"I absolutely cannot become an ordinary male mosquito! If I'm just going to live for twenty days, what's the point of getting another chance at life!"
Jia Yan still firmly believes in his initial vision.
The biggest difference between male and female mosquitoes is that the females have a habit of storing nutrients.
Their source of nutrition is the fresh blood of animals!
Although this habit annoys most animals, humans, the rulers of Earth, have even labeled mosquitoes as pests. But the fact that they make the dominant species of Earth apprehensive is proof of the success of female mosquitoes in the path of evolution.
Apart from their blood-sucking habit which scares everyone, they also live much longer compared to male mosquitoes.
Some can even survive the winter and live longer than a year!
Why can males with the same genes only live for less than a month?!
Therefore, Jia Yan firmly believes that as long as he also learns to store nutrients, he would certainly live longer!
During his larva stage, this was greyish white organic matter. When the mosquito stage comes, he would learn to suck blood, even research on human-made nutritional substances, to see if they are effective on his body!
Everything he does is for survival!
Living an extra day is a day earned!
Living an extra hour is an hour earned!
Surviving! This is Jia Yan's other strong desire, besides seeking revenge!
"Crash! Let me become stronger quickly! Crash!" Jia Yan controls his small body, crazily crashing into the pebble!
"Great! That tingling feeling is coming again! Keep crashing! I want this newly exoskeleton to be strong! Crash!!!!"
Jia Yan's tenacity rises from within, not caring that the old skin on his head is peeling off and that his newly-sprouted skin is tender, he continues to hit against the surface of the pebble with abandon!
Crash!
Crash!!
Crash!!!
At some point.
'Crack!' It seems like Jia Yan heard a faint tearing sound from his hearing organ made of fluff.
His body felt light, as it completely separated from the old skin.
His second molt was thereby completed like this!
"Great, this time training was more potent, the new exoskeleton is hard already on arrival!"
Feeling his body's toughness, Jia Yan is delighted.
But he does not stop training.
On the contrary, he bounces his body and crashes head-on into the pebble!
"The newly born exoskeleton has the highest possibility of growth. I want it to be tougher by the time it fully solidifies."
Jia Yan seems to have entirely turned on his ruthless switch.
Without madness, there ain't no magic!
If you want to defy fate, you must go crazy.
Yes.
Without madness! Without being ruthless to oneself! Nothing can change!
He totally disregards the pain transmitted from the new skin to the brain, he just keeps hitting the pebble!
This pain is more than twice the usual.
Jia Yan even feels a bit of blood oozing out from the surface of the exoskeleton, but it quickly dissolves into the dirty water and becomes unclear.
Bleeding in insects is a rare occurrence, as their blood is stored in the deep circulatory organ and wouldn't usually seep out.
Thus, this dire warning from Jia Yan's larval body is serious!
Jia Yan pauses slightly, but within his cold compound eyes, there is still a sense of defiance.
"I won't die so easily, this bit of training won't kill me! Ahh!!!!"
He continues to crash!
The larva, after undergoing two molts, continues to grow at an astonishing pace in the small crevice formed by the pebbles!
Time quickly passed again, five days.
The third round of molting that should have come earlier, did not come after a long wait.
But this is even better, at least Jia Yan thinks it's a good thing, the more different he is from ordinary larvae, the more it proves that his self-training method is on track.
As night passed and the daylight arrived.
A dark-bodied larva slowly swam out from the nest made of two pebbles.
His body is huge, the size is at least half a circle larger than a regular larva.
There are many signs on his exoskeleton, some areas are even damaged.
But these skins have a toughness that other larva skins do not possess.
Jia Yan controlled this stout larval body, suddenly bouncing in the sewage!
His speed was already considerable -- in the blink of an eye, he had traversed several centimeters.
Don't underestimate this distance of just a few centimeters. For the size of a larva, it was as if a human had covered a hundred meters in less than ten seconds, utterly astounding!
Jia Yan's current swimming style differed significantly from the instinctual vertical movements of other larvae.
Yes, he was no longer like an ordinary larva.
"My body began to itch yesterday, but the skin shows no sign of shedding yet. It seems my training was extremely rigorous."
Jia Yan felt his body, which had undergone two molts, bloating slightly. The third molt that should have taken place yesterday hadn't happened until now.
Thump! Thump!
Jia Yan had a high rate of speed, his swimming style was already beyond what a normal larva could achieve.
Compared to the normal larvae that mostly swam vertically, Jia Yan was not only quicker, but he could also move horizontally without slowing down.
They were easily accomplished with just a slight shift in posture, at least for Jia Yan, who possessed the wisdom of a human, it was certainly no challenge.
The bouncing method he had been practicing since birth made his abdominal strength extremely impressive, which was the primary reason for his high speed.
"The third molt should happen today, I guess. Once this molt is over, I will only need one more molt to turn into a mosquito. Before that, I must prepare to store more nutrients!"
Jia Yan swam towards the grey organic matter.
Perhaps the safety of the past few days had caused him to forget that there was a terrifying predator lurking near his 'home'!
Splash!
An sudden explosion in the water!
A silhouette much larger than any larva erupted from the mud with such speed that it was impossible to react in time, shooting towards Jia Yan!
The aquatic chafer was incredibly fast when hunting, so fast that a normal larva would not have been able to react at all!
But that didn't include Jia Yan!
Jia Yan was taken aback, but quickly contracted his belly. He ejected himself, narrowly escaping the double hooks of the aquatic chafer's mouth!
Crack!
The sturdy double hooks hit Jia Yan's abdomen but did not cause any damage.
The aquatic chafer seemed taken aback, surprised that its prey had evaded its attack. It quickly repositioned to launch another attack!
Before that, though, Jia Yan had already used all his abdominal strength to contract his body and fled the area!
"Terrifying! I almost got eaten!"
Jia Yan was gripped by immense fear. It was not at all pleasant to face a gigantic predator.
Compared to a chafer's body, larvae were too small. Jia Yan knew that no matter how much he trained, he could never battle it!
"I was careless this time. Next time, I must be extra cautious!"
Jia Yan looked back and saw that the aquatic chafer was not discouraged by its failure. Instead, it resubmerged, returning to its position beneath the surface with a calm and collected demeanor.
It submerged its body near the muddy bottom, patiently waiting for the next prey.
Jia Yan avoided that area and began to swallow some gray organic matter nearby.
Despite a near-death experience, he couldn't become a retractable turtle and hide away. Otherwise, his efforts over the past days would have been wasted.
As Jia Yan was about ninety percent full, he suddenly felt an extreme itchiness in his body!
"Hmm… It's time for the molt!"
The itchiness was a sign that molting was about to start!
Realizing this, Jia Yan hurriedly increased his speed, cautiously bypassing the aquatic chafer and returning to his own nest made of crevices between pebbles.
Entering the crevice, he saw that the surface of the pebbles inside was bare, having been worn away by Jia Yan's constant collisions over the days.
The itchiness in Jia Yan's body intensified!
"Why does it hurt so much? Molting is usually simple, isn't it?"
Jia Yan waited for a while, but found that no matter how he oscillated his body, the outer layer of old skin showed no signs of cracking. He couldn't help but feel a bit alarmed.
"That's right, it must be because I trained too rigorously. The exoskeleton has grown too hard this time and can't be shed like that of a normal larva!"
To calm his racing heart and mind, Jia Yan glanced at the smooth surface of the pebbles...
If it can't be shed in the normal way, then I'll learn from snakes and rub against the surface of the rock to molt!
He moved his body close to the pebble and began to rub up and down against it!
It hurt! But it felt good!
The second update is delivered!!
Brother 'Tiger Eating Pigs', you have tipped us 100 Starty Coins again today! I don't know how to express my gratitude!! We are really satisfied just to have your support for our novel on the second day after its release!
Our steps are filled with power!!