Chapter 28 (1/2)

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

After ten days or so, the grasshopper queen’s appearance had not changed at all—her color was still withered yellow, and her antennae were slender.

“Is that… a cricket?”

The grasshopper queen stared at what System was chewing, sending out her unique spirit waves.

After a dozen days, System found that the grasshopper queen’s language proficiency had greatly improved.

Though unable to reach his level of proficiency, System heard many changes in tone from her words. It seemed that the grasshopper queen had kept practicing over these few days. Otherwise, she couldn’t have made such a big improvement.

“Yes, do you want some?”

System stopped eating and handed the food to the grasshopper queen naturally, as if they were old friends for years.

“No, I don’t like to eat… meat.”

The grasshopper queen sent a message and rejected System. She bit off a leaf nearby using her mandibles and started chewing.

Polite greetings were not needed when talking to the grasshopper queen, so System asked directly, “These days, that special scent, is that from you?”

“Yes, it was… me.” The grasshopper queen shook her antennae and continued to deliver the message to System. “You… did not come.”

System stared at the grasshopper queen for a moment and said, “You know that I won’t go.”

The grasshopper queen touched System’s antennae with hers, and said again with her unique and gentle spirit waves, “I knew… you won’t come, so I came back… to you.”

“I miss you…”

The grasshopper queen’s message contained many thoughts, but System had no idea how to respond to that.

System had to use his human intelligence to change the subject. “Are you still going to explore the world? Like those images shown in the bloodline?”

The grasshopper queen looked up at the sky and replied to System, “Yes, I’m going… with them.”

“Them? Are there a lot of grasshoppers going with you?”

“Yes…” The grasshopper queen continued to look up at the sky. She stared at a cloud from a gap of the dense forest and asked System, “Do you know… what is that?”

His insect compound eyes could not see faraway things clearly, but looking at the white-colored mass in the sky, System knew what the grasshopper queen was referring to.

System answered, “That’s a cloud, a form of water.”

The grasshopper queen showed a regretful expression as she stared at the sky. “I can’t… fly that high, but I can… fly… far.”

The grasshopper queen lowered her head and continued saying to System, “I… have a name, do you know… what is name?”

System showed a puzzled look and said, “Name? Have you given yourself a name? My name is System.”

The grasshopper queen replied, “Sys… tem, Quin, my name, given to me by… Shadow.”

System pursued, “Shadow? Who is that?”

“A bug.”

…

Not long after the conversation with the grasshopper queen, a 5-centimeter-sized green grasshopper landed not far from System and the grasshopper queen with the distinctive sound of flapping wings.

After a short while, another grasshopper flew over, then two, three, a dozen, hundreds of grasshoppers…

More and more grasshoppers gathered around him and the grasshopper queen, and after about ten minutes, thousands of grasshoppers of all kinds had gathered in his vicinity.

And there were more joining.

The calm forest became noisy as the grasshoppers flapped their wings to fly around. Some leaped into the grass nearby to bite on the plants, while some others flew to the treetops to bask in the sun.