Li Yao observed carefully for a long time, only to discover that, while the “metal oncomelania” were the prey most of the time, they were not entirely unable to counterattack.

When the metal oncomelania were gathered to a certain tipping point when they were fleeing in panic, they would turn around and attack the “metal starfish” instead.

The metal oncomelania were supposedly silver bugs, but they would turn deep black, and their body shapes would be narrower and longer, as if they had entered the “combat state”, like the hardest nails.

Countless metal oncomelania shot themselves at the metal starfish like bullets, leaving tremendous holes on their predators.

The metal starfish were made of liquid metal and naturally boasted the ability of self-recovery. When the metal oncomelania were not large enough in number, the wounds that were shot through would be healed within a couple of seconds, and the metal oncomelania, on the other hand, would be embedded into its body and swallowed easily.

From that point of view, the metal oncomelania seemed to be feeding themselves to the metal starfish.

Even though some of the metal oncomelania directly pierced through the body of the metal starfish, they seemed to have run out of their vitality and sank into the magma slowly.

However, when countless metal oncomelania were attacking the metal starfish fearlessly, it would far exceed the limits of the self-recovery of the liquid metal. The wounds torn apart were no longer healable. The tentacles were all falling apart. The incomplete bodies of the metal starfish, together with countless broken pieces of the metal oncomelania, slowly dropped to the bottom of the magma lake.

What a gory “suicide attack”!

The vast magma lake was divided into zones in different colors. As far as Li Yao’s eyes could reach, a hundred metal starfish and tens of thousands of metal oncomelania were chasing and fighting each other. Each hunting was like a mini war or a continuous game of two survival policies.

Li Yao was almost fascinated.

It occurred to him that the relatively weak “metal oncomelania” seemed to have two survival logics.

First of all, if survival was their top priority, they would certainly try their best to preserve themselves. Then, when the metal starfish charged at them for hunting, their optimal choice was to disperse and flee to all directions.

However, their average speed was slightly lower than that of the metal starfish, which meant that the result of their dispersion would be that all the metal oncomelania would be caught up and devoured.

For long-term survival, it seemed that they must hold back their instincts of running. Hundreds of the metal oncomelania must be gathered, and all of them must charge forward and die together with the metal starfish relentlessly, in order to bring up the odds of survival for the entire race.

In the meantime, there were also two survival logics for the metal starfish.

Li Yao assumed that in the cruel and weird “ecological system”, the metal oncomelania was a relatively low-level “species” which directly fed on the light and heat in the magma.

The metal starfish, on the other hand, was a more advanced “species” that was on the top of the “food chain” and fed on the metal oncomelania.

Then, for survival and development, the metal starfish had to devour the metal oncomelania all the time without any rest. Hunting was the sole mission and significance of their lives.

However, if they pressed too far, and the metal oncomelania were forced to die together with them in desperation, their odds of death would be rather high, too.

Therefore, the metal starfish must control the pace of hunting cautiously. On one hand, they could not press the metal oncomelania too far; on the other hand, they had to pay attention to the gathering of the metal oncomelania all the time. When the scale of their prey reached the tipping point, it would be themselves who needed to flee in a hurry.

In such a subtle situation, they also needed to calculate carefully to swallow the lone prey that could be devoured.

The collision of the two simple rules resulted in erratic, ever-changing survival policies and hunting scenes. Li Yao observed the predation of the hundred metal starfish at the same time, only to discover that none of them were the same!

“How incredible!”

Although they were low-level spiritual puppets that were simple in structure, Li Yao sensed an indescribable air that he had never felt even from the advanced battle puppets before.

Those little metal creatures did not seem to be under the control of a certain mainframe crystal processor, but were more like living and fighting spontaneously under the guidance of a simple survival logic!

Li Yao smelled the scent of primeval times in the magma lake deep below the ground.

Exploring all the way forward along the lake and passing the soaring steam, Li Yao soon reached the other end of the magma lake.

The temperature here was obviously lower than the other end. The magma was in the color of orange. Clusters of messy metal threads were entangled next to the lake, with one end extended into the magma lake and the other end growing wildly and uncontrollably.

Are they… plants?

For some reason, Li Yao suddenly had the absurd thought.

The metal threads were naturally not real plants, but they did boast certain features of plants. Their “roots” were deeply stabbed into the magma lake to absorb the light and heat of the magma while they released feeble waves incessantly on the other end.

Li Yao estimated that the insignificant ripples could power certain super-tiny chips that were as thin as paper. In other words, it was a wireless energy supply system.

The metal clusters swallowed the light and heat of the magma to power the super-tiny chips nearby, just like the plants that released oxygen through photosynthesis for animals to breathe.

“This is almost a metal version of a primitive forest!”

Li Yao was quite astonished. When he looked at the shore next to the “metal forest” where the temperature was even lower, he was really greatly shocked.

He saw a…”city”.

Although “city” was not the most accurate word to describe it, he really did not know how he should call the buildings large and small before his eyes that were standing together like buns.

The larger “buns” were approximately half a meter in diameter and height, while the smaller ones were only the size of a fist. All the buns were riddled with dense holes, like upside-down beehives.

Countless spiritual puppets the size of ants were entering and exiting the holes, moving on the “roads” that had been established among the buns.

Occasionally, there were spiritual puppets that were slightly larger and boasted the ability of flight. They were humming and flying among a few larger buns.

All the buildings were well-organized and exuberant.

Ignoring the appearances of the buns and the spiritual puppets, it was exactly a busy town!

Li Yao noticed that certain tiny spiritual puppets were moving between the “city” and the “forest”, dragging capsule-like objects to the messy metal yarns and inserting the capsules to the ends of the metal threads. Soon, the previously gray capsules were glittering like weird butterflies.

The spiritual puppets shipped the glittering capsules back to their “city”.

So, the wireless energy supply was not powerful enough, and they had to collect energy in such a way, like human beings chopping woods in the forest to get enough heat?

If the magma lake could be compared to the ocean in the primordial age, the scenes before his eyes were exactly a prototype of how the earliest ancestors of all creatures fought nature and developed a civilization!

Li Yao did not know whether he should be amazed or feel creepy.

The whole underground space seemed to be in the shame of a calabash. At the end of the magma lake was a narrow, long crack, which happened to be the waist of the calabash. Li Yao heard giggles from the other side of the crack.

The giggle sounded rather familiar, both lovable and annoying.

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao squeezed through the crack openly.

As he expected, there was more on the other side of the crack. It was a tiny chamber where the temperature was much lower than the magma lake’s side. Blue minerals had been embedded on the wall, unleashing cool air. Li Yao felt greatly refreshed!

Calming himself down and observing carefully, Li Yao discovered that there was a high platform made of rocks on two opposite corners of the cave. On the platforms sat two kids no more than ten years old.

The boy on the left side looked rather vigorous. Fighting will and determination were beaming out of his widened eyes. He could easily strike anyone as a naughty, rogue kid who was scared of nothing.

The girl on the right seemed quiet and obedient, but the cleverness that was beaming in her eyes now and then and her slightly curled lips implied her confidence in her victory. She might be even trickier to deal with than the unsophisticated boy.

Between the two kids, in the meantime, were thousands of super-tiny spiritual puppets. They were exactly the little ants that Li Yao saw in the “city” just now.

Those ants were glittering in red and in green while they attacked each other under the control of the two kids respectively.

Li Yao soon realized the rule. As long as one “ant” was bitten by two hostile “ants” at the same time, it would automatically change the color and join the enemy’s side.

Naturally, when all the ants had the same color, the game would have a winner.

When Li Yao came, the game was already approaching the end. The boy’s red ants were heavily beleaguered by the girl’s green ants, and he could not march them out however he tried to. The girl simply weakened him layer by layer patiently, until there was only the last red ant left.

According to the rule, one red ant was not enough to transform a green ant.

The boy failed.

“A great civilization never surrenders. Attack!”

The boy shouted and controlled the last red ant to charge forward. It was soon devoured by the tides of green ants.

Li Yao was secretly amazed. Although it was just a game for kids, the unpredictable tactics and the delicate control of timing during attacks were as impressive as the most professional war game. It was a hundred times more complicated than the fierce battle in the magma lake.

Deep below the ground, next to a magma lake, two children controlling metal ants in a war game—what a weird picture it was!

In the meantime, why did Li Yao have a feeling that the two kids looked rather familiar?

“What is this place? Who are you exactly?”

Li Yao coughed, informing the two children of his arrival, before he said in full wariness, “Where are your parents? Now that they have invited ‘Vulture Li Yao’ to this place, why are they hiding? Do they have any secret that they need to keep?”

“Ha!”

The two children stood up at the same time. With a happy smile on their faces, they extended their chubby arms that looked like lotus roots at Li Yao while they exclaimed, “Dad’s here! Dad!”