Yellow Bug

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

Looking closely, he realized it was the bug he'd seen the other day, the one that had swaggered right into the Ant Nest.

Rowan wasn't sure if it was the same one he'd seen that day.

He was face-blind when it came to bugs. He couldn't even tell Black Two and Black Three apart, despite them constantly milling around in front of him, let alone this bug he'd only met once.

Seeing this fellow, Rowan immediately got an idea. If he couldn't beat the Soldier Ants, surely he could at least take on this Yellow Bug, which was about his size?

Besides, whenever a new kind of bug appeared, he was eager to have a friendly, intimate interaction with it. Ideally, he'd get to taste it too. Maybe he'd obtain some unique gene fragments that way.

Figuring the Transport Team would be back in a little while, Rowan wasted no more time. He picked out a safe route, then scurried toward the Yellow Bug.

The Yellow Bug was taking it easy and didn't notice Rowan approaching at all. This was why Rowan's pair of big eyes, despite hindering his digging, had stuck around.

That was the advantage of having a wider field of vision. It was like everyone playing a game with a fog-covered map while he had the whole map revealed.

He opened with a hammer to the face. This was now the opening move of the Rowan Zerg Combat Style. No matter who his opponent was, he always started by bringing down his Digging Leg.

This unique greeting left the Yellow Bug completely stunned. Before it could react, the second move of Rowan's Combat Technique, Peach Blossoms All Over the Face, crashed into its face and staggered it. The move was nearly identical to the opening move: a fierce blow with his Digging Leg.

The third move of the Rowan Zerg Combat Style, Dog Pouncing on Food, followed right after. Rowan sank his two large mandibles into the Yellow Bug's foreleg and snapped it off with a crunch.

After that, he alternated between the first and second moves. Rowan had gained a lot of combat experience lately, and there were few Black Ant scouts who could last ten moves against him now.

The Yellow Bug had clearly never encountered such a scientific, advanced fighting style. It was beaten without being able to fight back, its body parts steadily dwindling.

During the fight, Rowan noticed that the Yellow Bug kept releasing pheromones. They felt somewhat similar to Black Two's and Black Three's. He had a better idea now of how the Yellow Bug had managed to swagger into a neighbor's home, but Rowan didn't rely on pheromones to determine whether someone was an enemy. He relied on his eyes and brain.

The Yellow Bug's signature trick hadn't worked, and it had lost the initiative. Rowan also outclassed it in intelligence. After barely managing to fend off a few more blows, it died with resentment.

Rowan wasn't entirely satisfied with the fight. The Yellow Bug looked even bigger than the Black Ant engineers, but it was all show and no substance. He hadn't even tried that hard before it went down. He wanted to slap his Digging Leg and coolly say, "That's a wrap," but sadly, no one would understand him. He felt a little bored. Ah, the loneliness of being a master.

He dragged the Yellow Bug back to where he'd been staying earlier and waited a little while. Soon, the Transport Team appeared in his field of vision.

Once they arrived, he had most of them stay behind while he led two Black Ants back to the site of the battle. Some of the Yellow Bug's remains were still scattered there, mostly severed limbs. They were much bigger than fly legs, so they couldn't go to waste.

After gathering everything up, he returned to the main group. He'd made an extra catch today, so Rowan didn't feel like continuing to lie in wait. He headed back with the Transport Team.

On the way, they ran into a Black Ant scout who had gotten lost. Rowan demonstrated the Rowan Zerg Combat Style for it, then warmly invited its body to be a guest at the Insect Nest.

Rowan dragged the Yellow Bug's body himself because he planned to enjoy this first one alone. The Transport Team, meanwhile, divided up the scout's body and carried it back to the Insect Nest along with some of the Yellow Bug's remains.

He told the Transport Team to feed part of the haul to the Mother Nest. The rest would be provisions for them and the larvae. These Black Ants had a real talent for feeding. Rowan had only needed to explain it once before, and they'd immediately understood what to do.

As for the Black Armored Beetle, it had a new name now: "Big Black."

The Black Ants could only suck sap from tree roots. They couldn't understand what it meant to gnaw through a root, so Rowan had always taken care of Big Black's food himself.

But Rowan didn't have time to dig up another root for it now, so he'd just let it go hungry. It wouldn't starve to death if it missed a meal or two.

He carried the Yellow Bug to a small room. He'd recently dug it out as his own bedroom, a private space where ants were strictly forbidden to enter.

The room was small, but it had two escape tunnels and another tunnel connecting it to the Mother Nest's chamber. All of them were sealed with mud mixed with saliva and disguised.

Now he could finally be alone with the Yellow Bug. Rowan bit through its exoskeleton and expertly devoured the muscle inside.

After enjoying a hearty meal, Rowan had planned to rest right there, but then he thought of Big Black and felt a little bad for it.

He called over a Black Ant to clear away the food scraps in the room and feed them to the Mother Nest. Then he went to the tree roots to drink some sap and, while he was there, dug up a root to bring back for Big Black.

Well, that wasn't right. He'd specifically gone to dig up a root for Big Black and happened to drink some sap while he was at it.

On the way back, he also stopped to check on the Mother Nest, then looked over the gene pool. Just as he'd expected, it now contained a gene fragment for disguising pheromones.

The gene fragment was interesting, and Rowan wanted to try it out. Before resting, he kept convincing himself that he desperately needed this ability, hoping his body's instincts would be helpful enough to understand what he wanted.

When he woke up again, Rowan hurriedly checked his body and tried it out. It seemed he could now change his own pheromones. For ants, pheromones were like an ID card: one sniff was enough to tell whether someone was one of their own.

The Black Ant showed some confusion and signs of obvious agitation, but it didn't attack Rowan. He tested it on a few more Black Ants and found their reactions were much the same. Their responses also felt familiar, but for a moment, he couldn't remember why.

"Is this not working, or am I using it wrong?" Rowan wondered, puzzled about what had gone wrong.

It wasn't until he saw Big Black wandering around that he realized. Big Black didn't have an Interaction System installed and didn't have pheromones, yet it could still distinguish friend from foe. The Mother Nest must have had its own built-in friend-or-foe identification system.

Rowan thought the ants' reactions felt familiar because they reacted the same way around Big Black.

At this result, Rowan let out a quiet sigh of relief, feeling a little happy.

Bugs might not be very intelligent, but they had plenty of tricks up their sleeves, far beyond what Rowan had imagined. He was genuinely afraid that one day, while he was away, a Yellow Bug might sneak into his nest and break something. That would be a real pain.

Now he wasn't worried anymore. In fact, he was looking forward to it. If any Yellow Bugs came in, they'd probably be delivering themselves right to his door, giving the bugs a little extra food.

Since he couldn't test it on his own people, Rowan dug up a root and brought it back to feed Big Black. Then he called the Transport Team and headed out.

He couldn't let the nest run out of food while he experimented, too. Rowan felt like he was working himself to the bone for the Insect Nest's development.

He first invited a lucky scout to be a guest at the Insect Nest and sent it back with the Transport Team. While they were away, Rowan began his experiment.