"You have been afflicted by the Queen Zerg's special ability: Tapping Snare.()" "Your movement speed and attack speed will both be reduced by 50%." "If you are stealthed, you will be immediately revealed."

Immediately, both of them were covered from head to toe in that pale green slime. Every movement felt as if they were bound by elastic ropes, making everything exceptionally difficult; even taking a single step required enormous effort. Mogansha gritted his teeth, wanting desperately to raise his rifle and show this monster what he was made of, but Fang Senyan firmly held his gun down. This was because on several nearby high grounds, nearly a dozen savage-looking black crawling monsters had appeared. Acid was brewing inside them, and they were already adopting aiming stances—they were the Hydralisks, the unit that gave Fang Senyan and Mogansha the most headaches.

"If they wanted to attack us, they would have done so already," Fang Senyan said, his voice the first to regain composure.

Mogansha nodded slightly. Just then, a voice echoed in his ear. This voice, much like the prompt from the Nightmare Mark, bypassed the air and the eardrum, speaking directly into the mind. It sounded like an aged female voice.

"Hssss... Humans, kss, do not make any aggressive moves, hsss, or I will find it difficult to control my children's instinctive urge to tear you into pieces."

"Is this ability psychic transmission?" The term instantly flashed through Fang Senyan's mind. He began attempting to send a message through the Nightmare Mark: "Who are you?"

The voice immediately responded:

"I am the Mother of Thorns, Deep Palace. I am communicating with you now through my children."

Mogansha found it hard to believe:

"Children? Is the monster in the sky your child?"

"I disagree with your assessment," the Mother of Thorns stated calmly. "In our eyes, Jiani's membrane is full of allure, her lines perfectly sculpted and **. Conversely, humans are the monsters. However, I still offer you respect, even though I could kill and consume you at any moment."

Mogansha spread his hands:

"Alright, alright, respected Madam. We have no intention of becoming your enemy. Our true purpose here is not to occupy or plunder anything, but merely to find our comrades. That is all."

The Mother of Thorns provided a concise and quick reply:

"Follow my children, humans. You will meet them soon. But please do not mistake our goodwill for weakness."

Soon, under the escorted surveillance of a group of Hydralisks and Zergling, Fang Senyan and Mogansha began moving sideways. Gradually, a thick layer of pale purple organic matter appeared beneath their feet, like a carpet. Stepping on it felt like walking on soft river silt.

The data Fang Senyan had previously collected also mentioned this organic matter; it was called Creep. It could digest all nutrients to provide the essential sustenance for the Zerg swarm, and it assisted larvae and drones in transforming and evolving into larger forms. Under normal circumstances, Creep was very difficult to eradicate, and for the Zerg, this material also provided them with extra regenerative capabilities.

Furthermore, the appearance of Creep signified one thing: this area was deemed a vital core zone that must be protected by the Zerg. If one was not recognized by the Zerg, they would be met with exceptionally fierce and frenzied attacks! As Fang Senyan and Mogansha progressed, they saw countless Zerg creatures packed densely everywhere. In the sky, clusters of brown, jellyfish-like objects floated. To put it more vividly, they resembled human brain tissue with tree-trunk-like nerves connected beneath.

According to the data, this thing was called a Host. It should be another biological form of the Zerg. It possessed no offensive capabilities but functioned much like an organic synthesis factory, providing necessary nutrition to already hatched Zerg units. The size of a Zerg colony could be gauged simply by counting the number of Hosts. Additionally, because Hosts perceived their surroundings through biological senses rather than conventional eyes, they could detect invisible creatures within a certain radius.

Fang Senyan and the others hadn't been walking long inside the hive nest before they spotted several military tents in a nearby hollow, scattered near the edge of a rocky outcrop. A soldier sitting on a dry rock, puffing on a cigar, saw Fang Senyan and Mogansha and immediately stood up in surprise:

"Whoa there, buddy! Don't tell me you guys are also survivors of a crash."

Because Mogansha's charisma wasn't high, but still maintained a normal level, he usually handled all the negotiations.

"Quite the opposite, Private. We came specifically to confirm you were still alive and figure out a way to bring you home."

The soldier laughed heartily:

"Buddy, honestly, that's the funniest thing I've heard in the last forty-eight hours."

Mogansha sighed:

"If I were you, I wouldn't talk to my saviors like that."

"Saviors?" The soldier looked surprised.

Mogansha pulled out the harmonica made by the pilot kit from his pocket:

"If Lieutenant Colonel Dundee is still alive, he'll know if I'm telling the truth or not."

The soldier immediately exclaimed in astonishment:

"Are you the officer who drove off that Prowler Spore Dragon? The master who could make Cluster Missiles track like that with a Camille Cannon?"

Mogansha, being a Black man, naturally didn't exhibit Eastern modesty. He immediately waved his golden A-type weapon excitedly:

"Of course! If it weren't for the lousy feel of that cannon—it felt like grabbing a sixty-year-old auntie's breast!—I could have shot the crap right out of that stupid bastard's mouth!"

The soldier looked at Old Mo with sheer awe, then ran toward the tents. Within a few minutes, over a dozen soldiers scrambled out of the tents, lining up neatly in two rows, snapping to attention and saluting! At the same time, they shouted with all the might in their bodies:

"Respect to you, Sergeant!" (Sergeant was Mogansha's military rank in the space, universally recognized across worlds.)

Mogansha returned the salute in kind, and then a Lieutenant Colonel, whose left arm was wrapped in white gauze, stepped forward. With a serious expression, he extended his hand to Mogansha:

"I am Lieutenant Colonel Dundee, leader of the Gravel Special Forces. Thank you for your brave actions before, and thank you for your courageous arrival to rescue us. But frankly, I truly wish I hadn't seen you here. Because the situation here... is likely far worse than you imagine."

Mogansha shook his hand:

"Oh, Lieutenant Colonel Dundee, I knew when we set out that this would be a difficult journey. So please, don't hold back. Lay out the current situation for us truthfully."

Lieutenant Colonel Dundee turned and looked at the fully armed Fang Senyan:

"And who is he?"

Fang Senyan stepped forward, stood rigidly at attention, and declared loudly:

"Special Forces Second Lieutenant Sailor reporting for duty, IR."

"Sailor," Dundee recalled, his eyes lighting up. "I think I heard someone compliment your bravery before!"

This was the benefit of +1 Legend. Even though Fang Senyan's charisma was low, having this pre-established impression would naturally make interactions much smoother. Then, watching Lieutenant Colonel Dundee struggle slightly as he walked a few paces with his hands behind his back, he finally looked up with determination:

"Alright, I will tell you exactly what's going on. First, I must inform you that the fundamental reason for the conflict between humanity and the Zerg... is not, as politicians prattle on about, environmental conquest or racial contradiction. It is because of a mineral! A resource exceedingly rare even in the cosmos! Unbnium Crystal Superconducting Ore!"

As he spoke, Lieutenant Colonel Dundee pulled a crystal from his breast pocket. The crystal looked transparent and radiant, displaying a silvery-blue hue with a metallic sheen on its surface. Astonishingly, it actually floated automatically about two centimeters above the palm of his hand!

"This is the superconducting crystal ore that those greedy bastards named Pandora. Its performance surpasses every superconductor humanity has ever created. It maintains its superconducting properties at temperatures as high as 1516 degrees Celsius (2761 degrees Fahrenheit). The superconducting ore also possesses extremely strong diamagnetic properties; it remains superconducting even when placed in a magnetic field with an intensity of 1 billion Gauss (100,000 Tesla). This is 1,000 times stronger than any material on Earth... Even when the interstellar alliance's economy was at its lowest ebb, the raw ore of Unbnium never sold for less than 40 million dollars per kilogram. Note, that's the unrefined raw ore!"

Mogansha shrugged:

"Wow, Colonel. I'm numb to that number. It sounds like if you piled all that money up, it could crush me to death—that would be a different kind of happy death than suffocating in a busty girl's cleavage."

Lieutenant Colonel Dundee sighed and continued:

"Pandora Crystal is the most perfect energy source known to humanity. Uranium ore, oil—compared to this, they are not worth mentioning! That is why every person in the universe searches for it and is willing to pay any price for it. The only drawback of the Pandora Crystal is that besides humans, many other alien races also require the energy contained within it, including the Zerg. This is the sole reason we are fighting these damned bugs. It is also the sole reason for the friction between human bases and human bases, and even friction among the bugs themselves!" l;/g;H