At the mine, Qi Heng gripped the vine used for descending and braced his feet against the stone wall, reaching the bottom in only a few movements.
He walked over to where the vine baskets were stored and casually picked one up. Then, like every other ordinary female Zerg who had come to mine, he selected a tunnel and entered, blending perfectly into the crowd.
Even Qi Heng’s exceptional appearance attracted little attention underground.
Most female Zerg descended in complete darkness. There was not even a single lamp inside the mine. Anyone with poorer vision might walk straight into someone else.
There were dozens of mine tunnels, and after entering, they branched in every direction. Even the female Zerg who had worked here the longest could hardly claim to remember every passage.
Most of them remembered only the route they regularly mined.
There was no need for them to memorize the others. They only needed to remember a tunnel where they could currently extract ore.
The female Zerg entering the mine could not remember them all.
Qi Heng could.
Every place he passed was scanned by the system and drawn onto a map. No matter how deep he traveled into the tunnels, he could guarantee that he would find his way out.
After turning left and right through the passages for more than twenty minutes, he finally reached the abandoned tunnel he had marked as Tunnel No. 1.
Qi Heng lowered his head and pulled open the pocket of his coat slightly.
The Blue-Tailed Butterfly’s antennae cautiously poked out. It then slowly fluttered its wings and flew free.
A water-blue glow radiated from its wings, introducing a faint stream of light into the pitch-black tunnel.
Qi Heng extended his hand.
The Blue-Tailed Butterfly lightly landed on his fingertip. He then placed it on his shoulder, where it remained motionless.
Although the butterfly carried a faint portion of the plump Zerg’s consciousness, its fundamental nature had not changed.
It could understand only simple commands and complete assigned tasks.
Until it finished its task, its already rudimentary mental entity was practically nonexistent. Even if Qi Heng gave it complicated instructions, it would not understand them.
Qi Heng stopped before the enormous fallen rocks blocking the tunnel and released his mental power, connecting with the mining worker stationed behind the stone wall.
He had previously ordered the mining workers to assign one of their number to stand guard. Otherwise, when he arrived, the stone wall might prevent him from contacting the others.
Had he not awakened the Commander, Qi Heng would not have come today.
After only a short wait, one of the rocks before him shifted aside, revealing an opening large enough for a single person to pass.
Qi Heng lowered his head slightly and entered.
After walking a dozen steps, the space before him suddenly opened up.
Qi Heng possessed excellent night vision, so the darkness inside the mine appeared merely dim to him.
Nevertheless, he was accustomed to bright, open environments. Remaining in darkness for extended periods still made him somewhat uncomfortable.
These were the conditions available to him. Even if he wanted to be particular, he had no other choice.
Once Qi Heng entered the cavern behind the fallen rocks, several mining workers joined together behind him.
They pushed the rock, which was several times larger than their bodies, back into place and resealed the entrance.
Without witnessing it personally, it would have been difficult to imagine that their soft bodies and forelimbs could produce enough force to move such a massive stone.
Yet they could.
Mining workers might rely on their teeth to excavate, but transporting ore also required physical strength.
How could they truly be as soft, cute, and harmless as they appeared?
Waiting beside Qi Heng’s feet was the mining worker that had sensed his arrival.
The soft little white Zerg, only as tall as his knee, lay prostrate before him. Its posture of absolute obedience made Qi Heng feel somewhat helpless.
“Call all of them here.”
Qi Heng conveyed the command through their mental link.
This mining worker had belonged to the first group of larvae the system created.
Each time Qi Heng visited, this was the one that came to greet him. Later, it distinguished itself among the six hundred mining workers and became the small leader of the group.
That was also why it had earned the privilege of approaching the Overlord alone.
The other mining workers possessed no such honor.
Even when Qi Heng arrived, they could only keep their heads down and continue mining, working hard to extract more ore and please their Overlord.
Qi Heng studied the creature.
Unless he was mistaken, a gray-white crystal approximately the size of a ping-pong ball had condensed on its forehead.
That was a sign that it would soon undergo metamorphosis.
Unlike the Tianjia Zerg, whose entirely Higher-Zerg population possessed humanoid appearances and implemented a civilized administrative system, the Primordial Zerg were divided into distinct ranks from the moment they were born.
Above all Primordial Zerg stood the Overlord.
Beneath the Overlord, only one being occupied the highest position:
The Commander.
The Commander was the shared mother of every Primordial Zerg. It could gestate and produce any Primordial-Zerg species.
Below it were the swarms formed from the Primordial Zerg it produced.
A small number of King Zerg served as guards. Beneath them were upper-order, middle-order, and lower-order Zerg.
Primordial Zerg could evolve.
Under suitable conditions, a lower-order Zerg could advance into a middle-order Zerg. Successful evolution not only made it stronger, but also granted it new abilities.
The mining workers, for example, belonged to the lower order.
Their abilities were not especially powerful. At most, each could be considered a competent ordinary miner.
They knew how to excavate without causing the mine to collapse, and they could process raw ore by stripping away unwanted material and extracting complete crystalline ore.
After evolving, a Mining Worker Zerg could become a Geological Gray Zerg and acquire the new ability [Prospecting].
It could locate mineral veins, survey them, and guide excavation.
At even higher levels, it could evolve into other related branches of the Primordial Zerg.
When Qi Heng first learned about this system, he had joked that the Primordial Zerg possessed a complete promotion structure.
It was an exceptionally capitalist-friendly system.
No financial or material compensation was required, while every worker remained utterly tireless, loyal, and obedient.
Promotion generally occurred through one of two methods: active or passive.
The active method was straightforward.
The Commander selected a Zerg and forcibly elevated it.
Passive promotion occurred when a Zerg naturally capable of advancement emerged within a branch swarm.
The number of such Zerg depended partly on luck, and every tool-Zerg species possessed different evolutionary requirements.
Unlike the Commander, which could control the quality of the Primordial Zerg it produced, the quality of mining workers created by the system was completely random.
It was like opening blind boxes.
Under these circumstances, the appearance of a mining worker already displaying signs of metamorphosis was an unexpected development for Qi Heng.
He became distracted by his thoughts.
As a result, he did not notice the mining worker lying on the ground slowly raise its upper body, turn its head, and call to its companions still excavating ore.
In less than a minute, the space before Qi Heng became densely packed with mining workers lying prostrate on the ground.
They extended into the cavern behind them, arranged from nearest to farthest according to the order in which they had been born.
When Qi Heng returned to his senses, he realized that he had been lost in thought for quite some time.
Before him, the assembled mining workers presented themselves in postures of absolute submission.
The entire cavern was so quiet that Qi Heng could hear only his own soft breathing.
The smile on his face gradually disappeared.
He did not understand why these simple-minded tool Zerg made him feel strangely uncomfortable.
Logically, seeing them should have made him feel relieved.
Their existence had already saved him considerable trouble, and he could foresee them resolving many more problems for him in the future.
“I seem to be thinking too much…” Qi Heng murmured softly.
Only he could hear the words.
Apart from him, there was not a single creature here capable of independent thought.
Qi Heng suppressed the emotion he did not wish to examine.
“The Commander has awakened,” he told the mining workers. “It will reestablish its connection with you.”
As he spoke, his mental power spread like a warm spring breeze, gently passing over every mining worker and conveying his meaning to them.
This was the first time Qi Heng had used his mental power on such a large scale.
The mental power he released enveloped every mining worker present.
He then reached toward the Blue-Tailed Butterfly on his shoulder.
The butterfly hopped onto the knuckle of his index finger, and Qi Heng lightly moved it in front of him.
The Blue-Tailed Butterfly had always been the form through which the Commander presented itself to the outside world.
Even mining workers that had only recently been created carried an impression of it.
During Tianjia Civilization’s prosperous era, orders were generally delivered through many descending layers of command.
A lower-order Zerg could live its entire life without seeing the Commander’s true body.
The Blue-Tailed Butterfly, despite also belonging to the lower order, was different.
The Commander frequently attached its consciousness to one to issue commands.
It also commonly used this form while accompanying the Overlord.
Therefore, among the Primordial Zerg, the Blue-Tailed Butterfly was treated as the Commander’s incarnation.
All Primordial Zerg instinctively protected ordinary Blue-Tailed Butterflies.
A butterfly carrying the Commander’s consciousness, however, received the highest possible reverence.
Distinguishing between the two was simple.
Whenever a Blue-Tailed Butterfly carrying the Commander’s consciousness conveyed an order, the patterns on its wings changed from water blue to gold.
Mining workers spent their lives underground. Their vision allowed them to see clearly even in darkness.
The prostrate mining workers raised their heads slightly and looked in the same direction.
There stood Qi Heng, and on his right hand rested the Blue-Tailed Butterfly.
The Commander was the leader of every Primordial Zerg.
Only because the Commander existed could the swarms be born.
Obedience to the Commander was engraved into the genes of every Primordial Zerg, and that obedience took precedence even over their obedience to the Overlord.
Without the Commander, there could be no Primordial Zerg.
“It’s your turn.”
Qi Heng’s mental power brushed over the Blue-Tailed Butterfly.
The butterfly carried the plump Zerg’s consciousness.
It rubbed reluctantly against Qi Heng’s fingertip before finally spreading its wings and flying toward the mining workers below.
The task was important.
In an instant, the patterns on the butterfly’s wings changed to a brilliant gold.
A streak of golden light crossed the darkness as the Commander’s consciousness connected with the mining workers inside the range of Qi Heng’s mental power.
The faint mental power produced by every mining worker gathered together, triggering a mental resonance filled with joy and excitement.
The resonance formed waves that continuously spread outward.
Under the direction of the Commander’s consciousness, they were drawn back toward the butterfly’s wings.
The layer of golden patterns absorbed all the mental power voluntarily offered by the mining workers.
Qi Heng stood silently to the side and watched.
Only after the Blue-Tailed Butterfly had established a connection with every mining worker did he withdraw his mental power.
His present mental strength could not be compared with what it had been when he first transmigrated.
Otherwise, supporting this mental connection would have been quite strenuous.
The main problem was that the plump Zerg was currently too weak.
If it possessed its former strength, Qi Heng would not have needed to assist from the side.
After completing its task, the Blue-Tailed Butterfly flew one circle around all the mining workers.
Once the circuit was complete, it suddenly charged toward Qi Heng.
Without thinking, Qi Heng raised his hand and happened to catch the butterfly as it flew like a headless fly.
It obediently settled on his hand without even glancing at the mining workers below, which remained delighted by the Commander’s awakening.
The golden patterns on its wings slowly faded.
In Qi Heng’s eyes, these were tool Zerg.
They were the same in the plump Zerg’s eyes.
Among the Primordial Zerg, perhaps only a King Zerg could make the former Commander, now the plump Zerg, regard it somewhat more highly.
Producing one required a considerable investment of the Commander’s power.
When one paid more, one naturally looked at the result a few extra times.
The current plump Zerg was incapable of producing King Zerg.
Otherwise, it would already have sent several to Qi Heng as bodyguards.
During the Overlord’s era, before the Commander devoured the remaining Primordial Zerg and entered Second Rebirth, King-class Primordial Zerg had been concealed throughout the Sacred Temple.
Every one of them had been assigned to protect the Overlord.
“Dismiss them. You remain.”
Qi Heng held the Blue-Tailed Butterfly in his palm.
Its form was exceptionally beautiful. Even when viewed from close range, it resembled a carefully carved work of art.
When the Commander had originally needed to choose a form through which it could remain beside the Overlord and appear before others, Qi Heng had immediately selected the illustration of the Blue-Tailed Butterfly.
As a human, he was no exception to the tendency to favor beautiful things.
Perhaps because of that choice, the Commander continued using the Blue-Tailed Butterfly’s form.
Later, the Primordial Zerg evolved separate appearances for warfare and ordinary life.
In summary, Qi Heng’s aesthetic preferences indirectly influenced the Commander, while the swarms beneath it evolved according to the Commander’s wishes.
Because of their harmless and deceptive everyday forms, the Primordial Zerg eventually became infamous as treacherous, cunning, and hypocritical after establishing their reputation as weapons of war.
Those descriptions came from the fortunate members of enemy civilizations that had not been completely wiped out and were left fleeing through the sea of stars.
What morality was there to discuss on a battlefield?
If a tactic for luring in enemies worked, of course it should be used.
Any civilization incapable of recognizing a disguised Primordial Zerg deserved to become its food.
That was what Qi Heng had believed at the time.
Although he had changed somewhat and regretted some of his former actions, he did not regret them entirely.
Most civilizations regarded as enemies had declared war on Tianjia Civilization first.
A smaller number had each possessed their own reasons for becoming enemies.
Only a tiny handful had been destroyed merely because they obstructed Tianjia Civilization’s development.
Yet when a war was waged for a civilization’s continued survival and growth, how could there be any simple question of right and wrong?
Had Tianjia Civilization lost, Tianjia would have been the one erased.
During the long period in which Qi Heng developed Tianjia Civilization inside the game, it had nearly been destroyed several times after taking the wrong path in its early stages.
Even after becoming an interstellar civilization, it had occasionally found itself at a disadvantage and been beaten into a desperate retreat.
Even Qi Heng, a player with cheats, could not elevate a civilization from its lowest stage to an advanced civilization without making mistakes.
Inside the [Chamber of Time], Tianjia Civilization had even been completely annihilated before.
Qi Heng had originally intended to collect the mined ore only at intervals.
Since he was already here, however, there was no reason not to absorb the ore currently available.
The system had previously stored six thousand energy points.
In only a few days, that amount had fallen to sixteen hundred.
There would undoubtedly be many situations requiring energy in the future.
It was better to prepare in advance than discover he lacked energy at the moment he needed it.
After absorbing approximately six metric tons of Obsidian Crystal, the system’s energy total reached 2,180.5 points.
Differences in the purity and energy content of Obsidian Crystal affected the amount of energy the system absorbed each time.
An increase of more than five hundred points was reasonably good.
After all, there had only been six tons.
At the current rate of collection, accumulating ten thousand energy points would require roughly one month.
Once the system’s folded space was repaired, Qi Heng could load the ore inside, transport it back, and feed it to the plump Zerg.
That would be an effective solution.
There was one problem.
Could the plump Zerg survive for an entire month on only that set of energy crystals?
Even if it ate frugally, they probably would not be enough.
Qi Heng knew perfectly well how much a juvenile Commander could eat.
Unless it consumed a highly concentrated energy source such as an energy crystal, reducing the physical quantity it needed to eat, it could consume ordinary minerals continuously throughout the day without becoming tired of them.
The plump Zerg’s life energy had already been severely exhausted.
If Qi Heng allowed it to remain hungry much longer, he was genuinely concerned that it might simply die.
Furthermore, he had other matters to handle.
He could not travel between the mine and the dead-egg pit every day to transport ore.
Qi Heng considered waiting one month for less than two minutes before discarding the plan.
Instead of making matters so troublesome, it would be better to solve the problem once and for all.
Qi Heng turned toward the mining worker with the gray-white crystal growing from its forehead.
“Number Twenty-Eight…”
He paused.
“Calling you that constantly is inconvenient. I’ll give you a name.”
Every mining worker remembered its number from the moment it was created.
They were all tool Zerg, so there had been no need to name them.
However, Qi Heng intended to make use of this particular mining worker in the future.
Giving it a name would make distinguishing it from the others easier.
Mining Worker 28 understood Qi Heng’s meaning.
A slowly growing sense of joy reached him through their connection.
It then crossed its two forelimbs against the ground and pressed its forehead down.
In the past, lower-order Primordial Zerg had not been qualified to receive names.
Only the leaders of the various swarm branches possessed names, and without exception, those leaders had all belonged to the King Zerg class.
“From now on, your name will be Hui Ge.”
Qi Heng had thought of this name before.
More precisely, “before” referred to the early period when he first developed the Primordial Zerg.
At the time, every Primordial Zerg successfully promoted to King Zerg received a name from him.
Because he had been interested, he would think carefully before naming them despite his lack of talent for it.
That was why he could still remember some of those names now.
Hui Ge had been the name of a King Zerg he remembered from the game’s early stages.
Later…
There had been no later.
That Hui Ge had died in a war.
‘Overlord. Loyalty.’
That was the entirety of the thoughts the new Hui Ge sent through the mental link.
It repeated them continuously, like a mentally impaired child capable of only two words.
Qi Heng wanted to sigh.
He did sigh.
What more could he expect?
Receiving any response from a lower-order Zerg was already difficult.
Simple communication required at least a middle-order Zerg.
“You’ve been excavating for several days. Is there any direction in which you’ve found no trace of female Zerg at all?”
Hui Ge raised its plump white body and nodded repeatedly.
Did that mean there was such a direction?
“Take me there,” Qi Heng said.
Hui Ge led the way while Qi Heng watched the system-generated map.
Although they were underground, the map showed the direct distance between the mine entrance and their current position.
Hui Ge’s group of mining workers had excavated remarkably far beneath the ground.
Their underground senses were sharper than those of the female Zerg miners.
Qi Heng had commanded them to avoid female Zerg while extracting ore, so they detected the miners from a distance and changed direction before coming close.
The Blue-Tailed Butterfly lay motionless on his shoulder with both pairs of wings spread flat.
The earlier connection had consumed much of its strength.
It had completely lost its previous liveliness.
Qi Heng’s solution was extremely simple and crude.
He intended to excavate a tunnel connecting the mine directly to the lowest level of the dead-egg pit, where the plump Zerg lived.
The mine was enormous.
However, seemingly because it was closest to District 49, only female Zerg from that district came here to work.
There were many female Zerg in District 49, but the mine was even larger.
They excavated only a small portion of the entire mineral vein.
As long as the tunnel was positioned in an area unlikely to be discovered, there would be little danger of female Zerg accidentally entering it.
As for the surface, only a few scattered One-Horns were present.
On Qi Heng’s first day at the mine, Yun Jiu had told him that the One-Horns never descended underground.
They were responsible only for inspecting ore at the surface and preventing it from being carried away from the mine.
The One-Horns did not enter the mine, while Tianyun Star’s chaotic magnetic field prevented precision instruments from functioning.
Under these conditions, the risk of the secret excavation being discovered was practically nonexistent.
Qi Heng had learned about Tianyun Star’s chaotic magnetic field from the system.
The disturbance had turned Tianyun Star into a “sealed” planet.
Networks could not be established in such an environment, and high-precision robots could not be used.
Otherwise, why would female Zerg be needed to mine?
Any mining robot could excavate more quickly and produce far more than a female Zerg.
Restricted by the environment and unable to use robots, “they” had turned their attention toward the Zerg.
Replacing barely functional robots with high rates of wear and failure with cheap female-Zerg labor was extraordinarily cost-effective.
Qi Heng reached this conclusion by combining information from the system with his own deductions.
There was not much direct evidence, but in his estimation, there was an eighty- or ninety-percent chance that it was the truth.
Tianyun Star possessed abundant mineral resources.
Obsidian Crystal was hardly its only rich mineral vein.
Judging from what had happened to the Obsidian Crystal deposit, Qi Heng had reason to suspect that the veins elsewhere on the planet had suffered the same fate.
Qi Heng followed Hui Ge through the underground tunnels for some distance.
They were now approximately three kilometers in a straight line from the mine entrance leading down from the surface.
Mining workers always excavated as much material as possible while ensuring that the passages remained stable.
Only because of this could Qi Heng travel through their tunnels.
Given the mining workers’ small bodies, passages excavated solely to fit them would never have been large enough for him.
At first, the tunnels had been silent.
As they continued, Qi Heng began hearing the sound of crunching ore at regular intervals.
Every so often, he saw a mining worker clinging to the tunnel wall beside the ore it had extracted.
Following his principle of never wasting resources, Qi Heng happily accepted the fruits of their hard work.
He also patted each one on the head as a reward.
Qi Heng’s freeloading behavior gave the mining workers even more motivation.
After receiving a head pat, each mining worker’s excavation speed visibly increased.
At the same time, the energy total on the system interface continued rising, making Qi Heng’s mood increasingly cheerful.
His idea had been correct.
If the mining workers excavated a tunnel leading to the plump Zerg, they should be able to create a route for transporting ore within a relatively short period.
However, this meant there would no longer be enough mining workers dedicated to extracting ore for the system.
He would need to create more.
He did not lack the energy required to produce them.
The problem was that newly created mining workers needed to establish a connection with the Commander.
The Blue-Tailed Butterfly would have to repeat the previous ceremony.
If the Commander produced the Zerg itself, that step would not be necessary.
Still, he could not rely on the plump Zerg for the time being.
“This direction is safe?” Qi Heng asked Hui Ge.
Hui Ge nodded.
The information it transmitted told him that this was the safest of all the tunnels they had excavated.
It had detected no other female Zerg.
That was also why the mining workers had continued digging in this direction.
Qi Heng examined the system-generated map.
It marked both his present location and the plump Zerg’s position, with a straight line connecting the two.
The mine was approximately fifty kilometers from the dead-egg pit in a direct line.
The safe tunnel Hui Ge had identified deviated from the pit’s direction.
Furthermore, once actual excavation began, the route would inevitably twist and turn, making it longer than fifty kilometers.
The mining workers could investigate underground conditions themselves.
However, Qi Heng needed to personally survey the surface.
He also had to give the mining workers a direction to follow as they excavated.
Qi Heng had only come today to examine the situation.
He knew he could not order them to begin immediately.
After considering the matter briefly, he had the system create four hundred additional Mining Worker Zerg larvae.
Together with the original group, this brought the total to one thousand.
“Hui Ge, have this new group assist with mining for now, but do not continue excavating forward from this point.”
To prevent them from traveling farther in the wrong direction, Qi Heng needed to halt excavation along this particular tunnel.
He tapped the Blue-Tailed Butterfly on his shoulder.
This woke it from its rest and also awakened the portion of the plump Zerg’s consciousness attached to it.
Four hundred Mining Worker Zerg larvae crowded around Qi Heng’s feet.
After sensing the Commander’s aura on both him and the butterfly, they repeatedly pressed toward him, completely unable to resist their instincts.
Before Qi Heng could disperse them with mental power, Hui Ge drove the larvae to the side.
It appeared concerned that they might disturb him.
“Hui Ge, you did well,” Qi Heng praised.
It was not that he disliked the larvae.
They had simply gathered so closely around his feet that he was worried he might accidentally step on and kill them.
When the Commander’s consciousness attached to the Blue-Tailed Butterfly awakened, it discovered several hundred additional Primordial Zerg larvae around it.
Both pairs of antennae twitched in alarm.
The emotions it sent to Qi Heng were filled with bewilderment.
Had it been human, its thoughts would probably have been:
Where was it?
What had it done?
Why had the swarm suddenly gained several hundred members?
“Establish a connection with them.”
Connecting with larvae required less effort than connecting with adults.
The Blue-Tailed Butterfly obediently flew down and linked with the Mining Worker Zerg larvae.
The image of its wings changing from water blue to gold would remain forever engraved in the larvae’s minds.
After resolving the matter, Qi Heng and Hui Ge returned through the caverns the mining workers had excavated.
He placed the Blue-Tailed Butterfly inside his pocket and departed through the entrance he had used earlier.
The Blue-Tailed Butterfly was truly exhausted.
The moment it entered Qi Heng’s pocket, it fell completely still.
It did not awaken even after Qi Heng mined an entire basket of ore and left the mine.
Beneath the evening sky, Qi Heng ran toward the dead-egg pit.
Since he had promised the plump Zerg that he would visit today, he would not break his word.
In one hand, he carried a vine basket still stained with soil.
Various leaves covered the top, concealing its contents.
Inside were the Starstones he had obtained the previous day.
To avoid wasting time returning home to collect them, Qi Heng had carried the basket out that morning and buried it in a hidden location.
After leaving the mine, he dug it up again.
A long time later, the sky had grown dark.
Qi Heng encountered no other female Zerg along the way.
Ordinarily, no female Zerg came to the dead-egg pit at this hour, which made matters more convenient for him.
Carrying the basket, he descended from the rim of the pit in several leaps.
He found the entrance he had blocked with the boulder, removed the obstruction, and entered.
At the lowest level beneath the egg pit, Qi Heng had only just reached the entrance when a soft lump crashed directly into him.
“Aow!”
He did not need to guess what had collided with him.
Along with the cry came the childish voice connecting to his mental power.
‘Male Father, Male Father! I missed you so much, so much, aow!’
Qi Heng looked at the Zerg egg placed nearby, then at the creature that had wrapped itself around his leg before he had even stepped fully into the lowest chamber.
He swallowed what he had originally intended to say.
“You were waiting for me the entire time?”
He raised a hand and rubbed the plump Zerg’s head.
It had noticed him immediately and rushed over, yet had not left the Hatchery’s lowest level.
There could be no other explanation.
‘Mm-hm. I was waiting for Male Father to come see us.’
The plump Zerg enjoyed the head rub, but did not forget to retrieve the egg it had left alone nearby.
‘I took good care of Little Brother. Little Brother is doing well.’
‘I only put him down because I saw Male Father.’
“I knew you would take good care of him.”
The creature had even shared its life energy with the egg.
How could Qi Heng doubt its words?
The plump Zerg happily hugged the egg.
‘I want a hug.’
‘Not me. Little Brother wants one.’
The excuse sounded like an obvious attempt to conceal its real intentions.
Qi Heng looked both amused and helpless.
It was not that he was unwilling to hold them, but holding both at once would be difficult.
Refusing also felt inappropriate.
If a child asked his father for a hug and was rejected, that would make him an exceptionally unqualified parent.
Qi Heng had never been a father.
He had also grown up in a welfare home and did not know how ordinary fathers and sons interacted.
After considering it, he crouched down and hugged the plump Zerg while it held the egg.
“Aow~”
The creature became especially happy after receiving its hug. Even its voice sounded different.
Having a nonhuman son made the sensation of embracing it somewhat strange.
Qi Heng did not reveal that thought on his face.
After several seconds, he released it.
“Bring the Devourer here.”
The plump Zerg was currently weak, but at such a short distance, it could still establish a connection with a single Devourer.
The Devourer soon arrived.
Qi Heng sat on the platform’s steps.
The Zerg egg the plump creature had pushed into his arms rested in his lap, while the plump Zerg itself rolled around happily beside his feet.
At times like this, Qi Heng suspected that he was not raising a child, but a clingy dog.
“Come forward,” he ordered the Devourer.
The Devourer moved up the steps.
Qi Heng placed the basket of Starstones before it.
“Absorb only the stellar power inside. Leave the shells and the basket intact.”
The plump Zerg watched him with round, disbelieving eyes.
Were those Starstones not meant for it?
Why was Male Father giving them to this enormous creature that did nothing but eat?
The plump Zerg glared fiercely at the Devourer as it swallowed the entire basket into its mouth.
Damn it.
Could Male Father like that creature more?
It wanted to bite this enormous Zerg to death for competing for Male Father’s attention!
“Aow. Aow, aow.”
‘Male Father, why are you giving them to it?’
The plump Zerg raised its body and tugged pitifully on Qi Heng’s trousers.
Qi Heng did not think much of the question.
“You can’t consume that much. Giving them to it is more useful.”
As he spoke, the Devourer spat the basket back out.
The basket looked exactly the same as it had before being swallowed.
However, every Starstone inside was now empty. The Devourer had absorbed all their stellar power.
Before the plump Zerg could begin its plan to bite the Devourer to death, the creature fell backward and rolled down the stairs.
It then stopped moving.
‘Male Father, what happened to it?’
The plump Zerg leaned closer to Qi Heng and looked at the Devourer curiously.
“The energy it absorbed reached the amount required for growth,” Qi Heng explained. “When it awakens, it should leave the larval stage and enter its growth stage.”
“Don’t you remember even that?”
The plump Zerg shifted its lower body guiltily.
‘Of course I remember. I only forgot for a moment, aow.’
Qi Heng raised an eyebrow and was about to question it when another thought reached him.
‘Oh, right. Male Father, I found something strange to show you.’
‘It’s very interesting.’
The plump Zerg reached into the pouch on its abdomen and removed an oval stone approximately half the size of an adult’s fist.
Its texture looked somewhat familiar.
“What is this?”
‘It came from the stones Male Father gave me. I put them inside, and when I took them out again, they had become like this.’
The plump Zerg patted its abdomen.
Qi Heng accepted the stone and examined it.
Surprise appeared between his brows.
The Starstones?
Had the fragments fused into a single piece?
An idea occurred to him, but he needed to verify it.
[A1, scan this stone.]
【A larger fragment of purified A1-grade Starstone. Approximate stellar-power storage capacity: seventy-five units.】
Just as he had thought.
Qi Heng looked at the plump Zerg in disbelief.
Not only could it fuse broken Starstones into a single piece, but it could also purify them.
This ability far exceeded his expectations.
If that were the case, then…
‘Male Father?’
The plump Zerg’s confused voice interrupted his thoughts.
‘Male Father, did I do something wrong?’
Qi Heng returned to his senses.
“No. You did very well.”
He praised it and casually patted its head.
“I… Male Father was simply surprised,” he corrected himself. “This is very useful to Male Father.”
‘Really? That’s wonderful!’
The plump Zerg pointed excitedly toward the Starstones in the basket.
‘Male Father, Male Father, do you want these too? I can help Male Father make them bigger.’
“No.”
‘Why? Didn’t Male Father say it was useful?’
The plump Zerg did not understand.
“They have another use for now.”
Qi Heng handed the fused Starstone back to it.
“You keep this one. Find somewhere to store it.”
Taking the fused Starstone with him would serve no purpose.
It would be better to leave it here.
“Aow.”
Naturally, the plump Zerg had no objection.
It desperately wanted to show off in front of Male Father.
It had been such a long, long time since it could act spoiled before him in its true body.
After placing the Starstone inside its pouch, it pressed affectionately against Male Father again.
This was its most direct method of expressing attachment.
Its small true body was much better.
Male Father could hold it.
It did not want to grow up.
It wished it could remain this small forever.
But how could it prevent itself from getting any larger?
Various ideas emerged inside the plump Zerg’s little head.
Despite those wishes, if a day came when Male Father needed it to grow larger and produce more Primordial Zerg, it would willingly abandon what it wanted.
What Male Father wished to accomplish would always be most important.
Just as it had been in the past.
Qi Heng did not know what the plump Zerg was thinking.
A mental link transmitted only the words someone wished to communicate and the emotions they chose to express.
Thoughts they did not wish to reveal remained private.
Unless Qi Heng forcibly used his mental power to investigate them, even an active mental connection could not perceive those hidden thoughts.
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