The forest was dark, but this did not matter since Kata was no longer human.
He saw better at night than during the day.
His red eyes seemed to take in all the light from the nine moons, allowing him to see even the slightest shake of a blade of grass.
He moved cautiously even though he knew that there would be no one to stop him from leaving camp.
“I must find food.
From what I can tell, we Wena can go for about six days without feeling any hunger, but this does not mean that our bodies do not need food during this time.
In fact, I can already tell that Wena process food much more efficiently when compared to humans.
This might have something to do with why we are so powerful.”
Kata’s stomach grumbled, bringing him back to the fact that he was already starving.
The slave masters had taken full advantage of the fact that the Wena could survive on barely any food.
They fed them once every three days, and the quantity and quality were barely fit for a small, ugly bird.
Kata had not eaten since he came to this world, and he was sure that the original Kata had not eaten for some time before he died.
In his past life, Kata had gone through some of the most dreadful military training regimens known to man, and he had excelled at all of them.
The most important thing he had learned from all this training was that survival was key.
All other things, such as freedom, human rights, and all that, could come afterwards.
The forest was filled with tall trees covered in green leaves, and yet there was nothing to eat.
All the trees were non-fruit-bearing, and some of them were even toxic.
“The humans must have cut down anything that could possibly provide food for the hungry Wena.
To control the masses, control their food.
This is a tactic that even I have used more than once.” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
After walking ten kilometers (6.2 miles) into the forest, Kata confirmed that there was nothing to eat other than the roots his mother had made a few days earlier.
He was not interested in these roots since they had barely scratched the mountain that was his hunger.
They held no nutritional value at all.
Kata continued deeper into the forest, but this time, he kept an eye out for hidden caloric sources and micro-habitats rather than the obvious.
His target had now shifted towards any insects he could get his hands on.
This was not an ideal meal, but some insects were packed with more protein than one would think.
“Cockroaches can produce as much as 65% protein by dry weight, equaling grasshoppers and surpassing grub.
Even though wild cockroaches are loved by bacteria and parasites, roasting them properly should do the trick.”
Kata began turning over rotten logs, peeling bark, and even digging up suspicious-looking holes.
He found not even a single insect leg, but he was not willing to leave his survival in the hands of his brutal masters.
If he were to do so, the only way he would be leaving the slave camp would be horizontally.
Kata finally reached the edge of a small swamp.
It was filled with rotting plants and the smell was atrocious, but this made him smile for the first time since he came to this world.
“I know that you must be here.
Even if the humans did everything they could to eliminate all other living things around the camp, there is no way they can possibly kill all the cockroaches.
Kata searched the muddy patch of land until he found what he was looking for.
It was a fat cockroach, three times the size of the ones he had seen in his former life.
The cockroach he found was something truly shocking and unexpected.
Kata had seen many things in his life, but he was still shaken so much that he staggered backwards and fell on his back.
He flipped over and began making his way from this place as fast as possible.
The cockroach did not stay idle.
The moment it saw him, he was already its next meal, and there was no way for him to escape its claws.
This cockroach was the size of a large stray cat.
On its abdomen, the cockroach had six large holes that took in so much air that six tiny whirlwinds could be seen.
These holes had replaced its spiracles, allowing the thing to support its massive size.
The skittering sound was no longer a faint thing that only a few could hear.
The sound was ear-piercing, and with each step it took, Kata could feel it moving closer.
Its exoskeleton, just like the rest of its body, was as white as snow and glowed with a faint energy that made the forest brighter.
The exoskeleton was thick, and just by looking at it, Kata could tell that fighting this thing head-on would be a big mistake that even he could not afford to make.
Kata could feel the power the cockroach was giving off, and he could have sworn that it was radiation.
He had been around more than a few radioactive explosives to immediately tell when he was near one.
Still, he could not believe that there was radioactive material in this forest.
This was good for him, but truly surprising when one remembered that the level of technology he had seen so far was less than impressive.
In fact, he was sure that this world had yet to even come up with bicycles, let alone a way to enrich uranium or anything of the sort.