Development, Gestation, and Hatching on Underground Level Four

Inside the Insect Breeding Room.

Yu Yuan and Dai Le gazed at the six boxes of mealworms before them, their faces full of delight.

"I didn't expect the Insect Breeding Room to be this powerful! It cut the mealworms' development time in half, and they're much more vigorous, too..."

Dai Le couldn't help marveling at it.

In three of the breeding boxes, dense clusters of small black beetles scurried through the wheat bran.

These were mealworms after they had emerged as adults. Normally, they would not have emerged so quickly.

But the Insect Breeding Room had sped up the process, causing the mealworms that had already pupated to emerge early.

Inside the breeding boxes.

The newly emerged adults chased and touched one another. Some frequently brushed their antennae against the tips of other mealworms' abdomens.

Others had already climbed on top of one another and were crawling along slowly.

Dai Le watched with interest, a happy smile on his face. He made sure to explain what was happening to Yu Yuan.

"See those ones chasing and touching the others? They're males testing the waters. It's part of their courtship."

"And the ones stacked together have a male on top and a female underneath. They've begun mating. If you look closely..." Dai Le handed Yu Yuan a magnifying glass and pointed eagerly to the pair nearest them.

"See? The tip of the male's abdomen has curved down to connect with the female's. The countdown to new life has begun..."

Listening to Dai Le's expert yet lively explanation, Yu Yuan picked up the magnifying glass and focused it on the mealworms.

Sure enough, just as Dai Le had said, the tips of the male's and female's abdomens were firmly connected.

A faint smile touched Yu Yuan's lips.

It was only insects breeding,