Ant-Men's Assistant

In the second basement of the Space Castle, Lu Zhiyu stood before a massive, honeycomb-like structure. Ever since he had begun his plan, Lu Zhiyu had felt a shortage of manpower, so he immediately retrieved the smallest Zerg nest from his Painting Space and placed it in the second basement. Because Lu Zhiyu was not an Insect Queen, he lacked the innate mental ability to control the entire Zerg colony and become their supreme genetic master.

Lu Zhiyu's mental talent was Information Conduction, meaning he could transmit vast amounts of information through his mental power. This was not something everyone could do; every person who had entered the Zero-Dimensional Space would have their mental faculties awakened, a fact Lu Zhiyu only realized after observing the Insect Queen.

His talent differed from the Insect Queen's. For ordinary Zerg, if their consciousness had not entered the zero-dimensional world and they had only awakened by absorbing Source Substance, their mental power served merely as a specialized sensory organ. It did not function like Lu Zhiyu's, which could sense and modify information at the genetic level through Information Conduction—a feat only possible for beings like Lu Zhiyu and the Insect Queen who had reached the zero-dimensional world.

The mental talents of the Insect Queen and Lu Zhiyu also differed significantly. Lu Zhiyu termed the Insect Queen's talent Zerg Control, while his own was Information Conduction. Although Lu Zhiyu could not control the Zerg on a massive scale like the Queen, he had no trouble manufacturing and controlling a small portion of them through the nest.

The Zerg were most terrifying when led by an Insect Queen. Without one, ordinary Zerg posed no threat to Lu Zhiyu because their intelligence was extremely low; they would simply work according to the duties assigned at their birth until they died. That was the nature of the Zerg.

As long as Lu Zhiyu controlled the nest, he could modify the pheromone level during their production to manufacture the specific soldier types he desired and have them accept his commands. However, since Lu Zhiyu was not an Insect Queen and this nest was merely a fragment, he certainly could not afford the Queen's "zerg rush" style of production. At most, he could create a few Zerg servants, and Lu Zhiyu did not think much of these creatures anyway. Their intelligence was too low, and every species with high intelligence possessed a vast amount of Source Substance. The Zerg exhibited a sharp dichotomy between the ordinary drones and the Queen, and the latter was far too terrifying.

Lu Zhiyu activated the nest, and immediately watched as it rapidly devoured the large quantity of chemical compounds he had placed inside. Before long, Lu Zhiyu saw black, slime-covered spheres gestating within the nest, which then struggled to stand before him.

These creatures looked like aliens: black shells, slender bodies, large heads and eyes, and antennae on their heads. These were the Ant-Men he had created. The second-generation nest was highly capable, producing Zerg that were essentially mature; they could head to the battlefield the moment they were born, serving as a constant supply of expendable labor.

One after another, it wasn't long before Lu Zhiyu saw thirty or forty Ant-Men, nearly two meters tall, standing before him and kneeling on the ground, awaiting his orders.

Lu Zhiyu sensed them with his mental power and could barely detect any four-dimensional fluctuations. The intelligence of these Ant-Men was terrifyingly low; they had almost no self-awareness and acted only according to the mission assigned to them by the Queen. At this moment, Lu Zhiyu was their supreme commander—though, of course, if the Queen of this nest were to appear, she could immediately strip Lu Zhiyu of his control permissions.

Using his mental power, Lu Zhiyu injected work tasks, procedures, and precautions into the minds of the Ant-Men. Immediately, he saw them spring into action, lining up to head from the second basement to the floors above. They moved according to the work divisions Lu Zhiyu had set; some were responsible for cleaning and organizing, others for construction, each with their own assigned task.

Lu Zhiyu let out a breath. With these Ant-Men, his upcoming workload would be much lighter, and many things could proceed according to his plan.

With the production of the forty Ant-Men complete, the energy within the nest was exhausted, and it powered down and went silent. Lu Zhiyu walked out and locked the heavy iron door of the second basement tightly; this thing was far too dangerous.

With the Ant-Men, the entire castle seemed to gain a touch of life. A large number of them bustled back and forth, constantly busy cleaning and decorating the castle. Various pieces of furniture and utensils were crafted, and the previously empty shell of the castle was finally being filled.

In the third-floor lounge, the library shelves had been filled, though they remained empty of books; Lu Zhiyu planned to perfect them bit by bit in the future.

Rounding the corridor to the back, one would see Lu Zhiyu. He was currently lying on a wooden recliner reading a book. At this moment, the arrival of an Ant-Men caused Lu Zhiyu to stand up immediately. Although the Ant-Men did not speak, the four-dimensional fluctuations emitted by its antennae let Lu Zhiyu know that the castle construction was complete, especially the prison on the first floor and the laboratory on the fourth.

Lu Zhiyu first went up to the fourth floor to check the laboratory, then down to the first basement to inspect the prison. At the end of the long stone cell block was a massive area resembling an altar, with a guidance array for a Dimensional Gate inscribed on the floor. However, Lu Zhiyu was already quite proficient; he could inscribe it with his mental power even without the guidance array.

Nevertheless, this altar remained tightly enclosed by iron bars, looking like a peculiar cell. This was a special teleportation array Lu Zhiyu had prepared for capturing beasts from the Maria World. Taking two Ant-Men with him, Lu Zhiyu stood upon it. The cell door fell, and Lu Zhiyu and the Ant-Men vanished from the altar.

Lu Zhiyu stood on a hillside, behind him a vast, boundless forest, and beneath his feet a wide, expansive prairie. A broad river flowed majestically from the valley at his feet, winding toward the distance.

Beside the river, many animals were drinking their fill. The jungle was filled with the sound of birds, and as a hawk flew overhead, the rabbits in the grass scurried away in a panic. Lu Zhiyu could see many familiar species, many of which he had captured himself, as well as some he didn't recognize—these were new varieties that had evolved over hundreds or thousands of years as species adapted to different environments across this land.

Herds of sheep and cattle roamed the prairie, while wolves and jackals hunted for prey. With blue skies and white clouds, and a high oxygen content in the air, the entire world possessed the flavor of a primitive era, exuding an aura of new life.

Lu Zhiyu walked down the hillside with the Ant-Men toward the foot of the mountain. As they approached the riverbank, the animals immediately scattered, looking with great curiosity at Lu Zhiyu, this two-legged creature dressed in colorful clothes.

Lu Zhiyu waded his feet into the river, watching the fish swimming within and the clear water flowing by. He looked up, a smile appearing on his face: "This is the Maria World!"