Post-Apocalyptic Survival Modpack

Chapter 59: The Community's Attitude Towards Insects
insect.

The mere mention of this word sent a chill down Wang Ji's spine.

Of course, Wang Ji is not afraid of ordinary insects; he has even caught and eaten them when he was hungry before.

What he fears is... parasites, the kind that can evolve.

This thing is manageable, after all, Wang Ji can deal hundreds of points of damage with a casual wave of his hand, and without being able to adapt, he can crush most parasites in one go.

But if you miss one and let it hide, things will go wrong, and you'll get into an annoying tug-of-war.

Let's just hope that's not the case.

Wang Ji took the latest news from the southern continent very seriously, immediately labeling it with the highest level of alert and prioritizing a more detailed investigation.

It also included a prominent, bolded note:

"Avoid fighting insects unless absolutely necessary, and use fire attacks whenever possible."

Regardless of whether it is true or not, let's be on guard first.

After making the notes, Wang Ji was still not at ease, so he opened a portal and personally went to the site where the insects were discovered to question the border residents.

The resident gestured as he spoke, "The woods to the south, that's where I found those insects. They were huge, some even bigger than cows!"

Wang Ji immediately flew to a high altitude, connected to the source material library, and began a comprehensive scan of the forest mentioned by the residents.

"Boundary blockade".

Wang Ji brought up his quick access bar and cast a spell he was very familiar with.

This spell can perfectly block the senses of any creature with a lower magical energy level than itself, weakening and confusing the target, thus allowing for effective control.

However, it lacks direct offensive capabilities, making it well-suited for use against targets that are difficult to attack directly.

After a thorough search, Wang Ji quickly found the insects the residents had mentioned.

"It's actually quite big."

Although the insects in front of them were not as big as the cows the villagers had described, they were still comparable to some large carnivores, such as lions and tigers.

"It doesn't seem to be a parasite..."

Wang Ji examined the insect in front of him.

It has a very sturdy outer shell that fits tightly against the soft tissue, completely covering any weaknesses on its surface.

It has four sharp limbs for walking and two very sharp forelegs, which are probably used for foraging.

It was completely different from the parasites Wang Ji had in mind, at least in appearance.

It must be something from a different system, right?
Just as Wang Ji was observing, a new cognitive progress bar suddenly appeared.

[Global awareness: 10%]

Oh?
Seeing the progress bar, Wang Ji suddenly felt relieved.

Okay, now we can confirm that it's most likely not that awful parasite.

Relieved, Wang Ji moved closer to observe more closely.

At that moment, the insect was completely unaware that there was another person next to it.

It was scratching at the rocks with its sharp forelegs, stuffing the rock fragments into its mouth, chewing them with its mouthparts which were harder than rocks, and swallowing them continuously.

He also likes to eat stones.

Wang Ji circled the insect once, finally stopping in front of it, where he managed to find what appeared to be an eye.

Based on their appearance, these insects are unlikely to have lived on land for a long time.

Did it crawl out of a rift in the southern continent?

Considering the recent news from various places, Wang Ji immediately deduced this possibility.

Wang Ji looked up at the insect standing face to face with him.

He suddenly lifted the boundary blockade.

Everything is back to normal.

The insect raised its head, suddenly paused, and stopped chewing the stone in its mouth.

hiss--

It suddenly cried out, took several steps back, and raised its forelimbs to wave.

Wang Ji stood on the rock and looked at it for a while, and even sat down on the spot.

Putting aside the fact that his maximum health has grown to 730 points in the past few years, he now has several thousand points of permanent shield, so he's really not afraid of this thing.

Wang Ji was prepared to be attacked.

However, the insect simply faced him directly, and they remained locked in a stalemate for a moment.

Seemingly having determined that Wang Ji was not aggressive, it tentatively took a step forward. Then it took another step.

He was very careful with every step, and his eyes never left Wang Ji.

Finally, it walked to the rock where Wang Ji was sitting.

While tentatively using its forelimbs to pry at the stones, it observed Wang Ji's reaction.

After a long stalemate, the insects began to gnaw on the stones they had just removed, making sure to eat every stone they touched without wasting a single one.

However, while it was eating, its attention never left Wang Ji.

"They didn't launch an attack?"

Wang Ji seemed somewhat surprised.

"No, maybe he's faking it."

With a serious and cautious attitude, Wang Ji stayed there for three days, watching as the insect gnawed half of the large rock away.

During this time, he also did many other things, such as wandering around near the insect, hitting rocks with a pickaxe, and taking out fresh flesh to gnaw on in front of it.

Except for one time when he touched a small piece of food that an insect was gnawing on, causing the insect to exhale, everything was fine the other time.

After three days of getting along, the insect had become accustomed to Wang Ji's presence. As long as Wang Ji didn't disturb it while it was eating, it did whatever it wanted.

Oh, by the way, besides rocks, it also eats meat.

Wang Ji tossed a piece of beef over. After confirming that Wang Ji was not possessive of his food, the insect approached and observed the meat for a while, poked at it with its forelegs, and then nudged it with its mouth.

Then there is no more.

The steak was left untouched.

Just when Wang Ji thought the insect didn't eat meat, a day later, after it finished gnawing on the stone in front of it, it started to think about the piece of meat again, poking and fiddling with it.

I still haven't taken a bite.

After it finished eating the stones, it went to eat the dirt.

Wang Ji patiently waited another day. After the worm had eaten a small hole in the ground, it finally came to the meat patty again and rummaged around in it a couple of times.

Just when Wang Ji thought the insect would leave as before, surprisingly, the insect actually started slowly gnawing on the flesh.

"So, both organic and inorganic matter are on their diet and can be directly digested?"

But that seems normal.

The body tissues of these insects clearly contain these things.

After watching helplessly as the insects devoured the meat patty, Wang Ji brought over a live cow.

However, when faced with live cattle, the insects lost interest, or rather, they did not regard the cattle as something they could eat directly.

Its attitude towards cows is the same as its attitude towards Wang Ji: if you don't bother me, I won't bother you either.

"interesting."

Wang Ji uploaded his experimental records and observations from the past week to the Magic Network and marked the insects as yellow units (suspected neutral creatures).

Note: This species possesses a certain fighting ability, and it remains extremely dangerous if it becomes aggressive unexpectedly. To ensure your life, please keep your distance from it and do not attempt to contact it without fully understanding its characteristics.

Taking many things in his knowledge as examples, Wang Ji deeply understands one principle—that is, don't provoke something you don't understand.

God knows what kind of ecological structure these insects have behind them, or what potential they possess.

What if a Titan crawled out of the Great Rift? Would you panic?

Before we understand them, the best approach is to observe. This race currently appears to be relatively docile and doesn't seem to have much conflict with human civilization.

Ideally, there should never be any conflict.

call--

Relieved, Wang Ji edited another notification message and sent it in batches to all registered users of the Magic Network as a warning.

The popularization of MagicNet terminals has begun to show results. Although not everyone has one yet, there are some people in every region who own them and spread the news.

By this point, the spread of information is no longer a problem; any major new news can be known by everyone in the community within a day.

News of the insect research also spread.

After Wang Ji took the lead, many people soon volunteered to participate in the research and observation, including quite a few practitioners of magical arts.

Wang Ji himself took this matter very seriously and personally selected a group of people who seemed reliable in terms of ability to contact the insects.

It seems that studying these insects is very helpful for the newly appeared [World Knowledge] progress bar.

After dealing with this matter, Wang Ji felt relieved and returned to his permanent residence in Rift Valley, where he convened a meeting.

"Regarding the lifting of restrictions on crafting at the workbench."

(End of this chapter)