In front of her was an endless sandy beach, a vast expanse of water, and countless strange multicellular organisms on the sand. Behind her was a thick layer of ice, and there was probably nothing in it other than the ice-melting fungi.
What should Lin do? Advance? Or retreat?
Lin did not know the abilities of these multicellular organisms. After all, she had suffered a great loss when facing the round-shield worm. However, Lin did not want to retreat. This might be an opportunity for her to evolve, and Lin needed food.
These organisms did not seem to be able to move. They were fixed on the sand. Lin might be able to find one that looked easy to deal with and kill it.
However, Lin did not know which one was easy to deal with. Size was not the main point. The most obvious example was the virus. It was so small, but it was so terrifying.
These multicellular organisms were huge in size. Lin could easily obtain a large amount of food by killing one of them.
With that in mind, Lin's aircraft carrier began to swim. It floated above these organisms, and the tentacles with eyeballs looked for a target below.
In the end, Lin locked onto a creature that was standing on the sand. The creature's body was round and flat. Its length was about the same as Lin's aircraft carrier, but its thickness was only about the same as the aircraft carrier's skin. It was stuck in the sand with a round handle, supporting its flat body as it swayed in the water. When Lin got closer this time, she realized that it was capturing the cells that were washed away by the current.
Lin decided to call it a 'leaf-shaped worm'. Although Lin did not know what 'leaf' was, she felt that the name was very suitable for it.
The leaf-shaped worm's body was striped, and the gaps between the stripes were filled with a large number of flagella. If a single cell that swam by bumped into the flagella, it would be caught by the flagella and pulled in to be eaten.
Lin felt that this creature was a bit like herself in the past. She was fixed on the sand, capturing the organisms that swam by, and living a passive and boring life.
Sure enough, it was right to give up that kind of life. Staying motionless like this would only make her prey.
The aircraft carrier slowly approached the leaf-shaped worm. After Lin confirmed that the creature did not have any ability to fight back, she raised her hammer-shaped tentacles and hit the leaf-shaped worm.
However, the worm that looked so flat and fragile withstood the attack. Its body did not even bend. It was still standing on the sand, and the stripes on its body did not seem to be damaged at all. The only thing was that the flagella on its body had retracted.
It was really hard, so was this the reason why they didn't move? It seemed that the leaf beetle was covered with a very solid shell like the round shield worm. However, unlike the round shield worm that could move, the leaf beetle's body had no joints and no mouth. After the flagella used for predation retracted into the shell, it became a creature without any weaknesses.
However, Lin's hammer was not limited to just one hit. With the constant supply of blood vessels, it was able to quickly and continuously swing its tentacles. The hammer smashed on the surface of the leaf-shaped worm again and again. After countless hits, the leaf-shaped worm finally could not stabilize its body and began to sway uncontrollably.
Sure enough, the leaf beetle did not have any ability to fight back. It could only use its hard shell to resist external attacks. Other creatures might have given up at first, but Lin believed that continuously hammering the beetle would help it evolve, so it continued to hit the beetle even harder.
In the end, the outer shell of the leaf worm could no longer withstand Lin's hammering. Cracks appeared on the surface of the leaf worm's body, and some of the cells inside flowed out from the cracks.
Lin's Devourers immediately moved out and devoured all the cells that flowed out without leaving a single one behind.
Then, Lin continued to attack the cracks, making the wounds there even bigger, allowing more cells to flow out.
Lin had a strange feeling. These cells did not have any offensive ability, so why were they flowing out? If the outer shell of Lin's aircraft carrier was torn, the cells inside the aircraft carrier would not leak out at all. Even if it was a blood vessel, Lin could stop the heartbeat to prevent the things inside from flowing out.
However, other multicellular creatures … seemed to be unable to control the flow of their own cells?
How strange.
Lin did not care too much and continued hammering the outer shell of the leaf worm. Although Lin's hammer was damaged, Lin did not care and continued to attack. After all, repairing it was a simple matter.
The outer shell of the leaf worm was not as hard as the round shield worm's, and it was a sandbag that could not move. Under Lin's attack, more and more cracks appeared on the outer shell. Slowly, the outer shell began to fall off, and the soft multicellular structure inside was exposed to Lin's eyes.
Hmm? Sandbag? Sounds like a fun term.
While Lin was thinking, she ordered the Devourers to tear the inner structure of the leaf worm, turning everything inside into nutrients for Lin's growth.
Lin discovered that the leaf worm also had a structure similar to blood vessels, but they did not have a 'pump' like a heart. Instead, they were driven by a kind of tentacle-like cells in the blood vessels that kept moving. Other than that, they were all single cells or simple combinations. In general, there was nothing worth learning about them for Lin …
The only useful thing about the leaf worm for Lin was that it could be eaten.
Lin's Devourers quickly ate up the leaf worm, leaving only a pile of broken shells. Although the leaf worm was long, it was flat. Eating one was not enough, but eating another one would be enough for Lin to revive the round shield worm.
After retrieving the Devourers and repairing the damage on her hammer, Lin began to observe her surroundings, looking for the next target.
Hmm?
Lin suddenly noticed something in the shape of a disc on the sand in front of her.
Is this a living thing or not?
Lin swam over and carefully observed the thing. The disc had spiral stripes on its surface. It was only half the size of Lin's aircraft carrier, but its lower half was buried in the sand, so she could not tell its exact size. Although it looked like a living thing, Lin had never seen this thing move before, so she did not know how it hunted.
Should I hit it and see?
Lin swung her hammer and slammed it on the disc. The disc did not move, but Lin felt pain from the rebound of the hammer's tentacle.
The hammer-shaped tip of the tentacle was not hard to feel, but Lin could still feel pain. This meant that the rebound had damaged the muscle cells inside the tentacle.
How hard must this thing be to have such an effect? In short, it was not something the leaf worm could compare to. This disc was even harder than the round shield worm's head shield.
A strong thought suddenly appeared in Lin's mind.
What kind of thought was this? Lin did not know how to describe it, but she knew that when she hit the leaf worm's shell, Lin's mind would have thoughts of 'possible to break' and 'hopeful'.
But when she hit the disc-shaped creature, Lin's mind instantly had thoughts of 'no hope' and 'no way to break it'. Even if she smashed her hammer, she would not be able to leave a single crack on it.
However, Lin did not continue the experiment. How did she know this would happen?
Oh right, this is called 'calculation ability', right?
As long as there was a first time, she would be able to use the initial information to predict the final result.
Lin might have had this ability for a long time, but she only realized it now.
Lin gave up on attacking the disc. Although she might be able to dig it out, there were still many leaf worms around, so it was not worth Lin's time.
Lin swam to a smaller leaf worm nearby and started hammering it again. Soon, the sandbag would also become Lin's nutrients.
This beach was full of leaf-shaped worms. It was simply a wonderful place for Lin. Eating them was much more efficient than eating single-celled worms. Moreover, these sandbags would not fight back or move. There seemed to be no other predators like the round shield worms here. It was simply the best situation for Lin!
Lin would use the resources here to grow and evolve. Once she was strong enough, she would no longer need to be afraid of other predators.
With that in mind, Lin did not seem to notice that there was something wriggling in the sand below the aircraft carrier …
…
Thank you ~ Silent Mole ~ Life Chasing the Wind ~ Big Me ~ for the tip.