The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 161 Killing the Leaf Claw Worm

Between the claws of the mortar spider group, the violently reacting propellant roared, and the barrel suddenly retreated, and then slowly reset under the buffering of a large number of fibrous muscles and hydraulic systems connected around it.

The loader's pair of well-developed pedipalps like crane arms immediately lifted a brand new biological cannonball, stuffed it into the barrel of the mortar, and naturally slid to the bottom of the chamber under the action of gravity. The injection is ready to start the next launch.

The fired cannonballs spread their wings one after another, stabilizing the body, and then the biological rocket propulsion system operated at full strength, pushing the body through a perfect parabola, and hit the Leaf Claw Worm's astonishingly huge body!

In mid-air, the compound eyes of several Kuai-winged divers who had not yet returned immediately captured the figures and trajectories of these shells. The ballistic trajectories began to be corrected by the adjustment of the projectile wings, and they hit the leaf-clawed worms accurately.

The crazy Leaf Claw Worm raised its head again, as if it had noticed something. But it was already too late - a heavy warhead whizzed down and hit the Leaf Claw Worm's raised head!

The huge kinetic energy immediately smashed the leaf-clawed worm's head to the ground. The soil flew up, and the leaf-clawed worm's huge body was even half-embedded in the ground in the loose soil exploded by the biological aerial bomb.

But due to this, a bevel formed on its back, deflecting the fatal blow of the semi-armor-piercing projectile. The semi-armor-piercing warhead composed of sharp and thick exoskeletons drew a deep scar on the beveled exoskeleton, and then the kinetic energy was exhausted. , was bounced to the side, and then exploded.

Taking this opportunity, the nearby Crazy-toothed Saw Ants bent their abdomens and fired a barrage of armor-piercing cannonballs, hitting the leaf-clawed worm's body at close range.

Although it cannot penetrate the exoskeleton, it can play a very good containment role - after a round of shooting, the saw-toothed saw ant army immediately retreated and deliberately made noise to attract the attention of the leaf-clawed worms.

Sure enough, he was fooled. He laid his body flat, crawled forward with his legs squirming under him, a pair of huge appendages spread wide, and the ferocious spikes cut off the roots of vascular plants along the way like a harvester. .

At this moment, more large-caliber semi-armor-piercing projectiles roared in, slamming into the leaf-clawed worm's huge body.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the leaf-clawed worm once again swung its tarsal claws under its body and burrowed into the soil. But this time, Lin Yi did not give it this chance - all around, crazy-toothed saw ants took this opportunity to swarm up, and their long, saw-like mandibles clamped hard on the legs of the leaf-clawed worm.

The scene is like that of later generations of weaver ants surrounding and killing large prey. Each saw-toothed saw ant straightened its six limbs and fixed various parts of the body of the leaf-clawed worm, as if it was going to cut it into pieces alive.

However, the huge disparity in body size meant that such fixation could not last long. The leaf-clawed worms squirmed and struggled desperately, and their bodies kept shaking under the action of developed muscle tissue, making the saw-toothed saw ants increasingly uncontrollable.

But it didn't take long to control. Afterwards, shells roared in one after another, hitting the strong and thick exoskeleton on the back of the Leaf Claw Worm's huge body.

The impact point of the first shell was slightly off, hitting the armor structures extending from the side of the Leaf Claw Worm's body. The sharp and thick semi-armor-piercing warhead immediately penetrated it and exploded below.

The flying shrapnel spread in all directions with the impact, and even the exoskeleton of the nearby Sawtooth Ant was affected, but this time, the Leaf Claw Worm finally suffered substantial damage.

The second and third shells came one after another, but this time, they did not hit the target - the semi-armor-piercing warhead with extremely strong penetrating power penetrated directly through the exoskeleton of the leaf claw worm, sank into it, and then exploded violently. Come. Blue insect blood splashed out along with the minced meat. The leaf-clawed worm with its thick exoskeleton was finally fatally injured. The 200 mm large-caliber warhead opened a terrifying blood hole in its body, and the insect blood gurgled. gush.

Centipede worms are dead but not stiff. Although this leaf-clawed worm is not a centipede, it still has many legs. Even if it suffered such fatal injuries, it did not lose its vitality for a while, but dragged its remaining body and used it. It wants to break free from the shackles of the saw-toothed saw ants and burrow into the soil.

But then, more cannonballs fell like raindrops, hitting the remains of the Leaf Claw Worm head and face. Another cannonball accurately hit the area around the previous bullet hole and exploded!

Like the last straw that broke the camel's back, the already broken body was finally broken into two parts after a fierce struggle. The second half twisted twice and stopped struggling, while the front half finally broke free from the grip of the saw ants. The restraints, trailing blood stains, drilled down without looking back.

But subsequent large-caliber semi-armor-piercing shells were still falling. After several rounds of calibration, these shells hit the head exoskeleton of the Leaf Claw Worm impartially. Accompanied by the sound of the exoskeletons clashing, several shells exploded again. The leaf-clawed worm's head exploded like a watermelon, and insect blood and minced meat splashed out.

No matter how hard you try to die, being shot in the head by a semi-armor-piercing bullet of such a caliber is a dead end. The huge body slowly stopped struggling and collapsed weakly on the ground. Those walking feet kicked twice and stopped struggling.

In the pool of blue blood, the army of crazy-toothed saw ants released their upper jaws, put down half of the leaf-clawed worm's body, and continued to clean up the wingless cockroaches around them.

Behind, the mortar cannon's barrel was loaded with high-explosive bombs, and it began to pour firepower on the mounds. In the sky, another group of long-winged divers carrying high-explosive aerial bombs flew over, thinking Flying over those mounds, they started bombing.

Under the violent demolition of the open space, the mound group quickly became unrecognizable. Immediately, a transport-type long-winged diver carrying fat tissue in the magazine made an emergency landing on a cleared flat ground, and then began to move toward Pupation of the brood.

At the same time, a large number of crazy-toothed saw ants surrounded them and began to cut up the remains of the leaf-clawed worms with their mandibles and claws. They took out the flesh and blood from the holes and held them in their mouths, waiting for the new mother nest to complete its pupation and absorb the remains. gene sequence.

If you only have the Saw Ants, or only the Saw Ants, the main battle armor and the hammer armor, it will definitely be difficult to deal with a decisive battle weapon like the Leaf Claw Worm at the same level as the "Kraken" .

However, the long-range firepower of the Mortar Terror Spider and the Kuai-Wing Diver, as well as the tactical system of integrating air and ground, and coordinated infantry and artillery, allowed Lin Yi to easily eliminate this astonishingly huge giant insect.

But this time, there is no longer an obstacle to mass extinction. The genetic sequence of the leaf-clawed worm may bring new surprises to Lin Yi. It may allow him to further strengthen his gene editing methods and finally break through the limits of biological structure, and even more further.

(End of this chapter)