Mutant Insect

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Mutant Insect (异虫)
Alias(es)	Alien Insects, Insectoids, Zerg, the Swarm 6 154 237
Species/Race	A spacefaring race capable of assimilating other lifeforms and their genetic traits 256 340
Affiliation	The Swarm, controlled by the Overlord and coordinated through Brain Worms 237 288
Occupation/Role	Humanity’s principal interstellar enemy; conquerors, infiltrators, and biological assimilators 154 254 340
Creator	Mental Silkworm 392
Homeworld	An unnamed planet containing insect nests and ruins of an earlier civilization 391
First Appearance	The cave monster encountered by Wang Qianduo; identified afterward as a worker bee 5 6

Power Progression

The following are documented transformations of individual members, rather than a single advancement path shared by the entire race.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Level 10 Elite — Zergling	51	Dr. Feng’s captive specimen has biological armor, 2,000 HP, 1,000 MP, 200 Attack, and 20 Defense.
Level 10 Leader — Mutated Hydralisk Nightmare	52	The specimen, subsequently called a Hydralisk, consumes Dr. Feng and enters the energy pool. It emerges with metallic armor, visible intelligence, 99,000 HP, 10,000 MP, 300 Attack, and 50 Defense.
Huang Rui’s transformation into You Ji	231	Absorbs the energy of an entire Zerg planet and emerges from a cocoon with a black-and-purple body and segmented wings. The Swarm Master names her You Ji.
You Ji — Legendary	252	Described as newly advanced to Legendary when she injures General Zhang, who is at least Legend Level 7.
You Ji — Epic	366	Advances after defeating a shadow figure and controlling a Hydralisk; subsequently commands the Zerg to withdraw from the unnamed planet.

Background and Origins

The Zerg’s early evolution involved burrowing into creatures that had died in their harsh environment. By absorbing their hosts, they altered their bodies to resemble those lifeforms, then incorporated the hosts’ genetic chains into their own molecular composition. They also devoured one another, leaving the strongest individuals at each evolutionary stage. Other races became sources of genetic material or targets for annihilation 340.

Their homeworld contains three dilapidated statues belonging to a former civilization. Local legends place the insects’ origin near these ruins, and their activity remains centered there. Wang Qianduo’s investigation ultimately exposes the Mental Silkworm, the race’s true creator, which had previously failed to possess You Ji and suffered severe injuries 391 392.

Human powerhouses initially keep the Zerg beyond the interstellar defense line. The appearance of a worker bee in a low-level star domain is therefore an anomaly, leading Wang Qianduo into the unique hidden quest Shadow of the Zerg 6 52.

Appearance and Forms

• Worker bees: Despite their name, resemble scorpions and spiders; possess membranous wings capable of flight 153.
• Zergling/Hydralisk specimen: Caterpillar-like body covered in biological armor, with two scythe-like foreclaws and a prominent bulge on its head. Its experimental mutation replaces the biological armor with metallic armor 51 52.
• Brain Bugs: The underground commander resembles a fleshy mass with disproportionately small eyes. Higher-level Brain Bugs can instead appear as human-sized humanoids 153 240.
• Poison Puppet Insect: Flea-shaped, with numerous pores that release poisonous gas 237.
• Painted Skin insects: Conceal themselves inside the skins of murdered humans or animals. The infant-disguised infiltrator is no larger than a puppy; the specimen impersonating Kong is larger 254 272.
• You Ji: Retains a humanlike form, with black-and-purple coloration and segmented wings, later described as bone wings 231 240.

Organization and Behavior

Command Structure

Position or group	Function
Overlord / Swarm Master	Exercises control over higher-level insects, directs major operations, and orders Wang Qianduo’s capture 231 273 288 299.
Brain Worms	Coordinate swarm movements through mental commands, direct ambushes, and deploy specialized units 153 237 288.
Mother insects	Produce eggs and replenish the battlefield with worker bees 153 154.
Mutated elite insects	Form the swarm’s backbone. Their loss is strategically more serious than the destruction of ordinary troops 237.
Ordinary insects	Serve as expendable cannon fodder, including powerful unmutated types such as Thunder Beasts. Leviathans are explicitly noted as exceptional 237.

Lesser insects lack intelligence and genuinely do not fear death. Higher-level insects possess advanced intelligence and emotions despite remaining under the Overlord’s control. Their fear becomes explicit during Wang Qianduo’s prolonged assault, when surviving Legendary insects prioritize escape over mourning a fallen companion 288.

The swarm uses deception as well as force. Its agreement with Kong promises noninterference in exchange for energy, but its demands continually increase; whenever the payment is judged insufficient, it slaughters one of the planet’s races as a supplement 274.

Individual commanders can also negotiate. You Ji halts an encirclement and proposes three matches: two human victories will secure the swarm’s withdrawal, while two insect victories will require several players to accompany her 240.

Abilities & Skills

Assimilation and Mutation

The race acquires new forms and powers by absorbing other organisms and materials 237 340.

• Incorporates consumed organisms’ genetic chains into its own biology 340.
• Can convert members of other races into insects. Human conversion was previously unheard of to Old Luo, making You Ji’s case exceptional 256.
• Cannot equip inlay stones conventionally, but can eat them and inherit their properties 237.
• Produces rare mutations with specialized powers, such as the Wind Thunder Beast’s control over wind and lightning 238.

Hive Coordination and Mental Attacks

Brain Worms provide battlefield coordination while also attacking opponents mentally 153 154 155.

• Direct workers to fly, intercept attacks, and protect valuable reproductive units 153.
• Mind-control attacking players, turning them against one another 154.
• Release a mental shock capable of exhausting every player in an underground battlefield; the Brain Worm itself becomes depleted afterward 155.
• Depend on effective command transmission: a Brain Worm’s failure to issue a mental retreat order leaves one Legendary insect attacking while its companions withdraw 288.
• Are vulnerable to disruption. Black Shark potions can sever ordinary insects’ connection to the hive mind 45.

Reproduction and Attrition

Rapid reproduction allows the swarm to sustain enormous losses 153 237.

• Mother insects continuously lay eggs behind the fighting units 153.
• Exhausted mother insects exploit enemy attacks to hatch their final worker-bee broods upon destruction 154.
• Waves of cannon fodder conceal elite attackers, making even elite player forces struggle in space 236.
• Specialized insects can absorb fire, deploy binding webs, and support coordinated melee and ranged assaults 288.

Infiltration and Disguise

Painted Skin insects impersonate victims by occupying their emptied skins 254 272.

• Successfully pose as members of a human family aboard a merchant ship 254.
• Use perfume to conceal decomposition when injury compromises the disguise 254.
• Impersonate animals across an occupied planet, including the deer king Kong 272.
• Combine disguise with mental interference to draw targets into close-range attacks 272.
• Do not become the original host: the humans and animals used for these disguises were killed 254 272.

Specialized Combat and Defenses

Individual mutations give the swarm capabilities that are not universal to every insect.

• Armor penetration: The infant-disguised infiltrator’s retractable claws shatter Wang Qianduo’s magical barrier on contact 254.
• Regeneration: Another shipboard infiltrator reforms after being flattened repeatedly, taking no apparent damage from hammer blows and lightning 254.
• Attack reflection: A spiderlike specimen repels physical and magical attacks, but dies when extreme cold is transmitted directly into its body 287.
• Legendary domains: High-level insects form domain-based weapons and coordinate their attacks with near-continuous pressure 288 299.
• Corrosive energy: High-level insects rely primarily on corrosive demonic energy and mental strength rather than elemental power 299.
• Extreme vitality: One Legendary insect survives the loss of half its body before a second ray attack destroys it 299.

Notable Types

Type	Documented rank / level	Notable traits
Mutated Hydralisk Nightmare	Leader, Level 10	Mechanical claws, acid ray, spike barrage, enhancements, burrowing, and frenzy. Burrows to recover during its boss encounter 52.
Poison Puppet Insect	Leader, Level 37	Poison gas kills players and turns them into puppets. Possesses Life Swap and Death Gaze; an ingested Invisibility Stone supplies stealth 237.
Wind Thunder Beast	Lord, Level 50	Rare mutation among billions of insects. Has 20 million HP, 10 million MP, 5,500 Attack, and 120 Defense; uses wind, lightning, and Wind Thunder Tribulation 238.
High-level Brain Worm	Rank unspecified in its duel	Human-sized but physically powerful enough to threaten a full-sized mech; combines extreme speed with mental offense 240.
Painted Skin insect	Shipboard specimen formerly Legendary	Specializes in impersonation. Severe injury reduces both its combat strength and the quality of its disguise 254 272.
King of Leviathans	Rank unspecified	Its Void Domain immobilizes the player force and prevents attacks 240.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Shadow of the Zerg and Black Shark Experiments

Wang Qianduo kills a cave creature while pursuing interstellar pirates. Identifying it as a worker bee replaces his ordinary novice quest with Shadow of the Zerg, sending him to General Huang and then into an investigation of the Black Shark Pirates 5 6.

The pirates attempt to control the Zerg and develop potions that disrupt hive connections. Their experiments also incorporate insect traits into Cyborg No. 19 and Dr. Feng’s fusion of a human soul, star beasts, insects, and machinery. The Hydralisk’s subsequent mutation exposes a wider threat, prompting General Huang to convene an emergency meeting 45 47 49 52 53.

Beneath the pirates’ facilities, the Future Guild encounters vast numbers of cloned insects. Wang Qianduo explains that these copies lack the complete swarm’s strongest abilities. Their Brain Worm nevertheless overwhelms the players with mental shock before being drawn into his abyss gate 152 154 155.

You Ji and the Interstellar War

The White Lotus Sect takes Huang Rui to an insect-infested planet, where she meets the Overlord. Her transformation into You Ji is followed by open swarm offensives against human outposts and player fleets 226 231 233 237.

Players discover that special insects drop valuable items and begin targeting them en masse, inadvertently attacking the swarm’s most important combat units. The escalation brings out the Wind Thunder Beast and the King of Leviathans, followed by You Ji’s proposed duel arrangement 237 238 240.

Infiltration and Planetary Conquest

After the homeworld base attack, Wang Qianduo’s team locates five insect infiltrators aboard a Molten Gold Merchant Guild ship. Their disguises reveal the murder of an entire family, including its infant 252 254.

A later expedition encounters an entire animal population replaced by Painted Skin insects. The false Kong helps spring a trap intended to capture Wang Qianduo alive, but he defeats its leader. The real Kong’s account reveals how surrender to the swarm led to the destruction of his people 272 273 274.

Legendary Warfare and the Creator’s Discovery

On an insect-held planet, Wang Qianduo faces specialized defenders, an immense continuous swarm, and an ambush by five Legendary insects. Later, he targets Legendary Brain Bugs to destabilize the enemy army, prompting direct countermeasures from the Overlord 287 288 299.

You Ji eventually reaches Epic and withdraws her forces from a mysterious planet. Wang Qianduo’s later investigation of the insects’ homeworld uncovers the Mental Silkworm, revealing the creator behind the race 366 391 392.

Relationships

• Wang Qianduo / Old Wang — Recurring enemy who exposes the pirate experiments, defeats specialized insects, and disrupts major offensives. The Overlord at one point orders his capture alive 6 53 273 299.
• Human Alliance — Principal military opponent, initially holding the swarm beyond the interstellar defense line 52 154.
• Black Shark Pirates — Experiment on, clone, and attempt to control insects rather than merely fighting them 45 47 154.
• You Ji / Huang Rui — Human convert accepted by the Swarm Master; later commands insect forces and reaches Epic 231 240 366.
• Kong — Conquered ruler whose surrender fails to protect his people from the swarm’s escalating demands 274.
• Mental Silkworm — True creator of the race; unsuccessfully attempts to possess You Ji 392.