I became a god by treasure hunting after arriving 500 years early

Lu Yuan felt helpless, finding himself akin to an illiterate as he directly handed the Small high gun to Old Cat.

Old Cat's claws spilled the sand in flurry, burying the tricycle in the sand and mounting the Small high gun on top of it. After meticulously maintaining it, it then made a gesture indicating "please."

Lu Yuan aimed in the direction and yanked the rope.

"Three, two, one, fire!"

A thunderous boom resounded, vibrating his head with a buzzing noise, as if a thousand temples' great bells were tolling in unison.

The shell traced an arc through the sky and landed with precise accuracy.

"Boom!!"

A small mushroom cloud rose, whipping up a fierce wind.

The next second, his hearing recovered by eighty percent, and he heard the explosion of the shell and the wails of the insect.

The bark of the Demon was indeed terrifyingly hard; it only splattered into fine debris under the bombardment of the shell.

The big flesh worm's backside was blown to shreds, and as it struggled frantically on the ground, it quickly incited a frenzied scuffle among its kin.

The Insect Tide roared back into action, fighting each other.

Meanwhile, Lu Yuan and his group once again took refuge in the Different Space.

"Modern weapons are truly powerful..."

"When will I be able to resist these weapons?" Lu Yuan wondered. Without using his Space Ability, if he took a direct hit from the shell, he would either die or be severely injured.

To physically withstand a shell, Level Four or Five would still be impossible; it was at Level Six that one could start to dream a little.

But this was merely an ordinary High Explosive Bomb.

There were stronger weapons like nuclear bombs and those that combined mind and matter. Even if one cultivated the Eternal Spark to the maximum level, it was highly unlikely they could straightforwardly withstand these things.

Old Cat lamented, "That's exactly why the endlessly evolving 'Demon' is actually the weakest among the Four Great Calamities."

"The other three Anomalies are so flashy; what is the use of modern weapons being so powerful?"

Lu Yuan nodded in agreement and then transformed into a tree, twisting with a cheeky "hee hee hee", "Isn't a 'Demon' like me, with a multitude of Divine Skills, pretty awesome?"

"And my limbs are developed, but my brain is complex. I am a composite of Demon and Ghost. This is the world's strongest calamity, named 'Demon.'

Orange Cat said gloomily, "In your case, it should be called... a transvestite."

Lu Yuan stuffed the sharp-tongued creature into the mouth of a Cannibal Flower, tormenting it mercilessly.

Just then, a few insects, satiated, had swollen bellies and issued sharp "squeak squeak squeak" cries of agony.

They struggled relentlessly, convulsing like sheep in a seizure, with several insect legs frantically scraping at their own bellies.

Suddenly, their swollen abdomens burst open!

A smaller, golden insect emerged, shimmering with a golden light. Your next chapter awaits on empire

Its appearance was exceedingly odd; it had the compound eyes of an insect but the head of an intelligent being. Its body was spider-like, and it had dragonfly-like wings inserted behind... The sensation was truly bizarre, as if various different creatures had been pieced together forcefully after taking the essence of each!

As soon as the small insect was born, it began to Devour the corpse of its own mother.

The other insects didn't launch an attack, treating it as if they were worshipping a newly born king, instead lining up to feed the golden insect.

The scene was very sinister. Lu Yuan initially watched with interest but gradually developed a sense of eeriness.

The golden insect's Evolution speed was too fast.

Its Attribute soared.

In just three short hours, it Evolved into a Level 1 Life, then it started to slow down.

[Worm King Candidate: In the Insect Tide, those with Divine Attribute are held in high esteem. Individuals with an Innate Divine Attribute over three will become Worm King Candidates and engage in subsequent battles for the title of Worm King.]

Its ultimate potential might be Level Four or even Five.

Lu Yuan looked at the stone that the Undying Giant Turtle had transformed into. The stupid turtle's Divine Attribute was around 3.5... and it had reached its limit at 3.5, with no further progress.

In fact, Lu Yuan's Innate Divine Attribute was only 4.5.

"It's the disaster of the 'Insect'... I see, the disaster of the 'Insect' was born in such a situation!" Old Cat crawled out of the Cannibal Flower's mouth, his eyes ablaze as he gazed at the large cluster of insects, "I knew it, it felt so familiar."

"Another calamity?!"

"Compared to the Four Great Calamities, 'Insect' is a bit weaker. But you should know that the world is not just filled with Demons and Ghosts; there are also many other strange things that count as enemies to civilization."

"The disaster of the 'Insect' is embodied by the vast numbers of the Insect Tide and the intelligent Mother Worms that continue to Evolve."

"They are one of the great dominators of the Pangu Continent."

"Where they pass, not a blade of grass remains alive." Old Cat scratched his head, trying hard to remember, "There are memories in my database of my civilization having to detour and avoid them when encountering the Insect Tide."

Lu Yuan chuckled, "Your civilization doesn't seem all that great, not even able to defeat a swarm of insects."

Old Cat shook his body, begrudgingly explaining to the illiterate, "No civilization wants to exert great effort to deal with them... Even a civilization capable of overcoming them wouldn't waste resources to engage in a dogged battle. Guns and ammunition cost money, and do you know how much time it takes to train a master?"

"Furthermore, the Insect Tide is cunning, and the Mother Worms possess intelligence; they don't wish to battle with powerful civilizations. Hence, there's a mutual drawback."

"Of course, against weaker civilizations, they'll just clean them up casually. The spirits of intelligent life are something they very much need."

"I never imagined that the rise of the Insect Tide was actually caused by the corpse of a Demon. It truly unravels one of the world's unsolved mysteries."

Lu Yuan sighed. The future world was truly harsh.

Old Cat muttered to itself, its thoughts deepening, "Could it be the rules of 'Demons' that lingered on the insects' bodies?"

"Insects can grow indefinitely, could they be a type of 'Demon'?"

Curiosity killed the cat, but right now, it was curiosity that kept it alive.

Lu Yuan wasn't very interested in academic questions. He carefully observed the overwhelming insect tide, which had produced 7 "Worm King Candidates."

All 7 golden insects had crawled back to the tree, gnawing on the corpse of the great tree.

It would take the destructive power of several million-ton hydrogen bombs to clean up these creatures.

Relying on himself to exterminate the insects here, he estimated that the cleanup speed wouldn't even outpace others' reproduction rates...

Several hours later, the insect tide calmed down once again, and he saw a large, spotted conch appear where the original white meat insect had been.

The conch had a diameter of about 50 centimeters, quite large and pretty, with its surface covered in delicate spiral dragon patterns.

The original conch shell was smeared with the insects' stomach acid.

However, it was obvious that moisture was precious in this place, and the liquid had been completely absorbed by the other insects.

That must be the entity he was supposed to rescue.

"Is that conch you?"

"The conch is my home, I'm hiding inside..."

Lu Yuan gazed intently with his Pioneer's Eye.

"Star Sea Snail: A precious Extraordinary Life form that has its own space inside, capable of substituting for Storage Space abilities to a certain extent."

"The Star Sea Snail is an important trade item among intelligent civilizations. Due to overhunting, it is now on the verge of extinction."

"The one before you is one of the larger individuals among Star Sea Snails, with about 30 cubic meters of space inside. (Rare Level·Natural Oddity)"

"This is great stuff!" Lu Yuan's eyes lit up with joy.

Although he already had a more convenient space storage ability, who would refuse another space artifact?

Orange Cat seemed to guess Lu Yuan's thoughts and threatened with pride, "Once we've cooked the fellow hiding inside, this thing will be ours!"

"You you you you... You're robbers! This is my refuge!" The creature hiding inside stammered, nearly crying with fright.

The voice, because it was in Mandarin and quite crisp, sounded a little like the shrieks of the "Holy King," bringing immeasurable pleasure to Old Cat, causing it to tremble and convulse.

This was the feeling, exhilarating, irresistible!

The feeling of being alive!

Old Cat could now indulge in this pleasure on its own without Lu Yuan's guidance...

This was a great leap forward.

Lu Yuan couldn't help but shiver inwardly, offering some kind words, "We're here to rescue you, rest assured, it's just a joke, no one's going to slaughter you. Don't speak, or if the insects eat you, I won't rescue you again."

"I... I... I definitely won't speak!"

He put on his "Stealth" engraving clothes and buried himself in the sand, quietly lurking forward.

The scorching yellow sand emitted a terrifying high temperature, almost enough to cook an egg, while the air was filled with a stench, the various toxins left behind by the insects after the great battle.

Just inhaling a tiny bit was enough to make Lu Yuan feel dizzy.

The Eternal Spark pulsated constantly, dispersing these toxins.

Up close, he could appreciate the majesty and splendor of the towering tree even more.

Countless insects incessantly gnawed at the hard tree, their wings opening and closing, plundering the remaining power of the tree's corpse through mutual resonance.

Even high up in the branches, he saw a few large metallic hive structures.

"Worm King's cocoon. The Worm Kings that hatch are the most elite warriors of the insect tide."

In the very center of the trunk, at a height of about a thousand meters, there were a few dark red things, constantly writhing.

"Mother Worm, the core of an insect tide, able to endlessly produce eggs. If the Mother Worm is killed, as long as the Worm King survives, a new Mother Worm will be born. The current Mother Worm has not yet developed intelligence and is not a qualified product."

"Attribute: ??"

The level of this Mother Worm had exceeded Lu Yuan's scouting abilities, resulting in a series of question marks.

"Maybe it will evolve into the Blade Queen?"

He sighed. The hierarchy of the insect tide was truly stringent, one link followed by another.

The plan to bombard the Mother Worm with the Small high gun was aborted.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have minded having another milestone in civilization... or maybe killing these insects didn't count as a milestone, because they weren't even Anomalies.

...

(PS: A new month, asking for Monthly Tickets! Currently at 133!)

(T^T)