"I, a fool with plenty of money and 500 divine power, am offering a high price to purchase a single ordinary species with extremely strong heat resistance. If there are any suitable species in your divine domain, hurry up and catch them to exchange. First come, first served." A thought from William's light sphere expanded outward.

  The demigod's divine domain is filled with all sorts of wonders, and almost any ordinary creature might appear, so it's possible to find the species genes that William needs. That's why he spends several hours each day searching the market on the Continent of Divine Communication for purchases.

  Although he had received some heat-resistant ordinary species, their heat resistance limits were still far from his requirements. These specimens could only serve as gene templates for storage.

  At this moment, a light sphere approached: "Hey, boss, I have an ordinary species with heat resistance. How many do you need?"

  "A few will do, as long as the heat resistance of your species meets my needs," William habitually explained.

  "In my divine domain, there's a type of worm that lives in volcanic environments. It's only a few centimeters long, and it can survive in high-temperature environments as long as it doesn't fall into the lava. Do you want them?" The person described the heat-resistant species they could get.

  "Catch a few and bring them to me first. If they're not suitable, I'll cover the cost of the sealing cards." William immediately showed interest upon hearing that it was an ordinary species capable of surviving near lava.

  Such organisms, which can survive in high-temperature environments year-round, often have unique genes, and this could lead to new breakthroughs in his current work on the new insect species units.

  "Wait a moment, I'll catch a few right now," the person said, and without hesitation, they disappeared in front of William.

  Not long after, the light sphere reappeared and handed him a card sealed with the species.

  William immediately gave back an empty sealing card and began to probe the species inside the card with his divine sense.

  Inside the card, there were a few black worms, about two fingers long, crawling around a pool of lava, completely unaffected by the heat. They seemed very lively.

  Seeing this, William directly sent his divine sense into the card to observe these worms, ensuring that they did not have any extraordinary gene tumors.

  "These worms are good. I'll take them," William said, then promptly transferred 500 divine power to the person.

  After receiving the new heat-resistant species, William returned to his divine domain and began the process of gene fusion.

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  In less than half a month, William had fully analyzed the new worms' genes. These worms had a special muscular membrane on their surface, providing excellent heat and insulation properties, far surpassing any of the other heat-resistant genes William had.

  He was very pleased with the new heat-resistant gene, and after incorporating it into the new insect species design, he finally completed the initial prototype. It could now be officially put into production.

  This new insect species was entirely modified from flying jumping worms. To achieve higher speed, their bodies were made smaller, and their wings enlarged. The curved scythe-like appendages on their backs were removed, and their limbs were further shrunk, losing the ability to run quickly on the ground, but their fingertips had adhesive structures that allowed them to cling to any surface.

  The body’s exoskeleton was also weakened to reduce weight, and a sharp single horn was added to their head. The main body and abdomen reverted to a two-part structure typical of insects.

  They had two hearts: a regular heart in the main body to maintain normal functions, and a crystallized extraordinary heart in the abdomen. The entire abdomen was surrounded by organs constructed with various heat-resistant gene templates to ensure survival.

  When not in combat, a highly efficient dormancy system inside their bodies could suppress the internal heat, allowing them to survive for long periods.

  Essentially, these creatures were flying suicide bombs. William’s design referenced some aspects of self-detonating moths in his past life and made them even more adaptable.

  These self-destructing jump worms could serve as missiles, effective both in the air and on the ground, causing significant area damage. This gave William a sense of confidence when facing extraordinary creatures, something he had been cautious about in case he encountered an enemy that couldn't be defeated.

  Time passed quickly as William continued his routine work. One day, while busy analyzing genes, William suddenly received a message from Lex.

  "Kid, come out for a bit."

  William saw Lex’s message and temporarily set aside his work. In a flash of his demigod form, he appeared outside the divine domain's barrier.

  As soon as he arrived, Lex’s divine domain was floating nearby. Lex's demigod form approached him as soon as he saw William.

  "How's the preparation going? The city-wide competition is about to start," Lex asked with a smile.

  "Not bad. I've been meaning to test the growth of my followers through some battles," William responded as he met Lex.

  "That's good to hear. The competition venue has been confirmed. I'll send you the coordinates. We'll head there together. This time, our school is under my leadership," Lex said, sending the coordinates to William with a proud expression.

  "Lex, do you know the rules for this competition?" William asked curiously after receiving the coordinates.

  "The rule should be 1v1 battles. The city competition usually doesn’t have anything too fancy; the goal is to select the strongest senior students in Zhonghai City."

  "1v1 battles?" William asked, puzzled.

  "Have you not checked the information for the city competition? It's basically two players battling each other, and the winner advances. The loser enters the loser bracket, and after two losses, they're eliminated. There should be around 3,000 participants. To make it to the top three, you'll probably have to fight through about ten rounds of matches."

  "That's the difficulty of the city competition. Every high school senior’s followers are limited. Without enough strength, after two or three rounds, their followers will be exhausted, and they'll have to quit the competition," Lex continued.

  "Each match requires at least 10,000 followers, with no upper limit. So, it also tests the participants' strategy in deploying their forces and their psychological endurance. When facing a strong opponent, it’s a test whether to go all-in, risking significant losses for a chance at victory, or to withdraw strategically into the loser bracket to preserve strength," Lex said, smiling at William.