Faced with the questioning gazes of so many people and bugs, Fang Senyan smiled faintly and continued to speak calmly:

“If I intended for you to hold your nose, the most effective method wouldn't be to grab your hand and press it to your nose; it would be to simply punch you in the nose. . Similarly, to make the Cerebrate of the Fluid Tribe act according to my wishes, it’s not absolutely necessary to control or hypnotize its mind.”

Hearing this, Moga Sha’s expression revealed disbelief:

“I understand. Could it be... could it be that the Incubator Pool being overrun today was actually something you and the Broodmother of Black Thorns deliberately allowed?”

Fang Senyan said in a deep voice:

“Precisely! The crystalline energy required to produce a single Hydralisk is enough to produce three Zerglings, and that doesn't even count the small amount of accompanying additive mineral GA! But I believe you all know that under the same conditions, only two Zerglings are needed to decisively defeat and kill one Hydralisk! (Honorary reader: Shadow Red Lotus personally tested this in StarCraft version 1.13) The Cerebrates of the Fluid Tribe must understand such a simple principle even better. Therefore, when the Black Thorns Tribe can only produce Hydralisks, producing only Zerglings is naturally the best targeted choice.”

At this point, Fang Senyan paused:

“And we must further consider that once our Incubator Pool is breached, in the future planning J of the Fluid Tribe's Cerebrate, the Black Thorns Tribe is inevitably a certainty to fall into its grasp, and its strength will increase significantly by absorbing the Dark Essence of the Black Thorns Cerebrate—this is a settled matter. What it needs to consider next, of course, is the crucial issue of its own advancement and the advancement of the entire Hive. Therefore... saving as much of the rare accompanying mineral GA that will be heavily consumed after upgrading to a Level II Hive is also the logical course of action!”

“So, driven by these two major factors, quite naturally, without any hypnosis, control, or enchantment, we only needed to build a large number of Spine Crawlers to protect the safety of the Broodmother of Black Thorns, and then perform one small action—untraceably abandoning the Incubator Pool. Then the Fluid Cerebrate will very happily act as I wish. See? This series of reasoning is very simple, isn't it?”

No one answered Fang Senyan, because they (including that Zerg Queen) were all silent. What Fang Senyan said was easy for everyone to understand; it wasn't complex, but being able to find the crucial points in these scattered clues and string them together required exceptionally strong logical thinking and imagination!

Fang Senyan was clearly satisfied with the shock effect he had on the group, and raised his voice:

“Hey, Queen Jani, the data the Hive shared with me just now did not mention what you will do once the Pandora Crystal ore is completely mined. Will you just starve to death?”

The Zerg Queen Jani fed back the information:

“Of course not. Before the vein is completely mined, we will continue to scout for other Pandora ore veins on the planet and open a sub-base—once the vein here is depleted, the sub-base becomes the main base.”

“Oh?” Fang Senyan became interested immediately: “Then what if the vein is too far away?”

Queen Jani of the An Clan explained:

“Once the Cerebrate and the Overmind both reach Level II, the Cerebrate can command the Host to load all freely mobile units. Almost all organ structures will rapidly shrink, dehydrate, and turn into giant embryos, which can also be transported away by the Host. The Hive itself will begin evolving into a powerful Super Drone to be transported away.”

“After arriving at the destination, the Super Drone that the Hive transforms into can directly hatch a Level II (or higher) Hive at extreme speed, seize the ore vein, and then plant the embryos of the previous organ structures on the derivative Creep. This entire process takes less than an hour. As for us Zerg, we only consume Pandora Crystal Ore/GA Rare Ore during incubation. After hatching, we rely on the nutrients transmitted through the Creep absorbed by the Host to synthesize food for survival. The crystalline energy consumed when the Host synthesizes food is almost negligible.”

After Queen Jani of the Zerg answered Fang Senyan’s question, a sustained silence fell over the Host's space. After a while, Heavy Weapons Specialist Bairans muttered:

“Lieutenant, how long exactly do we have to stay in this damned canned meat?”

“Do you know why I keep making the Hive dispatch Hydralisks to their deaths? It’s because I want these Zerg of the Fluid Tribe to get used to the constant sound of combat, to have their nerves pulled taut every so often. Then, when real danger arrives, their reaction might be dulled by a second or two.”

Fang Senyan looked into the distance:

“Now, the time is ripe. When the next batch of Hydralisks arrives, that will be our moment to break through! Everyone immediately douse yourselves with the bodily fluids collected from the Fluid Zerg!”

The Broodmother of Black Thorns faithfully executed the agreement, sending out a squad of Hydralisks every fifteen minutes or so to launch suicidal attacks here. Controlling twelve Hydralisks was more than enough; they harassed by spitting and spraying as much as possible to eliminate the enemy's active strength. Because the Broodmother of Black Thorns knew this was a matter of life and death, it also exhibited great patience.

Initially, the Cerebrates of the Fluid Tribe could counter every move, even commanding injured units to advance and retreat to show off tactical maneuvers and reduce losses. But after several repetitions, they stopped bothering with this sticky entanglement and directly dispatched superior Zerglings in a swarm to crush the opposition. Although this resulted in slightly higher troop losses, it was satisfyingly swift. This is like someone worth a million dollars generally wouldn't argue with the attendant at a public restroom over fifty cents for using the urinal.

In the distant desert gully, the shadows of the Black Thorns Tribe Hydralisks appeared again. Another batch of cannon fodder Hydralisks intended for harassment and confusing enemy sightlines from the Black Thorns Tribe arrived at the scene. After they consecutively sprayed and killed two patrolling Zerglings, a full three squads of Zerglings swarmed out of the Fluid Tribe's base, enveloping the area with ferocious momentum, showing the dominance of an encirclement maneuver!

Although the Fluid Tribe base had certainly regenerated several hundred Zerglings by this time, and they must have had residual defending forces, the tribe's occupied area was vast—the massive structure used for producing larval embryos alone was nearly thirteen units long, occupying an area almost the size of a large building. When forces were distributed across such a large territory, the defensive troops appeared sparse and unremarkable.

Just then, a massive Host quietly circled around and floated toward the Fluid Hive base. All Cerebrates normally stayed on the lowest level of the Hive, which was also where the Pandora Crystals were stockpiled, allowing the Cerebrates to directly draw energy from them using their powerful mental force. By convention, if the Cerebrates of the Black Thorns Tribe were to be imprisoned, they would most likely be held in this most heavily guarded location!

The flight path of this Host startled several patrolling Hydralisks and Zerglings, but after they hastily fanned their nasal appendages and sniffed, they returned to their patrol with indifference. Regrettably, this luck only lasted until they approached within fifty meters of the Hive.

Within fifty meters of any Zerg Hive, this area is a no-go zone. No moving object is allowed near, except for Cerebrates and elite guards specially permitted by the Cerebrate; even accidental entry results in immediate termination. Although there was only one Spine Crawler here, its position was extremely critical; any creature attempting to approach the Hive from the ground would come under its attack.

While it didn't attack airborne Hosts, an elite Hydralisk nearby had already started puffing its cheeks, aiming at the air and spitting out scorching, dark-green acid.

Simultaneously, on the open ground directly in front of the Hive's only entrance, thick fluid churned and splashed, and with a "rumble," nearly twenty exceptionally fierce and massive Zerglings burst forth from the ground. They thrashed their bodies and whipped their tails, baring their sharp fangs and issuing low growls towards the rapidly approaching Host’s sensory filaments. These twenty elite Zerglings were products of genetic mutation, their vitality and attack power no less than the two Zerglings on Fang Senyan's team! They immediately scattered, tightly blocking the entrance to the Hive's lower level...

At the same time, all Zerglings within the base became uncontrollably agitated, flocking toward the Hive. It was clear the Fluid Tribe’s Cerebrate had also sensed the enemy’s intent; it was furious, wanting to control its subordinates to tear these life-coveting intruders to shreds! And then suck out their brains dry!

Although the attacking elite Hydralisk’s attack power was at least several times that of a regular Hydralisk, one must not forget that the Sensory Filament, which was performing the transport mission, was also an elite mutated Host! It had increased its flight speed to the maximum, with only one goal: to land its passengers on the open ground in front of the Hive entrance! As for dealing with the twenty elite Zerglings on that open ground plus the attack from the Spine Crawler, that was beyond the consideration of Sensory Filament’s simple neural ganglia.

That mere fifty-meter distance felt as long as fifty thousand kilometers! If Fang Senyan’s previous scheme had not succeeded, directly leading to the Fluid Zerg base not producing many Hydralisks, then Sensory Filament, even being the pinnacle among elites, would have been shot down a hundred times already. And the fate of that elite Hydralisk was even more tragic! It had just sprayed two streams of dark-green mucus when another black shadow flew in from the sky—it was the elite Zerg Queen Jani!

Her abdomen contracted, and she instantly spat out a high-speed black shadow, which shot several hundred meters in a flash, heading straight for the body of that elite Hydralisk! The elite Hydralisk froze in place, but within a few short seconds, its body decomposed and rotted away, from which two six-legged giant worms leaped out. These two worms looked more ferocious than ordinary Zerglings, but they moved slightly slower.

...

A quick interaction with everyone:

The skill used by the elite Zerg Queen Jani just now:

What is the name of the skill that killed the Hydralisk?

Alright, same old routine, see you in the review section. Come get points, hehe H