Astral Cockroach

Late at night, the cockroach mother returned, making three trips back and forth to drag away three cockroach corpses.

Ban Bu also desperately ate for a day and a night, consuming an entire adult cockroach. Unfortunately, the traces of primal force remaining in the corpse dissipated, losing their effect of strengthening cell activity.

The good news was that the corpse had no wounds, and the cool, dry autumn weather would allow it to be preserved for a relatively long time, so there was no need to worry about meat for the time being.

Very smoothly, five days later, it completed its 5th molt.

6th instar nymph, male, with a slender body. Its wing veins are more developed than those of female cockroaches of the same age. Perhaps due to the recent good diet, coupled with slight genetic modification, its body length reached 4, equivalent to that of a 7th instar female cockroach.

The problem was that only one cockroach corpse remained in reserve, the others having been dragged away by the cockroach mother.

Lacking meat and subsisting solely on humus, the time required for growth in each instar would double, taking approximately 10 days. That meant it would still need about 40 days to reach the 10th instar sub-adult stage.

Now that it was already late autumn, would it be able to obtain enough nutrients by eating only plants?

Ban Bu wasn't sure and didn't want to take the risk.

Ordinary cockroaches have zero combat power and lack hunting abilities. They also couldn't compete with adult cockroaches for food. What to do?

Ban Bu thought of two solutions:

The first solution was to take advantage of the Red Cockroach tribe warriors going out hunting, climb onto the raspberry bush, steal a raspberry fruit, and attract the adult cockroaches in the vicinity to compete for it, then poison them to death.

The power of a whole raspberry fruit, with its chain reaction, should be enough to kill tens of thousands of adult cockroaches.

The second solution was to change nests and wander into the mountains, scavenging the corpses of insects that couldn't withstand the cold autumn nights and had frozen to death.

The first solution was safe and efficient, and could further enhance cell activity through primal force, but mass poisoning of its own kind was too malicious and violated human ethics.

The second solution had some risk. Wandering around at night could lead to being preyed upon by snakes or rodents, and bearing the risk didn't guarantee a harvest.

After agonizing for most of the day, Ban Bu finally chose the first method: they were all creatures with low intelligence and extremely strong reproductive abilities. Millions inhabited the entire mountain range. Poisoning ten thousand or so was just a drop in the bucket, and cockroaches living nearby would replenish the numbers overnight.

Preparations were needed before acting: digging, digging deep into the ground, and opening a storage cellar inside the nest chamber.

Late at night, the cockroach mother ran over, circled the nest chamber, and, finding that the previous cockroach corpses had all been eaten and seeing Ban Bu digging, assumed there were more underground, and enthusiastically helped carry the soil out of the nest chamber.

With an adult cockroach helping, Ban Bu naturally wouldn't stop it, digging even more desperately, striving to make the cellar as large as possible.

Until dawn, the cockroach mother, seeing that not a single cockroach corpse had been dug out, conveyed a questioning emotion to Ban Bu.

Ban Bu conveyed comforting emotions and continued preparing.

It went out at noon, collecting dry fallen leaf fragments to line the cellar, working diligently until dusk.

Silently waiting.

When the sun set, the Red Cockroach tribe warriors flapped their wings as usual, taking to the air and entering the forest to hunt for food.

Ban Bu immediately set off, heading towards the raspberry bush.

Over the past few days, the raspberry fruits had gradually ripened. The Red Cockroach tribe warriors didn't know how to effectively use the primal force fruit to improve their strength, and could only digest two at most each day. Now the raspberry bush was covered with strings of red, ripe raspberries, which it simply couldn't finish eating.

Without any storage equipment, the uneaten ones could only be left on the tree to take their natural course.

Ban Bu had long since locked onto a fully ripened raspberry fruit, quickly climbing the tree, reaching a branch, inverting its body, gripping the branch with its front and middle legs, and using its hind legs to kick the raspberry fruit.

The ripe fruit, on the verge of natural detachment, was easily kicked off and fell to the ground.

Ban Bu flapped its wings, spiraled to the ground, and used the tips of its front legs to forcefully poke open a gap.

The premeditated action was completed in one go, and it quickly left afterwards.

The unique fragrance of the primal force fruit immediately permeated the air. This scent was fatally alluring to almost all living things.

Several adult cockroaches waiting around the raspberry bush to snatch food were attracted and rushed up, frantically gnawing at it.

The skin was bitten open, and the special fruity aroma permeating the air became even stronger, attracting a large number of adult cockroaches who pounced on it.

The first few cockroaches to eat it died on the spot, and their corpses were eaten by other cockroaches.

The scene was chaotic.

Soon, the fruit was eaten, leaving behind a large area of corpses.

More cockroaches, unaware of the situation, swarmed forward and began to scavenge the corpses.

One to ten, ten to a hundred, the "poison" spread so easily.

"Danger, danger…"

Ban Bu desperately stopped the cockroach mother, who wanted to join the feeding frenzy, constantly sending danger signals, and it took a lot of effort to appease it.

At this time, corpses were scattered around the raspberry bush as the center.

"Move, move, move…"

Ban Bu continued to send messages to the cockroach mother, began to act, moving the corpses, dragging them into the nest chamber, and storing them in the cellar.

When the Red Cockroach tribe warriors returned from hunting, they were stunned by the corpses all over the ground.

At this time, Ban Bu and the cockroach mother had just filled the cellar.

"Eat, eat, eat…"

The cockroach mother waved its antennae, urging Ban Bu to eat.

Ban Bu cautiously took a small taste, its wings instinctively fluttering, waving its antennae vigorously, and sending danger signals.

The primal force contained in the corpse was slightly strong, extremely dangerous, and had to be left overnight to slowly dissipate before it could be eaten.

Ban Bu moved dry leaves to cover the cellar opening, happily lying on top, waving its antennae, and sending a message to the cockroach mother.

"Rest, rest, rest…"

The cockroach mother was puzzled for a long time, then calmed down, carefully lying on the opening and looking out.

Just as Ban Bu had expected, the Red Cockroach tribe warrior, seeing the corpses of its fellow tribesmen all over the ground, did not suspect anything, did not get angry, but only felt deep remorse. It thought that the ripe raspberry fruits had naturally fallen, attracting ignorant tribesmen to eat them, and then led to the tragedy before its eyes.

It hurriedly dug a large pit under the raspberry bush, collected and buried the corpses, and then moved stones to suppress them.

Worried that the natural falling of the fruits would occur again, leading to a larger-scale tragedy, it picked all the ripe raspberry fruits in one breath and buried them under the tree.

Once the primal force fruit is picked, if not properly preserved, the primal force it contains will slowly dissipate and lose its effect.

"A waste of natural resources!"

Ban Bu muttered, feeling distressed just looking at it.

At the same time, it was full of longing for the future: this planet seemed to easily give birth to primal force plants. After it became a primal force creature, it shouldn't lack resources.

Lying on a dry branch, it silently enjoyed the modification of its body by the weak primal force emanating from the corpses below.

It didn't dig out the corpses and start eating until the second night.

Molting and growing, coupled with continuous strengthening of cell activity, its brain could now support continuous thinking of several complex problems.

The only regret was that the cockroach mother's condition showed no signs of improvement.