Chapter 110 Rib Organisms and Underground Ecology

This creature... is really made of bones.

This was Lin's first thought after decomposing the rib centipede. The carapace of its whole body is similar to the bone structure of living things. Although the carapace of general arthropods also has some bones in it, there are still many differences.

But the rib centipede is different, it just puts the skeleton on the outside of the body, and Lin found that its internal structure is not like an arthropod, but a reptile, with organs like lungs, and muscles similar to vertebrates, without hydraulic pressure system.

This creature should not be an arthropod, but a creature that grows bones outside the body like a turtle, but this creature is too weird, it is exactly the same as a rib, and the 'spine' is its body, and the 'rib' Pai' is limbs, and there are six pairs of limbs in total. The overall shape is quite similar to that of a centipede, but in fact it only has three pairs of limbs. The other three pairs of limbs in the upper body are formed by knuckles. Its fingers have undergone special changes. It has become the same structure as the limbs, but the residual structure of the fingers can still be seen in the body.

It's a bit like the pterosaur's wing membrane is also stretched with fingers.

This creature looks like a centipede, but it is a vertebrate. It feels quite amazing. The most amazing thing is that there are small holes arranged on the three pairs of limbs on its upper body, which can be used to discharge a special substance.

Lin thinks that this substance is collected from various corpses and bones. These substances are very flammable and will burn a blue-green fire when they come into contact with the air, so the phenomenon of the flames before appears, and then the rib centipede is used again. The small hole blows air, which propels the flames to attack.

This is really interesting. It is estimated that the rib centipede was originally a scavenging creature. They lived in the corpse pile for a long time and evolved continuously, and its body became similar to a skeleton. It is quite good for camouflage, it not only looks like a bone, but also tastes like a bone, but there are still some bone-crushing creatures with a strong bite that may attack it, so they must also have defensive capabilities. And unlike those slow turtles, their movements are very flexible, and the teeth in their mouths have also become insect-like structures, suitable for cutting bones and flesh.

Also, their vocal cords are special, and they can scream: "Ah—" Lin thinks this is more interesting than their ability to set fire.

But what makes Lin feel puzzled is that. Why are they mixed with scorpions? These two creatures should not have any mutually beneficial relationship, but the rib centipede did lie on the scorpion...

Lin thought of the plague fungus. Only after being infected by them, different types of creatures would mix together, but this centipede was very normal, and its brain was not particularly affected. There should be no problem with the ability to judge, and the same is true for the scorpion. Lin has seen it before.

It is certain that they have reached a certain relationship, but how? Because scorpions are also scavengers? In this way, they should be more competitive.

Leviathan put the studied centipede on the ground, and Susumi immediately jumped down and grabbed the bone and started to eat it. It grabbed the bone and tried to bite it a few times, but it was too hard to bite.

Leviathan grabbed Susumi back on his back. Continue to fly deep into the cave.

There must be a centipede and a scorpion in it...

There are quite a few bones on the cave floor, and Lynn feels like they were collected from outside, but how did they drag such a large bone so far?

In front of him, the cave became narrower. Although Leviathan could still pass through, Lin felt that it might become narrower and narrower. It really wasn't very convenient for him to be too big.

However, after entering the depths, the 'cold' feeling outside before subsided, and it seemed that it did not affect this place.

The surrounding environment is getting darker and darker, and Leviathan lights up. Lin saw that the entire cave seemed to be covered with bones, and there were many rib centipedes lurking inside, and now Lin could identify them very well.

this is……

Lin found that the cave in front suddenly became wider again, and reached the end, and the cave wall at the end was a completely flat wall. It looks very suspicious at first sight.

Leviathan approached the cave wall, stretched out his tentacles and tapped it. The cave wall was completely made of clay, and it seemed to be very soft.

"Gah!" Susumi yelled suddenly, and there was a "bang" sound from the top of the cave wall. Countless cracks appeared on the entire cave wall, and then it collapsed instantly, turning into a pile of mud that fell on the ground. on the ground.

How fragile is this structure?

After the smoke and dust from the collapse dissipated, Leviathan's light shone on the cave behind the cave wall, and what appeared in front of him was... a large area of ​​flying creatures!

Numerous black-bodied flying creatures rushed towards Leviathan with creaking sounds. They seemed to be small pterosaurs. They didn't attack, but all flew away at once, flying towards the exit of the cave. went.

After they flew away, Lin really saw the structure of the cave clearly.

This is... water?

Behind the cave wall is a huge underground lake with a width of nearly 100 meters. Occasionally, there will be wonderful lights in the lake water, which may be due to luminescent microorganisms living here.

Leviathan stretched out his tentacles, made a transparent cover and put it on Susumi's face. Lin called it a 'filter'. There was a set of small organs at the bottom of it, which could filter the impurities in the water. Air for Susumi to breathe.

"Gah? What is this?" Susumi fiddled with the hood on his head curiously.

"Don't do it, you can get air in the water."

As Lin spoke, the filter inflated instantly after inhaling air, and Leviathan also entered the water.

"Water! Water!" Susumi shouted excitedly in the cover, while Lin was observing the surrounding environment. Through the light emitted by Leviathan, Lin saw that the lake here was covered with dense crystals, and occasionally A huge crystalline column protrudes.

There are still many scorpions active on the crystals at the bottom of the lake. They are already completely amphibious creatures.

There are many fish here, some small fish swim around Leviathan, Susumi keeps trying to catch them on Leviathan's back, I don't know whether these fish came in from outside or were caught brought in by other creatures.

If it's swimming in...there may be some passages leading to the outside.

Under the bottom of the lake, Leviathan has already seen many caves. They are of different sizes and filled with crystals. Some fish hide in them. Most of these fish have no crystals on their bodies. Lin thinks There should be a cave leading to a river outside...

……that is……

Lin suddenly noticed something in front of him, Leviathan immediately turned off the light, and the surroundings fell into darkness for an instant. At this time, there were many fluorescent lights in the lake. It turns out they are tiny creatures.

And about ten meters in front of Leviathan, there is a place where fluorescence gathers. It is not a tiny creature, but a...arthropod with a length of nearly two meters?

This segmented limb exudes fluorescence all over its body, and its body shape is a bit like a scorpion. Its front limbs are relatively slender, while the lowermost segmented limb is very thick. It looks like... a leg? Does it move with its legs?

The creature was lying on the crystals at the bottom of the lake, with eight eyes on its head, all closed, as if sleeping at the bottom of the lake.

This arthropod actually has a structure similar to eyelids that can close the eyes? This is the first time I have seen it, or is it not an arthropod, but a vertebrate with bones growing outward like a rib centipede?

But this creature has the pincers and hooked tail of a scorpion, and it does look like a scorpion-like creature...

When Leviathan slowly approached, the creature suddenly opened its eyes, and the moment it saw Leviathan's huge body with its own fluorescence, it was shocked! It flusteredly swung its body and fled from Leviathan.

This creature mainly swims by swinging its jointed limbs. It looks very clumsy, and Leviathan can easily catch up with it. This may be a land creature. I don't know how it got into the water... to sleep?

When the creature found that Leviathan was about to catch up with it, it immediately turned around and burrowed into a cave at the bottom of the lake...

This cave is too narrow for Leviathan to enter. Lin watched the group of fluorescent lights slowly go away in the cave, which seems to be a very long passage...

"Go in, run away!" Susumi went to look inside the cave, it seemed that it wanted to catch up, its figure was completely in, Lin suddenly thought of a way, and then said to Susumi: "Go in, follow the target, don't disturb the target,"

Saying that, Leviathan glued two eyeballs on Susumi's hood, which looked like a hat with eyes.

Speaking of which, 'hat' refers to something worn on the head, right? It's a weird word...

"Gah..." Susumi was puzzled for a moment, then swung his body and swam into the cave. There are fluorescent creatures in this cave, allowing Susumi to see the surrounding environment clearly...

The Emerald Dragon's swimming skills are not bad, at least faster than that creature, and the fluorescence of that creature soon appeared in front of Lin's eyes. Susumi kept a distance and followed it without being noticed. Swim slowly.

The passage is very long, and there are many creatures here, such as fish, various arthropods, shellfish, etc. The underground structure is quite complicated.

After swimming tens of meters, Susumi followed the creature out of the cave and arrived at another lake.

This lake is very small, and the creature swam to the shore and climbed up. Susumi also stuck his head out of the water to observe...

The moment Susumi emerged from the water, the first thing Lin saw was a large pile of... skeletons of creatures.

The creature walked on top of the pile of bones. It moved with two pairs of lower body legs, while the upper body stood up and moved. But what made Lin see the strangeness was the environment and creatures here.

This is indeed a biological population, but it is somewhat different... (to be continued...)