Chapter 6: Under Attack
As it turned out, Luo Wen’s earlier suspicion about the small hole near his rear end was correct.
The ant-like creatures were exceptionally aggressive. One of the closest ants swayed its antennae, its six jointed limbs slightly bending before springing forward all at once, launching itself right at Luo Wen. Its hooked mandibles lifted slightly before clamping down in a swift motion, aiming to lock onto him.
Of course, Luo Wen wasn’t about to roll over and take it. While his compound eyes were terribly nearsighted, their thousands of lenses forming individual images gave him excellent dynamic vision.
To put it into perspective, if a human eye found watching a screen with a 60Hz refresh rate smooth and lag-free, Luo Wen’s dynamic vision was ten times better. For him, that 60Hz screen would seem like a slideshow, stuttering between frames for what felt like an eternity.
Yet, the ant’s launch speed was so fast that it exceeded the reaction threshold of human vision. Even for Luo Wen, while he could track its movements, there was no “bullet time” advantage.
He quickly used three of his elongated striding limbs on one side to kick against the ground, propelling himself into a roll and narrowly avoiding the attacking mandibles. The close call left Luo Wen drenched in cold sweat.
His current insect body lacked the flexibility of a human’s. Movements humans could execute with ease, such as rolling, were tremendously taxing for him.
This time, he was lucky. After rolling twice, he ended up belly down, still sprawled on the ground.
If his push-off had been weaker, or if any other mishap had occurred leaving him flipped belly-up, it would have spelled disaster. In his current form, flipping over was a monumental task, leaving him entirely at the mercy of the ants.