A Natural Disaster, Part One

What Rowan didn't know was that the large fireball was an asteroid with a diameter of over ten kilometers. The smaller fireballs behind it were meteorites it had captured during its journey through space.

Now, it has brought its underlings to visit this planet.

The smaller asteroids are relatively harmless; after passing through the atmosphere, very few remain. They certainly cannot cause much damage to this planet.

But this asteroid was different; it hurtled towards the ground at a speed exceeding 70,000 kilometers per hour, carrying light and heat.

Upon impact with the Earth's surface, the asteroid exploded completely, most of it disintegrating and vaporizing. The energy released was equivalent to the simultaneous explosion of millions of Nuclear Bomb.

The shockwave from the impact spread outward from the center, sending a large number of rock fragments flying into the sky. The impact triggered a massive tsunami, earthquake, and volcanic eruption.

Minutes later, the impact extended to areas thousands of kilometers away.

Unfortunately, the impact point was not far from Rowan. Although Rowan escaped to a depth of several hundred meters on the seabed and continued to swim deeper, his location was still within the core area of the impact.

The shockwave instantly swept away hundreds of meters of seawater, vaporizing it before it could travel far. Rowan's defenses, though formidable, were utterly ineffective against such a devastating attack.

The heat-resistant nanomaterials from Mantis Shrimp in his Pincer Limb only allowed him to survive 0.01 seconds longer than the surrounding seawater before being vaporized into nothingness by the scorching heat.

Rocks kicked up by the explosion began to fall into the distance, thousands of kilometers away. Creatures not directly killed by the blast were struck by fiery meteors. Many were unable to dodge and were crushed to death.

The effects of the asteroid impact continue to spread, and the dust and powder it stirred up are beginning to blanket the entire atmosphere. Sunlight is blocked, and the sky is gradually darkening, but the brilliant Milky Way is no longer visible.

The friction between dust clouds generated extremely high temperatures, causing wildfires around the world that killed countless creatures. Burning rocks continued to fall from the sky, and tsunamis engulfed the land.

However, this was only the beginning of the disaster.

After the impact and explosion subsided, the magma generated by the impact covered an area of thousands of kilometers, and the surface temperature gradually dropped from tens of thousands of degrees to about three hundred degrees, and remained so for several months.

The organisms in this area are simply unable to adapt to such an environment; even if they escaped the direct damage of the impact, they would not be able to continue to survive on this land.

But life in other areas wasn't much better off. Because the sky was blocked by dust, sunlight couldn't get in. Plants that were lucky enough to survive the forest fires couldn't continue photosynthesis and gradually withered away.

Meanwhile, as sunlight was blocked, temperatures began to drop continuously in other parts of the world, except for the area near the impact site, and the earth was covered with frost.

In this environment, large numbers of herbivores, especially large herbivorous dinosaurs, began to die due to the cold and lack of food. Subsequently, carnivores also began to go extinct due to the lack of food sources.

Only a small number of creatures survived by hiding deep underground.

After being vaporized, Rowan went through a period of confusion; yes, he did not die.

His consciousness appeared within the Swarm Network.

However, Rowan could no longer feel his body. This was not surprising, after all, his body had been vaporized, it would have been strange if he could feel it.

After a while, Rowan seemed to have become a "Net-person," and apart from not having his own body, he didn't seem to be much different from before.

Just like when he uses the Swarm Network, he can still sense the nodes, even though many nodes in his mental space are disappearing. However, through his consciousness descending, he can understand the situation the Zerg are facing. Even if the vessel he descends to dies, his consciousness can return to the Swarm Network.

Does this mean that as long as the Swarm Network exists, he will not die? Although the world is collapsing outside, it is impossible to wipe out the Swarm just by doing this.

Putting everything else aside, the Creep is extremely adaptable; the fusion of countless genes allows it to cope with most environments. Unless the entire planet is blown to dust, the Creep will definitely survive.

Furthermore, the large Strain on the Creep also possess node identities; as long as they continue to exist, the Swarm Network will continue to exist. Does that mean their consciousness is immortal?

Whether it's true or not, only time will tell. However, learning about this hidden ability was an unexpected surprise, although he would rather not have known, or at least known it in another way.

For a fleeting moment, he genuinely thought he was dead.

After the Swarm took control of the continent and life became stable, he frequently used his consciousness to descend and perform tasks using the bodies of other insects. His true body rarely acted personally anymore, especially when hunting.

Now that I've lost my body, thinking about it, the impact doesn't seem that big. But it still feels a bit strange.

His body contained the talent of Efiash. He didn't know what state he was in now, but he was sure that Efiash's predecessors had never encountered such a thing.

After all, the Swarm Network is a mutation ability unique to him.

After pausing for a moment, Rowan began to assess the current state of the Swarm. The nodes around the impact point had been cleared, and not even the Creep remained; they were likely completely wiped out.

However, the Mother Nest was placed in the earliest Swarm base, far from the impact point, and although its current situation is not very good, Mother Nest is hidden deep underground and has not been affected.

He consciously tried to connect to the Mother Nest, and there was nothing unusual; everything was normal. He could still use the gene bank and the function of mixing and combining genes.

At the same time, he discovered a hidden feature.

Previously, he had discovered that Swarm Network possessed cloud storage capabilities. He could upload his gene pool, which the Mother Nest could remotely receive, eliminating the need for limb links to share the gene pool as before.

The gene bank not only contains the genes he collected, but also all of his own genes, including those of Efiash that he couldn't understand.

He ordered the Mother Nest to produce a body according to his previous genetic template. Surprisingly, it went smoothly, and the Creep around the Mother Nest began to supply nutrients.

Perhaps because Rowan's genes were too complex, it took a long time for the Mother Nest to release a single 30-centimeter- Insect Egg. This size of Insect Egg was close to the Mother Nest's production limit, and after releasing the Insect Egg, the Mother Nest was noticeably weakened.

However, with the powerful assistance of the Creep, it should be able to recover quickly.

Thank you Lai Yao for the 500 Qidian Coins reward, and thank you Pingdanwuqi for the 100 Qidian Coins reward.

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