Rebirth of the Mantis

Chapter 1: Reborn as a Mantis

Dead silence, nothingness, confusion, lethargy.

It felt as if he had dreamt for a moment, or perhaps an entire century had passed; Chen Lin's consciousness gradually flickered back to life.

Am I dead?

Blinding sunlight filtered down through the gaps in the canopy above, and Chen Lin instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Chen Lin's eyes widened. He stared in bewilderment at the 'hand' before him, his pupils constricting sharply.

Sharp, jagged serrations like the fangs of a wolf, a perfect arc folded like a sickle. No matter how he looked at it, this was not a hand that a human should possess.

This... what is this?!

Chen Lin was startled. His two powerful hind legs pushed off the ground, snapping his entire body into a near-upright position. On his triangular, flattened head, a pair of slender, thread-like antennae suddenly shot upward, and his two bulging compound eyes twitched and tightened.

This? This is my hand?!

Chen Lin was horrified. The lethargy vanished, and his consciousness became crystal clear.

Then, memories inherited from his bloodline surfaced in his mind. Following that, a fact that left him wanting to cry but unable to shed tears was laid out before him.

I... I have actually been reborn as a mantis!

On a bed of yellow-green fallen leaves, a pitch-black, glossy "giant" ant scurried over. It was the size of a human infant's fist, its slender antennae waving back and forth in search of food.

Chen Lin remained motionless, his two great scythes tucked against his chest. His emerald-green body blended perfectly with the fallen leaves. His massive compound eyes stared fixedly at the approaching prey; every movement of the ant was laid bare before him.

"Swish!"

Suddenly, Chen Lin's forelimbs shot out like arrows. With a hook and a curl, he effortlessly swept the fist-sized ant into his mouth. After a bout of chewing, he seemed to find the ant's head too hard and spat it out.

"The taste is passable, but there's too little meat."

He licked his scythes, still feeling unsatisfied. This was the fourth day since Chen Lin had helplessly accepted his identity as a mantis. For these four days, he had traversed this vast, wild jungle day and night, exploring everything within it.

"I don't even know where this is. Is it some prehistoric jungle on Earth that was never discovered? Or... is it not Earth at all?" Chen Lin raised his head, tilting it and twisting it wantonly. He gazed at the towering, ancient trees and withered vines above, the faint light filtering down through the sun-blocking leaves, and suddenly felt a sense of loneliness and desolation.

Everything here was extremely similar to Earth, yet the species that lived here were several times larger than those on Earth. Take Chen Lin himself, for instance; even standing upright, he was over a meter tall. And that was nothing—Chen Lin had witnessed some bizarre creatures wandering this jungle.

For example, a giant python with hideous wings had whistled past in a bloody gale, crushing a white ape nearly two zhang tall into fragments. Or a massive, three-headed bat that had swooped down, tearing a gargantuan wild ox to pieces in an instant with its razor-sharp teeth. What made Chen Lin's skin crawl even more was when he witnessed a seemingly dead, silent tree suddenly open a mouth like a human's, biting the head off a giant eagle that had been resting there. Crimson blood dripped continuously down the trunk—it was utterly grotesque.

For several days, although Chen Lin had been traversing the jungle without rest, he had not dared to be careless for a single moment. Every step was like walking on thin ice, for fear of provoking some terrifying alien creature.

Beyond the horror of the species, the memories inherited from his bloodline informed Chen Lin that the creatures here lived very long lives. Take the mantis, for example: on Earth, a mantis might live for six to eight months, but here, the species could survive for six to eight years. This period was neither long nor short.

"Forget it. Since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it. I just don't know if I'll ever be able to walk out of this jungle in this lifetime. If this is Earth... will I ever be able to see those old friends again?"

Chen Lin thought with a sense of loss, feeling dazed and distracted for a moment.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, the air was pierced by a sharp sound. A cold, murderous aura struck him, and Chen Lin gave a violent jolt. His keen instincts as a former special agent made him drop his head without a second thought!

"Crack!"

The withered branch behind him was swept clean away. Chen Lin's eyes turned cold. Before he could even turn his head, he leaped with his hind legs, his entire body twisting and curling in mid-air, his two scythes held before his chest in a defensive stance.

Only after landing did Chen Lin see who had ambushed him.

A mantis—one of his own kind.

This made Chen Lin's gaze even colder as he watched this uninvited guest with vigilance.

The mantis opposite him was even larger than Chen Lin, standing a full five feet tall. Its pair of scythes shimmered with a chilling, cold light, and upon those scythes, thin, red, thread-like veins grew in a bizarre pattern. Its cold compound eyes bulged high, staring at Chen Lin with indifference.

Cannibalism!

Mantises were cold-blooded creatures by nature, and their bloodlines hid a side that was violent, cruel, warlike, and cold-blooded.

Chen Lin tilted his head. He could still feel a chill on his neck; if he hadn't reacted in time, he would have been decapitated and swallowed as a delicious meal by now. This caused a surge of murderous intent in Chen Lin's heart.

"A tiny mantis almost took my life. If those bastards from 'Hidden Thorn' found out, they'd laugh their heads off!"

Having failed to kill Chen Lin in one strike, the opponent did not move again. Such was the nature of a mantis: if a strike failed, it would wait for an opportunity. It was calm and cruel, just like an assassin.

But unfortunately for it, it was facing a strange combination: a mantis body housing a human mind.

After a long standoff, Chen Lin did not move an inch, leaving no openings in his defense. The mantis opposite seemed to have run out of patience. Having survived many cruel battles, it sensed that Chen Lin was not someone to be trifled with and finally decided to give up on this decent meal.

Its legs, covered in wolf-tooth-like serrations, slowly opened, and it took a light step backward.

"Want to leave? Heh."

Chen Lin sneered inwardly. As soon as the opponent took three steps back, he suddenly unfurled the wings on his back!

"Whoosh!"

His elegant form moved in a flash, his gossamer-thin wings spreading wildly like sails catching the wind.

"Thunderclap from Flat Ground, Sky-Piercing Cannon!"

Chen Lin was a master of martial arts; even though his body had changed, his techniques remained. He saw his powerful legs spring forth, piercing through the clouds and mist. His entire form arrived in the blink of an eye, his two great scythes slashing fiercely toward the opponent's neck, intent on decapitation!

The opponent reacted quickly, its waist suddenly arching back as its entire body narrowly dodged the strike. At the same time, Chen Lin's attack had stirred its cruel ferocity; instead of retreating, it advanced, its two sharp scythes crossing into a circle to envelop him, twisting with the momentum to cut Chen Lin in two at the waist!

It had launched a fierce and rapid counterattack!

"Single-Handed Toast, Drunken Step!"

The moment his body touched the ground, Chen Lin's slender waist suddenly swayed like a willow in the wind, mimicking a drunkard's tilt, eerily evading the opponent's lethal strike.

"Azure Dragon Probes the Water!"

Suddenly, his swaying body steadied. Before the opponent could react, Chen Lin lunged forward; one serrated scythe feinted, while the other thrust forward with a chilling, icy glint.

"Sshh!"

Beneath the scythe, a sharp, needle-like hook pierced through one of the opponent's compound eyes, passing straight through its skull!

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The opponent did not die immediately. Stimulated by the pain, its scythes lashed out like spinning wheels in a frantic, death-throes struggle.

"The final blow, Yellow Dragon Spirit Turn!"

Chen Lin's waist moved like a serpent and his legs like the wind, pushing his flexibility and grace to the limit. He brushed past the flailing scythes and, in the same motion, turned and slashed fiercely!

"Pfft!"

The opponent's triangular head was severed by the blade. Its forelimbs thrashed wildly a few more times before slowing down, and it died completely.

Chen Lin had employed three martial arts styles: Lost Track Step, Drunken Fist, and Dragon Claw Hand! His movements were fluid as clouds and flowing water, eerie, tricky, and unpredictable.

Clutching the creature's carcass, Chen Lin began to devour it ravenously.

He did not notice that the moment the creature died, a faint, nearly invisible wisp of black light drifted from the corpse and submerged into Chen Lin's body.