Chapter 174: Mandatory Command

“Chirp!”

Clara pointed at the inner wall of the rocky cave, signaling the Moon Rabbits to continue digging. The Moon Rabbits looked at the corpse of the Rabbit Soldier, then turned their heads and went back to burrowing.

“Squeak~”

However, the Moon Rabbit Clara could rightfully slack off now. She was held in the arms of the original body, watching the other ordinary Moon Rabbits work hard at digging.

These rabbits still did not understand the situation.

With their simple minds, they would not contemplate such complex matters. Since Clara had transformed into a Rabbit Soldier, they simply accepted her as one.

As for leaking information…

Clara was even less worried about that.

Leaving aside the fact that Rabbit Soldiers all looked identical, even if they wanted to tell the other Moon Rabbits, they lacked a language capable of expressing it.

“Squeak~”

The speed at which these rabbits dug was incredibly fast. The tunnel climbed upward at a pace visible to the naked eye. It probably would not be long before they broke through back to the main camp. Then, a massive swarm of Moon Rabbits would come pouring in, staining this stretch of sea red as well.

The expansion speed of these rabbits was a completely devastating blow to the ecology of other species.

If they were in Central City, they would certainly be annihilated by heroes—who outnumbered the Moon Rabbits—before they could even begin to expand. But at these stations far from Central City, it was easy to leave people feeling helpless.

Clara turned her head to look at the Rabbit Soldier, wrapped it in a black ink membrane, and pushed it into the sea, sending it out of the cave.

She would let Sista recover it.

**[Acknowledged.]**

Although it was not a giant rabbit, studying the remains of a Rabbit Soldier might provide a way to crack the secrets of the Moon Rabbits.

“Chirp, chirp.”

A Moon Rabbit ran back from the tunnel, seemingly having broken through and returned to notify them.

The tunnel was a bit low, making it inconvenient for Clara in her Rabbit Soldier form to enter and inspect. Only the mini Moon Rabbit Clara could go inside to confirm the situation. The slope was also slightly steep, but it was not difficult for a Moon Rabbit to climb.

She scurried up the tunnel, and it did not take long before she connected with another tunnel.

—

No wonder; Clara had always felt their progress was a bit too fast.

‘The Moon Rabbits’ memory is actually quite remarkable. The rabbit leading the excavation clearly knew there was a tunnel here, so it intentionally dug toward it. Even when fleeing, they know the position of every tunnel… Nyx, do you think it is impressive for a low-level creature to have such a memory?’

‘Memory is very good… is it?’

Clara was lost in thought.

“Squeak~”

Just as she emerged from the hole, a passing, upright-walking, and filthy Moon Rabbit ran over to sniff Clara.

‘Putting supercomputers aside, don’t you think that for a low-level creature, it deduced the function of this tunnel through smell?’

“Chirp!”

Then it hopped around Clara to show friendliness, and finally, it simply lunged forward and began nibbling on Clara’s neck… This was not an aggressive action. Rubbing their teeth—which could bite through anything—against a fatal artery was an act of intimacy between Moon Rabbits.

Oh no, was she being liked by a female Moon Rabbit again?

‘No, it seems to recognize you.’

Hmm?

Clara did not recognize it at all.

In Clara’s eyes, all Moon Rabbits looked the same.

‘It is the same passerby Moon Rabbit that led you to the rabbit hole back then.’

Meeting again among thousands of rabbits, and even surviving one night without being iterated into a lump of meat, this Moon Rabbit was quite “long-lived.” Clara felt a tiny bit of goodwill toward this rabbit that had looked after her.

“Squeak~”

The passerby Moon Rabbit sniffed the tunnel behind Clara again, nodded its head, and then dove straight in.

‘It smelled the saltiness of seawater on you, and then it confirmed the scent from down the tunnel. Now, it has gone down to the sea to catch fish.’

For real? Could Moon Rabbits have such reasoning abilities?

‘This is just my speculation, but as the speed of evolution and iteration increases, individual differences will also become larger.’

Other Moon Rabbits also began entering the newly dug tunnel one after another. It seemed the schools of fish in that sea area were about to suffer. However, the Moon Rabbit combat unit could temporarily get off work.

Having obtained the data of the Rabbit Soldier, she could finally approach the Azure Cavalry legitimately.

—

But before that, some preparations had to be made.

“Fran, how is the situation? Any results?”

Inside the infirmary, Fran was dissecting the Rabbit Soldier that Sista had fished out from the sea.

Sista was acting as her assistant.

The scene on the operating table was a bit graphic. Clara could not bear to look. The Moon Rabbits in the nearby cages were huddled in the corner, appearing as if they had been frightened by Fran’s “cruelty.”

Although they were still alive, it felt as though half their lives had been scared out of them.

However, the injuries on their bodies had indeed been healed by Fran.

“Don’t be impatient. This was just sent back.”

Fran did not find this scene cruel at all. In the Modification Department, worse situations occurred all the time.

As a natural-born hero, Sista was even less likely to feel fear at such a sight.

Clara frowned and covered her nose as she asked, “Fran, do you know how Psycho and that Mother give orders to the Moon Rabbits? These rabbits don’t even have a language, yet they can follow commands. There must be some other way, right?”

Fran thought for a moment before asking in return, “Say, Clara, dear, do you know what a hive mind is… or rather, a Gestalt consciousness?”

Clara blinked, startled.

“Uh, you mean like those space insect races?”

“Correct~ The colony structure of wild Moon Rabbits is a hive mind. Each individual is a part of the hive mind, just with different roles. All the Moon Rabbits added together make up a complete consciousness. All is one, and the behavior of the individual is a manifestation of the collective consciousness.”

“Uh, are you trying to say these guys are the same?”

Fran nodded, but then shook her head.

“Even though they were modified by the Fourth Disaster, they are still Moon Rabbits at their core. Theoretically, they should not deviate from the scope of a hive mind. But these little things, as individuals, clearly display independent consciousness.”

“Then what exactly is the situation?”

As Clara asked this, Fran dropped the scalpel and took off her disposable rubber gloves.

Then, she took a lollipop out of her blood-stained white coat.

“The interference from the Fourth Disaster prevented the birth of a complete hive mind, giving the Moon Rabbit Mother absolute control over the species. However, an incomplete hive mind also brings disadvantages. If the collective consciousness cannot form, the self-awareness of the individuals will awaken. That is why there are Moon Rabbits that followed you and escaped.”

Clara nodded, only half-understanding.

Was the method of interference to break the communication channels between the individuals?

Normally, as “cells” of the hive mind, the individuals would not even need language to understand each other’s thoughts. But now, these Moon Rabbits could only use hand gestures and simple, monotonous cries to communicate.

‘To figure this out, we need the Mother’s data.’

Even if Nyx had not said it, Clara had already thought of it.

The data from the Rabbit Soldier was not enough.

If she could extract the data of the Moon Rabbit Mother, perhaps she could turn this unfavorable situation around.