Could the ants have been killed by a falling branch? For weak insects, the forest was full of countless dangers. Two months ago, a worker ant had been killed when a huge branch covered in snow had fallen on it.

  But st time, more than ten other ants had been hit by that branch at the same time. It was obviously unrealistic to kill five ants at once in the soft snow.

  Something unusual must have happened.

  System told Bck to inform the ants in the nest not to go out. He decided to take Shava with him to investigate the reason for the ants' disappearance.

  However, when System found her, he saw that she was eating.

  As the saying went, each advantage came with a disadvantage. Although Shava had become a half-knight and could now attack smoothly with her two powerful weapons, her tiny new head made it very difficult for her to eat.

  The food that Shava used to finish in two or three bites now took much longer to eat, which had become the biggest obstacle to her growth.

  Sometimes, when he watched Shava eat, System even had strange thoughts.

  It was fortunate that the knight in the images he'd sent to Shava hadn't been fully armored. Otherwise, Shava would have transformed into a knight wearing a helmet after her second pupation, and she'd probably end up starving to death because she couldn't eat.

  ...

  System estimated that Shava would need at least another hour to finish eating. He didn't disturb her. He decided to go outside alone to search for traces of the five missing ants instead.

  The ants in the nest were all instructed to stay within one hundred meters of the nest unless they encountered a life and death crisis.

  The pce where the ants had gone missing or died must be nearby. With how powerful System's eyesight was now, as long as he flew into the sky to observe, he would definitely find some clues.

  After leaving the nest and flying to a height of one hundred meters, System began scanning the area near the nest.

  He found that the moss in the forest was breeding faster than it had been a month earlier. It seemed like the moss had already adapted to the cold climate here.

  However, compared to the moss, the number of snow-shaped mushrooms had reduced a little. There had only been a few scattered ones in the beginning. Soon, they'd rapidly proliferated across the forest. Now came a gradual decline in number.

  System estimated that these mushrooms could adapt to a certain level of severe cold, but after the temperature dropped to about forty degrees below zero, they could no longer handle it.

  ...

  While continuously scanning the forest below, System soon discovered strange traces in the snow about thirty meters away from the nest.

  He found a rge pit in the snow that was roughly half a meter in diameter. It looked like the type of hole that was caused by a meteorite hitting the ground.

  System flew next to the pit and saw reddish-brown snow clumps inside. Even frozen, this bloodstained snow still emitted a strange fishy smell.

  He grabbed a bloodstained snow clump with his tentacles. While he couldn't detect an aura of the Abyss here, the blood's unusual fishy smell still made him feel uneasy.

  He had a feeling that his five ant subjects had been killed by this blood's owner, and his [Intuition] also gave him a sense of danger.

  System transformed into his [Frost Form], then questioned the halo that appeared above his head.

  "Is this the blood of an Abyssal demon?"

  "I don't know."

  The ice spirit didn't give System a useful answer, so he deactivated [Frost Form] and used [Perception] with his tentacles to inspect the blood.

  'This is...'

  System's face showed a puzzled look, and he soon put the snow soaked with blood into his mouth. As he slowly chewed and swallowed the snow, his expression became strange.

  System murmured quietly, 'Why did this insect's blood turn red, and why is it so spicy?'

  The mixture of spiciness and a unique sweetness was unexpectedly delicious, leaving an endless aftertaste in System's mouth.

  The thing that had caused the snow pit here had obviously been an insect, or at least a life form with insect blood. System could clearly feel that the level of this creature's insect bloodline was higher than his own. It had at least reached its fourth molting or third pupation.

  However, because there was too little blood here, System couldn't uncover any further information.

  He used his tentacles to flip the snow in the pit back and forth. Aside from occasional spots of blood, the snow pit didn't contain many clues about the life form.

  System could only roughly infer that the weight of this creature was at least a few kilograms. Otherwise, it wouldn't have smashed such a deep pit.

  'Where did it fall from? And how did it leave?'

  Except for the deep pit, System didn't find any other traces in the area. There were no strange footprints or anything else unusual nearby.

  It was as if a meatball had suddenly fallen from the sky, then grew wings and flew away.

  System spread his wings and continued exploring the surroundings. Shortly after resuming his search, he found new clues. Spots of caterpilr blood and tiny pieces of meat were lying in the snow next to a tree.

  He then found another messy patch of snow two meters away. He couldn't tell what had happened there from the traces that had been left behind, but he did find a light gray ant leg in the snow.

  Those ant subjects of his had undoubtedly died here.

  'Were they eaten?'

  The slender antennae on System's head suddenly shook as he detected a strange fishy smell.

  If System had faced this situation in the past, due to his anger over the death of his subjects, he definitely would have returned to the nest and brought Shava out. After all, Shava was now his strongest fighting force.

  However, he didn't go back to the nest for Shava this time. After sensing the direction the fishy smell came from, he flew off into the sky.

  Although angry, System wouldn't be so arrogant as to follow the smell directly to this unknown creature. He'd instead decided to fly to a high altitude so that he could observe it secretly.

  System descended from the sky from time to time before flying back up. He discovered that the origin of the fishy smell was about one hundred and fifty meters away from his nest.

  He didn't find anything special when he reached the source. His [Intuition] gave him a sense of danger, but not a level of danger that would cause him to lose his life.

  System thought for a while before slowly flying down. The moment he nded on the snowy ground, he suddenly discovered something.

  Blue light fshed in System's eyes several times in a row. He moved a few meters away, then stretched out his tentacles and touched a transparent silk thread that had been strung between two trees.

  The silk thread was strong and sticky. System had to use a lot of force with his tentacles to tear it apart. However, when he spit out his [Corrosive Mucus], the silk was easily dissolved.

  'Spider silk? After the cold winter, the spiders in Lilt Forest have basically gone extinct. Could this spider be the creature that's giving off that strange fishy smell?'

  System's antennae shook gently, and he suddenly heard a buzzing sound like bee wings. Something was flying toward him at a high speed...