Desolate Stone Garden

Insect Records is a monumental work that spans two centuries.

Jean Henri Insecte Fabre of the original world began writing at the age of 55, spending nearly 40 years to complete the ten volumes of Insect Records, and he was still revising them until his death at 92.

His creative journey spanned almost his entire scientific career, truly an "epic of insects forged by a life."

Ye Yan was unsure of the situation regarding the Fabre of this world; he only knew that this man had once published a paper in the Annals of Natural Science and had since vanished without a trace.

He had assumed this scholar, like Darwin, had touched upon some taboo in his work and had been secretly imprisoned. But when he opened the first page of Insect Records and saw the preface, he realized he had been completely wrong.

"The world prefers to explore death because they fear it; yet I explore life, because I love it."

At the very beginning of Insect Records, Fabre issued a manifesto refuting the laboratory anatomy school.

This was far more radical than the version of him from the original world.

Ye Yan thought.

Shaking his head slightly, he continued to read.

"I resigned from my teaching position and, as a shipboard naturalist, followed a naval survey vessel on a long voyage, eventually finding an ideal isolated island off the coast of the New Continent."

In the latter half of the preface, Fabre detailed how he set up a laboratory he created with his own hands to observe and record insect behavior, transforming scattered field observations into systematic scientific experiments.

He merely glanced over the discourse on experimental methods and skipped it.

He focused instead on the description of the deserted island.

"This was a barren land that even the most tenacious farmer would shake his head at, but in my eyes, it was a dream paradise, for it was the most suitable home for insects.

I named it the Desolate Stone Garden..."

Seeing this, Ye Yan was somewhat surprised.

The Desolate Stone Garden of this world was not in Provence, southern France, but on an isolated island off the coast of the New Continent.

From "landowner" to "island owner."

It seemed the Fabre of this world was much wealthier.

Having finished the preface, Ye Yan began to read the subsequent text. Time slipped away amidst the sound of turning pages, and soon night fell; his fingers pinched the final page of the book.

"Hoo—"

Ye Yan let out a soft breath.

Having spent over an hour reading all ten observation notes in the first volume of Insect Records, he felt his gains were far greater than he had imagined.

Just like the original version, the first volume covered the habits of insects such as the dung beetle, cicada, mantis, and honey bee.

There was nothing to say about the knowledge he already knew.

The point was this.

Fabre did not agree with the mainstream theory of "insect instinct" of this era; he proposed the view that insects possessed "discernment" and even included the Shell-bearing Species in his scope of research.

In it, he specifically cited a classic case.

It was precisely the Shell-bearing Species of the Sickle-Tooth Clan that Ye Yan had killed a few months ago, later named the "Sickle Strange Insect" by the Research Institute.

This was a very bold act.

With the cautionary tale of that exiled predecessor, all scholars were tight-lipped about the Shell-bearing Species.

Most of them studied the Shell-bearing Species in silence, and even if they published academic papers, they only studied their habits and abilities, not daring to involve themselves in anything else.

Yet Fabre made bold assumptions in Insect Records without the slightest intention of avoiding the subject.

"All living things have a deep desire for birth; this is the most primitive instinct of a creature.

However, the Sickle Strange Insect defies instinct, forcibly suppressing its own growth to remain within the host body. Because it knows that once it is born and leaves the liquid, it will die.

This is no longer just simple discernment; it is a manifestation of wisdom."

In this world, stating that the Shell-bearing Species possessed wisdom was a very bold remark. Because this view could easily be interpreted as implicit support for Darwin's "human-insect common origin theory," thereby inviting fierce criticism from the traditional schools.

"No wonder this book was also listed as a banned book; no matter how you look at it, it could never be circulated among the public."

Ye Yan sighed to himself in his heart.

He slowly closed Insect Records, his fingertips suddenly touching a raised mark on the back of the cover.

He flipped the book over.

On the edge of the hard back cover, a line of gray French cursive script appeared faintly:

"À un jeune homme qui a découvert de nouvelles espèces.

--Jean Henri Insecte Fabre"

"Dedicated to the young man who discovered new species. --Jean Henri Insecte Fabre"

Ye Yan stood up abruptly: "This... what is this?!"

He never expected that the book Holmes had handed him would contain a handwritten inscription by Fabre.

While excited, Ye Yan also immediately realized the implications.

The Insect Records in his hands could be named!

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Ye Yan closed the bookstore directly. He cradled the Insect Records and brought it into the Samsara Bookstore.

[Welcome back, Administrator.]

"Long time no see, Sam, Sara." Ye Yan greeted the bookstore with a smile, then asked, "Could you trouble yourselves to prepare a desk and a chair for me?"

[Of course, Administrator.]

No sooner had the voices of Sam and Sara faded than a spacious desk and a high-backed chair appeared out of thin air before Ye Yan.

He sat down with the book in hand.

As Ye Yan's fingers brushed over the text on the cover, a prompt appeared in his mind.

[Would you like to name Insect Records?]

"Yes."

The Pen of Surface and Interior manifested within the bookstore, its nib hovering over the cover of Insect Records.

With just a few strokes, the naming was complete.

[Insect Records]

[Category: Tier 1 Book (Incomplete)]

["Instinct, evolution, metamorphosis; only through forgetting can one perceive the true essence of life." -- Entomologist]

[Aspect: Moth, Guidance]

"Huh, another new principle has appeared?"

Ye Yan was somewhat curious, focusing his mental consciousness on the description of the Moth principle in the prompt.

The Moth principle represents change and chaos, intuition and whimsy, longing and seeking, passion and nature; it is irrational, fluid, and unpredictable.

And forgetting is one of its derivative manifestations.

The once unremarkable black-covered book suddenly became extraordinary.

As Ye Yan flipped open the pages, a rustling sound suddenly emerged from between the sheets, as if countless insect legs were scuttling between the lines of text.

The term "alien species" inside had also been entirely replaced by the more standard "Shell-bearing Species."

[Administrator, there is an obscure power mark on the Insect Records you just named. Due to the scouring of your power, it is currently in a state of diffusion.]

"What?"

The bookstore's prompt gave Ye Yan a start.

He hurriedly looked at the Insect Records in his hands and discovered that the inscription from Fabre on the back cover was gradually shifting from an obscure gray to a striking blue.

[Your true naming has caused a certain possibility of an entomologist to deviate from its track, granting Soul Quality: Lantern]

[Vision, perception, inspiration; all three are gifts of the Radiance.]

The prompt sounded suddenly in Ye Yan's mind.

At the same time, a silver thread of guidance quietly extended from the Luck Compass, its origin winding far into the distance and disappearing directly into a misty island.

That was the Desolate Stone Garden of this world.