Guesswork

Just as the Epoch Clan team was on edge, the doorbell rang, interrupting Keller's reverie. He scratched his head, got up, and knocked on the door.

Two Rat-folk outside the door spoke to Keller, and the sound capture system picked up the information: the lab wanted to see Keller. After exchanging a few more words, they left the room and departed.

"Phew~" The Epoch Clan members all breathed a sigh of relief. Bianca was about to say something when the Captain raised his hand to stop her, "Let's go back first. Warwick, report the situation."

"It's safe around here," Warwick's voice came through the communicator.

Once confirmed, the team worked together again to cut open the wall panel and, after some work, restored it. The squad then activated stealth mode and, under Warwick's cover, successfully returned to their room.

"Bianca, what did you find just now?" After everyone cleaned themselves up, the Captain asked impatiently.

"The name of that First Empress is the same as that of the Zerg Empress." Bianca didn't keep them in suspense and quietly revealed this shocking information.

"What!" everyone exclaimed.

"Are you kidding me? How do you know the Zerg Empress's name?" the Captain asked. According to the information they had, the Zerg Empress was the supreme ruler of the Zerg, and her name was unknown; she had always been referred to as the Queen.

"Before the mission, I met a good friend in the Riken Star System. He's from the Telo Race. As you know, the Zerg were invited to join the Alliance by the Telo Race. My friend was part of the negotiation team during our first contact," Bianca recalled for a moment and continued.

"Because of the upcoming mission, after learning that he had contact with the Zerg, I steered the conversation in that direction and thus obtained an important piece of intelligence. His memory is exceptional; he can not only remember what he sees but also recall almost every sound he hears. During a break in his mission, he overheard two Zerg officers talking. Although the two Zerg left immediately after seeing him, he still remembered one sentence."

"However, when the Zerg first appeared, they used Riken Language for negotiations. But the two Zerg communicated in Zerg Language, which my friend didn't know the meaning of. Although he mentioned it in the mission report afterward, it wasn't taken seriously because there was no specific information."

"Even so, my friend still clearly remembered the pronunciation of that Zerg Language. Later, when the Zerg Language was leaked, he painstakingly looked up each word in the pronunciation, which eventually helped him understand the meaning of the phrase."

Bianca glanced at her attentive companions and said softly, "That means I will report the situation to Queen Sarah. I think, if the Zerg don't have two queens, then Sarah must be that queen's name."

Everyone gasped in surprise, not expecting this intelligence to have come through such a convoluted process. Although the intelligence itself seemed insignificant, the amount of information it contained was enormous.

"If the Zerg Empress and the First Empress Rat-folk Queen are the same person, it might seem unbelievable, but it would also explain many things."

"Why do the elite Rat-folk consciously maintain and guard this secret? Their information control, their strange relationship with the Zerg Rat-folk, their staged breakup drama, their feigned conflicts, and so on, are all to hide this secret."

"Heh, I didn't expect we were still one step ahead. No matter how well they hid, we still managed to find so many clues."

Excitedly, everyone chimed in, piecing together the previous intelligence and uncovering this crucial piece of information—a feat that would provide them with enough to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.

"That's not right. We've all seen the Zerg. They're completely different from the Rat-folk. They're two completely different species, both in appearance and genes." Wright scratched his head, somewhat puzzled.

Bianca thought for a moment and said, "I remember the data mentioning that our race discovered, through some means, that the Zerg's bodies contain Gene Lock, making them impossible to dissect and obtain more detailed information. This method is exactly the same as that used on the Zerg's Biological Weapon. I didn't think much of it at first, but now it seems possible that they used some means to transfer the consciousness that originally existed in the Rat-folk's bodies into the Zerg bodies. The Zerg bodies themselves are a special kind of Biological Weapon."

"How is that possible? Even our Epoch Clan can't do that!" Wright was somewhat incredulous; this consciousness transfer technology was a bit too fantastical.

"Tch! How much of the Zerg's technology do we lack? But take this Gene Lock, for example, we still haven't been able to crack it." Bianca scoffed dismissively.

"What Bianca said isn't impossible. The intelligence mentioned that the Zerg Empress, as well as some of the Zerg ministers, have never changed in appearance, leading to suspicions that the Zerg possess more advanced lifespan extension technology. But now that I think about it, if they can really complete the consciousness transfer, that's practically equivalent to immortality."

"Hiss~" Hissing sounds were incessant. The issue of lifespan has always been the most important concern for intelligent races. If the Zerg can really reach this level, it will be an achievement that surpasses the Original Epoch Clan.

"No wonder those Rat-folk high-ranking members are so conscientious in protecting this secret. That Rat-folk of Keller's, not only resisted being injected, but if given the chance to live forever, I believe I could do it too."

"Haha, you're dreaming. Perhaps you should ask that Rat-folk ruler if he'd take in a godson."

"Get lost!" Unconsciously, the crowd began to envy those Rat-folk they had previously looked down upon.

"I previously speculated that the situation between the Zerg and the Rat-folk might have been Seed by the Original Epoch Clan, but now I don't think so. If the Zerg were their doing, they wouldn't have perished, and we wouldn't be where we are today."

The Original Epoch Clan not only made great strides in the mechanical path, but also took biological approaches, conducting extensive experiments in this star system and releasing "Seed of Life" on many planets. This is why the density of civilization in this star system far exceeds that of other star systems.

"Not necessarily. Perhaps this was indeed caused by the Original Epoch Clan, otherwise why would the Zerg appear out of nowhere?"

I initially thought the Zerg were an alien species, so no matter how strange their technology was, I could just assume they developed it over countless years. But now that I know the Rat-folk and the Zerg are one and the same, things have become much more complicated.

"I think the most important thing now is to figure out how this First Empress became the Zerg Empress."

"That's right. I simply don't believe it, even if you beat me to death, that the Rat-folk developed the Zerg technology line on their own."

"Where to begin? We're completely stumped."

"Perhaps we can reread the history books and see if there's anything we've overlooked before."