Yellow Bug

Rowan's eyes were exceptionally sensitive to moving objects. The moment the yellowish-brown creature entered his clear field of vision, he detected it.

Upon closer inspection, it was the same bug he'd seen boldly entering the ant nest that day.

Rowan wasn't sure if it was the exact same one.

He was bad at recognizing bug faces; he couldn't even tell Black Two and Black Three apart, despite them constantly buzzing around him, let alone this one he'd only met once.

Seeing this fellow, Rowan's mind immediately sparked. If he couldn't defeat a Soldier Ant, surely he could defeat this yellow bug, which was about his size?

Moreover, he was always eager to have a close, friendly interaction with every new type of bug he encountered, preferably tasting them. Who knew, he might even gain some unique gene fragments.

Figuring the transport team would return in a little while, Rowan wasted no more time. He confirmed a safe path and then quickly crawled towards the yellow bug.

The yellow bug ambled along, completely oblivious to Rowan's approach. This was the reason for its large eyes; though they hindered digging, they still existed.

This was the advantage of vision, like playing a game where everyone's map was shrouded in fog, but he had the entire map revealed.

A heavy hammer blow to the face was the opening move of the Rowan Zerg Combat Style. No matter who the opponent was, the first move was always to smash with the digging legs.

This unique greeting completely stunned the yellow bug. Before it could react, the second move of Rowan's combat style, "Blossoming Peach," slammed into its face, making it stagger. This move was very similar to the opener, both involving fierce smashing with the digging legs.

The second move of the Rowan Zerg Combat Style, "Vicious Dog Pounce," followed immediately. Rowan's large mandibles clamped onto the yellow bug's foreleg, snapping it off with a crunch.

Then, he alternated between the first and second moves. Rowan's recent combat experience was extensive; very few Black Ant scouts could last more than ten moves against him now.

The yellow bug had certainly never encountered such a scientific and advanced combat style. For a time, it was beaten without any ability to retaliate, its body parts continuously diminishing.

During the fight, Rowan sensed the opponent constantly releasing pheromones, which felt similar to those of Black Two and Black Three. He began to understand how this yellow bug had so brazenly visited its neighbor's home. Unfortunately, he didn't rely on pheromones to identify enemies; he used his eyes and his brain.

The yellow bug's unique skills were ineffective, it had lost the initiative, and its intelligence was crushed by Rowan. After a few more weak defenses, it met its end with resentment.

Rowan didn't feel entirely satisfied with the fight. This yellow bug looked even larger than a Black Ant worker, but it was all show and no substance. It fell before he could even exert himself. At this moment, he wanted to pat his digging legs and say coolly, "Job done," but alas, no one would understand, leaving him feeling a bit listless. Ah, the loneliness of a master.

Dragging the yellow bug back to where he had been, he waited for a short while until the transport team appeared within his field of vision.

When they arrived, he had most of them stay put while he took two Black Ants back to the battle site. Some of the yellow bug's parts were still scattered there, mostly broken limbs, which were much larger than fly legs and couldn't be wasted.

After tidying up, he returned to the main group. With an extra harvest today, Rowan didn't want to linger any longer. So, he returned with the transport team.

On the way, they encountered an unfortunate lost Black Ant scout. Rowan demonstrated the Rowan Zerg Combat Style for it and then enthusiastically invited it to be a guest in the brood nest.

Rowan personally dragged the yellow bug's body, as he wanted to enjoy the first one all to himself. The transport team, meanwhile, dismembered the scout's body and transported it back to the brood nest along with some of the yellow bug's parts.

He instructed the transport team to feed a portion of the harvest to the brood mother, with the rest serving as rations for them and the larvae. These Black Ants were quite talented at feeding; Rowan had only explained it briefly, and they immediately understood.

As for the black beetle, it now had a new name: "Big Black."

The Black Ants only sucked sap from tree roots and couldn't comprehend what it meant to bite through them, so Big Black's meals had always been Rowan's responsibility.

But Rowan didn't have the time to go gnaw through tree roots for it right now, so he'd let it go hungry for now. It wouldn't die from missing a meal or two.

He took the yellow bug back to a small room. This room was newly dug by Rowan; it was his private bedroom, a space strictly off-limits to other ants.

Though small, the room had two escape tunnels and one connecting to the brood mother's chamber. However, they were all sealed with saliva-mixed mud and camouflaged.

Now that he could finally be alone with the yellow bug, Rowan bit open its exoskeleton and skillfully gnawed on the muscle within.

After finishing a hearty meal, Rowan, who had intended to rest there, remembered Big Black and felt a pang of guilt.

He called a Black Ant to clean up the food scraps in the room and feed them to the brood mother. He himself went to drink some sap from the tree roots and coincidentally gnawed off a root to bring back for Big Black.

No, that wasn't right. He had specifically gone to gnaw off a tree root for Big Black, and incidentally drank some sap.

On his way back, he went to check on the brood mother again, and then examined the gene bank. As expected, a gene fragment for camouflage pheromones had appeared.

This gene fragment was quite interesting. Rowan wanted to try it out. Before resting, he kept telling himself he desperately needed this ability, hoping his body's instincts would be strong enough to understand his needs.

Upon waking again, Rowan hurriedly checked his body and tried it out. He felt he could now alter his own pheromones. He hadn't expected his instincts to be so responsive this time, actually granting him the ability to camouflage his pheromones.

He found a Black Ant and altered his pheromones. To ants, this was like an ID card; they knew if someone was one of their own just by smelling them.

The Black Ant seemed confused and showed clear signs of agitation, but it didn't attack Rowan. Rowan tested a few more Black Ants, finding their reactions to be similar. Their reactions also seemed familiar, though he couldn't recall why for a moment.

"Is it not working, or am I using it incorrectly?" Rowan wondered, unsure where the problem lay.

It wasn't until he saw Big Black wandering aimlessly that he had an epiphany. Big Black didn't have an interaction system and lacked pheromones, yet it could still distinguish friend from foe. It was likely the brood mother's built-in enemy-identification system at work.

The ants' reactions felt familiar because they reacted the same way when facing Big Black.

Rowan let out a sigh of relief at this outcome, feeling somewhat happy.

Though the bugs' intelligence wasn't high, they had many surprising tricks, exceeding Rowan's imagination. He had genuinely worried that one day a yellow bug might sneak into his lair while he was away and accidentally damage something, which would be troublesome.

Now, he wasn't worried. He was even looking forward to it. If these yellow bugs came in, they'd probably be delivery drivers, providing an extra meal for the ants.

Since he couldn't experiment on his own kind, Rowan gnawed off a tree root to feed Big Black, then called the transport team and headed out.

While experimenting, he couldn't neglect the household's food supply. Rowan felt he was working himself to the bone for the development of the brood nest.

He first invited a lucky scout to be a guest at the brood nest and had the transport team take it back. Rowan used this time to begin his experiment.