Inheritance

Inside the Rat-folk base, many things were inconvenient and difficult to do. And although everything they did to Keller seemed flawless, it still aroused Keller's suspicion, and the base's defenses were noticeably strengthened.

Therefore, the Epoch Clan team, having achieved their goal, did not cause any further trouble. They quickly ended their journey and returned to the Epoch Clan spaceship.

"Although the records are few, we have still managed to reconstruct the original timeline. The unification of the Rat-folk Empire seems somewhat suspicious." Because of this great discovery, the returning group was full of energy. With the help of Warwick and Amina, Yate compiled some of the Rat-folk Queen's life story based on the limited information available.

"The Merican Kingdom? A sudden epidemic broke out within the country, the royal family was wiped out, the command system collapsed, and divine punishment? Hmph, is this some kind of fantasy story?" Wright flipped through the documents, saw the record, and shook his head disdainfully.

"In the early stages of civilization, some intimidating gimmicks are used to increase the mystique and legitimacy of the rulers. But we've analyzed the Rat-folk's situation before; what they record is very likely true."

"Indeed, regardless of their accounts of the events, it is certain that one of the two equally powerful kingdoms suddenly collapsed. In other words, the First Empress may very well have received divine assistance at that time."

"So, did God grant her the Zerg heritage?"

"Impossible! How could there be a god? Wright, how could you, a member of the great Epoch Clan, have such a foolish idea?"

"Then tell me what happened?"

"Well, I still need to think about it some more, but God definitely doesn't exist."

Bianca, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up, "Have you ever considered that these so-called gods are actually the Zerg?"

"Isn't this what we suspected from the beginning? But if it's the Zerg, why would they choose a native creature as their king?"

"I misspoke earlier. It should be that the so-called god is the legacy of the Zerg." Bianca thought for a moment and reorganized his words: "Let's assume that the Zerg themselves are an advanced civilization. For some unknown purpose, they released their legacy, something like Lord 'Luminous'. Then this legacy came to the Origin Star and influenced this place, which is why species mutations occurred, Rat-folk went from being food to civilization in a short period of time."

"But all of this was merely a passive influence of the inherited artifact. It wasn't until the First Empress of the Rat-folk appeared that she gained the artifact's recognition and acquired the true Zerg heritage. From then on, she unified the Rat-folk and severed Rat-folk society, separating a portion of the elite and transforming them into Zerg. If the Zerg can truly extend their lives through consciousness transfer, then the quality of the Zerg population will be comparable to ours, and as time goes by, they will surpass us, and the gap will only widen."

Upon hearing Bianca's guess, everyone gasped.

"If that's the case, then we can only be thankful that we discovered it early. If we had allowed them to develop here for tens of thousands of years, they might have become a real scourge. They might even have threatened our race's position." Amina was somewhat taken aback. She once again realized the terrifying nature of the Zerg and elevated Zerg to an extremely high position. You must know that it took the Epoch Clan millions of years to develop to its current level.

But the Captain shook his head. "I think you've underestimated the Zerg. Our probes have already detected Zerg in hundreds of star systems in the outer reaches of the universe. Judging by the rate at which their Biological Weapon are developing, they've probably already formed a formidable fighting force. In terms of numbers, they can already crush any other civilization."

"But numbers are useless when you have overwhelming technological superiority. We still hold an absolute technological advantage." Wright was somewhat unconvinced; in his mind, the Epoch Clan was invincible.

"If Zerg researchers can truly live forever, their knowledge can accumulate indefinitely without needing to hibernate. Can you imagine how terrifying such researchers would be? Over time, they would become omnipotent, capable of conducting complex cross-disciplinary collaborative research on their own. And because all knowledge is held by a single individual, there would be no barriers or misunderstandings, allowing the Zerg to make scientific and technological progress far beyond our imagination. Perhaps in less than ten thousand years, they will catch up with our program, and once that day comes, we will be utterly unable to compete with them in terms of numbers."

The Captain's voice was deep and somber. Seeing that his team members seemed to understand the gravity of the situation, he dropped an even more terrifying statement. "And that's not even the worst part. Think about it, where did the Zerg's lineage come from? Did it arrive on that asteroid that struck the Origin Star, or was it already hidden on the Origin Star?"

"I believe it arrived on an asteroid, because the Rat-folk only changed after that impact."

"I just checked the surveillance records from that time, and there's no record of the asteroid's origin."

"That's normal; the people recording at the time couldn't have foreseen what would happen today."

"It might not have been brought by an asteroid; perhaps the impact awakened this Zerg heritage."

Seeing the team members arguing heatedly, the Captain stopped them. "No matter what the case, this thing must have a creator. Just like our 'Fire,' which is a creation of the Original Epoch Clan. So, we don't know exactly how much technology that creator stuffed into this inherited object."

"The Zerg have very few combat records to date, and their technological level seems low, but we don't know if they are hiding anything. Therefore, the Zerg's current combat strength is likely to be seriously underestimated."

"If its creator is similar to the Original Epoch Clan, and has already perished, then it's a bit better. But if that creator still exists, then the Zerg are in even greater danger. No one can say for sure whether they have reinforcements now."

"Captain, what do we do now? We're unlikely to get any clues to verify our earlier guesses."

After thinking for a long time, the Captain shook his head and said, "The current situation is, in my opinion, extremely urgent. We cannot afford to waste any more time here, nor is it something we can handle. I will organize all the intelligence and speculations we have gathered and send them to our superiors so they can decide what to do next."

Everyone nodded. The situation had escalated to a strategic level, far beyond the control of their intelligence gathering team. In that case, the Captain's decision was the best option.

Thank you Wuxin and Book Guest Good Brother for the 100 Qidian coins.