Chapter 12 | Table of Contents | Chapter 14

Last chapter recap: Lin finds a place with trees

Chapter Thirteen The Twisted Forest

This was a wonderful place. Even though Lin had seen many scenes in the ocean, Lin had to sigh. Just like the coral reefs in the ocean, there was such a rich variety of organisms it was hard to describe. Lin was shocked at such a wonderful scene having evolved on land.

The true destination of the worm should be this place. Only by relying on the abundant food here could they grow so large. But this was also due to the oxygen atmosphere created by the plants. If the ultraviolet light was still strong, nothing could live on land.

Leviathan slowly walked through the forest. There was a rich green layer of moss under its feet. It felt soft to step on. With every step, some small arthropods would jump out. Most of them could fly, and the wings they used were very different from the meganeura.

Lin still had to study flying. If it could not fly through the air just with wings, then the floating jellyfish were Leviathan’s only choice. It was a pity that while there were many organisms here, Lin had not seen the floating jellyfish.

When walking here, some arthropods would fly onto Leviathan. Most of them were parasites. They all had needle-like sharp mouths. They attempted to find cracks in the armor but they quickly became food for the little scorpions.

The little desert scorpions had stuck the Leviathan’s back all this time. Because they did nothing else, Lin did not care.

Lin was searching for a place to live right now. Leviathan was big, and most organisms would choose to avoid Leviathan if they saw it. But Lin did not know what would happen at night. Lin did not want to encounter a situation like the night in the spiked pillars. So Lin had to find a safe place.

The air here was filled with the sounds of organisms, but there were some other sounds mixed in.

The sound of flowing water.

It was important to confirm the source of water. Lin moved in the direction of water.

The deeper Lin went, the more peculiar the trees became. They did not twist together like the trees on the outside. There were many shapes like the coral tentacles, straight, winding, nets. There were all different shapes. These plants grew randomly, and it was really good to call them “twisted trees.”

Lin passed over a twisted tree trunk in front of it and finally saw the source of water.

This was a small river about two meters wide. It flowed through the deep forest, winding towards the other side of the forest. Some small organisms were drinking water from the river. What attracted Lin’s gaze were two millipedes about three meters long.

This river felt narrow. There seemed to be another term to describe it, “stream.” Was this the water source for the forest? If there was a chance, Lin would go downstream and see if this connected to the ocean.

Now, as the sky darkened, it had to find a safe place.

Leviathan walked near the small stream. The surrounding small organisms ran away when Leviathan came close. Only the two millipedes did not run, and even hissed at Leviathan.

Wait…these were not millipedes.

Lin found the organisms were similar to millipedes, but had fewer but thicker legs. The body was also different from the millipedes, slightly wider. They had another name, “centipede.”

They did not fear the Leviathan who was much bigger than them. They shook their bodies, posing like they were prepared to charge at any moment. Lin ignored them, slowly walking by their side and crossing the stream to the other shore.

The centipedes saw Leviathan move away so they stopped posing and continued to drink water.

This could work.

After reaching the other side of the river, Lin looked at the dimming sky and then the soil under its feet. This place was different from the original spot. The moss did not cover the entire ground, but was scattered about. It would be suitable to create a residence here. While the moss here should not have been planted by an arthropod, Lin thought it should be more careful, and not dig them out rashly.

Leviathan used its tentacles and forelimbs to dig into the ground. Leviathan now had three pairs of segmented limbs. The rear two were thicker, used for supporting weight. The front pair was narrower and had more abilities.

It did not take a lot of time to dig a hole to hide. Lin found something strange during this time. Those little scorpions climbed off Leviathan’s body, and used their thick pincers to help Leviathan dig.

Lin had not expected them to do this? Interesting.

As the sky turned dark, Lin quickly dug out a small hole to hold Leviathan and the little scorpions.

Leviathan backed up into the hole, and used the suckers on its tentacles to stick the surrounding soil and bury itself.

This was the first time Lin did this and it felt quite good. Lin found the little scorpions had not stopped digging down. Because Lin did not know how to get them to stop, Lin did not bother with them. But Lin still wanted to see what the forest was like at night. So it created three flyers that had light to explore the outside in the night.

The flyers flew over the river and flew between the enormous trunks. The forest was twisted and complex. They were enough to obscure more of the light during the day. But the forest floor was covered in moss so how did they absorb light?

As the sky darkened, Lin noticed the moss seemed to flash with light.

The flyers landed on the ground and used their forelimbs to dig up a piece of moss. Lin found some fine powder shining brightly. As the daylight grew dimmer, the powder grew brighter.

Could it be that…

As the night came closer, the surrounding ground seemed to be welcoming daytime. All of the moss started to give off white light. They spread through the forest like a river of stars, and immediately lit up the entire forest.

It was like the light source in the sky had been moved to the ground. While the moss were not as bright as the daytime light, this was enough to illuminate the entire forest.

This was amazing…No wonder the twisted trees did not just grow straight up, but so many twisted through the forest. So it was to receive light from the ground.

Lin was familiar with these light things. This was not light from the moss themselves, but…the pieces of crystal.

The flyers had small mouths. They could eat the powder and analyze the substance in their bodies. These crystals were the same as those in the ocean, but their effects were different.

The crystals from the ocean would only light up when receiving light during day. They were dark at night. But the crystals here would shine during the dark night, and could not be seen during day.

Maybe the mosses used some special method. Or there were more secrets in the crystal that Lin had not found yet.

The crystals here likely absorbed light during day. Even though the trees blocked light, there was still enough light to illuminate the even forest. These crystals seemed able to store light…

If Lin used this, it could create the green carpet anywhere. But Lin did not know where the crystals came from.

Lin had the Leviathan use its tentacles to dig into the surrounding soil of its hole. In the soil, Lin found a small amount of crystals.

Maybe the crystals were hidden deep in the ground? But Lin did not need to dig for them, just take them from the mosses. But Lin had to confirm first the moss had not been planted from organisms like the Aztec insects.

In the shining night, Lin found that many organisms active in daytime were still active now. On the ground, some reptiles about two meters large were grazing on the shining moss. Lin also saw the centipede it had seen before. They were lying in wait in the moss, waiting for a reptile to move by, and then would charge, stabbing the tips of the forelimbs into the other’s neck. Then another centipede charged over to help. The reptiles would scatter upon seeing this, but they did not run far before they started to graze again.

It appeared the moss here had not been planted by some organism. Other organisms could feed as they pleased. The crystals were likely expelled because they could not be digested and then used by the regrown moss. No strange organisms would appear in the night.

Then, Lin should start to move.

While it had only explored a small part of the forest, Lin thought this could be used as a new development point.

Lin would change its previous method. It would not spread out the green carpet and have the Leviathan explore. Instead, it would create more troops and take over the region.

Chapter 12 | Table of Contents | Chapter 14

• 4.6 Billion Year Symphony of Evolution Volume 3 Chapter 15 “Bombardier Beetle”
• 4.6 Billion Year Symphony of Evolution Volume 3 Chapter 14 “Forest Hunter”
• 4.6 Billion Year Symphony of Evolution Volume 3 Chapter 13 “The Twisted Forest”
• 4.6 Billion Year Symphony of Evolution Volume 3 Chapter 12 “The Green Terminal”
• 4.6 Billion Year Symphony of Evolution Volume 3 Chapter 11 “Devour”

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