Gamble It All

Under the high-resolution gaze of Rowan, the Camouflage Bug had long since revealed its true form.

It had somehow managed to strap a piece of tree bark to its back, and it didn't even fall off. Its actual body was just an incredibly slender insect, looking like a mosquito magnified dozens of times over, but without wings.

What did this pathetic creature, which didn't even have much of an exoskeleton, think it was doing? Was it trying to challenge the War God to a duel? Wasn't that just asking for death?

Rowan grumbled incessantly, completely forgetting that he had once been a creature with no protection on his abdomen either.

Suddenly, the Camouflage Bug, now behind the Black Beetle, straightened the coiled mouthparts on its face. They extended to nearly the length of its entire body, resembling a steel needle.

The needle slowly pierced through the gap between the Black Beetle's shoulder armor and back armor, yet the Black Beetle remained completely unresponsive.

A moment later, the Camouflage Bug's thin, shriveled abdomen began to slowly swell. While the Black Beetle's exterior showed no change, it gradually stopped its leaf-chewing motions.

"Damn it! This world is just too damn dangerous!" Rowan cursed under his breath.

The Black Beetle was the most ferocious and imposing insect he had seen so far; just yesterday, it had performed a feat of taking on several opponents at once. He hadn't expected it to be silently finished off by a sneaky assassin today.

This was a massive blow to his perception and had a significant impact on him.

Though he hadn't said it aloud, in his heart, he had already marked the Black Beetle as his next evolutionary target. After all, its size—more than ten times his own—was quite intimidating.

Yet today, it had been easily killed by a bug that knew how to camouflage. But if one were to say the Camouflage Bug was strong, Rowan felt that if the Black Beetle had discovered it in advance, it could have easily crushed it; thus, the Camouflage Bug was also risking its life. The outcome between them could change at any moment.

So, what exactly defined strength?

Setting aside when he might be able to kill the Black Beetle, even if he absorbed the genes of both the Black Beetle and the Camouflage Bug in the future, wouldn't another type of bug just pop up to counter him?

He recalled a movie he had watched when he was human, about a superhero with a body of steel, infrared vision, freezing breath, light-speed movement, Clairvoyance, super hearing, and so on. Even such a powerful being could eventually be taken down by a weapon that countered him.

To be honest, Rowan felt a bit lost.

When was the end point of individual evolution?

Even if there truly was an end point, could one rely solely on the power of a single individual to reach that stage?

After thinking for a moment, Rowan gave up.

Why was a bug the size of a fingernail worrying so much? Better to just focus on surviving first.

The Camouflage Bug had eaten its fill; its needle-like mouthparts softened, curled back up, and retracted to its mouth. It then lay motionless, draped in its tree bark, though the bark could no longer hide its abdomen, which had swollen several times over.

After careful observation and calculation, Rowan decided to take a gamble.

The only thing on the Camouflage Bug that posed a threat to him was those mouthparts. Although it was much larger than him, as long as he was careful, he had at least an eighty percent chance of winning.

Even if he couldn't beat it, with its disproportionately large belly weighing it down, he believed he could escape if he needed to.

Rowan couldn't account for every unexpected factor, nor could he plan for a perfect, foolproof outcome. But an eighty percent win rate was enough for him to take the risk.

Time was life, and Rowan didn't want to waste any more of it. Since he had decided, he wouldn't hesitate.

He scurried over to a spot not far from the Camouflage Bug.

It seemed extremely confident in its disguise, showing no reaction to Rowan's arrival.

I like your lack of reaction, Rowan thought, crawling quickly and, relying on his small size, slipping underneath the tree bark.

He pushed off with his middle and hind legs, lunged forward, and bit down hard on the Camouflage Bug's neck.

Aside from his two large mandibles, Rowan had no other weapons to speak of. The Camouflage Bug was several times his size, and his teeth couldn't pose much of a threat to most parts of its body.

But its slender neck was an exception.

Taking advantage of the Camouflage Bug's carelessness, Rowan naturally didn't hold back, biting down on that most fatal point in one go.

With a vital part of its body suddenly under attack, the panicked Camouflage Bug lost its composure, its long, thin limbs flailing wildly. Carrying Rowan with it, the two of them tumbled from the tree trunk to the ground.

Following that, the two wrestled in a ball on the rotting, earthy ground.

The Camouflage Bug's mouthparts repeatedly straightened and retracted, attempting to pierce Rowan.

Rowan naturally wouldn't cooperate; all the hooks on his body gripped the Camouflage Bug's frame tightly. No matter how it twisted or turned, Rowan remained as immovable as a mountain, stuck to its neck.

Because of Rowan's compact size and the awkward positioning, the Camouflage Bug's mouthparts could only extend and retract in vain.

Slowly, the connection between its head and body grew weaker until it finally slumped, the creature stopping its rolling and only twitching unconsciously.

Rowan held his position for a good while, only letting go once he was certain the Camouflage Bug was truly dead.

Take a gamble, and the bicycle turns into a motorcycle; now it's time to reap the rewards.

Before that, however, he went back to the branch to check the status of the Black Beetle. After inspecting it, he found that although its limbs were still firmly gripped onto the branch, its insides were completely hollow.

Its internal organs and muscles had all been liquefied and sucked dry by the Camouflage Bug, which largely matched Rowan's hypothesis.

Confirming the Black Beetle's death, he returned to the Camouflage Bug's corpse with peace of mind.

Although the Camouflage Bug was large, it was mostly just long. If you didn't count its belly, its thin, shriveled body might not even have as much meat on it as a White Grub.

The tree bark on its back was one of the reasons it looked so massive. The Camouflage Bug had used some unknown method to make the bark seem as if it were growing out of its back; even after such a violent struggle and tumble, it hadn't fallen off.

It seemed this bug was a veteran camper, frequently lying in ambush for other insects here.

Rowan had initially thought it was like a chameleon, possessing some innate ability for color-changing camouflage, but he hadn't expected it to rely entirely on external equipment.

They say the poor rely on mutation while the rich rely on equipment; could this Camouflage Bug be the "tall, rich, and handsome" of the insect world?

Of course, that was just a joke, but it served as a reminder to Rowan. Some insects were incredibly clever; the reason humans became the masters of the Blue Star was precisely because they learned to use tools.

He could not afford to underestimate other insects just because he had seen a fool like the Stinky Giant Earthworm.

After picking away and devouring the muscles of the Camouflage Bug, it was time for the highly anticipated main course.

Come to think of it, judging by the remnants of Rowan's human soul and its lingering thoughts, he could not bring himself to bite into the bloated abdomen of the Camouflage Bug.

However, if he were truly that fastidious, he would have starved to death long ago. To an insect, this food was perfectly normal; if he wanted to live a happy life in this existence, he needed to discard certain notions.

Although he understood these principles in his heart, thinking about them and actually doing them were two different things.

His mandibles opened and closed, yet he still hesitated to move forward.