Planarians

“Are they too small? No, precisely because they are small, I need to feed them to them quickly.”

The tiny organisms in the test tube that Lin Miao had scrambled to obtain through his channels were called planarians.

They were world-renowned for their unique regeneration ability.

However, nowadays, these creatures that only lived in clean water were very hard to find.

Yet even the largest planarian was no longer than a single knuckle of a finger.

Putting it into the terrarium made it look only slightly larger than the smallest worker ant.

Considering Elise's ever-growing size, he had to feed it to her as soon as possible.

As long as it was something Lin Miao placed inside with his own hands, they would recognize it as food.

But if the size difference became too vast, no one knew what might happen.

【The servants reacted enthusiastically to the Great One's gift】

As usual, the moment Lin Miao opened the terrarium lid and gestured to put something inside, the ant colony immediately reacted.

Elise in particular, who was now completely accustomed to this, was more eager than anyone, constantly urging the worker ants forward.

Compared to the beginning when they treated Lin Miao as a mere natural phenomenon, the difference was like night and day.

“Pl-Please, let me see as well.”

This time, however, unlike in the past, Celia, who stood beside Elise, requested to go up to the surface with her.

Thanks to the Gene Stealer inside her, Celia was now able to connect to the colony's hive mind to some extent.

It was likely through this connection that she sensed Lin Miao was about to feed them something new.

Receiving Lin Miao's will through the oracle, and communicating with Elise through the Gene Stealer, Celia was now a living, perfect relay.

This was her current role.

【Elise agreed to Celia's request】

Perhaps due to the influence of her latest evolution, Elise stared at Celia for a moment, her antennae twitching, before she finally agreed.

She had a worker ant carry Celia on its back and head toward the tunnel leading to the surface.

“How can this be...”

Clinging to the worker ant's back, Celia could not help but mutter to herself in a daze as they drew closer to the surface.

The expression on her face was perfectly clear to Lin Miao.

“This must be the first time she's seeing me with her own eyes.”

Lin Miao's heart could not help but beat faster as a wave of nervousness washed over him.

This was the first time a living person from that otherworld had appeared right before his eyes.

By now, Lin Miao had placed immense expectations on Celia, who had joined the colony.

She was not only a bridge of communication between Lin Miao and the colony, but also a crucial variable who could point out a new direction for the growth and evolution of the colony, which had currently hit a bottleneck.

Lin Miao was well aware of Celia's capabilities.

Her ability to unite the entire Holy Kingdom, rapidly expand the goddess's influence, and enable them to stand against the colony was entirely due to her intellect.

Now, Lin Miao was going to put that intellect to work for the colony.

This was the condition Lin Miao had offered Celia, and it was also his plan.

【The servants gazed up at the Great One's gift】

Lin Miao reached his arm into the terrarium and emptied the planarians from the test tube into the small water dish inside.

The ant colony watched this scene in silence.

Ever since the day they awakened, things like this had been happening.

To them, this was a perfectly natural and familiar occurrence.

But what kind of sight was this in the eyes of Celia, a human?

“...”

At this moment, Celia was lying next to the ant colony, pressing herself tightly against the ground, her entire body trembling uncontrollably.

Lin Miao adjusted the camera angle, clearly seeing her eyes tightly shut, her face as pale as paper.

“I didn't mean to scare you.”

Lin Miao scratched his head and replaced the terrarium lid.

He felt that no matter what he did now, it would only shock her further.

Besides, there seemed to be no need for it.

【Elise felt somewhat puzzled by this creature she was seeing for the first time】

However, the colony quickly went into action.

Watching the planarians wriggling in the water dish, the antennae of all the ants twitched incessantly.

The planarians were unlike any creatures they had eaten before. If they had to compare, the closest thing was probably the horsehair worm.

“If this creature is to be offered to Her Majesty, its body is too fragile. I fear carrying it with your mandibles might damage it.”

Celia cautiously walked to the edge of the water dish, swallowed hard as she looked at the planarian, which was about the same size as herself, and said, “My Queen, I believe it would be best to craft a container to hold it.”

【Elise ordered a container to be crafted】

“They can actually communicate so naturally?”

To Lin Miao's surprise, Elise actually understood the gist of Celia's suggestion. She immediately ordered the worker ants to quickly craft a simple container using soil and secretions.

The worker ants poured the planarians along with the water into the newly made container, then carried it over to Elise.

“My God...”

Before a dumbfounded Celia, Elise swallowed the planarian along with the container in a single gulp.

【Elise was highly satisfied with successfully devouring a new ability】

Unsurprisingly, Elise had successfully devoured the planarian's ability.

From here on, how she utilized this ability would be entirely up to Elise herself.

【Elise intends to establish a completely new reproduction system】

Furthermore, the effects manifested immediately.

Elise seemed to have realized something, her compound eyes shining brighter than ever before.