Neva's thoughts seemed to freeze for a moment.
The strange syllables, combined with the indistinct words, made her head throb.
"This eerie crystal heart, it can't really be some evil, dangerous thing, can it?"
Suddenly, Neva was filled with worry about her future.
"Gurgle~"
A long, resonant sound emanated from her stomach, breaking the cave's silence, dispelling her chaotic thoughts, and pulling her back from various suspicions to the reality she faced.
Moreover, her head was hurting more and more. Was she overthinking? Perhaps a Worm's brain simply couldn't support such intense thought.
At this moment, Neva succumbed to hunger and headache.
All other thought processes halted, leaving only the urge to find food in her mind.
Looking around, the dark cave contained nothing but glowing moss and Grayish-white Worm eggs.
The moss was probably inedible because Neva hadn't seen any Worms eating it.
Why were these Worms called Gluttonous Worms?
According to the Civilization's scholars, the Gluttonous Worms' inherent ability, Devour, causes them to produce extremely corrosive stomach acid, capable of rapidly dissolving metal. This also keeps them in a perpetual state of painful hunger, with everything that can be called food on their diet.
When hungry, these irritable and ferocious Worms wouldn't even mind tasting themselves.
Anything these unintelligent Worms wouldn't eat was best avoided.
Although Neva wasn't aware of this knowledge, it didn't prevent her from making some guesses, and the instinctive memories etched into the Worm's genes also told her that this was not food.
That left only the Worm eggs.
Even though she had eaten the Worm egg that nurtured her, this didn't mean she could eat other Worm eggs without batting an eye. The thought that each of those Worm eggs contained a Worm just like her still made her feel a bit nauseous and gave her goosebumps.
Some things take time to get used to, but compared to nausea, for someone who used to eat five meals a day, starvation was far more terrifying.
Regardless, she had to taste it first!
Just as she was about to act, a Grayish-white Gluttonous Worm crawled in front of her without her noticing.
Neva stopped, and the Grayish-white Worm stopped with her.
They stared at each other.
"Uh, something feels off?"
What did it want to do?
Neva became wary, wiggling backward like a caterpillar.
But perhaps it was her show of weakness that made the Grayish-white Worm suddenly pounce on her.
She hadn't expected the Grayish-white Worm to attack without warning. Before she could react, its fangs pierced her epidermis, embedding deeply into her flesh.
The palps at its mouth also simultaneously stabbed into her body, firmly pinning her down.
Intense pain struck... Neva rolled wildly on the ground, trying to shake off this Grayish-white Worm.
At the same time, the craving for food in her empty head vanished, replaced only by fear.
Damn, she was going to die!
The instinct for survival, combined with the Gluttonous Worm's inherent ferocity, made her irritable. She also bit at the Worm clinging to her.
"Pfft..."
Because Neva had just been born, her fangs weren't hard enough. They only scraped the opponent's skin, drawing a faint red bead of blood.
If there were damage numbers, it would probably look like this:
HP -1.
Fortunately, the Grayish-white Worm released her after feeling pain.
Neva seized the opportunity to escape the Grayish-white Worm's gaping maw.
However, because the Grayish-white Worm's palps had pierced so deeply into her flesh, forcibly pulling away was not without consequence.
Neva's body was nearly severed in two. A hideous and terrifying wound appeared in the middle of her body, shallow red blood gushing out. The bitten area was a bloody mess, and even her exposed organs were visible.
Her head felt like it had been submerged in water, becoming dizzy and heavy. The intense pain tormented her nerves, temporarily bringing her rationality online.
Her current state was like an ancient prisoner being cut in half at the waist, not completely severed, with half still connected to her body.
The moment she had wanted to retreat from the Grayish-white Worm, she had already been labeled as food by it.
At this moment, Neva understood: there was no shortage of food in the cave. Newborn Worms, including Worm eggs, were a buffet for those born earlier.
For Worms, there was no such thing as sibling affection; there was only breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Cannibalism was perfectly normal for these brutal creatures living underground.
Reality was despairing.
But survival was not a leisurely farming simulation game, and difficulty could not be self-selected.
The Grayish-white Worm greedily chewed the flesh it had bitten off Neva, staring covetously at the timid, weak, and strangely behaving "food" before it.
Enduring the pain, Neva tried her best to feign ferocity, hissing and bluffing, even knowing it was useless.
She couldn't win at all!
Because of her carelessness, she was almost instantly killed by the opponent. This Worm was a size larger than her and possessed a killing instinct she lacked. The scales of victory were entirely tipped in the opponent's favor.
And what about her? Just born, with no combat experience, and in her current state, she couldn't even escape.
What a terrible start!
She shook her increasingly hazy head, forcing herself to stay conscious.
She didn't want to end up in the opponent's stomach, becoming its nourishment, in such a muddled way.
She could be optimistic about becoming a Worm, but facing death was different. Recalling the despair and helplessness of being crushed by a car wheel, one such experience was enough!
Perhaps it was because Neva was too weak and easily defeated, or perhaps it was due to its blind self-confidence, but the Grayish-white Worm was the first to break the stalemate.
It opened its hideous mouth and pounced.
Neva made the same move, enduring the pain in her body and biting at the opponent.
Her courage was commendable, but the outcome was cruel.
Rip... The Grayish-white Worm dodged Neva's attack and bit off another large chunk of flesh from Neva.
It swallowed the flesh, preparing to repeat its tactic.
At this moment, Neva was like a delicious piece of bread, being torn apart at will.
Watching the fangs, still dripping with blood and clinging bits of flesh, approach, she wanted to dodge, but her body wouldn't obey.
In the instant death arrived, time truly seemed to stretch infinitely.
Fear, despair, and also some regrets from her human life.
Several large bags of snacks she hadn't finished, novels she hadn't completed, and several papers accumulated at the end of the semester that she hadn't even started... Wait, this should be a good thing, right?
Dispelling these chaotic thoughts from her mind, and with the intention of making one last stand before death, she disregarded the tearing of her wound, raised her upper body high, and aimed at the Grayish-white Worm's head.
With the vengeful thought that even if she died, she would bite this hateful Worm into a brain-damaged state, the malevolence in Neva's heart was unleashed!
But the Grayish-white Worm's attack always seemed to be one step faster. Its sharp fangs bit into her body, piercing the flesh instantly, and a scorching burning sensation spread with it.
But the next moment, the Grayish-white Worm seemed to have bitten a rock; its fangs could no longer advance an inch.
Uh... it really did bite a "rock."
Whether by coincidence or because in the Grayish-white Worm's memory, the heart was the softest and most fatal spot, it just so happened to choose Neva's heart as its target.
The sharp fangs pierced in at an incredibly fast speed until they hit the eerie black crystal heart.
The next moment, something even more unexpected happened to the Worm.
"Crack!"
A crisp snapping sound rang out, and the Grayish-white Worm's teeth broke in half, falling to the ground.
W-what was going on?
Was the quality of this crystal heart so good? It directly chipped off its teeth!
What a dramatic twist!
Even if a Worm larva's teeth were still relatively fragile, was this break too coincidental?
But if one thought about it carefully, no Worm would take its own teeth and clash them against a rock shortly after being born.
The Grayish-white Worm's pitifully small intelligence was insufficient for it to understand why its teeth had broken.
It released its bite, and the pain made it let out a mournful wail.
Neva reacted immediately.
If she didn't fight back now, she'd truly be finished!
She pounced on the Grayish-white Worm without hesitation, biting fiercely at its head. Her teeth pierced its fragile eye, and a pungent, disgusting liquid flowed into her mouth.
The Worm struggled wildly, its immense strength further tearing Neva's wound. She even heard her own teeth making similar cracking sounds.
But Neva still held on tightly, fueled by anger, pain, and the desire to survive.
The roles of hunter and prey had successfully swapped.
Perhaps that Grayish-white Worm never imagined that it, with the advantage, would be counter-killed by its weak food.
Gradually, the Worm stopped its twisting struggles, its soft body becoming stiff.
After some more time, Neva finally let go, falling to the ground, greedily gasping for air.
She survived!
Excitement and joy filled her fearful, exhausted heart.
It felt as if tears were about to well up in her eyes, but this was ultimately her misconception; Gluttonous Worms do not have tear ducts.
[First kill completed, Evolution Value +1]