Chapter 260: The Collective Organization of Insects

Under the firelight, the revealed Alien Seal Beast let out a sharp cry, his body slightly hunched; Luo Qi instinctively felt that he was about to charge, provoked by the brightness and Du Zhengyi's challenge. But his charging motion only went halfway; Luo Qi saw it clearly in the firelight—something had blocked him. That thing was like an invisible chain; there was clearly nothing on the Alien Seal Beast's body, yet he struggled, as if something had yanked him, causing him to stumble.

The Alien Seal Beast's antennae twitched in the air, as if responding to some invisible frequency. Luo Qi once again thought of the way bees communicated; they sometimes relied on the sound of wing vibrations to transmit information. The Alien Seal Beast had arms and legs, so it didn't seem like he needed short antennae to scout the path. The vibrations of the vocal membranes beneath their chests produced sounds mostly outside their range of hearing; these sounds perhaps conveyed more complex messages.

The monster's struggle was very subtle, but Du Zhengyi seized this brief opportunity and summoned a Lightning Technique, sending it over. Unfortunately, the Alien Seal Beast's movements were simply too agile; Luo Qi watched helplessly as Du Zhengyi's Lightning Technique struck empty air, and that thing had already darted onto the eaves behind.

"Don't," Luo Qi grabbed Du Zhengyi's arm, "don't use this kind of high-energy Magic."

Having missed his strike, Du Zhengyi was not in a very good mood and said somewhat coldly, "This doesn't count as high-energy Magic."

"Oh ho ho," Luo Qi was very patient, "any energy that can heat up a cup of tea counts as high-energy Magic. Any energy exceeding a cup of hot tea is just your meaningless expenditure. I said I could definitely solve the problem; you have to believe me."

"Aren't the things you say now all invalid?" Du Zhengyi watched his battlefield while teasing him.

Luo Qi laughed awkwardly twice, "I failed at posturing, alright? Who knew the rhythm of the battlefield would be so hard to grasp."

Du Zhengyi glanced at him, a trace of a smile flashing across his face, and the tense air softened once again.

"Just now, he didn't attack; was that your doing?" Luo Qi asked.

"No. I finally found one, and I actually hoped he would charge over. I don't know what restrained him; since there are no Mind Mages left, I'm afraid they have their own leader. They cannot use their throats to vocalize, yet their method of communication is faster than ours, and even their chain of command is more efficient than ours—I'm standing right next to you and still can't command you," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi's heart stirred; Du Zhengyi, who had dealt with many emergency situations, actually saw eye-to-eye with him. Although the two of them were thinking in completely different directions—Du Zhengyi was judging based on the battlefield situation, while Luo Qi was associating it entirely with the biological characteristics of insects—the result was the same. There was no time now to write a thesis or conduct experiments for analysis; rounding it up, this should pretty much be the conclusion. Therefore...

"So if we can find their leader, we might have a chance of winning," Luo Qi said confidently.

"Theoretically, that's correct," Du Zhengyi said with a smile, "but the premise is that we must be able to hold out against their first frontal siege."

"Brother, let me state a hypothesis," Luo Qi said hurriedly, "they look too much like insects, and their physiological structure is similar too; their leader might be a queen."

Du Zhengyi's expression was a bit subtle, "In this situation, it's good enough that I can even see them. They all look like this; you still expect me to see through whether they are male or female in an instant? Do you think they have breasts?"

"Then what about size?" Luo Qi held back for a moment before saying, "The female's frame is a size smaller."

"Not necessarily; I seem to have heard that ants and bees aren't like that."

Luo Qi was taken aback, suddenly feeling unsure about the heartwarming insect drama he had seen in the Mage's memories. "Fine then, just aim for the biggest one; who knows, maybe that charming one is just a pretty boy!"