Chapter 29

Chapter 29

No way! I fell for it after all? Is this a carnivorous plant like a pitcher plant?

The sudden change of the flower and the abrupt darkness jolted Wen Jing awake, snapping her out of her happy chugging.

She only then realized something was off.

Earlier, she thought she had been cautious enough, but now, after being caught, she could immediately spot what went wrong.

She had consciously used the ants to test if there was any danger, but only threw them into the vine area.

Although it would be more troublesome and take extra effort, she clearly could have gone a step further and thrown the ants directly into the flowers for experimentation.

Because deep down, she didn't want the ants to drink the nectar...

Even before truly tasting it, she had already developed a possessive urge. So did the scent itself drive insects to compete with each other?

And this seemed only the first effect; the victor, once inside, would be devoured by the flower.

Sure enough, Wen Jing then felt the flower walls secreting a fluid different from the nectar.

But—

"It's fine?"

The Blue-Purple Bug reached out its dainty feet to poke the flower's digestive fluid, but suffered no harm.

Wen Jing realized something and became excited. She opened her mouth and took a bite of the flower wall.

"Crunch, crunch, crunch..."

In the dreamlike vine flower field, a black spot appeared on a closed flower bud that had ceased to glow. Soon, the spot rapidly expanded, becoming a gap.

Before long, a Blue-Purple Bug crawled out from the gap, shaking its wet carapace.

"Hahahaha!"

She had already tested whether she could bite through the petals before drinking the nectar. Even when closed, the texture of the flower hadn't changed, so she could naturally chew her way out.

Wen Jing laughed maniacally as she freed herself from the flower, then slid back to where the Ant Army was via her Gravity Silk.

The ants were still hesitating in place. The Blue-Purple Bug swooped down, using a strand of Gravity Silk to stick a lucky large ant and drag it back.

"Eeeek!"

The large ant flailed its six legs in panic, bewildered as Wen Jing carried it all the way to a nearby open fluorescent white flower.

This time, aware of the issue, she suppressed her displeasure and threw the ant directly into the flower's core, waiting on a nearby leaf.

Sure enough, after a moment, the flower closed again, like a lantern turning off its light.

Wen Jing floated to the petal and immediately gnawed fiercely, quickly chewing a hole in the bud.

"Drip..."

The crystal nectar and the motionless large ant slid out through the gap, dripping to the ground.

She quickly approached and prodded it a few times, seeing the ant's antennae twitch slightly.

"Not dead... It seems that, for ordinary insects, drinking the nectar produces a drunken or paralyzing effect."

After completing her analysis, Wen Jing rubbed her hands happily—but these effects were completely ineffective on her!

Trait: Abnormal Status Immunity I

Whether it was the nectar that rendered insects defenseless or the digestive fluid released after the flower closed, this trait made them completely useless!

Except for the initial possessive urge she could suppress, the traps of this ancient-style pitcher plant were entirely useless against her.

She could eat the bait and then kick the trap to pieces.

Ignoring the ant, Wen Jing flew up, clung to the petal's opening, and sucked greedily without wasting a drop.

The closed petals mixed with corrosive digestive fluid for insects, but now she truly understood the value of 'Immunity.' Unlike 'Resistance,' which only improves resistance, Immunity directly negates negative effects!

Wen Jing gulped down the nectar here. After consuming the essence of two consecutive flowers, her attribute panel showed growth in Life and Spirit.

Life: 0.58

Strength: 0.5

Speed: 0.5

Spirit: 1.08

Not as good as the blue-purple fruit, but... she climbed onto this closed flower bud.

In the misty gloom, the vine jungle stretched endlessly. Fluorescent flowers dotted it like stars, with nearly a hundred in sight alone.

The quality wasn't great, but the quantity more than made up for it!

The Blue-Purple Bug stood akimbo, grandly declaring: this flower field was hers!

*

Just moments ago, the mysterious and dangerous vine jungle had become an all-you-can-eat nectar buffet in Wen Jing's eyes. She bustled about like a diligent bee, shuttling between the flowers.

How much nectar could a tiny bug the size of a fingernail hold? To go all-out on drinking, she underwent a specialized evolution.

"16→13"

"Gained Trait: ?? Nectar Decomposition Enzyme"

With three skill points spent, Wen Jing's body became a bottomless pit, quickly breaking down more nectar than her own body size.

And with experience and preparation, this time she didn't finish all the nectar in a flower. She only drank part of it before backing out.

She discovered that the fluorescent flower's trap mechanism was triggered by weight. When the contents of the flower core showed a noticeable change in weight, it would close and start secreting digestive fluid.

For other insects, this would be tricky—inside the narrow flower core, even winged insects like bees couldn't fly. But Wen Jing could use her Gravity Silk to go effectively 'weightless.'

So for the rest of the buffet, she began drinking half the nectar from each flower and retreating before the flower could react.

It was all about sustainability!

Wandering through this treasure land, starting from the topmost ring of flowers, Wen Jing gradually descended deeper without realizing it.

"Hmm?"

After poking her head out of another fluorescent flower, she looked up and noticed the surrounding sky was growing dim.

The mist wasn't just thicker—it was actually darker than before.

She looked up and couldn't see the path back anymore.

Upon closer inspection, she could vaguely make out certain spores mixed within the mist, perhaps also toxic, but her immunity just cancelled them out.

Wen Jing checked the time—less than half an hour until 6 PM, the twilight time in the Ancient Wasteland. Time to head back; exploration could wait.

At this moment, on her attribute panel, her Life and Spirit stats had gone up to 2.48 and 2.98 respectively.

Life boosted her healing, Spirit sharpened her senses; moreover, the earlier effect of the glow-flowers on her mind had completely worn off.

However, looking at the decimals on the panel, Wen Jing's perfectionist streak kicked in:

"Spirit is like half a jar of nectar short of 3. Just a little more!"

The Blue-Purple Bug, now noticeably bigger, decided to dash toward today's final meal.

"Gulp, gulp..."

Life: 2.48 → 2.5

Spirit: 2.98 → 3

Enough. Time to go!

Wen Jing knew when to call it quits, crawled out of the flower pleased, and floated up toward the upper parts of the tree trunk.

Just then—

"Swoosh!"

A long purple tongue shot out from an angle toward her, then retracted rapidly, like a blur, with only a black line flashing across the sky.

Yet, the next moment, the Blue-Purple Bug rose up from a vine, escaping the tongue's grasp.

The ground had the strongest gravity, hands down, and among her Gravity Silks, the one heading toward the ground was fastest—letting her dodge quickly.

"Heh heh!"

Wen Jing lifted her head smugly. She knew that retreating was a classic flag for trouble.

Of course, avoiding this sudden attack was only partly due to luck; most of it was her boosted Spirit stat, which let her sense danger from a distance and dodge it calmly.

Tracking the tongue's path with her compound eyes, she looked at where the tongue came from.

There, beneath the blue-gray vines, was a 'weird vine' that only looked off up close.

Its blue-gray body bore the same texture as the vine roots, and its flared head crest and tail shape perfectly matched the leaf edges.

This lizard living in the vine zone had achieved perfect camouflage in appearance, and as a cold-blooded animal capable of adjusting its body temperature to the environment, it fooled most heat-sensing predators.

If Wen Jing didn't have such a wide range of detection methods, any other bug would already be lunch.

Having missed its strike, the Vine Lizard locked eyes on Wen Jing and shifted silently.

Its eyes, located on top of its head and capable of independent movement, gave it an even wider view than a Tier 2 compound eye, truly 360 degrees, quickly locking onto the Blue-Purple Bug.

"Swoosh!"

The tongue, coated with slime and venom, missed again. The next moment, the Little Bug drifted again, moving in a way that made no sense to the local bugs.

If it couldn't hit Wen Jing during a surprise attack, there was no chance now that she had spotted it.

"Sssss!" The Vine Lizard let out an angry hiss, abandoned all pretense of hiding, and charged directly toward Wen Jing.

"Bring it on."

Wen Jing slipped into a familiar rhythm, shifting nimbly up and down among the vines, intentionally luring the Vine Lizard toward the tree trunk's upper part.

Before long, the bug and lizard reached the edge of the vine zone, where the Ant Army was stationed.

Some ants in the back had already moved on, but those at the front were hanging around hesitantly nearby because, before going deeper, Wen Jing had broken off a fluorescent flower to bait them.

Now, seeing her reinforcements, Wen Jing's twin-tail antennae lit up faintly, instantly releasing a yellow attack pheromone signal.

"Chirp!"

"Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!"

The ants, which had been wandering around, instantly snapped to attention, stood on their hind legs, and started rubbing!

Just then, the Vine Lizard, whose tongue attack had missed again, chased after Wen Jing and came within attack range.

"Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!"

Huge sticky resin pellets mixed with ant venom splattered all over the Vine Lizard.

Without Wen Jing's broader command, the Ant Army, despite their internal discipline and communication, could never have pulled off such efficient attacks.

This wasn't a limit of ability, but of perspective—like the difference between an old-school general and a modern commander with a full battlefield map.

Not just the Ant Army—no creature on this giant tree possessed information sources as advanced and extensive as Wen Jing's.

That combo made all the difference.

"Ssss!"

The lizard thrashed, trying to break free from the sticky goo. Even though its damp skin gave it some resistance to slime, facing this quantity of resin, struggling only got it more stuck in resin.

A bird could just fly off, but a lizard couldn't.

And Wen Jing was still there.

The moment the Vine Lizard fell into the trap, the Blue-Purple Bug judged the distance, dropped down from the air, and landed easily on the resin pile that was super sticky for the lizard.

"Swoosh!"

Instantly, a purple tongue shot toward Wen Jing's position.

Even at this point, its ferocity hadn't faded; seeing her within attack range, it immediately struck.

But Wen Jing had stood there on purpose to bait the attack.

The little bug dodged the tongue, and this time, when the lizard tried to retract it quickly, the tongue stuck fast to the resin because it hit so hard.

Now the lizard, stuck in the resin pellets, had lost its only weapon. Wen Jing lunged and landed right on the lizard's head.

Energy Amplification!

Her mouthpart surged with energy, glowing with a sharp, cold light, and she stabbed it fiercely into the lizard's blue-gray eye.

A bitter taste washed over her.

Wen Jing's antennae twitched, but she didn't stop. Enduring the unpleasant flavor, she drove her mouthpart deeper into the lizard's brain, destroying core brain matter.

Although the Vine Lizard wasn't a large lizard, given the size difference between it and an insect, the most efficient way to kill it was to destroy its brain's central nervous system.

Huff...

Her enhanced mouthpart was no ordinary weapon, and at such a fatal spot, the Vine Lizard's entire body convulsed violently. Unable to even hiss, it let out rapid, labored breaths.

Wen Jing used her Gravity Silk to stick to the lizard, and no matter how it thrashed, it couldn't shake her off.

The nearby Ant Army surged forward, their mouthparts tearing at the lizard's body while injecting paralytic ant venom.

Before long, the Vine Lizard's head stopped twitching, and it lay still.

"Ptoo, ptoo, ptoo!"

Wen Jing lifted her head and shook it. Having drunk plenty of precious nectar, she was no longer the undiscriminating Little Bug she used to be.

She also strongly suspected that the lizard's body surface was toxic, but she was immune to it.

Sure enough, she soon saw the ants that had been biting the lizard start to drop one by one. Seeing this, the other ants immediately stopped approaching, releasing alarm signals.

But it didn't matter; she wasn't afraid of the poison anyway.

Just as Wen Jing thought everything was settled, however,

Suddenly, she detected intense energy fluctuations from the lower half of the lizard. Its skin color even turned deep blue, and it began to writhe.

Seeing this, Wen Jing quickly retreated with her Gravity Silk to avoid the lizard's last-ditch effort.

She hadn't forgotten that these Ancient Beings were different from ordinary animals—they had at least some innate skills!

"Crack!"

The next moment, with a sharp crack, the lizard's body tore in two right in front of Wen Jing and the ants.

That tail, now surging with violent energy, broke free from the resin ball, shot far away, and quickly vanished into the vine thicket, disappearing from sight.

Not only the ants, but even Wen Jing was caught off guard for a moment.

She stared, her compound eyes wide open, thinking the lizard was about to unleash a huge attack—and while this was indeed a spectacle, it was completely unexpected.

So even the Ancient Lizard's tail-shedding escape was hardcore!