The big dragonfly clearly couldn't understand Zhang Yang's words. Even if it did understand, it wouldn't give face to a tiny ant like him. Whether it slices you up or not is entirely up to it.
"Ouch? Pretty slippery, huh?"
That was the big dragonfly's first thought after Zhang Yang made his move. Zhang Yang's flying movement technique was incredibly fast — the dragonfly lunged twice and still failed to catch him.
He really was quite slippery.
Zhang Yang was also wondering whether he could actually be a match for this big dragonfly.
There shouldn't really be any hesitation here. His strength was already considerable. He originally had 0.3 strength, and after his talent quadrupled it, he reached 1.5 — that's 15 jin (about 7.5 kg) of force.
Could a dragonfly only four or five centimeters long possibly withstand that kind of power?
Obviously not. The only question was how to attack.
Keep biting with his mouth?
"Nah, forget it. I'll just ram you to death. I told you to scram and you wouldn't, so now you don't get to scram anymore."
Zhang Yang felt he couldn't keep relying on biting with his mouth. If he got used to that attack style, it would be disastrous later.
Anyway, with speed and strength both on his side, smashing a little dragonfly to death shouldn't be a problem, right?
Zhang Yang moved. His speed suddenly jumped to another level. Like a small pebble, he smashed straight toward the dragonfly's thorax and abdomen.
He deliberately avoided aiming for the head — that skull looked pretty tough. Better to hit the belly.
Facts proved that Zhang Yang hadn't underestimated his own strength and speed. The dragonfly never expected such ferocity from a tiny ant. Zhang Yang's body punched straight through its torso, creating a small hole.
After taking such a hit, the dragonfly wobbled in the air like a helicopter about to crash, but it still didn't die immediately.
While Zhang Yang hadn't underestimated his power and speed, he had somewhat overestimated his own durability.
After that collision, his head was spinning, two of his six legs were broken, and one antenna was snapped off. He looked even worse off than the dragonfly.
"This place isn't safe to stay."
Zhang Yang didn't bother checking on the dragonfly's condition — he had to get out of there fast. Luckily his wings were unharmed; otherwise he wouldn't even be able to run.
He had no idea what kind of habits dragonflies had. What if this thing called over a whole swarm of buddies in a bit? Then he'd be finished.
"Can't stay in the air — go underground."
Back into the dirt again.
Zhang Yang sighed. He really seemed to have a destined connection with the underground. His skill at digging holes and burying himself was getting stronger by the day.
Meanwhile, the badly injured dragonfly flew a short distance before crashing to the ground. It was about to die.
Until its last breath, it never understood how its prey had suddenly turned into the hunter. Since when could a tiny male ant possess such terrifying power?
"Ding, killed a dragonfly. Evolution points +10."
"That's it?"
Just ten evolution points? Not even a single talent fragment?
"What a waste of such a big body."
Zhang Yang, still digging his hole, grumbled in disappointment.
So… should he go back and look for that dragonfly's corpse?
Fusing with a dragonfly wouldn't be too much, right?
Mainly because it died so quickly — Zhang Yang didn't think it had time to call its friends.
But just as he was debating whether to go back, he suddenly felt the surrounding soil wriggling.
What was that?
The unknown is always frightening, and Zhang Yang — now a tiny ant — was no exception. In this life, he had become far more afraid of death.
Just as he was about to flee, the thing wriggling in the dirt appeared.
"An earthworm?"
"Hey, little earthworm, don't run."
Zhang Yang completely ignored his own tiny size and shamelessly called it "little earthworm." Talk about arrogance.
The earthworm, however, paid no attention to such a minuscule creature and continued happily burrowing through the soil.
Zhang Yang, the shameless one, pounced and started biting furiously.
It wasn't that he particularly liked eating earthworms — he was thinking of the earthworm's special ability.
The earthworm panicked and burrowed even faster.
But in the end, it still lost to Zhang Yang's jaws. He managed to bite off a small segment of its tail.
"System, fuse."
Zhang Yang dragged the still-living half of the earthworm's body and chose to fuse.
"Ding, this fusion requires 500 evolution points. Proceed with fusion?"
500 points?
Zhang Yang froze. That number was quite high. Evolving into a male ant only cost him 200 evolution points, and strengthening was even cheaper.
"Fuse!"
"Ding, fusion success rate: 32%. Fusion commencing."
"What the… f*ck."
There's a success rate?!
Zhang Yang was dumbfounded. Isn't this a bit too much, bro?
Why didn't you mention the success rate earlier?
And isn't 32% way too low?
But no matter how much he complained internally, the fusion had already started.
The severed segment of earthworm quickly turned into points of light and merged into Zhang Yang's body.
It hurt like hell.
"Ding, fusion successful. Please choose fusion direction."
The pain disappeared, and a light screen appeared before Zhang Yang with two options.
32% success rate and it actually succeeded?
When he saw the two choices on the screen, Zhang Yang didn't even hesitate — he immediately selected the first one.
Option 1: Gain the earthworm's special talent ability — Limb Regeneration.
Option 2: Attach a segment of earthworm body to his butt (complete with illustration).
Any normal-minded person would choose the first one.
"First option."
"Ding, fusion successful. Congratulations, host has obtained the special ability: Limb Regeneration."
Limb Regeneration: Special talent, cannot be upgraded. Regeneration speed depends on the host's constitution.
In Zhang Yang's attribute panel, under the talents section, a new entry appeared: Limb Regeneration (special).
Seeing the description, Zhang Yang finally felt relieved.
If this thing also came with levels, that would be way too坑 (pitfall/scam). Killing ten thousand ants was doable, but finding and killing ten thousand earthworms? That would be asking too much.
"Huh? This talent… it's actually pretty good."
Right after gaining Limb Regeneration, Zhang Yang immediately experienced how powerful it was.
The two legs and one antenna he broke earlier while ramming the dragonfly were now recovering at a very noticeable speed. He could already feel them again.
"Isn't regeneration speed supposed to depend on constitution? Why is mine recovering so fast?"
"Oh, right — if I were still human, this little bit of constitution wouldn't mean much; regrowing an arm would take forever. But right now I'm just a tiny ant. These little legs and arms… of course they grow back quickly!"
With that realization, Zhang Yang stood up again. Bring on the arrogance — so what if more dragonflies come?
"Ding, task completed: First Fusion. Reward: Lifespan +2 days."
After hearing the system prompt, Zhang Yang didn't even have the energy to complain anymore. He was starting to get used to it.
This system was the very embodiment of stinginess.
If it suddenly gave him ten or eight days of life at once, he'd probably feel weird.
Besides, lifespan seemed pretty easy to farm anyway. In just half a day, he had already gained more than ten days' worth.
"Looks like surviving in this world… might not actually be that hard after all."