【Spacetime Archive No. 1 has rewound to its starting point. 2,000 energy points have been deducted.】
In Yan Ning’s home, Qi Heng opened his eyes just as he heard A0’s voice.
During the rewind, he had felt only a momentary sense of disorientation. Then he had gone from the main control room of Base No. 2 to Yan Ning’s home.
He rose and walked outside.
This time, Qi Heng did not go to the trading center. Instead, he headed toward the riverbank, turned down a side path, and stopped.
He released his mental power and swept it over the surrounding area, then quickly withdrew it.
The next second, a pale-blue butterfly flew out from a corner.
Qi Heng extended a hand toward it.
The Blue-Tailed Butterfly fluttered gracefully down onto his fingertip, gently beating its wings to express its affection.
This was the Blue-Tailed Butterfly carrying the Commander’s consciousness. It had always been responsible for following Qi Heng and relaying messages.
…To prevent anyone from noticing a butterfly constantly following him, Qi Heng had stationed it along this inconspicuous path. It would only come to him when he needed it.
At other times, if there was an urgent message to deliver, the Blue-Tailed Butterfly would take the initiative to find him.
After communicating with it through mental power, Qi Heng withdrew his hand and watched the Blue-Tailed Butterfly fly toward the distant horizon.
Ordinarily, delivering a message would not require the Blue-Tailed Butterfly to make the trip personally. This time, however, was different. The message concerned part of the plan he was about to put into action.
Although it involved only one portion of the plan, it contained a considerable amount of information. He could only use the mental link to imprint it directly into the portion of the Commander’s consciousness carried by the Blue-Tailed Butterfly. When the plump Zerg received it, he would understand everything the moment he read it.
Next, it was time to go to the tower.
With that thought, Qi Heng turned and left.
Elsewhere—
The Blue-Tailed Butterfly flew extremely quickly and reached the dead-egg pit before long.
Following the scale powder it had left behind, it flew into the pit and passed through a narrow gap that had been deliberately reserved for it, entering the passage inside.
The interior of the passage was completely different from when it had first been excavated.
After traveling ten meters inward from the entrance, one could see Dreamglow Fungal Mats climbing across the ceiling. Pure-white, plantlike growths approximately five or six centimeters long hung from the fungal mats, emitting a soft white glow that illuminated the entire passage.
White Glow Zerg rested among the Dreamglow Fungal Mats. Through the overlapping growths, many tiny white spores could be seen, though they were difficult to distinguish clearly.
The moment the Blue-Tailed Butterfly entered, it attracted the attention of the Glow Zerg inhabiting the fungal mats. The aura of their own kind kept the Glow Zerg from reacting.
Had an intruder entered instead, the Glow Zerg would have driven the Dreamglow Fungal Mats with which they lived in symbiosis to attack the invading creature with their spores.
The Dreamglow Fungal Mats had received their name not only because their appearance was beautiful and dreamlike, but also because the liquid released when their spores burst had hallucinogenic effects.
The Blue-Tailed Butterfly continued flying deeper inside.
The Devourer was already fast. Under Qi Heng’s orders, and with several additional worker Zerg assisting it, its speed in excavating and clearing the underground passages had increased severalfold. In just over half a month, it had completely cleared all the underground levels belonging to the former Hatchery.
It was now continuing to clear outward with the dead-egg pit as its center.
The Hatchery had originally been located in the center of the city. Most of the surrounding buildings had served special municipal functions and had therefore been built to be exceptionally sturdy.
Not every building necessarily had underground levels, and no one knew how many remained after ten thousand years. However, there was nothing else that needed the Devourer’s attention, so Qi Heng had ordered it to continue digging outward.
Thanks to the Devourer’s diligent labor, the passages beneath the dead-egg pit now extended in every direction.
Some were extremely plain stone tunnels. Others were original passages belonging to the Hatchery that the Devourer had cleared out. The walls constructed from special alloys remained sturdy even after ten thousand years. Once cleaned, they gleamed like new, as though they had only just been built.
The fourth underground level.
The original entrance to the fourth level had been expanded to three and a half meters tall and four meters wide. The passage outside had been expanded to the same dimensions.
Once the Devourer entered its growth stage, its body would rapidly increase in size. The fact that its height had been restricted to only two and a half meters was already the result of deliberate suppression.
The interior of the fourth level had also changed greatly from half a month earlier. The unnecessary metal shelving had been pushed into piles in the corners. A round white Zerg approximately the size of a golden retriever was continuously biting pieces off the metal beside it and holding them in its mouth.
Only after quite some time would it spit the metal back out.
Unlike when it had gone into its mouth, the metal it spat out had been transformed into a cube.
This was a Metal-Eater Zerg larva. Two oval, pigeon-egg-sized beady eyes sat on its head, resembling the pieces of metal it produced. It had fused those eyes onto itself after consuming metal.
They were purely decorative metal eyes without any practical function.
It had deliberately given itself a pair of eyes only because that matched the Overlord’s aesthetic preferences. Otherwise, its face would have consisted solely of a mouth, making anyone who looked at it liable to lose sanity.
The Metal-Eater Zerg was a mid-order species among the Primordial Zerg. It was characterized by its ability to consume, refine, manipulate, fuse, and digest metal.
Those abilities applied to the adult form, of course. However, even as a juvenile, it could transform swallowed metal into whatever shape it desired.
Producing it required even more energy than producing the Devourer. Although the cost had been reduced by half because it had been gestated by the Commander, it had still consumed approximately 2,500 energy points.
Qi Heng had chosen to have the plump Zerg produce it for more than just the metal inside the Hatchery.
This place had once contained the largest concentration of urban buildings on Tianyun Star. There would be no shortage of metal here.
That included certain extremely rare special alloys.
The Devourer would bring back any metal it encountered, then hand it over to the Metal-Eater Zerg, which would consume and melt it into metal blocks to be stored as reserve resources.
In addition, there were metal deposits buried underground. Once mining began, those ores could also be handed to the Metal-Eater Zerg to extract the required metals.
After the metal shelving had been pushed aside, the fourth level became exceptionally spacious.
At the entrance to the mine tunnel, an unending stream of Zerg moved in and out, transporting ore to the area beneath the central platform. The accumulated ore had formed two enormous mountains.
On the platform, the plump Zerg sat like a person. The Basic Worker Zerg below delivered ore to his side, and he continuously placed one piece into his mouth with each claw and chewed.
The portion of his body trailing behind him curved slightly around a Zerg egg. This kept the recently restless egg from rolling off the platform whenever he was not paying attention.
Eating continuously for twenty-four hours a day would be a burden even for someone who loved food, but the plump Zerg had no such concern. He ate both happily and quickly.
Once he had surplus energy, the first things he strengthened were his mouth and teeth. After the upgrade, he could crush crystals extremely quickly. A piece of Obsidian Crystal ore the size of a basketball would not survive more than three bites before being completely consumed.
Some of the energy he consumed slowly repaired his body, while another portion was stored. Only a small fraction was used to produce Primordial Zerg.
Even so, the numbers of Mining Worker Zerg and Glow Zerg had increased explosively within a short period. The number of Basic Worker Zerg had also surpassed one thousand. The Primordial Zerg swarm now contained more than 6,500 individuals.
Such a reproductive rate would be enough to terrify any faction if word of it spread. To the Commander, however, it was not even one percent of his output at his peak.
Now that he possessed sufficient energy to replenish himself, the only reason he had not produced more Primordial Zerg was because the Overlord had ordered him not to.
The plump Zerg noticed the Blue-Tailed Butterfly the moment it appeared at the entrance.
He finished the remaining crystal ore in his claws and allowed the Blue-Tailed Butterfly to land on his body. Through the mental link, he received the information his Male Father had left.
Communication through a mental link was far faster than spoken language. Moreover, the Blue-Tailed Butterfly already carried a portion of his consciousness. He immediately understood the new task his Male Father had assigned him.
‘Have Hui Ge come before me.’
Through the mental link, the plump Zerg sent the order to the Blue-Tailed Butterfly accompanying Hui Ge.
Deep within the mine tunnels, which had been excavated ever deeper and wider, the sturdily built Hui Ge was laboring to extract ore just like the other Mining Worker Zerg.
Were it not for the Blue-Tailed Butterfly accompanying him and the gray-white crystal in the center of his forehead, it would have been difficult to distinguish him from the Mining Worker Zerg around him.
Suddenly, his movements stopped.
Immediately afterward, he leaned forward and raced in one direction.
The moment Hui Ge received the Commander’s order, he headed for the mine-tunnel exit on the fourth level. At his command and under the Blue-Tailed Butterfly’s guidance, the Zerg that had originally been moving ore back and forth in orderly lines shifted to either side and opened a path for him.
Inside the fourth level, Hui Ge stopped beneath the platform and did not continue upward.
With his current identity and status, he was not qualified to move any closer to His Excellency the Commander. He prostrated himself beneath the steps and silently waited for the Commander’s instructions.
‘A new task.’
‘…Go to the second level. Reassign five hundred Basic Worker Zerg and two thousand Mining Worker Zerg to build an underground city. Follow its instructions.’
Hearing this, Hui Ge raised his head slightly and looked over.
An unfamiliar Zerg rose into the air beside the Commander. A single glance at it was enough to fill Hui Ge with fear.
There was no doubt that this was a higher-order Primordial Zerg.
Once sufficient energy became available, the Commander had granted Hui Ge evolution. Hui Ge was now a mid-order Zerg, yet he still felt instinctively frightened when facing this unfamiliar species.
The newly appeared higher-order Zerg possessed a body approximately half the length of an adult’s arm. Its entire body was pitch-black, except for a pair of white rings surrounding its eyes, making it look as though it were wearing glasses.
On its back were four diamond-shaped crystalline wings. When fully extended, they could wrap around its entire body. Transparent, dark-colored membranes covered the centers of the black wings.
The sparse stellar power in the surrounding area gathered between the crystalline wings, continuously nourishing the body that had been catalyzed into maturity.
Three pairs of insect claws grew from its abdomen. At that moment, one claw was holding a pointed metal stylus.
‘Yes, Your Excellency the Commander.’
From his inherited genetic knowledge, Hui Ge found the name of this higher-order Zerg’s species branch.
Nestbuilder Zerg.
Its name might sound unremarkable, but it was the only Primordial-Zerg species capable of planning and designing Zerg nests on the scale of military fortresses.
The nests of the Primordial Zerg were known as Mother Nests.
Whether low-level or high-level, whether underground, beneath the deep sea, on the planet’s surface, or in the depths of space, there was no Mother Nest that a Nestbuilder Zerg could not design and construct.
To a Nestbuilder Zerg, this was merely biological instinct, an inborn talent requiring no conscious thought. Even so, it was enough to astonish civilizations that did not understand the Primordial Zerg.
As long as it was given specific requirements, even constructing an underground city would not be difficult for one of them.
After all, in the past, a large underground city had once been constructed beneath the far side of their planet.
The Nestbuilder Zerg beat its crystalline wings and lifted itself into the air. It flew toward Hui Ge and landed in front of him.
It stared unblinkingly at Hui Ge with its white eyes, then communicated with him through the unique communication method of the Primordial Zerg.
Its general meaning was that Hui Ge should take it to the second level. It needed to complete the task entrusted to it by His Excellency the Commander: surveying the site and designing the underground city the Commander required.
His Excellency the Commander had ordered Hui Ge to obey this higher-order Zerg. Naturally, Hui Ge did not dare object.
He led the way.
The Hatchery possessed four underground levels.
The first level had been blasted open, while the fourth level was where the Commander resided.
The remaining second and third levels had undergone only basic clearing. Aside from the Devourer, Hui Ge was the only one who had visited them. This was why Hui Ge had been assigned to guide the Nestbuilder Zerg.
After Hui Ge and the others left, the plump Zerg picked up another piece of crystal ore and continued eating.
Producing the Nestbuilder Zerg had consumed seventy percent of the energy he had stored, while rapidly accelerating it into adulthood had used up nearly half of one ore mountain.
A total of 15,000 energy points had been spent on this single Zerg.
Male Father had said that they would also need other tool Zerg. He needed to eat more before he could produce the number Male Father required.
Otherwise, there would not be enough Mining Worker Zerg left to work the mines.
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