A call for recommendation tickets! Thoroughly gutted, ambushed twice in one night—it hurts so much! Please, recommendation tickets, some comfort…

Hearing the insider, Lieutenant Colonel Dundi, lay out the facts so calmly, Fang Senyan and Mogansha suddenly understood why the situation on Planet P was so bizarre. Clearly, when humans encountered the Zerg, a fight was almost inevitable. However, without outside alien threats, both the human factions and the Zerg factions were visibly fractured internally, each seemingly content to fight their own battles and secretly wishing the other would collapse sooner.

Mogansha suddenly interjected: “So, all the human bases are built on Pandora’s mineral veins?”

Lieutenant Colonel Dundi nodded: “And all the Zerg bases are, too.”

Fang Senyan suddenly cut in: “What do the Zerg need these ores for?”

Lieutenant Colonel Dundi coughed violently before explaining: “They can only survive and reproduce by harnessing the energy contained within the ores. To put it simply, Pandora’s superconducting crystal ore is like the bread we must eat every day, while the food the Zerg hunts is more like salad dressing or cream—a mere condiment.”

“Wow, so these bugs think that we, the salad dressing, can find them more bread for them?” Mogansha followed up.

“No,” Lieutenant Colonel Dundi said very seriously. “This particular swarm, called Blackthorn, was extremely fortunate. They found their Christmas feast: a Pandora mineral deposit with astonishing reserves. To give you a concrete idea, the sheer volume of this deposit equals one-tenth of the entire known reserves of Planet P, enough for this swarm to mine for ten years while their Overmind was furiously absorbing power to grow and develop the entire tribe. What happened next was deeply unfortunate: three nearby swarms, sensing the threat and growing jealous, allied and launched an attack on the Blackthorn tribe! In the Zerg hierarchy, where the strong prey on the weak is the fundamental law, such an action is actually quite common.”

“The outcome of this attack was that although the Blackthorn swarm was once pushed back to their core sanctuary, the Hive, and suffered heavy casualties, they relied on the massive energy reserves from the Pandora crystals to fuel relentless regeneration, continuously hatching new units, and effectively grinding the two attacking swarms down until they were exhausted! Furthermore, the Overminds of those two attacking swarms were directly looted and consumed by the Blackthorn Overmind.”

“Overmind?” Mogansha questioned. “What is that?”

Lieutenant Colonel Dundi explained gravely: “That is the equivalent of the Queen Bee or Queen Ant in their respective insect societies. Its abilities are entirely focused on controlling the direction of the entire swarm’s development and evolution, possessing immensely powerful psychic abilities. To put it plainly, it is the collective brain of the entire swarm. The Blackthorn Mother, the one that abducted us, manages reproduction and some basic functions. Crucially, a swarm only possesses a single Overmind. If a second one emerges, the two Overminds will either devour each other or cause the entire swarm to split into two factions.”

Fang Senyan was quietly absorbing the data provided by Lieutenant Colonel Dundi when he heard the Lieutenant Colonel continue: “Just as the Blackthorn Overmind entered a stage of advanced slumber after absorbing the other two Overminds and reaching satiation, the remaining swarm, the Viscous Fluid tribe, gathered all its remaining strength and launched a suicidal blitz attack from all directions! Because the Blackthorn swarm’s defensive capabilities were still in the process of repair, the Viscous Fluid tribe successfully breached the center with an elite unit and abducted the slumbering Overmind Blackthorn, leaving that tribe in a state of utter disarray, relying only on instinctual defenses for protection.”

(Some of you might not understand the function of the Overmind here. To draw an analogy: the Blackthorn Mother is like your main base hatchery when you play Zerg in StarCraft. The Overmind is you, the player, sitting in front of the computer and giving commands. If you are captured, the base’s various defensive structures will still function, and your pre-set patrol and attack units will defend and attack according to previous orders and instinct. But you can imagine how rigid that becomes.)

“Now, the Viscous Fluid tribe deploys newly hatched units daily to relentlessly attack one specific location of this base, attempting to find a breakthrough point to seize this rich Pandora crystal mine quickly. The main function of the Blackthorn Mother is reproduction, not combat or strategy, so her mental power can only command less than a third of the newly produced units in the base simultaneously, and her tactics are relatively inflexible. Therefore, upon realizing we had engaged the Viscous Fluid tribe, she didn't kill us; instead, she hoped to use our strength against the Viscous Fluid tribe! And if the Blackthorn Mother is killed, the Viscous Fluid tribe can easily take control of all the facilities and structures here, and we will certainly die as well.”

“Wait!” Fang Senyan suddenly exclaimed. “There’s a crucial question: Where is the Blackthorn Overmind? I noted it was abducted, not killed.”

Lieutenant Colonel Dundi paused. “I don’t know about that, but it is true it was taken.”

At that moment, a ripple of psychic energy passed through everyone present, followed by the voice of the Blackthorn Mother: “Mozhi is alive. After consuming the two Overminds, it has met the basic requirements for successfully advancing to the Black Iron level Lord! Even if it hasn't fully evolved, its strength is at least two to three times that of the Viscous Fluid Overmind. The consumption between Overminds isn't the physical predation you might imagine; it’s a predation on the psychic level. The Viscous Fluid Overmind will not kill Mozhi; instead, it will strive to protect its physical body and integrity. That weaker bug will surely imprison Mozhi and slowly drain its mental energy, only launching its own brainwave attack after Mozhi is utterly exhausted. Given the vast disparity in power between them, this process will last a full 120 hours or more.”

Fang Senyan quickly calculated; this meant that Overmind Mozhi could survive for at least another two to three days… His thoughts began to spin rapidly.

Suddenly, a low, indescribable sound echoed through the entire base, like the deep boom of an aircraft tearing through high-altitude clouds. The dozen or so survivors all jumped up simultaneously, rapidly rushing for their weapons and beginning to don their combat armor, clearly preparing for battle. Despite their injuries, their movements were surprisingly agile. Mogansha was startled: “What, a fight?”

“GGG!” Lieutenant Colonel Dundi and the soldiers were already shouting. He too donned his combat armor, snatched up a standard C-14 “Penetrator” electromagnetic rifle, and turned back. “Boys, you guys rest for a bit. We’re going to go fiercely kick those attacking bugs’ butts and be right back.”

As Mogansha was about to speak, several incredibly robust and massive Elite Vicious Beasts darted out and charged fiercely alongside the human contingent. Mogansha couldn't get his question out, so he looked at Fang Senyan: “What should we do now?”

Fang Senyan decisively stated: “Follow them, of course. At the very least, we need to ensure Lieutenant Colonel Dundi doesn't die. If we can get a mission from him, at least we won't have to worry about being forcibly kicked out of this world if their side gets wiped out.”

The two quickly followed the path the others had taken. Along the way, they saw numerous structures that were organic and colored purplish-red, or perhaps organs. The lowest structures stood at least two or three stories tall, grotesque and bizarre, covered in veins and blood vessels as thick as arms, continuously secreting various viscous fluids with a gurgling sound, and a strange odor permeated the air.

The largest core structure was what the humans called the “Hive.” Its exterior resembled a towering hill of flesh and blood, standing five or six stories high and covering an area larger than a kilometer. Its surface was crisscrossed with immensely thick purplish-red vascular tubes. Hundreds of purplish-red, six-legged beetles the size of millstones, with their mandibles extended, were excavating the nearby rock face, extracting crystals embedded within, and constantly traversing between the Hive and the rocky mountains.

These beetles possessed peculiar mouthparts; they first sprayed acid to melt the hard rock, then used their two developed mandibles to crush the stone, excavating and piling up the contained crystals in one spot. Besides the crystals, they also collected a yellowish-green associated mineral called rare GA. For the Zerg, this substance wasn't a necessity for survival like the crystal, but it was the crucial factor for their metamorphosis and advancement. According to the data Fang Senyan had obtained, these creatures were the Zerg production units known as “Drones.” Their combat capability was very weak, but their importance ranked above all other unit types.

Surrounding the Hive were seven or eight massive “Brood Pits.” The Brood Pits had the same shape as the Hive but were significantly smaller in volume and size. Their sole function was to breed the Embryonic Larva—a substance akin to an embryo that could hatch into various Zerg soldier types based on the hormones and energy injected by the Hive. If the Hive were destroyed, one of the other Brood Pits might eventually develop over a long period to take over the Hive’s function. Normally, the Hive could produce over fifteen Embryonic Larva per hour, while a standard Brood Pit could only produce about five.

Intense battle sounds carried from a location not far from the Hive. Fang Senyan and the others immediately broke into a run. Along the way, they saw a large number of Zerg troops standing stock-still, completely oblivious to the fierce battle raging only five hundred meters away. This was clearly the drawback of having lost their Overmind. l;/g;H