I'm Immortal!

Augustus stepped over the sticky, damp Creep, treading across the writhing, proliferating tumors, and arrived among several Protoss High Templar clad in gleaming golden armor. Worm entrails and pulsating veins were scattered across the ground, and the air reeked of rotting flesh and festering sores.

A huge, fleshy, fat worm was curled up among human electronic components covered with a large number of Zerg tissues and vesicles, resembling a wriggling longhorn beetle larva, its body round and plump, like a fleshy Arclite Siege Tank cannon barrel.

The Cerebrate is clumsy and slow, fragile and easily broken. It has neither a strong carapace to protect itself nor sharp claws to tear apart enemies that dare to approach it. A slow-moving Cerebrate must be protected by its clan members.

In any case, in Augustus's eyes, the Cerebrate looked just like a happy, fat couch potato lounging on the sofa watching TV.

At this point, there wasn't even a Hydralisk left to protect the Cerebrate; Augustus could finish it off at any moment with his P-20 electromagnetic pistol.

Augustus noticed that as he observed the Cerebrate, it was also scrutinizing the Protoss and humans surrounding it. This seemingly fragile worm-like creature appeared calm and composed, as if unaware of its impending fate.

The screen, covered in pus and grime, was still playing UNN news about Augustus. A man with a ridiculous mustache was chatting and laughing with a blonde woman with an impressive bust, making sarcastic jokes about Augustus while criticizing the revolutionaries' unreasonable political demands.

The Cerebrate is clearly capable of understanding the meaning of words and speech; otherwise, it wouldn't spend its time on them. It is highly likely that the Swarm acquired this knowledge from the assimilated human brains.

The Protoss watched all of this unfold, exchanging their views on the Cerebrate and the news from Augustus through their Khala mind-link network in a Psionics waveform imperceptible to humans—like some kind of special encrypted communication, but absolutely silent to humans like Augustus.

The Protoss might not understand why someone who should be hailed as a hero by his people would be subjected to such slander, something that would be absolutely impossible within the Protoss Empire's social structure.

Around a hundred Protoss Templar Knights were watching, and many more pairs of eyes, blazing with blue Psionics flames, were fixed on the Cerebrate. Outside the cave, the battle continued unabated; tens of millions of Garm Brood Zerg were still pouring out of the various caverns, attempting to reclaim their leader.

The Garm Brood became more ferocious than ever before, and Kerrigan and Harnack were assigned by Augustus to lead the remaining forces to defend the cavern against the Zerg Protoss alongside the Protoss.

"A fat worm, disgusting." Tychus Finley, carrying a shotgun, walked among the tall, slender Protoss warriors. He occasionally bumped into the Templar Knights ' armor and elegant robes, and his rudeness provoked the aliens' displeasure.

The Protoss weren't exactly known for their humor, but old Tychus still had a lot to say, "Look at this thing! What could be uglier than this? An underdeveloped, deformed, obese bug."

The Cerebrate did not respond to Tychus's sarcasm; its soft, ugly skin emitted a faint glow, a glow that flickered and faded like breath.

"Augustus Mengsk, where is that human woman? I can sense her. Where have you hidden her?" With a rhythmic pulsation of light from its body, the Cerebrate moved its plump, white body toward Augustus.

The Cerebrate's words appeared directly in Augustus's mind, just as the Protoss could do.

"Tell me, tell me quickly! My Lord and Father are looking for her."

"I will not hand her over to you." Augustus looked at the plump worm that was emitting a pale white glow, certain that it could understand human language. "She is worth more than a million armies."

Augustus knew perfectly well what kind of monster Kerrigan would transform into once captured by the Swarm Overmind. The Queen of Blades in history had slaughtered eight billion people; she possessed both the power of the Zerg and the experience and wisdom of humans. This terrifying opponent was comparable to an army of thousands.

Even without considering Augustus's own feelings, he would never have allowed Kerrigan to fall into the hands of the Swarm. Otherwise, humanity might only have lost a powerful Psionics, while the Zerg would have gained a Swarm Queen capable of sweeping through Koprulu.

Just thinking about how many people would die made Augustus feel genuine fear and disgust at the Queen of Blades's bluish face.

"Why not do that?" The Cerebrate's logic was clearly completely different from Augustus's; the light it emitted took on strange shapes. "We came for her, and we will leave for her."

"Exchange. Yes, an exchange, exchanging goods of equal or unequal value, each keeping what they need," it says.

"Give her to me, and we'll leave."

Augustus's eyes sharpened, his cold gray gaze piercing. "No, absolutely not, there's no room for negotiation."

Even if the Overmind obtains Kerrigan, the Zerg will never let humanity go. The Zerg have no concept of keeping promises, and even humans who follow this principle often break their promises and consider it wisdom and strategy.

"Daggoth, I knew this wouldn't work," the Cerebrate seemed to be communicating with another brain worm or a swarm of Cerebrate through the void.

"It looks completely fearless, hey, fat bug, you know we're about to kill you?" Tychus couldn't hear what the Cerebrate were saying at all, because they were transmitting their meaning directly into Augustus's mind, which was inaudible to others. The way Cerebrate communicated was similar to that of the Protoss; they almost never spoke.

"Death? Human, you are foolish and ignorant. All that's left in your pitiful brain tissue is the primal urge for sex—a pathetic primitive creature." The Cerebrate heard Tychus's words, and it was clearly still a rather temperamental individual.

Even it had to admit that it had failed in its war against the Tassadar Protoss Expeditionary Force. Instead of destroying Zerg- infested planets as it had done in the past, the Protoss chose to send ground forces to confront the Zerg Swarm head-on.

"You don't understand the true meaning of evolution. Death is irrelevant; only the essence matters." The Cerebrate's voice appeared directly in the minds of all the humans and Protoss present.

"Once I kill you, you'll know what's truly important." Tychus said, taking a military-grade SR-8 shotgun from a nearby soldier—an old and worn-out weapon, but capable of firing hundreds of lead bullets that would kill the Cerebrate.

"Keeping it alive is far more valuable than killing it; after all, it's the first Cerebrate we've discovered." Augustus stopped Tychus, thinking to himself, "Spare the worm before you shoot."

Augustus had his own plan. If he could capture and control a Cerebrate alive, he would essentially control an entire race. This was not unprecedented.

Imprisoning and controlling an older Cerebrate is extremely difficult, because only those Psionics who have followed the Overmind the longest and are the most powerful can be given names. If a Cerebrate is to be controlled, newly born individuals that do not yet have names are the best choice.

"You actually want to enslave a Cerebrate? How dare you?" Just like other Psionics beings, the Cerebrate can read minds, and it was clearly enraged by Augustus's words.

Although the Cerebrate were far less concerned about Augustus Kerrigan, they were still gathering intelligence on the enemy.

"...Slave owner Mengsk." The Cerebrate had a remarkably rich vocabulary. "It's just a shell; I can discard it at any time and be reborn in another world."

This is why this Cerebrate has the confidence to communicate with its enemies here. The Overmind can resurrect all the Cerebrate it creates; it only needs to reshape a body for the dead Cerebrate to be reborn.

Cerebrate have no fear of death; as long as their primary Overmind is alive, they are immortal.

"That's impossible!" a High Templar who had been listening for some time exclaimed angrily.

"Why not?" the Cerebrate retorted. "I'm curious."

"I say, let's finish it off quickly, the bugs outside are going crazy." Tychus's way of dealing with enemies was always simple and brutal.

Just then, a High Templar led a group of Templar Knights in. It was Tassadar, the executive Protoss Expeditionary Force. All the humans and Protoss present spontaneously made way for him.

"Cerebrate Sars." Tassadar approached Augustus and landed on the Creep- covered ground, seemingly unconcerned about soiling his blue battle robes.

"I'm seeking a conversation with you," he said to the Cerebrate.

"Why did the Swarm come to devour or kill? There are billions of stars in this universe, why did you choose this world of all places?"

"..." The Cerebrate Sars wanted to say, "Why should I talk to an enemy like you?", but it held back. "We are enemies, and I have no need to explain myself to an enemy."

"If you want to capture me alive, you greedy Protoss, I advise you to save your breath." It said casually, "Your time is running out; the noble Swarm will devour everything."

"How many Cerebrate like you are there? Are they all as powerful as you?" Tassadar was far more cunning than Augustus imagined, and he was trying to exploit the Cerebrate's competitiveness to gain more information.

"Of course, I'm one of the few who got a name," Sath's smugness came to an abrupt halt. "Enough, Protoss, you won't get anything more from me."

After a moment of silence, Tassadar looked at Augustus, seemingly seeking his opinion and perspective.

"We have no time to waste." Augustus's communication channel was filled with the shouts and screams of his soldiers. He had realized that the idea of capturing the Cerebrate Sars alive was not very meaningful. Unless the Overmind was dead, unless the Cerebrate could not be reborn anywhere else.

"Kill it, my brothers and sisters," Tassadar ordered.

"You don't need to lift a finger." Before the Templar Knights could even draw their Psionics blades, Tychus pulled the trigger of his shotgun and fired a barrage of bullets at Sath, the ugly, fat worm splattering with disgusting fluids.

The Cerebrate Sars, let out a scream and a piercing howl; the pain, a protective mechanism, remained in his genetic sequence. Even at this moment, Sath still had the strength to utter a few words: "I will not die; I will be reborn in a world of ashes and flames. When I return, death and shadow will arrive as scheduled."

"The Swarm is an immortal creation that devours everything, and the universe is its food."

After Tychus fired a burst of bullets, the glowing, fleshy worm breathed its last. Then, just as Augustus, Tassadar, and the others had seen, a pale yellow ball of light suddenly rose from the already curled and shriveled body of the Cerebrate, and that ball of light resembled a jellyfish with tentacles.

Tychus cursed and reloaded, continuing to fire at the orb of light, but the bullets simply passed right through it.

Tassadar's brilliant sky-blue eyes shone even brighter, as if flowing with thunder and lightning. He stretched out his two hands and released a powerful Psionics pulse formed by deep blue arcs of electricity towards the rising ball of light, but still failed to harm it.

Humans and Protoss exhausted all means, whether physical or energy weapons, but none could make the ball of light show any signs of weakening. The ball of light, rising into the air, soared upwards through the dark dome and rock walls of the cave until it disappeared.

With the death of the Sath, the Zerg in the underground tunnels went completely mad, focusing all their energy on killing their own kind. The pressure on the humans and Protoss in the underground tunnels was also greatly reduced.

Before the Cerebrate Sars returns and takes over its swarm, the Garm Brood in Antiga will remain in a state of frenzy for quite some time. The combined human and Protoss forces can use this time to purge the remaining Zerg and reclaim lost territory.

"What exactly is that thing?" Tychus wondered to himself. "A soul? That's really strange."

"A world of ashes and flames." While Tychus and the others were still puzzled by the ball of light, Tassadar had already grasped the information revealed in Sath's dying words.

"A world filled with volcanoes, lava, and volcanic ash." Augustus reacted just as quickly as Tassadar.

"Is that the Zerg's main base in this sector?" Tassadar asked Augustus.

"It's obvious that the dead Cerebrate will be reborn in that world," Augustus. "The Overmind, the supreme Overmind of the Swarm, must also be there."

"It's very likely that it's in the Koprulu Sector; otherwise, it would have taken Sath quite a long time to get back."

"We can count and confirm any known planets that have been invaded, occupied, or 'colonized' by the Zerg," Tassadar said. "But very few planets meet these criteria."

"Char." Augustus knew the script.

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