Ferocious Giant Mantises!

The resistance was intense, utterly unlike the smooth flow of Life Energy into the black beetle earlier.

The difference was like heaven and earth!

"Not good!" Yang Yu's expression changed. In the next instant, he flung out both hands, sending the millstone-sized black beetle he had been holding through the air in an arc. It crashed into the empty southeast corner of the room.

Thud!

The black beetle landed squarely, its granite-hard shell striking the floor with a dull thump.

After all, it had been transformed by Life Energy, making it incredibly tough.

A fall like that could not hurt it in the slightest.

Yet even after escaping Yang Yu's grip, the black beetle still seemed extremely agitated and pained.

Under Yang Yu's gaze, the black beetle let out a string of agonized chirps. Its body swelled and contracted erratically, like a balloon being inflated. Its condition was visibly unstable; it was practically a bomb that could go off at any moment!

"It's going to explode!"

"It can't absorb even a trace of the Life Energy I just fed it!" Everything became crystal clear to Yang Yu. His gaze darted about as he grabbed a nearby stainless steel basin and beckoned with a finger.

"Return!"

A stream of icy-blue Life Energy was instantly drawn out of the black beetle, as though summoned by an unseen force!

Whoosh!

The Life Energy exposed to the air vanished in a flash, swiftly flowing back into Yang Yu.

At the same time, the black beetle rapidly wilted.

Its body had swollen to its limit!

Boom!

Crash!

In the next instant, countless cracks spread across the black beetle's granite-hard shell. It exploded into fragments, spraying green blood and flesh in every direction like a dense hail of bullets propelled by the blast!

"Block!" Yang Yu's gaze flashed like lightning. His left hand, gripping the stainless steel basin, moved instantly, filling the space before him with blurred afterimages of his arm.

Smack, smack, smack, smack!

A torrent of green blood and flesh hurtled toward him!

Within a single second, the bloody spray came pouring down like a torrential rain!

On the other three sides of Yang Yu's study, both the walls and the many books on the shelves were struck by blood and chunks of flesh from the exploding black beetle. As the green fragments landed on the walls and shelves, clouds of white smoke rose amid a chorus of corrosive hissing.

Clearly, the green blood and flesh were highly corrosive, and might even have been lethally poisonous! Their corrosive power was at least seven or eight times greater than concentrated sulfuric acid!

After the blast had wreaked its havoc, everything settled.

"Phew..." Yang Yu breathed a sigh of relief and casually tossed aside the stainless steel basin, now riddled with pits and several holes.

In that brief instant, Yang Yu had relied entirely on his formidable physique and terrifying hand speed to block the oncoming barrage of green blood and flesh. Not a drop of the corrosive fluid had touched him. Even the insects and animals he had captured behind him were well protected, with only a handful suffering any harm.

"Good thing I reacted quickly. Otherwise, that would've been a real headache."

Yang Yu's physique was now monstrously powerful. Even an ordinary handgun could only inflict minor injuries on him, so those corrosive fluids would not have done much damage even if they had splashed over him.

Still, without blocking them, he certainly would have been a mess.

Most of the insects and animals behind him, which he needed for further Life Energy tests, would also have been killed or injured. Replacing them would have wasted plenty of time and effort.

Yang Yu glanced around the study, now a corrosion-ravaged wreck, and sighed.

"Once I finish testing the Life Energy, I'll have to give this place a thorough cleanup."

"I'd better be more careful from here on."

"Let's keep testing."

Muttering to himself, Yang Yu opened another cage. This time, instead of choosing an insect, he grabbed a Venomous Snake a full meter long!

Among all the insects and animals Yang Yu had caught this time, this one certainly counted as a big specimen.

He got straight to work.

As icy-blue Life Energy appeared, another round of biological transformation and evolution testing began!

The Venomous Snake abruptly thickened, its body growing at a frenzied pace!

Time passed...

The testing continued for an entire day, and Yang Yu even went out once midway through. Besides bringing back a stack of books to furnish the study and some painting supplies to repair it, he also visited the nearby Flower and Bird Market to buy quite a few small animals.

Soon, the moon and stars hung high in the sky.

At last, Yang Yu emerged from the study, thoroughly satisfied.

The study remained a mess.

The floor now held quite a few corpses of enormous crawling creatures, undoubtedly casualties of the experiments.

They were failed specimens.

Besides the corpses of those failures, three unusually tall figures stood inside Yang Yu's study: three hideously fearsome Insect Beasts!

At that moment, they were lowering their heads to gnaw on the corpses scattered across the floor, feeding quietly under Yang Yu's orders.

Judging by their outlines, all three creatures bore unmistakable Mantis features!

Even with their heads lowered to feed and all eight bladed claws planted on the ground, they stood at least two and a half meters tall, while their bodies stretched more than three or four meters long!

They were giant beasts in every sense of the word!

On a level ordinary people could not perceive, a terrifying, savage aura radiated from the three enormous beasts!

Yang Yu knew very well how powerful these three hulking creatures were.

In a one-on-one fight, each of them was even more formidable and terrifying than Yang Yu himself, thanks to their tremendous physical strength and the combat instincts of beasts and insects!

Through the unseen Life Imprint within their bodies, Yang Yu could naturally sense the presence of all three beasts.

In Yang Yu's presence, they instinctively radiated feelings of filial affection and reverence.

Transformed by Life Energy, they naturally carried Yang Yu's Life Imprint within them. They felt as close to him as children did to their father—closer still, in fact.

At a single command from Yang Yu, even if he ordered them to kill themselves immediately, they would obey without the slightest hesitation!

Yang Yu took a large bite of the Sauced Beef in his hand and chewed contentedly.

He had gone hungry all day.

After spending the entire day frantically testing Life Energy, he was only now getting around to eating. With three powerful, ferocious insects newly under his command, satisfaction with the test results and his ravenous hunger made the meal taste utterly delicious!

“Unfortunately, my Fate Soul is too weak.” Yang Yu pondered as he wolfed down his food.

I was originally just an ordinary Earthling. Unlike citizens of the Insectoid Civilization, I wasn't born with an incredibly powerful fate soul. The strength and capacity of a fate soul directly determine how many Insect Beasts I can control, how powerful they can be, and so on. Although my fate soul is stronger than that of an average Earthling now, it's still far, far too weak. At present, I can control no more than three of these "Giant Mantis Beasts."

PS: Thanks to "Wen*Gen" and "Nameless and Heavenless" for the tips! Also, please bookmark, vote, click, and tip! I'm asking for everything! This new book is climbing the rankings—everyone, help push it up!