Astral Cockroach

The thunderstorm with lightning and thunder lasted all night, gradually ceasing in the morning.

The weather was fickle. The rain was immediately followed by a blazing sun. There was no wind, water vapor rose, and it was swelteringly humid, like a sauna.

The terrible temperature persisted until the sun set in the evening, only then did it slightly improve.

The big-headed harvester ants next door hurriedly carried their damp seeds out, taking advantage of the remaining sunlight to dry them.

Banbu stayed at the entrance of his burrow, observing and silently waiting for nightfall, determined to go out in the middle of the night and expand his search area.

It was likely that some insects couldn't withstand the ravages of the storm and were either drowned or killed by the rain, perhaps he could find one or two corpses.

This conjecture coincided with the big-headed ants, who had already begun their operation. A large number of worker ants set out, continuously dispersing in a "human" shape, dividing the team in two, two into four, four into eight…

They utilized the advantage of their colony size, conducting a scientific and efficient carpet search.

At dusk, the ant colony suddenly became agitated, and more worker ants crawled out of the nest, changing to a straight line movement.

Judging by the looks of it, they had gained something, and gained quite a bit, needing more worker ants to carry it.

Sure enough, they quickly formed a neat long line, carrying food in their mandibles, filing back to the nest in an endless stream. At the same time, more worker ants were dispatched, heading towards the food source, forming a spectacular transportation ant trail.

Banbu initially wanted to ambush and rob them, but the ants were small, and the pieces of meat they carried were even smaller. It wasn't worth angering a whole nest of troublesome fellows for such a tiny bit of meat, barely enough to fill a tooth gap.

"It looks like chopped meat cut from some kind of animal. Did they find a big guy?"

Banbu ventured out before dark, following the ant trail and burrowing into the jungle.

His antennae captured the fishy stench of fresh blood. Sure enough, a large animal had been hunted.

He cautiously crept forward, and soon, a massive corpse like a mountain appeared before his eyes. Only a small portion of the body had been eaten. Sharp fangs, black steel needle-like bristles. Observing from a distance, he determined it was an adult wild boar.

There was a rough description of its specific name in his inherited memories, but the memory was too vague, and he couldn't remember what it was called for a moment.

There were also a large number of black birds perched on the corpse, chattering and happily pecking. They were called "carrion crows", a type of dirty bird that wouldn't hunt themselves, instead following powerful creatures to pick up the scraps of corpses.

Encountering carrion crows in the jungle often meant that ferocious predators such as jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards were lurking nearby.

The big-headed harvester ant colony showed no fear, climbing on the skeleton that had been pecked over by the carrion crows, searching for remaining meat scraps, cutting them, and busily transporting them back to the ant nest.

The carrion crows had no interest in these thick-shelled, meat-deficient big-headed ants, ignoring them completely.

Banbu couldn't determine whether his size would arouse the carrion crows' appetite, so he didn't dare to step forward rashly. Facing the temptation of meat, he hesitated slightly, then resolutely retreated, returning to his nest to hide.

It wasn't until late at night that Banbu emerged from his nest, first checking the movements of his neighbor ants. These diligent little fellows were still busy, their ant nest seeming like a bottomless pit, continuously moving in and out, back and forth, in an endless stream.

Following the ant trail, he arrived at the corpse.

The carrion crows had long since dispersed.

The corpse, which had been more than half remaining in the evening, had now turned into a pile of white bones, with only the parts close to the ground remaining. This was either because the birds' beaks couldn't reach, or the crows were all full, so a few pieces of meat remained.

Banbu walked around the corpse from a distance, choosing an inconspicuous and remote location, then rushed forward, devouring the meat with great relish.

The animal meat entered his stomach, and was quickly digested and absorbed, like a warm spring, spreading throughout his body. The feeling of emptiness under his carapace gradually disappeared, replaced by fullness and strength.

All cockroaches and insects on this planet have the basic characteristic of tenacious vitality.

Banbu's soul was mutated by the radiation of the core of life. After rebirth, it indirectly induced the mutation of his own cockroach genes, and the characteristic of tenacious vitality was sublimated and qualitatively changed. With the replenishment of rich nutrients, the body cells grew and divided rapidly, and the atrophied muscles and organs under the carapace gradually became full and complete.

The 19th molting evolution, which should have failed, was finally completed under the action of the powerful vitality after the qualitative change.

Banbu clearly felt that his brain was clearer than ever before, and the speed of his thinking was no less than that of a human being. Moreover, thinking about complex problems no longer had the sequelae of overloaded operation.

His environmental perception ability rose to a new level, extremely sharp. His antennae captured the mixed odors in the air, clearly distinguishing them. The bristles on his body could even "hear" the slightest sound of the wind.

Looking at the world with his compound eyes, the colors were more gorgeous, and the images were clearer.

As the abundant food entered his stomach, the empty shell was replenished, and the whole world was renewed.

Banbu knew that it wasn't the world that had changed, it was himself who was changing. Only now was he truly a Force creature in the true sense.

Red Roach Tribe Warrior!

After a brief moment of excitement and exhilaration, Banbu became distressed.

Feeling the cosmic Force, he then discovered the drawbacks of the cockroach body, which were unexpectedly terrible. It turned out that it didn't have the meridians like humans that were specifically designed to accommodate the Force.

The carapace absorbed the Force into the body, immediately dissolving into the blood. As the blood flowed, it naturally integrated into the body's cells, disappearing without a trace.

Most of it was wasted and dissipated, and only a small part was used to promote gene evolution.

This growth mode belonged to the "lowest level" utilization of Force. This type of Force creature was classified as a "low-level Force creature" among the various races in the universe.

Human cultivators belonged to "super Force creatures". In essence, humans possessed meridians, which could absorb and accommodate Force. Their will could manipulate the Force, orderly tempering cells, triggering the evolution of their own genes in the most scientific direction, efficiently utilizing it, and thus growing and becoming powerful quickly.

Banbu had already made the worst estimate of the cockroach's body structure: the meridians were completely different from humans, weak and unable to accommodate too much Force, and too few to carry out complex cultivation…

Banbu was once a genius of the human race, mastering the most advanced cultivation knowledge. He was confident that he could overcome all difficulties and create a cultivation method suitable for the cockroach body, gradually rising in this planet with abundant Force and almost no competitive pressure.

The result was worse than expected. The cockroach body simply had no meridians.

A clever woman cannot cook without rice. After understanding the situation, Banbu couldn't help but feel a burst of frustration.

"There are still many life forms in the universe that are extremely powerful without cultivation. I was misled by human thinking."

"Are the cockroaches on this planet really weak? It's too early to draw a conclusion now."

"What's more, theoretically speaking, being able to use cosmic Force to transform genes means possessing unlimited evolutionary potential. The so-called weakness is because they haven't found a suitable way to evolve."

"However, the starting point for cockroach growth is really too low, completely at the bottom of the jungle food chain. Without considering the future, my primary task now is to grow up, so that I don't have to be worried all day long, being cautious even when going out, for fear of being hunted by large creatures."

Banbu forcibly comforted himself, and felt a little better.

He was too hungry, and the eating continued until dawn before he stopped. It was rare to encounter such a good thing in the jungle, and in the end, he also cut off a large piece to take back to his nest to enjoy slowly.

After evolution, his forelimbs became more developed, and each of the three toes had an extra section, becoming slender and flexible, somewhat similar to bird claws, suitable for grasping, and as sharp as knives.

The shape and structure of his membranous wings had changed slightly, similar to the Hymenoptera bees. The scientific changes were more in line with the principles of aerodynamics, and the muscles on his back were developed, greatly enhancing his flying ability.

Banbu carefully examined it, and it seemed that the changes in his body this time were greatly influenced by his own will. Before the evolution, he had conceived what kind of cockroach body evolution would be the most reasonable. After the evolution, he found that there was really a tendency to change in the direction of his conception.

Incredible, but he couldn't be sure yet. However, compared to the next evolution, there would be a definite answer.