Nineteen centimeters is quite a concept, larger than a person's hand stretched out to its fullest extent.
This millipede was too big, with fifteen long legs moving quickly, navigating the forest effortlessly. As long as it didn't encounter large predatory animals, it was practically invincible.
It crawled through the forest, and there happened to be a small group of ants on the ground. Jiayan saw them and immediately darted over, crazily chewing on the ants.
"How is this possible..."
Jiayan looked down at the millipede raging on the ground from a height of four to five meters, truly unable to believe it.
No matter how large a millipede like this became, it couldn't possibly grow this big. It simply couldn't be a product of natural evolution!
So, there was only one answer!
This millipede must have, like the man with glasses on the train that day said, transformed like this after consuming the 'antimicrobial peptide' potion of the Northeastern Wild Tiger!
"Now that mutated millipedes have appeared here, it means the two killers didn't deceive me, and the factory really is nearby!"
Jiayan's eyes lit up.
The appearance of the millipede, at least, directly corroborated the existence of that 'factory,' which he wasn't even sure existed.
Jiayan felt more assured and determined to find the factory!
The millipede continued to devour ants on the ground, even approaching any creature it could eat.
There was no way around it. This millipede had become too large. Although the primary diet of these creatures was ants and other small insects, with such a massive body, it couldn't get enough to eat no matter how much it consumed, only stopping for a moment to eat, eat, and eat continuously.
Although this mountain forest had quite a variety of flora and fauna, there were only so many ants and other insects. Whether the millipede would eventually starve to death, nobody knew.
"This millipede has mutated, but the factory of the Northeastern Wild Tiger hasn't cleared it. From this, I can infer two possibilities."
"The first possibility is that although similar incidents have occurred before, the people of the Northeastern Wild Tiger completely ignore such things, or they are not very concerned. They either exterminate these mutated giant creatures when they catch them or just don't care if they can't catch them."
"And the second possibility is that there are too many mutated creatures from the factory now, and they simply can't catch them all. This millipede is one of them!"
"Between the two guesses, I think the second one is more likely. After all, someone with foresight, according to the addict on the train, has developed their influence nationwide. How could they possibly ignore these mutated creatures? So, there is only one possibility, which is that the factory is currently in a chaotic state, and they simply can't control these mutated creatures!"
Jiayan was excited.
If it really was as he thought, the factory was now in a semi-chaotic state due to the abundance of mutated creatures. Then his chances would be even greater!
Just hoping it wouldn't turn into a situation where the Northeastern Wild Tiger felt it was out of control and decided to shut down the factory...
Jiayan decided to speed up and head towards the so-called factory!
But the forest during the day was really dangerous.
In the end, he found a tree with cracked bark, about the thickness of a palm, and slipped inside, hiding within the bark.
By this time, the outside sunlight had fully appeared.
Some early birds chirped and flew through the forest.
This made Jiayan grateful for his clear decision. While his current body could contend with bats, birds would probably be another story. Moreover, there were really a lot of birds in the forest during the day, perhaps even ten of them wouldn't be enough to avoid being eaten!
"Huh?..."
Just as Jiayan was feeling grateful, he noticed a colorful strange insect under the bark, staring at him fiercely!
Jiayan was startled and wanted to fly out of the crack in the bark.
But the next moment, he focused his compound eyes and identified the strange insect.
It was a ladybug, also known as a firebug, with a colorful shell and ranging from one to eight centimeters in size.
Its appearance wasn't the point; the point was that this kind of insect ate tree leaves and bark!
A herbivore, not a predator at all.
Jiayan immediately stopped moving.
"Hey buddy, can we spend a pleasant day together?" He looked at the ladybug, then moved to a narrow corner, trying not to obstruct the owner's view.
After all, the ladybug in front of him looked about three centimeters long, twice as long as him. Its strength was definitely more than double his own. Considering that these insects were skilled at burrowing into bark, its strength would definitely not be small. If it was bothered by him and came to drive him away, Jiayan would really have to leave.
Fortunately, the ladybug didn't move, but stayed motionless, hiding deep in the crack in the bark as if stunned.
So, the mosquito and the insect confronted each other without moving.
Jiayan anxiously waited for the day to pass, while on the outskirts of the forest town of Liangshui, there were new visitors!
A business car with five members entered the quiet border town from the highway.
The townspeople curiously looked at the stopped business car one by one. There weren't many tourists coming to this town, and the vehicles that came and went every day were just a few. Suddenly, an unfamiliar one appeared, arousing people's interest.
In a small town with few people, even the slightest event could become the talk of the town.
The car door opened, and three men and two women got out.
The driver was a typical Korean ethnic, dressed in traditional Korean clothing.
The other four were two slightly older men and women, and two men and women who looked to be in their twenties.
The slightly older man who got off the car, after observing the houses and scenery of the town, approached a passing townsman with a smile on his face.
"Hello, we'd like to inquire, is there a rumor in your village recently about the discovery of giant insects? We are students and teachers from the Department of Life Sciences of Fudang University in Shanghai, and we want to investigate this matter."
The young man and woman who got off the car not far away stood together. The young man was over 1.8 meters tall, neither fat nor thin, with a slightly thin face but still handsome.
He shook his head helplessly to the young woman beside him. "Director Lin is like this. Last time when he heard that there were giant freshwater fish appearing in western Jiangxi, he also ran over, but he didn't get any clues. I think it's just hearsay this time, and he even invited you, who specialize in media, really sorry."
The young woman politely responded with a smile.
This girl had beautiful long hair, with a light touch of makeup on her face, looking fresh and elegant. Compared to those urban beauties, she had a kind of purity that many girls had lost.
If Jiayan were here, he would be surprised to find out that this girl was the one he encountered on his first night back in Shanghai after his rebirth. He
remembered that she was extorted by another girl traveling with her. As a result, Jiayan ended up sucking the blood of the extortionist girl, indirectly leading to the driver's act of justice.
The girl who was supposed to be in Shanghai actually appeared near Jiayan again.
Yeting Tong sighed deeply.
In fact, this trip was organized by her media college instructor, who had some friendship with the life science college instructor Lin. The result was a joint investigation, to inquire about the recent rumors of giant insects at the border of Hua Chao!
Lin, the instructor from the life science college, and the male student conducted academic research, while Yeting Tong and her instructor took photos. If there really was news or anything, they would have a more professional record!
Yeting Tong's instructor was the slightly older woman, surnamed Chen, known for her quick and direct speech. The students liked to call her Chen Kuaiyu (Quick Chen) behind her back.
"Anyway, I just wanted to avoid Tingting for a while, so I accepted the invitation. But drilling into the mountains... can I handle it?" Yeting Tong looked at the forest scenery outside the small town, feeling a bit discouraged.
She wouldn't know that a few days ago, she had passed by Jiayan in Shanghai. Although he recognized her, she didn't recognize him, just a small mosquito. And now, this mosquito was in this big forest!
Jiayan continued to wait.
The forest became much more lively during the day.
Not only birds but also rabbits, mountain deer, and other mammals were darting around in the forest!
Because Jiayan's body was no longer human, he could see more animal traces in the forest.
As time passed, the sky gradually darkened...
"This guy is quite something, standing still like that for so long."
Jiayan looked at the ladybug below. He had been hiding in this crack in the bark for so long, and the ladybug hardly moved.
But Jiayan didn't have the time to play who's the wooden man game with it!
The outside world grew darker and darker.
When the sun completely set and the birdsong decreased, and the traces of animals gradually disappeared.
Jiayan flapped his wings!
He flew out of the crack in the bark!
"Since I saw a mutated insect yesterday, the factory must not be far away. Tonight, no matter what, I must find it!"
The dark Chinese mosquito flew in the sky with a buzzing sound!
The appearance of the millipede seemed to have injected Jiayan with a dose of adrenaline! Since the other party could grow to such a terrifying extent, he definitely had a chance to mutate again!
The hiding ability he had trained in the forest last night was now fully utilized. Jiayan felt increasingly adept in this forest night!
Whenever he saw the figure of a bat flying from afar, he would hide in a blind spot.
When he saw narrow gaps between trees, he would rather take a detour than go through them, because there might be cobwebs in these gaps. If he got entangled again, he couldn't guarantee that he would escape again!
To be adept was not to be invincible but to be more cautious about danger. After all, there weren't predators everywhere in the forest. As long as Jiayan was careful, the likelihood of encountering danger again would be greatly reduced!
Finally, when Jiayan thought he had circled around within the circular range of those few crude maps, he saw a light in his visual system!
That was a human building!