Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao carefully watched for half a day and found that although “metal spikes” were mostly hunted, they were not completely defenceless.

When the Metal Nail Spiral gathers at a certain order of magnitude in a panicked escape and breaks the threshold, it turns its head to launch a counter-attack against Metal Starfish.

Originally a silver-tone worm, the Metal Nail Screw turns dark black and thinner and longer, as if entering a “state of battle”, like a hard nail.

Numerous "metal spikes” have fired themselves like bullets at “metal starfish", poking their hunter into a hundred holes.

Metallic Starfish's body consists of liquid metal and naturally has the ability to repair itself. In the absence of enough metal screws, the wounds that are ejected will heal in just a few seconds. Instead, “metal screws” will be embedded in it and easily swallowed up by it.

In this way, "metal screw" seems to be throwing itself at the mouth of a tiger and looking for a way to die.

Even if a "metal screw” penetrates directly through the body of a "metal starfish", it seems to deplete all life and slowly sink into the depths of the magma.

However, when countless “metal screws” do not fear death to attack “metal starfish”, they will greatly exceed the limits of liquid metal self-healing, tearing wounds will no longer heal, a strip of tentacles will break apart, “metal starfish” incomplete bodies, accompanied by countless “metal screw” fragments, slowly sinking into the bottom of the lava lake.

What a brutal “suicide attack”!

A vast lava lake, divided into different colorful areas, Li Yao's eyesight reached, hundreds of “metal starfish” and tens of thousands of "metal screws” were chasing each other and killing each other, one kill was like a small war, or a constant game of two survival strategies.

Li Yao was obsessed.

He found that there seemed to be two kinds of survival logic for the relatively weak “metal screw".

First of all, if survival is the first instinct, and they naturally want to preserve themselves to the fullest extent possible, they tend to prefer to scatter and flee in all directions as Metallic Starfish pours over the hunt.

However, their average velocity is always slightly slower than that of Metal Starfish, which means that the result is that all the Metal Screws are caught up and devoured.

In order to survive for a long time, it would seem necessary to restrain the instincts of escape, but instead to gather hundreds of thousands of "metal spikes” together, and all “human beings" would not fear sacrifice, rushing back and forth to the same place as “metal starfish” in order to improve the chances of survival of the entire population.

And for Metal Starfish, there are two survival logics as well.

Li Yao supposes that in this cruel and bizarre “ecosystem”, "metal spiral" is a relatively low-level “species” that feeds directly on the light and thermal energy of the magma.

Metallic Starfish is a relatively advanced “species” located above the "food chain", fed by “metal spires”.

In order to survive and develop, then, “Metal Starfish” must endlessly devour “Metal Nail Screws” and hunting is the only task and meaning of their lives.

However, if this swallowing reaches its limit, forcing the "metal screw” to go nowhere, the dog jumps at the wall, and vice versa, it also has a considerable chance of dying.

Therefore, Metal Starfish must carefully control the hunting rhythm, on the one hand not to push the Metal Screw too tight, on the other hand, always pay attention to the phenomenon of the Metal Screw Lug, once the order of the prey reaches the threshold, it is the turn to flee.

In such a delicate situation, it must also carefully calculate and maximize the devouring of the lone, edible prey.

Two simple rules, the result of collision with each other, is the ever-changing survival strategy and hunting scene. Li Yao observed the hunting of hundreds of "metal starfish" at the same time, but did not find a single identical place.

“Incredible! ”

Although they are low-order spiritual puppets with a very simple structure, Li Yao felt a taste on them… which cannot be described in ink and is not felt on high-order combat puppets.

These little metallic creatures, unlike being manipulated by a master crystal brain, seem to survive spontaneously and automatically under the simple logic of survival, fighting!

Li Yao smelled the flood in the lava lake deep beneath the earth.

Explore along the lake's edge, passing through the vaporized hot gas and quickly walking to the other end of the lake.

The temperature here is significantly lower than on the other side, the magma is orange red, and the lake is tethered with cluttered wire, which stretches into the magma lake on one side and brutally grows in the form of tooth dancing claws on the other.

“Are these… plants? ”

Somehow, Li Yao came up with this ridiculous idea.

These wires, of course, are not real plants, but they possess certain plant properties, their “root systems" penetrating deep into the lake, sucking the light and thermal energy of the magma, while the other side releases constantly faint fluctuations.

Li Yao estimates that these insignificant ripples can drive some thin ultra microchips like cicada wings, in other words, it is a wireless power supply system.

Metal groups devour the light and heat of the magma, releasing faint waves of energy to drive nearby microwafers, just as plants photosynthesize, releasing oxygen for animals to breathe.

“This is a primitive forest of metallic form! ”

Li Yao was also surprised and astonished. His eyes crossed the “metal forest” and looked to the shore at lower temperatures. He was truly surprised.

He saw a… “city”.

Though it was inappropriate to use the word "city”, he did not know how to describe the large and small buildings sitting together like buns.

These bun bags are about half a metre in diameter and height, the smaller ones are fist sized, and all bun bags are covered in dense hemp holes, like hives that snap backwards.

Countless ant-sized spiritual puppets move in and out between the holes and along the planned "road” between the buns.

Occasionally, there are some slightly larger spiritual energy puppets with the ability to fly, but “buzz” across several larger "bun bags”.

The entire complex is erroneous, orderly and vibrant.

If you ignore the shape of buns and spiritual puppets, this is a busy town!

Li Yao noticed that some little spiritual puppets were still traveling between “the city” and “the forest”, dragging something like a capsule under cluttered metal wire, inserting the capsule into the end of the metal wire, and soon, the original gray and white capsules all lit up, like a strange firefly.

The Spiritual Energy puppet transported these shiny capsules back to his “city”.

So, the wireless power supply is not enough, so does it have to be this way to harvest energy, just like humans go to the woods to harvest wood and get enough heat?

If you think of Lava Lake as the ocean of ancient times, the scene in front of you is completely the battlefield of the "ancestors” to develop the prototype of civilization!

Li Yao doesn't know if he should be "stunned” or "creeped out”.

The entire underground space seemed to be gourd shaped, with a narrow crack at the end of the lava lake, just at the waist of the gourd. Li Yao heard a silver bell-like laugh coming from the side of the crack.

It sounds familiar, loving and hateful.

Li Yao shrugged for a moment, and Dafang squeezed past the crack.

Sure enough, there is no dry air over the gap. It is a small underground space on one side. The temperature is much lower than on the lava lake side. The surrounding cave walls are embedded with dark blue ore, and the silk is cool, which gives Li Yao a thrill!

Looking at the cave, he saw the diagonal line of the cave, and there was a high platform formed by stone columns, with two seven- and eighty-nine year olds sitting on the plate.

The tiger head of the boy on the left, his eyes open with silk killing and warfare, at first glance is the troublemaker king who is not afraid.

The girl on the right looks quiet and regular, but from time to time there is a strange glimmer of ancient elves, and the slightly squeezed corner of her mouth always smells a bit more like a winning ticket, perhaps more difficult than a flashing boy.

Among the two children, there are thousands of ultra-miniature psychic puppets, the little ants Li Yao saw in the city just now.

These little ants shine red and green lights, manipulated by two little guys, attacking and killing each other.

Li Yao quickly discovered the rule - as long as one “ant” is bitten by the other two “ants” at the same time, it automatically turns into each other's color and joins each other's camp.

Naturally, when all ants turn into one color, the game decides to win or lose.

By the time Li Yao arrived, the game had come to an end. The boy's Red Ant remnants were besieged by the girl's Green Ant army. No matter how hard he clashed left and right, he was weakened by the girl with great patience. Until the end, only the last Red Ant remained.

According to the rules, a red ant cannot be transformed into a green ant.

Boy lost.

“Great civilization will never surrender. Go! ”

The boy shouted and manipulated the last red ant to rush up, quickly devoured by the giant waves of green ants.

Li Yaoyuan was stunned. Although it was just a game between the children, the tactics were unpredictable and the timing of the attack was delicate. It was no less than the most professional chess projection, a hundred times more complicated than the fierce battle in Lava Lake.

Deep beneath the ground, by the lava lake, two children manipulating metal ants for war games - what a strange picture!

And what do you think of Li Yao? Why do you think these two bear children are so familiar?

“What is this place, who are you people? ”

Li Yao coughed dry, suggesting that the two little ones themselves existed. "Where's your lord? If you invited my vulture Li Yao here, why should you hide your tail? ”

“Ha!”

The two little guys stood up at the same time, their faces filled with a happy smile, stretching out their fleshy arms towards Li Yao, "Here comes Dad! ”