Astral Cockroach

"That green bamboo caterpillar is full of dirty stuff inside, you can’t let it eat that!" Hongdou tried to rush forward and snatch the green bamboo caterpillar away.

Hongdou had a red head, a black and white patterned carapace, and most importantly, its aura was a mismatched mess.

The newly born little warrior showed obvious wariness and some fear towards Hongdou, clutching the green caterpillar and darting behind Duzhu.

Hongdou’s movements faltered as it understood what was happening, feeling ashamed, indignant, and angry. It said, "No fun, I’m going back."

Having spoken, it flapped its wings and flew down the mountain.

"Banbu, look, the newly born little warrior likes me!" Duzhu shouted excitedly, feeling very proud.

Banbu just watched, not saying a word.

The little warrior was crouching behind Duzhu, secretly peeking at Banbu, feeling somewhat fearful and puzzled: Judging by the aura, it was an elder of the Red Ant Tribe, but why was the carapace black? And its size was also different from the Red Ant warriors described in its inherited memories.

Duzhu said, "Banbu, it seems a little afraid of you."

Banbu said calmly, "Duzhu, go catch two green bamboo caterpillars for it to eat."

The newly born little warrior couldn't use mental communication, but it could roughly understand. Hearing this, it hugged the half-eaten green bamboo caterpillar and devoured it ravenously.

"Wow! It likes eating little bugs too," Duzhu cheered, flapping its wings and taking off, preparing to catch a few more.

Seeing this, the little warrior quickly dropped its food, flapping its membranous wings, wanting to follow Duzhu and take flight, but unfortunately, it was too weak, and having just completed its evolution, its physique was frail. It could only glide a short distance in the low air and couldn't fly up.

In the blink of an eye, Duzhu had already left the bamboo forest.

The little warrior felt apprehensive and quickly hid behind a thick moso bamboo stalk, cautiously peeking at Banbu.

Banbu made his mental energy as gentle as possible and said, "Don't be afraid, my name is Banbu…"

The little warrior twitched its antennae, turned around, and frantically flapped its membranous wings, fleeing towards the depths of the bamboo forest, hiding inside the shallow nest it had originally inhabited.

Banbu was speechless, feeling somewhat of a headache: He and Hongdou would probably never be recognized by newly born little warriors. This wasn't an isolated case; it would always be like this.

"Banbu, has the little warrior been born?" Datou ran back, surrounded by the ant swarm.

"Yes," Banbu suddenly realized: Datou had sent a large number of soldier ants to guard the bamboo forest, and it must be the unique aura emitted by those soldier ants that made the newly born little warrior feel uneasy.

Banbu shouted, "Datou, quickly withdraw your soldier ants, withdraw them back to the ant nest. Newborn little warriors don't understand anything; they instinctively fear foreign auras."

"Ah?! Oh, okay…" Hearing this, Datou quickly waved its antennae, withdrawing the surrounding ant swarm.

…

Duzhu caught two more green bamboo caterpillars and returned.

"Huh? Banbu, where's the little warrior?"

Banbu wiggled his antennae and nodded, saying unhappily, "It's hiding."

"Banbu, it's so timid!" Duzhu was even happier, grabbing the two green bamboo caterpillars and running towards the depths of the bamboo forest.

Sensing Duzhu's return, the little warrior peeked out, and then happily crawled out of its hiding nest.

Duzhu handed it a green caterpillar.

Then, the one big and one small creature happily started eating.

After eating, Duzhu felt it wasn't enough and once again burrowed into the nearby bamboo forest to search.

Due to the intimidating aura of the warriors, birds had disappeared from Lizhu Peak, but there were still many ignorant green bamboo caterpillars living and multiplying in the bamboo forest formed by ordinary bamboo. These caterpillars would spin silk, roll up the bamboo leaves, hide inside, and nibble on the tender leaves.

They were easy to find.

This time, Duzhu was holding two with its forelimbs and dragging two with its hind legs, using both its "hands and feet" to catch four green caterpillars in one go.

…

After eating a dozen or so green caterpillars, the little warrior was finally full, its physical strength recovered, and with the interference of ant-like auras gone, its courage gradually grew.

"Duzhu, bring it out," Banbu said.

Duzhu walked towards the outside of the bamboo forest.

The little warrior followed closely, walking outwards.

Duzhu stopped.

The little warrior followed and stopped, hiding behind it, curiously staring at Banbu.

"Banbu, it likes me!" Duzhu was both happy and proud.

Banbu was depressed and said, "Duzhu, then you will take care of it from now on."

"Wow! Okay!" Duzhu shouted with joy.

Banbu reminded, "Newborn little warriors are very fragile. You only need to give it a tiny bit of primal force food every day, and it must be primal force food condensed from ordinary life forms. Too much will actually harm it, understand?"

"I know, I know very well," Duzhu wiggled its antennae in agreement and asked, "Banbu, where are you planning to have it live?"

Banbu said, "I'll have Datou dig an even smaller nest next to your nest for it to temporarily live beside you."

A little pudding whose length didn't even reach 5 centimeters was truly troublesome to take care of.

Duzhu asked seriously, "Banbu, what do I need to teach it? Arithmetic? Or knowledge of bamboo cultivation? Or grass cutting?"

"…" Banbu said, "It's still small, you don't need to teach it anything. Just take care of feeding it every day. But you absolutely can't take it running around everywhere. The birds in the sky might harm it, understand?"

"Understood, I understand!" Duzhu said, "It likes eating green caterpillars, I'll catch bugs for it every day…"

Before it could finish speaking, the little warrior hiding behind it suddenly mustered its courage, flapping its membranous wings, flying up, approaching Banbu, curiously observing, and then landing on Banbu's head, constantly releasing and waving its antennae, releasing pheromones, expressing cheers and joy.

Duzhu was stunned.

Banbu was stunned for a moment before realizing:

Inherited memories guided the newly born little warrior to seek the protection of tribal elders.

Duzhu best met the requirements of "same tribe," but it was only an L7 beginner warrior, too weak, and obviously didn't meet the requirements of "elder."

In the inherited memories, advanced warriors like Banbu, with "huge" bodies, were considered elders.

The newly born little warrior understood Banbu and Duzhu's conversation, confirmed that Banbu was a tribal elder, and immediately made its choice. It instinctively recognized that following the weak Duzhu wasn't safe enough, and only a powerful tribal elder could protect its growth.

"A clever little fellow," Banbu praised.

"Come here, come here…" Duzhu was a little anxious, wiggling its antennae and calling out.

The little warrior flapped its wings and glided down beside Duzhu, also wiggling its antennae, sending affectionate information.

"Banbu, look, it still likes me," Duzhu solemnly declared.

Clearly, this newly born little warrior liked playing with Duzhu, and it was also very clever, knowing how to curry favor with the powerful Banbu, seeking protection.

Banbu thought for a while and said, "Duzhu, you will take care of it from now on, but it can only be active in the open space in front of the cave and can't run far."

Duzhu agreed without even thinking, "Okay."

Banbu asked, "You won't bully it, will you?"

"No!" Duzhu shouted, "I'm not like that bastard Hongdou, I won't bully it!"

"That's good," Banbu said, and then shouted to Datou, "Datou, please work a little harder and clear all the weeds on Lizhu Peak, and also shovel up all the wind chimes, don't let the little fellow see them."

"Ah?!" Datou said, "Banbu, the wind chimes on the mountain are in bloom, the wind chimes will be angry."

Banbu changed his mind and said, "Then shovel up the wind chimes near us."

What kind of plants the newly born little warrior liked was crucial, and this was an uncontrollable thing. Banbu hoped that this little warrior liked bamboo and feared that it would like useless weeds like wind chimes.

A more effective solution was to not let it see them frequently. By the same logic, seeing bamboo frequently would make the little warrior more likely to like bamboo.

Of course, Banbu couldn't completely entrust the little warrior to Duzhu's care.

He also no longer left the mountain easily every day, but lay at the entrance of the cave, watching Duzhu take the little warrior to play and be active.