This was Wang Chong's second evolution.
During his first evolution, he had transformed from a large, fat nurse insect into an unidentified insect with formidable combat abilities. What would this second evolution bring?
Like before, he shed a layer of skin, and his body shrunk by about a third.
On his back, the faint outline of a hard shell was beginning to form. This was the elytra, the protective covering of beetles.
Wang Chong's most urgent desire was for this shell to develop fully, protecting his back. The memory of two larvae nearly burrowing into his body during the previous encounter had left him deeply wary.
His second wish was for wings, though this seemed more like a far-fetched dream than a realistic expectation.
From what he knew, while some queen insects could fly, their flight was brief, similar to locusts. Otherwise, queen insects would have already spread across the entire globe.
This evolution significantly improved Wang Chong's speed.
In one day, he managed to destroy around 15,000 pupae, a 50% increase from the previous day.
As he continued this pattern of destruction and feeding, Wang Chong evolved once again, just as he had anticipated!
Despite the excruciating pain throughout his body, Wang Chong was overjoyed.
His body had shrunk considerably again, now resembling a mahjong tile in both shape and size.
Most exciting of all: he finally had a hard shell!
Wang Chong couldn't contain his happiness as he admired the glossy black elytra. To his surprise and delight, underneath the shell was a pair of tiny wings.
Excited and curious, Wang Chong practiced controlling these small wings, flapping them a few times. Clearly, the wings were too small to support flight at this stage, but their presence suggested that Wang Chong might one day take to the skies!
Flight had been humanity's ultimate dream for thousands of years!
In this moment, Wang Chong almost forgot the reality of his transformation into an insect.
The current wings were translucent and appeared quite delicate.
Not wanting to risk damaging them, Wang Chong carefully folded the wings back under the elytra and resumed his grand mission of insect extermination.
The good news was that Wang Chong could now destroy over 4,000 more pupae each day. His daily count was approaching 20,000.
The bad news was that some pupae were showing signs of emerging.
Over the next two days, several dozen insects emerged from their pupal stage.
Wang Chong himself hadn't evolved again, which left him slightly disappointed.
The newly emerged insects... they could no longer be called larvae, but rather adults. They were about the size of corn kernels. To Wang Chong's surprise, these adult insects looked almost identical to him, except they only had 6 legs, and he was much larger in comparison.
The newly emerged adults seemed to have lost their aggressive nature. Upon emerging, they either fell to the ground or climbed down on their own, then crawled around making buzzing sounds and huddling together.
This behavior was peculiar, and although the adult insects appeared less violent than before, Wang Chong remained cautious. He had already dug a small hole in the cave wall to hide in.
After about half a day, all the adult insects had emerged from their pupal stage.
Suddenly, a faint sound came from the cave ceiling.
Wang Chong's heart raced with an inexplicable anticipation. Could it be... were they finally going to leave?
The noise from the ceiling grew louder, and suddenly, with a "crack," a chunk of soil fell from above.
A beam of light shot down.
Wang Chong's heart trembled: "Light! Light!"
Having been in darkness for so long, he had feared he might be trapped here forever!
As the opening in the ceiling widened, many of the adult insects below opened their wing covers. With a crescendo of buzzing, numerous insects took flight.
Unlike humans, who would need time to adjust to sudden light after prolonged darkness, Wang Chong experienced no such discomfort. He could now see that the insects creating the opening resembled mantises, using four "scythe-like" limbs to break through.
The adult insects flew out one after another.
At its peak, the buzzing in the cave was deafening.
Gradually, the number of adult insects dwindled.
Wang Chong grew anxious.
Should he leave? Emerging now would be incredibly risky; he might be killed as an outsider.
But... if he didn't leave, he might die trapped in here!
The immediate priority was to confirm whether it was safe.
But how could he determine if the insects would treat him as an outsider? An idea struck Wang Chong. He quietly approached an adult insect that was about to take flight.
With a swift strike, he severed its wings, causing it to fall to the ground before it could fly away.
It looked at Wang Chong quizzically, seemingly determining he wasn't a threat, then tried to fly again.
Wang Chong was now certain this queen insect harbored no hostility towards him. He tested this with a few more insects, all with the same result – some didn't even show confusion.
Feeling more confident, Wang Chong decided to climb out.
Just then, several queen insects flew into the cave opening. Wang Chong's heart sank as he recognized them!
These were the very queen insects responsible for billions of human deaths!
Wang Chong now understood that queen insects had clear divisions of labor, and these were obviously the soldier insects responsible for killing.
Soldier insects... for killing...
Realizing the danger, Wang Chong quickly retreated to a concave section of the cave wall. He frantically stabbed at the wall with his legs, causing soil to fall and quickly bury him.
As Wang Chong had anticipated, the soldier insects began to clear the area.
There was no room for mercy in the world of queen insects. In their view, the insects that couldn't fly out by now were essentially worthless.
And so... the slaughter began!
The remaining insects stood no chance against the soldier insects' attack and were swiftly killed.
Their corpses didn't go to waste; some were devoured by the soldier insects, while the rest were carried away.
Looking at the now-empty "insect chamber," Wang Chong felt a sense of the absurd.
Before he could dwell on this feeling, he heard a new sound.
A loud buzzing filled the air as several enormous insects, each about the size of a human hand, flew in.
Upon closer inspection, Wang Chong saw that these hand-sized insects had wide wings, stirring up dust wherever they flew. Surprisingly, each one carried a fat, white nurse insect.
They flew into the cave, disappearing around several bends.
More of these large insects arrived, each carrying a nurse insect. They placed one down every five or six meters.
Wang Chong watched in amazement.
After the hand-sized queen insects left, a new type of insect entered. These had a round bubble on their backs.
These bubble-backed insects had a unique design with wide wings. The thin bubble on their back seemed to contain something inside.
As they approached the nurse insects, the bubbles on their backs slowly opened, revealing them to be reverse-grown elytra! Most astonishing was that the bubbles contained a mass of sticky insect eggs!
The eggs, covered in a viscous fluid, slid off the bubble insects as easily as dewdrops from a lotus leaf, landing on the ground.
The nurse insects, dragging their fat bodies, methodically began arranging the eggs.
The bubble insects flew in and out continuously, quickly piling up eggs next to each nurse insect, forming mounds about half the size of a chicken.
Finally, the hand-sized insects that had brought the nurse insects returned, carrying large piles of white matter which they placed next to the nurse insects. Wang Chong now knew this white substance was brain matter, though he wasn't sure if it came from other animals as well.
Wang Chong's astonishment was beyond words.
In just a few minutes, he had witnessed so many specialized queen insects!
The mantis-like insects responsible for digging;
The soldier insects for killing;
The hand-sized insects for transporting nurse insects;
The bubble insects for carrying eggs;
Their division of labor had reached such an intricate level!
Moreover, their calm and orderly behavior suggested that these roles were deeply ingrained instincts!
Before Wang Chong could fully process this, another surprising scene unfolded.
Several insects with exceptionally large mouthparts appeared at the cave entrance. They began sealing the opening, mixing their saliva with mud!
Wang Chong internally exclaimed:
"Unbelievable! They even have masons!"