Take a Chance

The Camouflage Bug had already revealed its true form before Rowan's extremely high-resolution eyes.

Somehow, it had managed to get a piece of bark onto its back, and it wouldn't come off. Its real body was just a very slender bug, like a wingless mosquito magnified dozens of times.

What did a low-tier creature like this, with barely any Exoskeleton Armor, think it was doing? Was it trying to challenge the War God to a one-on-one fight? Wasn't that just asking to die?

Rowan couldn't stop grumbling, completely forgetting that he, too, had once been a creature with no protection on his abdomen.

Suddenly, the Camouflage Bug, now behind the Black Beetle, straightened the mouthpart that had been curled up. It extended almost the length of its body, like a steel needle.

The needle slowly slid into the gap between the Black Beetle's shoulder plate and back plate, yet the Black Beetle still didn't react at all.

After a while, the Camouflage Bug's long, thin, shriveled abdomen began to swell, while the Black Beetle showed no outward change. But gradually, it stopped chewing on the leaves.

"Holy crap! This world is so damn dangerous!" Rowan cursed under his breath.

The Black Beetle was the most imposing bug he'd seen so far. Just yesterday, it had put on a spectacular one-against-many performance for Rowan. He hadn't expected it to be silently taken out today by a sleazy assassin.

The blow shook his understanding of the world.

He hadn't said it aloud, but in his heart, he'd already chosen the Black Beetle as his next evolutionary target. After all, its sheer size—more than ten times his own—was intimidating.

Yet today, it had been killed with ease by a bug that could camouflage itself. But if the Camouflage Bug was really that strong, Rowan thought, then the Black Beetle could have easily killed it if it had spotted it in time. The Camouflage Bug had also risked its life. The outcome between them could change at any moment.

So what exactly counted as strong?

Never mind when he might be able to kill a Black Beetle. Even if he absorbed the genes of both the Black Beetle and the Camouflage Bug in the future, wouldn't another kind of bug show up to counter him?

He remembered a movie he'd watched as a human. A superhero with a steel body, infrared vision, freezing breath, lightspeed movement, Clairvoyance, super hearing, and all sorts of other abilities. Even a creature that powerful could eventually be killed by a weapon designed to counter it.

To be honest, Rowan felt a little lost.

When would an individual's evolution reach its end?

Even if there really was an endpoint, could one individual's strength alone take him all the way there?

After thinking about it for a moment, Rowan gave up.

Why should a bug the size of a fingernail worry about all that? He had to survive first.

The Camouflage Bug had eaten its fill. Its steel-needle-like mouthpart softened and curled back up, then retracted beside its mouth. It lay motionless beneath the bark, though its belly had swollen several times over and could no longer be hidden.

After observing carefully and comparing the two of them, Rowan decided to take a chance.

The only part of the Camouflage Bug that posed a threat to him was its mouthpart. It was much larger than him, but as long as he was careful, he figured he had at least an eighty percent chance of beating it.

Even if he couldn't win, its now ridiculously swollen belly would slow it down. He was confident he could get away.

Rowan couldn't account for every unexpected factor, nor could he plan everything down to the last detail or guarantee a perfect outcome. But an eighty percent chance was enough for him to take the gamble.

Time was life. Rowan wouldn't waste any more of it. Now that he'd made up his mind, he wouldn't hesitate.

He scurried over to the Camouflage Bug.

It seemed extremely confident in its disguise and didn't react at all to Rowan's approach.

That's just how I like you—completely unresponsive. Rowan hurried forward a few steps. Using his small size to his advantage, he squeezed underneath the bark.

He pushed hard with his middle and hind legs, launched himself forward, and sank his teeth into the Camouflage Bug's neck.

Apart from his two large mandibles, Rowan had no other weapons. The Camouflage Bug was several times bigger than he was, and his teeth couldn't do much damage to most parts of its body.

But its slender neck was different.

Taking advantage of the Camouflage Bug's carelessness, Rowan didn't hesitate to bite the most vulnerable spot.

With a vital part of its body suddenly under attack, the Camouflage Bug panicked. Its long, slender legs thrashed wildly, and it tumbled off the tree trunk with Rowan clinging to it. They both crashed to the ground.

The two of them then wrestled in the rotting, foul-smelling mud.

The Camouflage Bug's mouthpart kept straightening and retracting, trying to pierce Rowan.

Rowan refused to make it easy. All the hooked claws on his body gripped the Camouflage Bug tightly. No matter how it twisted and turned, he stayed glued to its neck, steady as a rock.

Because Rowan was so small and was in the wrong position, the Camouflage Bug could only extend and retract its mouthpart in vain.

Gradually, less and less of its head remained connected to its body. It began to droop, then stopped rolling around. Its body continued to twitch involuntarily.

Rowan held his position for quite a while, only letting go once he was sure the Camouflage Bug was dead.

Take a chance, and your bicycle might become a motorcycle. Now it was time to reap the rewards.

But first, he went up to the branch to check on the Black Beetle. Its hooked legs were still gripping the branch tightly, but there was nothing left inside it.

Its organs and muscles had all liquefied and been sucked dry by the Camouflage Bug, just as Rowan had suspected.

After confirming the Black Beetle was dead, he returned to the Camouflage Bug's corpse without a worry.

The Camouflage Bug was big, but only because of its length. If you didn't count its belly, its long, shriveled body might not have had as much meat as the White Grub.

The bark on its back was another reason it looked so big. Rowan didn't know how it had done it, but the bark seemed to have grown right onto its back. Even that fierce struggle and rolling around hadn't dislodged it.

It must have spent a lot of time lying in wait here to ambush other bugs. What a sly old bastard.

At first, Rowan had thought it could change color and camouflage itself like a chameleon. He hadn't expected it to rely entirely on equipment.

They said the poor relied on mutations while the rich relied on equipment. Was this Camouflage Bug some kind of rich, handsome bug?

Of course, that was just a joke, but it also served as a reminder to Rowan. Some bugs were very smart. The reason humans had become the overlords of Blue Star was that they'd learned to use tools.

He couldn't underestimate the other bugs just because he'd seen a fool like the Stinky Giant Earthworm.

After picking away and eating all the Camouflage Bug's muscles, he reached the eagerly awaited main course.

Thinking about it, the remnants of Rowan's human sensibilities made it hard for him to eat the Camouflage Bug's swollen belly.

But if he'd been that picky, he would've starved to death long ago. To bugs, this was perfectly normal food. If he wanted to enjoy the rest of his life, he'd have to let go of some of his old notions.

He understood all that, but knowing something in his head and actually doing it were two different things.

His mandibles opened and closed, yet he still hesitated.