Time was too short, and Jia Yan had been training all along, unable to even arrange this small home.
He arched his body and carefully swam to the side of his few shed skins.
Using his tail, he neatly arranged these skins, then stuffed them into the crevices between the pebbles.
He didn't know if he would have the chance to come back here in the future, to place these four shed skins in his "home," but it could be considered a memory.
He would always remember the warm little home he had during his larval stage.
Time passed quickly...
Another three days passed.
Jia Yan's tougher larval body finally reacted on this day!
"Pupation!"
Jia Yan felt the meaning conveyed in the instinctive genes of mosquitoes.
He was going to pupate!
Coming out of the pupa, he would be a mosquito.
Then, it would be time to say goodbye to this world of the pond where he was born!
"Well, isn't this what I wanted? There's nothing to be reluctant about."
The giant larva shook its head, and then, its body began to slowly contract...
Jia Yan controlled his body, forming a circular shape, leaving only a long tail on the outer circle. Overall, from the side, it looked like a comma.
Pupation officially began!
Jia Yan could only feel all his organs undergoing drastic changes.
The wing buds that had gradually appeared since the fourth molt were clearly felt protruding, ready to fully grow!
The six fine hair-like legs were also gradually hardening, soon to transform into three pairs of strong and powerful long legs!
Jia Yan felt a bit nauseous when he realized that he involuntarily spat out some special saliva from his mouth. The main components of this saliva were chitin and protein, as well as secretions unique to insects. These substances enveloped Jia Yan's head, slowly condensing to form a pupal shell.
At the same time, Jia Yan's entire body organs and outward appearance were undergoing transformation!
This kind of transformation consumed nutrients at an extremely exaggerated rate. Fortunately, before this, he had spent these days ensuring that his food intake was more than sufficient, barely resisting the rate of nutrient loss.
He dared not imagine how other larvae besides himself would pass through this stage.
In fact, this was also because Jia Yan himself was a special case.
Insect pupation is a transformation, and their transformation into adults depends on the strengthening degree of the previous larval stage. Jia Yan was so strong, many times stronger than the average larva, so his pupation was naturally extraordinary.
Jia Yan hadn't figured this out yet, but he would eventually.
Fortunately, Jia Yan was well-prepared, with plenty of nutrients in his body, his belly almost bursting.
Jia Yan found that his exoskeleton was beginning to stick together, and now he could only maintain this pupal state.
The larval pupal state is quite unique among insects.
After pupation, the bodies of most insects are basically immobile, but the larval pupa can still move its tail slightly, which is considered to be able to move somewhat.
"Since I can still move! I'll continue to exercise for the strengthening of my adult body!"
Jia Yan looked at the pebble wall in front of him, his eyes fierce, and controlled his body to collide with it!
It was only the last step to form his future long-lasting body.
He had worked so hard before, and this final step was also the most important. He certainly wouldn't let his previous efforts go to waste!
As his body underwent drastic changes, the external impacts from the outside world continued to adjust his body to adapt to the external blows. These new changes began to mutate towards another level!
"Bump! Bump! Bump!"
The four previous moltings were all preparations for this moment. There was no reason to abandon the strengthening of his body in this final growth stage.
The bodies of insects are very strong, and they continue to grow in their larval state.
This means that Jia Yan's larval stage was very strong, so when he became a mosquito, he would be equally strong!
And now he continued to work hard, so this powerful mutation would continue to grow further.
Four moltings, plus the strengthening of pupation, no one could imagine what kind of terrifying monster would emerge in the end!
The shell became even more solidified, and Jia Yan found that his body, except for his tail, could not move at all.
The impact speed was not fast enough, so he ground hard against the pebbles!
If he ran out of strength to grind, he would swing his body and struggle hard!
In short, he wanted to make his body stronger, even stronger!
But no matter how he twisted and struggled, Jia Yan made sure that his body did not leave the cozy little home of pebbles.
Outside, there was no guarantee of safety. Only here was a warm nest that protected him.
Twist! Collision! Exhaustion! Hypoxia! Pain!
All sorts of things were happening, and except for occasionally going out to catch his breath, Jia Yan spent all the other time hiding in his nest.
Now his breath-holding ability had reached a full hour, which he believed had long surpassed the record for the strongest larva.
The process of pupation was too exhausting.
His pupating body not only needed to supply a large amount of nutrients for growth but also had to supply a large amount of consumption for struggling and bumping.
So two days later, the nutrients that had been stored in his body were no longer sufficient, and a strong sense of weakness filled Jia Yan's body.
"Ordinary larvae can successfully break out of their pupa and evolve into mosquitoes in two days. But I haven't shown any signs of breaking out of the pupa yet. Now I have to reduce my movements a bit, or else I won't make it through!"
Jia Yan reduced the amplitude of his movements.
He floated up and down in the water, perhaps for the first time since his rebirth, feeling so relaxed and comfortable.
"I wonder how my family is doing. Fortunately, I'm not an only child. Without me, my parents still have my little sister." He thought of his family.
As a human, Jia Yan's family situation was not particularly special.
His family consisted of a pair of working-class parents.
And a three-year-old little Jia Yan, and his sister who was in high school.
Overall, although the family was not wealthy, they were not lacking in the necessities of life.
But now that Jia Yan was dead, wouldn't this bad news cause great pain to his family? ...
"This time, when I become a mosquito, if possible, I'll go back and take a look at home."
Jia Yan really missed his family. It had been more than ten days since he became a larva, and the smiles of his family often appeared in his mind and dreams. But would those smiles still be there now? He was very worried.
If news of his death spread back home, his mother would probably cry for a long time, and his father would probably smoke heavily, right?
Thinking of his parents, Jia Yan's heart felt sour. If he were still human now, tears would probably be streaming down his face...
But he wasn't.
The larval pupa quietly floated up and down in the
water.
His eyes looked at the ground, seemingly lost in thought.
And so, immersed in memories and various emotions, another day passed.
This day was the third day of pupation!
Suddenly, Jia Yan felt itchy all over!
"It's time!"
Jia Yan's heart shook!
His biological senses told him that the moment to break out of the pupa and transform into a male mosquito had arrived.
Jia Yan turned his eyes back and, through the pupal shell, looked hard at the pebble home in front of him.
His eyes could hardly see anything, but they still looked wholeheartedly at his first nest.
After a moment, Jia Yan sighed deeply in his heart.
"Goodbye, my home..."
Then, he controlled his body with his tail and swam quickly towards the water's surface.
The neighbor water scorpion at the bottom of the water was lurking in the mud at this time, a pair of cold eyes watching the huge mosquito pupa that was quickly rising not far away.
"Big guy, you're saying goodbye too!"
Many creatures underwater, including some newly born larvae, were foraging and swimming in the water.
"Goodbye, underwater world!"
Jia Yan reached the water's surface.
Then, he exerted force from his head and struggled!
The mosquito pupa was very strong, requiring all his strength to have a chance of breaking free successfully!
After struggling for a long time, the mosquito pupa finally seemed to loosen a bit.
"Open up for me!" Jia Yan roared in his heart!
Crack!
The pupal shell on his head indeed cracked open.
Jia Yan couldn't wait and immediately protruded his newly born head from the crack in the pupal shell, then desperately drilled out!
Force!
More force!
Head!
Abdomen!
Tail!
Legs!
After just three minutes, a large male mosquito floated on the surface of the pond!
"Finally, I've become a mosquito!"
Jia Yan, standing on the water's surface, shouted madly in his heart!
Yuan, wait for me. I'll come to seek revenge soon!
Mom, dad, little sister, after I've finished avenging, I'll find a way to come back and visit you!
On the surface of the pond at night, a dark-colored male Chinese mosquito, with its head facing the sky, emitted a silent cry!