The Woes of Nosebleeds

Sensing the fear of the longhorn beetle, Tom quickly projected a reassuring thought: "You're safe now, beetle. I've killed all the ants."

After mutation, the intelligence of the longhorn beetle seemed to have improved. Just like the gecko before, it greatly appreciated Tom's reassurance.

"Scary, scary," it expressed.

"No need to be afraid, I've killed them all," Tom assured.

"So impressive, so impressive," it replied.

These conversations were actually Tom's own imagination. While the consciousness of the longhorn beetle expressed similar emotional states, its intelligence after mutation was only equivalent to that of a one-year-old child in terms of thought expression.

Tom then withdrew from the longhorn beetle's mind, and it woke up, shaking its huge body as it stood up.

Seeing this beetle, over 20 centimeters long and about 9 centimeters tall, with a hard shell and all black, everyone tightened their grip on their weapons, fearing the worst.