After more than ten days, the grasshopper queen's appearance hadn't changed at all. She still had the same brown and yellow exoskeleton and slender antennae as before.

  "Is that...a cricket?"

  She stared at the food System was chewing and emitted her unique mental fluctuations.

  System noticed that the grasshopper queen's mastery of nguage had greatly improved in the time since they'd st met. Although she hadn't reached his level yet, he could hear a huge difference in the queen's speech now.

  It seemed like she'd been practicing her mental communication technique. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been so much of an improvement in such a short time.

  "Yes, do you want to eat some?"

  System stopped eating, and, as if she was an old friend who had been with him for many years, he naturally offered her some food.

  "No, I don't like to eat...meat, this kind of food."

  The grasshopper queen sent a mental message of refusal to System. At the same time, she used her mandibles to bite off a nearby leaf and began eating it.

  System asked, "These days, that special aura, was it coming from you?"

  Communication with the queen didn't require any courtesy, so System directly asked his question.

  "Yes, it was...I release it." She shook her antennae and sent another message to System. "You, really didn't...come."

  System stared at her for a while and responded, "You knew I wouldn't go."

  The queen touched System's antennae with her own, and sent out her unique and gentle mental fluctuations again. "I knew...you wouldn't come, so, I came back...to find you."

  "I, miss you..."

  The grasshopper queen's mental message contained countless thoughts and feelings, and System didn't know how to respond to her.

  There was no way out. He could only use his human wisdom to change the subject. "Are you going to explore the world now? Like in those scenes from your bloodline?"

  "Yes, I will go, with them." She looked into the sky above her head and answered System.

  "Them? Will there be many grasshoppers going with you?"

  "Yes, very many..."

  The grasshopper queen continued looking up into the sky. She stared at a cloud floating high above the dense forest and asked System, "Do you know what that is?"

  An insect's compound eyes couldn't see very far, but looking at the white mass in the sky, System knew what the grasshopper queen was referring to.

  He replied, "That's a cloud, a form of water."

  The queen showed a somewhat regretful expression. She kept staring into the sky and said, "I can't fly...that high, but I can fly, far away."

  She lowered her head and spoke gently to System, "I...have a name. Do you know, what a name...is?"

  System showed a puzzled expression and said, "Name? Have you given yourself a name? My name is System."

  The grasshopper queen replied, "System, Quin, my name is...the name given to me by Ying."

  System asked, "Ying? Who's that?"

  "An insect."

  ...

  Not long after his conversation with the grasshopper queen ended, accompanied by the distinctive sound of wings fpping, a green grasshopper nded not far from System and the queen.

  Not long after, another grasshopper flew over, then two, three, a dozen, hundreds...

  More and more grasshoppers gathered around System and the queen. Within just ten minutes, thousands of grasshoppers of various types had gathered nearby.

  And the scale of this gathering was still growing.

  The quiet forest became noisy. Grasshoppers fpped their wings and flew through the air from time to time. Some jumped into the nearby grass to eat pnts, while others flew up to the treetops to bask in the sunlight.

  Because of the arrival of so many grasshoppers, a rge number of ants began swarming out from the nearby ant nests. The ants attacked the grasshoppers, trying to catch and eat these creatures that had disturbed their peace.

  However, grasshoppers weren't food for ants even shortly after birth, much less once they grew into adults. As long as they jumped lightly, the ant attacks would fail.

  ...

  Countless grasshoppers kept gathering nearby. System couldn't count how many had arrived, but there were at least tens of thousands.

  Except for System, no grasshoppers came within half a meter of the grasshopper queen. System specuted that this was most likely a reflection of css status. Grasshoppers that had undergone a third metamorphosis would naturally become the leaders of the group.

  The scale of the gathering was still expanding. The grasshoppers even blocked out the sun in the sky, making the forest around System grow a little darker.

  Looking up at the scene of the grasshoppers filling the sky, System remembered a natural disaster in his previous life—the locust pgue.

  Where the locusts passed through, no grass grew.

  System hadn't experienced a locust pgue in his previous life, but he'd seen scenes of them in some documentaries. Even though it had only been in a documentary, he'd still been shocked the first time he'd seen scenes of a locust pgue.

  A huge swarm of locusts that covered the sun and sky would eat away everything green during their flight, leaving only desotion behind.

  Although the grasshoppers in front of System were smaller in number, they were essentially the same as a locust pgue. The pnts in the forest were constantly being devoured by the grasshoppers at a speed visible to the naked eye.

  The gathering grasshoppers were generally small in size and ranged from three to eight centimeters long. System also saw many of his fellow green-tailed grasshoppers in the group.

  The arrival of these densely packed grasshoppers didn't make System feel uncomfortable. Instead, it gave him a sense of closeness.

  With so many grasshoppers gathered together, a strange aura began to form, which made System's body very excited. He even had an urge to fly through the air with the others.

  Quin seemed to feel System's excitement. She looked at him and sent another mental message.

  "You really...don't want to go together?"

  After a brief hesitation, he refused again.

  "I'm sorry, I don't."

  System seemed to hear a long sigh through his mental connection with the queen...

  ...

  The grasshopper festival continued. They hopped, jumped, and flew, emitting a very joyous aura. At the same time, many grasshoppers began searching for mates and mating.

  Because of his unusually strong body, System also attracted many female grasshoppers. However, as long as he hid near the grasshopper queen, those females wouldn't bother him.

  The grasshoppers that chose to mate were still a minority. Most of them were just flying around in the air, looking as if they were pying with their friends.

  Several birds flew into the swarm at this time. They madly caught grasshoppers and ate them, but there were simply too many. After the birds caught enough grasshoppers to fill their stomachs, they disappeared.

  By noon, there were already millions of grasshoppers gathered together, and their number was no longer increasing.

  At this moment, the grasshopper festival reached its climax!

  The grasshopper queen once again emitted that strange aura fluctuation, and System's blood seemed to feel as if it was starting to boil.

  Bzz!

  Bzz!

  Millions of grasshoppers spread their wings and flew into the air above the dense forest at the same time. In an instant, the bright noon sun was bcked out by a torrent of grasshoppers, and the forest below became dark.

  Countless grasshoppers began flying off in the same direction.

  The grasshopper queen looked at System for a long time. After touching his antennae with hers one st time, she also spread her wings and flew off with the swarm of grasshoppers.

  System also spread his wings at this time and followed the queen.

  She sent out a mental message again, which was full of expectation and excitement.

  "Do you want to...go with me?"

  System responded, "No, I just want to see you off. After leaving this time, I don't know if we can meet again..."