Foolish seemed to be a little confused. After telling System that he wasn't the queen ant, she followed up by transmitting the message, "You are, the queen."

  "Yes, I am," System responded to Foolish with [Mental Transmission]. Although he seemed calm on the surface, he was already very flustered in his heart.

  This was the first time Foolish had questioned him, but he knew that it would definitely not be the st. As her intelligence improved, she'd certainly continue to ask questions.

  And the ant eggs and rvae that he was brainwashing now, would they also question him in the future?

  Should he give up on brainwashing the eggs? Or maybe he could try to find a way to lower the ants' intelligence?

  System's heart was a little flustered, and he needed to think of a way to eliminate these hidden dangers. Dealing with Foolish would also be very troublesome.

  If he kept her around, she'd undoubtedly be a time bomb. Who knew if Foolish would discover something wrong one day and try to kill him.

  System was already very familiar with soldier ants and how crazy they were about fighting. They'd fight desperately with insane fervor against any creatures they considered bad for the ant nest.

  Even though he had many concerns, he knew that Foolish was absolutely necessary right now. After all, completing the construction of the winter nest would completely rely on her skills, and the same was true for storing food for the winter.

  For now, System's pns were completely entangled with Foolish.

  ...

  Fortunately, Foolish only doubted System once, and then never mentioned it again, as if she'd completely forgotten about it. However, since then, her behavior had become stranger and stranger.

  In addition to pying with the translucent stone that System had given her, Foolish would also frequently go to a nearby puddle that hadn't yet completely dried up.

  In some of her free time after completing the daily tasks System had assigned to her, she'd stare at her reflection in the water quietly, touching her reflection with her legs from time to time, regardless of whether it was day or night. She seemed to be deeply pondering something.

  System often secretly monitored her from a distance. He couldn't understand what Foolish was thinking, but from the looks of it, at least she wouldn't rebel against him in the short term.

  Two days passed like this.

  While System was communicating with Foolish again, she suddenly asked him, "What am I?"

  "You are a soldier ant," System replied.

  "What is a soldier ant?"

  "A type of ant responsible for protecting the ant nest. There are many types of ants, and just like you are a soldier ant, I am a queen ant."

  Foolish though about his answer for a short time, and soon she asked System a new question.

  "Why am I...a soldier ant? Why are you a queen ant?"

  "This..."

  Hearing Foolish's question and tone, System finally understood why she'd said that he was not the queen a few days ago. She didn't doubt the queen ant identity that System had fabricated. It was just that she was starting to gain a completely new understanding of the world due to her increased intelligence.

  Foolish should have recently gained an awareness of the concept of self.

  Self was also called self-awareness or self-concept, which mainly referred to an individual's understanding of their own existence and the result of the individual's self-evaluation of their social role.

  Being aware of everything about oneself and distinguishing oneself from other objects and other people was the self, or self-awareness.

  There was no doubt that after this period of growth, Foolish had given birth to her own, unique wisdom, which had led to her attaining a sense of self.

  When she'd been looking at her reflection in the water, she hadn't been in a daze. She'd only gotten confused after seeing herself reflected in the water.

  Foolish's question had undoubtedly risen from the level of an ordinary question to that of a philosophical one.

  It was like asking a human being why they were a human.

  Why was she a soldier ant, and why was System the queen ant? These were questions without a clear answer, and it was difficult for System to answer them.

  But it wasn't like System had no options at all. He could simply push this matter over to fate. Everything was caused by fate. Fate, that incredibly mysterious thing, was the most suitable answer to these types of questions.

  But Foolish would definitely proceed to ask what fate was, then endlessly ask further questions, just like a naughty child who always liked to ask why.

  Fortunately, Foolish wasn't really a naughty child, but a soldier ant in an ant nest.

  After System ordered her to continue commanding the worker ants to build the winter nest, she decisively gave up on her questions and went back to work.

  ...

  Fortunately, Foolish had only realized her own sense of self, and she didn't doubt System's identity at all. Still, after this incident, System couldn't completely rex.

  If Foolish's intelligence continued to grow, sooner or ter, she'd figure out that System wasn't from the same species as her, but was actually a grasshopper. When that time came, he couldn't predict what would happen.

  Because System had ordered Foolish to keep eating, her body had grown rger, now reaching five and a half centimeters in length. Although she wasn't as strong as him, her huge mandibles and the stinger on her abdomen were dangerous enough to be considered a threat.

  System felt a little uneasy. He was worried that Foolish would figure out something was wrong and attack him at some point.

  He had no choice but to order Foolish to finish building the winter nest as soon as possible. At the same time, he began to distance himself from her and reduce their contact with one another.

  System made a decision. After Foolish finished helping him build the winter nest and filled the granary with food, he'd have her return to the ant nest, then cut off contact.

  Of course, he'd also thought about killing her after she finished her job in order to eliminate any future troubles, but he couldn't bring himself do such a thing.

  ...

  As time passed, System's winter nest was gradually expanded by Foolish's construction team, now reaching a depth of four and a half meters. Ants might seem to have no wisdom, but the underground nests they built were still perfect.

  The passages inside the nest were interconnected, and all necessary ventition could be effectively handled with a single entrance. In addition, the worker ants had gradually dug dozens of granaries inside where System could store food.

  Over the past few days, the ant rvae that System had brainwashed had hatched from their eggs one after another. Dozens of rvae now gathered around him.

  The first batch of rvae to hatch had almost condensed into pupae already due to the plentiful avaibility of food. It seemed that the growth cycle of these ants wasn't very long.

  Also, System managed to reach level 12 when there were still twenty-five days left before the end of his life.

  His body grew to seventeen centimeters long, and [Insect Adaptability] (12/21) upgraded to [Insect Adaptability] (13/21).

  Starting at level 11, every time the level of his [Insect Adaptability] talent had increased, his grasshopper bloodline had transmitted visions to him. This time was no exception.

  Scenes of swarms of grasshoppers flying through the sky appeared in System's mind again, but he still didn't know why the grasshoppers were swarming like that.

  This time, his newly acquired Derived Skill [Enhanced Vision] (3/9) upgraded to [Enhanced Vision] (4/9), and his vision was further improved.

  However, compared to those, System felt that the biggest change after reaching level 12 was to his talent [Molting and Growth].

  When he reached level 12, the blood flowing in his body started boiling and rolling, and his exoskeleton became extremely itchy. It felt like his body was urging him to undergo a third metamorphosis immediately.