 25 more days to go before the end of his lifespan.

His body grew further, reaching 17cm, and his bloodline's [Insect Adaptability] was increased to (13/21).

From Level 11, his grasshopper bloodline would send him some images every time his [Insect Adaptability] leveled up. So it did this time. In System's mind, an image of flying swarms of grasshoppers appeared once again.

But he still did not know their purpose.

With this increase in level, his newly acquired derived ability [Subtlety Vision] was raised, and now, his eyesight was much better.

[Subtlety Vision] (3/9) → [Subtlety Vision] (4/9)

However, as compared to these, the greatest difference that System could feel after reaching Level 12 was his talent [Molting Growth].

From the moment he leveled up, the blood flowing through his body was as if it was boiling. At the same time, his exoskeleton felt strangely itchy.

System's body was urging him to undergo his third molting immediately!