The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 7 The giant god breaks his gun
  The days passed quickly. The corpse of a corner stone and the various opportunists attracted by the corpse increased the number of individuals controlled by Lin Yi again. There were already five individuals with enhanced nerves and more than ten individuals specially used to tear off food and feed them. Other individuals of modified Brachyphorus individuals.

The soft parts of Cornerstone's body have been eaten clean by individuals controlled by Lin Yi and other passing creatures. Only the huge conical shell remains lying on the seabed, telling the story of its majesty as the top of the food chain during its lifetime. .

Perhaps hundreds of millions of years from now, the corner stone shell that has been mineralized over the long years will be lucky enough to see the light of day again, allowing future generations to get a glimpse of the scales and feathers of this barbaric era.

But all this has nothing to do with Lin Yi now. He just sighed twice and continued to control the individual to get busy and continue to develop to the next step as expected.

With sufficient supply of nutrients, the second brood has grown to a size similar to the first brood - yes, the size of the brood is not fixed and can grow to a certain extent.

Moreover, its shell seems to be more similar to the bony plates of armored fishes rather than the exoskeleton of arthropods, and can grow with flesh and blood tissue without the need for frequent molting.

During this time, opportunists attracted by Cornerstone's carcass expanded the genetic sequence stored in the brood to include a conodont, two small hornstones, and a small elasmopod.

The former is a small fish that looks like a lamprey but has well-developed eyes, while the latter two are small close relatives of the giant corner stone and the giant feather-winged horseshoe crab. Lin Yi can't give them specific names.

But now, the gluttonous feast belonging to the benthic biota has ended, and the seabed has returned to its previous desolation. Only a few of Lin Yi's old friends - trilobites and Sakaban turtles are left, cleaning up the last bits. Leftovers.

Originally, Lin Yi was planning to return to his daily life of eating trilobites and fishing for Sakaban turtles, but the emergence of a new target changed his plan.

With five nerve-enhanced individuals of the feathered horseshoe crab, he is no longer content with the status quo, but is ready to do something big in order to enter high-speed development again.

A shadow casts on the seabed, covering the body of a feather-winged horseshoe crab.

He controlled his body and raised his head. The giant jet-black compound eyes of the feather-winged horseshoe crab shone with a luster that represented ambition.

What casts a shadow is an astonishingly huge giant insect. The giant insect is more than two meters long. Although it is not as huge as the corner stone, it is much larger than the feather-winged horseshoe crab. Its head is wrapped by a huge cone-shaped head shell, and two shorter armor plates are wrapped under the head shell. It has a pair of claw-like structures and countless long baleen-like baleen hanging down, proving that it is just a filter feeder.

Behind the head, there is a pair of compound eyes on slightly protruding eye stalks. Behind it, there is a slender cylindrical body and each segment of the body. When viewed from the front, there are four rows arranged in an "X" shape. The triangular fin-like structure is swinging to push the huge body to swim slowly in the open upper water.

It has a resounding name - Benmera Poseidon Helmet Shrimp, and its life experience is as famous as its name. It is the bloodline of the previous overlord, Qi Xia, and represents the last afterglow of a once glorious dynasty.

In the Ordovician, where the old rulers were rampant, these remnants of the former dynasty lost their edge, but sent their last cry to the world in another form.

But at this time, Lin Yi didn't care about this. In his eyes, since there is no shell that accounts for the highest proportion of the body, the nutrients that this Poseidon shrimp can provide may not be less than the corner stone. And it has almost no aggressive sharp appendages on its body, making it the perfect prey at this stage.

It is difficult for a single feather-winged horseshoe crab to pose a threat to the huge Poseidon helmet shrimp. Under normal circumstances, the Poseidon helmet shrimp moves in the upper waters, while the feather-winged horseshoe crab preys on benthic organisms on the seabed. The two never interact with each other. Therefore, this Poseidon Helmet Shrimp is not wary of the horseshoe crab below, and still uses the mesh-like structure on its head to filter plankton in the sea and replenish nutrients.

Although the feather-winged horseshoe crab mostly moves on the seabed, its paddle-shaped paddling feet and fan-shaped wide and flat tail allow it to have acceptable swimming abilities.

The upgraded nervous system of Lin Yi's nest version of the nerve-enhanced feather-winged horseshoe crabs also allows them to better stabilize their bodies in the water, improving their mobility in disguise.

Under Lin Yi's control, five individual feather-winged horseshoe crabs swung their tails, floated upward from multiple directions, and slowly approached the Poseidon Helmet Shrimp, which had not yet reacted.

The compound eyes of the Poseidon Helmet Shrimp are on protruding eye stalks, and its field of vision is quite wide. It is unrealistic to attack from the side and rear. However, due to this era, there are no creatures that can launch a surprise attack from above and pose a threat to behemoths such as the Poseidon Helmeted Shrimp. The armor plates extending from both sides of its head shell block the upward view, which also gives Lin Yi the opportunity to make a sneak attack. Chance.

Four feather-winged horseshoe crabs approached from four directions: front, rear, left and right. At the same time, the remaining one continued to float up, floating at a height close to the sea surface, waiting for an opportunity.

The sickle limbs of the individual feather-winged horseshoe crabs are shaking, and their long scorpion-like tails are raised from time to time, pointing the sharp tail spine at the end of the Poseidon Helmet Shrimp. At this time, even the primitive brain of the Poseidon Helmet Shrimp realized what had happened. The four rows of fin-like structures at the end of the huge body flap and push the body to twist left and right, driving away the ill-intentioned feathered horseshoe crabs.

Although it does not have specialized offensive weapons, the huge head shell of the Poseidon Helmet Shrimp is like the ramming horn of a battleship. If it is hit, even a feather-winged horseshoe crab covered with an exoskeleton will not be able to do well.

Under Lin Yi's control, several individual feather-winged horseshoe crabs dodge flexibly, using the advantages of their nervous system to deal with the huge Poseidon Helmet Shrimp, consuming its physical strength. At the same time, the feather-winged horseshoe crab waiting for an opportunity above also opened its wings. He stretched out his limbs and waited for the opportunity.

Gradually, the attack frequency of the Poseidon Helmet Shrimp slowed down. Seeing this, Lin Yi suddenly attacked. The feathered horseshoe crab above waved its wide and flat tail, splitting the water waves with its body and rushing downwards.

The Poseidon Helmet Shrimp felt something was wrong, but at this time, the four feather-winged horseshoe crabs that were consuming its energy on the front, back, left, and right also attacked together, limiting the Poseidon Helmet Shrimp's dodge space.

At the same time, five feather-winged horseshoe crabs swarmed up, clamping the trunk of the Poseidon Shrimp with their sickle-shaped appendages, and expertly pierced and pulled it.

As close relatives of arthropods, only the head shell part of the exoskeleton of anomalocaridids is strong enough, making it impossible for the sickle limbs to break through for a while.

But its soft body has become its fatal weakness. When Lin Yi controlled the attack of an individual, he mainly focused on its torso. The individual that attacked from the top locked the opponent's neck firmly.

It can be said that from this moment on, the fate of this huge Poseidon Helmet Shrimp, which is more than two meters long, has been determined.

　It seems that the Poseidon Helmet Shrimp did not survive beyond the Middle Ordovician Darivil period, but it is still written here for the needs of the plot.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)