So much pain!
Unbearable pain!
It slapped its tentacles listlessly, stirring up the surrounding seawater into a murky mess, while the "Blades" and "Feet" hidden within it trembled, obviously intimidated by its revealed rage.
Pain was not an unfamiliar feeling.
From its birth to becoming an Eye of the Division Nest, it had battled enemies, been injured, annexed, and evolved countless times. Pain could make the body's reactions more sensitive, and it was also the necessary feedback for absorbing magical power.
What angered it was not the pain itself, but... an unprecedented emotion.
It tried to correspond this emotion with the reactions of other life forms, but soon found it unnecessary—the feeling was inherent in the instincts of most species, and even if individuals were far apart, they were surprisingly the same in this respect.
Fear.
It found itself tasting fear for the first time.
This made it somewhat at a loss, and it subconsciously burst into a rage.
Kill!
Kill her!
It wanted to kill her!
That tiny bug that had rushed into its body, that bug with some insignificant magical power who dared to challenge it! Sooner or later, it would tear her into pieces and hang her head on a skeleton, just like the Red Mist Crawler did.
However, neither anger nor fear were necessary emotions for growth—previously, it had never been afraid of pain, nor had it been frustrated by temporary setbacks, and even... it had never thought about such problems before.
Other than evolution, it had no other thoughts.
Evolving to survive was more important, survival was only for the individual, while evolution was the sublimation of the group.
It realized that there was something wrong with itself.
What exactly was wrong?
Just thinking about this question made its head ache unbearably—that high-heat flame not only caused it to lose one-third of its body, but also made its reactions dull and numb.
It needed time.
Time could allow its body to be reborn as before.
Time could also allow it to find the answer.
It suppressed the fear, anger, and other subtle and diverse, yet all first-time experienced, complex emotions in its heart, and sank into the mud at the bottom of the sea.
...
More than ten days later, it crawled out of its hiding place and released all the "Blades" and "Feet" in its body.
Although it lost a lot in the battle, it didn't care. As long as the injury was completely recovered, it could breed new vassals at any time.
It was hungry and needed to eat.
At the same time, it also came to a conclusion about some of its own problems.
First of all, it found that it had lost a lot of pheromones, which were all plundered from various bugs and could help the evolution direction of the group. Collecting them was also the primary task of the Eye of the Division Nest. This loss was understandable—with that loud noise, its body was blasted into pieces by flames and heat waves, and part of it was the brain used to store pheromones. Now, even if it was patched up to seventy-seven, it was gone. It was like a water sac that had been punctured, and it was useless to repair it afterward.
This was not a big deal, there were bugs everywhere, and it could collect them again if they were lost.
What's more, the most important Red Mist Multi-Eyed Bug was not lost, so the loss could be said to be limited.
However, the problem was that it had lost contact with the Mother of the Main Nest!
This was incredible!
Since its birth, its fate had been closely linked to the group. This relationship was inseparable. As long as it was in the same water area, no matter how far apart, it could feel the existence of the Main Nest. Through the water waves, it could both transmit the collected pheromones and share the group's evolutionary instructions.
But now—they were all gone.
After being injured, it hardly thought about this aspect. When the flow of consciousness was smooth and it was ready to spread the pheromones of the Multi-Eyed Bug, it was shocked to realize where the previous sense of wrongness came from.
Even when the ocean tide ebbed and the waters merged, it could not hear the call of the Main Nest.
At first, it suspected that it was a problem with the body not being completely reborn, but as long as it was not completely dead, any individual separated from the Main Nest would not sever its connection. After repeated inspections, it found that a part of its brain was actually fused with the Red Mist Multi-Eyed Bug, instead of being completely annexed.
Obviously, the other party took advantage of its weakness to make a final desperate struggle.
After realizing this, it was first surprised and angry, but soon calmed down.
Low-energy bugs are bugs.
Even so, it did not get any benefits.
It could no longer feel the existence of the Multi-Eyed Bug. On the contrary, all the eyes left by the Red Mist Bug belonged to it. Through these special magic eyes, it could "see" many primitive life forms looking at it.
After thinking for a long time, it finally came to a conclusion.
It was this part of the fusion that prevented it from contacting the Main Nest and also made it contaminated with some strange "bug emotions."
Such as fear.
Such as anger.
And... self.
According to the above results, it should first return to the Zenith Sea area, tell the Mother of the Main Nest everything that happened here, and then give itself to the other party—in the case where water wave transmission does not work, annexation can completely preserve the pheromones, thereby helping the group obtain usable evolutionary instructions.
Evolving to survive was more important, which was originally a matter of course.
But now it hesitated.
In these ten days, it realized that it had thought more than it had in the past hundred years. In the past, whether it was fighting, annexing, collecting, or growing, it was all like instinct, but now, this instinct seemed to no longer exist...
Another point was that the use of pheromones was no longer restricted.
Evolution was a very cautious choice. After all the pheromones collected by the Nest Eyes were transmitted to the Main Nest, the Main Nest would analyze and screen the useful fragments, reconstruct them, and then issue evolutionary instructions. Evolution was not just a change in the Nest Eyes, but also the Main Nest, and even vassals like "Blades" and "Feet," all growing up step by step in this way.
Therefore, there was almost no difference between the various Division Nest Eyes.
But when it was waiting for its body to recover, it unexpectedly used a piece of pheromone—from a primitive individual that could heal quickly. It was for this reason that the serious injury that would have taken at least several months to repair improved in just ten days, and it also made it realize its difference.
It was no longer an ordinary Nest Eye.
The "Feet" quickly dragged back a pile of food—all primitive aquatic organisms nearby, or as the bugs called them: fish. Most of them had their heads cut off cleanly by the "Blades," and the spreading fishy smell would inevitably attract more fish. It would soon be able to fill its stomach.
These low-level aquatic organisms clearly enjoyed the same resources as them, but were still at the bottom of the competitors. For some reason, when it saw these headless fish being delivered to its door, it suddenly thought of itself.
Since it already had fear, it was unwilling to return to the Zenith Sea area. The bug emotions interfered with it. At this moment, the importance of survival exceeded everything.
It was afraid that the Mother of the Main Nest would annex it, and it was also afraid that the elusive bug would come to its door again.
It also wanted to take revenge on the bug. The anger in its heart had not dissipated, but was temporarily hidden.
Fear and anger alternated. It realized that there were many things it wanted, and these were all things it had never considered before.
If it wanted to achieve these, evolution was the only way.
Swallowing the fish, it couldn't wait to take action.
Previously, it would never have been so eager. All the Nest Eyes were doing the same thing. It didn't matter if there was one more or one less.
But now it was different.
The following collection and evolution had nothing to do with the group.
This time, it was only for itself.
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