A Dangerous Signal

At Augustus's command, an entire company of the Revolutionary Army special tactical troops, equipped with heavy firepower, immediately blasted the uncontrollable Hydralisk with C-10 shotguns, rifle grenades, and rocket launchers.

In an instant, dark red blood, shattered molten steel armor, and limbs scattered everywhere, and the nearby dissection table and experimental table were simultaneously blown to pieces.

"Overmind. What's that?" Arcturus finally asked the question everyone present wanted to know after seeing the out-of-control Hydralisk reduced to a pile of mangled flesh. It was the first time they had ever heard this word, and clearly, this newly coined phrase had a special meaning.

"Overmind, the supreme leader of the Zerg." Augustus didn't explain where he learned the word. His men in the Revolutionary Army believed that everything Augustus did—even a single action—had meaning, and even without an explanation, they would look for other answers in other ways.

"It sounds more like the alpha wolf of a wolf pack or the queen bee of a bee swarm. Primitive beasts follow the principle of strength above all else and should have a leader." Arcturus agreed with this statement, but like many others, he still believed that the Zerg were just a special case among the primitive creatures that humans had encountered in the universe, and how could beasts be worthy of having the same level of intelligence as humans.

In comparison, the Protoss, with their savage, cruel, and utterly incomprehensible nature, are the alien races that humanity should be wary of.

"If I understand correctly, that means a Psionics insect controlled this pathetic Hydralisk from who-knows-how-far away." At this moment, Raynor looked at the plasma cage in the research station that held another Hydralisk.

"Then why is this guy alright?" Raynor was only thinking about the Hydralisk, which had just been injected with a powerful sedative and was now as quiet as a chicken.

"That cage has Psionics blocking capabilities," Kerrigan said. "The Zerg Overmind can't sense it."

Kerrigan smoothed her long red hair, still shaken. The Overmind that Augustus spoke of possessed Psionics power far beyond her imagination, and what she had just witnessed was merely the tip of the iceberg.

"What else did you sense?" Augustus looked at Kerrigan at this moment, a serious expression on his face that she had never seen before. "Did it notice you?"

"How are you feeling? Do you feel unwell?" he asked a series of questions.

"Probably not," Kerrigan said hesitantly. "For a split second, I just felt a more powerful Psionics push my consciousness out of the Hydralisk's mind."

I feel great now.

"Things haven't gotten to the worst yet," Augustus said after a moment of silence. "Don't try to control the Zerg again unless I order you to."

If the Overmind hadn't been able to read Kerrigan's mind, it wouldn't have been able to determine Umojan's coordinates. But history reminded Augustus that Kerrigan held extraordinary significance for the Overmind, and he couldn't help but worry that the Swarm's arrival in the Koprulu Sector might be brought forward as a result.

However, the Zerg will arrive in the Koprulu Sector sooner or later. If they arrive a few years earlier because of this, the already chaotic Koprulu is likely to become even more chaotic. At that time, it will not only be the Zerg who arrive, but the Aiur Protoss, who are determined to burn and purify all the Zerg, will also arrive as scheduled.

For the Revolutionary Army, it's hard to say whether this is necessarily a bad thing. To this day, although Augustus has achieved inspiring victories on several planets, it remains impossible for the Revolutionary Army's Fleets to defeat the massive Confederacy Navy.

Even in the original Arcturus Mengsk, the guerrilla warfare had remained at a small-scale stage for more than a decade, and the Terran Confederacy had never suffered any serious damage.

"Chief Bulova, I need an explanation for this." Augustus felt a surge of disgust at the thought of the devastation that would ensue with the arrival of the Swarm. But the arrival of the Zerg was inevitable; they were bound to come, Augustus could not stop it.

Now Augustus still needs to focus on the most pressing issues. The recent incident shows that the modification of the Cerberus Swarm is still quite unstable. Whether this problem can be solved will determine whether the project is worth investing in.

Even across tens of millions of light-years, the Overmind can instantly gain control of any Zerg, acquiring their senses and perceptions, as if the other Zerg were extensions of its will. If this problem cannot be solved, no matter how many Zerg the Cerberus Project modifies, it will ultimately only benefit Overmind.

"This was an accident." Just minutes earlier, the smooth-talking former Cerberus executive manager Bulova, had already prepared his explanation. He was also an accomplished biologist himself.

"The Zerg is a race controlled by a small number of high-level consciousnesses, who control numerous other low-level groups. High-level Zerg use Psionics to control large but low-intelligence Zerg swarms, such as Zergling and Hydralisk," he said.

"We considered this possibility, but we didn't anticipate that a higher-level Zerg consciousness could control this Hydralisk from such a great distance. Even light particles experience loss and speed loss during space travel. Psionics, however, can traverse vast distances and arrive in an instant."

"Psionics is truly a mysterious force. The Zerg leader controls his swarm through Psionics, much like we remotely operate drones and missiles."

"Have you figured out how to solve this problem?" Augustus asked, frowning.

"This control can be blocked simply by implanting Psionics shielding device into the mechanical nervous system controlling the Zerg," Bulova said confidently. "I can assure you, there will be absolutely no more problems next time."

"I can tolerate your failure in a field you've never been in before, but that doesn't mean I can tolerate incompetence." Augustus asked, "How much do you know about the Zerg's Psionics creatures right now?"

"The currently known Zerg Psionics species is a giant levitating creature that uses helium gas bladders to levitate in the air, and can reach a maximum length of over 130 feet (about forty meters)." Bulova breathed a sigh of relief.

"We found the following record in the investigation report of the alien researchers of the Terran Confederacy: The nightmare-bringing creatures are like a vast, overwhelming nightmare; they appear without warning and attack one immigrant village and town after another on the Rhine Twelve. The omens of each attack are strikingly similar. Giant floating creatures emerge from the clouds, and alien creatures swarm towards human settlements from all directions."

"Subsequent autopsies of the captured Zerg levitating creature revealed its unique and complex brain structure, with nerve networks interwoven throughout its body. This unique brain structure endowed it with unparalleled Psionics. This creature is currently the only known Zerg life form with Psionics, and researchers believe that there must be even higher-level Psionics beings within the Zerg population," he explained.

"Our research on certain samples of these buoyant creatures also points to another previously unheard-of idea: that they may not have been part of the Zerg long ago."

"You mean this thing is a completely different kind of creature from other Zerg?" Raynor interjected.

"Yes, Hydralisk and Zergling are completely different species. The Zerg's genetic sequence is messy and disordered. Hydralisk alone have organs and genetic sequences from seven or eight different species. Some lineages and subspecies even have genes from organisms in the Koprulu Sector. Zergling ' DNA comes from even more different organisms," Bulova said.

"In other words, the Zerg have been absorbing and assimilating other species, extracting what they consider to be superior genes. For example, they could easily equip a Koprulu horned lizard with membranous wings and sturdy claws, creating a dragon."

"Do the Zerg possess human genes? After all, they have come into contact with humans." Arcturus's long-dormant curiosity was once again stirred.

"This situation has not occurred with any of the Zerg samples we have encountered so far," Bulova replied.

"Maybe they just look down on human genes because we're terrible at it." Raynor shrugged, unaware that his offhand remark might be closer to the truth.

"They're monsters! I can't believe how the people of the Outer Colonies could handle such creatures," he exclaimed.

"We are still in the early stages of research on the Zerg. Be careful of these monsters; their intelligence may far exceed our imagination." Augustus suddenly waved his hand, beckoning Faraday, who was dealing with the aftermath, and told him that he was about to leave.

Everyone else could sense that Augustus wasn't very satisfied. Of course, no one would be in a good mood after a Hydralisk had smashed expensive experimental equipment to pieces.

"By the way, I heard you also captured a Protoss." Arcturus had no intention of leaving. He simply viewed the Protoss as a caged beast and harbored extreme disgust for other alien races.

"Yes, that's the Tal'darim we captured in Bhekar. I remember he was put here." Augustus was about to leave, stopped when he heard Arcturus's words.

"Do you want to go see him?"

"This is one of the reasons I returned to Umojan." A dark glint flashed in Arcturus's cold gray eyes. "One of my mining teams disappeared in a distant world, and several rescue teams that went to search for them also vanished without a trace."

"I suspect it was the Tal'darim who did it," he said.

"I have no army under my command and dare not venture deep into enemy territory alone."

"It might not have been the Tal'darim who did it." Augustus shook his head. "As far as I know, the Tal'darim are just a branch of the Protoss race."

"What's that lost world called?" Augustus asked Arcturus as they walked towards other areas of the research station.

"The initial designation was N-212, the 212th galaxy we arrived at after departing from Umojan, located in the Sigma quadrant," Arcturus replied.

"Perhaps that Tal'darim knows the name of that planet." Augustus had already guessed seven or eight parts of the story when he heard the term Sigma Quadrant. But even so, he quickened his pace and walked with Arcturus through the corridors of the research station to find the Tal'darim, leaving Bulova and his men to clean up the mess.

On the way, Arcturus spoke of some of his encounters while exploring the world beyond the Koprulu Sector.

The adventures are mostly about finding rare Ardien Crystal veins and high-energy gas resources. The few exciting things they encounter are encountering a few groups of pirates and occasionally digging up fossils of some extinct prehistoric creatures on a certain planet.

"I brought back some gifts for Valerian; he likes aliens and digging for fossils." Arcturus rarely showed such a gentle expression, whereas to outsiders he always appeared to be a strict disciplinarian to his son.

When Arcturus mentioned his son, he looked at Jim Raynor beside him, because he had heard that Reynolds' wife had recently given birth to a child with Psionics potential.

"Jim, how did John's Psionics test go?"

"The initial test shows level 8, and it might be even higher." Raynor was taken aback. "To be honest, I'd rather John were just an ordinary person."

"John is still just a baby. Valerian, on the other hand, is just like you used to be, yearning for the stars and the unknown." Augustus nodded and said, "When you grow up, Arcturus, you won't care about these things anymore. Perhaps Valerian is better suited to be an archaeologist."

"Impossible!" Arcturus exclaimed immediately, displeased. "How can someone from the Mengsk family become an archaeologist?"

"No. I will grow old one day, and there must be an Heir to carry on my work." His resolute tone was exactly the same as when Angus refused to let him join the army.

In the end, Arcturus gradually became the very person he had hated in his youth—a person who used his patriarchal authority to dictate the future paths of his children.

"It seems you know nothing, my brother," Augustus said, shaking his head.

"Archaeology is the most promising profession in interstellar space," he said with a smile. As far as humanity is concerned, the greatest legacy has always been in the Solar System.

"..." Arcturus was speechless with astonishment. "What value can artifacts have, unless they can be used in cannonballs and warships?"

"Your teaching of Valerian wasn't aimed at making him an archaeologist at all. And thanks to you, with Juliana's gentle teaching methods, Valerian would have become a romantic poet instead of a Mengsk."

"I was just teaching him to be strong," Augustus.

"Valerian is already ten years old." At this moment, Augustus suddenly wanted to say a few kind words for his poor little nephew, "We can't let him wear skirts anymore."

"I almost forgot about that," Arcturus said. "But you wore skirts until you were sixteen and often dressed like a girl."

"Don't bring it up." Augustus shrugged, not avoiding the topic. "I just found wearing a skirt comfortable. You're at least a third of the responsibility for this, having been the one encouraging it all along... You were always laughing back then, you never stopped."