After feeling the abnormal movement in his blood, System began to eat frantically so that he wouldn't be short on energy during his metamorphosis.
Since he was still worried about Foolish's possible betrayal, he told her not to disturb him, then prepared sufficient food near the ant rvae in the temporary nest.
He continued to move around, secreting enough [Corrosive Mucus] near the entrance of the temporary nest to prevent ants from attacking him while he was in a state of weakness from the metamorphosis process.
When everything was done, System carried out his third metamorphosis in an empty chamber of the temporary nest.
...
System thought that his third metamorphosis would go as smoothly as the previous two, but things didn't develop as he'd imagined.
Like the previous two metamorphoses, he gradually absorbed the essence of his exoskeleton according to the method from his bloodline, leaving behind only an outermost yer of dregs.
According to the experience gained from his previous two metamorphoses, at this time, he only needed to leave his metamorphosis to his body's instincts. His insect body would naturally complete the metamorphosis according to the instincts inherited from his bloodline.
However, this time was different.
The blood inside his body was still churning, urging him to metamorphose, but there was no sign of his body's instincts taking over. It seemed like his instincts weren't going to step in at all.
It was like the feeling of having an itch, but being unable to scratch it. System felt extremely uncomfortable.
The information [Personal Information Generation] dispyed hadn't changed, and [Molting and Growth Mode] hadn't activated after such a long time.
His exoskeleton had already softened completely. It was impossible for System to stop his metamorphosis at this point, but he wasn't sure how he should continue. The process seemed to be missing something.
He recalled the memories Quin had given him when she'd been dying. The scenes of her third metamorphosis were very blurry. In those scenes, she seemed to be in an almost comatose state, far less awake than him.
By now, it seemed clear to System that he'd taken the third metamorphosis too lightly.
He'd been doggedly pursuing his third metamorphosis, hoping to use it to prolong his short lifespan. However, he'd ignored the fact that ordinary grasshoppers would become adults after two metamorphoses, while it was extremely rare for an adult grasshopper to complete the third metamorphosis.
Because it was so rare, it was very likely that a grasshopper's bloodline didn't contain an instinct reted to completing the third metamorphosis. In other words, there was no reference experience for a third metamorphosis, and what to do was likely up to each individual grasshopper.
System didn't know if his guess was correct.
When he tried to control his body, he found that he couldn't do it at all. He couldn't even lift his limbs or make the antennae on his head twitch slightly.
The blood in his body was still rolling, and the movement of his blood became more intense as time passed, like slightly boiling water. The blood vessels in his body seemed to be slightly swollen, and his blood seemed to have some bubbles gushing out like boiling water.
'I'm not going to explode like this, am I? It would be too much of a joke if I just blew myself up,' System thought to himself in bitter amusement.
Half an hour ter, System's boiling blood had made his blood vessels swell to an incredible degree.
Tsss—
Tsss—
System didn't explode to death after all. His blood vessels swelled and cracked, and white gas started spraying out like a pressure cooker, with some white blood spshing out as well.
Perhaps because of the sound of the hissing gas, or maybe due to the strong smell of the blood he was spraying out, some of the ant rvae in the temporary nest slowly started to crawl over.
Ant rvae were simir in shape to caterpilrs and had milky white bodies. However, they didn't have the sucker-like legs of caterpilrs. Aside from being able to twist their bodies, most of their actions relied on the assistance of worker ants.
It must be said that it was a miracle that these ant rvae could crawl over to System.
He used [Mental Connection] on the ant rvae, and he soon felt the worried emotions they sent to him. System used [Mental Transmission] to calm the three ant rvae down.
Not long after, the rvae twisted their bodies and gradually leaned against System, as if staying next to him made them feel more at ease.
...
Three hours ter, System's blood was still boiling and churning.
The food he'd frantically swallowed into his stomach earlier had been quickly digested and absorbed by his body due to his loss of blood, and he was starting to feel hungry.
He didn't know how long he could st like this. If the metamorphosis couldn't be carried out, he'd sooner or ter run out of energy and die.
His third metamorphosis had made no obvious progress. He felt like he should be able to metamorphose, but he just couldn't figure out what was missing.
Over the past few hours, eleven ant rvae had gathered around him. These rvae leaned against him tightly and rubbed against his soft body intimately from time to time.
System wasn't sure whether this metamorphosis would succeed. If the metamorphosis failed, he'd die like this. Perhaps, before he died, he'd be like Quin and tell these ant rvae to eat his body...
Just as System had this idea, he felt an unusual vibration coming from above this chamber of the temporary nest. It seemed like something was digging into this underground chamber, and the movements it was making weren't small.
System felt the bodies of the ant rvae leaning against him trembling slightly. It was obvious that they also sensed the strange visitor who was breaking into the underground passage.
Not long after, System heard the intruder squeak. It was now clear that the visitor breaking into the nest was a mouse, and it had likely been attracted by the fishy smell of System's boiling blood and the gas he'd spewed out during his metamorphosis.
The [Corrosive Mucus] he'd pced at the entrance of the cave had blocked out any curious ants, but it had failed to stop the mouse.
The sound of the mouse's digging kept getting closer...
System felt that he couldn't escape death unless his third metamorphosis could be completed within the next ten minutes. In that case, he might be able to run away after metamorphosing.
But could he really complete it within ten minutes? Not even his first and second metamorphoses were that fast, not to mention the fact that the third one hadn't even started yet.
'Am I going to die like this? Even these ant rvae will die...'
Because of the metamorphosis process, System's body was completely unable to move, and even the mucus in his throat gnds couldn't be released.
The only ability he could use at this time was [Mental Transmission], but the talent's level was too low, and it was currently only effective on insects and pnts. It wouldn't be of any use on the mouse.
He had no means of counterattack and could only silently wait to die.
A few minutes ter, under the weak light of the fluorescent mushrooms, System finally saw the mouse's eyes glowing with a faint green light.
It was a fifteen-centimeter-long mouse with dark gray fur.
Over a dozen ant rvae wriggled their clumsy bodies forward to block the mouse's path to System. They wouldn't allow the mouse to hurt their "ant queen."
The mouse scratched the soil in the cave with its cws a few times, then rubbed its cws against its cheeks. It seemed to think that System was already trapped and began moving forward slowly.
System remembered a scene from many days ago. At that time, he seemed to have blocked a cricket inside a tree hole just like the mouse was blocking him in now.
The cricket had cked the courage to fight System to the death, while System didn't have the ability to fight the mouse...
It was at this moment that the mouse suddenly screamed. It seemed to feel pain, and it jumped up and rolled over twice in the cave.
With the mouse out of the way, System could now see a figure behind it. It was Foolish!
