But giant insects are different.
Not only does it possess terrifying speed due to its enormous size, but it is also extremely powerful. Following it directly shields Wen Jing from many dangers he might encounter while exploring on his own.
The instant he stepped onto the giant insect's body, Wen Jing felt a terrifying Scorching Heat.
"Ouch! It's so hot!"
Having just absorbed the heat from the Stellar Beast, the giant insect's body is now almost as thick as magma, thanks to the beast's extremely high specific heat capacity.
Through the bio-crystalline tubes on the giant insect's back, which are most likely undergoing the [ Cold Nuclear Fusion ] described in the entry, it can be inferred that the heat absorbed by the insect far exceeds what is visible on its body surface.
"It's just a little seat heating, I'll tolerate it!"
After eating Drought Resistance Wilderness Beast for half a month, even though he hadn't upgraded to intermediate heat resistance, Wen Jing could clearly feel his heat resistance slowly improving.
Given her current physical condition, the burn is not healing as fast as it used to.
Moreover, as they sped along, the temperature of the giant insect's body and its surroundings continued to decrease, soon reaching a level that Wen Jing could fully adapt to.
A strong wind howled, and different geological strata rushed past.
"What would the underground world be like...?"
The tiny insect, using the Gravity Silk as a seatbelt, adjusted its position and nestled deep within the gaps in the giant insect's carapace, hitching a ride that took it safely and quickly underground.
Chapter 119
"Boom..."
Wen Jing was on the giant insect train. Even with her Dynamic Vision, she could only see the rock layers rushing past her in her field of vision, stretching into blurry horizontal lines.
The opponent was not only enormous, but also incredibly fast when it entered a full-speed sprint.
Even at this speed, the entire process of descending underground still seemed to have no end in sight.
There were no other creatures encountered, only endless, monotonous rock formations.
All that remained in my ears was the whooshing sound of the giant insect rushing by and the gradually decreasing temperature; it seemed as if I was about to fall into hell forever.
Wen Jing felt the passage of time, it would have been difficult for him not to feel lost and fearful of the unknown if he hadn't been so determined and mentally prepared.
Even so, after the long journey had exceeded eight hours, she was already considering whether she should cocoon herself on the giant worm and return.
Choosing a moving target as the location for the Ancient Wilderness One is not a good option. If you choose to break away midway, you don't know how far you are from the real underground space where the giant insect is active. If you get stuck in a rock tunnel with no space in the middle, you will be in a dilemma.
Fortunately, when Wen Jing counted to the ninth hour, the surrounding rock layers were no longer pure rock. Various mineral and gemstone layers began to flash by, which gave her a jolt of energy.
The geological changes indicate that environmental differences have begun to emerge.
Moreover, the temperature has begun to drop significantly.
"On a celestial planet, the temperature should be higher the closer to the Earth's core. But this Ancient Wilderness world is the opposite. Is it because of the unique nature of the Ancient Wilderness world itself, or is there something special existing underground?"
Wen Jing had no choice but to make such a guess, after all, they had already encountered the Stellar Beast on the surface as a precedent.
Just as I was thinking, suddenly, the wind pressure ahead surged.
"Boom!"
After a final, fierce gust of wind caused by the narrow passage through the rock strata, the view suddenly opened up.
"This is..."
Wen Jing looked up from the gap in the giant insect's shell, momentarily forgetting to breathe, and was awestruck by the breathtakingly beautiful scene before him.
The mantle dome formed the night, with dark blue and silvery moss spreading across the stone walls below and in the distance. Giant fluorescent mushrooms, emitting various colors of light, stood like streetlights, and clusters of jellyfish-shaped creatures resembling cold flames floated in the sky, rippling out waves of light.
It wasn't until the cold air, so different from the surface of the earth, swept over her that she snapped out of her feeling of being at the edge of the universe.
"Da da da..."
Tiny ice crystals in the air pattered against the shells of the giant insect and Wen Jing, making soft sounds. These ice crystals also refracted various fluorescent lights in the environment, adding a misty, dreamlike feel to the place.
Moreover, at a glance, one can see that this place harbors a vibrant life, an ecosystem completely different from that on the surface.
Seeing this, Wen Jing realized that perhaps this underground Scorching Thirst World!
"Whoosh--!"
Upon entering this space, the giant worm stretched out its body freely like a mobile aircraft carrier, advancing straight in.
Wherever it goes, it ignores everything, whether it's the natural environment or living things, without changing its trajectory at all, simply crushing them.
Clearly, giant worms, creatures capable of traversing two extreme regions, are dominant beings both on the surface and underground.
Upon reaching this new world, the giant worm did not stop, continuing its descent towards a precipice-shaped opening below.
Even before they got really close, Wen Jing could feel the temperature dropping sharply.
No, it's time to get off!
The Giant Insect Express was merely her means of transportation to the underground; it didn't mean she was going to follow the giant insects to their lair.
Not to mention that the other party seems to live in a very extreme environment, Wen Jing's return time is also insufficient.
With a thought in mind, she seized the opportunity, launched multiple Gravity Silk into the surrounding environment, took two steps in the opposite direction on the giant worm, and then pushed off with all six legs to escape.
"Whoosh!"
The giant worm's silhouette resembled an aerial train traveling in the opposite direction, speeding past the smaller worm.
Even so, the powerful inertia still caused Wen Jing to move backward several kilometers before he could finally regain his footing.
Looking back, the giant insect, carrying the might of thunder, descended the cliff and disappeared into the faint light below in the blink of an eye, its destination unknown.
Without the giant insect's massive body blocking their way, individual, transparent, and crystalline water droplets of varying sizes drifted in the cold wind blowing up the cliff.
"Is this water? How can it maintain its droplet shape under these temperatures and wind conditions?"
The water droplets weren't moving very fast. Wen Jing looked up and down and saw a 'reverse waterfall' slowly flowing upwards from below the cliff.
It's not a visual backflow caused by lighting effects; there really is a backflow.
"Furthermore, I haven't sensed any energy similar to that of rare treasures, but if there's no energy, how did this state form...?"
When faced with the Energy Shield, the water droplets simply slid off as if hitting an obstacle.
Wen Jing stretched out his forelegs and approached the nearest water droplet that had floated by, intending to taste it.
She felt nothing the instant her forelegs touched the water droplets.
However, the biggest problem is that you don't feel anything at all!
The next moment, Wen Jing changed drastically. As he Extreme Speed retreated, he buried his head and released Energy Pulse from his mouthparts, slicing and biting at the body connected to his forelegs.
"Whoosh..."
In the cold wind, the body parts that Wen Jing had shaved off turned into granular powder and scattered in the air.
Even the parts she quickly repaired were missing a large chunk.
"What terrifyingly low temperatures!"
The moment she touched the water droplet, her forelegs were frozen and paralyzed, losing all sensation.
It's important to know that Wen Jing's physical strength is now much higher than before, exceeding 300 points.
These water droplets have a liquid temperature of at least -100 degrees Celsius and contain an extraordinary level of cold energy.
If Wen Jing hadn't reacted quickly and severed her leg to stop the heat transfer from her body, she would have almost turned into a freeze-dried insect!
Entering [ Extreme Speed ] mode, the little insect emitted continuous sonic booms as it flew diagonally upwards, quickly avoiding the seemingly beautiful but actually terrifying waterfall.
"Call..."
After the outburst, Wen Jing crossed the cliff layer and reached a safe position on the cliff face. She looked up in fear at the water droplets above, which gradually became smaller and smaller until they were completely invisible to the naked eye.
At the same time, the body's energy was being rapidly depleted, and the severed forelegs began to repair and grow at a visible rate.
Thankfully, she didn't follow the giant worm any deeper; thankfully, the worm's enormous body blocked her from the extremely cold liquid...
Wen Jing was stunned by the beauty of the underground world, but immediately felt its terror.
The underground world is far more dangerous than the surface.
The surface can be said to be dominated by Stellar Beast. The biggest threat is the Scorching Thirst Contamination. There are few living organisms, so the threat is not great.
And the underground world...
There seems to be a special magnetic field or energy here, which reduces Wen Jing's perception range by more than half compared to when he was on the ground.
She turned around and looked at the 'vibrant' scene behind the cliff, understanding that it was both a source of life and a source of danger.
After a short while, the little insect moved its limbs, and feeling that its body had been completely repaired, it began to explore inward along the cliff.
Even if there's not much time left, you still need to make sure the surrounding area is safe.
Returning from here, the coordinates for the next entry into the Ancient Wilderness world will also be this underground world. This span is vastly different from the environment on the giant tree.
There are still two weeks until the giant insects can turn over again, so they won't be able to return to the surface anytime soon.
So staying near the cliff is definitely not an option. Wen Jing isn't sure if the area of the reverse-flowing waterfall is fixed. If the area of the reverse-flowing waterfall expands next time she comes, and she accidentally wanders into the waterfall, she'll freeze to death.
However, when it came to action, Wen Jing did not fly high into the sky to explore as he had done in the past, but only maintained a hovering low-altitude flight.
Because if you look up, you can see countless jellyfish-like creatures floating in the air like Kongming lanterns, each one being over ten meters long.
[ Phase-Change Body ] / [ Cold Flame Core ] / [ Energy Siphon ] / [ Symbiosis Network ]
Each jellyfish, when viewed through the glasses, radiates a red glow; although there aren't many entries, each one is golden.